Method and apparatus for reliable communications in underground and hazardous areas

• US 9,258,722 B2
• Filed: 10/22/2014
• Issued: 02/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Innovative Wireless Technologies Inc.
• Original Assignee: Innovative Wireless Technologies Inc.
• Inventors: Schmidt, Paul E., Silverstrim, James Edward, Koleszar, Luke
• Primary Examiner(s): Chu, Wutchung
• Application Number:
  US14/521,081
• Publication Number:
  US 20150036482A1
• Time in Patent Office: 475 Days
• Field of Search: 370/338, 370/328, 370/310, 370/252, 455/423
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 21/00 Measuring or testing not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0284 detecting congestion or overload during communication monitoring arrangements H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

A method and apparatus for reliable wireless voice, data and location communication for deployment in underground, industrial and other hazardous environments using a wireless mesh network. The network includes protocol for dispatch operation, emergency operation, remote supervision, remote status, asset control, machine state of health and operational management. The architecture is based on localized clusters of autonomous nodes capable of ad hoc interconnection with nearby nodes and connection to gateway nodes. The resulting network is an ad hoc mesh topology comprised of fixed mesh nodes with approximately 50% coverage overlap between nodes. This provides a reliable communication network for mobile nodes carried by personnel and sensor nodes that are fixed or mobile that supports voice, data and tracking/situation awareness. Each cluster of nodes transfers digital voice and data to gateway nodes either directly or through multi-hop transactions.

Claims

1. A method for managing a reliable wireless ad hoc mesh network architecture and protocol to support normal and emergency operation of voice, data and location communication for underground, industrial and other hazardous environments using a single wideband platform, the method comprising:

providing an ad hoc wireless mesh network (WMN) system for underground communications comprising localized clusters of autonomous nodes with connection to gateway nodes where gateway nodes, fixed mesh nodes (FMNs) and mobile nodes contain an ad hoc mesh network protocol for automatic formation and maintenance of link connections in a network and communicate through RF links over an RF spectrum;

configuring each of the nodes of the WMN system to provide a combination of waveforms and features supported by the system;

supervising the functioning of each WMN to ensure operation of nodes located therein and to identify traffic pattern congestion within each WMN;

determining signal strength of the RF link and a traffic profile at proposed underground locations of the gateway node and at each of the fixed nodes as measured by transmissions from fixed mesh node transmitters to a mobile mesh radio;

optimizing a location of each of the gateway nodes and each of the fixed nodes by maximizing signal strength of the RF link and the traffic pattern for each such node;

optimizing a location of each of the mobile nodes based on a geolocation algorithm; and

reconfiguring any WMN in which traffic congestion is found to reduce latency and peak usage on each FMN, or in which unreliable nodes are identified, to improve RF coverage and the traffic profile for the underground communications.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein reconfiguring of the network is accomplished from a remote location using one of the waveforms wherein reconfiguration occurs using one or more selected from the group consisting of:

changing a channel waveform;

changing channel operating parameters;

turning a channel on or off without affecting operation of other waveforms;

over-the-air reprogramming and/or rekeying;

changing location of fixed nodes or gateway nodes; and

changing node RF link connections, node waveform, node RF spectrum, or node RF power levels.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the same wireless link used for communication of underground network supervision and status is also used to configure or reconfigure underground network equipment enabling a user to drill down from network level to node level.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising detecting when a gateway node has failed and automatically redirecting communications to an alternate gateway node.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining location of a specified underground mobile node based on measurement of received signal strength or time of arrival of signal from a plurality of fixed mesh nodes neighboring the specified node, transmission of received signal strength data or time of arrival of signal data from a mobile mesh radio to a gateway node and application of geolocation algorithms to the signal strength data or time of arrival signal data.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising determining whether a mobile node is located above ground or underground based on a geolocation measurement.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising a dispatch operation that serves as a communication platform in a remote operations center to communicate with and collect data from fixed or mobile sensor nodes and assets in an underground area to provide for environmental monitoring, event detection, and post-event tracking information throughout the underground area.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising multiple sensor types and assets to serve as a rapid information dissemination system to provide on-scene commanders response information for tracking/situation awareness.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the multiple sensor types and assets are chosen from temperature, pressure, gas, humidity, wind speed, voltage, current, lighting, chemical, biological, radiological, explosive, acoustic, magnetic, seismic, biometric, personnel state, personnel health monitoring, machine state, machine health monitoring and imaging sensors and assets.