Wireless radio access point configuration

• US 9,288,844 B1
• Filed: 09/17/2014
• Issued: 03/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fortinet Inc.
• Original Assignee: Fortinet Inc.
• Inventors: Akhavan-Saraf, Koroush, Reverte, Jose Luis Villarreal
• Primary Examiner(s): Duong, Christine
• Application Number:
  US14/488,514
• Publication Number:
  US 20160081139A1
• Time in Patent Office: 545 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/54 based on quality criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/10 adapted for operation in multiple networks, e.g. multi-mode access points

Abstract

Methods and systems for configuring an access point (AP) are provided. According to one embodiment, a dual radio AP includes: two radios, a first operating at 2.4 GigaHertz (GHz) or 5 GHz and a second operating at 5 GHz; first and second directional antennas coupled to the first and second radios, respectively; first and second transmit queues buffering packets for transmission by the first and second radios, respectively; a location determination module configured to compute locations of recipient devices of the packets; a direction identification module configured to calculate angles to direct the directional antennas based on the computed locations; an interference detection module configured to determine whether interference would take place if the packets are transmitted based on the calculated angles and estimated timing of transmission; and a transmission module configured to transmit the packets without interference between the directional antennas by rescheduling packets if necessary.

Claims

1. A dual radio access point (AP) comprising:

a first radio operating at 5 GigaHertz (GHz);

a first directional antenna coupled to the first radio;

a first transmit queue having stored therein packets for transmission by the first radio;

a second radio operating at 5 GHz;

a second directional antenna coupled to the second radio;

a second transmit queue having stored therein packets for transmission by the second radio;

a recipient device location determination module configured to compute locations of recipient devices of the packets stored in the first transmit queue and the packets stored in second transmit queue;

a direction identification module configured to calculate angles within a horizontal plane to direct the first directional antenna and the second directional antenna based on the computed locations;

an interference detection module configured to determine whether interference would take place if the packets stored in the first transmit queue and the packets stored in the second transmit queue are transmitted based on the calculated angles and estimated timing of transmission; and

a transmission module configured to transmit the packets stored in the first transmit queue and the packets stored in the second transmit queue via the first radio and the second radio, respectively, without interference between the first directional antenna and the second directional antenna by rescheduling one or more of the packets stored in the first transmit queue or one or more of the packets stored in the second transmit queue when the interference detection module determines that interference would otherwise take place between the first directional antenna and the second directional antenna.

2. A method of steering antennas of a dual radio access point (AP) comprising:

computing, by the dual radio AP, locations of recipient devices based on packets queued for transmission on a first transmit queue of a first 5 GigaHertz (GHz) radio and packets queued for transmission on a second transmit queue of a second 5 GHz radio of the dual radio AP;

calculating, by the dual radio AP, angles within a horizontal plane to which a first directional antenna associated with the first 5 GHz radio and a second directional antenna associated with the second 5 GHz radio should be directed to transmit the packets queued on the first transmit queue and the packets queued on the second transmit queue, respectively, based on the computed locations;

determining, by the dual radio AP, whether interference would take place between the first directional antenna and the second directional antenna if the packets queued on the first transmit queue and the packets queued on the second transmit queue are transmitted based on the calculated angles and estimated timing of transmission; and

transmitting, by the dual radio AP, the packets to avoid interference by rescheduling one or more of the packets queued on the first transmit queue or one or more of the packets queued on the second transmit queue when a result of said determining is affirmative.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said determining, by the dual radio AP, whether interference would take place between the first directional antenna and the second directional antenna comprises determining whether a first beam width of the first directional antenna is expected to overlap a second beam width of the second directional antenna during concurrent packet transmission by the first 5 GHz radio and the second 5 GHz radio if the packets were to be transmitted in an order currently queued.

4. A wireless network architecture comprising:

a first Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless access point (AP) having a first coverage area and configured to concurrently operate a first 5 GigaHertz (GHz) radio and a second 5 GHz radio, wherein the first 5 GHz radio of the first IEEE 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless AP is tuned to a first channel of a plurality of available channels and wherein the second 5 GHz radio of the first IEEE 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless AP is tuned to a second channel of the plurality of available channels that is different than the first channel and is adjacent or non-adjacent to the first channel;

a second IEEE 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless AP having a second coverage area and configured to concurrently operate a third 5 GHz radio and a fourth 5 GHz radio, wherein the third 5 GHz radio of the second IEEE 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless AP is tuned to a third channel of the plurality of available channels that is different than the first channel and the second channel and is adjacent or non-adjacent to the first channel and wherein the fourth 5 GHz radio of the second IEEE 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless AP is tuned to a fourth channel of the plurality of available channels that is different than the first channel, the second channel and the third channel and is adjacent or non-adjacent to the second channel;

a third IEEE 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless AP having a third coverage area and configured to concurrently operate a 2.4 GHz radio and a fifth 5 GHz radio, wherein the fifth 5 GHz radio is tuned to a fifth channel of the plurality of available channels that is different than the first channel, the second channel, the third channel and the fourth channel and is adjacent or non-adjacent to the fourth channel and wherein the 2.4 GHz radio is tuned to a sixth channel of the plurality of available channels that is different than the first channel, the second channel, the third channel, the fourth channel and the fifth channel;

wherein the first coverage area, the second coverage area and the third coverage area overlap one another;

wherein the first channel, the second channel, the third channel, the fourth channel, the fifth channel and the sixth channel (“

Active Channels”

) are automatically assigned by a channel selection algorithm to provide a predefined separation index among the Active Channels that allows the first IEEE 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless AP, the second IEEE 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless AP and the third IEEE 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless AP to be placed in close proximity without experiencing co-channel or near channel interference; and

wherein the first IEEE 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless AP includes;

a recipient device location determination module configured to compute locations of recipient devices to which packets are queued for transmission on the first 5 GHz radio and the second 5 GHz radio;

a direction identification module configured to calculate angles in a horizontal plane to which a first antenna associated with the first 5 GHz radio and a second antenna associated with the second 5 GHz radio should be directed to transmit the packets based on the computed locations;

an interference detection module configured to determine whether there is a potential for interference between the first antenna and the second antenna if the packets were to be transmitted in an order currently queued;

a transmission module configured to transmit the packets to avoid the potential for interference by reordering transmission of at least one of the packets when the potential for interference has been detected by the interference detection module.

5. A dual radio access point (AP) comprising:

a first radio operating at 5 GigaHertz (GHz);

a first directional antenna coupled to the first radio;

a first transmit queue having stored therein packets for transmission by the first radio;

a second radio operating at 5 GHz;

a second directional antenna coupled to the second radio;

a second transmit queue having stored therein packets for transmission by the second radio;

a recipient device location determination module computing locations of recipient devices of the packets stored in the first transmit queue and the packets stored in second transmit queue;

a direction identification module calculating angles within a horizontal plane to direct the first directional antenna and the second directional antenna based on the computed locations;

an interference detection module determining whether interference would take place if the packets stored in the first transmit queue and the packets stored in the second transmit queue are transmitted based on the calculated angles and estimated timing of transmission; and

a transmission module transmitting the packets stored in the first transmit queue and the packets stored in the second transmit queue via the first radio and the second radio, respectively, without interference between the first directional antenna and the second directional antenna by rescheduling one or more of the packets stored in the first transmit queue or one or more of the packets stored in the second transmit queue when the interference detection module determines that interference would otherwise take place between the first directional antenna and the second directional antenna.

6. A wireless network architecture comprising:

a first Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless access point (AP) having a first coverage area and concurrently operating a first 5 GigaHertz (GHz) radio and a second 5 GHz radio, wherein the first 5 GHz radio of the first IEEE 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless AP is tuned to a first channel of a plurality of available channels and wherein the second 5 GHz radio of the first IEEE 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless AP is tuned to a second channel of the plurality of available channels that is different than the first channel and is adjacent or non-adjacent to the first channel;

a second IEEE 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless AP having a second coverage area and concurrently operating a third 5 GHz radio and a fourth 5 GHz radio, wherein the third 5 GHz radio of the second IEEE 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless AP is tuned to a third channel of the plurality of available channels that is different than the first channel and the second channel and is adjacent or non-adjacent to the first channel and wherein the fourth 5 GHz radio of the second IEEE 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless AP is tuned to a fourth channel of the plurality of available channels that is different than the first channel, the second channel and the third channel and is adjacent or non-adjacent to the second channel;

a third IEEE 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless AP having a third coverage area and concurrently operating a 2.4 GHz radio and a fifth 5 GHz radio, wherein the fifth 5 GHz radio is tuned to a fifth channel of the plurality of available channels that is different than the first channel, the second channel, the third channel and the fourth channel and is adjacent or non-adjacent to the fourth channel and wherein the 2.4 GHz radio is tuned to a sixth channel of the plurality of available channels that is different than the first channel, the second channel, the third channel, the fourth channel and the fifth channel;

wherein the first coverage area, the second coverage area and the third coverage area overlap one another;

wherein the first channel, the second channel, the third channel, the fourth channel, the fifth channel and the sixth channel (“

Active Channels”

) are automatically assigned by a channel selection algorithm to provide a predefined separation index among the Active Channels that allows the first IEEE 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless AP, the second IEEE 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless AP and the third IEEE 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless AP to be placed in close proximity without experiencing co-channel or near channel interference; and

wherein the first IEEE 802.11 standard compliant dual radio wireless AP includes;

a recipient device location determination module computing locations of recipient devices to which packets are queued for transmission on the first 5 GHz radio and the second 5 GHz radio;

a direction identification module calculating angles in a horizontal plane to which a first antenna associated with the first 5 GHz radio and a second antenna associated with the second 5 GHz radio should be directed to transmit the packets based on the computed locations;

an interference detection module determining whether there is a potential for interference between the first antenna and the second antenna if the packets were to be transmitted in an order currently queued;

a transmission module transmitting the packets to avoid the potential for interference by reordering transmission of at least one of the packets when the potential for interference has been detected by the interference detection module.