Determination of communication routes in a wireless communication network

• US 9,338,058 B2
• Filed: 05/17/2013
• Issued: 05/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG (ABB Limited)
• Original Assignee: ABB Research Ltd. (ABB Limited)
• Inventors: Gidlund, Mikael, kerberg, Johan, Zhibo, Pang, Yu, Kan
• Primary Examiner(s): KHAJURIA, SHRIPAL K
• Application Number:
  US14/411,555
• Publication Number:
  US 20150156070A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,089 Days
• Field of Search: 370/338
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/123 Evaluation of link metrics techniques for monitoring network metrics H04L43/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/26 Route discovery packet
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/12 based on transmission quality or channel quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/24 Connectivity information management, e.g. connectivity discovery or connectivity update

Abstract

A network manager device in an industrial wireless network sends a network investigating message to other network nodes for processing and forwarding through the network, the message including a message weight. A wireless communication device providing a node in the network receives the message from another network node, determines a communication weight based on the quality of communication, adds the communication weight to the message weight and compares the sum with the node weight. If the sum is lower than the node weight, it is set as new node weight and as new message weight, whereupon the changed message is sent to other nodes in the network. The network manager device maps the topology of the network based on updated node weights, sets a communication scheduling scheme based on the mapped topology and informs the network nodes of the scheme.

Claims

1. A method for allowing a network manager device to determine communication paths in an industrial wireless network, the method being performed by a wireless communication device being a node in the industrial wireless communication network, the wireless communication device having node configuration data comprising a node weight and the method comprising the steps of:

receiving, a network investigating message from another network node, the network investigating message comprising a message weight; and

inspecting the network investigating message and performing further processing of the network investigating message based on the results of the inspection,

where the inspecting comprises;

determining a communication weight based on the quality of communication with the other node;

forming an intermediate weight through combining the communication weight with the message weight; and

comparing the intermediate weight with the node weight,

where the further processing is performed if the message weight is lower than the intermediate weight and comprises;

setting the intermediate weight as new node weight, weight;

setting the intermediate weight as new message weight, weight; and

sending the changed network investigating message having the new message weight to other nodes in the network.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of sending a node configuration message with node configuration data to the network manager device, the node configuration data comprising node configuration data that has been updated through the processing of the network investigating message including an updated node weight.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the node configuration message comprises data sent as a response to an original network investigating message sent by the network manager device.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of sending a data message intended for the network manager device, the data message comprising the updated node weight and data to be reported to the network manager device.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a data message from another network node, said data message comprising a node weight of a message originating node;

comparing the received node weight with the own node weight; and

forwarding the data message to other nodes in case the received node weight is higher than the own node weight.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the node configuration data comprises a node hop number and the network investigating message comprises a message hop number, the method further comprising the step of comparing the node hop number with the message hop number, where the inspecting and further processing is only performed if the message hop number is lower than or equal to the node hop number and in this case the further processing also comprises changing the node hop number to the message hop number and increasing the message hop number.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the network investigating message comprises an identifier of the other node and the processing based on the investigation further comprises the step of storing the identifier of the other node as a parent node in the node configuration data.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the node configuration data comprises a node hop counter values and the node investigating message comprises a message hop counter value.

19. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of sending a data message intended for the network manager device, the data message comprising the updated node weight and data to be reported to the network manager device.

20. The method according to claim 3, further comprising the step of sending a data message intended for the network manager device, the data message comprising the updated node weight and data to be reported to the network manager device.

8. A wireless communication device for an industrial wireless network, the wireless communication device providing a node in the industrial wireless network and comprising:

a wireless transmitter;

a wireless receiver;

a node configuration memory comprising node configuration data including a node weight; and

a node configuration control unit configured to;

receive a network investigating message from another network node, the network investigating message comprising a message weight; and

inspect the network investigating message and perform further processing of the network investigating message based on the results of the inspecting, where the inspecting comprises;

determining a communication weight based on the quality of communication with the other node;

forming an intermediate weight through combining the communication weight with the message weight; and

comparing the intermediate weight with the node weight,

where the further processing is performed if the intermediate weight is lower than the node weight and comprises

setting the intermediate weight as new node weight;

setting the intermediate weight as new message weight; and

sending a changed network investigating message having the new message weight to other nodes in the network.

9. The wireless communication device according to claim 8, further compromising a data message handling unit configured to receive a data message from another network node, said data message comprising a node weight of a message originating node, compare the received node weight with the own node weight and forward the data message to other nodes in case the received node weight is higher than the own node weight.

10. A computer program product for a wireless communication device, the wireless communication device providing a node in an industrial wireless network and being provided with a node weight,

the computer program product comprising a non-transitory data carrier with computer program code which when run on a processor forming a node configuration control unit of the wireless communication device, causes the node configuration control unit to:

receive a network investigating message from another network node, the network investigating message comprising a message weight; and

inspect the network investigating message and perform further processing of the network investigating message based on the results of the inspecting,

where the inspecting comprises

determining a communication weight based on the quality of communication with the other node;

forming an intermediate weight through combining the communication weight with the message weight; and

comparing the intermediate weight with the node weight,

where the further processing is performed if the intermediate weight is lower than the node weight and comprises

setting the intermediate weight as new node weight;

setting the intermediate weight as new message weight; and

sending a changed network investigating message having the new message weight to other nodes in the network.

11. A method for investigating communication paths in an industrial wireless network, the method being performed by a network manager device of the industrial wireless network and comprising the steps of:

sending a network investigating message to at least one other network node for being processed and forwarded through the industrial wireless network, the network investigating message comprising a message weight;

receiving node configuration messages from the other nodes of the industrial wireless network, the node configuration messages comprising node configuration data that has been updated through processing of the network investigating message in the network nodes, the node configuration data of a node configuration message comprising a node weight of a corresponding node having been updated based on a message weight;

mapping the topology of the wireless communication network based on the node configuration data in the received node configuration messages;

setting a communication scheduling scheme based on the mapped topology; and

informing the network nodes of the communication scheduling scheme.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the node configuration data comprises parent node data for the network nodes.

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein the network investigating message is periodically sent in the industrial wireless network.

15. The method according to claim 11, wherein the network manager device comprises an own node weight and further comprising the steps of:

receiving a data message from a network node, said data message comprising a node weight of a message originating node;

comparing the received node weight with the own node weight; and

processing the data message in case the received node weight is higher than the own node weight.

16. A network manager device for an industrial wireless network, the wireless network managing device comprising:

a network topology determining unit configured to;

send a network investigating message to at least one other network node for being processed and forwarded through the industrial wireless network, the network investigating message comprising a message weight;

receive node configuration messages from the other nodes of the network, the node configuration messages comprising node configuration data that has been updated through processing of the network investigating message in the network nodes, the node configuration data of a node configuration message comprising a node weight of a corresponding node having been updated based on a message weight;

map the topology of the network based on the node configuration data in the received node configuration messages;

set a communication scheduling scheme based on the mapped topology; and

inform the network nodes of the communication scheduling scheme.

17. The network manager device according to claim 16, further comprising an own node weight and a data handling unit configured to receive a data message from a network node, said data message comprising a node weight of a message originating node, compare the received node weight with the own node weight and process the data message in case the received node weight is higher than the own node weight.

18. A computer program product for a network manager device of an industrial wireless network,

the computer program product comprising a non-transitory data carrier with computer program code which when run on a processor forming a network topology determining unit of the network manager device, causes the network manager device to:

send a network investigating message to at least one other network node for being processed and forwarded through the industrial wireless network, the network investigating message comprising a message weight;

receive node configuration messages from the other nodes of the network, the node configuration messages comprising node configuration data that has been updated through processing of the network investigating message in the network nodes, the node configuration data of a node configuration message comprising a node weight of a corresponding node having been updated based on a message weight;

map the topology of the network based on the node configuration data in the received node configuration messages;

set a communication scheduling scheme based on the mapped topology; and

inform the network nodes of the communication scheduling scheme.