Multi-media multi-modulation and multi-data rate mesh network

• US 9,843,985 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2015
• Issued: 12/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Itron Global Sarl (Itron, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Itron Global Sarl (Itron, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mainaud, Bastien, Nguyen, Viet-Hung, Van Wyk, Hartman, Buffington, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Liu, Jung-Jen
• Application Number:
  US14/634,696
• Publication Number:
  US 20150181500A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,019 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/46 Monitoring; Testing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0823 Errors, e.g. transmission errors
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/26 by agreed or negotiated communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/12 based on transmission quality or channel quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A node having a multiple protocol receiver may listen to multiple links in parallel and determine a quality of links having multiple communication technologies between the node and multiple neighbor nodes. The multiple communication technologies may include radio frequency (RF) communication technologies and one or more power line communication (PLC) communication technologies. The node determines a link quality metric for each link associated with an optimum communication technology and data rate, and maintains availability information of neighbor nodes. The node may then route communications to neighbor nodes using the link quality metric and the availability information.

Claims

1. A method implemented at least in part by a node of a multi-channel network configured with computer-executable instructions, the method comprising:

transmitting a request-to-send (RTS) message to a neighbor node, the RTS message designating channels for test;

receiving a clear-to-send (CTS) message from the neighbor node which indicates that the neighbor node is available to receive transmissions;

sending test data packets to the neighbor node according to the designated channels;

receiving test data packets from the neighbor node according to the designated channels;

computing a figure of merit (FOM) for communication links between the node and the neighbor node, wherein the FOM is based at least in part on the received test data packets, a received signal indicator (RSI), and a modulation used;

employing a routing protocol to select a communication link from the communication links for routing a data packet to the neighbor node based in part on the FOM associated with the selected communication link and an identified communications technology; and

transmitting the data packet to the neighbor node using the identified communication technology and an available data rate of the selected communication link.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the multi-channel network includes nodes of a low power and lossy network (LLN).

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a confirmation packet including a number of test data packets the node received from the neighbor node, the confirmation packet being usable by the neighbor node to evaluate link quality between the node and the neighbor node.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each test data packet includes an indication of a cost in time of transmission through a respective link.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein computing the FOM comprises evaluating a transmission quality of multiple channels between the node and immediate neighboring nodes to determine whether a predetermined number of qualified links exist, wherein the predetermined number is less than a number of links the node has with the immediate neighboring nodes.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein computing the FOM comprises computing an expected transmission time (ETT) according to the following equation:

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending an RTS message to another neighbor node, the RTS message designating channels to test;

receiving a CTS message from the another neighbor node, indicating that the another neighbor node is available to receive transmissions;

sending test data packets to the another neighbor node utilizing the designated channels to test;

receiving test data packets from the another neighbor node according to the sequence of channels to test; and

computing a link quality between the node and the another neighbor node based on the test data packets received from the another neighbor node.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising repeating the acts of claim 7 until the node has identified a predetermined number of links satisfying a predetermined link quality threshold.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising ranking neighbor nodes according to relative link quality of links between the node and the neighbor nodes.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising routing communications from the node to one or more of the neighbor nodes based on the ranking.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the RTS message comprises an indication that the node has a packet to transmit and will be unavailable for other transmissions for a period of time; and

the CTS message comprises an indication that the neighbor node will be unavailable for transmission for a period of time and that a designated transmission channel will be busy during the period of time.

12. One or more computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a node, configure the node to perform the method of claim 1.

13. A network computing device of a multi-channel communication network comprising:

one or more processors;

memory communicatively coupled to the one or more processors;

a figure of merit (FOM) determination module, stored in the memory and executable on the one or more processors, to;

send a request-to-send (RTS) message to one or more neighbor nodes, the RTS message designating channels to test and data rates to test;

determine, based at least in part on a response to test data packets, a link quality of communication links between the network computing device and each of the one or more neighbor nodes; and

qualify one or more of the communication links between the network computing device and the one or more neighbor nodes that meet a predetermined threshold quality; and

a routing module, stored in the memory and executable on the one or more processors, to;

select a communication link from among the one or more qualified communication links for routing a data packet to a particular neighbor node based in part on qualification of the selected communication link using an identified communications technology; and

route transmissions via the selected communications link using the identified communication technology and an available data rate of the selected communication link.

14. The network computing device of claim 13, further comprising:

a multi-channel radio capable of sending and receiving communications on multiple different channels;

a busy device list module configured to determine availability of nodes and to maintain a listing of the nodes which are or will be busy and a duration that they will be busy; and

a metrology module stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to collect resource consumption data, the resource consumption data comprising at least one of electricity consumption data, water consumption data, or natural gas consumption data.

15. A method implemented at least in part by a node of a multi-channel network configured with computer-executable instructions, the method comprising:

sending a request-to-send (RTS) message to a neighbor node, the RTS message designating channels to test;

receiving a clear-to-send (CTS) message from the neighbor node, indicating that the neighbor node is available to receive transmissions;

sending test data packets to the neighbor node according to the channels to test;

receiving test data packets from the neighbor node according to the channels to test;

computing a figure of merit (FOM) for communication links between the node and the neighbor node, wherein the FOM is based at least in part on the received test data packets, a received signal indicator (RSI), and a modulation used;

qualifying one or more of the communication links between the node and the neighbor node based at least in part on the FOM and a predetermined threshold quality;

selecting a communication link, according to a routing protocol, from among the one or more qualified communication links for routing a data packet to a particular neighbor node based in part on qualification of the selected communication link using an identified communications technology; and

transmitting information based at least in part on the selected communications link.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising sending a confirmation packet including a number of test data packets the node received from the neighbor node, the confirmation packet being usable by the neighbor node to evaluate the link quality between the node and the neighbor node.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein each test data packet includes an indication of a cost in time of transmission through a respective link.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein computing the FOM comprises computing an expected transmission time (ETT) according to the following equation:

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

sending a RTS message to another neighbor node, the RTS message designating channels to test;

receiving a CTS message from the another neighbor node, indicating that the another neighbor node is available to receive transmissions;

sending test data packets to the another neighbor node using the channels to test;

receiving test data packets from the another neighbor node using the channels to test; and

computing a link quality between the node and the another neighbor node based on the received test data packets.

20. One or more computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a node, configure the node to perform the method of claim 15.