Automatically deployed wireless network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10039031-B2
Application number	US-201514744642-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 19, 2015
Priority date	Jun 19, 2015
Publication date	Jul 31, 2018
Grant date	Jul 31, 2018

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for an automatically deployed wireless network. According to one embodiment, an access point controller (AC) determines the existence of a network anomaly at a position of a wireless network that is managed by the AC. Responsive thereto, the AC causes an unmanned vehicle that carries a movable access point (AP) to carry the movable AP to the position or proximate thereto and causes the movable AP to provide wireless network service to an area encompassing the position by sending a dispatch command to the unmanned vehicle. The dispatch command instructs the unmanned vehicle to move to the position or proximate thereto.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
determining, by a WiFi access point controller (AC), the existence of a network anomaly at a position of a wireless network managed by the AC;
causing, by the AC, an unmanned vehicle that carries a movable WiFi access point (AP) to carry the movable WiFi AP to the position or to a coverage area encompassing the position and causing, by the AC, the movable WiFi AP to provide wireless network service to the coverage area by sending a dispatch command to the unmanned vehicle, wherein the dispatch command instructs the unmanned vehicle to move to the position or the coverage area;
and pushing, by the AC, a mesh profile of the wireless network to the movable WiFi AP.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
registering, by the AC, a position of a fixed AP of the wireless network;
detecting, by the AC, network traffic traversing the fixed AP; and
determining, by the AC, the existence of network congestion at the position of the fixed AP based on the network traffic traversing the fixed AP exceeding a predefined threshold.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
registering, by the AC, information regarding positions of a plurality of fixed access points (APs) of the wireless network, wherein the plurality of fixed APs are capable of providing wireless network service to the coverage area encompassing the position;
detecting, by the AC, network traffic traversing each of the plurality of fixed APs;
and determining, by the AC, the existence of a failure on the part of the plurality of fixed APs to effectively perform load balancing of the network traffic.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising predicting, by the AC, that network congestion is imminent in relation to the position based on an observed trend of network traffic being handled by a fixed AP of the wireless network associated with the position.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising predicting, by the AC, that the network congestion is likely to occur at the position of the wireless network based on a schedule of an event.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sending, by the AC, a keep-alive message to a fixed AP associated with the position;
when no response is received from the fixed AP by the AC within a predetermined amount of time, then determining that a network outage has occurred at the position.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dispatch command includes one or more of
information identifying a fixed AP within the wireless network;
information identifying a destination; and
information identifying a route to the destination.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising: determining, by the AC, current positions of a plurality unmanned vehicles, including the unmanned vehicle; and selecting, by the AC, the unmanned vehicle from the plurality of unmanned vehicles to be dispatched to the position of the network anomaly or to the coverage area encompassing the position of the network anomaly.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
determining, by the unmanned vehicle, the route to the destination; and carrying, by the unmanned vehicle, the movable WiFi AP to the destination based on the determined route.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein said carrying, by the unmanned vehicle, the movable WiFi AP to the position or the coverage area further comprises carrying, by the unmanned vehicle, the movable WiFi AP to the position or the coverage area based on the information identifying the route.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing, by the movable WiFi AP, wireless network service at the position further comprises: connecting, by the movable WiFi AP, to the wireless network by a mesh network root AP.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium embodying a set of instructions, which when executed by one or more processors of a WiFi access point controller (AC), cause the one or more processors to perform a method comprising:
determining the existence of a network anomaly at a position of a wireless network managed by the AC;
causing an unmanned vehicle that carries a movable WiFi access point (AP) to carry the movable WiFi AP to the position or a coverage area encompassing the position and causing the movable WiFi AP to provide wireless network service to the coverage area by sending a dispatch command to the unmanned vehicle, wherein the dispatch command instructs the unmanned vehicle to move to the position or the coverage area, and wherein the dispatch command includes one or more of:
information identifying a fixed AP within the wireless network;
information identifying a destination;
and information identifying a route to the destination; the method further comprising:
determining current positions of a plurality unmanned vehicles, including the unmanned vehicle;
selecting the unmanned vehicle from the plurality of unmanned vehicles to be dispatched to the position of the network anomaly or the coverage area encompassing the position of the network anomaly; and
pushing, by the AC, an AP profile or a mesh profile of the wireless network to the movable WiFi AP.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises:
registering a position of a fixed AP of the wireless network;
detecting network traffic traversing the fixed AP; and
determining the existence of network congestion at the position of the fixed AP based on the network traffic traversing the fixed AP exceeding a predefined threshold.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises:
registering information regarding positions of a plurality of fixed access points (APs) of the wireless network, wherein the plurality of fixed APs are capable of providing wireless network service to the coverage area encompassing the position;
detecting network traffic traversing each of the plurality of fixed APs; and
determining the existence of a failure on the part of the plurality of fixed APs to effectively perform load balancing of the network traffic.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises predicting that network congestion is imminent in relation to the position based on an observed trend of network traffic being handled by a fixed AP of the wireless network associated with the position.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises predicting that the network congestion is likely to occur at the position of the wireless network based on a schedule of an event.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises:
sending a keep-alive message to a fixed AP associated with the position;
when no response is received from the fixed AP within a predetermined amount of time, then determining that a network outage has occurred at the position.

Assignees

• Fortinet Inc

Inventors

• Chechani Pankajkumar V

Classifications

• B64U2201/104

  using satellite radio beacon positioning systems, e.g. GPS · CPC title

• B64U2201/10

  autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS] · CPC title

• G05D1/104

  involving a plurality of aircrafts, e.g. formation flying (traffic control systems for aircraft G08G5/00) · CPC title

• B64C39/024

  of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV · CPC title

• H04W16/18

  Network planning tools · CPC title