Managing power consumption in tree-based tdma multi-hop wireless networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016112950-A1
Application number	US-201514883770-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 15, 2015
Priority date	Oct 17, 2014
Publication date	Apr 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Method for managing power consumption in tree-based, Time-Division Multiple Access (TDMA), multi-hop wireless networks. The method includes at each node set the steps of: relinquishing its initial role in the network if a condition related to the power consumption of the node is not met; and adopting a new role in the network according to a TDMA protocol of said network; wherein the node stops emitting beacons to a child node thereof and/or stops acknowledging beacons from a parent node, and wherein each node has a lower power consumption in this new role than it had in its initial role.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for managing power consumption at each node set in a tree-based, Time-Division Multiple Access (TDMA) multi-hop wireless network, which includes a set of nodes powered by a battery, the method comprising:
relinquishing initial role of the node in the network if a condition related to the power consumption of the node is not met; and adopting a new role in the network according to a TDMA protocol of said network; wherein the node stops emitting beacons to a child node and/or stops acknowledging beacons from a parent node; and wherein said each node has a lower power consumption in this new role than it had in its initial role.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, at each node of set the step of:
relinquishing its initial role and prior to adopting said new role, going into a lower power consumption mode than in its initial role during a period of time.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein said period of time is an upper bound for a time needed for children of each node to re-attach to the network according to a TDMA protocol, wherein said upper bound is computed at a node prior to relinquishing its initial role.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein said period of time depends on the tree depth and the number of children of each node.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the method further comprises:
updating its own tree depth and number of children prior to relinquishing its initial role at each of set of nodes.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein adopting said new role comprises:
re-attaching to the network upon expiration of a period of time that is an upper bound for a time needed for children of each node to re-attach to the network according to a TDMA protocol for each node.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein re-attaching to the network comprises:
negotiating according to a TDMA protocol to re-attach as a leaf node.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein negotiating comprises:
accepting to handle, as a parent node, one or more of the child nodes that each node already had before relinquishing its initial role.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises:
reading a current power level of the battery wherein each node relinquishes its initial role if the read power level is below a given threshold.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein each node of said set is powered by a respective battery:
wherein reading said current power level includes reading a current power level of a respective battery of each node, and wherein said given threshold is a threshold specific to that node.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the method further comprises:
receiving at each node, said given threshold that has been propagated to each node via the network prior to reading said current power level.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein a node relinquishes its initial role to adopt the role of another one of the nodes so that said another one of the nodes henceforth handles at least one child node that said node had in its initial role.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the nodes of set concurrently implement a tree-based TDMA multi-hop wireless network of nodes equipped with designed computerized methods.

14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the nodes of set concurrently implement a tree-based TDMA multi-hop wireless network of nodes equipped with designed computerized methods.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a tree-based TDMA multi-hop wireless network node equipped with designed computerized methods.

16 . An article of manufacture tangibly embodying a non-transitory computer-readable program code which, when executed, causes the computer program to implement the steps of a method for managing power consumption in a tree-based TDMA multi-hop wireless network of nodes, wherein the method comprises:
relinquishing initial role of the node in the network if a condition related to the power consumption of the node is not met; and adopting a new role in the network according to a TDMA protocol of said network; wherein the node stops emitting beacons to a child node and/or stops acknowledging beacons from a parent node; and wherein said each node has a lower power consumption in this new role than it had in its initial role.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Caracas Alexandru
• Oestreicher Marcus B

Classifications

• H04W84/20

  Leader-follower arrangements · CPC title

• H04W52/0222

  in packet switched networks · CPC title

• H04W52/0219 Primary

  where the power saving management affects multiple terminals · CPC title

• H04W84/18

  Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks · CPC title

• Y02D30/70

  in wireless communication networks · CPC title