Configuring and optimizing a wireless mesh network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9730078-B2
Application number	US-20173408-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 29, 2008
Priority date	Aug 31, 2007
Publication date	Aug 8, 2017
Grant date	Aug 8, 2017

Abstract

An interactive software-based network design tool that may be used to simulate and view the operation of a wireless mesh device network used in a process plant, such as a wireless HART device network, allows a user to create a model of a wireless network, input several design requirements, and automatically generate and view communication routes and schedules for the wireless network. The network design tool provides an interactive graphic interface for the addition, removal, and positioning of nodes and devices within the wireless network and a menu including several interactive screens for specifying threshold values, network topology selections, routing preferences, and other configuration parameters related to generating and optimizing communication routes and schedules within the wireless mesh network. The network design tool automatically applies a set of optimization rules along with the parameters input by user to the network model in order to generate efficient network configuration data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium having a set of instructions stored thereon, wherein the set of instructions, when executed on a processor, implement a communication modeling system, the system comprising:
an output module that provides network configuration data as an output, the network configuration data including a communication schedule for a plurality of devices coupled to a wireless communication network;
an interface module (i) to receive input data provided by a user that describes the plurality of devices coupled to the wireless communication network without describing a timing of communications between the plurality of devices, and (ii) to store the input data on a computer-readable medium,
the plurality of devices including one or more field devices configured to perform control or measurement functions for a process controlled within a process control plant, and
the wireless communication network communicatively coupled to a plant automation network of the process control plant; and

an engine module communicatively coupled to the interface module to generate the network configuration data using the input data and a set of rules associated with a wireless communication scheme, wherein the network configuration data is used to configure the wireless communication network;
wherein the generated network configuration data includes the communication schedule, wherein the communication schedule is generated according to the input data provided by the user and defines the timing of communications between the plurality of devices.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the input data includes geographic information related to at least some of the plurality of devices, wherein the geographic information is indicative of a physical location of one of the plurality of devices relative to at least another one of the plurality of devices.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the input data includes a device type for at least one of the plurality of devices; wherein the at least of the one of the plurality of devices is one of:
a one of the one or more field devices;
a router device that routes data between at least two of the plurality of devices without consuming or originating process control data;
a gateway device that connects the wireless communication network to an external host; or
a wireless access point that communicates with at least another of the plurality of devices in a wireless manner and with a gateway device in a wired manner.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the input data includes at least one of the following for at least one of the plurality of devices:
a burst rate corresponding to a rate of reporting measurements associated with process control to another one of the plurality of devices;
a power supply type corresponding to one of a permanent power source or a non-permanent power source supplying power to the at least one of the plurality of devices; or
a signal strength corresponding to a strength of a radio signal transmitted from the at least one of the plurality of devices.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication scheme corresponds to a wireless Highway Addressable Remote Transmitter (HART®) communication protocol that shares a common application layer with a wired HART communication protocol used by the plant automation network.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the network configuration data further includes a routing scheme defining a set of communication routes between the plurality of devices;
wherein the input data includes geographic information for each of the plurality of devices; and
wherein the engine module includes: a graph generator to define direct wireless connections between pairs of the plurality of devices as a part of the routing scheme using the geographic information.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the network configuration data further includes a routing scheme defining a set of communication routes between the plurality of devices;
wherein each communication route in the set of communication routes includes a directed graph connecting a pair of the plurality of devices via one or several direct wireless connections;
wherein the engine module includes: a graph generator to generate a set of directed graphs using the input data.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the interface module includes:
a parameter selection routine to specify at least one of:
a maximum number of intermediate devices to be associated with each one of the set of directed graphs;
a maximum number of devices to consider as candidates for establishing a direct wireless connection to any one of the plurality of devices; or
a signal strength difference value for selecting between a first communication path connecting a pair of the plurality of devices and having a first number of intermediate devices and a second communication path connecting the pair of the plurality of devices having a second number of intermediate devices greater than the first number, wherein the signal strength difference corresponds to an amount by which signal strength associated of the second communication path must exceed signal strength associated with the first communication path to prefer the second communication path to the first communication path.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the engine module includes:
an Extended Mark-up Language (XML) generator to generate an XML description of the communication schedule.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of devices communicates wirelessly with at least another one of the plurality of devices along a corresponding direct wireless connection; and wherein the engine module comprises:
a schedule generator to allocate a plurality of timeslots associated with a plurality of communication channels to the plurality of direct wireless connections as a part of the communication schedule.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the engine module uses the input data to generate a network model; wherein the network model includes a plurality of nodes each corresponding to one of the plurality of devices; and wherein the interface module includes:
a node addition routine to add a node to the plurality of nodes;
a node removal routine to remove a node from the plurality of nodes; and
a node positioning routine to associate one of the plurality of nodes with a geographical position relative to at least another one of the plurality of nodes; wherein each of the node addition routine, the node removal routine, and the node positioning routine is responsive to user input.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the engine module uses the input data to generate a network model; and wherein the interface module communicates with an input device to receive user commands to edit the network model; and wherein the output module interacts with a display device to render a representation of the network model thereon.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the engine module defines a set of direct wireless connections between pairs of the plurality of devices using the input data; and wherein the interface module includes:
a graphical user interface (GUI) routine to display the plurality of devices as a plurality of nodes interconnected by the set of direct connections.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the input data includes information indicative of a physical location of a fi

Assignees

• Nixon Mark J
• Lucas John M
• Fisher Rosemount Systems Inc

Inventors

• Nixon Mark J
• Lucas John M

Classifications

• H04W40/16

  based on interference · CPC title

• H04L41/22 Primary

  comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI] · CPC title

• H04L41/24 Primary

  using dedicated network management hardware · CPC title

• H04W84/18

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

• H04L45/122

  by minimising distances, e.g. by selecting a route with minimum of number of hops · CPC title