Relay-assisted communication method and related devices based on long-distance wide area networks

Abstract

This application discloses a relay-assisted communication method based on a long-range wide area network (LoRaWAN), which can improve the throughput and communication reliability of the LoRaWAN network. The method includes: when in a first time period, determining a set of unforwarded data packets based on a set of target data packets sent by a set of target terminals, wherein the set of target terminals includes at least two terminals; the first time period overlaps with a duty cycle-limited time period, which represents the time period during which data packets cannot be sent due to duty cycle constraints; determining a set of data packets to be forwarded based on the set of unforwarded data packets; generating an accumulated data packet based on the set of data packets to be forwarded; and when in a transmission time slot, sending the accumulated data packet to a gateway device, wherein the first time period is before the transmission time slot.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a relay-assisted communication method and related apparatus based on a remote wide area network. Background Technology

[0002] Long-Range Wide-Area Networks (LoRaWAN) is a communication protocol and system architecture designed for long-distance LoRa communication networks. It is a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer protocol. In LoRaWAN, the distance between each terminal device and the gateway device is not uniform. When a terminal device is close to the gateway device, its communication performance is better; when a terminal device is far from the gateway device, its communication performance is poor, with higher latency, lower packet delivery rate, and lower throughput. When a terminal device is far from the gateway device, a relay device can be added between the terminal device and the gateway device to improve the communication performance of the terminal device far from the gateway device. Relay-assisted communication architectures include single-relay architectures and multi-relay architectures.

[0003] One relay-assisted communication method involves multiple terminal devices sending data packets to multiple relay devices in the uplink. These relay devices then forward the packets to a gateway device, which in turn communicates with other terminal devices. However, LoRaWAN specifies a duty cycle limit, meaning no data can be transmitted during the interval between two data packet transmissions. If a relay device forwards a data packet to the gateway device, and then the relay device is within its duty cycle limit period, subsequent data packets sent by terminal devices to that relay device cannot be forwarded to the gateway device. The terminal device must retransmit the data packet, and the relay device will forward it to the gateway device when it is outside its duty cycle limit period.

[0004] However, during the duty cycle restriction period, the relay device cannot forward the data packets sent by the terminal device to the gateway device. The terminal device needs to retransmit the data packets to the relay device. When the relay device is in a non-duty cycle restriction period, it forwards the retransmitted data packets to the gateway device. The multiple retransmissions by the terminal device lead to a decrease in LoRaWAN network throughput and an increase in transmission interference. When the terminal device sends a large number of data packets, the relay device's upload time slots are fully occupied, causing some data packets sent by the terminal device to be unable to be forwarded to the gateway device, resulting in low reliability of LoRaWAN network communication. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The main objective of this application is to propose a relay-assisted communication method and related apparatus based on a remote wide area network, which aims to improve the throughput and communication reliability of LoRaWAN networks.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, embodiments of this application provide a relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network. The method includes the following steps: when in a first time period, determining a set of unforwarded data packets based on a set of target data packets sent by a set of target terminals, wherein the set of target terminals includes at least two terminals, the first time period overlaps with a duty cycle-limited time period, and the duty cycle-limited time period represents the time period during which data packets cannot be sent due to duty cycle constraints; determining a set of data packets to be forwarded based on the set of unforwarded data packets; generating an accumulated data packet based on the set of data packets to be forwarded; and when in a transmission time slot, sending an accumulated data packet to a gateway device, wherein the first time period is before the transmission time slot.

[0007] To achieve the above objectives, embodiments of this application also provide a relay device, which includes a memory, a processor, a program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, and a data bus for implementing communication between the processor and the memory. When the program is executed by the processor, it implements the steps of the aforementioned relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network.

[0008] To achieve the above objectives, this application provides a storage medium for computer-readable storage, wherein the storage medium stores one or more programs that can be executed by one or more processors to implement the steps of the aforementioned relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network.

[0009] The relay-assisted communication method and related apparatus based on a remote wide area network proposed in this application collect a set of unforwarded data packets from target data packets sent by a set of target terminals during a first time period that overlaps with the duty cycle restriction period before the transmission time slot. Based on the unforwarded data packet set, a set of data packets to be forwarded is determined, and an accumulated data packet is generated. When the transmission time slot is in effect, this accumulated data packet is sent to the gateway device. By collecting data packets within the duty cycle restriction period, the number of data packet retransmissions by terminal devices can be significantly reduced, increasing the throughput of the LoRaWAN network and reducing transmission interference. By generating an accumulated data packet, the number of data packets sent in the transmission time slot can be significantly increased, reducing the probability of the transmission time slot being fully occupied and improving the communication reliability of the LoRaWAN network. Attached Figure Description

[0010] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are some embodiments of this application. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0011] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the architecture of a LoRaWAN communication network;

[0012] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the architecture of a LoRaWAN single-relay-assisted communication network;

[0013] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the architecture of a LoRaWAN multi-relay auxiliary communication network;

[0014] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the architecture of a LoRaWAN multi-relay assisted communication network provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0015] Figure 5 A flowchart illustrating one step of a relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network provided in this application embodiment;

[0016] Figure 6 Another step of the relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network provided in the embodiments of this application is shown in the flowchart.

[0017] Figure 7 Another step of the relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network provided in the embodiments of this application is shown in the flowchart.

[0018] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of power-based terminal device transmission filtering provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0019] Figure 9 Another step of the relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network provided in the embodiments of this application is shown in the flowchart.

[0020] Figure 10 A schematic diagram illustrating time-based terminal device transmission filtering provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0021] Figure 11 Another step of the relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network provided in the embodiments of this application is shown in the flowchart.

[0022] Figure 12 Another step of the relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network provided in the embodiments of this application is shown in the flowchart.

[0023] Figure 13Another step of the relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network provided in the embodiments of this application is shown in the flowchart.

[0024] Figure 14 A schematic diagram illustrating an application scenario of the relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network provided in this application embodiment;

[0025] Figure 15 A schematic diagram illustrating simultaneous power-based and time-based terminal device transmission filtering provided for embodiments of this application;

[0026] Figure 16 A schematic diagram illustrating another application scenario of the relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network provided in this application embodiment;

[0027] Figure 17 A schematic diagram illustrating another application scenario of the relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network provided in this application embodiment;

[0028] Figure 18 This is a schematic diagram of a relay device provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0029] The Internet of Things (IoT) aims to connect people and things, and things with each other, through communication technologies. While local area network (LAN) communication scenarios such as smart homes and industrial data acquisition typically employ short-range communication technologies, wide-area and long-distance communication scenarios require long-range communication technologies. Low-Power Wide-Area Networks (LPWANs) are long-range wireless communication technologies developed specifically to meet the needs of wide-area and long-distance communication scenarios in the IoT.

[0030] LoRa defines a wireless modulation method for LPWAN. In addition to defining the LPWAN wireless modulation method, it also defines the Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol at the data link layer. Long-Range Wide-Area Networks (LoRaWAN) further defines the communication protocol and the network architecture based on the communication protocol and the MAC protocol.

[0031] Please see Figure 1 , Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the LoRaWAN network architecture. The LoRaWAN network topology is a "star within a star," a star or star-to-star topology. (The last sentence appears to be incomplete and possibly refers to a different topic.) Figure 1The LoRaWAN network architecture shown includes terminal devices, gateway devices, network servers, and application servers. Terminal devices communicate with the gateway via a single wireless hop; the gateway uses a higher-throughput backhaul interface, such as Ethernet, 3G / 4G, satellite, or Wi-Fi, to send data received from the terminal devices to the network server; the network server decodes the data packets sent by the terminal devices, performs security checks, and sends the data to the application server. The network server also sends acknowledgments (ACKs) to the terminal devices. The network server connects the terminal devices, gateways, and end-user applications, ensuring reliable and secure data routing throughout the LoRaWAN network.

[0032] The communication protocols of the LoRaWAN network include:

[0033] (1) Nodes can only send data to the gateway; communication between nodes is not possible.

[0034] (2) Communication is also impossible between gateways;

[0035] (3) Multiple node modules correspond to one gateway for communication and transmission;

[0036] (4) The gateway has 8 parallel receiving channels, each channel corresponds to a frequency, and each channel can receive all the spreading factors (SF);

[0037] (5) Random transmission intervals and random channels used for each data packet can greatly reduce the possibility of data collisions;

[0038] (6) Different SFs will not interfere with each other.

[0039] In the communication protocol of the LoRaWAN network described above, data transmission is random, leading to data collisions. When the number of terminal devices connected to a gateway exceeds the number of shared channels, the severity of data transmission collisions increases, and the throughput of the LoRaWAN network is limited by these collisions.

[0040] To mitigate this issue, the LoRaWAN network communication protocol further defines a duty cycle limit, which stipulates that there must be a period of time between the transmission of two data packets during which no content, including ACKs, can be transmitted. This aims to reduce the severity of collisions. For example, when the duty cycle limit is 1%, the LoRaWAN network communication protocol ensures that the interval between any two consecutive data packet transmissions is at least 99 times the length of the first data packet, during which no content can be transmitted.

[0041] In the LoRaWAN network communication protocol described above, due to the capture effect and imperfect orthogonality, there is a lack of fairness in data transmission between terminal devices. The gateway device can only recover data packets sent by the terminal device with the highest receive power at the gateway, but cannot recover data packets sent by terminal devices with lower receive power. Data packets sent by terminal devices farther from the gateway device have lower receive power at the gateway device, resulting in lower throughput and lower transmission reliability for terminal devices far from the gateway. Terminal devices far from the gateway often retransmit their data packets multiple times to ensure successful transmission, thereby increasing network load and the number of collisions, leading to increased latency, reduced packet delivery rate, and decreased throughput.

[0042] By adding relay devices to facilitate communication between terminal devices and gateway devices, the issue of insufficient fairness in data transmission between terminal devices in LoRaWAN networks can be resolved. Adding relay devices allows terminal devices located far from the gateway device to connect to it, ensuring that data packets sent by these remote devices are not blocked by the gateway.

[0043] LoRaWAN-based relay-assisted network architectures include single-relay-assisted network architectures and multi-relay-assisted network architectures.

[0044] Please see Figure 2 , Figure 2 This is a single-relay-assisted network architecture based on LoRaWAN. In, for example... Figure 2 In the LoRaWAN-based single-relay auxiliary network architecture shown, triangle 1 represents the terminal, pentagram 2 represents the relay device, and square box 3 represents the gateway device.

[0045] When a terminal device needs to relay communication with a gateway device, the relay device joins the communication link between the terminal device and the gateway device. Data packets sent by the terminal device to the gateway device are forwarded to the gateway device through the relay device. In a LoRaWAN network, data transmission must comply with duty cycle restrictions. The relay device forwards data packets from only one terminal device at a time. After a terminal device sends a data packet to the relay device, it enters the duty cycle restriction period and stops sending data packets. After the relay device forwards a data packet to the gateway device, it enters the duty cycle restriction period. Since the terminal device has already entered the duty cycle restriction period, the relay device will not receive data packets from the terminal device.

[0046] However, a single relay device is insufficient to meet the auxiliary communication needs between terminal devices and gateway devices. To address the relay auxiliary communication needs of a large number of terminal devices, a multi-relay auxiliary network architecture based on LoRaWAN can be adopted.

[0047] Please see Figure 3 , Figure 3 This is a multi-relay auxiliary network architecture based on LoRaWAN. In, for example... Figure 3 In the LoRaWAN-based multi-relay auxiliary network architecture shown, triangle 4 represents the terminal, pentagram 5 represents multiple relay devices, and square box 6 represents the gateway device.

[0048] To meet the relay-assisted communication needs of a large number of terminal devices and gateway devices, it is necessary to improve the utilization efficiency of relay devices. Therefore, each relay device needs to assist the communication between multiple terminal devices and gateway devices at the same time. In a LoRaWAN network, data transmission needs to comply with duty cycle restrictions. When a terminal sends a data packet to a relay device, the relay device forwards the data packet sent by the terminal device to the gateway device, and the relay device enters the duty cycle restriction period. When another terminal device can send a data packet to the relay device, because the relay device has already forwarded the data packet of the previous terminal device and entered the duty cycle restriction period, it cannot forward the data packet sent by the other terminal device. Therefore, the data packet sent by the other terminal device fails and needs to be retransmitted to the relay device multiple times. When the relay device is in an idle transmission slot, it forwards the retransmitted data packet to the gateway device.

[0049] Repeated retransmission of data packets by terminal devices leads to reduced throughput and increased transmission interference in LoRaWAN networks. When a terminal device sends a large number of data packets, the upload time slots of the relay devices are fully occupied, and some data packets sent by the terminal devices fail to be forwarded to the gateway devices, resulting in low reliability of LoRaWAN network communication. Therefore, improving throughput and reliability in a multi-relay assisted network architecture based on LoRaWAN is a pressing issue that needs to be addressed.

[0050] To address the aforementioned problems, this application provides a relay-assisted communication method and related apparatus based on a remote wide area network.

[0051] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of this application, not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of this application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0052] The flowchart shown in the attached diagram is for illustrative purposes only and does not necessarily include all content and operations / steps, nor does it necessarily have to be performed in the order described. For example, some operations / steps can be broken down, combined, or partially merged, so the actual execution order may change depending on the actual situation.

[0053] It should be understood that the terminology used in this specification is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit the scope of the application. As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

[0054] It should also be understood that the term “and / or” as used in this application specification and the appended claims means any combination of one or more of the associated listed items and all possible combinations, and includes such combinations.

[0055] It should also be understood that, without conflict, the following embodiments and features can be combined with each other.

[0056] Please see Figure 4 , Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of a multi-relay auxiliary communication network architecture based on LoRaWAN provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0057] In such Figure 4 The LoRaWAN-based multi-relay assisted communication network architecture shown includes a gateway, multiple relay devices, and multiple terminal devices, where triangles represent terminals, pentagrams represent relay devices, and square boxes represent gateway devices.

[0058] Path 10 indicates that terminal device 11 can send data packets directly to gateway device 8 within a certain time period.

[0059] The message sent by terminal 11 to gateway device 8 can be received by multiple relays simultaneously.

[0060] Path 9 indicates that terminal device 11 can send data packets through relay device 7, which will then forward them to gateway device 8.

[0061] The relay device 7 can not only forward data packets sent by the terminal device 11, but also data packets sent by other terminal devices within a certain area.

[0062] The relay device will collect all data packets received while in listening mode, and during idle transmission time slots, it will generate an accumulated data packet from the collected data packets and send it to the gateway device.

[0063] When generating a cumulative data packet, the collected packets can be filtered. Specific filtering methods can be based on power or time.

[0064] based on Figure 4The LoRaWAN-based multi-relay assisted communication network architecture shown in this application embodiment provides a relay assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network.

[0065] Please see Figure 5 , Figure 5 A flowchart illustrating one step of a relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network provided in this application embodiment.

[0066] 501. When in the first time period, determine the set of unforwarded data packets based on the set of target data packets sent by the set of target terminals.

[0067] A relay device is used to facilitate communication between a target terminal set, comprising at least two terminals, and a gateway device. The target terminal set sends a target data packet set to the relay device within a first time period.

[0068] The relay device has the function of collecting data packets. It can collect all or part of the data packets sent by the target terminal set, and determine the set of unforwarded data packets based on whether the data packets sent by the target terminal set have been forwarded to the gateway device by the relay device.

[0069] The first time period overlaps with the duty cycle restriction period of the relay equipment. The first time period may also include the duty cycle restriction period, or it may be a period within the duty cycle restriction period. Based on the relationship between the first time period and the duty cycle restriction period, different strategies can be used to determine the set of unforwarded data packets from the set of target data packets sent by the set of target terminals.

[0070] 502. Determine the set of data packets to be forwarded based on the set of unforwarded data packets.

[0071] After determining the set of unforwarded data packets based on the set of target data packets sent by the target terminal set, the relay device needs to further determine the set of data packets to be forwarded from the set of unforwarded data packets. The set of data packets to be forwarded can be the set of unforwarded data packets, or it can be obtained by filtering the set of unforwarded data packets according to a preset strategy based on the characteristics of the data packets in the set of unforwarded data packets.

[0072] 503. Generate a cumulative data packet based on the set of data packets to be forwarded.

[0073] The relay device generates a cumulative data packet from multiple data packets in the already determined set of data packets to be forwarded.

[0074] 504. When in a transmission time slot, send an accumulated data packet to the gateway device.

[0075] When the relay device is not in a duty cycle-limited period, it is in a transmission time slot and can send data packets to the gateway device. After generating an accumulated data packet, the relay device sends the accumulated data packet to the gateway device.

[0076] In this embodiment of the application, after determining the set of unforwarded data packets based on the set of target data packets sent by the set of target terminals, the relay device can further filter the set of data packets to be forwarded from the set of unforwarded data packets according to various strategies.

[0077] Please see Figure 6 , Figure 6 This is a flowchart illustrating one step of a relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network provided in an embodiment of this application. Figure 6 Step 5021 is Figure 5 A specific implementation method for step 502.

[0078] 5021. Determine the set of data packets to be forwarded based on the transmission power of each unforwarded data packet in the set of unforwarded data packets.

[0079] There are many different strategies for determining the set of data packets to be forwarded from the set of unforwarded data packets. In this embodiment, the set of data packets to be forwarded can be determined based on the transmission power of each unforwarded data packet in the set of unforwarded data packets.

[0080] In this embodiment of the application, the determination of the set of data packets to be forwarded based on the transmission power of each unforwarded data packet in the set of unforwarded data packets can be further achieved by employing various strategies to filter the data packets based on their transmission power.

[0081] Please see Figure 7 , Figure 6 This is a flowchart illustrating one step of a relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network provided in an embodiment of this application. Figure 7 Step 50211 is Figure 6 A specific implementation method for step 5021.

[0082] 50211. When the transmission power of the first data packet set is greater than the transmission power of the second data packet set, the first data packet set is determined to be the data packet set to be forwarded.

[0083] Terminal devices at different distances from the relay device have different transmission powers. Terminal devices farther from the relay device have lower data packet transmission power, while terminal devices closer to the relay device have higher data packet transmission power. The target terminal set includes the first terminal and the second terminal, and the unforwarded data packet set includes the first data packet set sent by the first terminal and the second data packet set sent by the second terminal.

[0084] When the transmission power of the first data packet set is greater than the transmission power of the second data packet set, the first data packet set is determined to be the data packet set to be forwarded.

[0085] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of power-based terminal device transmission filtering provided in an embodiment of this application. Figure 8 The schematic diagram of power-based terminal device transmission filtering shown includes relay 12 and the surrounding circles, which represent different power levels of data packets transmitted by terminal devices within that range. The transmission power of terminal devices within circle 13 will be significantly higher than the power between circles 14 and 15. Data packets from terminal devices corresponding to circle 13 can be identified as the set of data packets to be forwarded, while data packets from terminal devices corresponding to circles 14 and 15 can be discarded.

[0086] In this embodiment of the application, there are multiple strategies for determining the set of unforwarded data packets based on the set of target data packets sent by the set of target terminals.

[0087] Please see Figure 9 , Figure 9 This is a flowchart illustrating one step of a relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network provided in an embodiment of this application. Figure 9 Steps 5011 to 5012 are Figure 5 A specific implementation method for step 501.

[0088] 5011. When in the first time period, determine the third set of data packets sent by the target terminal set in the second time period from the target data packet set.

[0089] The relay device has the function of collecting data packets sent by different terminals at different time periods. Based on actual needs, the strategy is set so that the relay device only receives the third set of data packets sent by the target terminal set within the second time period from the target data packet set sent by the target terminal set.

[0090] Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of time-based terminal device transmission filtering provided in an embodiment of this application. Each relay can receive data packets sent by the terminal within a specified time period (d). During the time period (N-1)d, the relay will not receive data sent by the terminal device, where N is the total number of relays.

[0091] A gateway can assign an index to each relay, or it can pre-program the index into the relay. For example, relay i (i∈{1,2,3,...,N}) can receive data packets sent by terminals within a time period of (i-1)d to (i)d in the time period from 0 to (N-1)d, where (N-1)d may be less than F. D .

[0092] The entire area can be divided into, for example Figure 10 The four zones shown each have at least one relay listening to the terminal device's transmissions. In a given zone, while one relay is listening to the terminal device, other relays in the same zone may be in sleep mode and therefore not listening to the terminal device's transmissions.

[0093] Multiple relays will be assigned to the region with index z (z∈{1,2,...,Z}), where relay i∈{1,2,...,I}. z}(I z (This represents the number of relays in region z). Once a region is added to a network or region, the region index can be programmed into the relays. Based on the region index z and the relay index i, relay i can receive data for a time length of (i-1)d. z to (i)d z Data packets transmitted by the internal terminal device. Duration d of each region. z This is determined by the gateway device and can be broadcast to each relay device. The gateway device can determine the frame duration F of the TDMA. D The number of relays in each region determines d. z For example, the number of relay devices in a given area is I. z Then there is d z =F D / I z .

[0094] 5012. Determine that the third data packet set is the set of unforwarded data packets.

[0095] The set of third data packets sent by the target terminal set received by the relay during the second time period is determined as the set of unforwarded data packets.

[0096] Based on the above description, the method for generating cumulative data packets in the embodiments of this application will be described below.

[0097] Please see Figure 11 , Figure 11 This is a flowchart illustrating one step of a relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network provided in an embodiment of this application. Figure 11 Steps 5031 to 5033 are Figure 5 A specific implementation method for step 503.

[0098] 5031. When the number of data packets in the set of data packets to be forwarded is greater than the maximum number of data packets that can be forwarded in the sending time slot, the maximum number of data packets to be forwarded is determined from the set of data packets to be forwarded.

[0099] The capacity of data packets that can be sent in each transmission time slot is limited. It's not possible to infinitely generate a cumulative data packet from the data packets to be forwarded. This cumulative data packet must be sent within the given time of a transmission time slot; there will be no situation where a cumulative data packet is not sent within a transmission time slot. Therefore, each transmission time slot corresponds to a maximum data packet forwarding capacity, which represents the equivalent number of ordinary data packets in the data packet capacity that can be sent within a transmission time slot.

[0100] When the number of data packets in the set of data packets to be forwarded is greater than the maximum number of data packets that can be forwarded in the sending time slot, a set of data packets with a value less than or equal to the maximum number of data packets that can be forwarded is selected from the set of data packets to be forwarded to form the set of data packets with the maximum forwarding capacity.

[0101] 5032. Generate an accumulated data packet from the set of data packets to be forwarded with the maximum forwarding capacity.

[0102] Generate a cumulative data packet from the set of data packets with the maximum forwarding capacity that have been filtered.

[0103] 5033. When the number of data packets is less than or equal to the maximum data packet forwarding capacity, the set of data packets to be forwarded is generated into a cumulative data packet.

[0104] When the number of data packets in the set of data packets to be forwarded is less than or equal to the maximum number of data packets to be forwarded, the set of data packets to be forwarded is directly generated into a cumulative data packet.

[0105] Based on the above description, the method for determining the transmission time slot in the embodiments of this application will be described below. Please refer to... Figure 12 , Figure 12 This is a flowchart illustrating one step of a relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network provided in an embodiment of this application. Figure 5 The embodiment shown, Figure 12 The illustrated embodiment also includes steps 505 and 506.

[0106] 505. Receive the TDMA frame duration information and relay pre-allocation time period information sent by the network server.

[0107] The relay device receives TDMA frame duration information, which indicates the duration of each TDMA frame, and time period information, which indicates the transmission time slots that have been pre-allocated to other relays in the network, sent by the network server.

[0108] 506. Determine the transmission time slot based on the TDMA frame duration information and the relay pre-allocated time period information.

[0109] The relay device determines the transmission time slots that the relay can use based on the TDMA frame duration information and the relay pre-allocated time period information.

[0110] In this embodiment of the application, sending an accumulated data packet to the gateway device can be achieved through the spreading factor.

[0111] Please see Figure 13 , Figure 13 This is a flowchart illustrating one step of a relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network provided in an embodiment of this application. Figure 13 Step 5041 is Figure 5 A specific implementation method of 504, based on Figure 5 The embodiment shown, Figure 13 The illustrated embodiment also includes step 507.

[0112] 507. Receive target SF information sent by the network server.

[0113] The network server allocates the available spreading factor for sending an accumulated data packet to the gateway device to the relay device, and the relay device receives the target SF information allocated by the network server.

[0114] 5041. When in a transmission time slot, send an accumulated data packet to the gateway device via the target SF.

[0115] When in a transmission time slot, the relay device sends an accumulated data packet to the gateway device through the target SF assigned by the network server.

[0116] Based on the above introduction, the application scenarios of the relay-assisted communication method based on remote wide area networks provided in the embodiments of this application will be described below.

[0117] Figure 14 The overall algorithm of this application embodiment is illustrated in flowchart form. First, the relay sends a request to the network server to join the network, and then waits for the network server to grant permission. Once the request is accepted, the relay obtains the following information related to the network server through the gateway:

[0118] (1) Uplink TDMA frame duration;

[0119] (2) Duration of each relay's time slot;

[0120] (3) Allocate time slots for uplink transmission to a given relay;

[0121] (4) SF used for uplink transmission;

[0122] The relay then determines which uplink packets need to be filtered. The relay then accumulates the packets according to the selected packet filtering method and forwards the accumulated packets to the gateway within the specified time slot and SF.

[0123] In another implementation of the packet filtering method, filtering based on both time and power can be used simultaneously. Figure 15 It shows a relay and the circles around it, which represent the different transmission power of the terminal devices within that range. Figure 15 There are 4 regions, during frame duration F D Within each region, there must be at least one relay to select a time period d. z To monitor data transmission from the terminal device. Similarly, let N... U For a time span T s The maximum number of cumulative data packets that an internal relay can send. If a relay in d z Receive N within the time limit RX If there are 10 data packets, the relay will select the maximum receive power max(N). U N RX ( ) data packets, and send them out as a cumulative data packet in the specified time slot.

[0124] The framework of this invention consists of five different types of traffic. The first type of traffic includes uplink transmissions from terminal devices to relays or gateways. The second type of traffic is information transmitted from relays to gateways via the uplink (filtered data sent from the terminal device to the relay). The third type of traffic is beacon transmissions from the gateway to the relays via the downlink. The beacon signal, transmitted by the gateway, helps the relay synchronize time slots and resolve time slot errors. The fourth type of traffic is LoRaWAN transmissions from the gateway to the terminal devices and relays via the downlink. The fifth type of traffic is ACKs. ACKs transmitted by the terminal devices and relays in the uplink are sent by the network server to the terminal devices and relays respectively through the gateway. ACKs transmitted from the network server to the terminal devices and relays in the downlink are sent by the terminal devices and relays respectively to the network server through the gateway.

[0125] In the embodiments of this application Figure 16 This demonstrates a beacon broadcast from a gateway to relays on SF9. The beacon helps relays synchronize their time slots. On SF7, relays synchronize their time slots (time length T). s The data packets are sent to the gateway. In this implementation, the terminal devices send their data packets via the ALOHA protocol on SF7 to SF12. If a relay is sending data to the gateway on SF7, then a terminal device will also be transmitting data simultaneously, resulting in interference. Figure 8In this example, the two terminal devices interfere with the transmission of relay 2 (R2). This interference can be mitigated in the gateway using channel coding and capture effects. Since there are only 12 relays in this example, after transmission via relay 12 (R12), the terminal devices can communicate directly with the gateway via SF7 without interference from any relay.

[0126] In such Figure 16 In the illustrated embodiment, interference from the terminal devices can be completely avoided if the network server allows the terminal devices to transmit only on SF 8 to 12. However, this overall design would be very inefficient because SF 7 would not be used when the relay is not transmitting.

[0127] In another application scenario of this application embodiment, when there are at least 100 relays, interference between relays and terminal devices can be avoided without causing any inefficiency. Figure 17 A frame structure is shown where 100 relays send their packets to the gateway on SF7. In this example, because the network server does not allow end devices to transmit on SF7, there is no interference from end devices during relay transmission.

[0128] This application also provides a relay device, which includes a processor, a memory, and a network interface connected via a system bus, wherein the memory may include a non-volatile storage medium and internal memory.

[0129] Non-volatile storage media can store operating systems and computer programs. These computer programs include program instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to perform any relay-assisted communication method based on a long-distance wide area network.

[0130] The processor provides computing and control capabilities, supporting the operation of the entire computer device.

[0131] Internal memory provides an environment for the execution of computer programs stored in non-volatile storage media. When executed by a processor, the computer program enables the processor to perform any relay-assisted communication method based on a long-distance wide area network.

[0132] This network interface is used for network communication, such as sending assigned tasks. Those skilled in the art will understand that... Figure 18 The structure shown is merely a block diagram of a portion of the structure related to the present application and does not constitute a limitation on the computer device to which the present application is applied. Specific computer devices may include more or fewer components than those shown in the figure, or combine certain components, or have different component arrangements.

[0133] It should be understood that the processor can be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), but it can also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. Among these, a general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0134] The embodiments of this application also provide a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, the computer program including program instructions, and the processor executing the program instructions to implement any of the relay-assisted communication methods based on a remote wide area network provided in the embodiments of this application.

[0135] The computer-readable storage medium may be an internal storage unit of the computer device described in the foregoing embodiments, such as the hard disk or memory of the computer device. The computer-readable storage medium may also be an external storage device of the computer device, such as a plug-in hard disk, SmartMedia Card (SMC), Secure Digital (SD) card, or Flash Card equipped on the computer device.

[0136] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of various equivalent modifications or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in this application, and these modifications or substitutions should all be covered within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A relay-assisted communication method based on a long-distance wide area network, characterized in that, include: When in the first time period, a third set of data packets sent by the target terminal set during the second time period is determined from the target data packet set sent by the target terminal set. The first time period includes the second time period. The relay device receives the data packet set sent by the target terminal set only during the second time period. The third set of data packets is determined to be a set of unforwarded data packets. The target terminal set includes at least two terminals. The first time period overlaps with the duty cycle restriction time period, which represents the time period during which data packets cannot be sent due to duty cycle restrictions. The set of data packets to be forwarded is determined based on the set of unforwarded data packets; A cumulative data packet is generated based on the set of data packets to be forwarded; Receive TDMA time division multiple access frame duration information and relay pre-allocated time period information sent by the network server; The transmission time slot is determined based on the TDMA time division multiple access frame duration information and the relay pre-allocated time period information; When in a transmission time slot, the accumulated data packet is sent to the gateway device, the first time period being before the transmission time slot.

2. The relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network according to claim 1, characterized in that, The step of determining the set of data packets to be forwarded based on the set of unforwarded data packets includes: The set of data packets to be forwarded is determined based on the transmission power of each unforwarded data packet in the set of unforwarded data packets.

3. The relay-assisted communication method based on a long-distance wide area network according to claim 2, characterized in that, The at least two terminals include a first terminal and a second terminal, and the set of unforwarded data packets includes a first set of data packets sent by the first terminal and a second set of data packets sent by the second terminal. The step of determining the set of data packets to be forwarded based on the transmission power of each unforwarded data packet in the set of unforwarded data packets includes: When the transmission power of the first data packet set is greater than the transmission power of the second data packet set, the first data packet set is determined to be the data packet set to be forwarded.

4. The relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network according to claim 1, characterized in that, The step of generating an accumulated data packet based on the set of data packets to be forwarded includes: When the number of data packets in the set of data packets to be forwarded is greater than the maximum data packet forwarding capacity of the sending time slot, a set of data packets with the maximum forwarding capacity is determined from the set of data packets to be forwarded, wherein the number of data packets in the set of data packets with the maximum forwarding capacity is the same as the maximum data packet forwarding capacity. Generate a cumulative data packet from the set of data packets to be forwarded with the maximum forwarding capacity; When the number of data packets is less than or equal to the maximum data packet forwarding capacity, the set of data packets to be forwarded is generated into a cumulative data packet.

5. The relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network according to claim 1, characterized in that, Before sending the accumulated data packet to the gateway device, the method further includes: Receive the target spreading factor (SF) information sent by the network server; Sending the accumulated data packet to the gateway device includes: The target SF sends the accumulated data packet to the gateway device.

6. A relay device, characterized in that, The relay device includes a memory, a processor, a program stored in the memory and running on the processor, and a data bus for implementing communication between the processor and the memory. When the program is executed by the processor, it implements the steps of the relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network as described in any one of claims 1 to 5.

7. A relay-assisted communication system based on a long-range wide area network, characterized in that, include: At least two terminal devices, at least two relay devices, a gateway device, a network server, and an application server; Each of the relay devices is used to perform the relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network as described in any one of claims 1 to 5.

8. A storage medium for computer-readable storage, characterized in that, The storage medium stores one or more programs, which are executed by one or more processors to implement the steps of the relay-assisted communication method based on a remote wide area network as described in any one of claims 1 to 5.

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