A relay networking method based on a LoRa intelligent street lamp controller

Abstract

The application discloses a relay networking method based on a LoRa intelligent street lamp controller, and comprises the following steps: S1, a relay device cyclically starts RX2 and RX3; S2, when the relay device receives TX1, the content of TX1 is analyzed; S3, a terminal device transmits TX5 after TX1 with an interval t3; S4, after correctly analyzing TX5 of the terminal device, the relay device issues TX2 to the terminal device; S5, after receiving TX5 from the terminal device and issuing TX2, the relay device uploads to a LoRa base station through TX3; S6, a response from the LoRa base station is waited for, the response from the LoRa base station is received, and is forwarded to the terminal device through TX4; S7, the terminal device opens RX3 at the agreed time, and at this moment, the communication process through the relay is completed once. The application relays other types of terminal devices which cannot directly communicate with the LoRa base station to the LoRa base station, increases the actual coverage distance of the LoRa base station, and when the terminal device is installed, complicated signal measurement is not needed.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of communication technology, specifically to a relay networking method based on a LoRa smart street light controller. Background Technology

[0002] In smart city wireless IoT systems, LoRa networks are typically star-shaped networks, with LoRa base stations at the center and IoT terminal devices distributed around them. These terminal devices communicate bidirectionally with the LoRa base stations to collect data and control the devices. Smart cities have a wide variety of terminal applications, and some applications suffer from shielding, obstruction, or product limitations, preventing LoRa base stations from achieving full coverage. However, LoRa street light controllers have a good communication environment and are widely distributed throughout the city.

[0003] Existing common applications include manhole cover detection, underground pipe network detection, and cold storage data collection. However, due to wireless signal shielding or obstruction, IoT terminal devices cannot communicate with LoRa base stations. A common solution to the signal coverage problem is to add more LoRa base stations, but this significantly increases costs. Therefore, developing relay devices based on existing terminal devices (LoRa street light controllers) is of great value. This patent pertains to IoT networking technology.

[0004] Relay technology has the following disadvantages: 1. Unlike LoRa, other wireless communication technologies have very short point-to-point communication distances and require multi-level relay bridging.

[0005] 2. Currently, wireless communication relay products generally require independent product development and separate management; 3. Mesh networking requires changes to the communication protocols of existing products, resulting in significant packet loss during cascading, and high control and data acquisition delays. This is not suitable for the high reliability and low control latency requirements of some smart city applications.

[0006] Causes: 1. The communication distance is relatively short, making it impossible to form a large-scale network through a single relay.

[0007] 2. Without a basic network, smart city construction based on LoRa technology can quickly build a network using LoRa smart street light controllers as the network foundation. Summary of the Invention

[0008] The purpose of this invention is to provide a relay networking method based on a LoRa smart street light controller to solve the problems mentioned in the background art.

[0009] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides the following technical solution: a relay networking method based on a LoRa smart street light controller, comprising the following steps: S1, the relay device cycles through RX2 and RX3; S2. When the relay device receives TX1, it will turn off the cyclic opening action of RX2 and RX3, and parse the content of TX1. The length of TX1 will at least include the length of RX3 once. TX1 contains the communication configuration used by the terminal device, including the frequency and rate of the terminal device's next transmission of TX5, as well as the transmission time t3 and the RX3 opening time t4, so that the relay can correctly receive the content of TX5. S3. The terminal device transmits TX5 after TX1 at interval t3. The content contained in TX5 is the information that the terminal device actually needs to transmit. S4. After correctly parsing the TX5 of the terminal device, the relay device sends TX2 to the terminal device; the content of TX2 includes the response to the TX5 of the terminal device and the relay TX4 start time t4; After receiving TX5 from the terminal device and sending TX2, the relay device will package the contents of TX5 and upload it to the LoRa base station via TX3. When sending TX3, the relay device will completely disguise itself as the terminal device, and the LoRa server cannot determine whether it is forwarded through the relay. S6. If TX5 is a message type that requires confirmation from the LoRa base station, then after the relay completes the transmission of TX3, it needs to wait for a response from the LoRa base station. That is, the relay opens RX1 to receive the response from the LoRa base station and forwards the content parsed by RX1 to the terminal device through TX4 at the agreed time. If the relay receives the correct response message on RX1, then the following RX2 will not be opened. If the relay fails to receive the correct response on RX1, then the relay will open RX2. S7. The terminal device opens RX3 at the agreed time and completes the correct parsing of TX4. At this time, a communication process through the relay is completed.

[0010] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are: 1. This invention is a development and extension based on the LoRa smart street light controller for smart cities. Smart cities include a variety of terminal applications, which are installed in different scenarios, resulting in different communication environments. The installation and distribution of LoRa base stations can only be based on the terminal application with the shortest communication distance. The smart street light controller is installed on the street light pole, where the communication environment is good. It can act as a relay carrier to relay other types of terminal devices that cannot communicate directly with the LoRa base station to the LoRa base station, thereby increasing the actual coverage distance of the LoRa base station. When installing terminal devices, there is no need to perform cumbersome signal measurement.

[0011] 2. This invention only requires simple modification to the LoRa smart street light controller software and design of a relay enable switch. The relay function of the LoRa smart controller can be turned on and off through the application platform, thereby realizing the integration of the LoRa smart controller and the relay into one product.

[0012] 3. The present invention improves the stability of the communication network by designing a third receiving window so that low-power devices transmitting data via relay do not need to maintain time synchronization with the network.

[0013] 4. This invention enables the relay device to continuously open the receiving window by the relay device, so that the relay device can maintain the function of the intelligent street light controller while still functioning as a relay device. Attached Figure Description

[0014] Figure 1 This is a typical coverage diagram of the smart city star-shaped IoT terminal equipment of the present invention; Figure 2 This is a design diagram of the air interface for relay in this invention; Figure 3 This is a flowchart illustrating the workflow of the present invention incorporating the adaptive startup relay function; Figure 4 This is a flowchart illustrating how the terminal device of the present invention can automatically enter relay mode. Detailed Implementation

[0015] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0016] Please see Figure 1-4 This invention provides a technical solution: a relay networking method based on a LoRa smart street light controller. Figure 1Typical coverage diagram of IoT terminal devices in a star-shaped network for smart cities: Type 1 devices are terminal devices that are blocked or shielded. These devices have a relatively short communication range. Type 2 devices are terminal applications with good installation locations and good communication environments. The traditional approach is to increase the number of LoRa base stations to cover all types of terminal devices. This invention enables Type 1 devices to communicate with LoRa base stations through relay by enabling the relay function of Type 2 devices, thereby improving the coverage of LoRa base stations and reducing network deployment costs.

[0017] Figure 2 For the design of the air interface for a relay, the steps are as follows: S1. The relay device cyclically activates RX2 (second receiving window) and RX3 (third receiving window). RX2 is used to receive control signals from the application server (base station), and RX3 is used to receive communication requests from the downstream terminal device.

[0018] S2 and TX1 are wake-up signals from the terminal device containing a special frame header. When the relay device receives TX1, it will disable the cyclic on / off action of RX2 and RX3 and parse the content of TX1. The length of TX1 will at least include the length of RX3 once. TX1 contains the communication configuration used by the terminal device (including the frequency and rate of the terminal device's next transmission of TX5, as well as the transmission time t3 and the RX3 on-time t4), which enables the relay to correctly receive the content of TX5.

[0019] S3. The terminal device transmits TX5 at an interval t3 after TX1. The content contained in TX5 is the information that the terminal device actually needs to transmit.

[0020] S4. After correctly parsing the terminal device's TX5, the relay device sends TX2 to the terminal device; the content of TX2 includes the terminal device's response to TX5 and the relay TX4 start time t4.

[0021] After receiving TX5 from the terminal device and sending TX2, the relay device (S5) packages the contents of TX5 and uploads it to the LoRa base station (server) via TX3. When sending TX3, the relay device completely disguises itself as the terminal device, and the LoRa server cannot determine whether it is forwarding via relay.

[0022] S6. If TX5 is a message type that requires confirmation from the LoRa base station (server), then after the relay completes the transmission of TX3, it needs to wait for a response from the LoRa base station (server). That is, the relay opens RX1 to receive the response from the LoRa base station (server) and forwards the content parsed from RX1 to the terminal device via TX4 at the agreed time. If the relay receives a correct response message on RX1, then the subsequent RX2 will not be opened. If the relay fails to receive a correct response on RX1, then the relay will open RX2 (same as the LoRaWAN protocol).

[0023] S7. The terminal device turns on RX3 at the agreed time and completes the correct parsing of TX4. At this time, one communication process through the relay is completed. The TX5 of the terminal device shown in the figure can be received not only by the relay but also by the LoRa base station (server). The response of the LoRa base station (server) to the terminal device is parsed through the terminal device's RX1 and RX2.

[0024] Figure 3 Workflow diagram for integrating adaptive startup relay functionality.

[0025] Figure 4 This is a flowchart illustrating how a terminal device can automatically enter relay mode.

[0026] When a terminal device activates relay mode, its power consumption will increase relatively, such as... Figure 2 The explanation states that if repeater mode is always enabled, when the terminal device is close to the LoRa base station, not only will the repeater receive the TX5 content from the terminal device, but the LoRa base station will also receive it. This results in the application server receiving two identical data streams, leading to additional server overhead. Therefore, it is essential to implement necessary procedures to adaptively determine whether to enable repeater mode on the terminal device.

[0027] Although embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A relay networking method based on a LoRa smart street light controller, characterized in that, The relay device is a LoRa smart street light controller, which is modified by software and equipped with a relay enable switch to enable or disable the relay function through the application platform; the method includes the following steps: S1. The relay device alternately opens the second receiving window RX2 and the third receiving window RX3 in a cyclic manner to listen for control signals from the application server and communication requests from the lower-level terminal devices, respectively. S2. When the relay device receives TX1, it will turn off the cyclic opening action of RX2 and RX3, and parse the content of TX1. The length of TX1 will at least include the length of RX3 once. TX1 contains the communication configuration used by the terminal device, including the frequency and rate of the terminal device's next transmission of TX5, as well as the transmission time t3 and the RX3 opening time t4, so that the relay device can correctly receive the content of TX5. S3. The terminal device transmits TX5 after TX1 at interval t3. The content contained in TX5 is the information that the terminal device actually needs to transmit. S4. After correctly parsing the TX5 of the terminal device, the relay device sends TX2 to the terminal device; the content of TX2 includes the response to the TX5 of the terminal device and the relay TX4 start time t4; After receiving TX5 from the terminal device and sending TX2, the relay device will package the contents of TX5 and upload it to the LoRa base station via TX3. When sending TX3, the relay device will completely disguise itself as the terminal device, and the LoRa server cannot determine whether it is forwarded through the relay. S6. If TX5 is a message type that requires confirmation from the LoRa base station, then after the relay completes the transmission of TX3, it needs to wait for a response from the LoRa base station. That is, the relay opens RX1 to receive the response from the LoRa base station and forwards the content parsed by RX1 to the terminal device through TX4 at the agreed time. If the relay receives the correct response message on RX1, then the following RX2 will not be opened. If the relay fails to receive the correct response on RX1, then the relay will open RX2. S7. The terminal device opens RX3 at the agreed time and completes the correct parsing of TX4. At this time, a communication process through the relay is completed.

2. The relay networking method based on LoRa smart street light controller according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step S2, TX1 is a wake-up signal from the terminal device that includes a special frame header.

3. The relay networking method based on LoRa smart street light controller according to claim 1, characterized in that: The terminal device's TX5 relay can receive signals, and the LoRa base station can also receive signals. The LoRa base station's response to the terminal device is interpreted through the terminal device's RX1 and RX2.

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