Communication protocol for remotely controlling marine monitoring equipment

Abstract

The invention discloses a communication protocol for remotely controlling marine monitoring equipment, which is characterized in that the marine monitoring equipment sends a notification message to a control center, and the control center is used for receiving a response; wherein the notification message comprises the operation state of the equipment end, generated data resources, peripheral emergencies and some other data concerned by the control center, the data are organized according to a mode specified by the protocol and are put into a JSON data packet, then the JSON data packet is put into an HTTP data packet, and the HTTP data packet is sent to the control center through TCP network communication; and the control center analyzes the data sent by the marine monitoring equipment layer by layer, and finally obtains the message in the JSON.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention belongs to the field of marine traffic engineering and relates to a communication protocol for remotely controlling marine monitoring equipment. Background Art

[0002] In recent years, with the increasing development of the country, international trade has become more and more frequent, especially with the proposal of the "Belt and Road" initiative, maritime transportation has become more and more important. In maritime transportation, the safety of the sea route and passing ships is of vital importance. Once a safety accident occurs, the losses caused are very huge, and rescue and investigation are extremely difficult. Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of maritime navigation, installing various monitoring equipment on offshore lighthouses has become a necessary safety measure. These monitoring devices basically have positioning,

[0003] Video shooting, remote transmission and other related functions, and some special functions need to be added for special needs, such as when a lighthouse is hit by a passing ship, it is necessary to record this special scene and notify the remote control center. In order to prevent traditional communication methods such as 3G, 4G, 5G signals from being weak or unable to cover the lighthouse, Beidou SMS messages are used to obtain monitoring-related information. Due to the huge ocean, geographical factors, time sequence and other factors, monitoring equipment cannot be uniformly deployed, managed and maintained by one company or a limited number of companies.

[0004] In order to manage these monitoring devices well, existing technologies such as invention numbers CN112346389B and CN220273731U, technical cases "Design of marine environment monitoring system for deep-sea cage aquaculture" and "A multi-communication mode integration system for marine comprehensive observation buoys" all mention the function of remote communication, but there is no description of the specific communication protocol. After searching many related technical cases, no specific description of this communication protocol was found. It can be seen that this kind of system basically uses private communication protocols, which cannot be compatible with each other and easy to manage.

[0005] Therefore, we proposed a communication protocol for remote control and access to offshore lighthouse monitoring equipment to manage and maintain various monitoring equipment. At the same time, it is easy to use and implanted in various monitoring equipment and onshore management centers to facilitate data exchange between equipment and equipment, and between equipment and onshore backend centers. Summary of the invention

[0006] Based on this, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a communication protocol for remotely controlling offshore monitoring equipment, which facilitates data interaction and management control between the onshore background center and the remote offshore monitoring equipment, and is easily compatible with other monitoring equipment and communicates with each other.

[0007] The above technical objectives of the present invention are achieved through the following technical solutions:

[0008] A communication protocol for remotely controlling offshore monitoring equipment. The offshore monitoring equipment sends a notification message to a control center, and the control center receives a response. The notification message contains the operating status of the equipment, the generated data resources, surrounding emergencies, and other data that the control center is concerned about. These data are organized in the manner specified in this protocol and put into a JSON data packet. The JSON data packet is then put into an HTTP data packet and sent to the control center via TCP network communication. The control center parses the data sent by the offshore monitoring equipment layer by layer and finally obtains the message in the JSON.

[0009] Optionally, the offshore monitoring device establishes a communication connection with the remote control center through the first transmission channel and the second transmission channel. When the operation of the first transmission channel and the second transmission channel is restricted, the server of the control center will notify the offshore monitoring device to switch to the relay mode through the first transmission channel and the second transmission channel and notify the nearby offshore monitoring devices at the same time. The offshore monitoring device will act as a signal collector and signal repeater, allowing the nearby offshore monitoring devices to decide whether to use themselves as repeaters to communicate. The offshore lighthouse monitoring device decides whether to send the received data directly to the server of the control center or to the surrounding repeaters closer to the onshore central server by judging the strength of the signal.

[0010] Optionally, the periodic messages sent by the offshore monitoring equipment to the background only contain the basic data of the equipment and are a part of the basic data. The complete basic data will only be sent when an emergency occurs. When an emergency occurs, the offshore monitoring equipment establishes a connection with the control center as quickly as possible and sends complete basic data. The complete basic data here refers to the control center controlling the equipment through control messages when encountering an emergency. The messages sent save the working status of the equipment when the emergency occurs and the external and internal data collected by the equipment. After the transmission is completed, the connection will be disconnected.

[0011] Optionally, the basic data of the periodic message is basic data of the device, including device ID, device category, device time, device location information, and multimedia file information stored inside the device.

[0012] Optionally, the bandwidth and physical characteristics of the first transmission channel and the second transmission channel are different. Whether the first transmission channel and the second transmission channel are used separately or simultaneously in parallel is determined by data sent by the control center through the offshore monitoring equipment. The data is the location information of the equipment, the signal strength information of the equipment, the power information of the equipment and the real-time information of the data sent by the equipment. After determining that a channel needs to be closed, the control center sends a control message to the offshore lighthouse monitoring equipment, which is executed by the equipment itself.

[0013] Due to the adoption of the above-mentioned technical scheme, the beneficial effects of the present invention include: a data communication protocol between the lighthouse offshore monitoring equipment and the background server, through which the equipment can send its own information and the information sensed by the peripherals to the land-based background center, and the background center controls how the equipment should work based on this information, and how to transmit more data to the central background in the fastest and most reliable way. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] Figure 1 It is a network structure diagram between the control center and the monitoring equipment of the present invention.

[0015] Figure 2 The block diagram is a flow diagram of the protocol data of the present invention in the network.

[0016] Figure 3 A timing diagram of data messages and responses defined for the present invention.

[0017] Figure 4 Schematic diagram of two transmission channels of the present invention.

[0018] Figure 5 It is the connection type between the control center and the monitoring equipment of the present invention.

[0019] Figure 6 The data type sent by the monitoring device of the present invention.

[0020] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of a monitoring device of the present invention used as a repeater for communication. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] The present invention is further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0022] First, after the device is started, it will establish a communication connection with the remote center through channel 1 and channel 2. These connections are short-term connections and long-term connections. The purpose of establishing a short-term connection is to transmit a certain message, a certain type of data, or a certain event. After the transmission is completed, the connection is immediately disconnected, so as not to occupy the resources of the center background for a long time. Only when needed will a short-term connection be established again. The purpose of establishing a long-term connection is to transmit control messages and certain types of data, which will occupy the resources of the center background for a long time. At the same time, the device and the center background can actively send data to each other. Generally, the connection will be disconnected except for special circumstances, but it may be re-established immediately after the disconnection. This type of connection may be actively disconnected when there is no need to transmit data, but it may not be disconnected but just idle. Once there is data, it will be sent or received immediately. In a short-term or long-term connection, the device will periodically submit data to the land center background. This data is mainly the basic data of the device, including device ID, device category, device time and device location information, multimedia file information stored in the device, etc., and also includes some other information. Generally, the device will close the connection after transmitting the base data through a short-term connection until the next sending cycle arrives or an emergency occurs, and then establish a new short-term connection. For long-term connections, there will be several, which may exist at the same time or there may be only one. Generally, the long-term connection that always exists is a control connection. The remote center can control various tasks of the device and other connections established with the device through this control connection. For example, the upgrade of the device, the information acquisition of the device, the start and stop of the peripherals of the device, the establishment and closing of multimedia real-time streams, and the establishment and closing of multimedia file streams. Multimedia real-time streams are a form of expression of uninterrupted transmission of multimedia real-time data on long-term connections. The uninterrupted mentioned here and in the present invention only means that the interruption time is very short, which may be only a dozen milliseconds or tens of milliseconds, or the time is longer but the data before and after the interval is serialized. Multimedia file streams are short-term connections. When the control connection is used to tell the device in the background, when the background needs to read a multimedia file on the device, the device actively establishes a short-term connection and sends the multimedia file to the background. The duration of the connection depends on the time of file transmission. After the file transmission is completed, the connection will be actively disconnected by the device. When the multimedia file is transmitted on the short-term connection, the data is uninterrupted, which is manifested as the multimedia file stream flowing on the short-term connection. It should be noted that the multimedia real-time stream or multimedia file stream mentioned in the present invention, where the multimedia includes text, video, audio, picture or other types of data, is a broad concept and does not only refer to audio and video.

[0023] It should be noted that the transmission channel 1 and the transmission channel 2 mentioned in the present invention are not the same, and not all the data mentioned in the present invention can be transmitted on these two channels. It may be due to the bandwidth, physical characteristics, and working mode restrictions of the transmission channel that only a certain type of data can be transmitted on a certain channel within a certain time period. Transmission channel 1 or transmission channel 2 may work at the same time or not, which is determined by the location of the device, the stability of the transmission channel, the correctness and real-time performance of data transmission. For example, in the offshore, generally both transmission channel 1 and transmission channel 2 are enabled. If it is in the open sea, only transmission channel 2 works, and transmission channel 1 is disabled. When transmission channel 1 and transmission channel 2 are enabled and when they are disabled, it can be determined by the data sent by the background through the device. This data can be the location information of the device, the signal strength information of the device, the power information of the device, the real-time performance of the data sent by the device, and other information. After determining that a certain channel needs to be closed, a control message is sent to the device, which is executed by the device itself. It can also be that the device determines which channel should work and which channel should be closed.

[0024] During the operation of the device, the device mostly sends messages to the background periodically. The background may send control messages to the device through control messages. It is also possible that the device will not send messages to the background periodically, but will send notification messages to the background when the device encounters emergencies or other events. As for whether to send messages periodically or in emergencies, it can be controlled by the background sending control messages, or it can be set before the device leaves the factory. Even if the device is set before leaving the factory, it can be modified by the background control.

[0025] The periodic message sent by the device to the background generally only contains the basic data of the device, and is a part of the basic data. Only when an emergency occurs, relatively complete basic data will be sent. When an emergency occurs, the device establishes a connection with the background as quickly as possible and sends relatively complete basic data. The relatively complete basic data here refers to the basic data that the background can control the device to send when encountering an emergency through control messages. After the transmission is completed, the connection will be disconnected. Generally, the background will require the device to send all existing basic data when an emergency occurs. The communication process after an emergency occurs is the same as the communication process of the device sending messages periodically and the next communication logic of the background. However, when an emergency occurs, after the work that the device and the background need to do is completed, the communication process ends and it is necessary to wait for the next emergency to arrive. When an emergency occurs, the device generally records and saves the working status of the device when the emergency occurs and the external and internal data collected by the device.

[0026] Since both channel 1 and channel 2 are direct communications between the device and the central server on land, although a relatively complete communication mechanism is provided, due to the influence of transmission distance and transmission bandwidth, the present invention proposes a new method suitable for marine communication. That is, when the operation of channel 1 and channel 2 is restricted. The central server will notify the relevant devices through channel 1 and channel 2 to switch to a new communication mode. This communication mode allows the notified device to work in a communication relay mode, that is, the device can be used as a signal collector or as a signal repeater. The devices around it can synchronously send the data to be sent to the repeater. The repeater determines whether to send the received data directly to the land server or to the surrounding repeaters closer to the land central server by judging the strength of the signal. This communication protocol can greatly enhance the stability and real-time performance of the communication between the offshore lighthouse and the central server.

[0027] Compared with the existing technology, the present invention ensures the normal communication between the device and the central background, and also establishes different transmission connections and control methods by distinguishing different data and different environments, and introduces periodic communication and burst communication, and introduces multi-channel transmission, so that the communication between the device and the central background is more real-time, efficient, more controllable, and saves system resources and power consumption of the device and the central background.

[0028] Different from the general communication mode, the present invention has established a perfect communication network with strong autonomy. The land central node can control the communication mode of each device, and the device can also determine the mode it is working in by its location. The device node has a certain degree of communication autonomy and can determine the communication mode and data receiver by itself to ensure the stability of communication. According to the changes in the environment, the current working mode of the device will switch intelligently. Everything is to ensure the stability of communication between itself and the surrounding devices, so that the entire network can be complete and efficient.

[0029] like Figure 1 As shown, Figure 1 It represents a network structure diagram of an onshore control center and offshore monitoring equipment, wherein the onshore center and the offshore monitoring equipment are in a star structure, one onshore control center controls a number of offshore monitoring equipment, and all offshore equipment and the control center communicate through the protocol determined by the present invention. It is only necessary to implement the communication protocol determined by this protocol. A monitoring device from a different manufacturer can easily join the network structure and can also easily exit the network structure.

[0030] Figure 2It is the message data flow between the control center and the offshore monitoring equipment. The equipment can send a notification message to the control center. The notification message contains the operating status of the equipment end, the generated data resources, the surrounding emergencies, and some other data that the control center is concerned about. These data are organized in the manner specified in this protocol and put into a JSON data packet. Then the JSON data packet is put into an HTTP data packet and sent to the control center through TCP network communication. The control center parses the data sent by the monitoring equipment layer by layer, and finally obtains the message in the JSON. The message can obtain meaningful data through the communication protocol specified in the present invention. Then send a response message to the monitoring equipment through the same packaging mode and the same communication protocol, so that the processing logic of a notification message is completed. For the control message sent by the monitoring center to the remote monitoring equipment, it is also organized through the communication protocol specified in the present invention, and finally sent to the remote monitoring equipment through the same packaging and sending method as the notification message, and then receive the response message of the remote monitoring equipment, so that the data exchange of the control message is completed.

[0031] Figure 3 It is a communication sequence diagram between the control center and the offshore monitoring equipment. At the control center end, all offshore monitoring equipment can send messages to themselves concurrently, or send messages to different offshore monitoring equipment at the same time. These messages follow the pre-set message sending format and the communication mode of receiving responses. For the remote offshore monitoring equipment end. It can send notification messages to the control center at any time, and it only needs to follow the communication protocol determined by the present invention and the communication mode of sending messages and receiving responses to complete data communication with the remote control center.

[0032] like Figure 4 As shown, the maritime monitoring equipment and the center background can establish 2 or more physical communication channels. Here, channel 1 can be specified as 4G transmission, and channel 2 can be specified as Beidou short message transmission. All possible data can be transmitted in channel 1, including basic data, multimedia real-time streaming data and multimedia file data, because the bandwidth of 4G is sufficient for the transmission of these data. And because channel 2 is Beidou short message transmission, its bandwidth is limited, so it can only transmit part of the data. Although it can transmit basic data, it cannot transmit all basic data, only simple basic data, such as the time of the device, whether the device has an emergency, the multimedia file information of the device's emergency, power information, etc. The center background can use channel 2 to urgently shut down certain devices to save power and save videos, pictures, time and location when an emergency occurs.

[0033] See also Figure 5, in the process of communicating with the center, the device can establish different connections. The functions and duration of these connections are different. Generally, there will be a long-term control connection, which will exist throughout the entire cycle of the device. After the control connection is disconnected, the device can re-establish a new control connection. If channel 1 cannot communicate normally at the physical level because the device is far from the coast or due to the harsh marine environment, the device can save the control connection through channel 2, so as to ensure that the center background and the device can always communicate with each other, and the device is more controlled. When the transmission channel is normal, the device can establish a short-term connection with the background to transmit some data, but after the data transmission is completed, the connection is disconnected until the next transmission cycle arrives or an emergency occurs. If the background needs it, it can send a control message to the device to let the device establish a connection for transmitting multimedia to achieve the transmission of multimedia streams or multimedia files. This allows the background to more intuitively observe the situation around the device and achieve the purpose of supervising passing ships.

[0034] like Figure 6 As shown in the figure, in addition to control messages, notification messages and response messages, there are also some actual data transmitted between the device and the background. These data mainly include basic data, multimedia real-time data and multimedia file data. The base data transmitted each time may be different. They are combined in the form of text, externally wrapped in JSON or sent directly through the transmission channel in the form of name-value pairs. Sometimes only a little basic data needs to be transmitted, and sometimes all basic data is transmitted at one time. Moreover, the basic data transmitted each time is not related, and may even be repeated for a long time, or transmitted alternately, or transmitted once each. It is transmitted using a short connection. Multimedia real-time data means that each data packet contains a part of multimedia data. According to the current time, the latest data is transmitted. Because the latest data is obtained, packaged and transmitted by the device each time, each data packet has a time sequence, and they are also received in this order in the background, so they have the characteristics of data flow. It is transmitted using a long connection, but this long connection may be disconnected by the control command in the control connection. The transmission of multimedia file data also has the characteristics of a stream, but compared to multimedia real-time data, its content is not generated in real time. Instead, it is a piece of multimedia data saved in a file in a certain period of time in the past. Its transmission is short, so it is transmitted using a short connection. After all, file transmission is generally only a few minutes or actual minutes. Although it is not a real-time stream, during the multimedia file transmission process, there is a sequence between each data packet, so it also has the characteristics of a stream.

[0035] like Figure 7As shown, it is described that when the communication quality of the offshore monitoring equipment is unstable, the equipment will automatically switch to the relay mode, or switch to the relay mode under the setting of the central server. For example, "offshore monitoring equipment 6" cannot establish the required communication with the onshore central server, so it turns on its own relay mode and notifies the nearby monitoring equipment to let the nearby monitoring equipment decide whether to use itself as a repeater to communicate. For nearby devices, this device is similar to the onshore central server. All data originally communicated with the land will be sent to the repeater. The repeater will negotiate with the surrounding devices to decide whether the data should be sent to the next repeater or directly to the onshore central server. In this way, the complete transmission of data is achieved.

[0036] The above related explanations and descriptions of the embodiments are for the convenience of those skilled in the art to understand and apply the present invention. It is obvious that those familiar with the art can easily make various modifications to these contents and apply the general principles described herein to other embodiments without creative work. The present invention is not limited to the above related explanations and descriptions of the embodiments. Improvements and modifications made by those skilled in the art based on the disclosure of the present invention without departing from the scope of the present invention should be within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A communication protocol for remotely controlling marine monitoring equipment, characterized in that: The offshore monitoring equipment sends a notification message to the control center, which receives the response. The notification message contains the operating status of the equipment, the generated data resources, and the surrounding emergencies. These data are organized in the manner specified by the preset protocol and put into a JSON data packet. The JSON data packet is then put into an HTTP data packet and sent to the control center via TCP network communication. The control center parses the data sent by the offshore monitoring equipment layer by layer and finally obtains the message in the JSON.

2. The communication protocol for remotely controlling marine monitoring equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The offshore monitoring equipment establishes a communication connection with the remote control center through the first transmission channel and the second transmission channel. When the operation of the first transmission channel and the second transmission channel is restricted, the server of the control center will notify the offshore monitoring equipment to switch to the relay mode through the first transmission channel and the second transmission channel, and notify the nearby offshore monitoring equipment at the same time. The offshore monitoring equipment will act as a signal collector and signal repeater, allowing the nearby offshore monitoring equipment to decide whether to use itself as a repeater to communicate. The offshore lighthouse monitoring equipment decides whether to send the received data directly to the server of the control center or to the surrounding repeaters closer to the onshore center server by judging the strength of the signal.

3. The communication protocol for remotely controlling marine monitoring equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The periodic messages sent by the offshore monitoring equipment to the background only contain the basic data of the equipment and are a part of the basic data. The complete basic data will be sent only when an emergency occurs. When an emergency occurs, the offshore monitoring equipment will establish a connection with the control center as quickly as possible and send complete basic data. The complete basic data here refers to the control center using control messages to control the equipment when an emergency occurs. When the equipment encounters an emergency, the control center sends the working status of the equipment when the emergency occurs and the external and internal data collected by the equipment. After the transmission is completed, the connection will be disconnected.

4. The communication protocol for remotely controlling marine monitoring equipment according to claim 3, characterized in that: The basic data of the periodic message is the basic data of the device, including the device ID, device category, device time, device location information, and multimedia file information stored in the device.

5. The communication protocol for remotely controlling marine monitoring equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The bandwidth and physical characteristics of the first transmission channel and the second transmission channel are different. Whether the first transmission channel and the second transmission channel are used separately or simultaneously in parallel is determined by the data sent by the control center through the offshore monitoring equipment. The data is the location information of the equipment, the signal strength information of the equipment, the power information of the equipment and the real-time information of the data sent by the equipment. After determining that a channel needs to be closed, the control center sends a control message to the offshore lighthouse monitoring equipment, which is executed by the equipment itself.

Images