A distributed object system for fiber networking and a device registration method thereof

Abstract

This invention provides a distributed IoT system with fiber optic networking and its device registration method. The system includes a host computer, a switch, and IoT terminal devices. The switch is connected to the host computer. Each IoT terminal device is equipped with two fiber optic interfaces. The IoT terminal devices are connected to the backbone network in a daisy-chain manner through the fiber optic interfaces, enabling bidirectional data communication along the cascaded path of the IoT terminal devices. Each device joins a unified multicast via a distributed soft bus component. The host computer sends multicast messages to all IoT terminal devices in the system via the CoAP protocol or sends messages to specific IoT terminal devices based on their IP addresses. The IoT terminal devices identify the destination address carried in the messages and parse and respond to messages whose destination address is their own IP address or the multicast address. This invention uses a daisy-chain fiber optic connection to form a mesh network system between the terminals and the host computer system, allowing each node to communicate with each other at high speed and low latency.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of power and distribution system technology, and in particular to a distributed Internet of Things system with fiber optic networking and its device registration method. Background Technology

[0002] In power and distribution systems, the terminals in floor power distribution are distributed in various distribution rooms. In practical applications, it is necessary to aggregate the control and information of each terminal to a host computer system. The classic scenario of traditional power distribution systems is that each power consumption room is equipped with a power distribution terminal, and each power distribution terminal is connected in series to the central distribution box in the floor power distribution room via a bus. The central distribution box is then connected to the host computer via a separate network or bus to aggregate the information.

[0003] Traditional bus-based networking methods have the following technical drawbacks.

[0004] (1) Low communication speed of bus mode. The communication speed of buses used in the field, such as RS485, CAN and RS232, is generally below 1M. Such speed is difficult to support the large amount of data concurrency of large-scale terminals.

[0005] (2) Slow response of bus communication. When using bus communication methods such as RS485 and RS232, the terminal cannot actively report, and the host must use a polling method to query the terminal status. It is difficult to notify the host of terminal events in real time. When using bus methods such as CAN, the terminal's active reporting of events requires first arbitration by the host, and only one terminal can report events at a time. When multiple terminals have time to report, it is easy to cause bus congestion.

[0006] (3) Susceptible to electrical signal interference. In bus-based network communication, twisted-pair cables are generally used to transmit electrical signals. Due to the presence of high voltage in the power distribution system, the twisted-pair cables will generate induced voltage due to high voltage interference. Over long distances, this will affect the quality of the transmitted signal and may even cause a decrease in transmission rate or even interruption.

[0007] (4) Short transmission distance. Bus transmission uses twisted-pair cables to transmit electrical signals. Due to cable loss and interference, the actual communication distance cannot be too long, and signal relay is required for long distances.

[0008] (5) Difficult wiring within the building. The existing network topology requires each terminal to be connected to a switch via a network cable for data aggregation and transmission to the host computer. During the wiring process, each terminal needs to be connected to a switch in the low-voltage room, resulting in a large number of cables and complex wiring.

[0009] (6) High demand for switch interfaces. In the existing network topology, each terminal requires a corresponding switch interface. The low-voltage room requires a large number of switch interfaces, which places greater demands on cost and space.

[0010] In summary, traditional power distribution system networking scenarios suffer from problems such as long connection distances between terminals and numerous wiring routes. Furthermore, due to the high-voltage environment, communication lines are susceptible to interference, affecting communication quality. Additionally, with the development of informatization and intelligentization, the amount of data within the system is gradually increasing, and the response time requirements of each node are decreasing. The transmission rate and response time of traditional bus methods are no longer sufficient to meet the data demands of new intelligent devices. Summary of the Invention

[0011] In view of the above problems, the present invention is proposed to provide a distributed Internet of Things system for fiber optic networking and a device registration method thereof that overcomes or at least partially overcomes the above problems.

[0012] This invention provides a distributed IoT system with fiber optic networking. The system includes a host computer, a switch, and IoT terminal devices. The switch is connected to the host computer via a network cable or fiber optic cable. Each IoT terminal device is equipped with two fiber optic interfaces. The IoT terminal devices are connected to the backbone network in a daisy-chain manner through the two fiber optic interfaces, so that the data transmission can communicate bidirectionally along the cascaded IoT terminal devices. Each device joins a unified multicast through a distributed soft bus component to form a mesh topology. The host computer sends multicast messages to all IoT terminal devices in the system via the CoAP protocol or sends messages to a specific IoT terminal device based on the IP address of the IoT terminal device. After receiving a message transmitted in the network, the IoT terminal device identifies the destination address carried in the message. If the destination address is its own IP address or multicast address, it parses the message and responds; otherwise, it does not parse or process the message.

[0013] Furthermore, the distributed IoT system is implemented based on a distributed soft bus communication architecture and adopts a JSON text format communication protocol.

[0014] Another aspect of the present invention provides a device registration method for a distributed Internet of Things system based on the fiber optic network described above, the method comprising: The host computer periodically sends registration broadcast information via CoAP protocol multicast. The registration broadcast information includes the host computer address and registration requirements. After receiving the registration broadcast information, if each IoT terminal device identifies the destination address of the registration broadcast information as a multicast broadcast address, it will parse the host computer address and registration requirements in the registration broadcast information and send a registration request to the host computer. The registration request information includes the terminal's IP address, device type, and computing power data. The host computer parses the registration request information, registers the terminal using its IP address as the identifier, and creates a terminal profile.

[0015] Furthermore, the method also includes: When debugging and maintaining IoT terminal devices, after the IoT terminal device is restarted and powered on, the built-in NFC module reads the preset NFC tag through antenna coupling to obtain the terminal file information of the IoT terminal device. The read terminal file information is compared with the file information stored in the IoT terminal device itself to extract the update change data of the terminal file information relative to the internally stored file information, update the internally stored file information, and send a file update message to the host computer through the CoAP protocol. The file update message contains the terminal's IP address and the update change data.

[0016] Furthermore, the method also includes: The host computer receives real-time data and event reporting information sent by IoT terminal devices via the CoAP protocol, and performs statistics, processing, and display on the real-time data and events reported by the IoT terminal devices.

[0017] Furthermore, the method also includes: Each IoT terminal device monitors its own computing power data in real time and sends computing power data reporting messages to the host computer via the CoAP protocol. The computing power data reporting messages carry the IP address of the current IoT terminal device.

[0018] This invention provides a distributed IoT system with fiber optic networking and its device registration method. The IoT terminal devices in the distributed IoT system have two fiber optic interfaces. These terminals are connected to the backbone network in a daisy-chain manner via these two interfaces, enabling bidirectional data communication along the cascaded path. Only one or two fiber optic interfaces are needed to meet the system's communication requirements, significantly reducing the amount of cabling, simplifying wiring, and lowering requirements for engineering deployment and equipment costs. Furthermore, fiber optic networking ensures stable fiber loss, and the internal transmission of optical signals is unaffected by voltage interference from strong electrical currents. In actual deployment, long-distance transmission will not experience communication rate degradation due to strong electrical interference, facilitating deployment. Moreover, each device joins a unified multicast via a distributed soft bus component, enabling high-speed, low-latency communication between terminals, host computers, and other network nodes. During registration, the distributed IoT system automatically identifies the terminal and host computer addresses, achieving automatic registration and documentation of the terminal devices.

[0019] The above description is merely an overview of the technical solution of the present invention. In order to better understand the technical means of the present invention and to implement it in accordance with the contents of the specification, and in order to make the above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention more apparent and understandable, specific embodiments of the present invention are described below. Attached Figure Description

[0020] Various other advantages and benefits will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the following detailed description of preferred embodiments. The accompanying drawings are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the invention. In the drawings: Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the system structure of a distributed Internet of Things system with fiber optic networking according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 This is a flowchart illustrating a device registration method for a distributed Internet of Things (IoT) system based on fiber optic networking, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0021] Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. While exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure may be implemented in various forms and should not be limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.

[0022] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that, unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein (including technical and scientific terms) have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention pertains. It should also be understood that terms such as those defined in general dictionaries should be understood to have the same meaning as in the context of the prior art and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless specifically defined.

[0023] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the system architecture of a distributed Internet of Things (IoT) system using fiber optic networking, according to an embodiment of the present invention, is shown. Figure 1 As shown, the distributed IoT system with fiber optic networking provided in this embodiment of the invention includes a host computer 10, a switch 20, and IoT terminal devices 30. The switch 10 and the host computer 20 are connected via network cable or fiber optic cable. The IoT terminal devices 30 are equipped with two fiber optic interfaces. The IoT terminal devices 30 are connected to the backbone network in a daisy-chain manner through the two fiber optic interfaces, so that the data transmission can be bidirectionally communicated along the cascaded manner of the IoT terminal devices. Any node can access and send data. The host computer 10, the switch 20, and the IoT terminal devices 30 are all connected to a unified multicast through a distributed soft bus component to form a mesh topology structure that supports multi-path direct connection. The host computer 10 sends multicast messages to all IoT terminal devices 30 in the system via the CoAP protocol or sends messages to a designated IoT terminal device based on the IP address of the IoT terminal device 30. After receiving a message transmitted in the network, the IoT terminal device 30 identifies the destination address carried in the message. If the destination address is its own IP address or multicast address, it parses the message and responds; otherwise, it does not parse or process the message.

[0024] In this embodiment, the locations of the components of the distributed IoT system are as follows: the host computer is deployed in the computer room, which can be floor-mounted or rack-mounted; the IoT terminal devices are installed in the power distribution box, power distribution cabinet or feeder cabinet (rail-mounted or base-mounted).

[0025] In this embodiment, the host computer of the distributed IoT system consists of one or more servers, serving as the highest-level processing node in the system. It possesses global device management, computing resource scheduling, fault detection, data storage, and processing functions, and is connected via network cables. The IoT terminal devices, whose control units can be implemented using microcontrollers, have fiber optic network / network cable interfaces, RS485 communication interfaces, and analog sensor interfaces. They are connected to the backbone network via fiber optic cables in a daisy-chain manner, responsible for data acquisition and reporting. The communication network of the distributed IoT system adopts a communication method with fiber optics as the primary component and network cables as a secondary component, using an Ethernet communication architecture based on IP addresses, supporting UDP broadcast and multicast. A distributed soft bus component is integrated into the host computer, switches, and IoT terminal devices of the distributed IoT system. Each device joins a unified multicast via the distributed soft bus component, enabling automatic device discovery, connection, networking, and data transmission, supporting global device status awareness and resource reporting.

[0026] The distributed IoT system with fiber optic networking provided by this invention has IoT terminal devices with two fiber optic interfaces. The IoT terminal devices are connected to the backbone network in a daisy-chain manner through the two fiber optic interfaces, so that the data transmission can be bidirectional along the cascaded IoT terminal devices. The system communication requirements can be met using only one or two fiber optic interfaces. This not only significantly reduces the number of cables, making cabling more convenient, but also lowers the requirements for engineering deployment and equipment costs. Moreover, the fiber optic networking communication ensures stable fiber optic line loss. The internal transmission of optical signals is optical, which is not affected by voltage interference induced by strong current. In actual deployment, long-distance transmission will not be affected by the communication rate reduction caused by strong current interference, which is convenient for deployment.

[0027] In this embodiment of the invention, the IoT terminal device specifically includes two optical fiber interfaces, two optical modules corresponding one-to-one with the optical fiber interfaces, a switch module, a PHY chip, and a microcontroller main control unit; One of the two fiber optic interfaces is connected to the fiber optic interface of the first IoT terminal device or switch, and the other fiber optic interface is connected to the fiber optic interface of the second IoT terminal device, thus realizing a daisy-chain fiber optic connection between IoT terminal devices or between IoT terminal devices and a host computer. An optical module, connected to an optical fiber interface, is used to convert optical signals to electrical signals. The switch module connects to two optical modules and a microcontroller main control unit, and is used to realize data exchange and forwarding between optical fiber interfaces and between optical fiber interfaces and the microcontroller main control unit. The PHY chip is connected between the switch module and the microcontroller main control unit to realize bidirectional data conversion between the switch module and the microcontroller main control unit.

[0028] The terms "first IoT terminal device" and "second IoT terminal device" are used only to distinguish the IoT terminal devices that are linked together, and have no special meaning.

[0029] In this embodiment, the switch module is implemented using a switching chip, enabling interaction between two external fiber optic data paths and microcontroller data, and allowing three-way data communication. Due to the performance limitations of the microcontroller, the speed of the microcontroller's main control unit is relatively low, for example, only 100M, while the fiber optic speed is at least 1000M. The switch module has 100M / 1000M speed adaptive capability. The distributed IoT system uses fiber optic networking communication, which offers high communication speed and low latency. Fiber optics have strong anti-interference capabilities and long transmission distances. The use of daisy-chain fiber optic connections makes cabling more convenient and reduces the demand on equipment such as switches.

[0030] In this embodiment, the microcontroller acts as the data processor, possessing a network interface for reading and sending data. Because the terminals are daisy-chained, data in the network can communicate bidirectionally along the cascading network, allowing any node to access and send data. The microcontroller processes network IP packets, handling only its own IP address and broadcast address data, ignoring other data to reduce its workload.

[0031] Furthermore, the IoT terminal device also includes an NFC tag and an NFC module; the NFC module is built into the IoT terminal device and connected to the microcontroller main control unit, and is used to read the information of the NFC tag of the peripheral device through antenna coupling and transmit it to the microcontroller main control unit.

[0032] In this embodiment, the NFC tag is a standard device that has no power supply and can store information for a long time without power. Terminal information can be written to the tag in advance even when the IoT terminal is not powered on, enabling installation and debugging of the IoT terminal without internet connection or power. The NFC tag draws power from the antenna coupling signal of the handheld device or the NFC module of the IoT terminal, and operates and transmits information through the coupled current.

[0033] In this embodiment, the IoT terminal device has a built-in NFC module, which communicates with the microcontroller main control unit of the IoT terminal device. After the IoT terminal restarts or powers on, it reads the NFC tag information through the NFC module, compares the read information with the file information stored internally in the microcontroller main control unit, and updates the internal storage information of the microcontroller main control unit with the information in the NFC tag if there is any discrepancy. The IoT terminal also communicates with the host computer system. After the IoT terminal successfully hands over the communication with the host computer, it uploads the updated data to the host computer system.

[0034] In this embodiment of the invention, the distributed IoT system is implemented based on a distributed soft bus communication architecture and uses a JSON text format communication protocol.

[0035] In this embodiment, the host computer and IoT terminal devices adopt a unified JSON format communication protocol and realize global data transmission of uplink and downlink messages through CoAP protocol multicast. It supports Get and Post request methods and CON and NON transmission modes, with strong protocol compatibility, no need for protocol conversion module, reducing system failure points and improving communication stability and data transmission efficiency.

[0036] Figure 2 A flowchart illustrating a device registration method for a distributed IoT system based on fiber optic networking, according to an embodiment of the present invention, is shown. The device registration method provided by this embodiment can be specifically applied to the distributed IoT system based on fiber optic networking described in the above embodiment. Figure 2 As shown, the device registration method for a distributed IoT system based on fiber optic networking provided in this embodiment of the invention includes: S11. The host computer periodically sends registration broadcast information via CoAP protocol multicast, the registration broadcast information including the host computer address and registration requirements; S12. After receiving the registration broadcast information, if each IoT terminal device identifies the destination address of the registration broadcast information as a multicast broadcast address, it parses the host computer address and registration requirements in the registration broadcast information and initiates a registration request to the host computer. The registration request information includes the terminal's IP address, device type, and computing power data. In addition, the registration request information may also include location information, grouping information, and electrical parameters such as transformation ratio.

[0037] S13. The host computer parses the registration request information, registers the terminal using its IP address as the identifier, and establishes a terminal profile. Specifically, the host computer receives the terminal's registration request information and establishes profile information based on the terminal's unique address.

[0038] In this embodiment, the IoT terminal device physically needs to have two fiber optic interfaces to enable daisy-chain fiber optic connections. The terminal supports network communication, has a unique IP address, and only responds to data and control functions sent to itself. Data from addresses other than its own is not parsed to avoid network congestion. The terminal autonomously discovers multicast signals within the network and initiates a registration message to the host computer.

[0039] The device registration method for a distributed IoT system based on fiber optic networking provided in this invention involves connecting IoT terminal devices in a daisy-chain manner to the backbone network. This enables bidirectional data transmission along the cascading path of the IoT terminal devices. The host computer, switches, and IoT terminal devices in the distributed IoT system are added to a unified multicast via a distributed soft bus component. This not only achieves high-speed, low-latency communication between all network nodes, including IoT terminal devices and the host computer, but also automatically identifies the terminal and host computer addresses during device registration, enabling automatic registration and documentation of terminal devices. Furthermore, due to the use of multicast, changes in the host computer address do not affect terminal registration.

[0040] Because traditional power distribution systems operate in complex environments, installation and commissioning require significant human resources. During actual installation and commissioning, equipment information, location data, and transformer ratios need to be entered after the terminal is powered on and operational. However, during on-site commissioning, the terminal is powered on and connected to the network relatively late, resulting in a long commissioning time. To address the issue that information can only be entered and the terminal configured after power supply and network connection commissioning are completed, this invention provides a device registration method for a distributed IoT system based on fiber optic networking, which further includes the following steps: When debugging and maintaining IoT terminal devices, after the IoT terminal device is restarted and powered on, the built-in NFC module reads the preset NFC tag through antenna coupling to obtain the terminal file information of the IoT terminal device. The read terminal file information is compared with the file information stored in the IoT terminal device itself to extract the update change data of the terminal file information relative to the internally stored file information, update the internally stored file information, and send a file update message to the host computer through the CoAP protocol. The file update message contains the terminal's IP address and the update change data.

[0041] The terminal file information includes parameters such as location information, transformation ratio, IP address, communication address, and packet information.

[0042] In this embodiment, a handheld device is used to write information to an NFC tag on an external device via coupling, and the NFC tag is placed near the NFC module of the IoT terminal device. After the IoT terminal device is powered on, its built-in NFC module reads the information from the NFC tag through antenna coupling and transmits it to the microcontroller main control unit of the IoT terminal device. The microcontroller main control unit compares the read location information and terminal file with its own stored information. If there are changes, it updates the information stored in the IoT terminal. At the same time, after establishing communication with the host computer, the updated data is reported to the host computer so that the host computer can manage the terminal file and store the terminal's location information and updated data.

[0043] This invention enables IoT terminal devices to input actual information on-site without being connected to the internet, greatly reducing installation and debugging time.

[0044] In this embodiment of the invention, the method further includes: a host computer receiving real-time data and event reporting information sent by IoT terminal devices via the CoAP protocol, and performing statistics, processing, and display on the real-time data and events reported by the IoT terminal devices.

[0045] In this embodiment, after registration and filing, the IoT terminal device can periodically report real-time data to the host computer. When an event occurs, it can proactively report the event. The host computer receives the real-time data and events from the IoT terminal device, compiles and displays the data, and processes the event information. Furthermore, the host computer can send control commands to the IoT terminal device and can also retrieve large amounts of raw data from the IoT terminal device for advanced processing.

[0046] In this embodiment of the invention, the method further includes: each IoT terminal device monitors its own computing power data in real time, and sends a computing power data reporting message to the host computer via the CoAP protocol, wherein the computing power data reporting message carries the IP address of the current IoT terminal device.

[0047] In this embodiment, after the data is created on the host computer, in order to enable the host computer to keep track of the computing power resources of each IoT terminal device in real time, the IoT terminal device monitors its own computing power data in real time and sends it to the host computer.

[0048] The fiber optic network-based distributed IoT system and its device registration method provided by this invention meet the requirements of high data transmission, high concurrency, low latency, and convenient cabling in information-based and intelligent terminal networking. It uses a daisy-chain fiber optic connection to form a meshed network system between terminals and host computer systems. All network nodes within the mesh, including terminals and host computers, can communicate with each other at high speed and low latency, thus providing technical support for advanced functions such as self-discovery, self-organizing networks, and distributed computing.

[0049] For the sake of simplicity, the method embodiments are described as a series of actions. However, those skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the described order of actions, because according to the embodiments of the present invention, some steps can be performed in other orders or simultaneously. Furthermore, those skilled in the art should also understand that the embodiments described in the specification are preferred embodiments, and the actions involved are not necessarily essential to the embodiments of the present invention.

[0050] Those skilled in the art will understand that although some embodiments herein include certain features included in other embodiments but not others, combinations of features from different embodiments are intended to be within the scope of the invention and form different embodiments. For example, any of the claimed embodiments can be used in any combination.

[0051] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, and not to limit them; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications can still be made to the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments, or equivalent substitutions can be made to some of the technical features; and these modifications or substitutions do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A distributed Internet of Things (IoT) system with fiber optic networking, characterized in that, The system includes a host computer, a switch, and IoT terminal devices. The switch is connected to the host computer via a network cable or optical fiber. The IoT terminal devices are equipped with two optical fiber interfaces. The IoT terminal devices are connected to the backbone network in a daisy-chain manner through the two optical fiber interfaces, so that the data transmission can communicate bidirectionally along the cascaded IoT terminal devices. Each device joins the unified multicast through a distributed soft bus component. The host computer sends multicast messages to all IoT terminal devices in the system via the CoAP protocol or sends messages to a specific IoT terminal device based on the IP address of the IoT terminal device. After receiving a message transmitted in the network, the IoT terminal device identifies the destination address carried in the message. If the destination address is its own IP address or multicast address, it parses the message and responds; otherwise, it does not parse or process the message.

2. The distributed Internet of Things system with fiber optic networking according to claim 1, characterized in that, The distributed IoT system is implemented based on a distributed soft bus communication architecture and uses a JSON text format communication protocol.

3. A device registration method for a distributed Internet of Things system based on fiber optic networking as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The method includes: The host computer periodically sends registration broadcast information via CoAP protocol multicast. The registration broadcast information includes the host computer address and registration requirements. After receiving the registration broadcast information, if each IoT terminal device identifies the destination address of the registration broadcast information as a multicast broadcast address, it will parse the host computer address and registration requirements in the registration broadcast information and send a registration request to the host computer. The registration request information includes the terminal's IP address, device type, and computing power data. The host computer parses the registration request information, registers the terminal using its IP address as the identifier, and creates a terminal profile.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The method further includes: When debugging and maintaining IoT terminal devices, after the IoT terminal device is restarted and powered on, the built-in NFC module reads the preset NFC tag through antenna coupling to obtain the terminal file information of the IoT terminal device. The read terminal file information is compared with the file information stored in the IoT terminal device itself to extract the update change data of the terminal file information relative to the internally stored file information, update the internally stored file information, and send a file update message to the host computer through the CoAP protocol. The file update message contains the terminal's IP address and the update change data.

5. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The method further includes: The host computer receives real-time data and event reporting information sent by IoT terminal devices via the CoAP protocol, and performs statistics, processing, and display on the real-time data and events reported by the IoT terminal devices.

6. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The method further includes: Each IoT terminal device monitors its own computing power data in real time and sends computing power data reporting messages to the host computer via the CoAP protocol. The computing power data reporting messages carry the IP address of the current IoT terminal device.

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