Power consumption control method and device for wireless communication of transmission line monitoring terminal

Abstract

The application belongs to the technical field of wireless communication, and relates to a power consumption control method and device for a power transmission line monitoring terminal wireless communication, which comprises the following steps: receiving a content priority label for identifying the importance level of image data to be transmitted, the content priority label containing a first priority corresponding to regular inspection data and a second priority corresponding to alarm data; acquiring the remaining power of the terminal; acquiring a signal quality parameter and determining a link margin; determining the working mode of a wireless communication module as full-power transmission, reduced-power transmission or deep sleep based on a multi-dimensional decision model according to the content priority label, the remaining power and the link margin; and controlling the wireless communication module to operate in the determined mode. The application realizes fine-grained optimization of transmission power consumption, guarantees timely transmission of alarm data, reduces power consumption of non-critical data, prolongs the endurance time of the terminal, and eliminates the monitoring blind area.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of wireless communication technology, and in particular to a method and apparatus for controlling the power consumption of wireless communication in a power transmission line monitoring terminal. Background Technology

[0002] Wireless monitoring terminals for power transmission lines are typically deployed atop transmission towers in remote mountainous areas, relying on independent power supply systems comprised of solar panels and energy storage batteries, completely disconnected from the mains power grid. The endurance and operational reliability of these terminals are highly dependent on overall power consumption control, especially under harsh conditions such as continuous rain and insufficient sunlight, where power supply bottlenecks directly restrict the long-term stable operation of the system. The terminal hardware architecture typically integrates wide-angle or telephoto image acquisition modules, image processing units with semantic segmentation capabilities, and 4G / 5G wireless communication modules to achieve real-time monitoring of safety threats such as construction machinery intrusion, fire hazards, or suspended foreign objects within the transmission line corridor. In actual operating environments, the radio frequency power amplifier of the wireless communication module is the single most power-consuming unit in the entire system. When the terminal is in an area with weak base station signal coverage, it must significantly increase its transmission power to maintain a basic communication link and complete data transmission. Its instantaneous power consumption can be several times the sum of the image acquisition and processing units, severely exacerbating the power supply pressure.

[0003] Existing solutions for reducing communication power consumption have significant limitations: The first type employs a fixed-period timed sleep mechanism, such as forcing the communication module into deep sleep during non-inspection periods and only waking it up to transmit data at preset intervals. This mechanism lacks the ability to identify service priorities, leading to critical alarm data being processed alongside regular background images. When the image processing unit detects construction machinery or smoke threatening line safety, the alarm data may be blocked in the transmission queue by regular inspection data, delaying the crucial window for hazard mitigation. The second type of solution implements a data discarding strategy based on remaining battery power, such as stopping the transmission of non-critical data when the battery level falls below a threshold. While this strategy reduces instantaneous power consumption, it prevents the backend master station from obtaining overall image information of the line channel, making it difficult for maintenance personnel to distinguish between the actual safety status on-site and terminal disconnection faults, creating a continuous monitoring blind spot. Essentially, these solutions do not address the optimization of the transmission behavior itself, but rather sacrifice data integrity for power reduction.

[0004] It is worth noting that the transmission line monitoring scenario has unique physical advantages: the terminal is installed on a tower tens of meters high, typically forming a line-of-sight propagation path with the communication base station. For low-priority data processed with high compression ratios (such as background area thumbnails), even with a moderate reduction in transmission power, the receiver can still meet the minimum signal-to-noise ratio requirements. This link margin phenomenon provides physical feasibility for replacing data discarding with power regulation under low power conditions. However, in the existing system architecture, the image processing unit and the communication module are isolated from each other. The semantic segmentation results generated by the former (such as target localization of conductors, insulators, or foreign objects) cannot be transmitted to the latter for transmission decisions. The communication module only schedules transmission behavior according to fixed rules and fails to implement fine-grained power consumption control using image content priority information, resulting in long-term idle link margin resources. Summary of the Invention

[0005] Therefore, the purpose of this invention is to solve the problems of lack of cross-layer collaboration in image processing and communication control of transmission line monitoring terminals, and the information blind spots caused by data discarding when the battery is low. The invention provides a method and device for controlling the power consumption of wireless communication in transmission line monitoring terminals. It utilizes the line-of-sight link margin at high altitudes of the towers to replace data discarding with reduced power transmission. Through three-dimensional collaborative decision-making based on image content priority, power status, and link margin, the working mode of the wireless communication module is dynamically determined, achieving fine-grained optimization control of transmission behavior. This ensures timely transmission of critical alarm data while effectively reducing the power consumption of non-critical data, and has the advantages of extending terminal battery life, avoiding delays in the transmission of critical alarm data, and eliminating monitoring blind spots.

[0006] In a first aspect, to solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the present invention provides a method for controlling the power consumption of wireless communication in a power transmission line monitoring terminal, comprising: The wireless communication control unit receives a content priority tag from the image processing unit; the content priority tag is used to identify the importance level of the image data to be transmitted, including a first priority and a second priority; the first priority corresponds to inspection data in which no abnormal events are detected, and the second priority corresponds to alarm data in which abnormal events are detected; Obtain the status parameters of the terminal power supply, including the remaining power. Obtain the signal quality parameters of the current wireless communication link, and determine the link margin based on the signal quality parameters. The link margin is the margin of the current signal quality relative to the reference signal quality threshold. Based on the content priority label, power status parameters, and link margin, the operating mode of the wireless communication module in the current transmission cycle is determined using a multi-dimensional decision model; the operating modes include full-power transmission, reduced-power transmission, and deep sleep. The wireless communication module is controlled to operate according to the determined working mode.

[0007] Preferably, the content priority label is generated by the image processing unit through semantic segmentation or target detection of the transmission line inspection image; wherein, the image region containing at least one target of interest among conductors, insulators, construction machinery, fireworks or foreign objects is marked as the second priority, and the remaining image regions or global thumbnails are marked as the first priority.

[0008] Preferably, the inspection data is: background layer data generated by compressing the background region to a first compression ratio after dividing the inspection image into a foreground region and a background region, or thumbnail data generated by globally compressing the inspection image; the alarm data is: foreground layer data generated by compressing the foreground region to a second compression ratio; the first compression ratio is greater than the second compression ratio.

[0009] Preferably, the multi-dimensional decision model includes: if the remaining power is lower than a first power threshold, controlling the wireless communication module to switch to narrowband transmission mode, transmitting only the coordinate text information of the alarm target and the device heartbeat signal, and entering deep sleep after each transmission; if the remaining power is lower than a second power threshold but not lower than the first power threshold, and is of the first priority, and the link margin is greater than the link margin threshold, then determining the working mode as reduced power transmission, controlling the wireless communication module to transmit inspection data at a transmission power that is NdB lower than the reference transmission power; the value of N is positively correlated with the link margin; the first power threshold is less than the second power threshold; if it is of the second priority, then determining the working mode as full power transmission, controlling the wireless communication module to transmit the alarm data at a transmission power higher than that of the reduced power transmission mode; if it is of the first priority and the link margin is less than or equal to the link margin threshold, then determining the working mode as full power transmission or maintaining the current power transmission.

[0010] Preferably, the narrowband transmission mode is LoRa, NB-IoT, or GSM narrowband communication mode; the coordinate text information includes the pixel coordinates of the alarm target in the inspection image, the type code of the alarm target, and the timestamp; the device heartbeat signal includes at least the current remaining power value and the device operating status code.

[0011] Preferably, the multidimensional decision model also dynamically adjusts the switching threshold of the working mode based on the historical transmission success rate. If the number of consecutive transmission failures reaches the upper limit, the wireless communication module is forced to enter a deep sleep mode, and the time interval for the next wake-up evaluation is extended. The extension factor of the time interval is positively correlated with the number of consecutive transmission failures.

[0012] Preferably, the multi-dimensional decision model further adjusts its operating mode based on the link margin: if the link margin is less than or equal to the link margin threshold and the content priority label is the second priority, then multiple alarm data frames are merged into one data packet and sent centrally in the next transmission cycle where the link margin is greater than the link margin threshold, so as to reduce the number of times the RF power amplifier is turned on; if the link margin is less than or equal to the link margin threshold and the duration exceeds the duration threshold, then the wireless communication control unit controls the wireless communication module to temporarily suspend transmission and extend the sleep time until the link margin recovers to above the link margin threshold.

[0013] Preferably, when the working mode is full-power transmission or reduced-power transmission, before performing the transmission operation, a data request command is sent to the image processing unit via the serial port, and the image processing unit adaptively adjusts the compression parameters of the image data to be transmitted according to the current remaining power and the working mode.

[0014] Preferably, the image processing unit adaptively adjusts the compression parameters of the image data to be transmitted based on the current remaining battery power and the operating mode, including: if the operating mode is power reduction transmission, obtaining the ratio of the current remaining battery power to a first battery power threshold, and determining the compression strategy for the foreground and background regions based on the ratio; the compression ratio increase of the foreground region is less than the compression ratio increase of the background region; if the current remaining battery power is lower than a second battery power threshold, lossless compression is applied to the foreground region, and ultra-high compression ratio exceeding 20:1 is applied to the background region; the lossless compression uses JPEG-LS or PNG format.

[0015] Secondly, to solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the present invention provides a wireless communication power consumption control device for a power transmission line monitoring terminal, comprising: The image acquisition module acquires images of power transmission line inspections. The image processing unit performs semantic segmentation or target detection on the inspection image and generates a content priority label. The content priority label is used to identify the importance level of the image data to be transmitted, including a first priority and a second priority. The first priority corresponds to the inspection data in which no abnormal event is detected, and the second priority corresponds to the alarm data in which an abnormal event is detected. The power management module monitors the status parameters of the terminal's power supply, including remaining power or power voltage. The wireless communication module transmits data wirelessly to an external communication base station or a back-end main station. A wireless communication control unit is connected to the image processing unit, the power management module, and the wireless communication module respectively, and is used to execute the method described above; The wireless communication control unit is connected to the image processing unit via a serial interface to receive the content priority tag; the wireless communication control unit is connected to the power management module via an analog acquisition interface or a digital communication interface to obtain the remaining power; the wireless communication control unit is connected to the wireless communication module via a control interface to obtain the signal quality parameters of the current wireless communication link and the reference transmit power of the wireless communication module under the current link conditions; the signal quality parameters include reference signal receive power, reference signal receive quality, signal-to-noise ratio, or signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio.

[0016] The wireless communication power consumption control method and device for transmission line monitoring terminals described in this invention have the following advantages compared with the prior art: First, by leveraging the line-of-sight link margin provided by the high-altitude deployment of transmission towers, an innovative power consumption control strategy is proposed that replaces data discarding with reduced power transmission. In low-power conditions, routine inspection data is not discarded; instead, the link margin is utilized to continue transmission by reducing transmission power, fundamentally solving the problem of information blind spots at the main station caused by data loss.

[0017] Second, a structured content priority tag interface is established between the image processing unit and the communication control unit, so that the image semantic recognition results are transmitted to the communication control layer to guide differentiated transmission power consumption scheduling. At this time, the communication module is no longer simply transmitting blindly or at timed intervals, but rather it senses which part of the data to be transmitted contains insulators and which part is just the sky background, and makes differentiated transmission power consumption scheduling accordingly, realizing cross-layer collaboration from the image semantic layer to the communication physical layer.

[0018] Third, this invention designs a three-level degradation path of full power → reduced power → narrowband text. The lower the battery power, the lower the transmission power of the communication module, and the transmitted information form gradually decreases from a complete image to text coordinates, rather than suddenly losing connection when the power is exhausted. Even under extremely low power conditions, the system can still report the type and location of the highest priority alarm through the narrowband network, achieving full life cycle knowability and controllability. Attached Figure Description

[0019] To make the content of this invention easier to understand, the invention will be further described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments and accompanying drawings.

[0020] Figure 1 This is a structural block diagram of the wireless communication power consumption control device for a power transmission line monitoring terminal in this embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 This is a flowchart of the wireless communication power consumption control method for a power transmission line monitoring terminal in an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3This is a flowchart of generating content priority tags in a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[0021] 110. Image acquisition module; 120. Image processing unit; 130. Wireless communication control unit; 140. Power management module; 150. Wireless communication module; Detailed Implementation The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments, so that those skilled in the art can better understand and implement the present invention. However, the embodiments described are not intended to limit the present invention.

[0022] Example 1: Refer to Figure 1 As shown in the figure, this embodiment of the invention proposes a wireless communication power consumption control device for a power transmission line monitoring terminal. The device is deployed on the power transmission line tower and is powered by an independent power supply system consisting of solar panels and battery panels.

[0023] The terminal includes an image acquisition module 110, an image processing unit 120, a wireless communication control unit 130, a power management module 140, and a wireless communication module 150.

[0024] Image acquisition module 110 may include one or more cameras. In one example, image acquisition module 110 includes a wide-angle camera and a telephoto camera. The wide-angle camera is used to capture panoramic images of the transmission line corridor at a first frequency, and the telephoto camera is used to capture detailed images of the area where an abnormal target is detected in the wide-angle image. Image acquisition module 110 is connected to image processing unit 120 via a MIPI or LVDS high-speed image interface.

[0025] The image processing unit 120 processes the inspection images input by the image acquisition module 110. Specifically, the image processing unit 120 runs a lightweight semantic segmentation network or object detection network to identify targets of interest in the inspection images. Targets of interest may include, but are not limited to, at least one of the following: power transmission lines, insulator strings, construction machinery (such as cranes, pump trucks, and excavators), fireworks, and suspended foreign objects. The image processing unit 120 also generates content priority tags based on the identification results and sends the content priority tags to the wireless communication control unit 130 via a serial interface (such as UART, SPI, or I2C).

[0026] Preferably, the image processing unit 120 and the wireless communication control unit 130 transmit content priority tags via a serial interface in data frames. The data frame sequentially includes the following fields: a 2-byte fixed frame header for receiver synchronization; a 2-byte data packet sequence number for associating the current tag with the corresponding compressed image data packet; a 1-byte priority level, where 0x01 represents the first priority and 0x02 represents the second priority; a 1-byte target quantity n, representing the number of targets of interest detected in the current image; L bytes of target type encoding, with each target occupying 1 byte, sequentially encoded as wire, insulator, construction machinery, smoke, or foreign object; P groups of target bounding box coordinates, each target occupying 8 bytes, sequentially recording the top-left x-coordinate, top-left y-coordinate, width, and height (2 bytes each); a 4-byte timestamp; and a 2-byte CRC16 frame tail checksum, covering all fields from the frame header to the checksum. The wireless communication control unit associates the received tag with the corresponding image data based on the data packet sequence number and makes transmission scheduling decisions based on the priority level field.

[0027] The power management module 140 monitors the remaining battery charge and / or power supply voltage, and sends power status parameters to the wireless communication control unit 130. In one implementation, the power management module 140 is connected to the wireless communication control unit 130 via an analog acquisition interface (such as an ADC interface). In another implementation, the power management module 140 is connected to the wireless communication control unit 130 via a digital communication interface (such as I2C or SMBus).

[0028] The wireless communication control unit 130 is the core decision-making unit of this application. In terms of hardware, the wireless communication control unit 130 can be a standalone microcontroller (MCU) or integrated with the processor in the image processing unit 120 or the wireless communication module 150. The wireless communication control unit 130 receives content priority tags from the image processing unit 120, power status parameters from the power management module 140, and communication link quality parameters from the wireless communication module 150. It then runs a preset multi-dimensional decision-making model to determine the operating mode of the wireless communication module 150 in the current transmission cycle and sends control commands to the wireless communication module 150.

[0029] The wireless communication module 150 is controlled by the wireless communication control unit 130 and is used to perform data transmission operations or sleep operations. The wireless communication module 150 can support one or more network standards, such as 4G LTE, 5G NR, NB-IoT, LoRa, or GSM. The wireless communication control unit 130 is connected to the wireless communication module 150 via a control interface, used to issue operating mode commands and transmit power control commands, and to read current signal quality parameters. Signal quality parameters include, but are not limited to, Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), or Signal-to-Interference Plus Noise Ratio (SINR).

[0030] The wireless communication module employs a dual-mode or multi-mode communication chipset architecture, and in a preferred example, it includes: (1) A 4G / 5G broadband communication submodule for full-power or reduced-power transmission of routine inspection data and alarm image data; (2) An NB-IoT / LoRa narrowband communication submodule for transmitting coordinate text information and heartbeat signals in extremely low power conditions; (3) A radio frequency antenna diplexer or radio frequency switch is used to realize time-division multiplexing of the same external antenna by the broadband submodule and the narrowband submodule; (4) A power management unit (PMU) is controlled by the enable signal of the wireless communication control unit 130 and can independently power on and off the broadband submodule and the narrowband submodule.

[0031] When the wireless communication control unit 130 determines that the remaining battery power is below the first battery threshold, it sends a de-enable signal to the PMU via the GPIO interface, completely cutting off the power supply to the 4G / 5G broadband submodule, while simultaneously enabling the power supply to the narrowband submodule. It then sends AT commands to the narrowband submodule via the UART or SPI interface to complete network attachment and data transmission. When the battery power recovers above the first battery threshold, the reverse process is executed: cutting off the power supply to the narrowband submodule and restoring the power supply to the broadband submodule.

[0032] In existing power transmission line monitoring terminals, there is only a one-way data transmission channel between the image processing unit and the wireless communication module. The image processing unit directly pushes compressed image data to the communication module for transmission. The communication module cannot know the content attributes of the data to be transmitted and can only schedule transmission according to a first-in-first-out order or a simple timing strategy. This embodiment introduces an independent wireless communication control unit 130 at the hardware architecture level and establishes a structured multi-source information interaction interface between it, the image processing unit 120, the power management module 140, and the wireless communication module 150. This enables communication scheduling decisions to be made simultaneously based on three dimensions: image content value, system power supply capacity, and wireless link quality. This architectural improvement provides the hardware foundation for all refined power consumption control strategies in subsequent embodiments.

[0033] Example 2: This embodiment of the invention proposes a method for controlling the power consumption of wireless communication in a power transmission line monitoring terminal, referring to... Figure 2 As shown, the specific steps include: The wireless communication control unit receives the content priority tag from the image processing unit; the content priority tag is used to identify the importance level of the image data to be transmitted, including a first priority and a second priority; the first priority corresponds to the inspection data in which no abnormal event is detected, and the second priority corresponds to the alarm data in which an abnormal event is detected. Obtain the status parameters of the terminal power supply, including the remaining power. Obtain the signal quality parameters of the current wireless communication link, and determine the link margin based on the signal quality parameters. The link margin is the margin of the current signal quality relative to the reference signal quality threshold. Based on content priority tags, power status parameters, and link margin, the operating mode of the wireless communication module in the current transmission cycle is determined using a multi-dimensional decision model; the operating modes include full-power transmission, reduced-power transmission, and deep sleep. Control the operation of the wireless communication module according to the determined working mode.

[0034] Specifically, first obtain the content priority tags; see [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 3 After receiving the inspection image input from the image acquisition module 110, the image processing unit 120 performs the following steps: S11: Perform semantic segmentation or target detection on the inspection image.

[0035] In one example, the image processing unit 120 runs a deep learning-based semantic segmentation network to perform pixel-level classification on the inspection image, dividing the image into foreground and background regions. The foreground region is defined as the image region containing the target of interest, and the background region is defined as the remaining image region not containing the target of interest. The target of interest includes at least one of the following: power transmission lines, insulator strings, construction machinery, fireworks, and suspended foreign objects.

[0036] In another example, the image processing unit 120 runs an object detection network and outputs bounding boxes of the object of interest, with the foreground region being the union of all bounding boxes.

[0037] S12: Generate content priority tags.

[0038] Content priority tags are used to identify the importance level of the image data to be transmitted. In this embodiment, two priority levels are defined: First priority: Regular inspection data corresponding to no abnormal events detected.

[0039] Second priority: Alarm data corresponding to detected abnormal events.

[0040] Specifically, the background area in the inspection image, or the thumbnail obtained by globally compressing the entire inspection image, is marked as the first priority. The foreground area in the inspection image is marked as the second priority.

[0041] The content priority tag uses a structured data format and includes the following fields: priority level, corresponding image region coordinate range, target category, and timestamp.

[0042] S13: Perform layered compression on the image data to be transmitted.

[0043] Image data marked with first priority is compressed at a first compression ratio to generate first compressed data (background layer data or thumbnail data). Image data marked with second priority is compressed at a second compression ratio to generate second compressed data (foreground layer data). The first compression ratio is greater than the second compression ratio, meaning the amount of background layer data is much smaller than the amount of foreground layer data. For example, the first compression ratio can be 5 to 20 times the second compression ratio.

[0044] Differentiated compression ratios can be achieved by adjusting at least one of the quantization parameters, resolution, or quality factor of the JPEG encoding.

[0045] S14: Send the content priority tag to the wireless communication control unit 130.

[0046] The image processing unit 120 sends the content priority tag generated in step S12 to the wireless communication control unit 130 via a serial interface. The content priority tag is stored in association with the corresponding compressed image data, awaiting scheduling instructions from the wireless communication control unit 130.

[0047] The target detection output of the image processing unit is converted into a structured content priority label and transmitted to the wireless communication control unit through a hardware interface, achieving cross-layer semantic penetration from the image semantic layer to the communication scheduling layer. In this embodiment, the content priority label carries spatial range information and target category information for the image region, enabling the communication module to determine whether the data packet corresponds to the background sky or a local area of ​​the insulator. This fine-grained content awareness capability provides the input basis for differentiated transmit power control and hierarchical transmission strategies in subsequent embodiments.

[0048] This embodiment also introduces link margin, which is used to quantify the degree of redundancy of the current wireless channel conditions relative to the minimum passability conditions. Link margin is the core parameter in the multidimensional decision model that connects signal quality parameters and transmit power decisions. The process of calculating link margin is as follows.

[0049] S31: Obtain the reference signal quality threshold.

[0050] The reference signal quality threshold is the minimum signal quality value required for the wireless communication module 150 to complete data transmission with a preset minimum bit error rate (e.g., BLER ≤ 10%) under the current network standard and modulation and coding scheme. For example, for a 4G LTE network, the reference RSRP threshold can be set to -125dBm; for an NB-IoT narrowband network, the reference RSRP threshold can be set to -135dBm.

[0051] The reference signal quality threshold can be determined through on-site testing during terminal deployment, or it can be dynamically obtained by the wireless communication module 150 by looking up a table based on the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) of the current network.

[0052] S32: Calculate link margin.

[0053] The wireless communication control unit 130 reads current signal quality parameters, such as RSRP_c, from the wireless communication module 150 via a control interface. The link margin M is calculated using the following formula: M = RSRP_c - RSRP_th; RSRP_th is the baseline signal quality threshold. The link margin M is in dB. A positive value indicates that the current signal quality is better than the minimum requirement, and the margin can be used for transmit power backoff; a negative value indicates that the current signal quality does not meet the minimum requirement, and the transmit power needs to be increased or transmission needs to be postponed.

[0054] It is understandable that signal quality parameters can also be RSRQ, SNR, or SINR, and the calculation method for link margin can be adjusted accordingly.

[0055] S33: Application of link margin in multidimensional decision making.

[0056] The link margin M is used as one of the input parameters in the multidimensional decision model. Its core functions include: As a criterion for the feasibility of power reduction transmission: Power reduction transmission is only allowed when M is greater than the link margin threshold (e.g., greater than 3dB). The link margin threshold is a preset safety margin that ensures that there is still sufficient link budget to cope with channel fluctuations after power reduction.

[0057] Determining the transmit power backoff amount: In de-powered transmission mode, the transmit power backoff amount N is positively correlated with M. The larger M is, the more transmit power can be backed off. For example, N = min(M - safety margin, Nmax), where the safety margin can be 2dB to 3dB and Nmax can be 6dB to 10dB. This adaptive adjustment ensures that the transmit power backoff is always within the limits allowed by the link budget.

[0058] Identification and response to weak signal scenarios: When M is less than or equal to the link margin threshold, or even negative, it indicates that the current channel conditions are deteriorating and a weak signal response strategy needs to be triggered.

[0059] By introducing link margin, the transmit power adjustment is upgraded from fixed-step open-loop control to closed-loop adaptive control based on real-time link budget. Link margin quantifies how much can be backed up under current channel conditions and service requirements, rather than simply whether the signal is good or bad. The value of N is positively correlated with the link margin, ensuring that each transmit power back-up precisely utilizes the current link's surplus capacity, maximizing power savings while maintaining transmission success rate.

[0060] Based on the above embodiments, a decision logic for a multidimensional decision-making model is also proposed, referring to... Figure 2 As shown, the wireless communication control unit 130 performs the following steps in each transmission cycle.

[0061] S41: Get content priority tags.

[0062] The wireless communication control unit 130 receives content priority tags from the image processing unit 120 via a serial interface. If there are multiple frames of data to be transmitted in the current buffer, they are sorted according to priority level, with the second priority data always appearing before the first priority data.

[0063] S42: Get power status parameters.

[0064] The wireless communication control unit 130 reads the power status parameters provided by the power management module 140 through an analog acquisition interface or a digital communication interface. The power status parameters include the remaining battery capacity (e.g., state of charge (SOC), expressed as a percentage).

[0065] S43: Obtain link margin.

[0066] Following the above method, the current signal quality parameters are read from the wireless communication module 150 and the link margin M is calculated.

[0067] S44: Determine the working mode based on the multidimensional decision-making model.

[0068] The multidimensional decision-making model determines the working mode based on content priority tags, remaining power, and link margin. In this embodiment, three working modes are defined.

[0069] Full-power transmission: The wireless communication module 150 transmits data at a level of reference transmission power or higher.

[0070] Reduced power transmission: The wireless communication module 150 transmits data at a transmit power level that is N dB back from the reference transmit power.

[0071] Deep sleep: The radio frequency circuit and most of the baseband circuit of the wireless communication module 150 are turned off, and only the timed wake-up circuit is retained.

[0072] The specific decision rules of the multidimensional decision model are as follows: Rule 1 (Extremely low battery, narrowband keep-alive): When the remaining battery power falls below a first battery power threshold, the system enters a critical survival state. The first battery power threshold can be set to 10% of the remaining battery power. At this time, regardless of the content priority tag value or link margin, the wireless communication control unit 130 controls the wireless communication module 150 to switch to narrowband transmission mode. The narrowband transmission mode can include one of LoRa, NB-IoT, or GSM narrowband communication modes.

[0073] In this mode, no image data is transmitted; only the coordinate text information of the alarm target and the device heartbeat signal are sent together. The coordinate text information of the alarm target includes the pixel coordinates of the alarm target in the inspection image, the type code of the alarm target, and a timestamp; the device heartbeat signal includes the current remaining battery value and the device operating status code.

[0074] After each transmission is completed, the wireless communication module 150 immediately enters deep sleep mode. When the solar panel resumes power supply and the battery power recovers to above the first power threshold, the system automatically exits the extreme keep-alive state and gradually resumes normal inspection and transmission strategies.

[0075] Rule 2 (Low power but not at its limit, reduce power transmission): When the remaining power is lower than the second power threshold but not lower than the first power threshold, the content priority label is first priority, and the link margin M is greater than the link margin threshold, the working mode is determined to be reduced power transmission.

[0076] The second power threshold is greater than the first power threshold. For example, it can be set to 30% of the remaining battery power, and the link margin threshold can be set to 3dB.

[0077] In this mode, the wireless communication control unit 130 controls the wireless communication module 150 to transmit routine inspection data at a transmit power that is N dB back off relative to the reference transmit power. The value of N is positively correlated with the link margin M, that is, the larger the link margin, the larger the backoff amount. For example, N = min(M - 2dB, 6dB), that is, a 2dB safety margin is reserved, and the maximum backoff is 6dB.

[0078] Rule 3 (Alarm data, full power priority transmission): When the content priority label is the second priority, unless the remaining power is lower than the first power threshold (which triggers the limit keep-alive rule 1), the working mode is determined to be full power transmission, and the wireless communication module 150 is controlled to transmit alarm data at a higher transmit power than the reduced power transmission mode, regardless of the remaining power range.

[0079] Rule 4 (Insufficient link margin, increase power or maintain current power): When the content priority label is set to first priority and the link margin M is less than or equal to the link margin threshold, it indicates that the current channel conditions are insufficient to support transmit power backoff. In this case, the operating mode is determined to be full-power transmission, or the current power transmission mode is maintained to ensure transmission success rate.

[0080] S45: Control the wireless communication module to perform operations according to the determined working mode.

[0081] The wireless communication control unit 130 sends control commands to the wireless communication module 150, and the wireless communication module 150 performs corresponding data transmission or sleep operations.

[0082] In terms of decision input, this embodiment introduces three heterogeneous information sources: content priority label, power status parameters, and link margin, rather than relying solely on the single dimension of power. In particular, the introduction of link margin enables the decision model to distinguish between two completely different operating conditions: low power but good channel and low power and poor channel. The former can safely perform power reduction transmission, while the latter requires increasing power or suspending transmission.

[0083] In terms of decision output, this embodiment defines a reduced-power transmission mode as an intermediate working mode. When the remaining power is between a first power threshold and a second power threshold, existing solutions would discard the first-priority data. However, this embodiment chooses to continue transmission by utilizing link margins to reduce the transmission power level. The technical basis for this strategy shift lies in the inventors' discovery and utilization of link margins under line-of-sight deployment conditions of transmission towers. The high-altitude deployment characteristics of transmission towers provide a good line-of-sight propagation path, and the link margin is usually ample, which provides physical feasibility for reduced-power transmission.

[0084] The following explains the physical feasibility of the core strategy in this application, which is to replace data discarding with reduced power transmission.

[0085] The inventors of this application discovered in their research that there is a favorable deployment condition for power transmission line monitoring terminals that has long been overlooked by existing technologies: the terminals are installed on iron towers tens of meters high, and there is usually a good line-of-sight propagation path between them and the communication base station. Under line-of-sight propagation conditions, the path loss of wireless signals mainly depends on distance, rather than attenuation due to obstructions.

[0086] Based on this, this application introduces link margin as a key criterion for power reduction decisions. Link margin quantifies the degree of redundancy of the current signal quality relative to the minimum passability conditions. When the link margin is sufficient (greater than the link margin threshold), it indicates that the current channel conditions are good, and even if the transmit power is backed down by a few dB, the signal-to-noise ratio at the receiver is still higher than the minimum demodulation threshold required for low-speed transmission of small data volumes.

[0087] For routine inspection data (highly compressed background thumbnails), the data size is typically small, requiring only tens of KB or even a few KB. For this type of small data transmission, a lower receiver signal-to-noise ratio threshold is required. The design where the value of N is positively correlated with the link margin ensures that the transmit power backoff is always within the link budget's allowable range, guaranteeing a high transmission success rate.

[0088] Based on the above findings and analysis, this application proposes a strategy that, under low power conditions, does not discard routine inspection data but continues transmission at a reduced transmit power level, provided that the link margin allows. This strategy significantly reduces power consumption per transmission while maintaining zero data loss.

[0089] Furthermore, the extreme survival strategy of Rule 1 will be explained in detail below.

[0090] When the remaining battery power falls below a first battery power threshold (e.g., 10%), the system enters a critical keep-alive state. At this point, the wireless communication control unit 130 determines that it can no longer support any broadband image transmission.

[0091] If the wireless communication module 150 supports multiple network standards, the wireless communication control unit 130 controls the wireless communication module 150 to switch from a broadband network standard (such as 4G LTE) to a narrowband network standard (such as NB-IoT, LoRa, or GSM). The peak power consumption of the narrowband network standard is much lower than that of the broadband standard.

[0092] In this mode, the wireless communication control unit 130 no longer schedules the transmission of any image data, but only sends the coordinate text information of the alarm target along with the device heartbeat signal packet. The coordinate text information includes: the pixel coordinates of the alarm target in the inspection image, the type code of the alarm target, and a timestamp. The device heartbeat signal contains the current remaining power value and the device operating status code, used to indicate to the master station that the terminal is still running and to report the current power supply status.

[0093] After each transmission is completed, the wireless communication module 150 immediately enters a deep sleep mode. In this state, the average power consumption of the entire device can be reduced to the watt level or even the sub-watt level, which is sufficient to support several days of extreme battery life. When the solar panel resumes power supply and the battery power recovers to above the first power threshold, the system automatically exits the extreme keep-alive state and gradually resumes normal inspection and transmission strategies.

[0094] The beneficial effects of this embodiment are reflected in two progressive levels. The first level is the adaptive switching of network standards: when the power is insufficient to support broadband image transmission, it actively switches to a narrowband network with lower power consumption, rather than forcing it to run on a broadband network and causing it to run out of power quickly. The second level is the gradual reduction of information format: from high-definition foreground images to high-compression background images, and then to text coordinate information, each reduction preserves the most valuable information within the current power budget. Even under the extreme condition of only being able to send a few dozen bytes, it can still transmit the core elements of what location and what type of alarm, rather than just empty heartbeat packets indicating that the device is still alive.

[0095] For continuous transmission failures caused by severe weather, base station failures, or trunk optical cable interruptions, this embodiment provides a long-cycle backoff mechanism. Specifically, the wireless communication control unit 130 maintains a continuous transmission failure counter. Each time a transmission fails (e.g., no base station confirmation is received, timeout occurs, or a rejection signal is received), the counter is incremented by one; each time a transmission is successful, the counter is reset to zero.

[0096] The multidimensional decision model presets an upper limit for the number of failures (e.g., 5 times). When the number of consecutive transmission failures reaches this upper limit, the wireless communication control unit 130 determines that the current communication environment is unavailable for a longer time scale.

[0097] At this time, the wireless communication control unit 130 forces the wireless communication module 150 into a deep sleep mode and extends the time interval for the next wake-up assessment to several times the normal inspection cycle. For example, if the normal inspection cycle is 15 minutes, the extended time interval can be 2 hours, 4 hours, or longer.

[0098] Furthermore, the extension rate of the time interval is positively correlated with the number of consecutive transmission failures. For example, after the first time the limit is exceeded, the time interval is extended to 2 hours. If the number of consecutive failures continues after the device is woken up and reaches the upper limit, the time interval is further extended to 6 hours, and so on. This gradual extension strategy avoids unnecessary power consumption while ensuring that the terminal can reconnect within a reasonable time once the communication environment is restored.

[0099] The existing binary exponential backoff is a standard mechanism at the link layer of the communication protocol stack, with a backoff time window typically ranging from milliseconds to seconds. This mechanism is designed on the premise that network congestion or transient interference can be mitigated within a short timescale. However, transmission failures at power transmission line monitoring terminals often stem from physical layer path obstructions caused by heavy rain, dense fog, or base station equipment malfunctions. Recovery times for such failures range from minutes to hours; repeated retransmissions on a second-scale timescale, besides consuming battery power, offer no help in restoring communication.

[0100] The long-cycle backoff mechanism in this embodiment runs directly at the application layer, with a backoff time window on the order of hours. It is based on the root cause analysis of the reasons for the interruption of power transmission line communication and is a scenario-driven optimization of application layer communication behavior.

[0101] Transmission lines traverse complex terrains such as mountains and canyons, and some sections suffer from weak signal coverage or intermittent signal fluctuations. To address this, this embodiment proposes a specialized optimization method based on link margin.

[0102] Scenario 1: Alarm data encounters a weak signal, so multiple frames are merged and sent.

[0103] When the link margin M is less than or equal to the link margin threshold and the content priority label is second priority, the wireless communication control unit 130 does not send alarm data independently frame by frame, but instead merges multiple frames of alarm data into a single data packet. In the next transmission cycle when the link margin recovers to above the link margin threshold, the merged data packet is sent all at once in full-power mode.

[0104] Compared with frame-by-frame independent transmission, multi-frame merging significantly reduces the number of wake-up times for the RF power amplifier. Each time the power amplifier goes from sleep to wake-up, it involves multiple high-power processes such as phase-locked loop locking, bias establishment, and power ramping. Reducing the number of wake-up times directly brings considerable power savings.

[0105] Scenario 2: Weak signal persists, transmission is temporarily suspended and the system enters a sleep state while waiting.

[0106] When the link margin M is less than or equal to the link margin threshold, and the duration exceeds a preset duration threshold (e.g., 30 minutes), the wireless communication control unit 130 determines that the current situation is a long-term weak coverage state. At this time, the wireless communication control unit 130 controls the wireless communication module 150 to suspend all transmission tasks and extend the sleep time until the link margin recovers to above the link margin threshold.

[0107] By actively avoiding deep signal fading windows in the time dimension, the communication module avoids the ineffective power consumption caused by automatically increasing the transmission power to the maximum under weak signal conditions but still failing to transmit successfully.

[0108] This embodiment breaks away from the standard automatic gain control logic of the communication module and introduces an intelligent scheduling strategy for power transmission line scenarios at the application layer. It replaces blind retransmission with active sleep waiting to avoid ineffective RF energy consumption; and reduces the number of power amplifier wake-up calls by replacing frame-by-frame independent transmission with multi-frame merging.

[0109] Unlike the unidirectional command relationship between the image processing unit and the communication module in existing solutions, this embodiment provides a cross-layer closed-loop control mechanism. Specifically, when the working mode is determined to be full-power transmission or reduced-power transmission, the wireless communication control unit 130 sends a data request command to the image processing unit 120 through the serial interface before performing the transmission operation. The data request command includes the current remaining power value and working mode information.

[0110] After receiving a data request instruction, the image processing unit 120 adaptively adjusts the compression parameters of the image data to be transmitted based on the remaining battery power and operating mode; the specific adjustment strategy includes: Strategy 1 (Compression Adjustment in Reduced Power Transmission Mode): If the operating mode is power reduction transmission, the ratio of the current remaining battery power to a first battery power threshold is obtained, and the compression strategy for the foreground and background regions is determined based on this ratio. The closer the remaining battery power is to the first battery power threshold, the higher the compression ratio, in order to reduce the amount of data to be transmitted. During the compression adjustment process, the increase in the compression ratio of the foreground region is less than that of the background region, that is, priority is given to ensuring the image quality of the foreground region (including the target of interest), and more compression pressure is allocated to the background region.

[0111] Strategy Two (Compression Adjustment under Extremely Low Battery Conditions): If the remaining battery power is below the second battery power threshold (note that the second battery power threshold here refers to the second battery power threshold in Example 4, i.e., the 30% battery power node), then lossless compression (such as JPEG-LS or PNG format) is applied to the foreground area, and ultra-high compression ratio exceeding 20:1 is applied to the background area. At this time, since the foreground area usually accounts for a very small area, the amount of data after lossless compression is still controllable; the amount of data in the background area after ultra-high compression ratio compression is extremely small, mainly playing an auxiliary positioning role.

[0112] In existing technologies, the compression strategy of image processing units is usually based on preset fixed parameters or the content characteristics of the image itself, without considering the current power consumption constraints of the communication module. This unidirectional, open-loop processing method leads to a common mismatch: the communication module has entered power-saving mode due to low battery, but the image processing unit is still outputting data at the compression ratio under normal battery power, causing the data volume to exceed the current power consumption budget. The communication module can only choose to discard some data or forcibly send it, which will accelerate the depletion of battery power.

[0113] This embodiment establishes a feedback path from the communication control unit back to the image processing unit, forming a cross-layer closed loop. The communication side informs the image side of the current transmission capacity in real time, and the image side adjusts the encoding parameters accordingly to ensure that the amount of data to be transmitted is precisely matched with the current transmission capacity. In particular, the strategy of differentially adjusting the compression ratio between the foreground and background regions—with a small increase in foreground compression and a large increase in background compression—minimizes the total amount of transmitted data while ensuring that the alarm target is identifiable.

[0114] Obviously, the above embodiments are merely illustrative examples for clear explanation and are not intended to limit the implementation. Those skilled in the art will recognize that other variations or modifications can be made based on the above description. It is neither necessary nor possible to exhaustively list all possible implementations here. However, obvious variations or modifications derived therefrom are still within the scope of protection of this invention.

Claims

1. A method for controlling the power consumption of wireless communication in a transmission line monitoring terminal, characterized in that, include: The wireless communication control unit receives the content priority tag from the image processing unit; The content priority label is used to identify the importance level of the image data to be transmitted, including a first priority and a second priority; the first priority corresponds to inspection data in which no abnormal events are detected, and the second priority corresponds to alarm data in which abnormal events are detected. Obtain the status parameters of the terminal power supply, including the remaining power. Obtain the signal quality parameters of the current wireless communication link, and determine the link margin based on the signal quality parameters. The link margin is the margin of the current signal quality relative to the reference signal quality threshold. Based on the content priority label, power status parameters, and link margin, the operating mode of the wireless communication module in the current transmission cycle is determined using a multi-dimensional decision model; the operating modes include full-power transmission, reduced-power transmission, and deep sleep. The wireless communication module is controlled to operate according to the determined working mode.

2. The wireless communication power consumption control method for transmission line monitoring terminals according to claim 1, characterized in that... The content priority label is generated by the image processing unit through semantic segmentation or target detection of the transmission line inspection image; wherein, the image region containing at least one target of interest among conductors, insulators, construction machinery, fireworks or foreign objects is marked as the second priority, and the remaining image regions or global thumbnails are marked as the first priority.

3. The wireless communication power consumption control method for transmission line monitoring terminals according to claim 2, characterized in that... The inspection data is: background layer data generated by dividing the inspection image into a foreground region and a background region and compressing the background region at a first compression ratio, or thumbnail data generated by globally compressing the inspection image; the alarm data is: foreground layer data generated by compressing the foreground region at a second compression ratio; the first compression ratio is greater than the second compression ratio.

4. The wireless communication power consumption control method for transmission line monitoring terminals according to claim 1, characterized in that... The multidimensional decision-making model includes: If the remaining battery power is lower than the first battery power threshold, the wireless communication module is controlled to switch to narrowband transmission mode, transmitting only the coordinate text information of the alarm target and the device heartbeat signal, and entering deep sleep after each transmission is completed; If the remaining battery power is lower than the second battery power threshold but not lower than the first battery power threshold, and it is the first priority, and the link margin is greater than the link margin threshold, then the working mode is determined to be reduced power transmission, and the wireless communication module is controlled to transmit inspection data at a transmission power that is NdB back off relative to the reference transmission power; the value of N is positively correlated with the link margin; the first battery power threshold is less than the second battery power threshold; If it is the second priority, then the working mode is determined to be full power transmission, and the wireless communication module is controlled to transmit the alarm data at a higher transmission power than the reduced power transmission mode; If the priority is the first priority and the link margin is less than or equal to the link margin threshold, then the operating mode is determined to be full power transmission or maintaining the current power transmission.

5. The wireless communication power consumption control method for transmission line monitoring terminals according to claim 4, characterized in that... The narrowband transmission mode is LoRa, NB-IoT, or GSM narrowband communication mode; the coordinate text information includes the pixel coordinates of the alarm target in the inspection image, the type code of the alarm target, and the timestamp; the device heartbeat signal includes the current remaining power value and the device operating status code.

6. The wireless communication power consumption control method for transmission line monitoring terminals according to claim 1, characterized in that... The multidimensional decision model also dynamically adjusts the switching threshold of the working mode based on the historical transmission success rate. If the number of consecutive transmission failures reaches the upper limit, the wireless communication module is forced to enter a deep sleep mode and the time interval for the next wake-up evaluation is extended. The extension factor of the time interval is positively correlated with the number of consecutive transmission failures.

7. The wireless communication power consumption control method for transmission line monitoring terminals according to claim 1, characterized in that... The multidimensional decision-making model also adjusts its operating mode based on the link margin: If the link margin is less than or equal to the link margin threshold and is the second priority, then multiple alarm data frames are merged into one data packet and sent in a concentrated manner in the next transmission cycle when the link margin is greater than the link margin threshold, so as to reduce the number of times the RF power amplifier is turned on. If the link margin is less than or equal to the link margin threshold and the duration exceeds the duration threshold, the wireless communication module is controlled to temporarily suspend transmission and extend the sleep time until the link margin recovers to above the link margin threshold.

8. The wireless communication power consumption control method for transmission line monitoring terminals according to claim 1, characterized in that... When the working mode is full power transmission or reduced power transmission, before performing the transmission operation, a data request command is sent to the image processing unit via the serial port. The image processing unit adaptively adjusts the compression parameters of the image data to be transmitted according to the current remaining power and the working mode.

9. The wireless communication power consumption control method for a transmission line monitoring terminal according to claim 8, characterized in that... The image processing unit adaptively adjusts the compression parameters of the image data to be transmitted based on the current remaining battery power and the operating mode, including: If the working mode is power reduction transmission, the ratio of the current remaining power to the first power threshold is obtained, and the compression strategy of the foreground region and the background region is determined based on the ratio; the compression ratio increase of the foreground region is less than the compression ratio increase of the background region. If the current remaining battery power is lower than the second battery power threshold, then lossless compression is applied to the foreground area, and ultra-high compression ratio exceeding 20:1 is applied to the background area; the lossless compression uses JPEG-LS or PNG format.

10. A wireless communication power consumption control device for transmission line monitoring terminals, characterized in that... ,include: The image acquisition module acquires images of power transmission line inspections. The image processing unit performs semantic segmentation or target detection on the inspection image and generates a content priority label. The content priority label is used to identify the importance level of the image data to be transmitted, including a first priority and a second priority. The first priority corresponds to the inspection data in which no abnormal event is detected, and the second priority corresponds to the alarm data in which an abnormal event is detected. The power management module monitors the status parameters of the terminal's power supply, including remaining power or power voltage. The wireless communication module transmits data wirelessly to an external communication base station or a back-end main station. A wireless communication control unit is connected to the image processing unit, the power management module, and the wireless communication module, respectively, and is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9; The wireless communication control unit is connected to the image processing unit via a serial interface to receive the content priority tag; the wireless communication control unit is connected to the power management module via an analog acquisition interface or a digital communication interface to obtain the remaining power; the wireless communication control unit is connected to the wireless communication module via a control interface to obtain the signal quality parameters of the current wireless communication link and the reference transmit power of the wireless communication module under the current link conditions; the signal quality parameters include reference signal receive power, reference signal receive quality, signal-to-noise ratio, or signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio.

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