Data transmission method and related apparatus
By using the feedback information of the destination node and neighbor node in the multi-hop wireless Mesh network to select the next hop node and adjust the transmission strategy, the problem of excessively long packet transmission time is solved, and network transmission performance is improved and resource efficient utilization is achieved.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- PCT/CN2024/135041
- Authority / Receiving Office
- WO · WO
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Priority Date
- 2024-01-03
- Filing Date
- 2024-11-27
- Publication Date
- 2025-07-10
AI Technical Summary
In a multi-hop wireless Mesh network, data packets are transmitted to the destination node through links with poor network transmission performance, resulting in a long transmission time and cannot meet the data transmission needs. How to determine a better data transmission strategy to improve network transmission performance.
The first node in the communication network determines the destination node of the data packet to be transmitted, and based on the feedback information of the destination node, selects the appropriate next-hop node, and adjusts the transmission strategy, including transmission power and time-frequency resources, and optimizes the transmission path of the data packet based on the feedback information of the neighbor node.
快速确定合适的数据传输策略,提高网络传输性能,及时应对网络动态变化,最大化网络吞吐量,减少资源浪费。
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Figure CN2024135041_10072025_PF_FP_ABST
Abstract
Description
A data transmission method and related device
[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China on January 3, 2024, with application number 202410009998.5 and application name "A Data Transmission Method and Related Devices", the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field
[0003] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a data transmission method and related devices. Background Art
[0004] In recent years, to meet the surging demand for wireless network services, network architectures have evolved from single-hop to multi-hop wireless mesh networks. In a multi-hop wireless mesh network, a data packet is generated at the source node, transmitted through intermediate nodes, and ultimately needs to be delivered to the destination node. The process of transmitting a data packet from the source node to the destination node is called end-to-end transmission.
[0005] During the end-to-end transmission of data packets, if they are transmitted to the destination node via a transmission link with poor network transmission performance, the transmission time of the data packet will be long, which cannot meet the data transmission requirements. How to determine a better data transmission strategy and improve network transmission performance is an urgent problem to be solved. Summary of the Invention
[0006] The embodiments of the present application provide a data transmission method and related devices, which are conducive to quickly determining an appropriate data transmission strategy and improving network transmission performance.
[0007] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a data transmission method, which can be executed by a first node in a communication network, or a chip, chip system or circuit in the first node. The first node can be any node in the communication network. The method may include: the first node determines the destination node of the data packet to be transmitted, determines the next hop node of the data packet to be transmitted based on the first feedback information of the destination node, and transmits the data packet to be transmitted to the next hop node. The first feedback information of the destination node is used to characterize the transmission status of multiple data packets, or in other words, to characterize the transmission status of multiple data packets transmitted within a set historical time period.
[0008] In an embodiment of the present application, the first feedback information of the destination node is used to characterize the transmission status of multiple data packets transmitted within a set historical period. The transmission status of multiple data packets can reflect the end-to-end performance indicators from the source node to the destination node during the data packet transmission process. The first node in the communication network determines the next hop node of the data packet to be transmitted based on the first feedback information of the destination node, which is conducive to quickly determining the appropriate data transmission strategy and improving network transmission performance.
[0009] In one possible implementation, the first node may determine the next hop node based on the first feedback information of the destination node and the second feedback information corresponding to each neighbor node of the first node. The second feedback information corresponding to the first neighbor node is determined by the first node based on the transmission success rate of the first transmission link. The first neighbor node may be any neighbor node of the first node, and the first transmission link refers to the transmission link between the first node and the first neighbor node of the first node. Exemplarily, the first node may determine the second feedback information corresponding to the first neighbor node based on the data transmission information fed back by the first neighbor node. Based on the data transmission information fed back by the first neighbor node in each feedback cycle, the first node may respectively determine the data rate and transmission success rate of the first transmission link transmission, and based on the data rate and successful transmission rate of the first transmission link transmission, the second feedback information corresponding to the first neighbor node may be determined.
[0010] The first feedback information of the destination node may also be referred to as global feedback information, and the second feedback information corresponding to each neighboring node of the first node may be referred to as local feedback information.
[0011] In the above implementation, the first node can determine the next hop node by combining the global feedback information of the destination node and the local feedback information corresponding to each of the first node's neighbor nodes, so as to respond to dynamic changes of the network in a timely and effective manner.
[0012] In one possible implementation, the first node may determine the next-hop transmission strategy of the data packet to be transmitted based on the global feedback information of the destination node. In addition to the next-hop node of the data packet to be transmitted, the next-hop transmission strategy may also include the transmission power and / or time-frequency resources of the next-hop transmission of the data packet to be transmitted. For example, the first node may send the data packet to be transmitted to the next-hop node according to the first transmission power, and the first transmission power may be determined based on the global feedback information of the destination node; or, the first node may send the data packet to be transmitted to the next-hop node according to the first time-frequency resource, and the first time-frequency resource may be determined based on the global feedback information of the destination node; or, the first node may send the data packet to be transmitted to the next-hop node according to the first transmission power and the first time-frequency resource, and the first transmission power and the first time-frequency resource may be determined based on the global feedback information of the destination node.
[0013] In another possible implementation, the first node may determine the next-hop transmission strategy of the data packet to be transmitted based on the global feedback information of the destination node and the local feedback information corresponding to each neighboring node of the first node. In addition to the next-hop node of the data packet to be transmitted, the next-hop transmission strategy may also include the transmission power and / or time-frequency resources of the next-hop transmission of the data packet to be transmitted. For example, the first node may send the data packet to be transmitted to the next-hop node according to the first transmission power, and the first transmission power may be determined based on the global feedback information of the destination node and the local feedback information corresponding to each neighboring node of the first node; or, the first node may send the data packet to be transmitted to the next-hop node according to the first time-frequency resource, and the first time-frequency resource may be determined based on the global feedback information of the destination node and the local feedback information corresponding to each neighboring node of the first node; or, the first node may send the data packet to be transmitted to the next-hop node according to the first transmission power and the first time-frequency resource, and the first transmission power and the first time-frequency resource may be determined based on the global feedback information of the destination node and the local feedback information corresponding to each neighboring node of the first node.
[0014] In one possible implementation, a data packet to be transmitted includes a data flow identifier, which indicates the quality of service (QoS) requirement, source node identifier, and destination node identifier corresponding to the data packet to be transmitted. Alternatively, when the same data flow identifier is included in different data packets, it indicates that the QoS requirements, source node, and destination node of the different data packets are the same. The QoS requirement may include at least one of a packet error rate (PER), a guaranteed bit rate (GFBR), and a maximum bit rate (MFBR).
[0015] In one possible implementation, when sending a data packet to be transmitted to a next-hop node, if the first node determines that it has not sent a data packet with the same data flow identifier as the data packet to be transmitted to the next-hop node, then the data packet to be transmitted carrying the QoS requirement is sent to the next-hop node; if the first node determines that it has sent a data packet with the same data flow identifier as the data packet to be transmitted to the next-hop node, then the data packet to be transmitted that does not carry the QoS requirement is sent to the next-hop node, so as to shorten the length of the data packet to be transmitted and save network transmission resources.
[0016] In a possible implementation, the data flow identifier and the QoS requirement are carried in a media access control MAC layer protocol data unit (PDU) of the data packet to be transmitted or in MAC layer signaling.
[0017] In one possible implementation, the first node can receive a data packet to be transmitted sent by the previous hop node. If the data packet to be transmitted carries a data flow identifier and a QoS requirement, the first node can record the correspondence between the data flow identifier carried in the data packet to be transmitted and the QoS requirement, so as to avoid the need to carry the QoS requirement of the data packet in each transmission data packet.
[0018] In one possible implementation, the first node may also receive third feedback information from the next-hop node, where the third feedback information is determined by the next-hop node based on the global feedback information. The first node sends fourth feedback information to the previous-hop node, where the fourth feedback information is determined based on the third feedback information. Exemplarily, the first node may receive first feedback signaling from the next-hop node, where the first feedback signaling may be sent by the next-hop node based on the previous-hop node information of the data packet to be transmitted stored in the next-hop node. The first feedback signaling includes the third feedback information, and the first node determines the fourth feedback information based on the third feedback information in the first feedback signaling, and generates a second feedback signaling including the fourth feedback information. The first node sends a second feedback signaling to the previous-hop node of the first node based on the previous-hop node information of the data packet to be transmitted stored in the first node.
[0019] In the above implementation, the global feedback information determined by the destination node can be transmitted back according to the transmission path of the data flow, providing a basis for each intermediate node to determine the next hop transmission strategy, so that the intermediate node can quickly determine the appropriate data transmission strategy.
[0020] In one possible implementation, the first node receives a first feedback signaling from the next-hop node and can obtain the data packet status information corresponding to the third feedback information from the first feedback signaling. If the node information contained in the data packet status information is consistent with the next-hop node information stored in the first node, and the remaining delay budget TTD in the data packet status information is consistent with the TTD in the next-hop status stored in the first node, the fourth feedback information is determined based on the third feedback information in the first feedback signaling.
[0021] In a possible implementation, the first feedback signaling carries a generation timestamp of the global feedback information. If the generation timestamp falls within a specified time range, the fourth feedback information is determined according to the third feedback information in the first feedback signaling.
[0022] In a possible implementation, the transmission status of the plurality of data packets is associated with at least one of throughput, packet loss rate, and QoS requirement.
[0023] In the above implementation, the destination node can determine the global feedback information based on the throughput, packet loss rate and QoS requirements, and the intermediate node adjusts the next-hop transmission strategy based on the global feedback information, which can guarantee end-to-end performance in a distributed manner, maximize network throughput and reduce the waste of network resources.
[0024] In one possible implementation, the first feedback information is fed back at intervals by the destination node within a set historical duration, and the interval duration is negatively correlated with the changing trend of the global feedback information fed back multiple times. The interval duration can be called a feedback period, and the destination node can determine the global feedback information based on the throughput, packet loss rate, and QoS requirements corresponding to the data flow identifier of the data packet to be transmitted that meet the delay constraint within the feedback period. Among them, the throughput that meets the delay constraint is determined based on the number of successfully delivered data packets within the feedback period. The successfully delivered data packet refers to the data packet received by the destination node that has the same data flow identifier as the data packet to be transmitted and meets the delay constraint; the packet loss rate is determined based on the number of over-delayed data packets. The over-delayed data packet refers to the data packet received by the destination node that has the same data flow identifier as the data packet to be transmitted and does not meet the delay constraint.
[0025] In the above implementation, the feedback cycle is negatively correlated with the changing trend of the global feedback information. When the global feedback information tends to be stable, it means that the data transmission strategy is the best or close to the best. At this time, the feedback frequency of the global feedback information can be reduced to avoid occupying network transmission resources.
[0026] In a second aspect, a communication device is provided, which may include a module for executing any one of the methods provided in the first aspect.
[0027] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device comprising a processor and an interface circuit, the interface circuit being used to receive signals from other communication devices and transmit them to the processor, or to send signals from the processor to other communication devices, and the processor being used to implement any one of the methods provided in the first aspect through logic circuits or executing code instructions.
[0028] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication chip, comprising a processor, wherein the processor is coupled to a memory and is configured to execute a computer program or instruction stored in the memory to implement any one of the methods provided in the first aspect.
[0029] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores computer-executable instructions, and the computer-executable instructions are used to enable a computer to execute any one of the methods provided in the first aspect above.
[0030] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions, which are used to enable a computer to execute any one of the methods provided in the first aspect above.
[0031] The technical effects that can be achieved in any of the second to sixth aspects mentioned above can refer to the description of the beneficial effects in the first aspect mentioned above, and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0032] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication network provided in an embodiment of the present application;
[0033] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of an information transmission process in a communication network provided by an embodiment of the present application;
[0034] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a forward transmission of a data stream provided in an embodiment of the present application;
[0035] FIG4 is a flow chart of a data transmission method provided in an embodiment of the present application;
[0036] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of a method for determining global feedback information provided in an embodiment of the present application;
[0037] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of another method for determining global feedback information provided in an embodiment of the present application;
[0038] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a feedback signaling provided in an embodiment of the present application;
[0039] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of a process for returning global feedback information provided by an embodiment of the present application;
[0040] FIG9 is a flowchart of another data transmission method provided in an embodiment of the present application;
[0041] FIG10 is a schematic diagram of the structure of another feedback signaling provided in an embodiment of the present application;
[0042] FIG11 is a schematic diagram of a process for a communication node to determine a next-hop transmission strategy according to an embodiment of the present application;
[0043] FIG12 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;
[0044] FIG13 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0045] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The terms used in the implementation methods of the present application are only used to explain the specific embodiments of the present application and are not intended to limit the present application.
[0046] Before introducing the specific solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application, some of the terms in the present application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art, and the terms in the present application are not limited.
[0047] (1) Wireless Mesh Node: A communication node in a communication network that has the ability to generate, process, forward, and receive data packets. Any wireless mesh node can act as a source node, intermediate node, or destination node.
[0048] (2) Deadline: The time required for a data packet to be generated from the source node to be delivered to the destination node is equal to the end-to-end delay constraint of the data packet.
[0049] (3) Timely throughput: This refers to the number of data packets successfully delivered to the destination node before the deadline within a unit time. The unit time can be a feedback cycle for the destination node to perform global feedback.
[0050] (4) Data flow: In a communication network, data is transmitted between communication nodes in the form of data packets. Multiple data packets transmitted in the same direction can be called a data flow.
[0051] (5) Backtracking: The process of transmitting feedback information from the destination node to the source node along the path of data flow from the source node to the destination node is called backtracking.
[0052] In the embodiments of the present application, "multiple" refers to two or more. In view of this, in the embodiments of the present application, "multiple" can also be understood as "at least two". "At least one" can be understood as one or more, for example, one, two or more. For example, including at least one means including one, two or more, and does not limit which ones are included. For example, including at least one of A, B and C, then the included ones may be A, B, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A, B and C. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. In addition, the character " / ", unless otherwise specified, generally indicates that the previous and subsequent associated objects are in an "or" relationship.
[0053] Unless otherwise specified, ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish multiple objects and are not used to limit the order, timing, priority or importance of multiple objects.
[0054] The data transmission method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to a communication network including a plurality of communication nodes. Figure 1 exemplarily shows a structural diagram of a communication network to which the embodiment of the present application is applicable, and the communication network is a wireless Mesh network. In order to meet the surging service demand in wireless networks, the structure of the fifth generation (5th generation, 5G) / sixth generation (6th generation, 6G) mobile communication network has begun to develop from a single hop to a multi-hop wireless Mesh network. For example, the sidelink network in the standard TS23.304 of the third generation partnership project (3GPP) is a multi-hop wireless Mesh network, and the integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network in the standard TS38.174 of 3GPP is also a wireless multi-hop Mesh network.
[0055] The communication network shown in Figure 1 includes multiple communication nodes, such as N1, N2, N3, N4, N5, N6, and N7. Each communication node can be referred to as a wireless mesh node. Each communication node is capable of generating, processing, forwarding, and receiving data flows and can serve as a source node, an intermediate node, or a destination node. For example, communication node N2 in Figure 1 can generate data flow Flow1. Therefore, communication node N2 can be the source node of data flow Flow1, and the destination node of data flow Flow1 can be communication node N4. Communication node N1 in Figure 1 can generate data flow Flow2. Therefore, communication node N1 can be the source node of data flow Flow2, and the destination node of data flow Flow2 can be communication node N6. Communication node N3 in Figure 1 can generate data flow Flown. Therefore, communication node N3 can be the source node of data flow Flown, and the destination node of data flow Flown can be communication node N7. Communication nodes can be computers, servers, base stations, or other network devices, or communication terminals.
[0056] It should be noted that in actual application scenarios, the communication network may include more than 7 communication nodes or less than 7 communication nodes, and this application does not limit this.
[0057] The communication network architecture shown in Figure 1 is applicable to both cellular and IAB networks. In cellular networks, the wireless mesh nodes shown in Figure 1 can be cellular base stations or radio access network (RAN) nodes, such as wireless relays and wireless backhaul equipment. RAN nodes can be connected to each other via wired or wireless connections. In IAB networks, wireless mesh nodes can be IAB donor nodes.
[0058] In the communication network shown in Figure 1, any node that generates a data packet is called a source node. The packet is generated at the source node, transmitted through intermediate nodes, and ultimately needs to be transmitted to the destination node. The process of transmitting a data packet from the source node to the destination node can be called end-to-end transmission, and each data packet has an end-to-end delay constraint. However, while satisfying the end-to-end delay constraint for each data packet, it is also necessary to maximize network throughput to reduce the waste of network resources.
[0059] Traditional cellular networks use a centralized approach to maximize network throughput. This involves selecting a central node in the communication network, establishing a cross-layer joint optimization problem with end-to-end packet delay constraints, and solving this cross-layer joint optimization problem to obtain a resource scheduling solution that maximizes throughput. However, this approach requires the central node to collect information from all communication nodes in the communication network, resulting in long response times and difficulty identifying a suitable central node within the communication network.
[0060] Based on this, an embodiment of the present application provides a data transmission method, which can be executed by a first node in a communication network, or a chip, chip system, or circuit in the first node. The first node can be any node in the communication network. The first node receives a data packet to be transmitted, and after determining the destination node of the data packet to be transmitted, it can determine the next hop node of the data packet to be transmitted based on first feedback information from the destination node, and transmit the data packet to the next hop node. Adjusting the data transmission strategy in combination with the first feedback information is conducive to the rapid convergence of the data transmission strategy, and determining the most appropriate data transmission strategy in a shorter time, thereby reducing the waste of network resources.
[0061] In some embodiments, the first node may also determine the next-hop node for the data packet to be transmitted by combining the second feedback information corresponding to each neighboring node and the first feedback information from the destination node. Considering the second feedback information when adjusting the data transmission strategy further enables timely and effective response to dynamic changes in the network. In the following description, the first feedback information from the destination node may be referred to as global feedback information, and the second feedback information corresponding to each neighboring node may be referred to as local feedback information. That is, the global feedback information described below is equivalent to the first feedback information described above, and the local feedback information is equivalent to the second feedback information described above.
[0062] Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary schematic diagram of the information transmission process in a communication network. As shown in Figure 2, information transmission in a communication network can include forward transmission of data flows and backpropagation of feedback information. Forward transmission of data flows refers to the process of transmitting data flows from a source node to a destination node, while backpropagation of feedback information refers to the process of transmitting feedback information in the opposite direction of the data flow, including the process of transmitting global feedback information from the destination node to the source node. Taking data flow Flow2 generated by communication node N1 as an example, communication node N1 is the source node of data flow Flow2. The source node transmits data flow Flow2 to communication node N2, which transmits data flow Flow2 to communication node N5. Communication node N5 transmits data flow Flow2 to communication node N6. Communication nodes N2 and N5 can be considered intermediate nodes, with communication node N6 being the destination node of data flow Flow2. Destination node N6 can generate global feedback information and transmit it to source node N1 via communication nodes N5 and N2. Meanwhile, for the source node N1, the neighbor node N2 of the source node N1 may also feed back data transmission information to the source node N1. The source node N1 may determine the local feedback information corresponding to the neighbor node N2 based on the data transmission information fed back by the neighbor node N2.
[0063] For any data flow, each time it reaches a communication node, the communication node can determine the next-hop transmission strategy based on the global feedback information obtained from the destination node and the local feedback information corresponding to each of its neighboring nodes. The next-hop transmission strategy can include the next-hop node and at least one of the transmission power and time-frequency resources used to transmit data to the next-hop node. The time-frequency resources can be a combination of unit subcarriers and unit time. Once the data flow reaches the destination node, the destination node can calculate the end-to-end performance metrics of the data flow and generate global feedback information based on the end-to-end performance metrics. The end-to-end performance metrics can include at least one of throughput and packet loss rate. After generating the global feedback information, the destination node can propagate the global feedback information back along the data flow transmission path to each intermediate node and the source node. During the next data transmission, the intermediate node can update the next-hop transmission strategy based on the global feedback information from the destination node and the local feedback information corresponding to each neighboring node to guide the distributed scheduling of subsequent data flows.
[0064] The data transmission method provided by the present application is described in detail below through specific embodiments. As shown in Figure 3, it is assumed that the forward transmission path of a data stream is N1→N2→N3→N4→N5, that is, the source node of the data stream is communication node N1, and the destination node is communication node N5. Communication node N3 is one of the multiple intermediate nodes. The following takes communication node N3 as an example to illustrate the process of forward transmission of the data stream in the embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 4, the process may include the following steps:
[0065] S401, communication node N3 receives data packet a.
[0066] The communication node N3 receives the data packet a sent by the previous hop node and determines the destination node of the data packet a.
[0067] Assume that the source node generating data packet a is communication node N1. When communication node N1 transmits data to communication node N5, it generates data packet a, and the destination node of data packet a is communication node N5. In some embodiments, considering that in the 3GPP standard, only the source node and the destination node can obtain the QoS requirements of the data packet for end-to-end transmission, and intermediate nodes also need to use the QoS requirements to determine local feedback information, the data packet can carry the QoS requirements. Communication node N1 can also determine the quality of service (QoS) requirements of data packet a based on the service type corresponding to data packet a and load the QoS requirements into data packet a. The QoS requirements may include at least one of the packet error rate (PER), the guaranteed flow bit rate (GFBR), and the maximum flow bit rate (MFBR). Different service types correspond to different QoS requirements. For example, service types may include, but are not limited to, video, voice, and SMS types. Video, voice, and SMS types each correspond to different QoS requirements.
[0068] In some embodiments, data packet a includes a data flow identifier (flow ID). Data packets with the same QoS requirements, source node address, and destination node address use the same flow ID, and multiple data packets using the same flow ID form a data flow. In other words, data packets with the same flow ID as data packet a have the same QoS requirements, source node address, and destination node address as data packet a. Data packet a may also include delay constraint information, which may be a remaining budget delay (time-till-deadline, TTD). The destination node may determine whether the receiving moment of the data packet meets the delay constraint based on the TTD of the received data packet.
[0069] As shown in Figure 3, communication node N1 can choose to transmit data packet a to communication node N2 or to communication node N6. For example, communication node N1 can determine whether to transmit data packet a to communication node N2 or to communication node N6 based on local feedback information corresponding to each of communication node N1's neighboring nodes (including communication node N2 and communication node N6) and global feedback information from the destination node (communication node N5).
[0070] Each time communication node N1 transmits a data packet to a next-hop node, it can record the information of the next-hop node corresponding to each transmitted data packet. Assuming that communication node N1 chooses to transmit data packet a to communication node N2, communication node N1 can determine whether it has previously transmitted a data packet with the same flow ID as data packet a to communication node N2 based on the information of the next-hop node corresponding to each data packet recorded in history. If a data packet with the same flow ID as data packet a has not been transmitted to communication node N2, data packet a can be transmitted to communication node N2. Data packet a can include the flow ID, source node address, destination node address, current node address, and QoS requirements, where the current node address is the address of communication node N1. If a data packet with the same flow ID as data packet a has been transmitted to communication node N2 in the past, data packet a can include only the flow ID and current node address without including the QoS requirements, source node address, and destination node address. In this way, the QoS requirements, source node address, and destination node address only need to be carried once. That is, when a data packet with a certain flow ID is sent to a communication node for the first time, the QoS requirements, source node address, and destination node address are carried once. Subsequently, when sending data packets with the flow ID to the communication node, there is no need to carry the source node address, destination node address, PER, GFBR, and MFBR information of the data packet, thereby reducing communication overhead.
[0071] In an optional embodiment, if the data packet a transmitted by the communication node N1 to the communication node N2 carries a QoS requirement, the flow ID and the QoS requirement may be carried through the medium access control (MAC) layer, for example, the flow ID and the QoS requirement may be carried through a MAC sub protocol data unit (PDU), and MAC sub PDUs with different flow IDs carry their respective QoS requirements.
[0072] When communication node N2 receives data packet a from communication node N1, it extracts the flow ID carried in data packet a and records it. If data packet a carries QoS requirements, the source node address, and the destination node address, communication node N2 records the correspondence between the flow ID of data packet a and the QoS requirements, source node address, and destination node address carried in data packet a.
[0073] Communication node N2 may choose to transmit data packet a to communication node N3 or to communication node N6. For example, communication node N2 may determine whether to transmit data packet a to communication node N3 or to communication node N6 based on local feedback information corresponding to each of communication node N2's neighboring nodes (including communication node N3 and communication node N6) and global feedback information from the destination node (communication node N5).
[0074] Each time communication node N2 transmits a data packet to a next-hop node, it can record the information of the next-hop node corresponding to each transmitted data packet. For example, communication node N2 chooses to transmit data packet a to communication node N3. Communication node N2 can determine whether it has previously transmitted a data packet with the same flow ID as data packet a to communication node N3 based on the historically recorded information of the next-hop node corresponding to each data packet. If a data packet with the same flow ID as data packet a has not been transmitted to communication node N3, data packet a can be transmitted to communication node N3. Data packet a can include the flow ID, source node address, destination node address, current node address, and QoS requirements, where the current node address is the address of communication node N2. If a data packet with the same flow ID as data packet a has been transmitted to communication node N3 in the past, data packet a can exclude the QoS requirements, source node address, and destination node address, and can only include the flow ID and current node address.
[0075] When communication node N3 receives data packet a from communication node N2, it extracts the flow ID carried in data packet a and records it. If data packet a carries QoS requirements, the source node address, and the destination node address, communication node N3 records the correspondence between the flow ID of data packet a and the QoS requirements, source node address, and destination node address carried in data packet a.
[0076] Assuming that the flow ID of packet a is flow f, communication node N3 can record the source node address, destination node address, PER, GFBR, and MFBR corresponding to flow f. As shown in Table 1, communication node N3 can record the source node address of flow f as N1 and the destination node address as N5. In some embodiments, communication node N3 can also extract the current node address carried in packet a, namely, the address of communication node N2, and record the current node address as the previous hop address, namely, the previous hop address as N2.
[0077] Table 1
[0078] If data packet a only carries the flow ID of data packet a but does not carry the destination node address, communication node N3 can query local records based on the flow ID of data packet a to determine the destination node address corresponding to the flow ID, thereby determining the destination node of data packet a.
[0079] In some embodiments, communication node N3 can also store the status information of packet a for use in subsequent feedback generation and for subsequent backtracking of global feedback information. The packet's status information can be represented by a triple: flow ID, current node address (i.e., the node address where the packet is currently located, the address of communication node N3), and the packet's time-to-delay (TTD). Packets with the same status can use the same feedback information. The status information of packet a is also carried by packet a and transmitted to the next-hop node.
[0080] S402, the communication node N3 sends data packet a to the next-hop node.
[0081] In some embodiments, communication node N3 may determine the next hop node for data packet a based on global feedback information from the destination node. In other embodiments, communication node N3 may determine the next hop node for data packet a based on local feedback information corresponding to each of communication node N3's neighboring nodes and global feedback information from the destination node.
[0082] In other embodiments, communication node N3 may determine the next-hop transmission strategy for data packet a based on global feedback information from the destination node. In other embodiments, communication node N3 may determine the next-hop transmission strategy for data packet a based on local feedback information corresponding to each of communication node N3's neighboring nodes and global feedback information from the destination node. The next-hop transmission strategy includes the next-hop node for data packet a and at least one of the transmission power and time-frequency resources for the next-hop transmission of data packet a.
[0083] The local feedback information corresponding to the first neighbor node among the neighbor nodes is determined based on the data transmission information fed back by the first neighbor node. The generation method of the local feedback information corresponding to each neighbor node and the global feedback information from the destination node will be described in detail below.
[0084] Exemplarily, communication node N3 can determine whether to transmit data packet a to communication node N4, communication node N6, or communication node N7 based on the local feedback information corresponding to each neighboring node of communication node N3 (including communication node N4, communication node N6 and communication node N7) and the global feedback information from the destination node (communication node N5).
[0085] Each time communication node N3 transmits a data packet to a next-hop node, it can record the next-hop node information corresponding to each transmitted data packet. For example, if communication node N3 chooses to transmit data packet a to communication node N4, it can record in Table 1 that the next-hop node corresponding to data flow identifier flow f for data packet a is N4. Based on the historically recorded next-hop node information corresponding to each data packet, communication node N3 can determine whether it has previously transmitted a data packet with the same flow ID as data packet a to communication node N4.
[0086] If a data packet with the same flow ID as data packet a has not been transmitted to communication node N4, data packet a can be transmitted to communication node N4. Data packet a can include the flow ID, source node address, destination node address, current node address, and QoS requirements, where the current node address is the address of communication node N3. If data packet a transmitted by communication node N2 to communication node N3 does not carry data packet a's QoS requirements, source node address, and destination node address, communication node N3 can use data packet a's flow ID to query the recorded information, as shown in Table 1, to obtain data packet a's QoS requirements, source node address, and destination node address. It can then add this information to data packet a and transmit data packet a to communication node N4.
[0087] If a data packet with the same flow ID as data packet a has been transmitted to communication node N3 in the past, data packet a may not contain the QoS requirements, source node address, and destination node address, but only the flow ID and current node address.
[0088] When the communication node N3 transmits the data packet a to the communication node N4, the TTD of the data packet carried in the data packet a is also updated according to the time required for the transmission.
[0089] After receiving data packet a from communication node N3, communication node N4 processes data packet a in the same manner as communication node N3, and the details are omitted here. Communication node N4 transmits data packet a to the next-hop node until it reaches destination node N5. Destination node N5 determines that data packet a's destination node address is its own and, instead of forwarding it to the next-hop node, processes it. Destination node N5 records data packet a's status information, including its flow ID, current node address, and the packet's time-to-delay (TTD). Based on the packet's TTD, it determines whether data packet a is a delayed packet.
[0090] For a data flow, the destination node can generate global feedback information according to the data flow's feedback cycle and transmit this global feedback information in the opposite direction of the data flow to the source node. To ensure that the global feedback information generated by the destination node reflects the end-to-end latency and is used to adjust the network status (transmission link selection and resource allocation), the destination node can use timely throughput and packet loss rate to generate global feedback information. Temporary throughput represents the change in data rate during end-to-end transmission of the data flow, while packet loss rate represents the number of packets that exceed the latency. The combination of timely throughput and packet loss rate fully reflects the performance of the data flow during end-to-end transmission.
[0091] For example, for the data flow to which packet a belongs, destination node N5 can determine global feedback information at each feedback cycle based on the timely throughput and packet loss rate within that feedback cycle. Temporary throughput is determined by the number of successfully delivered packets within the feedback cycle. Successfully delivered packets are packets received by the destination node that have the same flow ID as packet a and meet the latency constraint. The packet loss rate is determined by the number of delayed packets. Delayed packets are packets received by the destination node that have the same flow ID as packet a and do not meet the latency constraint.
[0092] In some embodiments, the destination node N5 may also obtain the QoS requirement of the data flow and determine the global feedback information based on at least one of the QoS requirement, timely throughput, and packet loss rate of the data flow. For example, the destination node N5 may use an approximation target method to generate the global feedback information.
[0093] In an optional embodiment, as shown in FIG5 , after the destination node N5 obtains PER, GFBR, and MFBR, it first determines the difference b between the throughput that satisfies the delay constraint and the GFBR. GFBR , b GFBR =Timely throughput-GFBR; and determine the difference b between timely throughput and MFBR MFBR , b MFBR = Timely throughput - MFBR; and determine the difference between packet loss rate and PER (b) PER , b PER=Timely throughput - PER. Because timely throughput and packet loss rate have different dimensions and widely varying value ranges—the packet loss rate ranges from 0 to 1, while the timely throughput ranges up to tens of Gbps—a normalization function (i.e., the R function) can be used to map the resulting differences to a common finite scale. These differences are then summed to obtain a global reward value, which can be used as global feedback information. The R function used in this embodiment of the present application has a monotonicity consistent with the monotonicity of changes in timely throughput and packet loss rate, and is a convex function.
[0094] For example, the R function b GFBR Normalized, we can get R(b GFBR );By R function MFBR Normalized, we can get R(b MFBR ), through the R function b PER Normalized, we can get R(b PER ), according to the first global reward calculation function R G =R(b GFBR )-max[R(b MFBR ),0]+R(b PER ), we can get the global reward value R G . Among them, max[R(b MFBR ),0] represents R(b MFBR ) and 0. The target node N5 can use the global reward value as global feedback information.
[0095] In another optional embodiment, as shown in FIG6 , after the destination node N5 obtains PER, GFBR, and MFBR, it first determines the first ratio of the difference between Timely Throughput and GFBR, and the difference between GFBR and MFBR, and calculates the second ratio of Packet Loss Rate and PER. Then, it normalizes the first ratio using the R function to obtain R1, and normalizes the second ratio using the R function to obtain R2. According to the second global reward calculation function R G =aR1+(1-a)R2, we can get the global reward value R G. Among them, a is the weight of R1, and the weight can be set as needed to allow the communication network to run in the desired direction. For example, if the throughput of the communication network is expected to be equally important as the packet loss rate, the weight a can be set to 0.5; if the throughput of the communication network is expected to be as large as possible and the packet loss rate is ignored, the weight a can be set to 1; if an ultra-reliable communication network is expected, that is, the packet loss rate is as small as possible, the weight a can be set to 0. In addition, if there are more performance indicators, they can be directly multiplied by the weight factor and added to the calculation of the global reward value. After obtaining the global reward value, the target node N5 can use the global reward value as global feedback information.
[0096] By setting weights for different performance parameters, network performance can be controlled. Global feedback information can be generated based on actual needs (i.e., the network with the highest throughput or the network with the lowest packet loss rate), so that the communication network performance can be moved in the required direction, and flexible network configuration can be achieved. Various goals can be flexibly achieved, such as minimizing the packet loss rate to achieve an ultra-reliable network, making the network more flexible and diversified.
[0097] In other embodiments, more parameters may be used to determine the global feedback information. The number of parameters that may be used to determine the global feedback information may be determined according to specific needs, and this is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.
[0098] After determining the global feedback information, the destination node N5 can load the global feedback information into the feedback signaling and assist the back-propagation of the feedback signaling through the state back-tracing table. The format of the state back-tracing table stored in the destination node can be shown in Table 2.
[0099] Table 2
[0100] As shown in Table 2, the state backtracking table in the destination node may include the following: current state, source node address, previous hop state, and feedback information. The current state includes the data flow identifier (Flow ID), the current node address, and the current time-to-delay (TTD); the previous hop state may include the previous hop address and the TTD corresponding to the previous hop; and the feedback information may include the global feedback information determined above and the global update time corresponding to the global feedback information. The destination node can determine the next time to determine global feedback information for the data flow with the Flow ID based on the global update time and the feedback cycle. The feedback cycle may vary with the convergence speed of the data transmission policy. The convergence speed of the data transmission policy can be determined based on the trend of global feedback information determined multiple times, or the convergence of the global feedback information. For example, if the trend of global feedback information determined multiple times is significant, the feedback cycle may be shorter. If the trend of global feedback information determined multiple times is stable, the feedback cycle may be longer. In some embodiments, the destination node may determine the feedback cycle based on the convergence of the global feedback information. In other embodiments, the source node may configure the feedback cycle based on an expected value.
[0101] The destination node can load global feedback information onto feedback signaling and transmit the feedback signaling back to the previous hop node according to the previous hop status in the state backtracking table. Feedback signaling can be transmitted along with data using the piggyback method, directly placing the feedback signaling on a blank resource in the data stream. Alternatively, it can be transmitted using dedicated signaling. Feedback signaling can be MAC layer signaling. The structure of the feedback signaling transmitted by the destination node to the previous hop node is shown in Figure 7. The feedback signaling can include the data flow's Flow ID, source node address, packet status, global feedback information, and the timestamp of the global feedback information generation. The packet status can include at least one of the current node address and the time-to-delay (TTD) value. If the destination node is communication node N5, the current node address in the packet status is N5. The timestamp of the global feedback information generation is determined by the destination node based on the global update time in the state backtracking table and is used to check the timeliness of the feedback signaling. When the intermediate node receives the feedback signaling, it can determine whether the feedback signaling is within the specified time range based on the generation timestamp of the global feedback information. If it is not within the specified time range, the feedback signaling is discarded without further backhaul.
[0102] Figure 8 shows the back-transmission process of the global feedback information generated by the destination node. As shown in Figure 8, taking data stream f as an example, the destination node N5 can determine that the previous hop node is communication node N4 based on the previous hop state in the state back-tracing table. The destination node N5 transmits feedback signaling to communication node N4. The global feedback information in the feedback signaling is transmitted to communication node N1 via communication node N4, communication node N3, and communication node N2, thereby realizing the back-tracing propagation of global feedback information from end to source. The following still takes communication node N3 as an example to illustrate the processing process of feedback signaling by each intermediate node. As shown in Figure 9, this process may include the following steps:
[0103] S901, the communication node N3 receives the first feedback signaling transmitted by the communication node N4.
[0104] Communication node N4 is the next hop node of communication node N3. Communication node N4 can send a first feedback signaling to communication node N3 based on the previous hop node information (i.e., the previous hop state) in the state backtracking table stored in communication node N4. The first feedback signaling carries third feedback information. The third feedback information can be a feedback value obtained by communication node N4 based on the global feedback information. For example, the structure of the first feedback signaling transmitted by communication node N4 to communication node N3 is shown in Figure 10. The first feedback signaling may include the Flow ID of the data flow, the source node address, the data packet status, the third feedback information, and the generation timestamp of the global feedback information. Among them, the third feedback information can also be called the V value, which is obtained based on the global feedback information and is used to characterize the global feedback information. For example, communication node N4 can determine the third feedback information based on the global feedback information in the received feedback signaling through the constrained Markov decision process (CMDP) theory. The data packet state may include a current node address and a TTD, where the current node address is N4 and the TTD is the TTD of the current state in the state traceback table stored in the communication node N4.
[0105] S902: The communication node N3 determines fourth feedback information according to the third feedback information in the first feedback signaling, and generates second feedback signaling including the fourth feedback information.
[0106] The communication node N3 also stores a state backtracking table. The format of the state backtracking table stored in the communication node N3 is shown in Table 3.
[0107] Table 3
[0108] Communication node N3 can read the data packet status information, i.e., the data packet status mentioned above, from the received feedback signaling; communication node N3 can also obtain the next hop status from the state backtracking table and match the data packet status in the feedback signaling with the next hop status in the state backtracking table. If the current node address (also referred to as current node information) in the data packet status is consistent with the next hop address (also referred to as next hop node information) in the next hop status stored in the state backtracking table, and the TTD in the data packet status is consistent with the TTD in the next hop status stored in the state backtracking table, it can be determined that the data packet status successfully matches the next hop status in the state backtracking table. In some embodiments, if the data packet status successfully matches the next hop status in the state backtracking table, communication node N3 can determine the fourth feedback information based on the third feedback information in the first feedback signaling and generate a second feedback signaling containing the fourth feedback information. Since the third feedback information is a feedback value obtained by communication node N4 based on the global feedback information, and the fourth feedback information is determined based on the third feedback information, it can be considered that the fourth feedback information is a feedback value obtained by communication node N3 based on the global feedback information.
[0109] In other embodiments, when the data packet status successfully matches the next hop status in the status backtracking table, the communication node N3 can also infer the TTD of the first feedback signaling at the communication node N3 based on the TTD in the data packet status and the link transmission time from the communication node N3 to the communication node N4, and compare the inferred TTD with the TTD in the current state saved in the status backtracking table. If they are consistent, the fourth feedback information is determined based on the third feedback information in the first feedback signaling, and the second feedback signaling containing the fourth feedback information is generated.
[0110] For example, communication node N3 reads the V value (i.e., the third feedback information) from the received first feedback signaling. Based on the CMDP theory, a Q value can be determined based on the third feedback information. In some embodiments, communication node N3 can use the obtained Q value as the updated V value (i.e., the fourth feedback information), and use the updated V value to replace the V value in the first feedback signaling to generate a second feedback signaling containing the fourth feedback information. Since the third feedback information is determined based on the global feedback information, the fourth feedback information derived from the third feedback information can also represent the global feedback information.
[0111] In other embodiments, communication node N3 may receive feedback signaling returned by multiple communication nodes, and a corresponding Q value may be obtained for each feedback signaling. A transmission link exists between each of the multiple communication nodes and communication node N3. Communication node N3 may use the weighted sum of the Q values of at least one transmission link with the same current data packet state among the multiple transmission links as the updated V value, i.e., fourth feedback information, and use the updated V value to replace the V value in the first feedback signaling to generate a second feedback signaling containing the fourth feedback information. The current data packet state of any transmission link may be inferred by communication node N3 based on the data packet state (next hop state) carried in the received feedback signaling. At least one transmission link with the same current data packet state indicates that it is at least one transmission link corresponding to the same data flow. The weight corresponding to any transmission link may be the probability that communication node N3 selects that transmission link. The probability that communication node N3 selects that transmission link may be determined based on the number of times communication node N3 has previously selected that transmission link. Through the above process, the communication node N3 can combine the feedback signaling received from at least one transmission link into one feedback signaling for backtransmission, thereby reducing the amount of feedback signaling and reducing the overhead of communication signaling.
[0112] S903, the communication node N3 transmits a second feedback signaling to the communication node N2.
[0113] Communication node N3 may send a second feedback signaling to the previous hop node based on the stored previous hop node information. The structure of the second feedback signaling may also be shown in FIG10. For example, communication node N3 may determine that the previous hop node is communication node N2 based on the previous hop node information stored in the state backtracking table, i.e., the previous hop address in the previous hop state, set the current node address in the data packet state of the second feedback signaling to N3, and then send the second feedback signaling to communication node N2.
[0114] The communication node N2 receives the second feedback signaling, updates the V value in the second feedback signaling, and then transmits the feedback signaling to the source node N1.
[0115] The embodiment of the present application uses global feedback information to comprehensively characterize the end-to-end performance of data stream transmission, and uses a back-propagation method to enable each intermediate node to use the global feedback information, thereby selecting an appropriate scheduling strategy, and ultimately achieving distributed maximum throughput under end-to-end performance assurance. In a wireless mesh network, the premise for ensuring the end-to-end performance of a data stream is that the nodes know the end-to-end transmission status of the data stream. The embodiment of the present application provides a method for distributed decision-making and scheduling using feedback information, which feeds back performance statistics such as the data rate and packet loss rate of the end-to-end transmission of the data stream to each intermediate node through the destination node, so that the intermediate node uses the feedback information to adjust the scheduling strategy, thereby distributedly ensuring end-to-end performance and achieving the goal of maximizing network throughput.
[0116] The above describes the process of backpropagation of global feedback information. Considering that global feedback information only utilizes feedback information generated by the destination node and is very sparse, this sparsity can cause delays in feedback information received by intermediate nodes, resulting in intermediate nodes randomly selecting scheduling strategies. To this end, the embodiments of the present application introduce local feedback information. Local feedback information is generated based on the feedback information fed back after the completion of a single-hop link transmission. It uses the data rate and successful transmission probability of the data stream transmitted on the current transmission link as indicators. The generation method is consistent with global feedback information and has a promoting effect on the convergence of global feedback information.
[0117] The following describes the process by which communication node N3 determines the local feedback information corresponding to communication node N4, still using communication node N3 as an example. Communication node N4 is a neighbor of communication node N3. For the transmission link corresponding to communication node N4 (i.e., the transmission link between communication node N3 and communication node N4), communication node N3 can determine the data rate and successful transmission rate of the transmission link based on the data transmission information fed back by communication node N4 during each feedback cycle. Based on the data rate and successful transmission rate of the transmission link, communication node N3 can determine the local feedback information corresponding to communication node N4.
[0118] For example, each time communication node N3 sends a data packet to communication node N4, if communication node N4 successfully receives the data packet, communication node N4 responds with an ACK message to communication node N3. If communication node N4 fails to receive the data packet, i.e., due to a reception delay or decoding failure, communication node N4 responds with a NACK message to communication node N3. The ACK or NACK message sent by communication node N4 can serve as data transmission information fed back by communication node N4. The data rate of the transmission link between communication node N4 and communication node N3 can be determined by communication node N3 based on the ratio of the amount of successfully transmitted data (the bits occupied by the packet header of the data packet for which the ACK message was received) to the transmission opportunity. The successful transmission rate of the transmission link between communication node N4 and communication node N3 can be determined by the number of ACK and NACK messages fed back by communication node N3 via communication node N4. Communication node N3 can determine the local feedback information corresponding to communication node N4 based on the data rate and successful transmission rate of the transmission link.
[0119] Exemplarily, communication node N3 can determine the local feedback information corresponding to communication node N4 based on the data rate and successful transmission rate of the transmission link, as well as the QoS requirements of the data flow. The process by which communication node N3 determines the local feedback information corresponding to communication node N4 can be performed by referring to the method for determining global feedback information shown in FIG. 5 or FIG. 6 , replacing "timely throughput" with the data rate of the transmission link, and "packet loss rate" with the successful transmission rate of the transmission link. The specific process is not further described here.
[0120] Communication node N3 can use the local feedback information corresponding to each neighbor node and the global feedback information from the destination node (which can be obtained through the V value in the first feedback signaling transmitted by communication node N4) as indicators of the scheduling strategy to distributely select the next-hop node (next-hop transmission link) and the power and time-frequency resources of the next-hop transmission, that is, the next-hop transmission strategy, wherein the time-frequency resources of the next-hop transmission are related to the number of selected subcarriers. Communication node N3 selects the next-hop transmission strategy each time it transmits a data packet so that the value of the global feedback information gradually increases, and the change trend of the global feedback information gradually decreases, so that the global feedback information converges after reaching the maximum value. As shown in Figure 11, in actual use, due to the large number of intermediate nodes, if communication node N3 is relatively close to the source node, it will take a certain amount of time for the global feedback information to propagate to communication node N3. For example, assuming that the destination node of data flow flow2 is communication node N E , from the communication node N EGlobal feedback information takes time to propagate to communication node N3, potentially making it difficult to track dynamic changes in the transmission link. Therefore, when communication node N3 doesn't receive global feedback, it can use local feedback information as a metric to determine the scheduling strategy. By comparing the magnitude of local feedback information generated by the number and power of historically selected subcarriers, it prioritizes subcarriers and power levels with larger local feedback values to transmit data packets from data flow 2. The scheduling strategy for data flow 1 is the same as for data flow 2 and is not detailed here.
[0121] When the communication node N3 uses global feedback information and local feedback information as indicators of the scheduling strategy, the role of the local feedback information is reflected in timely adjusting the link selection scheme to avoid scheduling schemes with poor link quality. The scheduling strategy adopted in the embodiment of the present application is a resource allocation algorithm based on feedback information, that is, the communication node N3 can compare the size of the feedback information (including global feedback information and local feedback information) brought by the number and power of subcarriers selected in the past, and give priority to subcarriers and powers with larger feedback information values. Each communication node can execute a scheduling strategy based on the received feedback information to allow each data stream of the communication node to distributely select the link, number of subcarriers and power for the next hop transmission, ultimately achieving route-free data transmission.
[0122] The above method can dynamically control the transmission of data streams and ensure the optimal end-to-end performance under constraints. At the same time, each node in the wireless multi-hop Mesh network is regarded as an intelligent communication entity with the ability to autonomously schedule resources and interact with feedback signaling.
[0123] To ensure end-to-end performance and improve network capacity, the present embodiment considers the end-to-end latency and data rate constraints of data flows, as well as the power and subcarrier constraints of nodes. Based on the CMDP theory, a distributed decision-making scheduling method utilizing feedback information is proposed. In this method, for any data flow, upon reaching a communication node, the scheduling strategy for the next hop transmission is determined based on global feedback information from the destination node and local feedback information from each neighboring node. Once the data flow reaches the destination node, the destination node collects the end-to-end performance metrics of the data flow and, based on these metrics, generates global feedback information to guide the distributed scheduling of intermediate nodes. The destination node generates feedback signaling containing the global feedback information and propagates it back along the data flow transmission path to each intermediate node. Simultaneously, the intermediate nodes update the scheduling decision method based on the global feedback information to guide the distributed scheduling of subsequent data flows. This process continues until the global feedback information value remains unchanged or the scheduling strategy is fixed, at which point the data transmission strategy converges and reaches maximum throughput. This method is applicable to a variety of distributed networks coordinated by centralized nodes, such as IAB networks and multi-hop sidelink networks.
[0124] The data transmission method provided in the embodiment of the present application is applied to a wireless multi-hop Mesh network. The communication nodes in the wireless multi-hop Mesh network use feedback information to determine the next-hop transmission strategy. The global feedback information that is transmitted back from end to source and can characterize the end-to-end performance can enable intermediate nodes to distributely select transmission links that meet the data flow QoS requirements, thereby achieving end-to-end performance indicators while maximizing network throughput. In other words, the destination node in the embodiment of the present application uses the throughput and delivery rate indicators that meet the end-to-end delay to generate global feedback information, and transmits it back to each node through the feedback backtracking mechanism, thereby guiding each node to distribute resource scheduling. The feedback signaling traced back from the destination node to the source node feeds back the statistical performance of the data flow end-to-end transmission, such as throughput and packet loss rate, to each intermediate node, allowing the intermediate nodes to obtain global feedback information during end-to-end transmission and use the global feedback information to adjust the scheduling strategy, thereby effectively guiding distributed scheduling and ensuring the end-to-end performance of the communication network. This solves the problem of maximizing throughput through distributed scheduling under end-to-end delay constraints, effectively guarantees end-to-end delay, and significantly improves network capacity. Moreover, in an embodiment of the present application, the QoS requirements carried by the forward transmission of the data stream can provide support for determining global feedback information for the destination node and for determining local feedback information for each intermediate node, so that the global feedback information and the local feedback information can fully reflect the end-to-end performance of the data stream.
[0125] Based on the same technical concept as the above embodiment, the embodiment of the present application also provides a communication device. In order to implement the functions in the above embodiment, the communication device includes a hardware structure and / or software module corresponding to each function. It should be easy for those skilled in the art to appreciate that, in combination with the units and method steps of each example described in the embodiment disclosed in this application, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in a hardware or computer software-driven hardware manner depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.
[0126] Figures 12 and 13 are schematic diagrams of possible communication devices provided in embodiments of the present application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of the communication nodes in the above method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects of the above method embodiments.
[0127] In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device may be any communication node as shown in FIG1 , such as the communication node N3 , or may be a module (such as a chip) applied to any communication node.
[0128] As shown in Figure 12, the communication device 1200 includes a processing unit 1210 and a transceiver unit 1220. The communication device 1200 is used to implement the functions of the terminal or network device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 4 or Figure 9 above.
[0129] When the communication device 1200 is used to implement the functions of the method embodiment shown in Figure 4 or Figure 9, the transceiver unit 1220 is used to receive the data packet to be transmitted and send the data packet to be transmitted to the next hop node; the processing unit 1210 is used to determine based on the first feedback information of the destination node of the data packet to be transmitted, and the first feedback information is used to characterize the transmission status of multiple data packets.
[0130] For a more detailed description of the processing unit 1210 and the transceiver unit 1220 , reference may be made to the relevant description in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. 9 .
[0131] As shown in Figure 13, communication device 1300 may include a processor 1310 and an interface circuit 1320. Processor 1310 and interface circuit 1320 are coupled to each other. It is understood that interface circuit 1320 may be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, communication device 1300 may also include a memory 1330 for storing instructions executed by processor 1310, input data required by processor 1310 to execute instructions, or data generated by processor 1310 after executing instructions.
[0132] When the communication device 1300 is used to implement the method shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. 9 , the processor 1310 is used to implement the functions of the processing unit 1210 , and the interface circuit 1320 is used to implement the functions of the transceiver unit 1220 .
[0133] When the above-mentioned communication device is a communication chip applied to a communication node, the communication chip implements the function of the communication node in the above-mentioned method embodiment. The communication chip receives information from other communication nodes in the network, which can be understood as the information being first received by other modules in the communication node (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to the communication chip by these modules. The communication chip sends information to other communication nodes in the network, which can be understood as the information being first sent to other modules in the communication node (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to other communication nodes in the network by these modules.
[0134] It is understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), or may be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.
[0135] Based on the same technical concepts as the above embodiments, embodiments of the present application also provide a communication chip that can be used in any of the above communication nodes. The communication chip can be a processor coupled to a memory. The processor can be the processor described in the above embodiments, configured to execute computer programs or instructions stored in the memory to implement the functions of the communication node in the above method embodiments.
[0136] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in hardware or in software instructions that can be executed by a processor. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules can be stored in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, registers, hard disk, mobile hard disk, CD-ROM or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. The storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a base station or a terminal. The processor and storage medium can also exist in a base station or a terminal as discrete components.
[0137] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user device, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer program or instructions may be transferred from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape; an optical medium, such as a digital video disk; or a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state drive. The computer-readable storage medium may be a volatile or nonvolatile storage medium, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile types of storage media.
[0138] It is understood that the various numbers used in the embodiments of this application are merely for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. The order of the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not necessarily imply a specific order of execution; the order of execution of the processes should be determined by their functions and inherent logic.
[0139] In the various embodiments of the present application, if there is no special explanation and logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced to each other, and the technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions, for example, including a series of steps or units. The method, system, product or device is not necessarily limited to those steps or units clearly listed, but may include other steps or units that are not clearly listed or inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.
[0140] Although the present application has been described with reference to specific features and embodiments thereof, it is apparent that various modifications and combinations thereof may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Accordingly, this specification and the drawings are intended to be illustrative only of the solutions defined by the appended claims and are to be construed as covering any and all modifications, variations, combinations or equivalents within the scope of the present application.
[0141] Obviously, those skilled in the art may make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the embodiments of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is intended to include these modifications and variations.
Claims
1. A data transmission method, characterized in that, The method includes: Receiving a data packet to be transmitted; Sending the data packet to be transmitted to the next-hop node, where the next-hop node is determined according to first feedback information of the destination node of the data packet to be transmitted; the first feedback information is used to characterize the transmission status of multiple data packets.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The next-hop node is further determined according to second feedback information corresponding to each neighbor node of the current node, where the current node is the node that receives the data packet to be transmitted; The second feedback information corresponding to the first neighbor node is determined by the current node according to the transmission success rate of the first transmission link; the first transmission link refers to the transmission link between the current node and the first neighbor node.
3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The data packet to be transmitted has a data flow identifier, where the data flow identifier is used to indicate the quality of service (QoS) requirement, source node identifier, and destination node identifier corresponding to the data packet to be transmitted; Or The data packet to be transmitted contains a data flow identifier, and when different data packets contain the same data flow identifier, it is used to indicate that the QoS requirements, source nodes, and destination nodes of the different data packets are the same.
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein Sending the data packet to be transmitted to the next-hop node includes: If it is determined that no data packet with the same data flow identifier as that carried by the data packet to be transmitted has been sent to the next-hop node, then sending the data packet to be transmitted carrying the QoS requirement to the next-hop node; If it is determined that a data packet with the same data flow identifier as that carried by the data packet to be transmitted has been sent to the next-hop node, then sending the data packet to be transmitted without carrying the QoS requirement to the next-hop node.
5. The method according to claim 4, wherein The data flow identifier and / or the QoS requirement is carried in the media access control (MAC) layer protocol data unit (PDU) or MAC layer signaling of the data packet to be transmitted.
6. The method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that, If the data packet to be transmitted carries the data flow identifier and the QoS requirement, then the method further includes: Recording the correspondence between the data flow identifier carried in the data packet to be transmitted and the QoS requirement.
7. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 6, characterized in that; The QoS requirement includes at least one of packet error rate (PER), guaranteed flow bit rate (GFBR), and maximum flow bit rate (MFBR).
8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receiving third feedback information from the next-hop node, where the third feedback information is determined by the next-hop node based on the first feedback information; Sending the fourth feedback information to the previous-hop node, where the fourth feedback information is determined based on the third feedback information.
9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The third feedback information is carried in the first feedback signaling, and the first feedback signaling further includes at least one of a data flow identifier, current node information, and remaining time-to-delivery (TTD).
10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that, The generation timestamp of the first feedback information is included in the third feedback information.
11. According to the method described in any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that, The transmission conditions of the multiple data packets are associated with at least one of throughput, packet loss rate, and QoS requirement.
12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that The first feedback information is intermittently fed back by the destination node within the first time period.
13. The method according to claim 12, wherein The interval duration of multiple intervals within the first time period is negatively correlated with the change trend of the first feedback information of multiple feedbacks.
14. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes a module for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13.
15. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes a processor and an interface circuit. The interface circuit is used to receive signals from other communication devices and transmit them to the processor or send signals from the processor to other communication devices. The processor uses logic circuits or executes code instructions to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13.
16. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13.
17. A communication chip, characterized in that, It includes a processor, which is coupled to a memory and is used to execute the computer program or instructions stored in the memory so that the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13 is executed.
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