Travelling Carriage AP Switching for Reliable Track Communication
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing travel systems face challenges in ensuring reliable communication between a traveling carriage and access points, particularly when one access point fails, leading to potential disruptions in communication with the controller.
Innovation Solution
The travel system incorporates multiple access points with overlapping communication areas and a controller that receives position information from the carriage to transmit travel instructions, ensuring communication through either the first or second access points, and includes a setting processor to change communication slots when necessary, ensuring continuous communication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a single access point is used for wireless communication with the travelling carriage, then the device complexity is reduced, but the communication reliability deteriorates when the access point fails
Solution Approach 1:
The wireless communication system is segmented into multiple independent access points (first access points and second access points) operating in different communication slots. Each access point covers specific track sections, and the travelling carriage can switch between them. This segmentation ensures that if one access point fails, the carriage can still communicate through other access points, thereby improving communication reliability without requiring a complete system redesign.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses different communication slots (frequency channels or time slots) for first access points and second access points. This parameter change allows multiple access points to operate simultaneously without interference and enables the travelling carriage to switch between access points by changing the communication slot, thus maintaining communication reliability while managing system complexity.
2Reliability
If multiple access points with overlapping communication areas are deployed, then the communication reliability is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The access point network is segmented into two independent groups: first access points and second access points, each group operating in different communication slots. This segmentation simplifies the management of overlapping communication areas by providing clear separation between the groups, reducing the complexity of coordinating multiple access points while maintaining the reliability benefits of overlap and redundancy.
Solution Approach 2:
The communication slot acts as an intermediary that separates and organizes the multiple access points. By assigning different communication slots to first and second access points, the system mediates potential conflicts and interference, making the overall network easier to manage while still providing the reliability advantages of multiple overlapping coverage areas.
3Reliability
If the travelling carriage switches between first and second access points, then the communication reliability is improved, but the communication slot management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses communication slot switching as a parameter change mechanism to enable the travelling carriage to transition between first and second access points. Each access point group operates in dedicated communication slots, and the carriage switches slots when changing access points. This parameter-based approach simplifies slot management compared to more complex protocols, as the slot assignment is predetermined and follows a clear pattern based on which access point group the carriage is connecting to.
Data Source
AI summary
A travel system includes a travelling carriage that travels on a predetermined track, access points including first APs that wirelessly communicate with the travelling carriage and second APs that wirelessly communicate with the travelling carriage in a communication slot different from a communication slot of the first APs, and a controller that, via any one of the access points, receives from the travelling carriage position information indicating the current position of the travelling carriage, and transmits to the traveling carriage a travel instruction to control travel of the travelling carriage. The travelling carriage includes a wireless interface that wirelessly communicates with one of the first APs, and wirelessly communicates with one of the second APs when wireless communication with the one of the first APs is not possible.