Communication Effects Engine for Network Simulation Latency

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Simulating real-time, high-fidelity communication effects in large networks is computationally intensive, leading to inefficiencies and inaccuracies, particularly in low latency networks where computation time exceeds actual message delivery time, and scalability issues arise due to increased computations with higher fidelity requirements.

Innovation Solution

A system that uses a communication effects engine to probe the network simulation by sending probe messages from transmitters to receivers, computing and saving communication effects, and applying these saved effects to simulate communication events, thereby reducing computational load and improving accuracy and scalability.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If communication effects are simulated by performing calculations inline at the time they occur in the simulation, then measurement precision of communication effects is improved, but loss of time increases because the time taken to simulate a transmission exceeds the actual delivery time

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecommunication effects accuracyVSAvoidsimulation latency
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent pre-calculates communication effects parameters (such as path loss, shadowing, and fading characteristics) between transmitter-receiver pairs before the actual simulation runs. These pre-computed values are stored and then quickly applied during simulation, eliminating the need for time-consuming inline calculations while maintaining accuracy.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent extracts the computationally intensive communication effects calculations from the time-critical simulation loop. By separating the pre-computation phase from the execution phase, the system achieves both high precision in communication effects modeling and real-time performance in the simulation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

2Measurement precision

If high fidelity communication effects are simulated with increased computations per transmission, then measurement precision is improved, but productivity decreases because the simulation cannot scale to large networks

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecommunication effects fidelityVSAvoidsimulation scalability
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent performs all complex communication effects calculations in advance, storing the results in lookup tables. During the actual simulation, the system simply retrieves pre-computed values rather than recalculating them, enabling high fidelity simulation to scale to large networks with thousands of nodes.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent creates simplified copies of communication effects data in the form of pre-computed lookup tables. These tables contain all necessary information about signal propagation characteristics and can be quickly queried during simulation without requiring the original complex calculation models.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #26Copying

3Measurement precision

If communication effects calculations are performed for each transmitter-receiver pair in large networks, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases making the simulation unworkable

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecommunication effects accuracyVSAvoidcomputation complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent computes communication effects parameters for all transmitter-receiver pairs in advance and stores them in efficient data structures. This pre-computation approach transforms the complexity from an active calculation burden during simulation into a passive data retrieval operation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements a dynamic computation strategy where communication effects are calculated in advance when the simulation setup is being configured, but not repeatedly during the actual simulation execution. This dynamic timing of calculations optimizes the balance between accuracy and computational complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Data Source

PatentEP3029977B1Communication effects in network simulations
Publication Date: 2019.11.06 THE BOEING CO
  • EP3029977B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP3029977B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4
  • EP3029977B1 patent drawingFigure 5

AI summary

A method for a system that runs a platform simulation and a network simulation of a radio network comprises probing the network simulation to determine effects produced between transmitter-receiver pairs represented within the network simulation; computing communication effects in response to the probing and saving the communication effects for later use; and when a communication event involving a transmitter-receiver pair occurs in the platform simulation, using the saved communication effects to simulate the communication effects for that event.