Gateway IPv6 Encapsulation for Wireless Mesh Routing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing network technologies face challenges in providing efficient two-way communication between utility devices and home devices in RF networks, particularly in traversing IPv4 WAN clouds, where IPv6 packets need to be encapsulated and routed effectively across wireless LANs and WANs.
Innovation Solution
A routing scheme and protocols are implemented in RF networks operating in FHSS mode, using a Gateway to encapsulate IPv6 packets into IPv4 for transmission, allowing devices to establish direct radio transmission paths and register with Gateways for optimal routing, ensuring bi-directional connectivity with minimal latency and network reliability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If IPv6 packets are encapsulated in IPv4 for transmission through WAN cloud, then compatibility with existing IPv4 infrastructure is improved, but packet transmission complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements IPv6 packet encapsulation within IPv4 packets, allowing IPv6 traffic to traverse IPv4 WAN infrastructure. The Gateway device maintains dual capability to handle both IPv4 and IPv6 protocols, nesting IPv6 packets inside IPv4 envelopes for transmission through the WAN cloud, thereby achieving backward compatibility while supporting next-generation protocols
Solution Approach 2:
The Gateway serves as an intermediary device between the IPv6 wireless LAN and IPv4 WAN infrastructure. It performs protocol translation and encapsulation, mediating communication between devices using different IP versions. The Gateway receives IPv6 packets from the wireless network, encapsulates them in IPv4 format, and transmits them through the IPv4 WAN cloud to the utility server
2Reliability
If nodes discover networks and register with multiple Gateways for multi-egress capability, then network reliability is improved, but routing algorithm complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The routing protocol implements dynamic route selection where nodes continuously discover available networks and Gateways, maintaining multiple potential egress paths. Nodes can dynamically switch between different Gateways based on current network conditions, link quality, and Gateway availability, providing resilience against failures while adapting to changing network topologies
Solution Approach 2:
Nodes perform preliminary network discovery and Gateway registration before actual data transmission begins. During this initial phase, nodes identify multiple viable Gateways and establish routing relationships, preparing backup paths in advance. This preliminary action ensures that when transmission begins, multiple egress routes are already established, improving reliability without requiring complex real-time routing decisions
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for providing a network and routing protocol for utility services are disclosed. A method includes discovering a utility network. Neighboring nodes are discovered and the node listens for advertised routes for networks from the neighbors. The node is then registered with one or more utility networks, receiving a unique address for each network registration. Each upstream node can independently make forwarding decisions on both upstream and downstream packets, i.e., choose the next hop according to the best information available to it. The node can sense transient link problems, outage problems and traffic characteristics. Information is used to find the best route out of and within each network. Each network node maintains multi-egress, multi-ingress network routing options both for itself and the node(s) associated with it. The node is capable of several route maintenance functions utilizing the basic routing protocol and algorithms.