Hybrid Lighting Location System Network Congestion Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Location-based systems face challenges in determining the accurate location of assets due to network congestion caused by low bandwidth between sensors and location servers, leading to unreliable location information.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a lighting and location system that includes lighting devices with integrated sensors and transceivers, which process beacon signals from asset tags, filter out invalid or weak signals, select representative signals within a time window, and prioritize transmissions to reduce network congestion and improve location accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If sensors transmit all received beacon signal information to the location server, then location accuracy is improved, but network congestion increases and reliability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor performs preliminary filtering and processing of beacon signals before transmission. It pre-identifies representative beacon signals based on signal strength and validity criteria, and pre-processes location information to extract only essential data, thereby reducing network load while maintaining location accuracy and reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The sensor extracts only the most relevant and representative beacon signal information for transmission to the location server. It identifies and transmits only representative signals that contribute most to location accuracy, discarding redundant or low-value data, thus improving reliability by reducing network congestion while maintaining measurement precision
2Speed
If beacon signals are transmitted at high rate from asset tags, then location determination frequency is improved, but network bandwidth is exceeded causing congestion
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor applies partial action by selectively processing and transmitting only a subset of received beacon signals. It transmits representative signals at an optimized rate that maintains location determination frequency while staying within network bandwidth capacity, rather than transmitting all received signals at full rate
Solution Approach 2:
The sensor performs preliminary filtering and selection of beacon signals before transmission, pre-identifying representative signals that maintain location determination frequency while reducing the overall transmission rate to match network bandwidth capacity
3Loss of information
If all beacon signals are processed and transmitted, then location information completeness is improved, but network congestion increases reducing timeliness
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor extracts and transmits only the most critical and representative location information from received beacon signals. It identifies key parameters and representative signals that maintain information completeness for accurate location determination while reducing data volume to improve transmission timeliness and reduce network congestion
Data Source
AI summary
Location-based systems, such as a Real-time Location System (RTLS), are used to locate and track assets such as equipment, people, etc. In order to accomplish high accuracy in determining locations of assets, the information sent to the location server from sensors should be accurate, relevant, sufficient, and timely. The limitations of a low bandwidth network between the sensors and the location server may pose challenges to reliably determining locations of assets. This invention is related to a hybrid lighting and location system, which involves the use of a system control device and lighting devices that may include integrated sensors, transceivers, etc. Different embodiments are disclosed on apparatus, methods and systems to resolve the potential network congestion in such a hybrid system.