Limited Acknowledgement Wireless Data Communication
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wireless packet-based communication protocols face substantial transport delays due to the need for acknowledgement transmission for each packet in extended range applications, particularly noticeable in networks with multiple transmitters communicating over large distances.
Innovation Solution
A limited acknowledgement-based methodology that returns an acknowledgement only upon receipt of a group of packets, identifying any missing packets, which are then retransmitted by the transmitter either immediately or in response to a subsequent poll, with missing packets prepended to new transmissions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If acknowledgement messages are returned for each transmitted packet, then data transmission reliability is improved, but transport delay increases substantially
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple individual packet acknowledgements into a single cumulative acknowledgement that covers multiple packets. Instead of returning an ACK for each packet individually, the system accumulates acknowledgements for groups of packets and returns them collectively, thereby reducing the total number of acknowledgement transmissions and minimizing transport delay while maintaining data transmission reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements periodic acknowledgement returns where acknowledgements are returned at predetermined intervals or after receiving a predetermined number of packets, rather than continuously after each packet. This periodic approach reduces the frequency of acknowledgement messages and minimizes the time lost to acknowledgement overhead.
2Reliability
If acknowledgement messages are returned for each packet, then data transmission reliability is improved, but communication overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple individual acknowledgement messages are merged into a single cumulative acknowledgement message that confirms receipt of multiple packets. This consolidation dramatically reduces the quantity of communication overhead by eliminating redundant acknowledgement transmissions while preserving the reliability function of confirming packet receipt.
3Reliability
If retransmission of missing packets is performed immediately, then data completeness is improved, but transport delay increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of immediately retransmitting missing packets upon detection, the system implements periodic retransmission where missing packets are retransmitted at predetermined intervals or in response to polling signals. This approach balances data completeness with minimized retransmission delay, allowing the system to continue processing other tasks while ensuring eventual delivery of missing packets.
Data Source
AI summary
A limited acknowledgement-based communication methodology increases the throughput efficiency of extended range, wireless packetized data transmissions to a ‘master’ data-reception site from a ‘slave’ data-sourcing site, geographically remote with respect to the data-reception site. Rather than return an acknowledgement for each received packet, the master returns an acknowledgement only after receipt of a group of packets. When returning an acknowledgement, the master identifies which packets of the group were not successfully received. Missing packets may be retransmitted by the slave transmitter either immediately, or in response to a subsequent poll by the master.