Communication Link Availability Verification Using Lightweight Supervision
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Solution Overview
Problem
Functional safety applications in communication networks face significant overhead and resource wastage due to the use of watchdog messages for channel supervision, especially in wireless networks like 3GPP, which limits the number of safely applications and causes unnecessary traffic.
Innovation Solution
The method involves using smaller messages, such as radio resource layer or GPRS Tunneling Protocol messages, for channel supervision instead of transferring watchdog messages, allowing the network to actively supervise communication channels without forwarding data-containing messages between network nodes, thereby reducing overhead traffic.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If watchdog messages are used for channel supervision in functional safety applications, then communication link reliability is verified, but substantial overhead traffic and resource wastage occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the channel supervision function from the application layer watchdog messages and implements it at the radio resource layer using separate lightweight messages. This separation removes the burden of data-containing watchdog messages from the supervision process, reducing overhead traffic while maintaining reliability verification.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the communication supervision into two independent parts: (1) radio resource layer message exchange for channel availability verification, and (2) application layer data transfer. This segmentation allows supervision to occur independently without requiring full application messages, reducing overhead.
2Reliability
If watchdog messages are exchanged between functional safety applications, then channel availability is supervised, but the number of safely applications is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the supervision function from application-layer watchdog messages and implements it at the radio resource layer. This extraction reduces the resource consumption per supervision operation, thereby increasing the total number of safely applications that can operate simultaneously in the network.
3Reliability
If application-level watchdog messages are used for supervision, then communication channel reliability is guaranteed, but unnecessary traffic is generated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses simple, lightweight radio resource layer messages for supervision instead of complex application-level watchdog messages. These lightweight messages consume minimal network resources and can be exchanged frequently without generating significant traffic volume, effectively serving as disposable supervision units.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and apparatus are provided. In an example aspect, a method in a first network node for verifying availability of at least part of a communication link is provided. The method comprises receiving, from a first functional safety application, a plurality of first messages for verifying availability of a communication link between the first functional safety application and a second functional safety application according to one or more parameters associated with the communication link, wherein each first message includes one or more respective data. The method also comprises exchanging, with a second network node over at least part of the communications link, a plurality of second messages and a plurality of acknowledgements of the second messages for verifying availability of the at least part of the communications link, wherein the second messages and acknowledgements of the second messages are successively exchanged with the second network node in accordance with at least one of the one or more parameters associated with the communication link, and the second messages and the acknowledgements of the second messages do not include.