Master-Slave Sensor Network for Disposable Maintenance Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current sensor-based measurement and monitoring systems face high operational costs due to the need for extensive maintenance of individual sensors, which become unsustainable when scaled to thousands, with fault tracking exacerbating these costs.
Innovation Solution
A sensor system comprising multiple populations of single-purpose slave sensors and at least one master sensor, where the master sensor evaluates data quality, forwards high-quality data, and sends feedback messages based on updated reliability metrics, allowing for the deactivation of low-quality sensors and reducing maintenance costs by treating individual sensors as disposable.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If individual sensors are regarded as vital parts of the network, then data quality can be maintained, but operational costs increase significantly due to maintenance, repair, and replacement requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the disposable principle by deploying numerous low-cost slave sensors that can fail without requiring expensive maintenance. Instead of treating each sensor as a vital component requiring careful maintenance, the system uses a large number of inexpensive sensors where failures are expected and acceptable. The master sensor aggregates data from multiple slave sensors, so individual sensor failures do not compromise overall system reliability or data quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the sensor system into hierarchical levels with master sensors and slave sensors. This segmentation allows the system to distribute functionality and redundancy across multiple components. The master sensor handles data aggregation and quality evaluation, while slave sensors perform simple measurements. This division enables the system to tolerate individual sensor failures without requiring expensive maintenance of each component.
2Area of stationary object
If sensor systems are scaled to thousands of sensors, then coverage area increases, but fault tracking becomes more complex and maintenance costs become unsustainable
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the large-scale sensor network into hierarchical segments with master sensors managing slave sensors. This segmentation reduces fault tracking complexity by organizing thousands of sensors into manageable groups under master sensors that can aggregate and evaluate data quality centrally, rather than requiring individual tracking of each sensor.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where master sensors receive data from slave sensors, evaluate data quality, and can send feedback signals. This feedback system enables automatic identification and management of faulty sensors without requiring complex manual fault tracking, allowing the system to scale to large areas while maintaining manageable complexity through automated quality evaluation and response.
3Measurement precision
If master sensors evaluate and filter sensor data, then data quality improves, but processing requirements and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by having master sensors perform data quality evaluation and filtering locally at each master-slave unit, rather than requiring centralized processing. Each master sensor independently evaluates the quality of data from its slave sensors and forwards only high-quality data to the network node. This distributed local quality control reduces overall system complexity by eliminating the need for complex centralized processing while maintaining high data quality.
Data Source
AI summary
It is disclosed a sensor system (10, 58) and a method therefore for providing quality data to a network node. The sensor system comprises two or more populations (12a, 12b, 56a, 56b) of sensors, each population having a plurality (11i, 11j, 52a, 52i, 200) of single-purpose slave sensors distributed over a geographical area and at least one master sensor (14a, 14b, 54). Based on the data quality received (302) from each single-purpose slave sensor, a master sensor may perform discretionary management (320, 322) and terminate (322) single-purpose slave sensor not meeting data quality standards. The sensor system provides a possibility to deploy master sensors and single-purpose slave sensor networks in remote or inaccessible areas without large network planning expenditures, for example by “carpet-bombing” an area with slave sensors and master sensors from the air.