Mesh Network Signal Repeaters for Latency Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
High-speed communications networks face significant latency issues due to the number of hops in mesh networks, leading to degraded performance and inability to support high-bandwidth applications like multi-gigabit access, as traditional store-and-forward methods increase latency and reduce effective throughput.
Innovation Solution
A communications network design where nodes repeat data signals without storing and forwarding packets, using co-linear and rectilinear node configurations, and signal correlation techniques to strengthen signals and reduce interference, enabling high-bandwidth traffic support across a large number of nodes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional store-and-forward packet repeating is used in mesh networks, then routing and switching functionality is provided, but latency increases dramatically with the number of hops
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the packet storage and forwarding function from the signal transmission process. Instead of storing entire packets at each router, the system separates the routing decision (made by the gateway) from the signal repetition (done by intermediate nodes), eliminating the need for intermediate nodes to buffer and process packets.
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway node acts as an intermediary that performs all packet processing, routing decisions, and acknowledgments. Intermediate mesh nodes simply repeat signals without processing packets, effectively removing them as potential latency sources while maintaining network connectivity.
2Area of stationary object
If the number of nodes in mesh network increases to expand coverage, then network reachability improves, but effective throughput decreases due to increased latency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the network functions into two distinct roles: gateway nodes that handle all packet processing and routing decisions, and intermediate nodes that only perform signal repetition. This segmentation allows the network to scale to thousands of nodes without increasing latency, as intermediate nodes add no processing delay.
Solution Approach 2:
Intermediate nodes create signal copies and retransmit them without processing the underlying packet data. This copying approach allows signals to propagate through numerous nodes while maintaining the original transmission timing characteristics, preventing throughput degradation despite increased network size.
3Length of stationary object
If signal is transmitted through multiple hops in mesh network, then coverage area expands, but signal strength decreases and interference increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple signal paths at the gateway node. When the gateway transmits a signal, multiple intermediate nodes receive and repeat it, creating redundant signal paths. The gateway collects acknowledgments from multiple nodes, combining the reliability benefits of diversity without requiring intermediate nodes to process or regenerate signals.
Data Source
AI summary
A communications network comprises: a plurality of nodes, wherein the nodes are interconnected via links; and a gateway node that transmits a signal to one or more of the nodes, wherein certain ones of the nodes receives a transmission of the signal and selected ones of the nodes repeats the transmission of the signal, and wherein a given node of the interconnected nodes receives multiple transmissions of the signal from two or more other nodes of the interconnected nodes.