Mesh Network Status Message Forwarding via Distance-Based Grouping
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Mesh networks in control systems face congestion and reliability issues due to the high volume of status messages, particularly with unicast messaging, which increases traffic and can lead to sluggish response times and data collisions with multicast messaging.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a method where nodes in a mesh network are grouped based on their distance from the site controller, allowing status messages to be transmitted in a controlled manner, using multicast messages with varying reporting windows, and ensuring only one node per group assumes responsibility for forwarding messages, reducing unnecessary retransmissions and maintaining reliability without separate acknowledgments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If unicast messaging is used to transmit status messages from components to the site controller, then message delivery reliability is improved through acknowledgments, but network traffic increases significantly due to route discovery and acknowledgment messages
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the network into groups based on hop distance from the site controller. Nodes are organized into multiple groups where each group contains nodes at the same distance from the controller. This segmentation allows controlled multicast transmission where only nodes in closer groups forward messages, reducing unnecessary retransmissions while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by making different nodes perform different functions based on their position in the network. Nodes in groups closer to the site controller are designated as forwarders, while nodes in farther groups are non-forwarders. This local differentiation reduces overall network traffic by eliminating redundant message forwarding.
2Quantity of substance
If multicast messaging is used to reduce network traffic by eliminating route discovery, then network bandwidth is improved, but message delivery reliability deteriorates without acknowledgments
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by pre-organizing nodes into groups based on their hop distance from the site controller before message transmission. This pre-established structure allows the system to use multicast messaging without route discovery while maintaining reliability through the predetermined forwarder selection based on group membership.
3Reliability
If all nodes retransmit multicast messages to ensure delivery, then message delivery reliability is improved, but network traffic increases due to multiple retransmissions from each node
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by having only a subset of nodes (those in closer groups) retransmit multicast messages, rather than all nodes. This partial retransmission is sufficient to ensure message delivery to the site controller while significantly reducing network traffic compared to universal retransmission.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are provided for reducing network traffic in a mesh network by reducing the number of status messages communicated over the network. The nodes of the network can provide status information to a gateway based on each node's distance from the gateway. The closer nodes respond to the request from the gateway first and then the farther nodes respond to the request. When a node is ready to transmit a status message with status information to the gateway, the node sends the message to the nodes in communication with the transmitting node. One of the closer nodes that receives the message then forwards the message to additional nodes in communication with the forwarding node, while the other nodes that received the message do not forward the message. The process of forwarding messages by a single closer node is repeated until the status information is received by the gateway.