Proxy Association for Low-Power Network Nodes
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Solution Overview
Problem
In Time Synchronous Channel Hopping (TSCH) networks, battery-powered nodes face significant energy consumption while waiting for association responses to join the network, as they must remain in an active state for extended periods, conserving bandwidth and reducing power consumption by using short addresses but incurring substantial energy loss.
Innovation Solution
A parent node in the network promptly sends an association response to a requesting node, allowing it to conditionally join and enter a low-power state, with the parent node acting as a proxy to forward association requests to the coordinator node, and notifying the node of the response during scheduled sync events, including a short address assignment upon successful joining or a disconnect notification upon rejection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If nodes remain in active state to receive association responses, then network joining reliability is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The parent node performs preliminary actions by immediately sending an association response to the child node upon receiving its request, without waiting for coordinator approval. This allows the child node to enter low-power state earlier while the parent node subsequently contacts the coordinator and relays the final response, thus maintaining reliability while reducing energy consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The parent node acts as an intermediary between the child node and the coordinator node. It receives the child's association request, sends an immediate response allowing the child to sleep, then communicates with the coordinator and relays the final decision back to the child, thereby decoupling the child's active state duration from the full association process time.
2Productivity
If nodes use short addresses for communication, then bandwidth efficiency is improved, but power consumption increases due to extended active waiting time
Solution Approach 1:
The parent node sends the association response with short address assignment in advance, before the child node needs to maintain active state for coordinator communication. This preliminary action enables the child to enter low-power state immediately while still benefiting from short address communication efficiency.
3Reliability
If nodes wait for association responses, then successful network joining is ensured, but time consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The parent node performs preliminary action by immediately responding to the child's association request with a conditional acceptance and short address assignment, allowing the child to join the network and enter low-power state without waiting for the full coordinator approval process to complete.
Solution Approach 2:
The parent node serves as an intermediary that accelerates the association process by handling the initial response independently, then coordinating with the coordinator node in the background while the child node is already in low-power state, thus reducing overall time consumption without compromising joining success.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are various embodiments for assigning a short address to a node in a network. A first node receives an association request that is a request from a second node to join the network. The first node transmits an association response to the second node, whereby the association response permits the second node to conditionally join the network and enter a low-power state. Data from the association request is transmitted to a coordinator node for the network on behalf of the second node. The first node receives a proxy response from the coordinator node in response to the data from the association request. When the second node is active, a notification is transmitted to the second node based on the response to the request. The notification includes an assignment of a short address when the response indicates the second node has joined the network.