Short-Range Mesh Location System Reducing Power Consumption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing location systems rely on long-range communications, consuming high power and potentially leading to security breaches, false alarms, and economic inefficiencies, especially in applications where miniaturization and local operation are required.
Innovation Solution
A location system comprising master and slave units with short-range wireless transceivers that create a mesh network for data relay, allowing units to communicate locally without direct long-range connections, reducing power consumption and preventing external network misuse.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If long-range communications are used to broadcast location data, then location information can be transmitted to remote stations, but power consumption increases and security risks arise
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the communication network into local mesh segments and remote gateway components. Slave units communicate only with nearby master units through short-range wireless connections, forming local meshes. Only designated master units with long-range transceivers communicate with remote stations, segmenting the power consumption burden and eliminating the need for all units to use high-power long-range communications.
Solution Approach 2:
Master units act as intermediaries between slave units and remote stations. Slave units transmit location data to master units via short-range communications, and master units relay this data to remote stations using long-range communications. This intermediary architecture allows slave units to achieve remote communication capability without directly consuming high power.
2Reliability
If long-range communications are used to broadcast location data, then location information reaches remote stations, but security breaches and false alarms may occur
Solution Approach 1:
The communication architecture segments the system into isolated local meshes that only connect to remote stations through designated gateway master units. This segmentation creates natural security boundaries, preventing unauthorized access to the entire network and reducing the impact of potential security breaches to local segments only.
Solution Approach 2:
Master units with long-range transceivers serve as secure intermediaries between the local slave unit mesh and remote stations. This intermediary layer provides controlled access points where authentication and data verification can occur, filtering out false alarms and unauthorized data before they reach remote stations.
3Reliability
If direct long-range connections are used by each unit, then location data can be transmitted independently, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments communication capabilities by unit type: slave units are equipped only with simple short-range transceivers for local communication, while master units possess both short-range and long-range transceivers. This segmentation allows most units to remain simple and low-cost, while only necessary gateway nodes have complex capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
Master units serve multiple functions: they act as slave units within the local mesh (receiving and transmitting location data via short-range communications) and simultaneously serve as gateways to remote stations (transmitting aggregated data via long-range communications). This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate dedicated gateway devices.
Data Source
AI summary
This application relates to location systems suitable for monitoring the locations of people or objects within a group. Each person or object has a master or slave unit, which has a short-range wireless transceiver. Each unit has a unique identifier, and an ad-hoc mesh network is created between the units using short-range wireless connections between the units. Each unit periodically broadcasts its ID, which is received by other in-range units, and which compiles a list of received IDs and routing data (the IDs of the other units from which each ID was received). The IDs and routing data are shared on the ad-hoc mesh network, enabling the locations of the units to be approximately triangulated by placing the master or slave units in a virtual map in which the routing data for each received ID corresponds to that of second data signal, and wherein the placement of the master or slave units in the virtual map is also correct with regard to the estimated range of each master or slave unit. Each unit is able to determine its absolute position, when required, for example, using a GPS receiver, and this can also be shared on the ad-hoc mesh network. By using primarily short-range communications, the power consumption of each unit is reduced, as well as the incidence of erroneous transmission of signals to an external or public network. However, the master unit has a long-range wireless transceiver to enable it to transmit, for example, a distress signal to an external remote monitoring station.