Autonomous Wireless Diagnostic Device for Transient Problem Detection
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Wireless networks face challenges in identifying and re-creating problems, especially transient issues, which can be difficult and costly to address using traditional diagnostic methods, and may not detect issues before they disappear.
Innovation Solution
A diagnostic device that operates autonomously and continuously within the wireless system, simulating virtual clients to inject traffic and measure system responses, allowing for proactive identification of problems without disrupting existing infrastructure or requiring additional hardware.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If large numbers of diagnostic client devices are deployed to identify problems, then problem detection capability is improved, but system complexity and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates virtual copies of client devices that run diagnostic software within the wireless network. These virtual clients replicate the behavior of real client devices without requiring physical hardware, thereby maintaining problem detection capability while eliminating the need for numerous physical diagnostic devices
Solution Approach 2:
The diagnostic system is designed to perform multiple functions: it can simulate various client device behaviors, inject test traffic into the network, monitor system responses, and identify different types of problems including transient issues. This multi-functional approach replaces what would otherwise require multiple specialized diagnostic tools
2Ease of manufacture
If traditional diagnostic methods are used to identify problems, then implementation simplicity is maintained, but ability to detect transient problems is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system proactively injects diagnostic traffic into the network before problems manifest or disappear. By continuously monitoring network responses to injected traffic, the system can detect transient problems at the moment they occur rather than attempting to recreate them after the fact
Solution Approach 2:
The diagnostic system leverages the existing wireless network infrastructure and its own injected traffic to perform diagnostics. The network itself provides the test environment and response data needed for detection, eliminating the need for external diagnostic equipment while maintaining simplicity
3Loss of information
If user-reported problems are investigated, then real-world problem scenarios are captured, but problem recreation difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors network responses to injected diagnostic traffic and uses this feedback to identify problems. When anomalies are detected, the system can automatically log detailed information about the conditions, traffic patterns, and system state, preserving real-world problem scenarios without requiring manual recreation efforts
Data Source
AI summary
A set of techniques includes devices, methods, and user interfaces, capable of conducting proactive automated tests of a wireless system, and capable of operating while the wireless system is conducting its normal operations. A diagnostic device not controlled by the wireless system controls drivers and clients in that wireless system's access points, with the effect that the diagnostic device can inject message traffic into the wireless system while simulating clients of that system. The wireless system responds to that traffic and those simulated clients as if real clients were generating substantially real traffic for the system to handle. The diagnostic device can initiate messages from within that wireless system, can force those messages to traverse selected trajectories in that system, and can measure aspects of that system in response to those messages. Trajectories might include specific wireless devices, specific wireless parameters, and specific physical paths.