Hardware-Assisted Wireless Packet Recovery for Rapid Link Failure Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wireless communication networks face inefficiencies in failure detection and recovery, requiring excessive overhead and resulting in slow response times, which is not optimized for wireless communications.
Innovation Solution
A hardware-assisted rapid transport channel failure detection algorithm is integrated with a layer-2 network optimization protocol in a Gigabit Ethernet data access card to provide fast and robust failure detection and recovery, enabling resilient wireless packet communications with minimal impact on throughput.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If wired network protocols (RPR, RSTP) are used for wireless communications, then network topology management is achieved, but failure detection and recovery response time is excessive (>50 ms)
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces wired network protocols (RPR, RSTP) with a wireless-optimized protocol that uses hardware-assisted rapid transport channel failure detection. This substitution enables failure detection and recovery in below-50 ms, compared to the excessive response time of wired protocols in wireless environments.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the detection parameters by implementing a hardware-assisted rapid transport channel failure detection algorithm that monitors transport channel status bytes in incoming packets. This approach detects failures based on payload errors rather than relying on timed-out acknowledgment messages, achieving below-50 ms detection and recovery time.
2Reliability
If wired network protocols with extensive overhead are used, then network management functions are provided, but throughput is reduced due to excessive overhead
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential failure detection function from complex wired protocols by implementing hardware-assisted rapid transport channel failure detection. This extracts only the necessary overhead for failure detection without the extensive overhead of RPR or RSTP protocols, maintaining throughput while providing reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The protocol enables self-service failure detection by monitoring transport channel status bytes embedded in incoming packets themselves. Each packet carries status information that automatically indicates channel health, eliminating the need for separate management frames or acknowledgment-based detection mechanisms.
3Reliability
If standard failure detection methods are used, then network failures are detected, but detection speed is slow due to reliance on acknowledgment message timeouts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by embedding transport channel status bytes in every incoming packet before transmission. This pre-prepares failure detection information in the packet payload itself, eliminating the need to wait for acknowledgment message timeouts and enabling immediate failure detection when status bytes indicate errors.
Data Source
AI summary
Rapid failure detection and recovery in wireless communication networks is needed in order to meet, among other things, carrier class Ethernet transport channel standards. Thus, resilient wireless packet communications is provided using a hardware-assisted rapid transport channel failure detection algorithm and a Gigabit Ethernet data access card with an engine configured accordingly. In networks with various topologies, this is provided in combination with their existing protocols, such as rapid spanning tree and link aggregation protocols, respectively.