Wireless Mesh Network Nodes for Control System Communication
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current control systems, particularly safety systems, face challenges in maintaining robust and reliable communications due to extensive cable requirements and susceptibility to damage, interference, and complexity, especially in industries like oil & gas and chemical sectors where hazards necessitate high availability and redundancy.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a wireless mesh network with multiple redundant radio paths using different frequencies and protocols to enhance communication resilience, reducing the need for physical cables and supporting triple modular redundancy through peer-to-peer connections between nodes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If wired communication paths are used in control systems, then communication reliability can be maintained through physical connections, but system complexity and vulnerability to damage increase due to extensive cable requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical cable-based communication system with a wireless radio-frequency communication system. Nodes in the control system communicate through wireless transmissions, eliminating the need for physical cables and connectors while maintaining communication functionality between field devices, controllers, and workstations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and removes the cable infrastructure from the control system architecture. By taking out the physical cable layer, the system reduces complexity and vulnerability to cable damage while maintaining communication through wireless protocols, thereby resolving the contradiction between reliability and complexity.
2Reliability
If redundant communication paths are implemented to ensure high availability, then system reliability improves, but the number of communication pathways and potential interference points increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the communication system into multiple independent wireless paths between nodes. Each path can operate independently, allowing the system to maintain communication even if one path experiences interference or failure. This segmentation enables redundancy without creating a single point of failure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces spatial diversity by transmitting communication signals through multiple different routes and frequency channels simultaneously. This dimensional expansion allows the system to distribute communication traffic across multiple dimensions, reducing the impact of interference on any single communication path while maintaining high availability.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention provides, in some aspects, an improved control network (or portion thereof) that includes a plurality of nodes, each associated with respective control devices (e.g., controllers, actuators, sensors, etc.). Each of the nodes also includes one or more radios supporting wireless communications pathways with one or more of the other nodes, which pathways together form at least part of a mesh network. At least a first one of the nodes wirelessly transmits information simultaneously, or substantially simultaneously, over at least two pathways formed in a mesh network to a second one of the nodes. The radio(s) of the first node, according to related aspects of the invention, sends that information wirelessly at different frequencies along each of those pathways.