DETERMINING NETWORK RANK FOR COMMUNICATION TO NEIGHBORING NODES

摘要

The determination and advertisement of a node's rank in an RF mesh network reflects sustained network changes. A node's advertised rank may be based on the node's induced rank and a previous rank candidate. Induced rank is the rank of the node at a particular point in time. Rank candidate is based on a running average of the node's past rank. The advertised rank may be based on a weighted sum of the induced rank and a previous rank candidate. Induced rank may consider a Link Quality Indicator (LQI), which may be based on a running average LQI.

主权项

1. A method for communicating an advertised rank of a node in a mesh network, comprising:
receiving an advertised rank of a parent node of the node; determining an induced rank of the node, wherein the induced rank is based on the advertised rank of the parent node and a Link Quality Indicator (LQI) adjustment for a link between the node and the parent node; determining a rank candidate for the node based on the induced rank and a previous rank candidate for the node, wherein the previous rank candidate was determined in connection with a previous advertised rank of the node; comparing the rank candidate and a neighboring rank, wherein the neighboring rank is an adjacent rank value to the previous advertised rank of the node; when the rank candidate is within a rank threshold of the neighboring rank, then determining that the advertised rank is the neighboring rank; when the rank candidate is outside the rank threshold of the neighboring rank, then determining that the advertised rank is the previous advertised rank; and communicating the advertised rank to other nodes in the mesh network.