Method and Apparatus for Reliable Communications in Underground and Hazardous Areas

摘要

A method and apparatus for reliable wireless voice, data and location communication for deployment in underground, industrial and other hazardous environments using a wireless mesh network. The network includes protocol for dispatch operation, emergency operation, remote supervision, remote status, asset control, machine state of health and operational management. The architecture is based on localized clusters of autonomous nodes capable of ad hoc interconnection with nearby nodes and connection to gateway nodes. The resulting network is an ad hoc mesh topology comprised of fixed mesh nodes with approximately 50% coverage overlap between nodes. This provides a reliable communication network for mobile nodes carried by personnel and sensor nodes that are fixed or mobile that supports voice, data and tracking/situation awareness. Each cluster of nodes transfers digital voice and data to gateway nodes either directly or through multi-hop transactions.

主权项

1. A method for managing a scalable combined wireless and wired emergency two-way radio communications system operating on a single channel having multi-waveform nodes located partially above-ground and partially underground within at least one wireless mesh network (WMN) incorporating at least two fixed gateway nodes, at least one mobile mesh radio and a plurality of stationary fixed mesh and mobile nodes wherein all of the nodes communicate through RF links over a known RF spectrum and the combination of waveforms and features supported by the system are known comprising:
configuring each of the nodes to provide a combination of waveforms and features supported by the system; supervising the functioning of each WMN to ensure both reliable operation of nodes located therein and to identify traffic pattern congestion within each WMN; determining signal strength of the RF link and a traffic profile at proposed underground locations of the at least one gateway node and at each of the plurality of stationary nodes as measured by transmissions from fixed mesh node transmitters to a mobile mesh radio; optimizing first a location of each of the at least one gateway nodes and each of the plurality of stationary underground nodes by maximizing the signal strength of the RF link and the traffic pattern for each such node; optimizing second a location of each of the mobile nodes based on a geolocation algorithm developed for the underground environment; and reconfiguring any WMN in which either congestion is found or unreliable nodes are identified to improve reliable RF coverage and the traffic profile for underground communications.