SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IMPLEMENTING MESH NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS USING A MESH NETWORK PROTOCOL

摘要

The following describes data structures, communication protocol formats and process flows for controlling and facilitating secure communications between the nodes of a mesh network, such as utility meters and gateway nodes comprising a utility network. The enabled processes include association, information exchange, route discovery and maintenance and the like for instituting and maintaining a secure mesh network.

主权项

1. A method of associating a device to a mesh network, comprising:
selecting a network for association including:
requesting, by the device, neighbor information from neighboring devices which may belong to one or more networks,receiving, at the device from one or more neighboring devices, neighbor information for each of the one or more neighboring devices,applying an association ratio algorithm to the received neighbor information to determine which of the one or more networks to select for association; selecting a router within the selected network through which to proxy messages by applying a preferred route ratio algorithm; sending a network association request from the device through the router to a network coordinator; at the network coordinator, performing one of the following in response to the network association request:
validating the association request with an association response message which includes a short address for the device,not responding to the network association request; and constructing, at the device, an initial neighborhood table.