Meshnetworks, Inc.

Itt Manufacturing Enterprises, Inc.

Eric A Whitehill

Eric D White

Peter Stanforth

Charles R Barker

Michael A Ruckstuhl

Dennis D McCrady

Larry Koos

Donald John Rasmussen

Michael Mayor

Charles A Simmons, Jr

Daniel E Stir

Tim Dempsey

A system and method for providing security to a wireless network by using a mobile node's location as a parameter for deciding if access is to be given to the node. The system and method employ access points, wireless routers and mobile nodes, each including at least one transceiver adapted to transmit and receive communication signals to and from other wireless routers, mobile nodes and other mobile access points. Each access point is connected to a network management system which allows enhanced network monitoring and control. Each network node includes technology which may determine an absolute node location containing latitude, longitude and altitude of a node, or a relative node location containing the distance and angle between nodes, or a combination of both absolute and relative location data.

System and method for restricting network access to one or more nodes in a wireless communications network

A novel software architecture protocol stack with embedded routing algorithms under the Internet Protocol (IP) routing layer in order to provide high quality distribution of multimedia (voice, video, and data) services. These routing algorithms may include Logical Link Control, Adaptive Transmission Protocol, Neighbor Discovery, Traffic Control, Ad-Hoc Routing, Flow Processing, Intelligent Access and Admission Control. These routing algorithms when implemented further provide for advantages in speed of service, reliability of service, self-healing in case of catastrophic failure of an infrastructure component, load-balancing and geographic reuse.

Embedded routing algorithms under the internet protocol routing layer of a software architecture protocol stack in a mobile Ad-Hoc network

A system and method for achieving enhanced CSMA/CA which improves channel availability and quality of service (QoS) in a wireless communications network. The system and method establish channels to enable communication between nodes in a communication network, based on the relationship between the average time length of message data packets and the time lengths of the request to send and clear to send messages. A node of the communication network places a data packet at a location in a queue for retransmission based on a type of information contained in the data packet if the destination node for which the data packet is intended is unable to receive the data packet. The location in the queue is indicative of a duration of time that the node will delay before attempting to resend the data packet to the destination node.

System and method employing algorithms and protocols for optimizing carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) protocols in wireless networks

A system and method for enabling a node in a mobile wireless ad-hoc communications network to use a particular spreading code to spread a message to be transmitted to a destination node without having to provide information on the spreading code to the destination node in, for example, an RTS message, to thus improve the overall efficiency of the network. The system and method enables the node to select the spreading code based on the destination of that transmission message, along with other factors such as network prefix information, time of day, and provider information, to minimize destructive interference between the spread transmission messages transmitted by neighboring nodes in the network.

System and method for using destination-directed spreading codes in a multi-channel metropolitan area wireless communications network

A system and method for detecting communication requirements in a network and placing nodes in various stages of activity where conditions allow. The system and method provides an algorithm to detect changes in node activity levels and alter operations, such as update transmissions and route selections, based upon changes detected. In particular, the algorithm determines activity level at a node at each routing update interval based on factors such as a number of new destinations the node can reach, a number of route modifications that the node can implement, a number of routes from the node whose lengths have changed and a number of destinations the node can no longer reach. The node can then increase or decrease the rate that it exchanges its routing information with neighboring nodes based on an increase or decrease in this activity level.

System and method for using an ad-hoc routing algorithm based on activity detection in an ad-hoc network

System and method for determining physical location of a node in a wireless network during an authentication check of the node

A system and method for providing a congestion optimized address resolution protocol (ARP) for a wireless ad-hoc network. The system and method enables a node in the wireless ad-hoc network to issue an ARP request without the need to broadcast the request to all of the nodes in the wireless ad-hoc network, to thus minimize radio traffic on the wireless ad-hoc network for handling the ARP request. The node includes an address resolution protocol module which is adapted to generate an ARP request for a media access control (MAC) address corresponding to an Internet protocol (IP) address, and a transceiver which is adapted to transmit the ARP request for delivery to an access point of a network portion, such as a core LAN of the network, without broadcasting the ARP request to a plurality of other nodes in the wireless ad-hoc network. The transceiver can transmit the ARP request to the access point directly or via other nodes in the wireless ad-hoc network.

System and method for providing a congestion optimized address resolution protocol for wireless ad-hoc networks

A system and method for providing a congestion optimized address resolution protocol (ARP) for a wireless ad-hoc network. The system and method enables a node in the wireless ad-hoc network to issue an ARP request without the need to broadcast the request to all of the nodes in the wireless ad-hoc network, to thus minimize radio traffic on the wireless ad-hoc network for handling the ARP request. The node includes an address resolution protocol module which is adapted to generate an ARP request for a media access control (MAC) address corresponding to an Internet protocol (IP) address, and a transceiver which is adapted to transmit the ARP request for delivery to a broadcast server without broadcasting the ARP request to a plurality of other nodes in the wireless ad-hoc network.

Operational parameters for transmitting a signal over a communication channel of a network are selected by first determining RF conditions on the communication channel from a received signal transmitted over the communication channel. An initial set of parameter values is selected for transmitting the signal based on RF conditions determined from the received signal. The initial set of parameter values is used to identify other sets of parameter values as other potential candidates for transmitting the signal. The parameter values in the other sets of parameter values differ from parameter values in the initial set of parameter values by less than a predetermined amount. The expected performance of the candidate sets of parameter values is compared to determine which set of parameter values has the best expected performance among the candidate sets of parameter values. The signal is transmitted on the communication channel using the selected set of parameter values.

Methods and apparatus for organizing selection of operational parameters in a communication system

A system and method for reducing the number of transmissions required for a node in a communications network to range other nodes in the network, while also enabling the node to continuously monitor the reservation channel during the ranging process without the use of a second receiver, and to indicate to the ranged node and other nodes in the network that the ranging node and the ranged node are not tuning to a data channel to perform the ranging, to thus enable the node to more efficiently determine its geographic location. The system and method further enables a node in a wireless communications network to minimize the amount of time it is not monitoring the reservation channel while receiving information messages from other nodes in the network.

System and method for efficiently performing two-way ranging to determine the location of a wireless node in a communications network

Modules produced and utilized for system simulation are translated by a computer system into software modules compatible with and executable on a target system platform. Initially, software is typically produced to enable a modeling tool to simulate a new design and target system behavior. The simulation software basically includes functions performed by the corresponding target system. The computer system of the present invention translates modules associated with the simulation to software modules compatible with and executable on a target system platform. The translated modules are subsequently compiled and downloaded to the target system. The present invention enables direct transition from simulation to a software implementation.

Method and apparatus for producing modules compatible with a target system platform from simulation system modules utilized to model target system behavior

A network of nodes communicates using plural, shared parallel data channels and a separate reservation channel. Access to the data channels is coordinated among the nodes by communicating message requests and corresponding replies on the reservation channel. In addition to a primary transmitter/receiver (e.g., a modem), each node includes a secondary receiver that permits each node to continuously monitor the reservation channel. When not engaged in a message transfer on one of the data channels, the primary receiver monitors the reservation channel. If the primary becomes engaged in a message transfer, the secondary receiver is activated and monitors the reservation channel. Use of the secondary receiver avoids loss of channel access information resulting from use of a single receiver for both the reservation and data transfer mechanisms. By transmitting requests for channel access on the reservation channel and continuously monitoring the reservation channel, message collisions are dramatically reduced.

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Fort Wayne, IN, United States of America

Eric A Whitehill