Dust Networks, Inc.

Analog Devices International Unlimited Company

Linear Technology Corporation

Analog Devices,inc.

Lance Robert Doherty

Jonathan Noah Simon

Mark Alan Lemkin

Thor Juneau

Alain Pierre Levesque

Zhenqiang Ye

Gina Aquilano

William Alan Lindsay

Gordon Alexander Charles

Cornelius O'Mahony

Tze Lei Poo

Philip Eugene Quinlan

Andre Wolokita

Sean Williams

Aleksandr Lushin

Robert C Dobkin

David McLean Dwelley

Michael William O'Brien

Tao Yu

Kristofer S J Pister

Yuri Zats

Brett Warneke

Shane O'Mahony

Robert M Shear

Philip P E Quinlan

Narsimh Dilip Kamath

Hemtej Gullapalli

Gary Wayne Ng

Justine Mary McCormack

Khaled Hassan

Erik Soule

David Ramsay Hanson Bacher

Michael Obrien

Michael O'brien

Dave Mclean Dwelley

Robert Curtis Dobkin

Thor Nelson Juneau

Techniques to improve the immunity of wireless battery systems by transmitting heavily-coded signals, e.g., using multiple chips of a sequence for each bit of information, to trade data rate for interference or jamming immunity as a response once a noisy environment is identified. The techniques provide the system with a noise immunity operating mode (or high-immunity transmit and receive mode) that can improve resilience to interference or jamming by reducing the data rate. One option for reducing the data rate is by slowing down the transmission bit rate to reduce the occupied transmit bandwidth to minimize the probability of collisions with interfering signals. Another option is though digital coding methods using Forward Error Correction such as Convolutional Coding, Reed-Solomon Coding and Turbo coding. A third option is with RF spread spectrum techniques such as Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) or Frequency Hopped Spread Spectrum (FHSS).

High-immunity wireless communication for battery management systems

The battery monitoring techniques described herein use a self-characterizing wireless monitor coupled to a battery to monitor different properties of the battery. The wireless monitor may measure, among other things, an alternating current frequency response (ACFR) of the battery. To accomplish this, the wireless monitor may generate and inject a stimulus signal into the battery, and the monitor may then synchronously measure the corresponding impedance response of the battery.

Self-characterizing smart cells for battery lifecycle management

Described herein is a device for autonomously monitoring a battery is provided. The device is integrated with the battery (e.g., by being electrically coupled to the battery). The device obtains measurement data by injecting electrical signals into the battery and measuring an electrical response of the battery. The device participates in an authentication protocol with a computing device to verify a unique identity of the device to the computing device. After performing the authentication protocol verifying the unique identity of the device, the device transmits battery data to the computer. Further, techniques for verifying the identity of the battery using measurement data obtained by the device are described herein. The techniques generate a battery signature using the measurement data that is then used to verify the identity of the battery. For example, the battery signature may be used to determine whether the battery is counterfeit or defective.

Autonomous battery monitoring system

A wireless communication system includes a network manager configured to wirelessly communicate with a plurality of wireless nodes of a wireless network. The network manager and at least one wireless node include a transceiver connected to transmit and receive wireless communication via an antenna. The network manager and/or the wireless node include a cognitive engine configured to receive information regarding an environment of the wireless network as input and, in response, generate configuration data as output. Subsequent communication on the wireless network is updated using the configuration data.

Smart scheduling of TSCH networks to avoid self-interference

A wireless mesh network system includes network nodes that operate in blink and canopy modes of operation. In operation, a network manager joins nodes operating in the canopy node to the network and allocates network bandwidth to the canopy nodes. The allocated bandwidth includes a first bandwidth allocated for transmitting and receiving data packets between canopy nodes that are joined to the network, and a second bandwidth allocation for receiving network joining messages from nodes that are not joined to the network. The second bandwidth allocation is also used for receiving data messages from nodes operating in the blink mode. Thus, in response to receiving a message that was transmitted from a blink node to a canopy node using the second bandwidth allocation, the network manager identifies the message as a data message and provides the data from the message to a host application.

Low power sensor node operation for wireless network

A system and method for increasing capacity and throughput in a wireless network includes a plurality of wireless nodes configured to communicate wirelessly with one another on respective frequency channels according to a schedule. The schedule includes timeslots. For respective timeslots, first and second transmitting wireless nodes generate transmissions for a receiving wireless node. The receiving wireless node includes a receiver circuit configured to receive the transmissions from the first and the second transmitting wireless nodes simultaneously and on separate frequency channels, and a transmitter circuit configured to generate acknowledgment packets for the first and the second transmitting wireless nodes upon receipt of the transmissions by the receiving wireless node.

Multi-channel communication using timeslots

A system and method for providing multiple modes of communication in wireless networks includes a network manager and a plurality of network nodes. The plurality of network nodes form a wireless network with the network manager and are configured to communicate data to the network manager using respective communication links having a first bandwidth. The plurality of network nodes are further configured to transition to a two-hop mode of communication upon one or more failures in communication to the network manager. While in the two-hop mode of communication, a respective network node of the plurality of nodes is configured to transmit node data to at least one other network node over a communication link having a second bandwidth different than the first bandwidth. The other network nodes are configured to listen for communication from the respective network node and re-transmit to the network manager the node data received from the respective network node.

Two-hop wireless network communication

A system and method for monitoring components of a vehicle includes a manager and a wireless node. The manager is positioned on the vehicle and configured to wirelessly transmit a wake signal in response to an event. The wireless node positioned to monitor a component of the vehicle and includes an antenna, a wakeup circuit, and a node transceiver. The wakeup circuit is connected to the antenna and configured to monitor for the wake signal, and the node transceiver is configured to perform wireless communication with the manager. The wakeup circuit is configured to power on the node transceiver upon receipt of the wake signal.

Radio-frequency wakeup for vehicle systems

Systems and methods permit automatic joining of a network associated with a specified area within which wireless nodes reside. Network managers located in or near the specified area use wireless proximity detection to estimate distances to wireless nodes requesting to join the network. The network managers can use the estimated distances to determine whether or not a requesting wireless node is located within the specified area. If the requesting wireless node is located within the specified area, the network managers can permit the wireless node to join the wireless network associated with the respective specified area.

Wireless node location identification

A battery system monitor includes cell measurement circuits (CMCs) that each measure a voltage at or current through a pair of terminals of a respective associated battery module from among a plurality of plurality of battery modules in a battery system. Wireless communication transceivers (WCTs), each associated with a different CMC, transmit voltage or current measurement information of the associated CMC across a wireless communication link. A controller receives the voltage or current measurement information from the wireless communication transceivers for monitoring the state of operation of the battery system. Battery system monitoring is improved through synchronization of clocks in different CMCs or WCTs to enable synchronous sampling of multiple battery modules, through systems for determining relative positions of battery modules in a series coupling of battery modules between terminals of the battery system, and through improvements to the reliability of wireless communication.

Wireless sensing for battery systems

In a wireless mesh network having multiple network managers, the network managers maintain network security through the use of encryption keys and packet counters. To ensure that each network manager can authenticate communications with any node of the network, the authentication data is replicated in a disjoint manner in all network managers. Advantageously, network reliability is assured by providing redundant managers that can seamlessly maintain network operation even if multiple network managers fail; newly joining managers can obtain full authentication data for the network upon joining; and network throughput is increased by ensuring that any of the multiple managers can authenticate the communications of any network node. The disjoint replication of the authentication data across all network managers is performed with low data-rate manager-to-manager packets propagated through the network. The disjoint security methods and systems can advantageously be used in wireless battery monitoring systems, for example.

Disjoint security in wireless networks with multiple managers or access points

The stability of a channel in a wireless network is evaluated at a node. Upon transmitting a packet from the node on a network channel, a first counter associated with the channel is incremented. Upon receiving an acknowledgment packet responsive to the transmitted packet, a second counter associated with the channel is incremented. A stability metric for the channel is computed based on values stored in the first and second counters. Additionally, interference on a channel of the network is measured at a node. Upon determining that no packet is received during a predetermined time-period on the channel, a received signal strength (RSS) is measured on the channel at an end of the predetermined time-period. Alternatively, upon determining that a packet is received during the predetermined time-period on the channel, the RSS is measured on the channel following completion of the transmission of the packet on the channel.

Monitoring of channel stability and interference in wireless networks

A network manager of a wireless mesh network is configured to selectively enable or disable communication services provided between devices over the network. The selective enabling or disabling of services may be based on the monitoring and enforcement of license terms set according to license information embedded within the wireless network node(s) or access point(s) of the network. In operation, the network manager retrieves the license information from the node(s) and/or access point(s) of the network, and establishes license terms based on the retrieved license information. In turn, the network manager selectively enables or disables network services, such as by throttling communications relayed between the user application and the nodes, or between nodes, if the license terms are not respected.

Selective disabling of communication services provided by a wireless network

A wireless mesh network is provided with equipment and methods for monitoring and enforcement of license terms. The network includes a plurality of wireless network nodes, a wireless access point, and a network manager in communication with the access point and with the network nodes via the access point. At least one of the network nodes and the access point includes license information embedded in the device hardware, and the network manager provides services to the wireless network subject to license terms determined based on the license information embedded within the network node or access point. Additionally, the network manager is in communication with a user application external to the network, and relays communication between the user application and the wireless network. The network manager modulates communications relayed between the user application and the wireless network subject to the license information embedded within the network node or access point.

Growing community of inventors

San Leandro, CA, United States of America

Lance Robert Doherty