Honeywell International Inc.

King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals

Alliedsignal Inc.

Mohamed F Younis

James Wolter Ernst

Uthman Baroudi

Jeffrey Xiaofeng Zhou

Thomas Gilbert Roden, Iii

Dar-Tzen Peng

Ameer Ahmed Abbasi

Moustafa A Youssef

Louis P Bolduc

Abdullah Alfadhly

Khaled A Arisha

The WSAN simultaneous failures recovery method ranks each node based on the number of hops to a pre-designated root node in the network. The method identifies some nodes as cluster heads based on the number of their children in the recovery tree. The method assigns a recovery weight and a nearby cluster node to each node. Nearby cluster nodes serve as gateways to other nodes that belong to that cluster. The recovery weight is used to decide which node is better to move in order to achieve lower recovery cost. The recovery method uses the same on-going set of actors to restore connectivity. Simulation results have demonstrated that the recovery method can achieve low recovery cost per failed node in small and large networks. The results have also shown that clustering leads to lower recovery cost if the sub-network needs to re-establish links with the rest of the network.

WSAN simultaneous failures recovery method

The least movement WSAN topology repair method features an algorithm utilized in wireless sensor actor networks (WSAN) to maintain and restore connectivity following network node failure. The method is distributed throughout the WSAN nodes and relies on nodes' local view about the network. The method uses Path discovery activities in the network to determine the structure of the network topology. Upon failure of a node, the method replaces the faulty node by selecting a neighbor node belonging to the smallest disjointed block. The method is applied further recursively in case the node replacing the faulty node gets disconnected from its children, i.e., neighbors within the block, while imposing no constraints to sustain the path length between any pair of nodes at pre-failure. In this manner, the method minimizes the number of nodes relocated while also reducing message travel distance and complexity.

Least movement WSAN topology repair method

A method of managing a network of sensors in an energy aware manner includes the steps of clustering the sensors to minimize energy consumption, routing the network (step), modeling the energy available at each sensor (step), and rerouting the network (step) when the sensor battery level drops to a predetermined value, or when the energy model is adjusted because it deviates from a sensor's actual energy state.

Energy aware network management

An integrated circuit chip for interfacing a digital computer to sensors and controlled devices can be configured to accept and provide a variety of analog and discrete input and output signals. The circuit includes a plurality of signal conditioning cells, a plurality of signal conversion cells, and input and output signal multiplexors.

Integrated circuit for conditioning and conversion of bi-directional discrete and analog signals

An Input/Output device has programmable signal conditioning and signal control circuitry capable of receiving signals, scaling the received signals to a predetermined voltage range, determining signal type for each of the received signals, and controlling input/output circuitry of the programmable signal conditioning and signal control circuitry for accessing input signals and generating output signals. The I/O device further includes conversion circuitry for receiving the output signals and converting the output signals from analog to digital to enable these signals to be digitally processed, and also receives digitally processed signals, converts the digitally processed signals to analog signals, and transmits the analog signals as input signals to the programmable signal conditioning and signal control circuitry. Bus interface logic circuitry coupled to the programmable signal conditioning and signal control circuitry for interfacing the I/O device with a bus for transferring information to and from the I/O device is also included. The I/O device may be provided with high current and/or voltage conditioning circuitry for conditioning the signals within current and voltage ranges which are tolerable to microelectronics of the programmable signal conditioning and signal control circuitry; and signal specific conditioning circuitry for conditioning the signals to match the electrical characteristics of the programmable signal conditioning and signal control circuitry.

Architecture for an input and output device capable of handling various signal characteristics

A stand alone Redundancy Management System (RMS) provides a cost-effective solution for managing redundant computer-based systems in order to achieve ultra-high system reliability, safety, fault tolerance, and mission success rate. The RMS includes a Cross Channel Data Link (CCDL) module and a Fault Tolerant Executive (FE) module. The CCDL module provides data communication for all channels, while the FTE module performs system functions such as synchronization, data voting, fault and error detection, isolation and recovery. System fault tolerance is achieved by detecting and masking erroneous data through data voting, and system integrity is ensured by a dynamically reconfigurable architecture that is capable of excluding faulty nodes from the system and re-admitting healthy nodes back into the system.

Method and apparatus for managing redundant computer-based systems for fault tolerant computing

A method for strong partitioning of multi-processor applications that maintains fault containment on the VMEbus is presented. The method implements a message passing mechanism to increase fault tolerance and localize and contain detected faults on any one card connected to a VMEbus. Software implementation supports message-based inter-module communications using the available features provided by the VME cards. A portion of each VME card's global memory is allocated upon initialization for supporting the message passing mechanism. Access to the message buffer is restricted to read-only for modules that do not own that buffer. An error detection or correction code (e.g. cyclic redundancy check) is appended to the end of a data stream message to contain faults and prevent their propagation to other VME cards.

Growing community of inventors

Columbia, MD, United States of America

Mohamed F Younis