Wireless burstable communications repeater

What is claimed is:

1. A wireless high speed data communication system comprising:

a host radio station being operatively coupled to a source of data;

a plurality of wireless communication repeaters wherein each repeater is adapted for two way wireless full-duplex communication with at least one of the host radio station and another repeater within a line-of-sight of the repeater to enable communication between the host radio station and repeaters beyond a line-of-sight of the host radio station; and

at least one end user in communication with at least one of the plurality of wireless communication repeaters, wherein the host radio station transmits the data to the at least one end user via the plurality of wireless communication repeaters, at least a first control data packet being transmitted from a source node to a destination node, at least a second control data packet being transmitted from the destination node to the source node in response to the destination node receiving the first control data packet, the source node and the destination node including at least one of the host radio station and the plurality of wireless communication repeaters, the first control data packet including a first sequence number associated therewith, the second control data packet including a second sequence number associated therewith, the first and second sequence numbers distinguishing the first control data packet from the second control data packet, thereby enabling at least one of the source node and the destination node to identify an inoperable portion of a wireless link between the source node and the destination node.

2. A wireless high speed data communication system as defined in claim 1, wherein the host radio station is capable of transmitting data to a plurality of wireless communication repeaters within a line-of-sight thereof to create a series of communication links.

3. A wireless high speed data communication system as defined in claim 1, wherein the plurality of wireless communication repeaters are adapted to communicate with the at least one end user by at least one of a direct electrical connection and wireless connection within a line-of-sight of at least one of the plurality of wireless communication repeaters.

4. A wireless high speed data communication system as defined in claim 3, wherein the end-user is operatively coupled to a local area network for distribution of the data.

5. A wireless high speed data communication system as defined in claim 1, wherein the source of data is the Internet.

6. A wireless high speed data communication system as defined in claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of wireless communication repeaters comprises a first radio transceiver for providing a communication link to the host radio station, a processor having a memory associated therewith, the processor being operatively coupled to the radio transceiver and providing control signals thereto and means for communicating with the at least one end-user.

7. A wireless high speed data communication system as defined in claim 6, wherein the communicating means comprises a wired connection.

8. A wireless high speed data communication system as defined in claim 7, wherein the wired connection includes an Ethernet interface.

9. A wireless high speed data communication system as defined in claim 6, wherein the communicating means comprises a second radio transceiver for providing a wireless communication link to a remote end-user within a line-of-sight of at least one of the plurality of wireless communication repeaters.

10. A wireless high speed data communication system as defined in claim 9, wherein the second radio transceiver is configured to provide a wireless communication link to at least one of the plurality of wireless communication repeaters within a line-of-sight thereof.

11. A wireless high speed data communication system as defined in claim 6, wherein the data is converted into data packets for transmission to at least one of the plurality of wireless communication repeaters.

12. A wireless high speed data communication system as defined in claim 1, wherein the wireless link is tested in at least one of a multi-cast mode, the control data packets that are lost being counted in the multi-cast mode, the control data packets that are lost being retransmitted in the uni-cast mode.

13. A wireless high speed data communications system as defined in claim 12, wherein a transmission time associated with the wireless link is determined, the transmission time representing a number of control data packets that are lost in the multi-cast mode, the transmission time representing a number of control data packets that are lost in the uni-cast mode.

14. A wireless high speed data communication repeater comprising:

at least one radio/data link element having an antenna coupled thereto being adapted for receiving and transmitting data packets in full duplex from at least one of a host computer and another wireless high speed data communication repeater, the at least one radio/data link element including a radio frequency transmitter and a radio frequency receiver;

a medium access control circuit coupled to the at least one radio/data link element, the medium access control circuit manipulating data packets for transmission and reception, the medium access control circuit providing at least one of access to multiple radio/data link elements, channel allocation, protocol data unit (PDU) addressing, frame formatting, error checking, fragmentation, and reassembly of packets within the wireless high speed data communication repeater;

a packet exchange bus within the wireless high speed data communication repeater through which substantially all data traffic passes through, the packet exchange bus being operatively coupled to the medium access control circuit; and

a network control module which provides data management functions for multi-directional communication of data to and from the wireless high speed data communication repeater, the wireless high speed data communication repeater being adapted for transmitting at least a first control data packet as a source node and receiving at least a second control data packet as the source node, the repeater being adapted for receiving the first control data packet as a destination node and transmitting the second control data packet as the destination node in response to receiving the first control data packet, the first control data packet including a first sequence number associated therewith, the second control data packet including a second sequence number associated therewith, the first and second sequence numbers distinguishing the first control data packet from the second control data packet, thereby enabling at least one of the source node and the destination node to identify an inoperable portion of a wireless link from the wireless high speed data communication repeater.

15. A wireless high speed data communication repeater as defined in claim 14, wherein the at least one radio/data link element is adapted for spread spectrum communication.

16. A wireless high speed data communication repeater as defined in claim 12, wherein the spread spectrum communication includes at least one of frequency hopping and direct sequence coding schemes for resistance to at least one of jamming and interference.

17. A wireless high speed data communication repeater as defined in claim 14, wherein the network control module comprises a processor, DRAM including static and dynamic buffers for storage of temporary data, and a flash memory which includes firmware, configuration data and statistics associated with the high speed data communication repeater including at least one of data packet length, throughput, faults, and exceptions.

18. A wireless high speed data communication repeater as defined in claim 14, wherein the network control module routes data to a local network via a wired connection.

19. A wireless high speed data communication repeater as defined in claim 14, wherein the network control module routes data to a local network via a wireless communication link.

20. A wireless high speed data communication repeater as defined in claim 14, wherein the wireless link is tested in a least one of a multi-cast mode and a uni-cast mode, the control data packets that are lost being counted in the multi-cast mode, the control data packets that are lost being retransmitted in the uni-cast mode.

21. A wireless high speed data communication repeater as defined in claim 20, wherein a transmission time associated with the wireless link is determined, the transmission time representing a number of control data packets that are lost in the multi-cast mode, the transmission time representing a number of control data packets that are lost in the uni-cast mode.

22. A method of routing data in packets, the method including the steps of:

receiving data packet by a radio/data link element of at least one of a plurality of wireless communication repeaters, the at least one of a plurality of wireless communication repeaters being a portion of a system including a host radio station electrically coupled to a source data, the at least one of a plurality of wireless communication repeaters being within a line-of-sight of said host radio station and adapted for two-way wireless full-duplex communication with the host radio station, the at least one of the plurality of wireless communication repeaters including at least one radio/data link element, a packet exchange bus in communication with the at least one radio/data link element, and a forwarding engine TCP/IP stack in communication with the packet exchange bus, the forwarding engine TCP/IP stack including therein a routing table, the packet exchange bus and the forwarding engine TCP/IP enabling the system to interface with the Internet;

providing the received data packets through the packet exchange bus within the at least one of the plurality of wireless communication repeaters to the forwarding engine TCP/IP stack;

routing the received data packets addressed to the at least one of the plurality of repeaters through the forwarding engine TCP/IP stack including passing the data packets through the routing table to determine whether the received data packets should be sent back to the packet exchange bus for delivery to another repeater or to deliver the packets to an Ethernet local to the at least one of the plurality of wireless communication repeaters; and

testing a wireless link between at least two of the host radio station and the plurality of wireless repeaters by transmitting at least a first control data packet from a source node to a destination node and transmitting a second control data packet from the destination node to the source node, the source node and the destination node including at least one of the host radio station and the plurality of wireless communication repeaters, the first control data packet including a first sequence number associated therewith, the second control data packet including a second sequence number associated therewith, the first and second sequence numbers distinguishing the first control data packet from the second control data packet, thereby enabling at least one of the source node and the destination node to identify an inoperable portion of the wireless link between the source node and the destination node.

23. A method of routing data in packets as defined by claim 22, further comprising the step of:

implementing advanced cut-through capabilities to allow packets destined for other repeaters to exit the forwarding engine and be returned to the packet exchange bus in accordance with a destination address in the data packet.

24. A method of routing data in packets as defined by claim 23, further comprising the steps of:

providing an IP filter in the forwarding engine TCP/IP stack; and

filtering IP address to drop incorrectly formed packets for which the at least one of the plurality of wireless communication repeaters is not programmed to receive.

25. A method of routing data in packets as defined by claim 24, further comprising the steps of:

providing a firewall in the forwarding engine TCP/IP stack; and

passing the data packets through the firewall to drop packets that do not meet predetermined criteria.

26. A method of routing data in packets as defined by claim 25, further comprising the steps of:

providing an accounting means in the forwarding engine TCP/IP stack; and

passing the data packets through the accounting means to monitor traffic for at least one of billing and quality of service.

27. A method of routing data in packets as defined in claim 22, further including the steps of:

testing the wireless link in at least one of a multi-cast mode and a uni-cast mode;

counting control data packets that are lost in the multi-cast mode; and

retransmitting the control data packets that are lost in the uni-cast mode.

28. A method of routing data in packets as defined in claim 27, further comprising the step of determining a transmission time associated with the wireless link, the transmission time representing a number of control data packets that are lost in the multi-cast mode, the transmission time representing a number of control data packets that are lost in the uni-cast mode.

Description Submit all comments and votes

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a radio communications repeater, and more particularly relates to a radio communications repeater system for high-speed data communication which enables multiple users to access a common geographically distributed radio channel.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Radio communication repeater systems receive radio signals, amplify the signals and retransmit the signals to a distant location. One type of radio communication repeater system is a half-duplex system. The half-duplex system is incapable of simultaneously transmitting and receiving radio signals. This results in a reduction of throughput rate by a factor of two, since the repeater system must first receive signals from a host radio and then retransmit the signals to another repeater or a user. Throughput is further reduced when extended coverage continues through a series of repeaters.

Another type of repeater system is a full-duplex system. Full-duplex systems use one radio channel for reception and a second radio channel for transmission. This type of repeater system does not suffer the throughput rate limitation described in the half-duplex radio system. However, to achieve necessary channel isolation, the frequencies are normally widely separated and assigned by the United States Government Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in channel pairs. The bandwidth is fixed or constrained to a single channel. The full-duplex method can be achieved by segregating the single channel into transmit and receive time slots, which reduces the possible data throughput by one-half.

One method to regain lost data transmission throughput is to encode the communications data stream to fit more data into a fixed bandwidth. These encoding schemes require increasingly higher levels of communication channel signal-to-noise ratios, which in some applications can be realized by increasing the transmitter power by a factor of two or more. However, in many communication applications the FCC restricts the radio frequency power and the antenna directional characteristics which can be used in a radio channel. This limits the encoding of the communication data streams and the throughput rate.

Many communication applications require wireless multi-point access, in contrast to simple point-to-point data access. Wireless multi-point access requires a repeater to effectively serve multiple users simultaneously at remote locations. In this situation, the repeater cannot translate all communication signals from one side to the other and must allocate time slots in which the different remote radios can communicate with a host radio. This is achieved by a process known as polling. Polling leads to inefficient spectrum utilization because time slots go unused when a polled radio has no data to transfer.

Additionally, there are radio communication applications where extended coverage areas are desired and line-of-sight conditions do not exist. This problem is typically circumvented using high radio towers to establish line-of-sight conditions. Radio towers are expensive to construct, and are located many miles apart. Radio transmitters to reach the longer range between radio towers may require higher transmit power than is allowed by the FCC. Moreover, use of highly directional antennas may restrict use to point-to-point only, precluding multi-point applications. Hence, the use of a non-tower based radio communication repeater station may be the only alternative, even though it lacks full data speed throughput and cannot operate in a multi-point access mode.

Thus, the present invention is directed towards overcoming the disadvantages of conventional radio communication repeaters and multi-point access radio communication repeaters.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a low cost, compact repeater for radio communications.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a radio communications repeater which is capable of full data rate transfers in half-duplex systems.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a radio communications repeater which can support multi-communication protocols, including but not limited to TCP/IP and Ethernet.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a radio communications repeater which provides for multi-user access for both remote wireless systems and locally wired systems to the repeater site.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide the ability to segment data traffic onto two or more separate segments, through the use of frequency channel separation, data stream encoding and/or spacial separation techniques (antenna radiation pattern separation).

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide for remote monitoring and maintenance for controlling of a radio communications repeater.

It is yet another object of the present invention to act as a firewall to isolate remote segments.

It is yet another object of the present invention to enable burstable data communication protocols to enhance data distributions to users in a multi-user (access) environment which effectively provides high communication speeds.

A wireless high speed data communication system constructed in accordance with one form of the present invention includes a host radio station connected to a source of data. The host radio station transmits and receives data to and from at least one wireless communication repeater within line of sight of the host radio station. The repeater is configured to communicate with at least one end user by either a direct electrical connection or a wireless connection. The repeater may also transmit and receive data to another repeater within its line of sight yet beyond the line of sight of the host radio station. The data source, connected to the host radio station, can be private data or data accessed and/or delivered to the Internet.

The repeater has at least one radio/data link element for receiving and transmitting data packets between the repeater and the host radio station. A processor controls the data flow within the repeater. Data may be communicated between the repeater and the host radio station, the repeater and the users, and the repeater and the other repeaters. The repeater communicates with the end users through a direct electrical connection and/or a wireless connection. Additional radio transceivers may be included in the repeater to communicate the data from the host radio station to a second repeater.

A method of routing data in the form of packets formed in accordance with the present invention includes the steps of receiving data packets by a radio/data link element of a repeater and using a forwarding engine TCP/IP stack to route data packets via a packet exchange bus to their proper addresses. The method may also include filtering out IP addresses which are not programmed to be received, and may include the step of monitoring data packets for the purpose of accounting.

A preferred form of the wireless high speed data communication system, as well as other embodiments, objects, features and advantages of this invention, will be appeared from the following detailed description of the illustrative embodiments thereof, which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless burstable communications repeater deployment scheme.

FIG. 2. is a block diagram of a wireless burstable communications repeater functional architecture.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram/flowchart of a wireless burstable communications repeater.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a wireless burstable communications repeater principal software modules and their inter-relationships.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram/flowchart of a wireless burstable communications repeater data packet flow.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A block diagram of a wireless burstable communications repeater (WBCR) deployment scheme formed in accordance with the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 1. The WBCR deployment scheme may be implemented in a common geographic area or within the confine of a building. Deployment of the WBCR scheme includes: a host radio station 2, a land line link 4, a WBCR 10, a remote user 26, a physical data line 24, and a local user 34.

The host radio station 2, provides data communications from the land line link 4 (i.e., Internet or other private distribution data sources) to users 26 remotely located from the host radio station 2, by a network of WBCRs 10, 100, 72, 40. Each WBCR 10, 100, 72, 40 provides local access to users 26-32 within line-of-sight 12 of the WBCR 10, as well as local users 34-38 which are connected by a physical data line 24 to the WBCR 10.

In addition, the WBCR 10 serves as a relay for WBCRs 100, 72, and 40, which serve further remote users 112-120 and 84-90 beyond the line-of-sight of both the host radio station 2 and WBCR 10. Other WBCR sites 76 can also be sequentially connected to WBCR 10,100,72,40 within the deployment scheme.

The host radio station 2 can also access other WBCRs, such as WBCR 40, without interfering with the operations of WBCRs 10, 100 and 72. Because of a multiple access circuit within each WBCR, back-up links 44 and 110 can be established between repeaters 40 and 72 in the event that one of the primary radio links 18, 22 were to fail. The computing equipment of each user may include a single personal computer (PC) 66,92 or a local area network (LAN) 54,98 which connects multiple PC's and other computing equipment.

A block diagram of a wireless burstable communications repeater (WBCR) functional architecture formed in accordance with the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 2. The functional architecture preferably includes the following: a radio transceiver circuit 132, an antenna 131, a network device interface specification (NDIS) driver circuit 134, Ethernet interfaces 136, 154, 164, 170, Ethernet circuits 166, 168, a second radio transceiver circuit 140, a second antenna 142, a second NDIS driver circuit 152; a computer circuit 156 having a random access memory (RAM) circuit 158, a read only memory (ROM) circuit 162 and a processor 160.

The radio transceiver circuit 132, provides the radio frequency link to a host radio station and, optionally, to one or more repeaters. The second radio transceiver circuit 140, provides multiple radio frequency access to remotely distributed users and/or other WBCRs. The antennas 131, 142 can be either omni or directional. Each radio transceiver circuit has a NDIS driver 134,152, which provides the Ethernet interface 136, 154, to the computer circuit 156. The computer circuit 156, performs the controlling functions within the WBCR and includes the processor 160 (e.g., 486 CPU or equivalent), the RAM circuit 158 and the ROM circuit 162. Ethernet circuits 166, 168 are included within the WBCR to provide wired access to users locally coupled to the WBCR.

The WBCR functions, such that the data packets coming from the user side, are received by the second radio transceiver circuit 140 and then temporarily buffered in the RAM circuit 158 before being retransmitted by the radio transceiver circuit 4 to the host radio station. Alternatively, when a data packet comes in from the host radio station, it can be directed to a local user at the WBCR site, by the local Ethernet card interface 170. The WBCR functions as a full data rate communications system. The full data stream transfer is accomplished by receiving data packets from the host radio station, temporarily buffering the data packets in the RAM circuit 158 and transferring the data packets to the second radio transceiver circuit 140 (user side), where the data packets are then transmitted to the user.

The WBCR "reads" each data packet in transit and directs it to the appropriate segment (i.e., out to the user radio link side, or to a user local to the repeater site via the Ethernet card). The data packets are encapsulated at different open system interconnection (OSI) levels. The lowest OSI level, a radio/data link protocol, consists of special coding that is transmitted over the airways. The radio/data link protocol typically consists of a binary sequence modulated to radio frequency (RF), containing certain radio addressing, data packet error correcting codes such as Reed-Solomon encoding, and spread spectrum chip code sets. If an error occurs within a data packet during RF transit, it is detected by the Reed-Solomon decoding and a request for a retransmission of the data packet is effected. The next OSI level is an Ethernet protocol. The Ethernet protocol is included within the radio/data link packet and provides a unique Ethernet address for each user on the network. The highest OSI level is a transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) data protocol, which contains information data packets sent by and requested from the user. The TCP/IP information data packets are encapsulated within the Ethernet coding and contain unique IP addresses for each user, when communicating throughout the Internet. The WBCR can access both the Ethernet addresses and the IP addresses as required for distribution to the various segments in the network, as well as distribution over the Internet.

The radio/data link level protocol implements several features unique to wireless multi-point access. Unlike the Ethernet protocol, where the entities on the local network can communicate with each other and are relatively close together (less than 800 feet), the wireless environment consists of remote entities (which can be greater than several miles) which have communication line-of-sight only to a repeater station and not to each other. The radio data link protocol operates asynchronously, providing periodic time intervals when it is in a listen mode to a remote user sites. A user site having data traffic to send will issue a request preamble to the repeater. If acknowledged by the repeater, the user site will transmit data packets to the repeater. If multiple users are requesting transmission rights, scheduling is accomplished using a burstable packet multi access/collision avoidance (BPMA/CA) protocol.

Control of packet scheduling is performed at the Ethernet level, after the radio encoding has been removed. This enables a repeater controller to select users for a transmission and allocate data packet sizes and numbers for transfer to the users. This packet allocation is an element of the burstable packet multi access/collision avoidance (BPMA/CA) protocol preferably used with the present invention. In many communications applications the duty factor usage of individual users is quite small (e.g., on the order of 2-5 percent), but when used, the user requires full b