Granted Patent B1

US 7,286,844 · App. 10/355,556 · Granted Oct 23, 2007

Abstract

Claims (48)

1. A method of determining transmit power at a first node in a wireless network, comprising:

receiving one or more messages from a second node, the one or more messages indicating a three-dimensional position of the second node and a directional antenna associated with the second node that transmitted at least one of the one or more messages;

determining a vector between the second node and the first node based on the three-dimensional position of the second node;

determining a gain of the directional antenna corresponding to the determined vector to produce a transmit antenna gain (XmitAntGain); and

determining the transmit power for transmitting to the second node based on the transmit antenna gain.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the three-dimensional position comprises a latitude, longitude and altitude associated with the second node.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining a gain of the directional antenna comprises:

maintaining a data table specifying antenna gains associated with an antenna gain pattern of the directional antenna; and

indexing the data table with the determined angle to retrieve the transmit antenna gain (XmitAntGain) of the directional antenna.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a pathloss between the second node and the first node based on the determined transmit antenna gain (XmitAntGain),

wherein determining the transmit power for transmitting to the second node is further based on the determined pathloss.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

determining a receive antenna gain (RcvAntGain) associated with a second directional antenna of the first node that received the one or more messages.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

measuring, at the first node, a receive power level (RcvPower) associated with at least one of the one or more messages.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the one or more messages further indicate a transmit power level (XmitPower) at which at least one of the one or more messages was transmitted from the second node.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the pathloss is determined based on the XmitPower, the XmitAntGain, the RcvAnt Gain and the RcvPower.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless network comprises an ad-hoc, multi-hop, wireless network.

10. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling at least one processor to perform a method of determining transmit power at a first node in a wireless network, the method comprising:

receiving a message from a second node, the message indicating a three-dimensional position and orientation of the second node, wherein the three-dimensional position relates to a latitude, longitude and altitude associated with the second node;

determining a vector between the second node and the first node based on the three-dimensional position of the second node;

determining a gain of the directional antenna corresponding to the determined vector to produce a transmit antenna gain; and

determining the transmit power for transmitting to the second node based on the transmit antenna gain.

11. A first node in an ad-hoc wireless network, comprising:

a plurality of antennas;

a memory configured to store instructions; and

a processor configured to execute the instructions in the memory to:

receive, via a first antenna of the plurality of antennas, one or more messages from a second node, the one or more messages indicating a three-dimensional position of the second node and a type of a second antenna associated with the second node that transmitted at least one of the one or more messages;

determine a vector between the second node and the first node based on the three-dimensional position of the second node;

determine a gain of the directional antenna corresponding to the determined vector to produce a transmit antenna gain (XmitAntGain); and

determine the transmit power for transmitting to the second node based on the transmit antenna gain.

12. A method of determining a power level for transmitting to a neighboring node in a wireless network, comprising:

receiving, at a first node, one or more messages indicating a three-dimensional position of the neighboring node and a type of directional antenna of the neighboring node that transmitted the one or more messages; and

determining the power level for transmitting to the neighboring node based on the three-dimensional position of the neighboring node and the type of the directional antenna.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the three-dimensional position relates to a latitude, longitude and altitude of the neighboring node.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

storing a data table specifying a plurality of antenna gains associated with an antenna gain pattern corresponding to the type of directional antenna; and

performing a look-up of the data table, based on data derived from the three-dimensional position of the neighboring node, to retrieve a transmit antenna gain from the plurality of antenna gains.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

determining a pathloss between the neighboring node and the first node using the transmit antenna gain.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein determining the power level for transmitting to the neighboring node is further based on the determined pathloss.

17. A first node in an ad-hoc wireless network, comprising:

a transceiver;

a memory configured to store instructions; and

a processor configured to execute the instructions in the memory to:

receive, via the transceiver, one or more messages indicating a three-dimensional position and orientation of a neighboring node and a type of directional antenna of the neighboring node that transmitted the one or more messages, wherein the three-dimensional position comprises a latitude, longitude and altitude associated with the neighboring node and the orientation comprises a heading, pitch and roll associated with the neighboring node, and

determine the power level for transmitting from the first node to the neighboring node based on the three-dimensional position and orientation of the neighboring node and the type of the directional antenna.

Assignments (7)