Low-power, frequency-hopping, wide-area network with random medium access

1. A radio-transmitting device comprising:

a radio interface operating in a predetermined frequency band, operatively arranged for modulating a carrier having a frequency in the frequency band, while switching the frequency of the carrier among several hopping frequencies in the frequency band, according to a hopping sequence, to obtain a spread-spectrum modulated signal, wherein the spread-spectrum modulated signal includes, in a preamble portion, a plurality of sync words, each combined with at least one instance of a sequential index, the sync words being transmitted at different frequencies, and a data portion following the preamble portion and including a plurality of frequency hops.

2. The radio-transmitting device of claim 1 , wherein each hopping frequency in the hopping sequence is deterministically derivable from the frequency of the immediately preceding hop in the hopping sequence.

3. The radio-transmitting device of claim 2 , wherein each hopping frequency in the hopping sequence is deterministically derivable from the frequency of the immediately preceding hop in the hopping sequence by a permutation operation.

4. The radio-transmitting device of claim 1 , wherein the sequential indexes are arranged in a countdown sequence.

5. The radio-transmitting device of claim 1 , wherein frequency hops in the preamble portion contain a sync word between two copies of the sequential index.

6. The radio-transmitting device of claim 1 , wherein frequency hops in the preamble portion contain additional information designating a data rate for the data portion and/or an indication designating the hopping sequence among a plurality of possible hopping sequences.

7. The radio-transmitting device of claim 1 , wherein the spread spectrum modulated signal inside each frequency hop has a bandwidth, and wherein the radio-transmitting device is configured to separate the frequency hops by frequency offsets that are integer or half-integer multiples of said bandwidth or multiples of a predetermined fraction of said bandwidth, wherein the frequency offsets follow a deterministic sequence.

8. The radio-transmitting device of claim 1 , the radio-transmitting device further comprising a local frequency reference, the radio-transmitting device being operatively arranged to obtain a synchronization status indicative of the frequency error of the local frequency reference and to adjust a sync word repetition number and/or a sync word repetition rate based on the synchronization status.

9. The radio-transmitting device of claim 8 , the radio-transmitting device being operatively arranged to obtain an estimation of a transmission success rate and to adjust the sync word repetition number and/or the sync word repetition rate based on the estimation of the transmission success rate.

10. The radio-transmitting device of claim 9 , the radio-transmitting device being operatively arranged to adjust the sync word repetition number and/or the sync word repetition rate upon reception of a command.

11. A communication network comprising:

at least one receiver; and

a plurality of radio-transmitting devices,

wherein each of the radio-transmitting devices comprises a radio interface operating in a predetermined frequency band, operatively arranged for modulating a carrier having a frequency in the frequency band, while switching the frequency of the carrier among several hopping frequencies in the frequency band, according to a hopping sequence, to obtain a spread-spectrum modulated signal, wherein the spread-spectrum modulated signal includes, in a preamble portion, a plurality of sync words, each combined with at least one instance of a sequential index, the sync words being transmitted at different frequencies, and a data portion following the preamble portion and including a plurality of frequency hops, and

the at least one receiver being arranged for detecting in the spread spectrum modulated signal a sync word and an associated sequential index, to determine the hopping sequence and align with the hopping sequence based on the sync word and on the associated sequential index, to determine from the sequential indexes combined with the sync words the position of the data portion, and to demodulate the data portion.

12. A method of radio communication in a predetermined frequency band comprising:

providing a spread-spectrum modulated signal by modulating a carrier having a frequency in the frequency band, while switching the frequency of the carrier among several hopping frequencies in the frequency band, according to a hopping sequence;

inserting in a preamble portion of the spread-spectrum modulated signal a plurality of sync words, each combined with at least one instance of a sequential index of the hopping sequence, the sync words being modulated on the carrier at different frequencies;

adding a data portion of the spread-spectrum modulated signal following the preamble portion and including a plurality of frequency hops; and

transmitting the spread-spectrum modulated signal by a radio-transmitting device.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

receiving the spread-spectrum modulated signal by a radio receiver;

demodulating the spread-spectrum modulated signal obtaining to obtain a demodulated signal including the preamble portion and the data portion; and

determining the position of the data portion based on the sequential indexes.