The embodiments herein generally relate to distributed systems, and, more particularly, to logical address allocation and data routing in a distributed systems.
This specification is the complete specification of the provisional application No. 307/CHE/2009 filed on 12 Feb. 2009 which it claims to be its priority date.
In any distributed system, the nodes are assigned a logical address apart from their hardware address at the time of association in the network. These logical addresses are then normally used for all the communications with that node. As an example IP address is a logical address over the hardware Ethernet address or mobile subscriber number is a logical address over its IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity); and during the communication mostly these logical addresses are used to identify the nodes. Normally, the logical addresses are short in length so that it is easy to remember and handy to use. Short length of logical address necessitates that the addresses are allocated prudently. This invention proposes an efficient way of allocating logical address. Also if address allocation is based on some algorithm, routing the data from one node to other node can be done efficiently. Hence this invention also includes an efficient method for data routing in a distributed system.
In accordance with existing address allocation methods, the logical address allocation methods have limited configurable parameters, which block the significant amount of logical address unused, in anticipation of getting used in future, but in many cases the scenario never arises and the blocked addresses never get used. In this invention we are allocating the address prudently by calculating in advance the maximum possible requirement at any node in the network and reserve the address accordingly. Being adaptive in nature, this invention also allows user to choose different level of robustness in network formation i.e. the different level of probability of any unassociated node getting associated with the network. As we can understand, to improve the chance of any device within the region is getting associated with the network; the network will have to block extra address, means network robustness is inversely proportional to the maximum possible depth of the network.
In accordance with IEEE 802.15.4 standard, an exemplary standard of a wireless communication network, viz., wireless sensor network (WSN), the logical address can be of maximum 16 bits length. WSN is a type of ad-hoc wireless communication system which consists of small sensor nodes with sensing, computational and wireless communication capabilities. The main characteristics of such a network are that it is self-organizing, self-healing and the nodes are battery powered. For many applications such as intruder detection at border, underwater environment or contaminant monitoring, land slide monitoring, large industry automation etc, these nodes are distributed randomly over a large region; the node senses the desired phenomena and sends the information to the controller. For many cases the deployment of such a sensor network will be feasible only if it can run for several years without any human intervention. In large networks where nodes are battery-powered, energy should be used most prudently and efficiently. Efficiency of routing algorithm has major stake in overall efficiency of any network. This invention proposes algorithms for assigning logical address to the network elements, based on the addressing scheme and correspondingly data routing algorithm is also developed to calculate the shortest path between any two nodes.
Typically, a WSN could include a personal area network controller (PC), router nodes (RN), and end device (ED). PC is a full function device which is a principle coordinator of the network, also referred as sync node. RN is also a full function device, which is associated with one of the full function device, i.e. either PC or another RN, and has associated some full function device and/or reduced function device as its child. ED is a network element which is associated with either PC or RN and it has not associated any device as its child. The node with which the other nodes are associated is called as parent node of the associated nodes and the associated nodes are called child nodes of the parent node. ED can be either full function device or reduced function device, based on the address allocation algorithm and the device capability. In small range network, star topology is sufficient and a single coordinator PC manages the whole network, but the large network forms by plurality of layers of router nodes (RNs) associated with each others, in the form of tree. Typically, the EDs, RNs and PC are battery powered.
IEEE 802.15.4 standardizes only physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layers which are not responsible for either address allocation or data packet routing, but as per IEEE 802.15.4 the nodes are assigned a 16-bit short address at the time of association. Therefore at the time of association, router node (PC is considered as principle router node) either calculates the address by itself based on algorithm or finds out from the personal area network controller (PC). Finding out address from the PC can be a costly affair in large network. All the activities involved in this process, like contending for channel using carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA-CA), transmission and reception are very power consuming tasks and if this happens at plurality of hops and for plurality of times it is very power inefficient solution.
Existing algorithms provide pre-configurable values for maximum number of child router and end device a coordinator can have as its child. These values are defined at the beginning itself, so that each node blocks the logical address accordingly. This algorithm has limitation that it cannot grow very large, because even if a node can have only 2 child routers, the numbers of routers grow two times at every depth and with the limitation of 16-bit logical address, the network cannot have more than 15 depths. This is a big constraint for many applications such as border area surveillance or large industry automation. The present invention proposes algorithms to calculate the logical address by the parent nodes to assign its child's logical address. It allocates the address prudently so that the network grows longer than existing algorithms and also covers the desired area fully without leaving holes. Calculating the address by the parent node itself removes the need of sending the request to PC for logical address allocation, which improves the power efficiency of address allocation procedure. Also since the address allocation is based on algorithm, the shortest path is calculated at the time of data routing.
The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation. In the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements and in which:
Various embodiments of the present invention provide a method and system for allocating logical address to the nodes associating any network and routing data between the nodes in any distributed system. As an example the present invention has been illustrated in the context of a wireless sensor network (WSN). However, it will be apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art the applicability of the invention to many other distributed systems.
Before deriving the algorithm for address calculation, we need to understand the working environment of the devices. Typically nodes are randomly distributed across the region as illustrated in
Using Solution of triangle Cosine formula on ?ABC:
The arc CD covered by (n−1)th level router at nth level:
Hence number of RNs required at (n−1)th level to cover nth level fully is:
Hence at nth level number of RNs required to cover the next layer fully is:
The equation 3 is for omni-directional network; for directional network the equation 3 becomes:
where,
Based on the equation 3A,
As an example for margin m=10% of range i.e. m=0.1; number of RNs required at nth level:
R
n≈7n eq 4
As illustrated in
Depending upon the requirement, the maximum number of child end device (Cm) a coordinator can have, is be configured.
The total number of nodes at nth depth is:
N
n=Num of RNs+Num of EndDevice
N
b
=kn+k(n−1)Cm for n>1 eq 5
Using the above equation, the total number of nodes till n depths (excluding PC and end device associated with PC, since they get address from reserved addresses) is:
As per IEEE 802.15.4, the logical address of the personal area network controller (PC) is 0x0000 and there are some reserved values towards 0xffff. In this invention we follow the IEEE 802.15.4 convention and allocate the same 0x0000 to the PC and also keep the reserved address intact. As per proposed algorithm the PC's end devices are allocated address from the values just before the reserved addresses e.g. 0xfffd, 0xfffc.
With the assumption of margin being equal to 10% of range (r) we showed in equation 4 that the network can have maximum of 7 child coordinators at level 1. These 7 child coordinator are considered as 7 ‘sectors’ as illustrated in
Having defined the terms, we are now in position to derive the formulas for address allocations. Assume ‘A’ is the address of the current node, ‘d’ is the depth, ‘s’ is the sector, ‘t’ is the term and ‘Cm’ is the maximum number of child end device a RN can have. Normally the nodes memorize its depth, sector, term and its parent address, but to calculate it the following formulas are derived:
The value of depth/level is calculated by satisfying the following condition:
(k/2)(d−1)(d+Cm(d−2))<A≦(k/2)d(d+1+Cm(d−1))
Term calculation:
As we can see that in any sector, the number of RN is equal to its depth. Hence at every increase in depth, one RN is added. The additional RN gets associated to one of the peer parent RN based on configurable network policy. As an example we are associating the additional node to the coordinator which has lower valued logical address because of its little higher chance of existence. Having discussed this, we will now derive the formula to calculate the logical address of the parent node:
Parent depth (pd) is equal to its depth−1; i.e. pd=d−1;
Parent sector (ps) is same as its sector; i.e. ps=s;
As illustrated in
The parent term (pt) is calculated as:
PA=(k/2)(pd−1)(pd+Cm(pd−2))+(ps−1)(pd+Cm(pd−1))+pt;
Similar to parent address calculation, to calculate its child address the child depth, term and sector are calculated:
Child depth (cd)=current depth+1;
Child sector (cs)=current sector; and
The Child term for the reserved address is calculated as:
CRRA=(k/2)*(cd−1)*(cd+Cm*(cd−2))+(cs−1)*(cd+Cm*(cd−1))+ct
As discussed earlier the RN at term equal to 1 gets the opportunity to create the additional child RN. We will use the term ‘child shared address’ for the addition RN. Hence the Child RN Shared Address (CRSA) is:
CRSA=CRRA+1
As discussed the CRSA is applicable for term 1 node only.
Now we will calculate the end device node address range:
If child term is equal to 1, then
Child end device start address=CRRA+cd;
Child end device end address=CRRA+cd+Cm−1;
else
Child end device start address=CRRA+cd+1;
Child end device end address=CRRA+cd+Cm;
The above formulas are exemplary based on the addressing scheme chosen that first allocate address to the RNs then to ED at each sector. As discussed there can be plurality of ways in which the addressing can be done even using the proposed optimization technique. However, this invention includes both the optimization as well as addressing techniques.
The above proposed algorithm utilizes the address most optimally, which can sometimes leave some uncovered space based on the distribution of nodes. As an extension to the above proposed algorithm it can be made more robust than using the address most optimally; with robustness it is meant here that it will improve the chance of covering the area fully. Depending on the network dimension and criticality of coverage user can opt for different level of optimization.
The following illustration discusses an exemplary generic and adaptive addressing scheme, which can be easily configured to adjust the address allocation optimization and robustness towards coverage. This illustration shall be taken as an example and not by limitation; the illustration below can be easily manipulated by those ordinarily skilled in the art the applicability of the invention to match their requirement.
One way of improving the robustness of the network is by improving the chance of full function device getting associated with the network as RN. There can be plurality of ways by which the chance of full function device association as RN can be increased, one way of which can be by allowing the network to repeat the address allocation scheme after every ‘p’ depth, i.e. after every p depth each RN will again be able to associate configurable number of child RNs and after that again as previously it will add one RN in every layer per sector till next ‘p’ depth. Other way to improve the robustness of the network is by allowing the node to associate as child RN even if it is not at preferable distance. Yet another method to improve the chance of all nodes getting associated to the network is that in case if the newly associated RN doesn'table to find its proper child RN, it is getting disassociated as child RN and giving the opportunity to other neighboring full function device to associate as its child RN. This disassociation and association will improve the coverage of network.
For the network repetition case when the router node is configured to have 2 child router nodes after every p layers, the number of RNs in any sector will increase like:
1, 2, 3 . . . p, 2p, 2p+1, 2p+2 . . . 2p+p, 6p, 6p+1, 6p+2 . . .
In equation form, for any depth d, the above series is written as:
And the summation of RNs of any sector till depth d is equal to:
Using the above equations formulas are derived to calculate the child address of any RN. Similar to above case we have configurable parameter for maximum number of child end device (Cm) any RN can have. Also as discussed earlier that user can opt for any number of sectors (k) based on their requirement, though 7 sectors are optimum for 10% margin. In this example we will take generic value k for the number of sectors.
Address of RN having depth (d), sector (s) and term (t) is calculated by:
Address=k*[(Cm+1)*Sd-2+Rd-1]+(s−1)*(Rd+Cm*Rd-1)+t
Address of end device of any RN, whose depth is d, sector is s and term is t:
End device starting address:
CEDA=k*[(Cm+1)*Scd-2+Rcd-i]+(cs−1)*(Rcd+Cm*Rcd-1)+Rcd+(t−1)*Cm+1
where cd is child depth (cd=d+1;), cs is child sector (cs=s) and ct is child term;
If either t is equal to 1 or mod (d+1, r+1) is equal to 0, then the current RN can have 2 child RNs, else child term (ct) is equal to current term (t) plus 1. And the child RN address will be:
CCA=k*[(Cm+1)*Scd-2+Rcd-1]+(cs−1)*(Rcd+Cm*Rcd-1)+ct
The following formulas calculate the depth, sector and term from its address A:
Depth: the following condition should satisfy for the depth d:
k*(Cm+1)*Sd-2+Rd-1)<A≦k*((Cm+1)*Sd-1+Rd)
The above mentioned algorithms still have some limitations. As the network can grow randomly, the requirement can be totally random at different nodes, which might be difficult to serve based on the above mentioned algorithms because it offers limited number of addresses for the child nodes. A new algorithm has been invented and discussed, which allocates address based on the local requirement. This algorithm is designed to cater the logical address most prudently where the network nodes are placed strategically i.e. the network installer has some idea of how the network will grow. This scheme takes the advantage of such knowledge and helps in allocating the address in efficient manner.
As per this algorithm each router node (RN) is allocated a logical address for it and also a range of logical addresses for its child nodes based on its configurable parameter. The configurable parameter contains the value of number of nodes the network tree will grow beyond that node, i.e. the number of nodes the network will have in that branch after that current node. In situations where the installer has idea of how the network will grow beyond any RN or coordinator capable node, the installer pre-configures the configurable parameter with the value that is the maximum possible number of nodes beyond that node. In the situation where the installer is not sure about the network growth, he configures the parameter accordingly to specify the same. As per this invention the associated node or as part of association procedure the associating node specifies the router node about its requirement of logical addresses; the router node distributes its available addresses based on the all the requests received. The nodes which have specified the exact requirement of the logical address, are allocated that many addresses provided the router node has sufficient addresses available, if sufficient addresses are not available in that case router node initiates address reallocation mechanism (ARM). First the router node requests its parent node for reallocation of address, in case if the parent node does not have address available it, the router node initiates the same procedure with its parent node. Hence recursive ARM gets triggered, this recursive process continues till either PC or configured depth. Based on network configuration, the router node can also initiate ARM with its neighboring node. In case of successful ARM, the router node distributes the logical address based on node's requirement; otherwise the router node distributes the available logical address proportionately. The nodes, which have not specified the exact requirement, receive the logical address based on some configurable parameter of the network. As part of association process the associated node, propagates all the network configurable parameters to its newly joined nodes. As per this algorithm all the coordinator capable devices i.e. PC and RN shares the logical address range information with its neighboring nodes which guides in data routing. The information on how the PC has distributed address to its immediate child nodes and information of configurable hops of neighbor's address range guides the data propagation in power efficient manner.
Yet another possible way to increase the logical address availability to the PC or RN for its child nodes is by increasing the size of logical address. This method can be accompanied with any of the above algorithms to provide more opportunity for the coordinator nodes to allow further association it.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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307/CHE/2009 | Feb 2009 | IN | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/IN10/00078 | 2/11/2010 | WO | 00 | 8/12/2011 |