EP-4740672-A1 - ULTRA WIDEBAND (UWB) LINK AND DEVICE CONFIGURATIONS AND METHODS

EP4740672A1EP 4740672 A1EP4740672 A1EP 4740672A1EP-4740672-A1

Abstract

Ultra-Wideband (UWB) wireless devices transmit and receive data as modulated coded impulses over a wide frequency spectrum. This allows for devices with low power consumption to communicate over short distances for multiple applications. Accordingly, techniques, devices, systems, processes and methods that improve the performance of UWB transmitters, UWB receivers and UWB transceivers directly or the performance of UWB links between them are provided which are beneficial to the exploitation and penetration of UWB wireless technology within these applications.

Inventors

NABKI, FREDERIC
DESLANDES, Dominic
SOER, Michiel
MORIN-LAPORTE, Gabriel
TAHERZADEH-SANI, Mohammad
RAHMANI, Mohammad Hassan
JALBERT, SYLVAIN

Assignees

Nabki, Frederic
Deslandes, Dominic
Soer, Michiel
Morin-Laporte, Gabriel
Taherzadeh-Sani, Mohammad
Rahmani, Mohammad Hassan
Jalbert, Sylvain

Dates

Publication Date: 20260513
Application Date: 20240627

Claims (19)

1. A method comprising the steps of: establishing a wireless radio to listen to a defined channel; establishing an energy detection threshold; listening with the wireless radio to the defined channel for predefined period of time; determining whether the received energy detected whilst listening to the defined channel for predefined period of time exceeds the energy detection threshold; upon a positive determination the received energy detected whilst listening to the defined channel for predefined period of time exceeds the energy detection threshold executing a process comprising the steps of: determining whether a maximum number of listening retries has been exceed or not; upon a positive determination that the maximum number of listening retries has been exceeded either aborting the method or transmitting a frame of data to be transmitted upon the defined channel; and upon a negative determination that the maximum number of listening retries has been exceeded waiting for a defined wait-time and then returning to the step of listening; and upon a negative determination the received energy detected whilst listening to the defined channel for predefined period of time exceeds the energy detection threshold transmitting the frame of data immediately upon the defined channel.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the defined channel is one of a current channel, a next frequency within a frequency hopping pattern, a next sub-band of a band hopping pattern and another channel the radio will move to.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of: the channel is one of a set of channels which are sensed sequentially by the wireless radio; the channel is one of the set of channels which are sensed concurrently by the wireless radio; and the channel is one of a set of channels the wireless radio is currently transmitting a portion of a frame of data upon and the channel is one of a set of channels the wireless radio senses during the duration of the frame of data.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the energy detection threshold is a dynamic value established in dependence upon analysis of channel data relating to the defined channel, the channel data comprising at least one of received number of signals indicator data and received signal strength indication data; and the analysis is performed by at least one of a machine learning process and an artificial intelligence process.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the defined wait time is one of fixed, variable and pseudo-random; which of the fixed, variable and pseudo-random is established by at least one of a machine learning process and an artificial intelligence process applied upon data associated with one or more factors selected from the group comprising historical channel data of the defined channel, recent channel data of the defined channel and current channel data of the defined channel; the magnitude of the fixed wait time, range of the variable wait time and range of the pseudorandom wait time is defined by at least one of a machine learning process and an artificial intelligence process applied to data associated with the one or more factors.
6. A method comprising the steps of: waiting by a controller of the wireless radio to receive a defined number of frames from a set of radios comprising at least an active radio and a non-active radio; computing with the controller a normalized received signal strength indication (RS SI) average of the defined number of frames for each radio within the set of radios; determining with the controller if the RSSI average of the non-active radio is greater than the RSSI average of the active radio by a defined margin; upon a negative determination that the RSSI average of the non-active radio is greater than the RSSI average of the active radio by the defined margin the method returns to the step of waiting; and upon a positive determination that the RSSI average of the non-active radio RSSI is greater than the active radio RSSI average of the active radio by the defined margin the controller reconfigures such that the non-active radio becomes the active radio and the previously active radio becomes the non-active radio before returning to the step of waiting.
7. A method comprising the steps of: waiting by a controller of the wireless radio to receive M frames from a set of N radios comprising an active radio and N-l non-active radios; computing with the controller a normalized received signal strength indication (RSSI) average of the M for each radio within the set of N radios; determining with the controller if an RSSI average of any non-active radio of the N-l non- active radios is greater than the RSSI average of the active radio by a defined margin; upon a negative determination that any RSSI average of any non-active radio RSSI of the N-l non-active radios is greater than the RSSI average of the active radio by the defined margin the method returns to the step of waiting; upon a positive determination that an RSSI average of a defined non-active radio RSSI is greater than the active radio RSSI average of the active radio by the defined margin the controller reconfigures such that the defined non-active radio becomes the active radio and the previously active radio becomes a non-active radio before returning to the step of waiting; and M and N are positive integers, N > 2 and M > 1.
8. The method according to claim 8, wherein if the determination with the controller determines that there is more than one non-active radio RSSI average of the N-l non-active radios greater than the RSSI average of the active radio by the defined margin then the controller determines which non-active radio of the non-active radios with RSSI averages greater than the RSSI average of the active radio to employ either: based upon historical data of the non-active radios having RSSI averages greater than the RSSI average of the active radio; pseudo-randomly; or upon a round robin selection.
9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the defined margin is dynamically established; and the defined margin is established by at least one of a machine learning process and an artificial intelligence process applied upon data associated with one or more factors selected from the group comprising recent RSSI measurements, historical RSSI measurements, a number of dropped frames within a link between the wireless radio and the active radio, a data rate of the link and a cyclic redundancy check of the link.
10. A method comprising the steps of: configurating a wireless radio to receive data upon a frequency band of a set of frequency bands; waiting a defined delay; performing a listen-before-talk process to determine whether the frequency band of a set of frequency bands is clear; determining whether the listen-before -talk process was aborted; and upon determining that the listen-before-talk process was aborted configuring the wireless radio to another frequency band of a set of frequency bands and looping back to the step of waiting.
11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the listen-before-talk process comprises the steps of: establishing an energy detection threshold; listening with the wireless radio to the frequency band of the set of frequency bands for predefined period of time; determining whether the received energy detected whilst listening to the frequency band of the set of frequency bands for predefined period of time exceeds the energy detection threshold; upon a positive determination the received energy detected whilst listening to the frequency band of the set of frequency bands for predefined period of time exceeds the energy detection threshold executing a process comprising the steps of: determining whether a maximum number of listening retries has been exceed or not; upon a positive determination that the maximum number of listening retries has been exceeded aborting the method; upon a negative determination that the maximum number of listening retries has been exceeded waiting for a defined wait-time and then returning to the step of listening; upon a negative determination the received energy detected whilst listening to the frequency band of the set of frequency bands for predefined period of time exceeds the energy detection threshold transmitting the frame of data immediately upon the frequency band of the set of frequency bands.
12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the frequency band of the set of frequency bands is established according to one of: a pseudo-random determination; a pseudo-random point within a sequence; a pseudo-random point within a pseudo-random sequence.
13. The method according to claim 10, wherein the frequency band of the set of frequency bands and the another frequency band of the set of frequency bands are each established according to one of: a pseudo-random determination; a pseudo-random point within a sequence; a pseudo-random point within a pseudo-random sequence.
14. A method comprising the steps of: splitting with a processor an uncompressed audio stream to configure the payload of a wireless link between a wireless radio comprising the processor and another wireless radio; determining whether the wireless radio has enabled fallback; upon a positive determination that fallback has been enabled executing the steps of: compressing the split uncompressed audio to generate compressed audio; and transmitting the compressed audio; and upon a negative determination that fallback has been enabled transmitting the split uncompressed audio.
15. A method comprising the steps of: establishing a link between a wireless radio and another wireless radio according to a current transmission mode; determining a size of a transmission queue at the wireless radio for the link; determining whether the size of the transmission quote exceeds a threshold value; upon a negative determination that the size of the transmission quote exceeds the threshold value transmitting a frame according to the current transmission mode and returning to the step of determining the size of the transmission queue; and upon a positive determination that the size of the transmission quote exceeds the threshold value establishing a fallback trigger to thereby establish a fallback mode of the wireless radio wherein data to be transmitted within subsequent frames is compressed.
16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the threshold value is established in dependence upon either increasing a speed of the process or meeting a latency requirement of the link and reducing a likelihood of falsely setting the fallback trigger.
17. A method comprising the steps of: establishing a link between a wireless radio and another wireless radio according to a current transmission mode; determining current values of a link margin for the link and a clear channel assessment for the link; determining whether the current value of the link margin for the link exceeds a threshold value and the current value for the clear channel assessment is below another threshold value; upon a negative determination that the current value of the link margin for the link exceeds the threshold value and the current value for the clear channel assessment is below the another threshold value transmitting a frame according to the current transmission mode and returning to the step of determining the current values of the link margin for the link and the clear channel assessment for the link; and upon a positive determination that the current value of the link margin for the link exceeds the threshold value and the current value for the clear channel assessment is below the another threshold value clearing a fallback trigger to thereby establish transmission of data within subsequent frames uncompressed.
18. A method comprising the steps of: establishing a link between a wireless radio and another wireless radio according to a current transmission mode; transmitting a dummy frame one a retransmission timeslot of a set of retransmission timeslots defined for a channel N of M channels of the link; determining whether the dummy frame transmission was successful; upon a positive determination that the dummy frame transmission was successful proceeding to the step of determining whether all M channels have been established as clear; upon a negative determination that the dummy frame transmission was successful executing a wait of defined duration and returning to the step of transmitting the dummy frame; determining whether all M channels of the link have been established as clear; upon a positive determination that all M channels of the link have been established as clear clearing a fallback flag or fallback trigger associated with the link; and upon a negative determination that all M channels of the link have been established as clear executing a wait of another defined duration, changing the channel N to a channel not yet verified as clear of the M channels of the link and returning to the step of transmitting the dummy frame; wherein when the fallback flag or fallback trigger associated with the link is set the data to be transmitted is compressed prior to transmission and when the fallback flag or fallback trigger associated with the link is not set the data to be transmitted is not compressed prior to transmission.
19. An antenna comprising: a circuit board; a first microstrip line disposed on one side of a virtual axis of the circuit board on a first surface of the circuit board comprising an embedded open stub at a location along the first microstrip line between a first end of the first microstrip line and a second distal end of the first microstrip and a bent open stub at the location along the first microstrip line; a second microstrip line disposed on another side of the virtual axis of the circuit board on the first surface of the circuit board comprising another embedded open stub at a location along the second microstrip line between a first end of the second microstrip line and a second distal end of the second microstrip and a bent open stub at the location along the second microstrip line; a first ground plane slot disposed within a ground plane on the one side of the virtual axis of the circuit board on a second surface of the circuit board distal to the first surface at a predetermined location relative to location along the first microstrip line; and a second ground plane slot disposed within the ground plane on the another side of the virtual axis of the circuit board on the second surface of the circuit board distal to the first surface at another predetermined location relative the location along the second microstrip line.

Description

ULTRA WIDEBAND (UWB) LINK AND DEVICE CONFIGURATIONS AND METHODS CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [001] This patent claims the benefit of priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application 63/511,953 filed July 5, 2023. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [002] This invention relates to ultra-wideband wireless radios and more particularly to configuring methods, processes, devices and systems relating to ultra-wideband transmitters, ultra-wideband receivers and ultra-wideband transceivers for enhanced ultra-wideband wireless links employing same. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [003] Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology is a wireless technology for the transmission of large amounts of digital data as modulated coded impulses over a very wide frequency spectrum with very low power over a short distance. Such pulse based transmission being an alternative to today’s wireless communication standards and systems such as IEEE 802.11 (WiFi), IEEE 802.15 wireless personal area networks (PANs), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), and those accessing the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) bands, and International Mobile Telecommunications -2000 (IMT-2000). [004] Accordingly, techniques, devices, systems, processes and methods that improve the performance of UWB transmitters, UWB receivers and UWB transceivers directly or the performance of links between them are beneficial to their exploitation and penetration within many applications. [005] Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [006] It is an object of the present invention to mitigate limitations within the prior art relating to ultra-wideband wireless radios and more particularly to configuring methods, processes, devices and systems relating to ultra-wideband transmitters, ultra-wideband receivers and ultra-wideband transceivers for enhanced ultra-wideband wireless links employing same. [007] In accordance with an embodiment of the invention there is provided an antenna comprising: a circuit board; a first microstrip line disposed on one side of a virtual axis of the circuit board on a first surface of the circuit board comprising an embedded open stub at a location along the first microstrip line between a first end of the first microstrip line and a second distal end of the first microstrip and a bent open stub at the location along the first microstrip line; a second microstrip line disposed on another side of the virtual axis of the circuit board on the first surface of the circuit board comprising another embedded open stub at a location along the second microstrip line between a first end of the second microstrip line and a second distal end of the second microstrip and a bent open stub at the location along the second microstrip line; a first ground plane slot disposed within a ground plane on one side of the virtual axis of the circuit board on a second surface of the circuit board distal to the first surface at a predetermined location relative to location along the first microstrip line; and a second ground plane slot disposed within the ground plane on the another side of the virtual axis of the circuit board on the second surface of the circuit board distal to the first surface at another predetermined location relative the location along the second microstrip line. [008] In accordance with an embodiment of the invention there is provided a method comprising the steps of: establishing a wireless radio to listen to a defined channel; establishing an energy detection threshold; listening with the wireless radio to the defined channel for predefined period of time; determining whether the received energy detected whilst listening to the defined channel for predefined period of time exceeds the energy detection threshold; upon a positive determination the received energy detected whilst listening to the defined channel for predefined period of time exceeds the energy detection threshold executing a process comprising the steps of: determining whether a maximum number of listening retries has been exceed or not; upon a positive determination that the maximum number of listening retries has been exceeded either aborting the method or transmitting a frame of data to be transmitted upon the defined channel; and upon a negative determination that the maximum number of listening retries has been exceeded waiting for a defined wait-time and then returning to the step of listening; and upon a negative determination the received energy detected whilst listening to the defined channel for predefined period of time exceeds the energy detection threshold transmitting the frame of data immediately upon the defined channel. [009] In ac