Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W72/00—Local resource management
  • H04W72/12—Wireless traffic scheduling
  • H04W72/1215—Wireless traffic scheduling for collaboration of different radio technologies
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W28/00—Network traffic management; Network resource management
  • H04W28/02—Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
  • H04W28/06—Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing, discarding information
  • H04W28/065—Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing, discarding information using assembly or disassembly of packets

Definitions

• the present invention relates to the field of high data rate information transmission in wireless communication systems and, more specifically, to a method for transmitting or receiving payload data with a high data rate, a transmitter, a receiver and an adaption layer. More specifically, embodiments of the invention relate to ultra wide band (UWB) transmitter, receiver or transceiver platforms allowing a high data rate transmission.
• UWB ultra wide band
• a first high data rate transceiver HDR-TRXi 100 is shown that comprises an HDR-MAC layer 102 and an HDR-PHY layer 104 that are coupled to an antenna ANTi for a wireless communication with a remote high data rate transceiver 200, also comprising an antenna ANT 2 and having the same structure as the first transceiver 100.
• the physical layer utilizes the unlicensed 3100-10600 MHz frequency band to transmit and receive UWB signals, supporting data rates of 53,3 Mb/s, 80 Mb/s, 106,7 Mb/s, 160 Mb/s, 200 Mb/s, 320 Mb/s, 400 Mb/s, and 480 Mb/s.
• the UWB spectrum is divided into 14 bands; each with a bandwidth of 528 MHz .
• the HDR-UWB utilizes a Multi-Band Orthogonal Frequency Division Modulation (MBOFDM) scheme to transmit information.
• MBOFDM Multi-Band Orthogonal Frequency Division Modulation
• a total of 110 sub-carriers (100 data carriers and 10 guard carriers) are used per band to transmit the information.
• 12 pilot subcarriers allow for coherent detection.
• Frequency-domain spreading, time-domain spreading, and forward error correction (FEC) coding are used to vary the data rates.
• the FEC used is a convolution code with coding rates of 1/3, 1/2, 5/8 and 3 ⁇ 4. Coded data is then spread using a time-frequency code (TFC).
• TFC time-frequency code
• the HDR-MAC layer provides medium resource control so that upper layers can efficiently and effectively communicate with their counterparts in other devices.
• the general frame format of the MAC sub-layer is shown in Fig. 2.
• the payload may hold a range from 0 to 4095 bytes of user information for non-secure and up to 4075 bytes of user information for a secure pay- load .
• MAC sublayer specification There are six frame types defined in the MAC sublayer specification: Beacon, Control, Command, Data, and Aggregated. Besides these, there are three reserved for further expan- sion of the standard. Fig. 2 depicts the general format of these frame types.
• the payloads are used for carrying signaling information.
• the HDR-MAC Data frames are used for the exchange of the MAC client data among de- vices.
• the data may be sent in unicast, multicast, or broadcast fashion.
• MSDU MAC Service Data Unit
• MPDU MAC Protocol Data Unit
• the maximum size of an Aggregated data frame is still 4095 bytes.
• the payloads are used for signaling information, i.e. the payload is not user data but control data.
• the Command and Control frames are available for transmission in any MAS during a superframe, most signaling/command/control information will be exchanged within Beacon frames during the BP.
• the Beacon frames are transmitted during the BP only. From a PHY perspective, the Beacon packet always contains a standard preamble and is sent at the lowest data rate (e.g. 53.3 Mbps) to ensure the highest transmission reliability. Each Beacon packet is supposed to be transmitted at the beginning of a Beacon slot and may extend beyond the duration of that slot.
• the Beacon frame's payload comprises MAC-level control information which is broadcast to the neighbors.
• the Control frames are essentially used for the purpose of controlling traffic flow during regular MASs (the MASs that will not overlap the BP).
• the Command frames are used for sending commands or requests from one device to another.
• Fig. 3 shows the average transmit power as a function of the data rates for a standard multiband scheme.
• Table 1 illustrates the power consumption numbers for another example, a multiband OFDM system.
• Table 1 illustrates the transmit power in an OFDM UWB system using a 90nm signal processing chip and a 130 run signal processing chip for a transmission with 110, 200, and 480 Mb/s (see e.g. Multiband OFDM Physical Layer Specification (Revl), Jan 14,2005. WiMedia Alliance; ht ⁇ p://vNdrnedia.org/en/resources/mboa_archives.asp).
• the present invention provides a method for transmitting or receiving payload data with a high data rate in a system comprising a high data rate platform and a low data rate platform, the method comprising: transmitting or receiving the payload data via the high data rate platform; and transmitting or receiving the signaling data associated with the payload data via the low data rate platform.
• the present invention further provides a transmitter for transmitting payload data with a high data rate, the transmitter comprising: a high data rate platform; a low data rate platform; and a controller configured to transmit the payload via the high data rate platform, and to transmit the signaling data associated with the payload data via the low data rate platform.
• the present invention provides a receiver for receiving payload data with a high data rate, the receiver comprising: a high data rate platform; a low data rate platform; and a controller configured to receive the payload data via the high data rate platform, and to receive the signaling data associated with the payload data via the low data rate platform.
• the present invention provides an adaption layer for routing a data stream between a MAC layer of a high data rate platform and a PHY layer of the high data rate platform or between the MAC layer of the high data rate platform and an MAC layer of a low data rate platform, the adaption layer being configured to analyze a data stream to be transmitted in accordance with a high data rate protocol, route a payload data frame in the data stream to the PHY layer of the high data rate platform for transmission, and to route a signaling frame in the data stream to the MAC layer of the low data rate platform for transmission.
• the adaption layer is further configured to receive from the PHY layer of the high data rate platform a payload frame, to receive from the MAC layer of the low data rate platform a signaling frame, and to combine the received payload frame and the received signaling frame to a data stream in accordance with the high data rate protocol.
• LDR Low Data Rate
• the power consumption in an HDR system which is modulation-dependent may be reduced in accordance with the embodiments of the inven- tion as in a LDR system the power consumption is throughput dependent.
• the traffic may be split into data and signaling traffic.
• the data traffic is transmitted via the HDR-PHY layer and the signaling traffic is transmitted over the LDR system.
• the power consumption is high and generally related to the OFDM modulation scheme, but does not really change with the throughput.
• the high throughput in the HDR system comes from the data frames size and is not affected by the signaling frames.
• the power used for sending the signaling infor- mation is at the same level as that used to send the data information. Therefore, in accordance with embodiments of the invention, the HDR signaling information is send using the LDR physical layer since its power consumption is low and does not need a high data rate transmission.
• the MAC frames may be split to data and signaling frames wherein the data frames are' send via the HDR-PHY layer to maintain the data rate requirement, and signal- ing frames are send over the LDR-PHY layer for saving power.
• an embodiment of the invention provides an adaption layer that deals with the routing, the synchronization, and the power control.
• the adaption layer coordinates the operation of two different devices using differ- ent protocols (e.g. the HDR protocol and the LDR protocol). It allows having both system functionalities on the same device.
• embodiments of the invention teach the combination of two ultra wide band transceiver platforms into a single ultra wide band platform.
• the platforms to be integrated comprise the high data rate platform and the low data rate platform and a key component of the resulting combined HDR/LDR structure is, in accordance with an embodiment, the above-described adaption layer. It is an advantage of the invention that when compared to conventional solutions mentioned above, the combined HDR/LDR structure has reduce power constraints, i.e. especially any power input is reduced.
• Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of a high data rate transceiver architecture
• Fig. 2 shows the general MAC frame format in accordance with the ECMA Standard
• Fig. 3 shows a graph illustrating in an HDR system the average power versus the data rate
• Fig. 4 shows a block diagram of a low data rate transceiver architecture
• Fig. 5 shows a super-frame structure used in the LDR system of Fig. 4;
• Fig. 6 shows a graph illustrating the energy per-bit consumed by a digital base-band processor used in a LDR system
• Fig. 7 shows a graph illustrating the receiver energy/bit values verses the data rate for
• Fig. 8 shows a flow diagram of the method for transmitting/receiving payload data in accordance with an embodiment of the invention
• Fig. 9 shows possible HDR/LDR combinations in accordance with embodiments of the invention.
• Fig. 10 shows a block diagram of a combined HDR/LDR system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention
• Fig. 11 shows the system of Fig. 10 comprising an adaption layer in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
• Fig. 12 shows a detailed view of an embodiment of the adaption layer used in the system of Fig. 10.
• the high data rate system may use data rates of 53.3 Mb/s, 80 Mb/s, 106.7 Mb/s, 160 Mb/s, 200 Mb/s, 320 Mb/s, 400 Mb/s, and 480 Mb/s.
• the low data rate system described in the present invention has data rates below the above values and, in general, when talking about a high data rate system and a low data rate system, this defines that the high data rate system may transmit data with a rate that is higher than the rate achievable by the low data rate system.
• the invention is not limited to the above- mentioned rates. Rather, other data rates are also covered by the inventive approach.
• inventive approach is not limited to methods for transmitting/receiving payload data or to transceivers. Rather, the inventive approach may also be implemented only by a method for transmitting payload data, or by a method for receiving payload data, or by a transmitter, or by a receiver.
• Fig. 4 depicts an example of a LDR TRX architecture.
• LDR Low Data Rate
• ultra wideband systems are known.
• the operation principles of such systems offer a wide range of applications.
• the power consumption and size are important is- sues with regard to the system performance, since LDR applications, e.g. sensors and home, office and medical automation equipment, do not mainly depend on high data rate.
• the LDR- TRX architecture of Fig. 4 comprises a first transceiver 300 operating at a low data rate and comprising a low data rate MAC layer 302 and a low data rate physical layer 304 connected to the antenna ANTj of the transceiver 300. Further, Fig.
• the physical layer includes an RF end which modulates/demodulates the data.
• the demodulation of an incoming signal is performed using a differential correlation between the incoming signal corresponding to the current data symbol and the previous one.
• Coherent integration and accumulation modules are added so as to improve the signal to noise ratio before the decision stage.
• the demodulated data are provided to a de- framer module that handles the PHY framing aspects, as well as the interface with the MAC layer (see e.g. 1ST PULSERS Phase II D3a3.3: LDR-LT Concept Specifications - PHY and MAC Layers, Jul. 2008).
• the MAC layer considers a beacon-enabled network which means that the coordinator shall bind its channel time using a classical superframe structure. This superframe is delimited by the transmission of a beacon frame. The superframe is divided into an active portion dedicated to the frame transmission and an inactive portion enabling a timely but peri- odic sleeping mode.
• the CFP is divided into Guaranteed Time Slots (GTS), which are defined by a starting slot, a direction (from or towards the coordinator) and an associated device address. A maximum number of 7 GTS may be allowed within this CFP.
• GTS Guaranteed Time Slots
• TDMA Time Division Multiple Access
• CC Communication Control
• LS Link setup
• PR Positioning Request
• a CC message is transmitted to provide the neighboring nodes with the control and syn- chronization information, such as resource availability and slot scheduling table.
• the particular passive node will send a transmission request (TR) to the listening dynamic node to request a data transmission and the dynamic node may provide an acknowledgement in return.
• TR transmission request
• the PR slot is used when a node requires the dynamic nodes in the cluster to perform a position estimation operation.
• the remainder of the time slot (data section) is used for data transfer. Nodes will rotate their duties, being dynamic and passive, for energy conservation; however, a minimum number of nodes must be in dynamic mode within a VC to form the backbone of the system, e.g. a wireless sensor network (WSN).
• WSN wireless sensor network
• a passive node does not control a time slot and is therefore able to conserve energy as it only listens and transmits when required (see e.g. 1ST PULSERS Phase II D3a3.3 : LDR-LT Concept Specifications - PHY and MAC Layers, Jul. 2008).
• Baseband active 35 mW 400 W 8 mW 2 mW
• the active Rx (receive) power consumption is in line with comparable technologies (e.g. Zigbee, Bluetooth, etc.). During transmission for the chosen modulation parameters, the active power consumption is 20 times lower than during reception. Thus, the UWB technology is useful for applications where the devices need to transmit more than they receive, like sensor networks for example.
• the chip When the chip is running in standalone mode, its role is to provide a sampled signal, e.g. to an external FPGA. Since the data flow is quite high (e.g. 1 Gsample per second), the resulting digital and I/Os power con- sumption is high. When running in the baseband mode, the I/Os activity is significantly lowered, and the resulting power consumption is reduced accordingly.
• the average energy per bit consumed by the digital baseband processor is 20 pJ, with 3 pJ for acquisition and 17 pJ for demodulation.
• Figure 7 shows the receiver energy/bit as well as the energy/bit of the receiver presented by Anantha P. Chandrakasan et.al, "Low-Power Impulse UWB Architectures and Circuits", in Proceedings of the IEEE Vol. 97, No. 2,pp. 332-352, February 2009.
• the energy per bit for was calculated as the sum of the receiver energy/bit plus the leakage power component, which causes the energy/bit to rise at lower data rates.
• FIG. 8 shows a flow diagram of the method for transmitting receiving payload data at a high data rate in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
• step SI 00 it is first of all determined as to whether transmission of data or reception of data occurs.
• step S200 a data stream including at least one payload data frame and at least one signaling data frame is received.
• the data stream is analyzed for the payload data frames and the signaling data frames.
• step S204 it is determined whether the currently analyzed frame in the data stream is a payload data frame or not. In case the currently analyzed frame in the data stream is a payload data frame, the method proceeds to step S206 forwarding the payload data frame to the physical layer of the high data rate system for transmission. In this case, while transmitting the data by the physical layer of the high data rate system, the physical layer of the low data rate system is set into its sleep state.
• step S204 determines whether the currently analyzed frame in the data stream is a payload data frame.
• the method proceeds to step S208 forwarding the frame to the LDR system.
• the frame is inserted as payload data into the MAC frame of the LDR system and forwarded to the physical layer of the LDR system for transmission at step S212.
• the required transmission characteristics for the low data rate system are determined such that the signaling frame is correctly transmitted via the low data rate system.
• the transmission characteristics of the high data rate system comprise a transmission power consumption value and on the basis of this transmission power consumption value, the data rate and power needed by the low data rate system to transmit the signaling frame with the same distance as the high data rate system transmits its data frames, is determined.
• the high data rate capacity of the HDR system is used for payload data.
• the signaling data which does not require the high data rate, is transmitted via the LDR system, thereby reducing the requirements, for example, the power requirements during transmission of the data at the high data rate.
• step SI 00 the method receives, at step S300, data via the physical layer of the HDR system, while maintaining the physical layer of the LDR system in its sleep state.
• step S302 data is received via the physical layer of the LDR system, and at this step, the physical layer of the HDR system is at its sleep state.
• step S304 the data carried by the payload portion of the MAC frame of the LDR system is obtained and combined with the data received at step S300 to generate a data stream at step S306 in accordance with the HDR protocol.
• step S300 and steps S302/S304 may occur in reverse order, i.e.
• the data via the LDR system may be received and obtained from the MAC frame followed by reception of the data via the HDR system.
• the inventive approach of the combined use of the HDR system and the LDR system may be implemented in a method allowing both transmitting and receiving data in a manner as described above with regard to Fig. 8.
• embodiments of the invention may only realize either the method for transmitting the data or the method for receiving the data.
• the method described with regard to Fig. 8 may be realized in a transceiver allowing both transmission and reception of data or it may be realized in separate entities, namely in a transmitter allowing only transmission of data in accordance with the invention or a receiver allowing only reception of data in accordance with the invention.
• FIG. 9 shows a general block diagram illustrating possible HDR/LDR combinations.
• the HDR system comprising the HDR-MAC layer and the HDR-PHY layer is shown as well as the LDR system comprising the LDR-MAC layer and the LDR-PHY layer.
• the arrows between the respective arrows indicate the various combinations that are possible by combining the HDR system and the LDR system within a single transmitter and/or receiver system in accordance with the teachings of the invention.
• the combined HDR LDR system shown in Fig. 9 may be used as cooperative system or as either HDR or LDR system.
• the four system operation states are shown in Fig. 9:
• Fig. 10 illustrates a block diagram of a combined HDR/LDR system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
• Fig. 10 shows a first transceiver 500 comprising the antenna ANTi for communicating with the remote transceiver 600 comprising the antenna ANT 2 , the transceiver 600 having the same structure as the transceiver 500.
• the transceiver 500 comprises a combination of an HDR system and a LDR system.
• the HDR system com- prises the HDR-MAC 502 that is connected to the HDR physical layer 504 and also to the LDR-MAC layer 506.
• the LDR-MAC layer 506 is connected to the LDR physical layer 508 and the physical layers 504 and 508 of both systems are connected to the antenna ANTi.
• the HDR-MAC layer 502 analyzes signals received and, more specifically, it analyzes a data stream for payload data frames and signaling data frames and forwards the payload data frames for transmission to the HDR physical layer 504.
• the signaling frames are forwarded to the LDR system where the signaling frame is incorporated into the pay- load frame of the MAC layer of the LDR system and forwarded for transmission to the LDR physical layer 508.
• the combined HDR/LDR system of Fig. 10 is operated in the half combined mode.
• the half combined system operates as an HDR system that utilizes a LDR-UWB TRX to enhance system performance.
• the half combined system of this embodiment comprises the HDR system and the MAC-layer and the PHY layer of a LDR system to reduce power consumption in the HDR-UWB TRX.
• the power consumption is high and generally related to the OFDM modulation scheme and does not really change with the throughput.
• the high throughput in the HDR system results from the data frames size and is not affected by the signaling frames.
• the power used for sending the signaling information is at the same level as the power level used to send data information.
• the HDR signaling information is send using the LDR physical layer since its power consumption is low and does not need a high data rate transmission.
• Fig. 10 shows a further embodiment of the invention in accordance with which the combined HDR LDR system comprises an additional adaption layer.
• Fig. 11 shows a block diagram of the transceiver system of Fig. 10, wherein the transceiver 500 comprises, in addition, the adaption layer 600.
• the transceiver 500 corresponds to the transceiver of Fig. 10.
• the adaption layer 600 receives its input from the HDR-MAC layer 502 and comprises two outputs, a first one being connected to the HDR physical layer 504 and a second one being connected to the LDR system and, more specifically, to the LDR-MAC layer 506.
• the adaption layer connects the HDR-MAC layer with both physical layers on the other side.
• Fig. 11 shows a simple HDR/LDR TRX with an adaption layer that splits the traffic at the MAC/PHY interface into data and signaling frames.
• the adaption layer operates as a DEMUX in the transmission mode and as a MUX in the receiving mode. Its functions in- eludes the recognition of the frame type, the interpolation of the signaling frames to be appropriate for the LDR side (during transmission), the remapping of the LDR-MAC frame (during transmission), the removal of HDR-MAC signaling frame from the LDR- MAC frames (during reception), the power control, and the synchronization.
• the adaption layer protocol is a translator for the protocols used in the LDR system and the HDR sys- tern.
• Fig. 12 shows further details of an embodiment of an adaption layer, as it may be used in the system shown in Fig. 11.
• the adaption layer 600 comprises a data analysis module 602 that is used for analyzing an input data stream for a data payload information and signaling information.
• the module 604 is operative either as a demultiplexer in the transmission mode of the transceiver 500 (see Fig. 11) or as a multiplexer during the reception mode of the transceiver 500.
• the demultiplexer module 604 splits the data in the data stream in signaling data and payload data and forwards this information to the module 606 that computes the data rate dependent throughput for the signaling and the payload for the different systems, namely the LDR system 506/508 and the physical layer 504 of the HDR system.
• the module 604 combines the information retrieved from the low data rate system and from the physical layer of the high data rate system into a data stream in accordance with the high data rate protocol.
• the adaption layer protocol coordinates the operation of two different devices using different protocols. It allows having both system functionalities on the same device.
• the adaption layer protocol starts with a data analysis of received MAC frames and on the basis of the frame type will recognize whether a frame is a signaling frame or a data frame. Based on the frame type the DEMUX switches its output to the next stage. In this stage, in accordance with an embodiment, the adaption protocol computes the required power to transmit the LDR frames using the power-distance relation in the HDR and LDR TRXs. The computation starts with an observation of the throughput, the distance and the power relation in the HDR system that may be stored in the HDR/LDR conditioning stage. On the basis of the HDR power consumption value the LDR data rate and power needed to transmit the signaling frame with the same distance as the associated transmission of the data by the HDR TRX is determined.
• the protocol will route the signaling frame for insertion as payload into the LDR MAC frames and send it over the interface.
• the adaption protocol forwards the frames to the HDR physical layer with the data rate and power defined by the HDR-MAC layer.
• the operation states for both parts are controlled by the adaption layer.
• the HDR forwards the HDR-MAC layer frames and changes the HDR-PHY layer state from sleep to ready and to transmit or receive the LDR-PHY layer is changed to the sleep state.
• the adaption layer informs the LDR to switch the LDR-PHY layer to the ready state to be prepared for the transmission or the receipt state.
• Table 4 shows the states of two layers.
• One of the two systems is allowed to be in active state and this is a direct result of using HDR-MAC frames contents as controller for switching process.
• aspects have been described in the context of an apparatus, it is clear that these aspects also represent a description of the corresponding method, where a block or device corresponds to a method step or a feature of a method step. Analogously, aspects described in the context of a method step also represent a description of a corresponding block or item or feature of a corresponding apparatus.
• embodiments of the invention can be implemented in hardware or in software.
• the implementation can be performed using a digital storage medium, for example a floppy disk, a DVD, a CD, a ROM, a PROM, an EPROM, an EEPROM or a FLASH memory, having electronically readable control signals stored thereon, which cooperate (or are capable of cooperating) with a programmable computer system such that the respective method is performed.
• Some embodiments according to the invention comprise a data carrier having electronically readable control signals, which are capable of cooperating with a programmable computer system, such that one of the methods described herein is performed.
• embodiments of the invention can be implemented as a computer program product with a program code, the program code being operative for performing one of the methods when the computer program product runs on a computer.
• the program code may for example be stored on a machine readable carrier.
• Other embodiments comprise the computer program for performing one of the methods described herein, stored on a machine readable carrier.
• an embodiment of the inventive method may, therefore, be
• a data carrier or a digital storage medium, or a computer-readable medium
• the computer program for performing one of the methods described herein, or
• a data stream or a sequence of signals representing the computer program for performing one of the methods described herein.
• the data stream or the sequence of signals may for example be configured to be transferred via a data communication connection, for example via the Internet.
• a further embodiment comprises a processing means, for example a computer, or a programmable logic device, configured to or adapted to perform one of the methods described herein.
• a further embodiment comprises a computer having installed thereon the computer program for performing one of the methods described herein.
• a programmable logic device for example a field programmable gate array
• a field programmable gate array may cooperate with a microprocessor in order to perform one of the methods described herein.
• the methods are preferably performed by any hardware apparatus.

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