MICRO DC MOTOR BASED PROGRAMMABLE ROTATING ANTENNA FOR LOW POWER WIRELESS NETWORKS

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to wireless communication in a low power wireless network. In particular, the present invention relates to micro DC motor based programmable rotating smart antenna for efficient packet routing in low power wireless network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Increased density of number of devices in low power wireless networks leads to network congestion, bandwidth congestion, channel occupation, increased noise levels and increased power consumption in the network. Wireless technology such as Zigbee uses isotropic antennas to create wireless network and uses routing topologies such as AODV (Ad hoc On Demand Distance Vector) and DSR (Dynamic Source Routing) techniques which uses intermittent routing devices to transfer data between devices (as shown in FIG. 1). With this method a lot of traffic is created in the network as the channel usage increases due to multiple intermittent nodes operating as repeaters between the devices in the same network (shown in FIG. 2). The devices located in long distance cannot communicate with each other due to distance coverage limitations of the isotropic antennas system.

Directive antennas can give long distance coverage, but the physical limitations of the fixed directive antennas do not allow the device to communicate with other devices in the network other than in the directed region. Network coverage in 360 degrees around the device is not possible with directive antennas even though the device is in the short range in the same network area.

Multiple numbers of directive antennas are required to be used in the product to cover 360 degrees radius of the product. The beam width of the directive antenna decides the distance it can cover. To increase the distance the bandwidth of the antenna may be decreased, which reduces the coverage area. Hence, the number of directive antennas needs to be increased to increase the coverage area in 360 degrees radius around the product.

A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna which radiates or receives greater power in specific directions (as shown in FIG. 3) allowing for increased performance and reduced interference from unwanted sources. Directional antennas provide increased performance over dipole antennas or unidirectional antennas in general and especially when a greater concentration of radiation in a certain direction is desired.

While transmitting, a high-gain antenna allows more of the transmitted power to be sent in the direction of the receiver, increasing the received signal strength. When receiving, a high gain antenna captures more of the signal, again increasing signal strength. Due to reciprocity, these two effects are equal - an antenna that makes a transmitted signal 100 times stronger (compared to an isotropic radiator), also captures 100 times as much energy as the isotropic antenna when used as a receiving antenna.

Each bit consumes power while transmission, reception and while processing in different nodes of the network (FIG. 4 shows data flow in DSR/AODV networks without rotating antenna). Power efficiency of the network can be improved by reducing traffic, by reducing noise, by reducing multiple numbers of repeating devices, and by reducing transmitter and receiver power levels dynamically based on the physical and RF distances between devices.

Current low power wireless networks such as Zigbee uses isotropic antennas on the wireless devices. An isotropic antenna is a hypothetical antenna radiating the same intensity of radio waves in all directions, but the distance coverage is very limited. FIG. 6 shows comparison diagram between isotropic and directional antennas.

SMD (Surface Mounting Device) or PCB (Printed Circuit Board) based antennas arrays used on PCBs of low power wireless communication devices are fixed in single orientation/direction. Multiple numbers of antenna elements cannot be implemented on a PCB to cover multiple directivities from 0 to 360 degrees around the product. Communication with other devices in different directions may be difficult due to physical limitations of the directional antennas.

In view of the above discussion, it may be realized that there exists a need to provide an improved antenna system which is useful for effective routing in low power wireless network.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary object of the preset invention is to provide a micro DC motor based programmable rotating smart antenna for efficient packet routing in low power wireless network.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a micro DC motor based programmable rotating smart antenna for efficient packet routing in low power wireless network, which uses the bandwidth and allocated channels effectively.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a micro DC motor based programmable rotating smart antenna for efficient packet routing in low power wireless network, which ensures high speed and more throughputs.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a micro DC motor based programmable rotating smart antenna for efficient packet routing in low power wireless network, which eliminates intermittent hops between two devices in the same network.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a micro DC motor based programmable rotating smart antenna for efficient packet routing in low power wireless network, which ensures low traffic and low noise level in the network.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a micro DC motor based programmable rotating smart antenna for efficient packet routing in low power wireless network, which allows low data rate protocols such as Zigbee to be used for short range audio and video transmission with the advantage of peer to peer communication.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a micro DC motor based programmable rotating smart antenna for efficient packet routing in low power wireless network, which provides long distance coverage with low power consumption.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a micro DC motor based programmable rotating smart antenna for efficient packet routing in low power wireless network, which reduces power consumption due to less number of repeating devices for same packet transmission.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a micro DC motor based programmable rotating smart antenna for efficient packet routing in low power wireless network, which reduces the dynamic power on physical and electrical distances.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a micro DC motor based programmable rotating smart antenna for efficient packet routing in low power wireless network, which ensures low RF emissions at end customer environment.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a micro DC motor based programmable rotating smart antenna for efficient packet routing in low power wireless network, which is cost effective and employs miniature rotating antenna mast mechanism.

Another object of the present invention is to use the combination of isotropic and rotating directive antenna method along with an antenna changing switch to improve communication efficiency further.

Another object of the present invention is to add additional directive antenna distance vector table along with the AODV or DSR vector table in the network layer of the wireless network to reduce the number of hops required to rout the message.

In order to achieve the above mentioned objects the present invention discloses a system to increase routing efficiency in low power wireless networks. The system includes an isotropic rotating antenna, at least one directive antennas, a potentiometer for providing rotation angle feedback, a microcontroller for controlling rotation of the at least one directive antennas based on the rotation angle feedback from the potentiometer and a micro motor for rotating the at least one directive antennas from 0 to 360 degrees around the source device to establish peer to peer communication with a destination device, wherein the system uses electrical RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) distance information and physical XYZ (GPS co-ordinates) for changing the transmitter and receiver power levels dynamically to maintain the peer to peer connection.

In one embodiment, the system includes an integrated micro DC motor to rotate the directive antennas with very low power consumption.

In one embodiment, the system includes a micro stepper motor driving circuit.

In one embodiment, the system includes an antenna changeover RF switch placed directly on the rotating antenna mast for switching between different antennas based on the operation requirement.

In one embodiment, the system includes an antenna PCB (Printed Circuit Board) for holding the isotropic rotating antenna, the at least one directive antennas and the antenna changeover RF switch.

In one embodiment, the micro motor comprises motor shaft gear mechanism to prevent free movement and to provide required torque to antenna PCB in rotation.

In one embodiment, the XYZ GPS co-ordinates are selected from a directive distance vector routing table in the network layer with respect to the position and angle of the at least one directive antennas.

In one embodiment, a single directive antenna covers either horizontal or vertical plane of complete circle and multiple directive antennas increase directivity in both horizontal and vertical planes of the circle.

In one embodiment, the direction of the at least one directive antennas are changed to different directions based on the LQI, RSSI, noise levels and channel occupation.

In one embodiment, the directive antennas includes both uni-directional and omni-directional antennas to increase the communication coverage in the network

In one embodiment, an antenna direction table is created based on the potentiometer values which are linked with the device IDs.

In one embodiment, the antenna direction table is used to locate the destination device and to move the antenna direction towards desired direction of the destination device in the network which reduces power consumption and number of unwanted rotations, and increase the network efficiency.

In one embodiment, each device includes two neighbor device lists such as a first device list with respect to isotropic antenna and a second device list with respect to the orientation and angle of the at least one directive antennas.

In one embodiment, the transmitter power is controlled dynamically based on the distance, attenuation and path loss.

In one embodiment, the microcontroller is configured to hold the customized algorithm for directive antenna routing table management, calculate the step count of the at least one directive antennas, manage directive antenna based peer to peer communication, control direction of the micro motor, sense potentiometer sense and control the antenna changeover RF switch.

In another aspect, the present invention discloses a method for increasing routing efficiency in low power wireless networks, wherein the wireless network comprises a source device comprising an isotropic rotating antenna, at least one directive antennas to establish peer to peer communication with a destination device. The steps includes receiving rotation angle feedback from a potentiometer, controlling rotation of the at least one directive antennas based on the rotation angle feedback from the potentiometer by a microcontroller, and rotating the at least one directive antennas from 0 to 360 degrees around the source device to establish peer to peer communication with a destination device by a micro motor. The source device uses electrical RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) distance information and physical XYZ (GPS co-ordinates) for changing the transmitter and receiver power levels dynamically to maintain the peer to peer connection.

In one embodiment, the peer to peer communication is established based on the XYZ GPS co-ordinates selected from a directive distance vector routing table in the network layer with respect to the position and angle of the at least one directive antennas.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description of the present embodiments of the invention are intended to provide an overview or framework for understanding the nature and character of the invention as it is claimed. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate various embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles and operation of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above-mentioned and other features and other advantages of the invention will be better understood and will become more apparent by referring to the exemplary embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein

FIG. 1 is a comparison diagram between AODV/DSR direct peer to peer directive antenna system;

FIG. 2 is a comparison diagram between AODV/ DSR direct peer to peer directive antenna data flow;

FIG. 3 is a comparison diagram between isotropic and directive antennas;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating data routing flow in DSR or AODV Routing method without rotating directive antennas;

FIG. 5 is a data routing diagram using directive antenna routing algorithm;

FIG. 6 is a comparison diagram between isotropic and directive antennas;

FIG. 7 illustrates a stepper motor having 6 mm width and 8 mm length with 50 grams holding torque;

FIG. 8 illustrates a single isotropic antenna rotating mechanism according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 illustrates a single directive antenna rotating mechanism according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 illustrates single directive antenna can be rotated from 0 to 360 degrees direction;

FIG. 11a and 11b illustrates rotation of multiple directive antennas from 0 to 360 degree direction;

FIG. 12 illustrates radio wave orientation of the polarization of an antenna;

FIG. 13a and 13b shows a comparison diagram between AODV/DSR direct peer to peer Directive antenna data flow;

FIG. 14 illustrates a single isotropic and multi/single directive rotating antenna hardware mechanism;

FIG. 15 illustrates a single isotropic and multi/single directive antenna hardware mechanism GPS co-ordinates based routing according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating GPS co-ordinates writing mobile application with NFC;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating GPS co-ordinates writing mobile application with Wifi;

FIG. 18 is a flow diagram illustrating directive antenna neighbors table creation algorithm for non GPS co-ordinates based single and multi-directive antennas;

FIG. 19 is a flow diagram illustrating directive antenna neighbors table creation algorithm for GPS co-ordinates based single and multi-directive antennas; and

FIG. 20a and 20b illustrates a system for PCB integrated DC stepper motor for RF antenna rotation.

DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Where ever possible same numerals will be used to refer to the same or like parts.

Disclosed herein is a system to increase routing efficiency in low power wireless networks using combination of isotropic and directive antennas. The system uses peer to peer communication from 0 to 360 degrees (shown in FIG. 10) around the product with the help of directive antennas by rotating directive antennas using a micro motor with a potentiometer rotation angle feedback. Further, the system uses XYZ GPS co-ordinates to create second directive distance vector routing table in the network layer with respect to directive antennas position and angle. The system uses physical XYZ (GPS Co-ordinates) and electrical RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) distance information to change the transmitter and receiver power levels dynamically. The system uses the integrated DC motor method to rotate directive antennas with very low power consumption. FIG. 5 shows the data routing using directive antenna routing algorithm.

The present micro DC motor based antenna rotation mechanism is very effective and useful to rotate SMD or PCB based antenna arrays to improve packet routing efficiency in low power wireless networks. The combination of isotropic and rotating directive antenna mechanism with GPS co-ordinates based routing distance vector tables along with current distance vector table routing techniques can improve the communication efficiency in low power networks such as Zigbee.

Power consumption is a key factor in wireless battery based devices. Hence micro stepper motors (shown in FIG. 7) are best suited for the low power and low torque requirement. In other embodiments, any other suitable low power micro motors can be used in both single and multi-antenna rotation methods based on the power, speed, and load requirements. However, the method of rotation remains the same with any motors. FIG. 8 shows a single isotropic antenna rotating mechanism. FIG. 9 shows single directive antenna rotating mechanism.

Combination of one isotropic and one rotating directive antenna method along with an antenna changing switch can improve communication efficiency further. The device can communicate with directional antenna by changing directional antenna to desired direction when long distance coverage is required. The device can work in isotropic antenna mode to continue in the normal network activity based on the network requirement. This technique increases the distance coverage, reduces the communication traffic in the network by reducing multiple numbers of intermittent repeaters. This method uses the advantage of peer to peer communication for long distance coverage and can continue the normal network topology in short isotropic region.

This mechanism can be used in low power based devices to adjust the antenna orientation in highly congested and noisy RF networks and to increase the system efficiency with directivity. The devices can save power with improved communication efficiency with combination of isotropic and rotating directive antennas.

The existing wireless protocol such as Zigbee uses AODV (Ad hoc on demand distance vector) or DSR (dynamic source routing) techniques to find rout path based on the path cost.
By adding additional directive antenna distance vector table along with the AODV or DSR vector table in the network layer of the wireless network, the number of hops required to rout the message can be reduced. The directive antenna used to establish direct path based on peer to peer or one to many communications in a particular direction and reduce the network congestion and traffic. This may improve the speed of communication and better usage of the bandwidth and available channels.

Communication system efficiency can still be improved by using 3 directive antennas and an antenna changeover switch placed directly on the rotating antenna mast. This mechanism is to rotate 3 SMD or PCB based antennas of wireless RF devices to a desired direction from 0 to 360 degrees based on the transmit and receive requirements in the wireless networks such as Wifi, Zigbee, Bluetooth and so forth. An RF switch will be used on the antenna mast PCB to switch between different antennas based on the need.

As shown in FIG. 11a and 11b directional antennas can be directed in XY, Z and Z’ axis’s from the product. Each step of the stepper motor covers the directivity in all 3 directions.

Number of rotation angles for the antenna mast depends on the beam width of the directive antennas. The wider the width the lesser the coverage distance and sharper the beam width the longer the coverage distance. With Narrow beam width more distance can be reached and by increasing number of antenna mast rotation steps more area with long distance coverage can be covered.

The width of the antenna beam depends on the gain of the directive antenna. The gain of the directive antenna depends on the power. The power level can be reduced or increased based on the RSSI and LQI (Link Quality Indicator) Levels (shown in FIG. 12). Algorithm may be developed for the product to tune its power levels dynamically depending on the RSSI and LQI Levels.

Single antenna moving method can only cover either horizontal or vertical plane of complete circle. Multiple antenna method can increase directivity in both horizontal and vertical plane of the circle.

In the present embodiment, 3 antennas are used to increase directivity. All 3 antennas can be rotated from 0 to 360 degrees. The direction of the antenna also can be changed to different directions based on the LQI, RSSI, noise levels and channel occupation. This mechanism can be used for both uni-directional and omni-directional antennas on a PCB, to increase the communication coverage in the network.

Wireless networks such as Zigbee, Wifi, Bluetooth and so on can use this multiple antenna method to program the antenna orientation (directivity) based on the application requirement and can create antenna direction table based on the potentiometer value. Potentiometer value can be linked with the device IDs of those can be reached on the wireless network in each direction of each individual antenna, and create antenna direction table. The direction table can be used by the devices to move the antenna direction towards desired direction of the targeted device in the network. Antenna direction table may reduce power consumption and number of unwanted rotations, and increase the network efficiency.

This mechanism is to rotate SMD or PCB based antennas of wireless RF devices to a desired direction from 0 to 360 degrees based on the transmit and receive requirements in the wireless networks such as Wifi, Zigbee, Bluetooth and so on. This method can be used to change the direction of the antenna to different direction based on the LQI, RSSI, noise level, and other wireless and functional parameters where antenna direction is required to improve the wireless communication efficiency of the network (FIG. 14). This mechanism can be used for both uni-directional and omni-directional antennas on a PCB to increase the communication coverage in the network.

This mechanism can be effectively used by the communication system to rotate the antennas based on the GPS co-ordinates of the other devices in the network (FIG. 15).

Normally, the SMD antennas and potentiometers are very small in size and very lighter in weight. Torque required to rotate them is very minimum, a small micro stepper motor can be effectively used with very low power consumption to implement this mechanism. Potentiometer connected to the same rotation mechanism can be used to detect the rotation angle of the antenna. Wireless devices with this mechanism can create antenna direction table based on the potentiometer value. Potentiometer value can be linked with all the devices IDs. The device IDs can be reached directly on the network in each direction of the antenna and create antenna direction table. The directional antenna table can be used by the devices to move the antenna direction towards desired direction of the targeted peer device in the network. This table reduces the power consumption and number of unwanted rotations, and increases the network efficiency.

Microcontroller can be used to determine the step count of the motor for the antenna table creation. This option can be a second choice for the antenna direction table creation, and can be implemented based on the need.

PCB with RF directional antennas have to be joined with the rotating shaft of the micro stepper motor by mounting the PCB on one of the gear joined with the shaft. This PCB will be connected to RF transmit and receive circuit with a flexible RF cable. U.FL RF coaxial connector or any suitable cable can be used between the rotating antenna PCB and RF control PCB. Printed RF PCB antenna also can be rotated in the similar mechanism.

The rotating method can also be used for isotropic antenna products as well. Antenna orientation may impact the RSSI level even in the unidirectional antenna system also. Properly oriented antennas will have better RSSI levels. A smart RF device can find the highest RSSI achievable orientation by rotating the antenna and fix it’s antenna orientation based on the RSSI level in the isotropic antenna networks such as Zigbee, mesh network and so forth.

Smart RF devices can change the direction of the antenna dynamically to different directions based on the LQI, RSSI, noise levels in the channel occupation levels. This mechanism can be used for both uni-directional and omni directional antennas on a PCB.

This rotation mechanism can be used in Wifi, Zigbee, Bluetooth and similar low power RF technology products to program the antenna orientation (directivity) based on the application requirement. This rotation method eliminates the need of multiple antennas for antenna diversity and network coverage limitations. This method improves the efficiency of the communication and reduces the battery power consumption with more directional coverage and efficient communication. Further it reduces communication traffic with effective direction calculation and orientation change (FIG. 14).

GPS co-ordinates XY and Z can be very useful to manage initial network configuration, and power management in the network. The transmitter and receiver power of the devices can be reduced based on the physical distance and RSSI values.

This method further improves the network routing quality by using combination of isotropic and multiple rotating directional antennas (FIG. 13a and 13b). Network reduces power consumption by reducing number of hops between two nodes which can communicate directly by using directional antennas. When peer to peer communication is required between two devices they can request the peer on the isotropic network to change the antenna to directive and can start communication using directive antennas.

Each device has two neighbour devices list, one with respect to isotropic antenna and another neighbour list with respect to directional antenna orientation and angle. Further each device creates directional antenna distance vector table for each direction at each angle of the antenna mast.

Step 1: Each device broadcast a message to all the nodes in the network in isotropic antenna mode. Alternatively network co-ordinate can initiate this process for the device which intends to align its directive antenna. The device informs other devices about its alignment of directional antenna and request for response message.

Step 2: Switch from isotropic to directive antenna mode.

Step 2: Bring potentiometer to desired angle, (For example: 0 Ohms corresponds to Zero degree, 90 Ohms to 90 Degree, 180 Ohms to 180 Degrees and so forth)

Step 3: Send a message in the set angle with Antenna 1. The message contains antenna number, and antenna mast angle number. Request receiver to respond after specified time interval with same antenna number and same angle number in their response.

Step 4: Repeat the message in the set angle with antenna 2 and 3.

Step 4: Switch back to isotropic antenna and wait for the responses from the nodes in angle zero, antenna 1, 2 and 3. Update the directive antenna distance vector table with respect to their device ID numbers.

Step 5: Move antenna mast to 90 degrees angle.

Step 6: Repeat the same process from step 3 to step 5 for each angle of the antenna mast, and for all 3 antennas in every angle.

All other devises in the network align their antennas for the new device based on the new device neighbours list which already exists in the directive distance vector table of all the devices in the network.

Once the table is ready, network layer of the device can calculate the path cost considering directive distance vector table also.

When peer to peer communication is required with any node in the network, source device sends request to destination to join for peer to peer. Once confirmation acknowledgement is received, both the antennas can change their antennas from isotropic to directive antenna as per the directive antenna distance vector table information.

Both source and destination switch back to isotropic antenna after the conversation.
Every device with this antenna combination can effectively switch between different antennas based on the routing requirement in the network. This reduces the network traffic by decreasing number of intermittent repeating devices.

Low power wireless devices with this multiple rotating directional antennas along with isotropic antenna can act like a central repeater for multiple nodes in the isotropic region. This method increases the network coverage beyond isotropic region of each device, reduces noise level in the network by using less repeating devices. Power consumption becomes less due to reduced number of intermittent repeaters activity.

This method uses the advantage of pear to pear communication long distance coverage, and can continue the normal network topology in short isotropic region.

This mechanism can be used in low power IoT based devises to adjust the antenna orientation in highly congested and noisy RF networks and to increase the system efficiency with directivity. IoT devices can save power with improved communication efficiency with combination of isotropic and rotating directive antennas.

The existing wireless protocols such as Zigbee uses AODV (Ad hoc on demand distance vector) or DSR dynamic source routing techniques to find rout path based on the path cost.

By adding additional directive antenna distance vector table along with the AODV or DSR vector table in the network layer of the wireless network, we can reduce the number of hops required to rout the message.

The directive antenna can be used to establish direct pear to pear or one to many in a particular direction. This reduces the network congestion and traffic and improves the speed of communication and better usage of the bandwidth and channels.

This multiple antenna rotating mechanism can be more effective by integrating the GPS co-ordinates of all devices in the wireless network to rotate the antenna based on the longitude, latitude and altitude GPS co-ordinates ( X=Latitude, Y=Longitude and Z = Altitude. The altitude may be calculated by determining exact height from the ground or floor number of the building where the devise is fixed.

If the device supports GPS locator function, it finds latitude, longitude and altitude with respect to satellite position. Alternatively, the latitude, longitude and the altitude of the device can be set manually while installation or by GPS co-coordinators injection device based on NFC (shown in FIG. 14 and FIG. 15). FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating GPS co-ordinates writing mobile application with NFC and FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating GPS co-ordinates writing mobile application with Wifi.

Mobile can be used to detect altitude based on the pressure on the touch screen by deactivating the touch screen calibration. For accurate altitude information, exact height from the ground can be entered in the device memory during installation.

Every device which tries to establish peer to peer communication using directive antenna publishes its GPS co-ordinates (X,Y and Z) to their destination device on isotropic network. Then it requests the destination device for its GPS co-ordinates, change the antenna from isotropic to directive and rotate directive antenna according to the GPS co-ordinates of the destination device. This can be done more effectively by managing X,Y,Z GPS co-ordinates of the neighbour devises in the directive antenna distance vector table.

FIG. 18 and 19 illustrates how device aligns its antenna mast angle with respect to GPS co-ordinates.
Step 1: When a new device joins in the network, it broadcasts its XYZ GPS Co-ordinates with isotropic antenna and requests co-coordinators for the GPS co-ordinates of all the devices in the network.
Step 2: New device calculates physical distance from each node based on the GPS co-ordinates, and makes list of devises it can directly reach by using directive antenna. Isotropic antenna distance can also be calculated with this but DSR/AODV table have the required data.
Step 3: New device broadcasts a message to all the nodes in the network in isotropic antenna mode informing alignment of its directive antenna mast with GPS co-ordinates. The device also requests to respond to the message. This can be a specific coded message type.
Step 4: Make potentiometer to zero, and switch from isotropic to directive antenna mode (Example: 0 Ohms corresponds to Zero degree, 90 Ohms to 90 Degree, 180 Ohms to 180 Degrees).
Step 5: Send a message in the set angle at antenna 1. The message should contain antenna number, and antenna mast angle number, and request receiver to respond after specified time interval with same antenna number and same angle number in their response.
Step 6: Change antenna to 2 and repeat the same process for all 3 antennas.
Step 7: Go to isotropic antenna and wait for the response.
Step 8: Prepare GPS coordinates table for each ID along with the zero degrees angle of the antenna mast, and antenna number, as per the response from each node.
Step 9: Move the antenna mast to 90 degrees angle, repeat step 5 to 6.
Step 10: Go to isotropic antenna and wait for the response.
Step 11: Prepare GPS coordinates table for each ID along with the 90 degrees angle of the antenna mast, and antenna number, as per the response from each node.
Step 12: Now device can calculate physical distance from all other nodes in the network based on the results from two angle of the antenna mast (step 5 to step 11), and can change the angle based on the GPS Co-ordinates. The device can easily calculate which direction will increase and which direction will decrease the co-ordinates. Based on this, it assigns the antenna mast angle number to all other non-verified or new nodes joining the network. Power saving will be very effective in this method. The device knows the physical distance from each node, and it will have the RSSI level data. Based on these two parameters transmitter and receiver power can be reduced dynamically to lower levels to save battery.

Communication between two nodes which are in two different floors can have impact of environmental factors which can decrease the signal level. They can start peer to peer based on the attenuation and noise levels.

Antenna power can be changed dynamically by calculating the physical (GPS co-ordinates) and electric (RSSI Level) distance between devices in the network. Transmitter power can be programmed dynamically based on the distance, attenuation and path loss. (For example the physical distance is same but RSSI is reduced means there is some obstacle or signal attenuated).

Advantages with directive antenna peer to peer routing method:
The present invention provides effective usage of bandwidth and allocated channels. Also it generates high speed and more throughputs. There will be no intermittent hops between two devices in the same network. It ensures low traffic and low noise levels in the network. Low data rate protocols such as Zigbee can be used for short range video and audio transmissions with the advantage of peer to peer communication by directive antennas. Long distance coverage with same power consumption is also possible with directive antennas. Power consumption is low due to less number of repeating devices for the same packet transmission and reduced time for path cost calculation. Dynamic power is reduced based on physical (Longitude, Latitude and Altitude GPS Co-ordinates) and electrical (RSSI) distances. RF emissions are reduced at end customer environment due to reduced RF traffic. The present invention uses miniature rotating antenna mast mechanism of height 8mm to 10mm. The price of micro DC motor used is very low for example below 0.5 EUR.

Power consumption is the key factor in wireless battery based devices hence micro stepper motors are best suitable for the low power and low torque requirement. However, any other suitable low power micro motors can be used in both single and multi antenna rotation methods based on the power, speed, and load requirements, but the method of rotation will be same with any motor.

The present PCB integrated DC motor technique can be used to build a suitable power rating DC motor for each device based on the number of rotating antennas required and weight.
For SMD antenna rotation, instead of using external micro stepper motors, wrist watch size motor can be created using PCB traces as motor windings on the PCB itself and by using a permanent magnet based motor technique as explained in FIG. 20a and FIG. 20b. Further, a very low power small dc motor inside the PCB itself can be created. Potentiometer connected to the shaft of the integrated DC motor provides the angle of the RF antenna to microcontroller based on the resistance. This method may be tuned further by reducing the size, and enhancing power and mechanical requirements for example this motor can be used to rotate pots, rotatable micro capacitors and inductor for tuning filter in electronic board and so forth.

It is to be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications and variations may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. Therefore, it is intended that the present invention covers such modifications and variations provided they come within the ambit of the appended claims and their equivalents.

We claim:

1. A system for increasing routing efficiency in low power wireless networks comprising:
an isotropic rotating antenna;
at least one directive antennas;
a potentiometer for providing rotation angle feedback;
a microcontroller for controlling rotation of the at least one directive antennas based on the rotation angle feedback from the potentiometer; and
a micro motor for rotating the at least one directive antennas from 0 to 360 degrees around a source device to establish peer to peer communication with a destination device,
wherein the system uses electrical RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) distance information and physical XYZ (GPS co-ordinates) for changing the transmitter and receiver power levels dynamically to maintain the peer to peer connection.

2. The system for increasing routing efficiency as claimed in claim 1, comprises an integrated micro DC motor to rotate the at least one directive antennas with very low power consumption.

3. The system for increasing routing efficiency as claimed in claim 1, comprising micro stepper motor driving circuit.

4. The system for increasing routing efficiency as claimed in claim 1, comprises an antenna changeover RF switch placed directly on the rotating antenna mast for switching between different antennas based on the operation requirement.

5. The system for increasing routing efficiency as claimed in claim 4, comprises an antenna PCB (Printed Circuit Board) for holding the isotropic rotating antenna, the at least one directive antennas and the antenna changeover RF switch.

6. The system for increasing routing efficiency as claimed in claim 1, wherein the micro motor comprises motor shaft gear mechanism to prevent free movement and to provide required torque to antenna PCB in rotation.

7. The system for increasing routing efficiency as claimed in claim 1, wherein the XYZ GPS co-ordinates are selected from a directive distance vector routing table in the network layer with respect to the position and angle of the at least one directive antennas.

8. The system for increasing routing efficiency as claimed in claim 1, wherein a single directive antenna covers either horizontal or vertical plane of complete circle and multiple directive antennas increase directivity in both horizontal and vertical planes of the circle.

9. The system for increasing routing efficiency as claimed in claim 1, wherein the direction of the at least one directive antennas are changed to different directions based on the LQI, RSSI, noise levels and channel occupation.

10. The system for increasing routing efficiency as claimed in claim 9, wherein the at least one directive antennas comprises both uni-directional and omni-directional antennas to increase the communication coverage in the network.

11. The system for increasing routing efficiency as claimed in claim 1, wherein an antenna direction table is created based on the potentiometer value which are linked with the device IDs.

12. The system for increasing routing efficiency as claimed in claim 11, wherein the antenna direction table is used to locate the destination device and to move the antenna direction towards desired direction of the destination device in the network which reduces power consumption and number of unwanted rotations, and increase the network efficiency.

13. The system for increasing routing efficiency as claimed in claim 1, wherein each device comprises two neighbor device list:
a first device list with respect to isotropic antenna;
a second device list with respect to the orientation and angle of the at least one directive antennas.

14. The system for increasing routing efficiency as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transmitter power is controlled dynamically based on the distance, attenuation and path loss.

15. The system for increasing routing efficiency as claimed in claim 1, wherein the microcontroller is configured to:
hold the customized algorithm for directive antenna routing table management;
calculate the step count of the at least one directive antennas;
manage directive antenna based peer to peer communication;
control direction of the micro motor;
sense potentiometer sense; and
control the antenna changeover RF switch.

16. A method for increasing routing efficiency in low power wireless networks, wherein the wireless network comprises a source device comprising an isotropic rotating antenna, at least one directive antennas to establish peer to peer communication with a destination device, the steps comprising:
receiving rotation angle feedback from a potentiometer;
controlling rotation of the at least one directive antennas based on the rotation angle feedback from the potentiometer by a microcontroller; and
rotating the at least one directive antennas from 0 to 360 degrees around the source device to establish peer to peer communication with a destination device by a micro motor,
wherein the source device uses electrical RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) distance information and physical XYZ (GPS co-ordinates) for changing the transmitter and receiver power levels dynamically to maintain the peer to peer connection.

17. The method for increasing routing efficiency in low power wireless networks as claimed in claim 16, wherein the peer to peer communication is established based on the XYZ GPS co-ordinates selected from a directive distance vector routing table in the network layer with respect to the position and angle of the at least one directive antennas.