Heat mapping in a flood fill mesh radio network

A mobile communications device configured as a network node for broadcasting message frames in a wireless radio network, the mobile communications device comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory;
• an internal clock;
• and
• a radio for communicating with a plurality of network nodes over a wireless radio network, wherein each network node only communicates with its correspondent network nodes using broadcast network messages, and each network node is configured for rebroadcasting network messages it receives to correspondent network nodes on the wireless radio network without requiring any addressing scheme or network routing protocol, the mobile communications device adapted to perform operations comprising:
• broadcasting a synchronization frame over the wireless radio network in accordance with a synchronization interval;
• receiving one or more synchronization frames broadcasted from one or more correspondent network nodes on the wireless radio network;
• deriving state information from each received synchronization frame;
• analyzing the state information to determine which of a plurality of network nodes on the wireless radio network are correspondent network nodes that are within range of the network node for wireless communications over the wireless radio network;
• constructing a map of the topology of the correspondent network nodes based on the state information derived from the synchronization frames;
• identifying hot nodes as those nodes in paths of originating node/forwarding node pairs that are the first nodes to forward message frames to the network node in the wireless radio network as compared to nodes forwarding duplicates of the message frames along different paths of originating/forwarding node pairs in the wireless radio network;
• constructing a hot node table based on the identified hot nodes over a period of time;
• determining a forwarding probability for each received message frame based on the map of the topology of the correspondent network nodes and the hot node table;
• and
• broadcasting and rebroadcasting message frames to the correspondent network nodes on the wireless radio network in accordance with the determined forwarding probability.

A non-transitory computer readable medium configured for storing programmed computer code executable by a processor to perform operations implementing a mesh network at a network node, the network node comprising a mobile communications device that includes a processor, a memory, an internal clock, and a radio for communicating with a plurality of network nodes over a wireless radio network, wherein each network node only communicates with its correspondent network nodes via broadcast network messages, and each network node is configured for rebroadcasting network messages it receives to its correspondent network nodes communicating on the wireless radio network without requiring any addressing scheme or network routing protocol, and wherein the network nodes are configured for synchronized communications over the wireless radio network based on broadcasting synchronization frames in accordance with a synchronization interval, the operations comprising:

• broadcasting a synchronization frame over the wireless radio network in accordance with a synchronization interval;
• receiving one or more synchronization frames broadcasted from one or more correspondent network nodes on the wireless radio network;
• deriving state information from each received synchronization frame;
• analyzing the state information to determine which of a plurality of network nodes on the wireless radio network are correspondent network nodes that are within range of the network node for wireless communications over the wireless radio network;
• constructing a map of the topology of the correspondent network nodes based on the state information derived from the synchronization frames;
• identifying hot nodes as those nodes in paths of originating node/forwarding node pairs that are the first nodes to forward message frames to the network node in the wireless radio network as compared to nodes forwarding duplicates of the message frames along different paths of originating/forwarding node pairs in the wireless radio network;
• constructing a hot node table based on the identified hot nodes over a period of time;
• determining a forwarding probability for each received message frame based on the map of the topology of the correspondent network nodes and the hot node table;
• and
• broadcasting and rebroadcasting message frames to the correspondent network nodes on the wireless radio network in accordance with the determined forwarding probability.