Interference Avoidance Technique for Wireless Networks Used in Critical Applications

An apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of wireless sensor devices coupled to a controller in a security system, the plurality of wireless sensor devices configured into a wireless network that protects a secured area where at least one of the wireless sensor devices further comprise a child sensor device that communicates with the controller through at least first and second parent sensor devices;
• an environmental sensor of the child sensor device measuring an environmental parameter within the secured area;
• and
• a transmitter of the child sensor device transmitting a message including at least the measured environmental parameter to the controller through each of the at least two parents, the message is transmitted during a first time period and on a first frequency to the first parent and a copy of the message is transmitted during a second time period and on a second frequency to the second parent wherein the first and second time periods and first and second frequencies are all different and wherein the first and second time periods are directly adjacent to one another in time and wherein the transmission to the second parent begins immediately after completing the transmission to the first parent.

An apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of wireless sensor devices coupled to a controller in a security system, the plurality of wireless sensor devices configured into a wireless network that protects a secured area where at least one of the wireless sensor devices further comprise a child sensor device that communicates with the controller through at least first and second parent sensor devices;
• an environmental sensor of the child sensor device measuring an environmental parameter within the secured area;
• and
• a transceiver of the child sensor device transmitting a message including at least the measured environmental parameter with the controller through each of the at least two parents and receiving a message from the controller through each of the at least two parents, the message transmitted by the child device is transmitted during a first time period and on a first frequency to the first parent and a copy of the message is transmitted during a second time period and on a second frequency to the second parent and the message received by the child device is received during a third time period and on a third frequency from the first parent and a copy of the message is received during a fourth time period and on a fourth frequency from the second parent wherein the first, second, third and fourth time periods are no-overlapping and the first, second, third and fourth frequencies are all different from an adjacent in time frequency and wherein the first and second time periods are directly adjacent to one another in time and third and fourth time periods are directly adjacent to one another in time and wherein the transmission to and reception from the second parent begins immediately after completing the transmission to and reception from the first parent.