Method and system of routing in a utility smart-grid network

A wireless utility network, comprising:

• a plurality of utility nodes;
• and
• at least one gateway to the wireless utility network arranged to communicate with at least one of the utility nodes in the wireless utility network, the at least one gateway connecting the wireless utility network to at least one other network;
• wherein a packet transmitted from a first utility node in the wireless utility network to a second utility node in the wireless utility network is received at the second utility node according to a route included in the transmitted packet,
• wherein the route included in the packet received at the second utility node is updated with link cost information at the second node, to determine an updated path cost of the included route, and compared to alternate primary routes in a routing table of alternate primary routes and secondary routes to select a preferred route based upon path cost, and
• wherein the route included in the packet received at the second utility node is replaced with the selected preferred route at the second node, and the received packet is transmitted from the second node to another node in the utility network according to the selected preferred route, and
• wherein the secondary routes are fallback routes upon failure of the route included in the received packet.

A wireless network, comprising

• at least one server including a server controller and a radio, wherein the server controller controls the receipt and transmission of packets via the server radio, and wherein the server controller may select a route to nodes in the wireless network;
• a plurality of nodes in the wireless network each including a node controller and a node radio, wherein the node controller controls the receipt and transmission of packets via the node radio, and wherein the node controller may select a route to the at least one server;
• wherein a packet transmitted from one utility node in the wireless utility network to the server in the wireless utility network is transmitted according to a route included in the transmitted packet,
• wherein the route included in a transmitted packet is updated, in at least one node along the route that receives the transmitted packet, with link cost information to determine an updated path cost of the included route and compared to alternate primary routes in a routing table of alternate primary routes and secondary routes to select a preferred route based upon path cost, and
• wherein the selected preferred route is included in the packet which is transmitted from the at least one node to another node in the utility network according to the selected preferred route, and
• wherein the secondary routes are fallback routes upon failure of the route included in the transmitted packet.