System and method for interference triggered frequency hopping

A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, implement a method of interference-triggered frequency hopping in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

• providing in the wireless communication system a master in wireless communication with a plurality of slave nodes configured to use different preselected communication frequencies to permit frequency hopping;
• selecting a current channel from among a plurality of channels in the wireless communication system in which the master and at least some of the slave nodes send and receive wireless communications, wherein the plurality of channels is stored in a list, each of the channels using different ones of the preselected communication frequencies;
• detecting interference in the current channel with communications between the master and a selected one of the slave nodes that use the current channel, wherein the detecting includes comparing an actual noise floor determined based on a received signal strength in the current channel and a signal to interference and noise ratio, with an expected noise floor;
• selecting a new channel of the channels different from the current channel only in response to detecting the interference;
• and
• switching from the current channel to the new channel such that communications between the master and the selected slave node use the new channel.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, implement a method of interference-triggered frequency hopping in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

• providing in the wireless communication system a master in wireless communication with a plurality of slave nodes configured to use different preselected communication frequencies to permit frequency hopping;
• selecting a current channel from among a plurality of channels in the wireless communication system in which the master and at least some of the slave nodes send and receive wireless communications, wherein the plurality of channels is stored in a list, each of the channels using different ones of the preselected communication frequencies;
• detecting interference in the current channel with communications between the master and a selected one of the slave nodes that use the current channel;
• selecting another channel of the channels different from the current channel only in response to detecting the interference, wherein the selecting is based on a pre-defined frequency hopping algorithm or a pre-computed frequency hop sequence;
• determining a performance associated with the other channel, and
• if the performance fails to satisfy a channel performance criterion, selecting a further channel different from the current channel,
• otherwise, if the performance satisfies the channel performance criterion, switching from the current channel to the other channel such that communications between the master and the selected slave node use the other channel,
• wherein the channel performance criterion includes whether a wireless communication link is established between the master and the selected slave node such that the channel performance criterion is not satisfied if the wireless communication link fails within a predefined timeout to be established between the master and the selected slave node.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, implement a method of interference-triggered frequency hopping in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

• providing in the wireless communication system a master in wireless communication with a plurality of slave nodes configured to use different preselected communication frequencies to permit frequency hopping;
• selecting a current channel from among a plurality of channels in the wireless communication system in which the master and at least some of the slave nodes send and receive wireless communications, wherein the plurality of channels is stored in a list, each of the channels using different ones of the preselected communication frequencies;
• detecting interference in the current channel with communications between the master and a selected one of the slave nodes that use the current channel;
• selecting a new channel of the channels different from the current channel only in response to detecting the interference,
• wherein the selecting of the new channel is based on a pre-computed frequency hop sequence,
• wherein the pre-computed frequency hop sequence is
• calculated by the master using a random number generator function and a seed randomly generated by the master using a characteristic unique to the master, and
• communicated to at least some of the slave nodes;
• and
• switching from the current channel to the new channel such that communications between the master and the selected slave node use the new channel.