Method and apparatus for dynamic neighbour discovery within wireless networks using time division multiple access (TDMA)

摘要

An Ad-Hoc wireless network 20 according to the present invention employs a TDMA based neighbor discovery protocol, where each network node 10 is assigned a unique time slot to broadcast neighbor discovery packets or messages. A primary controller node is dynamically designated to perform the time slot assignments. A dynamic selection of a secondary or backup controller node is further provided in case of failure of the primary controller node. The present invention further includes flooding techniques based upon TDMA. A TDMA HELLO flood is used to distribute a small number of common parameters to network nodes by placing or piggybacking the information within the neighbor discovery messages. A CNR flood is based on the principles of a RAKE type receiver and used to distribute time slot assignments to the entire network.