JP2010193303A - Radio communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable communication by adjusting communication quality and transmission efficiency into an appropriate condition by detecting change of a radio wave transmission environment in a store. <P>SOLUTION: In this radio communication system including a radio for transmitting measurement data collected by a sensor by radio communication, and a management server for collecting the measurement data to be recorded in a database, the management server includes: a template file for storing time-series data on a predetermined time basis generated based on the measurement data as templates; a communication parameter table for storing template IDs, packet lengths in the radio communication and communication parameters of transmission power by relating them to one another; a correlation calculation means to calculate the correlation between the measurement data and the templates in a past predetermined time by the reception of the measurement data to extract the ID of the template having the largest correlation; and a communication parameter setting means to set the communication parameter related to the extracted ID of the template to the radio. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless communication system used indoors such as in a store, and more particularly to a wireless communication system capable of stably transmitting while keeping power consumption low.

  With the trend of energy saving in recent years, the introduction of energy management systems aiming at the optimum operation of energy is progressing in stores and offices.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of a wireless communication system used for energy management in a limited area such as a store or a business office. In FIG. 1, each measurement data sequentially obtained from various sensors such as a plurality of power monitors 13a, water meters 13b, and temperature sensors 13c installed in the area is sent from the wireless device 12b to the wireless device 12a, and is sent to the management server. 10 is stored as time-series data in the database 11 managed by the computer 10. The management server 10 can analyze and display these time-series data trends and the like, and is used for optimum operation of energy in the area.

  For the data collection of these various sensors, wireless communication that does not require wiring and can easily construct a network as shown in FIG. 1 may be used. It is characterized by being easily affected by the communication quality. For example, when there is a person on the radio wave propagation path, the radio wave propagation environment varies as the person moves. For this reason, when the store floor is crowded with people, the error rate in wireless transmission is high, and conversely, when there are few people in the store floor, the communication rate may be different. is there.

  In order to improve the degradation of communication quality due to factors of the radio wave propagation environment, a technique of shortening the packet length may be employed. For example, FIG. 2 shows a packet configuration in general wireless communication. The preamble in this packet structure is a fixed pattern used to establish synchronization on the receiving side, and information such as the own station and partner station ID and payload length is given to the header, but these data lengths are exclusively It is a fixed value. On the other hand, the payload is the information itself to be transmitted, but this is a data length defined by the payload length of the header, and may be a variable length. That is, when the packet length is shortened, the payload length is shortened. However, in this case, if the same amount of information is to be transmitted, the number of packets to be transmitted increases as the payload length is shortened. Therefore, the transmission efficiency deteriorates by the amount of preamble and header that are added each time transmission is performed. That is, communication quality and transmission efficiency are in a trade-off relationship.

  Another technique for improving communication quality is to increase transmission power. Increasing the transmission power increases the electric field strength on the receiving side and improves the communication quality. However, since the upper limit of transmission power of wireless devices is restricted by law, in general, the transmission power is lowered when the communication quality is good, and the law allows when the communication quality is bad. The transmission power is increased to the upper limit. When the transmission power is increased, the energy efficiency in transmission deteriorates, so that communication quality and energy efficiency are in a trade-off relationship.

  Thus, communication quality and transmission (energy) efficiency are in a trade-off relationship. Therefore, in order to maintain the communication quality in the in-store wireless communication system, it is important to control or change the packet length and transmission power by predicting or estimating a change in the propagation environment.

  Conventionally, there has been proposed a method for always realizing stable wireless communication regardless of the congestion situation in the store. For example, in Patent Document 1, the number of customers that the POS terminal device has settled within a predetermined unit time is counted, and when there is a large amount of settlement end signal within the unit time, wireless control is variably controlled to increase transmission power. A POS system is described.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-022496

  However, since the wireless POS system described in Patent Document 1 tries to estimate the congestion situation in the store only by the number of settlements of the POS terminal device, there is a case where a queue waiting for settlement occurs in the POS terminal, There has been a problem that appropriate control cannot be performed with respect to instability of wireless communication caused by local congestion.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and can detect a change in a radio wave propagation environment in a store and adjust communication quality and transmission efficiency to an appropriate state to perform communication. An object is to provide a communication system.

  In order to solve the above problems, a wireless communication system according to the present invention includes a sensor that collects at least one of temperature, water volume, and power as measurement data, and a wireless that transmits measurement data collected by the sensor by wireless communication. And a management server that collects measurement data transmitted by the radio and records it in a database, wherein the management server is a predetermined time unit generated based on the measurement data By receiving the measurement data, a template file that stores the time-series data as a template, a communication parameter table that associates and stores the identification information of the template and communication parameters of packet length and / or transmission power in wireless communication, Measurement data in the past predetermined time and the template The correlation calculation means for calculating the correlation of the template and extracting the identification information of the template having the highest correlation, and the communication parameter associated with the template identification information extracted by the correlation calculation means with reference to the communication parameter table Communication parameter setting means for setting the wireless device.

  In the present invention, a relationship between a time-series trend of a predetermined time such as in-store power, water supply, or temperature and communication parameters such as packet length and transmission power is registered in advance, and is most approximated from measurement data. A template is extracted, and communication parameters associated with the template are set for the wireless device. An appropriate communication parameter can be set by detecting a change in the radio wave propagation environment in the store based on the trend of the measurement data.

  Preferably, the template and the communication parameter are provided for each link that is a combination of opposing radio units that perform transmission, and for each link, a correlation is calculated to extract a template having the largest correlation, and the communication parameter is set. You should set it.

  In addition, the management server of the wireless communication system according to the present invention, when the correlation value of the template having the largest correlation extracted by the correlation calculation unit is smaller than a predetermined value, the measurement data within the past predetermined time is stored. While adding to the template file as a new template, if the number of templates stored in the template file exceeds a predetermined number, one or more templates are added based on a predetermined deletion condition. A template management means for deleting is provided.

  In the present invention, the template is created and added sequentially from the measurement data, and when the number of templates stored in the management server exceeds a predetermined number, the template is reduced based on a predetermined deletion condition. Thus, the template is updated according to the actual situation, and the number of templates is adjusted to be constant.

  As a deletion condition, a method of deleting one of the two templates having the largest correlation value among the correlations between any two templates, or a time at the time of extraction in the template extracted by the correlation calculation means There is a method of attaching a stamp and deleting from the template with the oldest time stamp.

  The management server of the wireless communication system according to the present invention stores communication quality index recording means for recording a communication quality index such as a transmission error rate, received electric field strength, or number of retransmissions, and stores a reference value of the communication quality index. A communication quality reference table; and communication parameter changing means for changing at least one of a packet length or transmission power of the radio based on the communication quality indicator and the communication quality reference. .

  Preferably, when the communication quality indicator satisfies the communication quality standard, the communication parameter changing means makes the packet length of the radio longer than the current value, or makes the transmission power smaller than the current value, When the communication quality index does not satisfy the communication quality standard, the packet length of the radio device may be changed to be shorter than the current value, or the transmission power may be changed to be larger than the current value.

  In the present invention, the communication parameters are changed so as to satisfy the communication quality standard. At this time, by associating the communication parameter after the change with the template having the largest correlation and adding it as a new template, it is possible to set an optimal communication parameter corresponding to a change in the radio wave propagation environment.

  The wireless communication system according to the present invention further includes a weighting factor table for storing the weighting factor for each type of temperature, water volume, and power measurement data and a weighting factor extraction condition, and the correlation calculation means includes the measurement data And calculating the correlation between the measurement data and the template by using the extracted weighting factor and the correlation for each type. It is characterized by.

  In the present invention, a weighting factor for each type of measurement data and a condition for extracting the weighting factor are stored in advance, the corresponding weighting factor is extracted using the extraction condition, and measurement is performed using the weighting factor. By calculating the correlation between the data and the template, a highly accurate correlation calculation can be performed efficiently, and this makes it possible to estimate the radio wave propagation environment with high accuracy.

  According to the present invention, the correlation between the template of time series data such as power and the latest time series data is calculated, and the packet length or transmission power associated with the template with the largest correlation is used as the communication parameter of the radio. Therefore, it is possible to detect a change in the radio wave propagation environment in the store and adjust communication quality and transmission efficiency to an appropriate state to perform communication.

It is a system block diagram of the energy management system in a store by a prior art and this invention. It is a structural example of a general wireless packet. It is a functional block diagram of radio | wireless machines 12a and 12b by embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram of the management server 10 by the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is an example of the template of the template file 41 of FIG. 5 is a data configuration example of a communication parameter table 42 in FIG. 4. It is a flowchart which shows the similarity calculation processing procedure of the correlation calculating means 34 of FIG. 5 is a data configuration example of a weight coefficient table 45 in FIG. 4. It is a flowchart which shows the similarity calculation process sequence by the other Example of the correlation calculating means 34 of FIG. 9 is a data configuration example according to another embodiment of the weighting coefficient table of FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the payload length and transmission power setting command by embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram of the management server 10 by the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the template addition process procedure of the template management means 36 of FIG. It is a data structural example of the communication parameter table 42 of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the template merge processing procedure of the template management means 36 of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the communication parameter change means 38 of FIG. It is an example of a data structure of the communication parameter table 42 by the 3rd Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the radio devices 12a and 12b according to the present embodiment. This radio is used in the radio communication system 1 shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 3, the wireless devices 12a and 12b exchange data with the management server 10 or the sensors 13a to 13c, and perform transmission / reception processing with other wireless devices in a predetermined transmission procedure based on this data. , A local oscillator 1213 for generating a radio signal, a mixer 1203 for frequency conversion of transmission data output from the digital signal processor 1200 based on a signal from the local oscillator 1213, and a mixer 1203 A band pass filter (BPF) 1204 for suppressing the out-of-band power of the transmission signal output from the power, a power amplifier (PA) 1205 for increasing / decreasing the output of the band pass filter 1204, and for radiating the electric signal to space An antenna 1206, an RF switch 1207 for switching between transmission and reception, A low-noise amplifier (LNA) 1208 for amplifying the received signal, a band-pass filter (BPF) 1209 for suppressing out-of-band noise, and a signal from the local oscillator 1213 are converted from a radio frequency to a baseband signal. And a low-pass filter (LPF) 1215 that extracts only the baseband signal from the output of the mixer 1210 and inputs it to the digital signal processor.

  Also, the digital signal processing device 1200 generates a transmission packet based on the communication parameters stored in the parameter storage unit 1214 and the parameter storage unit 1214 for storing communication parameters such as packet length and transmission power, and transmits them. Transmission control unit 1216 for executing processing, message analysis unit 1201 for separating information to be transmitted to the transmission control unit 1216 from information transmitted from the connected device and information to be transmitted to other wireless devices, and message analysis unit A packet generation unit 1202 that generates a wireless packet by adding an identification code, a header, and a synchronization pattern for identifying a radio to the information passed from 1201, and a frequency offset compensation unit for removing a frequency offset of the baseband signal 1211 and the packet length from the received packet information. Has a packet analysis unit 1212 that analyzes whether or not information specifying transmission power exists and passes the information to the transmission control unit 1216 and passes other information to the connected device. .

  Also, the transmission control unit 1216 measures communication quality evaluation index data such as a transmission error rate (bit error rate) and the number of retransmissions and stores it in a built-in storage unit. The evaluation index data can be read from the management server 10 as will be described later.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, the management server 10 includes an interface unit 25 that exchanges transmission / reception data with a wireless device, an arithmetic processing unit 23 that executes various arithmetic processes, a storage unit 24 that stores data, And an input unit 21 for setting data directly to the storage unit 24 and a display unit 22 for displaying data contents. The management server 10 can be realized by a general-purpose computer device such as a personal computer.

The arithmetic processing unit 23 of the management server 10 is an input / output process for executing data transfer processing between the basic data setting means 31 for setting basic data such as templates input from the input unit 21 in advance and the interface unit 25. Means 32, measurement data input means 33 for inputting measurement data sent from the sensors 13a to 13c via the wireless devices 12b and 12a, and calculating correlation between time series data (trend data) of the measurement data and template data. Correlation calculating means 34, and communication parameter setting means 35 for extracting a corresponding template based on the correlation calculation result, calculating communication parameters such as packet length and transmission power, and outputting the calculated communication parameters to the radio device 12a. ing.
Each means 31-35 is realizable by a program as a function of CPU.

  In addition, the storage unit 24 of the management server 10 includes a template file 41 that stores a template of time-series data regarding power, water amount, and temperature, and a communication parameter table 42 that associates the template with the corresponding communication parameters of packet length and transmission power. It has. When determining the communication parameters, the management server 10 reads the trend data of each sensor 13a-13c from the database 11, and calculates the correlation with these templates by a method described later.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the template has data values for the present and past predetermined times (for example, 60 minutes) collected at a predetermined collection period (for example, 10 minutes) for each sensor as a pattern. In addition, identification information (template ID) is attached as a set of time-series data in the same time zone of each sensor 13 a to 13 c and stored in the storage unit 24 of the management server 10. FIG. 6 is a data configuration example of the communication parameter table 42, and communication parameters of packet length and transmission power are associated with each template ID.

Hereinafter, the operation of the wireless communication system 1 having the above configuration will be described.
(Basic data setting process)
First, in order to register the template file 41 and the communication parameter table 42 in the management server 10 in advance, these data are input from the input unit 21. The input data is stored in the storage unit 24 of the management server 10 by the basic data setting unit 31.

  Note that the contents of the template file 41 and the communication parameter table 42 are to perform a communication test at the time of system introduction, change the congestion state in the store, and measure the time series data of each sensor, the respective optimum packet size, and transmission power. Therefore, it shall be prepared in advance. For example, in the store where the customer is installed, the packet size is set so that the number of transmissions is minimized based on the amount of transmission data for each of the time zones where customers are few and crowded. The transmission power when it is below the defined reference value is set as a communication parameter.

(Time-series data storage processing)
Each sensor 13a-13c arrange | positioned in a shop transmits measurement data via the radio | wireless machine 12b for every collection period. This measurement data is received by the wireless device 12a on the management server side and passed to the interface unit 25 of the management server 10. The measurement data is input and processed by the input / output processing means 32 of the arithmetic processing unit 23, is time-stamped by the measurement data input means 33, and is stored in the database 11 in time series. Each measurement data is attached with an ID of a collection source sensor, and the type of measurement data such as electric power, water amount, temperature, and measurement location can be specified from the sensor ID.

(Correlation calculation processing)
The correlation calculation unit 34 calculates the correlation between each template of the template file 41 and the time-series data for the same time as the template including the latest data for each measurement data input timing.

As an example of correlation calculation processing between time-series data and a template, a method for defining a similarity by obtaining an error between a sampled time waveform and a template will be described.
In this case, it is preferable to use the function shown in the equation (1). However, a (t) is measurement data of the day, and b (t) is a template.

  Here, Eab (0) is an error obtained in the discrete interval [0, x], assuming that the delay time τ is 0 in the measurement data a (t) and the template b (t).

  The similarity calculation based on the error is performed by the correlation calculation means 34 in the procedure shown in FIG. Hereinafter, the processing procedure of the correlation calculation means 34 will be described with reference to FIG. In this figure, the smaller the error Ek, the higher the degree of similarity. Therefore, the correlation calculation means 34 sets the maximum value that can take the error variable Emin at the time of initialization. For example, when the maximum value that can be taken is calculated as an unsigned 2-byte integer, FFFFh (65535 in decimal) is set as the maximum value (S21). Next, the correlation calculation means 34 calculates an error Ek (S23). Here, the error Ek means an error Eab (0) between the template ID = k extracted from the template file 41 and the measurement data. The correlation calculation means 34 compares this error Ek with the error variable Emin (S24), and if the error Ek is smaller, replaces the error variable Emin with this error Ek and sets the template ID variable to k. (S25). By sequentially incrementing the variable k and repeating the processing from step S23 to step S25 until the final template ID = K (S22a, S22b), the template ID when the error is finally minimized is obtained. . The correlation calculation means 34 passes the template ID that minimizes the error to the communication parameter setting means 35 (S26).

  With the above processing procedure, the correlation calculation means 34 of the management server 10 calculates the error Eab (0) of the equation (1), and the template with the smallest error is the template with the highest similarity (ie, the highest correlation). Judge that there is.

(Another embodiment of correlation calculation processing)
In the above procedure, when calculating error Eab (0), time series data of power, water volume, and temperature in the same time zone was obtained as a series as one template, but a constant weight was assigned according to the type of measurement data. In addition, the cross-correlation value may be calculated. FIG. 8 is a data example of the weighting coefficient table 45. In this example, the weight is changed depending on whether the amount of water is smaller or larger than a certain value. As the number of customers in the store increases, the ratio of the amount of water used in the restroom or the like to the total amount of water increases. Therefore, the degree of congestion in the store can be accurately estimated by using this data.

Hereinafter, the similarity calculation method using this weighting coefficient will be described with reference to FIG.
Correlation calculation means 34 first sets the maximum possible value of error variable Emin at the time of initialization as in FIG. 7 (S31). Next, the correlation calculation means 34 calculates the type-specific error Dyk using equation (2) (S33). The type-specific error Dyk means the type-specific error Dyab (0) between the template ID = k extracted from the template file 41 and the measurement data.

Here, Dyab (0) means an error for each type of measurement data y, and represents power when y = α, temperature when y = β, and water volume when y = γ.
Further, ay (t) means measurement data of type y (y = α, β, γ), and by (t) means a template of type y (y = α, β, γ).

  After calculating the type-specific error Dyk, the correlation calculation means 34 extracts the weighting factor extraction condition from the weighting factor table 45, and selects the corresponding weighting factor based on this condition (S34).

  In the example of FIG. 8, for example, when the latest value of the water amount is larger than the reference value (◯◯), the “power” weighting factor α = 0.1, the “temperature” weighting factor β = 0.1, and the “water amount” ”= 0.8 is selected.

Next, the correlation calculation means 34 multiplies the selected weighting coefficient by the corresponding type-specific error Dyk (y = α, β, γ) by equation (3), and sums each multiplication value to obtain Ek ( S35).

  The correlation calculation means 34 compares the error Ek and the error variable Emin (S36), and if the error Ek is smaller, replaces the error variable Emin with the error Ek and sets the template ID variable to k. (S37). By sequentially incrementing the variable k and repeating the processing from step S33 to step S37 until the final template ID = K (S32a, S32b), the template ID when the error is finally minimized is obtained. . The correlation calculation unit 34 passes the template ID that minimizes the error to the communication parameter setting unit 35 (S38).

  In the above description, the amount of water is used as the weighting factor extraction condition. However, as shown in FIG. 10, the outside air temperature may be used as the extraction condition. In FIG. 10, each weighting coefficient α (T), β (T), γ (T) indicates that it is a function of the outside air temperature (T).

At this time, the type-specific error may be calculated by multiplying the error of the time by a weighting factor for the outside air temperature at each time. Formula (4) shows an example for Y = α (power).

Here, α (T, t) means α (T) at time t.
The temperature (β) and the amount of water (γ) are calculated in the same manner, and the total error is calculated by summing the calculation results.

  Thus, by changing the weighting factor for each time zone, it is possible to estimate the radio wave propagation environment with higher accuracy.

  In the above example, the weighting factor is changed for each type of measurement data, but the similarity may be calculated by changing the weighting factor according to the weighting factor for each measurement location or according to the time zone.

(Communication parameter setting process)
When the communication parameter setting unit 35 receives the template ID from the correlation calculation unit 34, the communication parameter setting unit 35 reads out the communication parameters (packet length and transmission power values) associated with the template ID from the communication parameter table 42.

  Here, FIG. 11 shows a format of data transferred between the management server 10 and the wireless device 12a. The data format shown in FIG. 11 is composed of a header information part indicating transmission data or a command and a payload part which is a data part. The payload portion is composed of a payload length representing the length of data and a data value.

  The communication parameter setting means 35 sets the read communication parameter in the payload portion of this data format, sets a code indicating command data for distinguishing it from the transmission data in the header information portion, and sets the wireless device 12a. Output for.

  The data output from the communication parameter setting unit 35 is transferred to the interface unit 25 via the input / output processing unit 32, and is output to the wireless device 12a as transmission data (TX) in the format shown in FIG.

(Communication parameter setting processing on the radio)
The wireless device 12a transmits to the transmission control unit 1216 when the message analysis unit 1201 recognizes that the data passed from the management server 10 is a communication parameter. The transmission control unit 1216 stores this communication parameter in the parameter storage unit 1214, and divides (or aggregates) the data to be transmitted to the opposite radio device 12b into packet lengths indicated by the communication parameter. And the transmission output of the PA 1205 is adjusted to be the transmission power indicated by the communication parameter.

The communication parameters are sent as transmission data to each wireless device 12b on the sensor side. When each wireless device 12b detects that it is a communication parameter setting command from the header information of the received data by the packet analysis unit 1212, the wireless device 12b stores it in the parameter storage unit 1214, and the transmission control unit 1216 stores the packet length and Control transmission power.
This enables communication with improved transmission efficiency while maintaining communication quality.

  After the communication parameter setting processing, the sensor-side wireless device 12b receives the measured value of the input sensor when the data transmission request from the management server 10 or the transmission timing set in advance in the transmission control unit 1216 is reached. Transmission data is generated with the packet length stored in the packet generator 1202 and output from the packet generator 1202. The data output from the packet generation unit 1202 is transmitted to the management server 10 side through the BPF 1204 and the PA 1205 with the set transmission power.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the packet length and transmission power of a template having a large correlation with time-series data are set and transmitted to the wireless devices on the management server side and the sensor side, so that the congestion state in the store etc. Even if the radio wave propagation environment fluctuates, stable wireless communication can be performed with high transmission efficiency. Further, since the power consumption efficiency of the wireless device is improved, the battery replacement cycle or charging interval can be lengthened even when a battery-driven wireless device is used.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, the template file 41 and the communication parameter table 42 are created or updated during system operation.

  FIG. 12 is a functional block diagram of the management server 10 according to the second embodiment. 4, template management means 36 for adding and deleting templates, communication quality index recording means 37 for recording a communication quality index such as a transmission error rate and the number of retries, and communication parameters based on the communication quality index. A communication parameter changing means 38 to be changed is added. Hereinafter, the difference from the first embodiment will be mainly described.

First, the procedure of the addition process of the template management unit 36 will be described with reference to FIG.
(Template addition process)
The template addition process of the template management unit 36 is started after the correlation value is calculated by the correlation calculation unit 34, and the correlation value of the template extracted by the correlation calculation unit 34 is compared with the threshold value (S11). Is smaller (that is, when the error variable Emin is larger than the threshold) (S12), the time series data is registered in the template file 41 as a new template (S13).

  At this time, the communication quality index recording means 37 simultaneously reads out communication quality evaluation index data such as a transmission error rate or the number of retransmissions in a preset communication parameter from the wireless device 12a, as shown in FIG. The table 42 is stored in association with the template ID and communication parameters.

(Template merge processing)
When the number of templates exceeds a predetermined number, the template management unit 36 calculates a correlation for any two templates, deletes one of the templates with the largest correlation, and selects a corresponding communication parameter table. 42 entries are integrated.

  Hereinafter, template merging processing by the template management unit 36 will be described with reference to FIG.

  As in FIG. 7, the template management means 36 first initializes the error variable Emin (S41), and calculates all error values Eab (0) between the templates by the double loop (S44). In this process, those whose cross-correlation value Eab (0) is equal to or less than a predetermined value β are grouped into one group. Here, the cross-correlation value Eab (0) represents an error (m and n are integers and m <n) between the templates am (t) and bn (t) in the equation (1).

  Next, the template management unit 36 creates a merge list in the temporary storage area of the arithmetic processing unit 23, and sequentially adds those having an error value smaller than the reference value β, that is, those having high similarity (those having a high correlation). (S45, S46). As a result, the template that can be integrated remains in the merge list when the loop is exited. The template management means 36 integrates these into one template (S47). As an integration method, for example, there is a method of arbitrarily extracting one from a plurality of templates that can be integrated, or calculating one template by a least square method.

  Note that the template merge process may be executed when a template is added by the template addition process, and one of the two templates having the smallest error may be deleted.

(Communication parameter change processing)
In the present embodiment, the communication parameter changing means 38 sequentially changes the communication parameters of the template.

Hereinafter, the operation of the communication parameter changing unit 38 will be described with reference to FIG.
When the communication parameter changing means 38 is activated, it first determines from the communication quality index data read from the radio device 12a whether or not the transmission error rate is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold A (S51). Next, it is determined whether or not the currently set packet length is minimum (S52). If not, the packet length is shortened by one rank (S53). Note that the packet length and the transmission power are increased or decreased by a predetermined adjustment unit (rank).

  On the other hand, when the already set packet length is the minimum, the communication parameter changing unit 38 determines whether or not the transmission power is maximum (S54), and if not, the transmission power is increased by one rank (S55).

  When the transmission power is the maximum, the communication parameter changing means 38 (“Yes” in S54) outputs an error message indicating that the radio wave propagation environment in the store can no longer be handled (S56).

  On the other hand, when the transmission error rate is less than the threshold value A, the communication parameter changing means 38 (“No” in S51) determines whether or not the transmission error rate is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value B (S57). . If it is determined in step S57 that the transmission power is less than or equal to the threshold value B, the communication parameter changing unit 38 determines whether or not the transmission power is minimum (S58), and if not, the transmission power is reduced by one rank (S59).

  When the transmission power is minimum, the communication parameter changing unit 38 determines whether or not the packet length is maximum (S60), and if not, increases the packet length by one rank (S61).

  Here, the threshold A is a reference value in the direction of deterioration of the transmission error rate set in the communication quality reference table 43, and is a reference for maintaining the transmission error rate to be equal to or higher than this value. On the other hand, the threshold B is a reference value in the direction of improving the transmission error rate similarly defined in the communication quality reference table 43. When the transmission error rate is less than this value, the packet length is increased or the transmission power is reduced. It is a standard for performing control. The relationship of threshold A> threshold B is established.

  When the communication parameter is changed by the processing of the communication parameter changing unit 38, the communication parameter setting unit 35 again performs the communication parameter setting process for the radio units 12a and 12b, and the communication quality index recording unit 37. When the communication quality index data read from the wireless device 12a satisfies the communication quality reference value C (threshold A> C> threshold B) preset in the communication quality reference table 43, the communication parameter and template ID at that time Are added to the communication parameter table 42. (See FIG. 14).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the template management unit 36 constantly updates the template to a new state, and the communication parameter changing unit 38 changes the setting to the optimum communication parameter. It can respond flexibly to changes.

  Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, by setting communication parameters for each communication link between any two wireless devices, for example, communication quality associated with fluctuations in the radio wave propagation environment that occurs locally due to the movement of customers in the store, for example. It is intended to suppress the decrease.

  The management server 10 of the present embodiment has the same configuration as that of the second embodiment, and adds a copy of time series data collected from each sensor to the template file 41 as a template. At this time, the communication quality indicator recording unit 37 transmits the evaluation indicator data of the communication quality for each communication link (radio link ID) between any two radio units in the communication parameter set by the communication parameter setting unit 35 to the radio unit 12a. As shown in FIG. 17, an entry is added to the communication parameter table 42 composed of columns of template ID, radio link ID, communication parameter, and communication quality. At this time, if the communication parameter changing means 38 does not satisfy a predetermined communication quality standard (for example, error rate: less than A%) for each radio link ID, the packet length is changed by the procedure shown in FIG. Set to shorten or increase transmission power. On the other hand, when the predetermined communication quality standard is satisfied, the communication parameter changing unit 38 performs setting for increasing the packet length or setting for reducing transmission power. Thereafter, the communication quality index recording means 37 reads the communication quality evaluation index from the communication result again, and adds an entry to the communication parameter table 42. When the newly added entry satisfies the communication quality reference value C, the communication quality index recording unit 37 may delete other entries of the same template ID or store them as a history. Also good.

  For the sensor-side radio 12b corresponding to each communication link, a communication parameter is set by a setting command transmitted from the communication parameter setting means 35 via the radio 12a, and the packet set by this communication parameter is set. Measurement data is sent from the sensor-side radio 12b to the management server-side radio 12a with the length and the transmission power. Note that the radio 12a on the management server side may communicate with each sensor-side radio 12b with the minimum packet length and the maximum transmission power among the communication parameters registered in the communication parameter table 42. Then, for each communication link, the communication parameter of that link may be reset to communicate with each sensor-side radio 12b.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to perform communication by setting communication parameters such as the optimum packet length and transmission power for each communication link between wireless devices.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. The means described in each embodiment can be implemented independently or in any combination. For example, in the third embodiment, as in the second embodiment, when the number of templates exceeds a predetermined number, the correlation between any two templates is calculated, and the correlation Delete one of the largest templates. At this time, the entries in the corresponding table may be integrated.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wireless communication system 10 Management server 11 Database 12a, 12b Radio | wireless machine 13a, 13b, 13c Sensor 21 Input part 22 Display part 23 Arithmetic processing part 24 Storage part 25 Interface part 31 Basic data setting means 32 Input / output processing means 33 Measurement data input Means 34 Correlation calculation means 35 Communication parameter setting means 36 Template management means 37 Communication quality index recording means 38 Communication parameter changing means 41 Template file 42 Communication parameter table 43 Communication quality reference table 45 Weight coefficient table 1200 Digital signal processing device 1201 Message analysis unit 1202 Packet generators 1203 and 1210 Mixers 1204 and 1209 Bandpass filters (BPF)
1205 Power amplifier (PA)
1206 Antenna 1207 RF switch 1208 Low noise amplifier (LNA)
1211 Frequency offset compensation unit 1212 Packet analysis unit 1213 Local oscillator 1214 Parameter storage unit 1215 Low pass filter (LPF)
1216 Transmission control unit

Claims (7)

A sensor that collects at least one of temperature, amount of water, and electric power as measurement data; a radio that transmits measurement data collected by the sensor by wireless communication; and a measurement data that is transmitted by the radio A wireless communication system having a management server for recording in a database,
The management server
A template file for storing time series data of a predetermined time unit generated based on the measurement data as a template;
A communication parameter table that associates and stores the identification information of the template and communication parameters of packet length and / or transmission power in wireless communication;
Correlation calculating means for calculating the correlation between the measurement data in the past predetermined time and the template by receiving the measurement data, and extracting the identification information of the template having the largest correlation;
Referring to the communication parameter table, communication parameter setting means for setting the communication parameter associated with the template identification information extracted by the correlation calculating means for the radio,
A wireless communication system comprising:   When the correlation value of the template with the highest correlation extracted by the correlation calculation means is smaller than a predetermined value, the management server adds the measurement data within the past predetermined time to the template file as a new template On the other hand, when the number of templates stored in the template file exceeds a predetermined number, a template management unit is provided for deleting one or more templates based on a predetermined deletion condition. The wireless communication system according to claim 1.   3. The radio according to claim 2, wherein the template management unit deletes one of two templates having the largest correlation value among correlations between any two templates as the deletion condition. Communications system. The management server
A communication quality indicator recording means for recording a communication quality indicator such as transmission error rate, received electric field strength, or number of retransmissions;
A communication quality standard table for storing a standard value of the communication quality index;
Communication parameter changing means for changing at least one of the packet length or transmission power of the radio based on the communication quality indicator and the communication quality standard;
The wireless communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising:   When the communication quality indicator satisfies the communication quality criterion, the communication parameter changing means makes the packet length of the radio longer than the current value or makes the transmission power smaller than the current value, and the communication quality indicator 5. The radio according to claim 4, wherein when the communication quality standard is not satisfied, the packet length of the radio is changed to be shorter than the current value or the transmission power is changed to be larger than the current value. Communications system. The template and the communication parameter are provided for each link that is a combination of opposing radios that perform transmission,
The correlation calculation means calculates a correlation for each link,
The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the communication parameter setting unit sets the communication parameter for each link. A weighting factor table for storing the weighting factor for each type of temperature, water volume, and power measurement data, and weighting factor extraction conditions,
The correlation calculation means calculates a correlation for each type of the measurement data, extracts a weight coefficient based on the extraction condition of the weight coefficient table, and uses the extracted weight coefficient and the correlation for each type. The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein a correlation between the measurement data and the template is calculated.

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