Patent ID: 8374221
Filing Date: 2013-02-12
Classification: H04B

Abstract:
1. An apparatus comprising: a plurality of antennas, each antenna configured to receive wireless signals transmitted using adaptive beam forming, each antenna further configured to receive wireless signals converted from Ethernet-formatted data from a gateway infrastructure node; a plurality of wireless radios, each wireless radio configured to output signals representing the wireless signals received by one of the antennas, each wireless radio further configured to communicate in a mesh network; a plurality of first diversity combiner units, each first diversity combiner unit configured to perform spread spectrum diversity combining using the signals output by one of the wireless radios and using at least one of: maximal ratio combining, equal gain combining, and selection combining; a second diversity combiner unit configured to perform antenna diversity combining using signals output by the first diversity combiner units and using at least one of: maximal ratio combining, equal gain combining, and selection combining, the second diversity combiner unit configured to output recovered wireless signals; and a controller configured to use one or more cryptographic keys from an OPC server to communicate with one or more external components in an industrial control and automation system; wherein each of the first diversity combiner units comprises a RAKE receiver.