Patent Description:
Location information is broadly needed in industrial automation systems e.g. for personnel and asset tracking, engineering and maintenance, access control, control of mobile equipment, security surveillance, safety patrol, evacuation and rescue, etc. Accurate location information can also be used to improve the security of wireless communication from the physical layer to complement the traditional cryptography base security mechanisms, because any spoofing of the signal will increase extra delay, which will be noticed easily by detecting the abnormal change of distance/location. Today, adding and processing location information are implemented in higher-level automation applications on a case-by-case basis instead of in the WAN. To do this, an extra cross-layer interface is needed for the automation applications to access the location information from the bottom of a WAN interface, but such a cross-layer design is not recommended due to the lack of a standard and violation to the layer-based design principal of communication stacks. More importantly, many end users of the devices do not want to share the location information to certain applications due to privacy concerns. <CIT> describes a method for verifying trustworthiness of a data packet routed over several hops in an identity anonymous wireless sensor network, where sender and receiver locations are required for the verification.

It may be an objective of the invention to provide an improved system and method for transmitting location information in industrial automation systems.

The problem is solved by the subject-matter of the independent claims. Embodiments are provided by the dependent claims, the following description and the accompanying figures.

The described embodiments similarly pertain to the WAN source device, the WAN destination device, the WAN system comprising the source device and the destination device, the method for communication and localization in a WAN, and the usage of a WAN destination and/or source device for authenticated wireless communication and for wireless localization. Synergetic effects may arise from different combinations of the embodiments although they might not be described in detail.

Further on, it shall be noted that all embodiments of the present invention concerning a method, might be carried out with the order of the steps as described, nevertheless this has not to be the only and essential order of the steps of the method. The herein presented methods can be carried out with another order of the disclosed steps without departing from the respective method embodiment, unless explicitly mentioned to the contrary hereinafter.

Technical terms are used by their common sense. If a specific meaning is conveyed to certain terms, definitions of terms will be given in the following in the context of which the terms are used.

According to a first aspect, a wireless automation network (WAN) source device is provided, wherein the WAN source device is configured to generate a WAN data packet containing a payload with automation data according to a WAN communication protocol and an application packet, and to transmit the WAN data packet to a WAN destination device; wherein the WAN source device comprises:.

According to an embodiment, the WAN source device further comprises a WAN packet wrapper as a second data wrapper configured to encode the source location stamp, the destination location stamp and the valid flag into the WAN data packet and to output the WAN data packet.

According to an embodiment, the WAN source device further comprises an automation application layer (AAL) and a WAN communication layer (WCL); wherein the WAN wrapper and the wireless localization engine are part of the WAN communication layer; and
the destination location generator, the source location authorizer; and the application packet wrapper are part of the automation application layer.

According to an embodiment, the source location authorizer is configured to authorize the application packet wrapper, or the WAN packet wrapper, or both to encode the source location stamp and the destination location stamp.

The automation data may be data of an industrial process that is collected, for example, by an industrial sensor. The wireless localization engine may determine the location using devices or methods known to a skilled person, for example, by a triangulation method using run times of electromagnetic waves, signal strength, reception directivities, etc. The WAN source device therefore is enabled to transmit a location information using the packets that also contain the data payload. The location stamp comprises at least a location information or location value. More details are given further below.

The source location stamp and the destination location stamp can be either inserted into the packet generated in the AAL, or to the packet generated in the WCL, or both. Consequently, in the WAN packet to be transmitted, it is contained once or twice. If it is inserted in the AAL, this resulting application packet including the location stamp is packed as a payload into the WAN packet.

The control of the access may be performed by the wireless localization engine itself according to an information obtained from the authorizer. The information may be an authorization information to allow access from the AAL and a separate authorization information to allow access from the WCL, or a single information, in case there is only one layer, or in case, the layers are treated the same way.

The authorizer may further be configured to provide the authorization information to the destination location generator. In this way, the destination location generator is enabled to include a valid information, e.g., a valid flag, whether the respective location information is valid into the destination time stamp. Instead of a valid flag, the validity of the location information may be detectable by the value(s) of the location stamps. For example, a default value of zero may indicate a non-valid value.

The source location stamp may hence comprise a field with the source location value, and a further field with the source location stamp validity information. It may further comprise a location accuracy information. The field for the locations value may be initialized with a default value, for example zero or a random value.

The authorizer therefore ensures privacy requirements on both AAL and WCL level.

According to a further aspect, a wireless automation network destination device is provided, wherein the WAN destination device is configured to receive a WAN data packet according to a WAN communication protocol comprising a payload with automation data and an application packet, wherein the WAN data packet contains further a source location stamp and a destination location stamp; and wherein the WAN destination device comprises.

and if the comparison matches then:
to forward the WAN data packet to the application packet parser that is configured to extract the payload and the source location stamp from said WAN data packet.

According to an embodiment, the application packet parser is a second packet parser configured to.

According to an embodiment, the WAN destination device further comprises a WAN communication layer, WCL, and an automation application Layer (AAL); and wherein the WAN packet parser and the wireless localization engine are part of the WAN communication layer, and the destination location authorizer and the application packet parser are part of the WAN communication layer.

According to an embodiment, the destination location authorizer is configured to authorize the application packet parser, or the WAN packet parser, or both to encode the destination location stamp.

According to an embodiment, the received source location stamp and destination location stamp each comprise an accuracy information, wherein the accuracy information specifies an accuracy to be taken into account for determining a match of the source location values and / or destination location values.

The received source location stamp contains location information about the source device, and the received destination location stamp contains location information about the destination device. The location information may be provided to further modules in the WAN. The location information about the destination device is not an actual position of the destination device but may indicate a target position or region at / in which the destination may be allowed to extract the payload from the message. The location information about the source device is the actual position of the source device.

The received source location value contained in the source location stamp may preferably be an absolute 2D or 3D position. The received destination location value contained in the destination location stamp may be an absolute position, a relative position or preferably a distance, i.e. a 1D relative position, indicating an allowed radius around the source location. The locally generated destination location value may preferably be an absolute position.

The parsers perform the inverse operation of the wrappers in the source device. Further, they check whether the destination device is located at an allowed position for extracting and forwarding the payload data and or the received location information.

The control of the access may be performed by the wireless localization engine itself according to the information obtained from the authorizer. The information may be an authorization information to allow access from the AAL and a separate authorization information to allow access from the WCL. The authorizer therefore ensures so that privacy requirements is ensured on both AAL and WCL level.

The locally generated destination location stamp may comprise further, i.e., apart from the destination location value, the destination location stamp validity information. A validity of the source location value and/or the destination location value is related to the validity information.

There are several options how to proceed in the case of a false flag. For example, the comparison of the location values is skipped, or the packet may be discarded.

According to an aspect, a wireless automation network, WAN, system is provided, comprising a WAN source device and a WAN destination device as described herein.

According to a further aspect, a wireless automation network, WAN, device is provided comprising a WAN source device and a WAN destination device as described herein, where the WAN device is a physical device, and the WAN source device and WAN destination device are logical devices. This allows having a bi-directional physical device, comprising a transmitting and receiving part.

According to a further aspect, a method for communication and localization in a wireless automation network, WAN, device, is provided,.

According to a further aspect, a method for communication and localization in a wireless automation network, WAN, is provided wherein the WAN comprises:.

A usage of wireless automation network, WAN, destination device for authenticated wireless communication and for wireless localization may be provided. That is, the location information may be used for authentication, and for providing location information. The source device may retrieve its own location information. The destination device may retrieve its own location information and location information of the source device.

The method may be performed by a program element running on a processor or a controller. The program element when being executed by the processor or controller, instructs the destination device to perform the steps of the method. Similarly, the source device may be realized by program element, and a processor or controller on which the program element runs, instructs the source device to perform the functions and methods of the source device to generate and transmit a WAN packet as described herein. The program element may be part of a computer program, but it can also be an entire program by itself. For example, the computer program element may be used to update an already existing computer program to get to the present invention.

The WAN may be based on, e.g. WiFi <NUM>. 11az, 3GPP <NUM> NR release <NUM>, IEEE802. 4z UWB or other suitable wireless protocols or standards.

The controller may comprise circuits without programmable logics or may be or comprise a micro controller, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an ASIC, a Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD), or any other programmable logic devices known to person skilled in the art. The program element is stored on a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium may be seen as a storage medium, such as for example, a USB stick, a CD, a DVD, a data storage device, a hard disk, or any other medium on which a program element as described above can be stored.

Aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the accompanying figure and the following description.

The figures are merely schematic and not to scale. In principle, identical or similar parts are given the same reference signs.

For each communication link, a pair of logical devices, a source device, also designated as "link source" in the following and a destination device, also designated as "link destination" in the following, are equipped with the functionalities not only for wireless communication but also for wireless localization. The location information is added to the communication packets and the communication packets are processed based on not only the network addresses but also the location stamps.

<FIG> shows a diagram of the source device <NUM> and the destination device <NUM> with their functional units that are described in the following. The structure of the packets is shown in <FIG>. The explanations referring to <FIG> focus on the packet structure and the processing of the packets. <FIG> describes a method for decoding the WAN packet in the destination device <NUM>.

Now referring to <FIG>, the source device <NUM> comprises two software layers: the first layer is the automation application layer <NUM>. The second layer is the communication layer <NUM>. The automation data source <NUM> provides automation data as payload to the application packet wrapper <NUM>. The wireless localization engine <NUM> located in the communication layer <NUM> generates a source location stamp and a destination location generator <NUM> receives the source location stamp and generates a destination location stamp based on the received source location stamp. Both location stamps are provided to the application packet wrapper <NUM>. The source location authorizer <NUM> provides an information whether an access to the location information is allowed to the destination location generator <NUM> and to the wireless localization engine <NUM>. The destination location generator <NUM> and the wireless localization engine <NUM> add a corresponding valid flag to the source and destination location stamps for indicating whether the source location stamps are valid due to the authorization. The application packet wrapper <NUM> encodes the location stamps and the payload and outputs an application packet. The WAN packet wrapper <NUM> in the communication layer <NUM> receives the application packet and further receives also the location stamp including a valid flag from the wireless localization engine <NUM> and the destination location generator <NUM>. The WAN packet wrapper <NUM> then encodes the application packet and the location stamps including the valid flag, and outputs a WAN packet. The WAN packet wrapper sends generated WAN packet over WAN communication stack <NUM> to the WAN interface <NUM>, so that the packet can be sent as a signal via antenna <NUM> over the wireless automation network <NUM> to the antenna of the WAN destination device <NUM>.

The insertion of the location stamp may be performed as described above in both layers or either in the automation application layer or in the WAN communication layer. The processing of locations stamps in the AAL and WCL is determined (i.e. enabled or disabled) according to the configuration of the source location authorizer <NUM> in the source device <NUM>, and the destination location authorizer and destination device <NUM>, respectively. The packet processing and the valid flag mechanism is described in more detail at hand of <FIG> and <FIG> below.

In the destination device <NUM>, antenna <NUM> receives the signal with the transmitted packet and provides the signal to the WAN interface <NUM>, where the signal is demodulated. The WAN interface <NUM> then sends the demodulated signal with the packet to the WAN communication stack <NUM>, which decodes the packet and passes it to the WAN packet parser <NUM>. The destination location authorizer <NUM> provides an information whether the WAN packet parser <NUM> and/or the application packet parser <NUM> are allowed or authorized to access the wireless localization engine <NUM> for receiving the locally generated destination location stamp. If yes, the wireless localization engine <NUM> inserts the localization value, an accuracy value and a valid flag according to the access authorization in the locally generated destination location stamp, the WAN packet parser <NUM> receives the locally generated destination location stamp from the wireless localization engine <NUM>. The WAN packet parser <NUM> parses the packet and compares the location stamp in the received packet with the locally generated destination location stamp received from the wireless localization engine <NUM>. The WAN packet parser <NUM> compares the WAN location stamps, if all valid flags are true. If the location stamps do not match, the WAN packet parser <NUM> discards the packet. Otherwise, the WAN packet parser <NUM> forwards the parsed packet to the application packet parser <NUM> that extracts the payload and the source location stamp. If the application location stamp valid flag and the extracted application location stamp valid flag are set to true, the application packet parser <NUM> can compare the location values. If the location stamps do not match it discards the packet. The automation data consumer <NUM> receives finally the payload. Further, the location values may be provided to other devices in the WAN. The location values may also be sent to a server or into a cloud.

The structure of the WAN packet (WanPkt) processed in the communication layer and the application packet (AppPkt) processed in the application layer are illustrated in <FIG>. The application packet <NUM> comprises a header field <NUM>, the source location stamp field <NUM>, the destination location stamp field <NUM>, and a payload field <NUM>. The source location stamp field <NUM> and the destination location stamp field <NUM> each contain a field for the valid flag <NUM>, the location value <NUM>, and the location accuracy <NUM>. Similarly, the WAN packet <NUM> comprises a header field <NUM>, a source and a destination location stamp field <NUM>, <NUM> and the above described application packet field <NUM>. The header field <NUM> contains the WAN source address and the WAN destination address. Hence, the traditional network addresses (WanSrcAddr and WanDstAddr) are still available in the WAN packet <NUM>, which can be e.g. the MAC (medium access control) address and/or IP (internet protocol) address.

The location stamps are specified in three fields:
IsValid <NUM>, herein also referred to as (location) valid flag: when true, the location stamp is valid, e.g. if the AAL or WAN is authorized to access the location information. When false, the location stamp is not valid e.g. if the AAL or WAN is not authorized to access the location information.

packet <NUM> to the link destination <NUM> through the WAN interface <NUM>.

In a third step <NUM>, in the wireless communication layer <NUM> of the Link Destination <NUM>, the WAN Packet Parser <NUM> receives the WAN packet <NUM> from the WAN interface <NUM> through the WAN communication stack <NUM>; retrieves the current location from the wireless localization Engine <NUM> if it is authorized. Then the WAN packet <NUM> is processed according to the flowchart <NUM> in the <FIG>. Optionally, the matching of destination location stamp (WanDstLoc <NUM> and source location stamp (WanSrcLoc) <NUM> can be applied independently, i.e., the link destination <NUM> can be configured to parse the WAN packet <NUM> according to the source location stamp (WanSrcLoc) <NUM>, or according to the destination location stamp (WanDstLoc) <NUM>, or both.

In a fourth step <NUM>, in the automation application layer <NUM> of the link destination, the application packet parser receives the application packet <NUM> (AppPkt) from the wireless communication layer <NUM>; retrieves the current location from its wireless communication layer <NUM> if it is authorized; then does location matching (i.e. compares the destination location stamp (AppDstLoc) <NUM> with the current location). If the matching result is true, the application payload (AppPld) <NUM> will be handed over to the application data consumer after removing the application headers (AppHeaders) <NUM>, application source location stamp (AppSrcLoc) <NUM>, and application destination location stamp (AppDstLoc) <NUM>. Otherwise, the application packet (AppPkt) <NUM> is discarded.

shows a method <NUM> for communication and localization in a wireless automation network, WAN. The method <NUM> starts at <NUM>. In step <NUM>, a WAN destination address is compared with a local WAN address. In <NUM> it is checked whether they match. If not, the method continues processing <NUM> according to the communication protocol. If yes, the WAN destination location value of the location stamp is compared <NUM> with a location value of the device. In <NUM> it is checked <NUM> whether they match. If not, the WAN data packet is discarded <NUM> and the method returns <NUM>. If yes, the WAN source location value is compared <NUM> with a configured source location value. In <NUM> it is checked <NUM> whether they match. If not, the WAN data packet is discarded <NUM> and the method returns <NUM>. If yes, the payload is forwarded <NUM> as application packet to the automation application layer and the method returns <NUM>.

Optionally, the authorizations to access location information at automation application layer <NUM>, <NUM> and wireless communication layer <NUM>, <NUM> are independent. In a preferred packet <NUM> to the link destination <NUM> through the WAN interface <NUM>.

Optionally, the authorizations to access location information at automation application layer <NUM>, <NUM> and wireless communication layer <NUM>, <NUM> are independent. In a preferred embodiment, only the wireless communication layer <NUM>, <NUM> is authorized to access the location information, which will largely reduce the concern about privacy when, for example, wearable or portable devices are used to track the location of personnel. As further options, a physical device can include both the link source <NUM> and the link destination <NUM> functionalities for two-way communication, or only one of them for one-way communication. As specific embodiments, the automation application layer processing and wireless communication layer processing of location stamps can be implemented independently, i.e. it is possible to implement only one of two layers or the both layers.

The invention allows reducing the complexity in control applications to utilize the native localization capability of the new generation wireless infrastructure e.g. <NUM> and WiFi. Costs for dedicated localization infrastructure. Further, the concern about privacy when wearable or portable devices are used to track personnel location is reduced.

Claim 1:
A wireless automation network, WAN, source device (<NUM>), wherein the WAN source device (<NUM>) is configured to generate a WAN data packet containing a payload with automation data according to a WAN communication protocol and an application packet, and to transmit the WAN data packet to a WAN destination device (<NUM>); wherein the WAN source device (<NUM>) comprises:
a wireless localization engine (<NUM>);
a destination location generator (<NUM>);
a source location authorizer (<NUM>); and
an application packet wrapper (<NUM>);
wherein
the source location authorizer (<NUM>) is configured to provide an information whether the destination location generator (<NUM>) and the wireless localization engine (<NUM>) are authorized for accessing location information;
if said authorization for accessing the location information is permitted then:
said wireless localization engine (<NUM>) is configured to generate a source location stamp;
said destination location generator (<NUM>) is configured to receive the source location stamp and generate a destination location stamp based on the received source location stamp;
the destination location generator (<NUM>) and the wireless localization engine (<NUM>) are configured to add a corresponding valid flag of the source and destination location stamps for indicating whether the source and destination stamps are valid due to the authorization for accessing the location information;
the application packet wrapper (<NUM>) is configured to encode the source location stamp, the destination location stamp and the valid flag in an application packet, and is further configured to output the application packet.