In some aspects, a channel hopping sequence for communication on a mesh network is generated. The hopping sequence may include multiple channels assigned to respective positions in the hopping sequence. In some cases, a first channel is assigned to a first position such that the first channel may transmit communications in a first transmission mode, such as a low-bandwidth transmission mode. In addition, an additional channels adjacent to the first channel is also assigned to the first position such that the combination of the first channel and additional channel may transmit communications in a second transmission mode, such as a high-bandwidth transmission mode. In some cases, a whitelist is determined based on the assigned channels. The whitelist may indicate channels that do not conflict with the assigned channels during transmission of a communication. In addition, channels may be assigned to the hopping sequence based on the whitelist.

Methods, apparatus, and processor-readable storage media for generating transmission arrangements for device group communication sessions are provided herein. An example computer-implemented method includes determining a transmission ordering of at least a portion of multiple devices in a designated group with respect to transmitting data packets during at least a portion of a communication session, wherein the transmission ordering comprises device identifiers, attributed to at least a portion of the multiple devices, assigned to sequential transmission slots; determining a scheduled distribution of multiple data packet types transmitted by at least a portion of the multiple devices across the sequential transmission slots, wherein the scheduled distribution comprises an identification of a respective one of the multiple data packet types assigned to each of the sequential transmission slots; and participating in the communication session in accordance with (i) the transmission ordering and (ii) the scheduled distribution of the multiple data packet types.

Methods, apparatus, and processor-readable storage media for generating a frequency hopping arrangement are provided herein. An example computer-implemented method includes calculating a number of useable frequency channels between a starting frequency channel and a stopping frequency channel for a frequency hopping arrangement for a communication session; calculating a frequency channel step value based at least in part on a predetermined required minimum number of frequency channels for the frequency hopping arrangement; selecting frequency channel values to be used in the communication session by iterating through frequency channel values for the useable frequency channels between the starting frequency channel and the stopping frequency channel at intervals of a random frequency channel selection offset value; and establishing the frequency hopping arrangement based at least in part on the selected frequency channel values.

Methods, apparatus, and processor-readable storage media for generating a frequency hopping arrangement are provided herein. An example computer-implemented method includes determining a starting frequency channel for a frequency hopping arrangement to be used in a communication session by a group of devices; calculating a frequency channel step value based at least in part on a predetermined required minimum number of frequency channels; and selecting the frequency channel values to be used in the communication session by iterating through frequency channel values for the useable frequency channels at intervals of a random frequency channel selection offset value until a number of frequency channel values equal to the frequency channel step value are selected.

A novel and useful acknowledgement and adaptive frequency hopping mechanism for use in wireless communication systems such as IO-Link Wireless. One or two additional acknowledgement bits are added to packet transmissions. One is a current acknowledgment bit which indicates whether a packet was successfully received anytime during the current cycle. The second bit is a previous acknowledgment bit which indicates whether packets were received successfully anytime during the previous cycle. An adaptive hopping table is constructed using a greedy algorithm which chooses frequencies with the best PER for transmission of higher priority packets, while equalizing the PER products across cycles. A last resort frequency mechanism further improves transmission success by switching to a better performing channel for the last subcycle when previous attempts to transmit a high priority packet have failed.

In some aspects, a channel hopping sequence for communication on a mesh network is generated. The hopping sequence may include multiple channels assigned to respective positions in the hopping sequence. In some cases, a first channel is assigned to a first position such that the first channel may transmit communications in a first transmission mode, such as a low-bandwidth transmission mode. In addition, an additional channels adjacent to the first channel is also assigned to the first position such that the combination of the first channel and additional channel may transmit communications in a second transmission mode, such as a high-bandwidth transmission mode. In some cases, a whitelist is determined based on the assigned channels. The whitelist may indicate channels that do not conflict with the assigned channels during transmission of a communication. In addition, channels may be assigned to the hopping sequence based on the whitelist.

A wireless communication device as an embodiment of the present invention is a wireless communication device for performing wireless communications with communication partners while switching channels to be used for each time slot, and includes a storage, an updater, a determinator, and a communicator. The storage stores pre-generated scheduling data indicating channels that can be used in each time slot. The updater determines whether or not each channel included in the scheduling data is usable, and registers the channel determined as unusable on a blacklist. The determinator determines the channel to be used in each time slot on the basis of the scheduling data and the blacklist. The communicator performs wireless communications with a communication partner by using the channel determined in each time slot.

A novel and useful acknowledgement and adaptive frequency hopping mechanism for use in wireless communication systems such as IO-Link Wireless. One or two additional acknowledgement bits are added to packet transmissions. One is a current acknowledgment bit which indicates whether a packet was successfully received anytime during the current cycle. The second bit is a previous acknowledgment bit which indicates whether packets were received successfully anytime during the previous cycle. An adaptive hopping table is constructed using a greedy algorithm which chooses frequencies with the best PER for transmission of higher priority packets, while equalizing the PER products across cycles. A last resort frequency mechanism further improves transmission success by switching to a better performing channel for the last subcycle when previous attempts to transmit a high priority packet have failed.

Methods, apparatus, and processor-readable storage media for generating a frequency hopping arrangement are provided herein. An example computer-implemented method includes determining a starting frequency channel for a frequency hopping arrangement to be used in a communication session by a designated group of devices; calculating a frequency channel step value based at least in part on a predetermined required minimum number of frequency channels and the number of devices in the designated group; and selecting the frequency channel values to be used in the communication session by iterating through frequency channel values for the useable frequency channels at intervals of a random frequency channel selection offset value until a number of frequency channel values equal to the frequency channel step value are selected.

Methods, apparatus, and processor-readable storage media for pairing multiple devices into a designated group for a communication session are provided herein. An example computer-implemented method includes processing, via a first processing device, information input by a user in connection with a request to pair the first processing device to one or more additional processing devices, wherein the information comprises a number of additional processing devices to which the first processing device is attempting to pair; implementing, via the first processing device, a pairing algorithm which comprises searching for additional processing devices, in accordance with temporal values associated with the input of the first processing device, that carried out a request to pair to the same number of additional processing devices as the first processing device; and configuring the first processing device to a pairing mode configuration upon successful completion of the pairing algorithm.