1. An apparatus for the detection of biofouling in a fluid line comprising;
a bacterial target comprising;
a substrate placed in the fluid line on which bacteria can colonize;
a first at least one optical fiber having a distal end and a proximal end, said distal end being spaced a working distance from the probe to transmit bacteria autofluorescent excitation energy to the probe and said proximal end being in communication with an energy source that provides bacteria autofluorescent excitation energy to bacteria on the probe;
a second at least one optical fiber having a distal end and a proximal end said distal end being spaced a working distance from the probe to receive and transmit autofluorescence from the bacteria on the probe.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a detector means at the proximal end of the second at least one optical fiber for detecting autofluorescence transmitted from the distal end.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said first at least one optical fiber and said second at least one optical fiber are assembled in a bifurcated configuration such that their distal ends are substantially common and their proximal ends are independent.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said bacteria autofluorescence excitation energy from said source is in a range of wavelengths of about 340 nm to about 410 nm.
5. The apparatus of claim 4 said apparatus also including a short pass filter between said source and said probe.
6. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said source of energy is an LED.
7. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said source of energy is a laser.
8. Apparatus for the detection of bacteria in a fluid line having an interior wall, said apparatus including a bacteria probe in the fluid line, said probe being of a material and geometry to attract bacteria, said apparatus including an optical fiber having a distal and a proximal end, said distal end being located in energy coupled relationship to said probe at a characteristic working distance therewith.
9. Apparatus as in claim 8 also including a source of light of a frequency for interrogating said probe for the presence of bacterial there, said source being coupled to said proximal end.
10. Apparatus as in claim 9 also including a photodetector for detecting autofluorescent rumination from said probe responsive to interrogating light and indicative of the presence of bacteria.
11. Apparatus as in claim 10 wherein said optical fiber has a bifurcated geometry with first and second proximal ends and said source of light and said photodetector are coupled to said first and second proximal ends respectively.
12. Apparatus as in claim 9 wherein said source of light is a Led operative to emit light in a range of wavelengths of 340 to 410 nm, said apparatus also including a short pass filter between said source and said probe.
13. Apparatus as in claim 9 wherein said source of light is a laser operative to emit light in a range of wavelengths of 340 to 410 nm, said apparatus also including a short pass filter between said source and said probe.
14. Apparatus as in claim 10 wherein said photodetector is operative to measure NADH andor NADPH emission having a peak between about 450 nm and about 460 nm by detecting the totality of light intensity in the wavelength range of 420 to 550 nm, said apparatus including a long pass (emission) filter between said photodetector and said probe.
15. Apparatus as in claim 8 wherein said optical fiber comprises a metallic collar at said distal end and guides therein for transmission of infra red energy to said collar for heating said collar.
16. A system including first and second apparatus each as set forth in claim 8, said system including means for diverting fluid flow from an on-line to an off-line subsystem responsive to a signal from the detector in said on-line subsystem indicating of the presence of bacteria on the probe in said on-line subsystem.
17. Apparatus for detecting the presence of bacteria in a fluid path, said apparatus comprising the placement of a bacteria probe in said fluid path, said probe including surface features of a geometry to attract bacteria.
18. Apparatus as in claim 17 wherein said features are crevices in a range of from about one to about one hundred nanometers.
19. Apparatus as in claim 18 wherein said crevices are arranged in a periodic pattern.
20. Apparatus as in claim 18 wherein said crevices are arranged in an aperiodic pattern.
21. Apparatus as in claim 17 also including means for eliminating bacteria accumulation on said probe.
22. Apparatus as in claim 17 including first and second fluid paths connected to a fluid source, said apparatus including a fluid diverter operative responsive to a first signal for diverting fluid flow from an on-line fluid path to an off-line fluid path, said fluid paths including first and second bacteria probes respectively and first and second sources of light of a frequency to excite bacteria for generating said first signal.
23. An apparatus for the detection of biofouling in a fluid line comprising;
a probe comprising a substrate placed in the fluid line on which bacteria can colonize;
a means for causing autofluorescence of bacteria on the probe;
a means for detecting the autofluorescence.
24. A method for detecting biofouling of a fluid line comprising;
placing a substrate in the fluid line for allowing colonization of bacteria on the substrate;
exposing the substrate to bacteria autofluorescence excitation energy;
detecting any autofluorescence.
providing an alternative subsystem and a diverter and operating the diverter to take the primary subsystem off line and replace it with the alternative subsystem when a level of bacteria is detected based on the intensity of the autofluorescence.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method comprising:
identifying a target node at a communication node of a wireless communication network, the target node being associated with a multi-hop route from the communication node to a destination node;
selecting a neighbor node of the communication node to operate as a cooperator node, the cooperator node and the communication node operating cooperatively to communicate with the target node;
identifying a first route from the communication node to the target node, wherein the first route does not include any intermediate node between the communication node and the target node;
identifying a second route from the communication node to the target node via the cooperator node, the second route including a first link between the communication node and the cooperator node and a second link between the cooperator node and the target node, wherein the second link does not include any intermediate node between the cooperator node and the target node;
transmitting a data packet from the communication node to the cooperator node over the first link of the second route and from the communication node directly to the target node over the first route; and
controlling a timing of the transmitting of the data packet from the communication node directly to the target node over the first route such that the transmitting of the data packet from the communication node directly to the target node over the first route occurs substantially simultaneously with a transmitting of the data packet from the cooperator node directly to the target node over the second link of the second route.
2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein identifying the target node at the communication node comprises identifying the target node via a multi-hop routing layer of a protocol stack associated with the communication node.
3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein identifying the target node at the communication node comprises identifying a two-hop neighbor node at a mesh node associated with a wireless mesh network.
4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein identifying the target node at the communication node comprises iteratively identifying the target node at the communication node.
5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein selecting the neighbor node of the communication node comprises identifying one or more candidate nodes based on a condition of a link associated with the one or more candidate nodes and the target node.
6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein selecting the neighbor nodes of the communication node further comprises:
selecting the neighbor node via a cooperative diversity layer of a protocol stack associated with the communication node, and wherein the cooperative diversity layer is integrated with at least one of media access control layer or a physical layer.
7. A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising selecting one of a multi-hop routing sub-path or a cooperative diversity sub-path to route a packet from the communication node toward the destination node, wherein the multi-hop routing sub-path is identified by a multi-hop routing layer of a protocol stack associated with the communication node, and wherein the cooperative diversity sub-path is identified by a cooperative diversity layer independent of the multi-hop routing layer.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein said controlling further comprises:
controlling the timing such that the transmitting of the data packet from the communication node directly to the target node over the first route occurs simultaneously with the transmitting of the data packet from the cooperator node directly to the target node over the second link of the second route.
9. A method of claim 1, wherein the cooperator node is a first cooperator node, the method further comprising:
selecting another neighbor node of the communication node to operate as a second cooperator node, wherein the first and second cooperator nodes and the communication node operates cooperatively to communicate with the target node;
identifying a third route from the communication node to the target node via the second cooperator node, the third route including a third link between the communication node and the second cooperator node and a fourth link between the second cooperator node and the target node, wherein the fourth link does not include any intermediate node between the second cooperator node and the target node;
transmitting the data packet from the communication node to the second cooperator node over the third link of the third route; and
controlling the timing of the transmitting of the data packet from the communication node directly to the target node over the first route such that the transmitting of the data packet from the communication node directly to the target node over the first route occurs substantially simultaneously with a transmitting of the data packet from the second cooperator node directly to the target node over the fourth link of the third route.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein said controlling of the timing of the transmitting of the data packet is configured to provide a cooperatively diverse transmission of the data packet to the target node.
11. An apparatus comprising:
a node identifier to identify a target node at a communication node of a wireless communication network, the target node being associated with a path from the communication node toward a destination node of a multi-hop route;
a node selector operatively coupled to the node identifier to select one or more neighbor nodes as a cooperator node, the cooperator node and the communication node operating cooperatively to communicate with the target node,
a path selector to identify a first route from the communication node to the target node, wherein the first route does not include any intermediate node between the communication node and the target node;
wherein path selected is further configured to identify a second route from the communication node to the target node via the cooperator node, the second route including a first link between the communication node and the cooperator node and a second link between the cooperator node and the target node, wherein the second link does not include any intermediate node between the cooperator node and the target node; and
wherein the apparatus further comprises a transmitter configured to transmit a data packet from the communication node to the cooperator node over the first link of the second route;
to transmit the data packet from the communication node directly to the target node over the first route; and
wherein the transmitter is further configured to control a timing of the transmission of the data packet from the communication node directly to the target node over the first route such that the transmission of the data packet from the communication node directly to the target node over the first route occurs substantially simultaneously with a transmission of the data packet from the cooperator node directly to the target node over the second link of the second route.
12. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the node identifier comprises a multi-hop routing layer of a protocol stack associated with the communication node.
13. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the node selector comprises a cooperative diversity layer of a protocol stack associated with the communication node, and wherein the cooperative diversity layer is integrated with at least one of media access control layer or a physical layer.
14. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the node identifier is configured to identify a two-hop neighbor node at a mesh node associated with a wireless mesh network.
15. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the node identifier is configured to identify iteratively the target node at the communication node.
16. An apparatus as defined in claim 11 wherein the path selector is further configured to select one of a multi-hop routing sub-path or a cooperative diversity sub-path to route a packet from the communication node toward the destination node, wherein the multi-hop routing sub-path is identified by a multi-hop routing layer of a protocol stack associated with the communication node, and wherein the cooperative diversity sub-path is identified by a cooperative diversity layer independent of the multi-hop routing layer.