Methods and apparatuses for graphically indicating station efficiency and pseudo-dynamic error vector magnitude information for a network of wireless stations

• US 10,142,989 B2
• Filed: 10/20/2015
• Issued: 11/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ubiquiti Inc.
• Original Assignee: Ubiquiti Networks, Inc. (Ubiquiti Inc.)
• Inventors: Dayanandan, Sriram, Ponnampalam, Vish, Pera, Robert J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nawaz, Asad M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chang, Kai
• Application Number:
  US14/918,320
• Publication Number:
  US 20160066202A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,134 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/00 Network planning, e.g. coverage or traffic planning tools; Network deployment, e.g. resource partitioning or cells structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/563 of the wireless resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses providing a visual metric of the efficiency of a network of devices communicating through a wireless access point (AP). These apparatuses and methods may also determine and display pseudo-dynamic error vector magnitude (EVM) information for a network of wireless stations, including displaying a pseudo-dynamic constellation diagrams using EVM information. These methods and apparatuses may transmit a plurality of sounding packets from each of one or more radio devices different modulation types (e.g., BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM, 256QAM and 1024QAM), and receiving at least some of the sounding packets at a second radio device (e.g., an access point) and determining EVM information from the received sounding packets, and displaying (or providing for display) a constellation diagram including pseudo-dynamic EVM information that is a constrained approximation of actual EVM information.

Claims

1. A method of optimizing channel selection for an access point wirelessly connected to one or more stations, the method comprising:

collecting, in the access point, 24 hours or longer worth of historical frequency spectral information;

collecting, in the access point, usage data for the one or more stations wirelessly connected to the access point;

determining a ranking of spectral efficiency, in bits per second per channel width, for a plurality of frequency channels based on the collected 24 hours or longer worth of historical frequency spectral information and the usage data, wherein for each channel of the plurality of frequency channels, the spectral efficiency corresponds to a data rate for the channel divided by the channel width, wherein determining the ranking of spectral efficiency further comprises determining the data rate for each channel of the plurality of frequency channels as an average or minimum data rate from the collected spectral information and from the collected usage data, wherein the usage data comprises a signal strength;

automatically selecting a top-ranked frequency channel based on the determined ranking; and

using the top-ranked frequency channel to wirelessly communicate between the access point and the one or more stations.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving local frequency spectral information at the one or more stations concurrently with transmitting/receiving activity by the one or more stations, wherein the one or more stations each comprise a spectrum analyzer.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising allowing a user to graphically select a frequency and displaying a spectral efficiency for the selected frequency based on the collected frequency spectral information and usage data.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising manually setting the channel width.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting historical frequency spectral information comprises collecting 48 hours or longer of frequency spectral information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting historical frequency spectral information comprises collecting 7 days or longer of frequency spectral information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting historical frequency spectral information comprises collecting frequency spectral information extending from 5 GHz to 6 GHz.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting historical frequency spectral information comprises collecting frequency spectral information at least once every hour from one or more of the one or more stations.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting the usage data comprises collecting transmitted and received signal strength for the one or more stations wirelessly connected to the access point.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting the usage data comprises collecting data including the percentage of time that the one or more stations are using a channel.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a ranking of spectral efficiency further comprises determining a channel capacity for each of a plurality of channels, further wherein the usage data comprises a signal strength, and dividing the channel capacity by the channel width.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein the data rate for each channel is determined from a signal strength plus interference (SNIR) for the channel.

13. A method of optimizing channel selection for an access point wirelessly connected to one or more stations, the method comprising:

receiving local frequency spectral information at the one or more stations concurrently with transmitting/receiving activity by the one or more stations, wherein the one or more stations each comprise a spectrum analyzer;

collecting, in the access point, 24 hours or longer worth of the frequency spectral information from the one or more stations as historical local frequency spectral information;

collecting, in the access point, usage data for the one or more stations wirelessly connected to the access point;

determining a ranking of spectral efficiency, in bits per second per channel width, for a plurality of frequency channels based on the collected 24 hours or longer worth of historical local frequency spectral information and the usage data, wherein for each channel of the plurality of frequency channels, the spectral efficiency corresponds to a data rate for the channel divided by the channel width, wherein determining the ranking of spectral efficiency further comprises determining the data rate for each channel of the plurality of frequency channels as an average or minimum data rate from the collected spectral information and from the collected usage data, wherein the usage data comprises a signal strength;

automatically selecting a top-ranked frequency channel for the access point based on the determined ranking; and

using the top-ranked frequency channel to wirelessly communicate between the access point and the one or more stations.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the data rate for each channel is determined from a signal strength plus interference (SNIR) for the channel.

15. A wireless access point device configured to optimize channel selection for the access point, the device comprising:

a wireless radio;

an antenna; and

a controller configured to receive and store 24 hours or longer worth of historical frequency spectral information and usage data for one or more devices that is wirelessly connected to the access point;

wherein the controller is configured to determine a ranking of spectral efficiency, in bits per second per channel width, for a plurality of frequency channels based on the collected 24 hours or longer worth of historical frequency spectral information and the usage data, wherein for each channel of the plurality of frequency channels, the spectral efficiency corresponds to a data rate for the channel divided by the channel width, wherein determining the ranking of spectral efficiency further comprises determining the data rate for each channel of the plurality of frequency channels as an average or minimum data rate from the collected spectral information and from the collected usage data, wherein the usage data comprises a signal strength, and to select a top-ranked frequency channel for the access point based on the determined ranking and use the top-ranked frequency channel to wirelessly transmit and receive.

16. The device of claim 15, further comprising an output configured to output the top-ranked frequency channel.

17. The device of claim 15, further wherein the controller is configured to output top-ranked frequency channel to a display device.

18. The device of claim 15, further comprising a graphical user interface in communication with the controller configured to display frequency spectral information at different frequencies and label ranking for the frequency channels on the display.

19. The device of claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to collect historical frequency spectral information for 48 hours or longer.

20. The device of claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to collect historical frequency spectral information for 7 days or longer.

21. The device of claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to collect frequency spectral information for from each of the one or more devices that is wirelessly connected to the access point.

22. The device of claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to collect frequency spectral information for frequencies extending from 5 GHz to 6 GHz.

23. The device of claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to collect frequency spectral information at least once every hour from one or more of the devices that is wirelessly connected to the access point.

24. The device of claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to collect usage data including the percentage of time that a channel is used by the one or more devices that is wirelessly connected to the access point.

25. The device of claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to collect usage data from a plurality of the one or more stations and further wherein the controller is configured to determine the ranking of spectral efficiency by determining a channel capacity for each of the plurality of frequency channels by determining a data rate from the collected spectral information and from the collected usage data, wherein the usage data comprises a signal strength, and dividing the channel capacity by the channel width.