Method and apparatus for the detection of distortion or corruption of cellular communication signals
First Claim
1. A method for use with a system including a radio equipment (RE) and a radio equipment controller (REC) being in communication through a medium having an uplink communication channel supporting uplink data communications from the RE to the REC, and a downlink communication channel supporting downlink data communications from the REC to the RE, the method comprising:
- generating a first multi-tone continuous wave (CW) signal;
transmitting the first multi-tone CW signal having a first phase over the downlink communication channel;
receiving a second multi-tone CW signal, over the uplink communication channel, resulting from a passive intermodulation distortion (PIM) of the first multi-tone CW signal;
extracting uplink I/Q data from the second multi-tone CW signal;
obtaining a second phase using the uplink I/Q data; and
calculating a distance to a location of the PIM based on the first phase and the second phase.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for troubleshooting signals in a cellular communications network, and in particular, for determining the cause of distortion or corruption of such signals, includes a robotic or other type of switch. The robotic switch can tap into selected uplink fiber-optic lines and selected downlink fiber-optic lines between radio equipment and radio equipment controllers in a wireless (e.g., cellular) network to extract therefrom the I and Q data. The selected I and Q data, in an optical form, is provided to an optical-to-electrical converter forming part of the system. The system includes an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) or the like, and an analytic computer unit, or web server, and SSD (Solid State Drive) and magnetic disk storage, among other components of the system. The system analyzes the I and Q data provided to it, and determines the cause, or at least narrows the field of possible causes, of impairment to transmitted signals. The system includes a display which provides the troubleshooting information thereon for a user of the system to review, or other form of a report, and may communicate the analytical findings to a remote location over a public or private internet protocol network.
70 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method for use with a system including a radio equipment (RE) and a radio equipment controller (REC) being in communication through a medium having an uplink communication channel supporting uplink data communications from the RE to the REC, and a downlink communication channel supporting downlink data communications from the REC to the RE, the method comprising:
-
generating a first multi-tone continuous wave (CW) signal; transmitting the first multi-tone CW signal having a first phase over the downlink communication channel; receiving a second multi-tone CW signal, over the uplink communication channel, resulting from a passive intermodulation distortion (PIM) of the first multi-tone CW signal; extracting uplink I/Q data from the second multi-tone CW signal; obtaining a second phase using the uplink I/Q data; and calculating a distance to a location of the PIM based on the first phase and the second phase. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A test device for use with a system including a radio equipment (RE) and a radio equipment controller (REC) being in communication through a medium having an uplink communication channel supporting uplink data communications from the RE to the REC, and a downlink communication channel supporting downlink data communications from the REC to the RE, the test device comprising:
-
a tone generator configured to generate a first multi-tone continuous wave (CW) signal; a transmitter configured to transmit the first multi-tone CW signal having a first phase over the downlink communication channel; a receiver configured to receive a second multi-tone CW signal, over the uplink communication channel, resulting from a passive intermodulation distortion (PIM) of the first multi-tone CW signal; and a processor configured to extract uplink I/Q data from the second multi-tone CW sig, obtain a second phase using the uplink I/Q data, and calculate a distance to a location of the PIM based on the first phase and the second phase. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
Specification