Establishing usefulness of remote antenna units in a wireless communications system

• US 10,405,203 B2
• Filed: 05/28/2015
• Issued: 09/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Soder, Johan, Asplund, Henrik, Ericson, Marten, Simonsson, Arne
• Primary Examiner(s): Cumming, William D
• Application Number:
  US15/575,945
• Publication Number:
  US 20180152853A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,559 Days
• Field of Search: 370342, 370253, 455 111, 455 15, 455434, 455437, 4555621
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/20 for indoor coverage or short range network deployment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/06 Testing, supervising or monitoring using simulated traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/085 Access point devices with remote components

Abstract

A method (10) performed in a wireless communications system (10) for establishing usefulness of remote units is provided. The wireless communications system (10) monitors one or more remote units (2_i, 2_j, . . . , 2_N) of a distributed antenna system (1). The method (10) comprises: establishing (11), per remote unit (2_i, 2_j, . . . , 2_N), received signal strength of a wireless communication; establishing (12), per remote unit (2_i, 2_j, . . . , 2_N), a quantity related to the obtained received signal strength; and establishing (13) a measure on usefulness of each of two or more remote units (2_i, 2_j, . . . , 2_N) based on the received signal strength and on the quantity. A corresponding wireless communications system, computer programs, and computer program products are also provided.

Claims

1. A method performed in a wireless communications system, the wireless communications system monitoring a set of remote units, the set of remote units comprising a first remote unit and a second remote unit, the method comprising:

establishing, for the first remote unit, a first received signal strength of a first wireless transmission from a first wireless device;

establishing, for the second remote unit, a second received signal strength of the first wireless transmission from the first wireless device;

comparing the first received signal strength and the second received signal strength;

as a result of determining that the first received signal strength is higher than the second received signal strength, updating a first counter associated with the first remote unit;

calculating a first calculated value for the first remote unit using a value of the updated first counter; and

based on the first calculated value, determining whether a remote unit should be added to the set of remote units, a remote unit should be removed from the set of remote units, and/or a remote unit included in the set of remote units should be moved.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the value of the updated first counter indicates a number of received wireless transmissions, a number of received uplink data bits, or a number of transmitted downlink data bits.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first wireless transmission occurred during a time slot,

the method further comprises determining an amount of data received during the time slot, and

updating the first counter comprises updating the first counter by an amount that is equal to the determined amount of data received during the time slot.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first wireless transmission occurred during a time slot, and

updating the first counter comprises incrementing the first counter by one.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising, after updating the first counter but prior to calculating the first calculated value for the first remote unit:

establishing, for the first remote unit, a third received signal strength of a second wireless transmission;

establishing, for the second or a third remote unit, a fourth received signal strength of the second wireless transmission;

comparing the third received signal strength and the fourth received signal strength; and

as a result of determining that the third received signal strength is higher than the fourth received signal strength, further updating the first counter associated with the first remote unit.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing of the first received signal strength or the second received signal strength comprises identifying a received signal strength as being associated with one of the first remote unit and the second remote unit based on a remote unit specific signature injected on top of a received signal, and measuring a relative strength of different remote unit specific signatures in a combined signal, the combined signal comprising the received signal.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising turning off the set of remote units one by one and observing variations in received signal strength and/or quantity.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising, before turning off a third remote unit, ensuring that the wireless communications system operates on two or more frequency bands, channels or carriers, or ensuring that coverage is provided by another network node for user terminals using the third remote unit.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the updating of the first counter associated with the first remote unit comprises increasing the first counter associated with the first remote unit when:

the first remote unit has the highest received signal strength of the first wireless transmission among one or more remote units receiving the first wireless transmission, and

at least one other remote unit has a received signal strength of the first wireless transmission within a set range of the highest received signal strength.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the first calculated value to determine whether a remote unit should be removed, moved, or added.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing whether an additional remote unit should be added by identifying a third remote unit to have a significant fraction of low values when having the highest received signal strength of a second wireless transmission among one or more remote units receiving the second wireless transmission.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein a location of the additional remote unit is determined based on establishing which remote unit has the second highest received signal strength of the second wireless transmission among said one or more remote units receiving the second wireless transmission.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising visually and/or audibly providing feedback based on the first calculated value.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating the first calculated value for the first remote unit comprises calculating:

C1/SUM, wherein C1 is the value of the updated first counter and SUM is a value calculated based on summing a value of a second counter for the second remote unit and a value of a third counter for a third remote unit included in the set of remote units.

15. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program for a network node, the computer program comprising computer program code, which, when executed by a processing unit of the network node causes the network node to perform the method of claim 1.

16. A wireless communications system, the wireless communications system configured to monitor a set of remote units, the set of remote units comprising a first remote unit and a second remote unit, the wireless communications system being configured to:

establish, for the first remote unit, a first received signal strength of a first wireless transmission from a first wireless device;

establish, for the second remote unit, a second received signal strength of the first wireless transmission from the first wireless device;

compare the first received signal strength and the second received signal strength; and

as a result of determining that the first received signal strength is higher than the second received signal strength, update a first counter associated with the first remote unit;

calculate a first calculated value for the first remote unit using a value of the updated first counter; and

based on the first calculated value,

determine whether a remote unit should be added to the set of remote units, a remote unit should be removed from the set of remote units, and/or a remote unit included in the set of remote units should be moved.

17. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the value of the updated first counter indicates a number of received wireless transmissions, a number of received uplink data bits, or a number of received downlink data bits.

18. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 16, wherein:

the first wireless transmission occurred during a time slot,

the wireless communications system is further configured to determine an amount of data received during the time slot, and

updating the first counter comprises updating the first counter by an amount that is equal to the determined amount of data received during the time slot.

19. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 16, wherein:

the first wireless transmission occurred during a time slot, and

updating the first counter comprises incrementing the first counter by one.

20. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 18, wherein the wireless communications system is further configured to, after updating the first counter but prior to calculating the first calculated value for the first remote unit,

establish, for the first remote unit, a third received signal strength of a second wireless transmission;

establish, for the second or a third remote unit, a fourth received signal strength of the second wireless transmission;

compare the third received signal strength and the fourth received signal strength; and

as a result of determining that the third received signal strength is higher than the fourth received signal strength, further update the first counter associated with the first remote unit.

21. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the establishing of the first received signal strength or the second received signal strength comprises identifying a received signal strength as being associated with one of the first remote unit and the second remote unit based on a remote unit specific signature injected on top of a received signal, and measuring a relative strength of different remote unit specific signatures in a combined signal, the combined signal comprising the received signal.

22. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the wireless communications system is further configured to turn off the set of remote units one by one and to observe variations in received signal strength and/or quantity.

23. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 22, wherein the wireless communications system is further configured to, before turning off a third remote unit, ensure that the wireless communications system operates on two or more frequency bands, channels or carriers, or ensure that coverage is provided by another network node for user terminals using the third remote unit.

24. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the updating of the first counter associated with the first remote unit comprises increasing the first counter associated with the first remote unit when:

the first remote unit has the highest received signal strength of the first wireless transmission among one or more remote units receiving the first wireless transmission, and

at least one other remote unit has a received signal strength of the first wireless transmission within a set range of the highest received signal strength.

25. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the wireless communications system is further configured to use the first calculated value to determine whether a remote unit should be removed, moved, or added.

26. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the wireless communications system is further configured to establish whether an additional remote unit should be added by identifying a third remote unit to have a significant fraction of low values when having the highest received signal strength of a second wireless transmission among one or more remote units receiving the second wireless transmission.

27. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 26, wherein the wireless communications system is further configured to determine a location of the additional remote unit based on establishing which remote unit has the second highest received signal strength of the second wireless transmission among said one or more remote units receiving the second wireless transmission.

28. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the wireless communications system is further configured to visually and/or audibly provide feedback based on the first calculated value.