DIGITIZED REVERSE LINK MONITOR

• US 20080242232A1
• Filed: 03/27/2007
• Published: 10/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Procomm International Pte. Ltd. (Transpacific IP Group Limited)
• Original Assignee: ADC Telecommunications Incorporated (TE Connectivity Limited)
• Inventors: Wala, Philip M., Wiwel, Bernard K., Zavadsky, Dean
• Granted Patent: US 8,457,562 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/67.11
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/0087 using auxiliary channels or channel simulators
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/24 with feedback of measurements to the transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/327 Received signal code power [RSCP]

Abstract

A method of monitoring a broadband digitized reverse link system comprising monitoring at least one radio frequency down-convert path in at least one remote unit in the digitized reverse link system using an internal tone generating system, digitally verifying the health of at least one digitized communication link communicatively coupled to receive digital signals from a respective remote unit, and monitoring the health of a radio frequency up-convert path in a host unit communicatively coupled to receive the digital signals from the at least one digitized communication link in the digitized reverse link system using a wideband power detector in the host unit.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring a broadband digitized reverse link system, the method comprising:

monitoring at least one radio frequency down-convert path in at least one remote unit in the digitized reverse link system using an internal tone generating system; and

digitally verifying the health of at least one digitized communication link communicatively coupled to receive digital signals from a respective remote unit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring at least one radio frequency down-convert path comprises:

receiving a broadband radio frequency signal at each of the remote units;

generating at least one single-frequency radio frequency tone having a known power level at a pilot tone generator in each of the remote units;

adding the at least one single-frequency tone to the received broadband signal to form a combined signal at each of the remote units;

digitizing the combined signal;

filtering a narrow band of the digitized combined signal at the remote unit to form a narrowband digitized signal;

detecting the narrowband digitized signal at the remote unit at a pilot tone receiver; and

determining the health of the radio frequency down-convert path based on the detecting.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein digitally verifying the health of at least one digitized communication link comprises:

transmitting the unfiltered digitized combined signal through the digitized communication link; and

performing an error check of the unfiltered digitized combined signal transmitted on all of the at least one digitized communication links in the broadband digitized reverse link.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the generating is a periodic generating.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining the health of the radio frequency down-convert path comprises:

determining a ratio of a power level of a current filtered narrowband signal to a power level of a last-measured filtered narrowband signal.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining the health of the radio frequency down-convert path further comprises:

determining a ratio of the power level of the current filtered narrowband signal to a power level of a previously measured filtered narrowband signal.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein determining the health of the radio frequency down-convert path comprises:

determining a ratio of the power level of a current filtered narrowband signal to a power level of a previously measured filtered narrowband signal.

8. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

calibrating a power level of the at least one single-frequency tone, wherein the determining the health of the radio frequency down-convert path comprises,

determining a ratio of the power level of a current filtered narrowband signal to the power level of the calibrated single-frequency tone.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the health of the radio frequency down-convert path comprises:

comparing a level of the detected narrowband digitized signal to a threshold, wherein the radio frequency down-convert path is healthy when the level of the detected narrowband digitized signal is greater than the threshold.

10. The method of claim 33, wherein monitoring the health of a radio frequency up-convert path in the host unit comprises:

receiving the digitized combined signals from all of the at least one remote units at a summation circuit in the host unit;

summing the received digitized combined signals to form a digitized summed signal;

detecting the digitized summed signal at a baseband digital power detector;

up converting the digitized summed signal responsive to the receiving;

detecting the up-converted signal at the wideband power detector; and

determining a ratio of the up-converted signal to the digitized summed signal to determine the health of the radio frequency up-convert path.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining a ratio of the up-converted signals to the digitized summed signal comprises:

sending information indicative of the digitized summed signal from the baseband digital power detector to the host unit controller;

sending information indicative of the up-converted signal from the wideband power detector to the host unit controller; and

comparing the information indicative of the up-converted signals to the information indicative of the digitized summed signals.

33. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring the health of a radio frequency up-convert path in a host unit communicatively coupled to receive the digital signals from the at least one digitized communication link in the digitized reverse link system using a wideband power detector in the host unit.

12. A system to monitor a broadband digitized reverse link, the system comprising:

at least one remote unit, each remote unit configured to receive a radio frequency signal, each remote unit comprising,

a pilot tone generator configured to generate at least one single-frequency tone having a known power level;

at least one radio frequency down-converter in communication with a signal summing circuit to digitize the combined signal;

a remote pilot tone receiver circuit configured to receive a narrowband digitized signal; and

a remote controller configured to compare the known power level of the single-frequency tone to the power level of the narrowband digitized signal.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

at least one radio frequency antenna, each radio frequency antenna connected to a respective remote unit, the at least one radio frequency antenna configured to receive the radio frequency signal.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one remote unit further comprises:

a signal summing circuit operably associated with the pilot tone generator configured to sum the single-frequency tone with the received radio frequency signal to form a combined signal.

15. The system of claim 36, wherein the host unit further comprises:

a summation circuit to sum the digitized combined signals to form the digitized summed signal.

16. The system of claim 34, wherein the host unit further comprises:

a summation circuit to sum the digitized combined signals to form the digitized summed signal.

17. The system of claim 12, each remote unit further comprising:

a narrowband filter to pass a narrow band of the digitized combined signal to the remote pilot tone receiver, wherein the narrow band includes the frequency of the pilot tone.

18. The system of claim 37, further comprising:

a receiving station communicatively coupled to receive the up-converted summed signal from the radio frequency up-converter.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the each radio frequency antenna communicatively coupled to the remote unit is a first radio frequency antenna, and wherein the receiving station is communicatively coupled to the host unit via a second radio frequency antenna.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein a connection to the receiving station is established via a physical media.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein a connection to the receiving station is established via a free-space optical link.

22. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

at least one amplifier in communication with the signal summing circuit, wherein the at least one amplifier amplifies the combined signal, wherein the system monitors both the gain and the radio frequency down-converter path in the remote unit.

23. The system of claim 34, wherein the digitized communication link is selected from a group that comprises an optical fiber link, a free-space optical link, a millimeter wave link, a coaxial cable link, a twisted-pair cable link, a broadband transmission link, a wireless transmission link, a physical medium transmission link, and combinations thereof.

24. The system of claim 12, wherein the received radio frequency signal is within a defined frequency spectrum, and wherein the at least one single-frequency tone is at a frequency above the defined frequency spectrum.

25. The system of claim 12, wherein the received radio frequency signal is within a defined frequency spectrum, and wherein the at least one single-frequency tone is at a frequency below the defined frequency spectrum.

26. The system of claim 12, wherein the received radio frequency signal is within a defined frequency spectrum, and wherein the at least one single-frequency tone includes a first frequency below the defined frequency spectrum and a second frequency above the defined frequency spectrum.

27. The system of claim 12, the remote unit further comprising:

an alarm, wherein the remote controller is configured to trigger the alarm to generate a warning based on a determination that a health of the down-convert path has degraded.

28. The system of claim 38, the host unit further comprising:

an alarm, wherein the host unit controller is configured to trigger the alarm to generate a warning based on a determination that a health of the up-convert path has degraded.

29. The system of claim 34, the host unit further comprising:

an alarm, wherein the host unit controller is configured to trigger the alarm to generate a warning based on a determination that a health of the up-convert path has degraded.

34. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

one host unit communicable with at least one digitized communication link, the host unit configured to receive the digitized combined signals sent from the at least one remote unit via respective ones of the at least one digitized communication link, each host unit comprising;

a baseband digital power detector to detect a digitized summed signal;

at least one radio frequency up converter communicatively coupled to the baseband digital power detector;

a wideband power detector in communication with the radio frequency up converter to detect the up-converted summed signal; and

a host unit controller configured to compare information indicative of the digitized summed signal with information indicative of the up-converted summed signal to determine the health of the up-converter path.

35. The system of claim 34, further comprising:

a receiving station communicatively coupled to receive the up-converted summed signal from the radio frequency up-converter.

36. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

one host unit communicable with at least one digitized communication link, the host unit configured to receive the digitized combined signals sent from the at least one remote unit via respective ones of the at least one digitized communication link, each host unit comprising;

a baseband digital power detector to detect a digitized summed signal;

at least one radio frequency up converter communicatively coupled to the baseband digital power detector;

a wideband power detector in communication with the radio frequency up converter to detect the up-converted summed signal; and

a host unit controller configured to compare information indicative of the digitized summed signal with information indicative of the up-converted summed signal to determine the health of the up-converter path.

37. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

one host unit communicable with at least one digitized communication link, the host unit configured to receive the digitized combined signals sent from the at least one remote unit via respective ones of the at least one digitized communication link, each host unit comprising;

a baseband digital power detector to detect a digitized summed signal;

at least one radio frequency up converter communicatively coupled to the baseband digital power detector;

a wideband power detector in communication with the radio frequency up converter to detect the up-converted summed signal; and

a host unit controller configured to compare information indicative of the digitized summed signal with information indicative of the up-converted summed signal to determine the health of the up-converter path.

38. The system of claim 27, further comprising:

one host unit communicable with at least one digitized communication link, the host unit configured to receive the digitized combined signals sent from the at least one remote unit via respective ones of the at least one digitized communication link, each host unit comprising;

a baseband digital power detector to detect a digitized summed signal;

at least one radio frequency up converter communicatively coupled to the baseband digital power detector;

a wideband power detector in communication with the radio frequency up converter to detect the up-converted summed signal; and

a host unit controller configured to compare information indicative of the digitized summed signal with information indicative of the up-converted summed signal to determine the health of the up-converter path.

30. A remote unit communicable with a radio frequency antenna, the remote comprising:

a pilot tone generator configured to generate at least one single-frequency tone having a known power level;

a signal summing circuit operably associated with the pilot tone generator configured to sum the single-frequency tone with the received radio frequency signal to form a combined signal;

at least one radio frequency down-converter in communication with the signal summing circuit to digitize the combined signal;

a remote pilot tone receiver circuit configured to receive a narrowband digitized signal; and

a remote controller configured to compare the known power level of the single-frequency tone to the power level of the narrowband digitized signal, wherein the remote unit monitors the health of the down-converter path.

31. A host unit configured to receive the digitized combined signals sent from at least one remote unit via at least one digitized communication link, the host unit comprising:

a summation circuit to sum the digitized combined signals to form a digitized summed signal;

a data transport circuit to receive the digitized summed signal from the summation circuit and to send the digitized summed signal to a baseband digital power detector;

the baseband digital power detector to detect the digitized summed signal;

at least one radio frequency up converter communicatively coupled to the baseband digital power detector;

a wideband power detector in communication with the radio frequency up converter to detect the up-converted summed signal; and

a host unit controller configured to compare information indicative of the digitized summed signal with information indicative of the up-converted summed signal to determine the health of the up-converter path.

32. A system to monitor a broadband digitized reverse link, the system comprising:

at least one radio frequency antenna that receives a radio frequency signal;

at least one remote unit, each remote unit communicable with a respective one of the radio frequency antennae and a digitized communication link, each remote unit comprising,

a pilot tone generator configured to generate at least one single-frequency tone having a known power level;

a signal summing circuit operably associated with the pilot tone generator configured to sum the single-frequency tone with the received radio frequency signal to form a combined signal;

at least one radio frequency down-converter in communication with the signal summing circuit to digitize the combined signal;

a remote pilot tone receiver circuit configured to receive a narrowband digitized signal; and

a remote controller configured to compare the known power level of the single-frequency tone to the power level of the narrowband digitized signal; and

one host unit communicable with at least one digitized communication link, the host unit configured to receive the digitized combined signals sent from the at least one remote unit via respective ones of the at least one digitized communication link, each host unit comprising;

a data transport summation circuit to sum the digitized combined signals to form a digitized summed signal;

a data transport circuit to receive the digitized summed signal from the summation circuit and to send the digitized summed signal to a baseband digital power detector;

the baseband digital power detector to detect the digitized summed signal;

at least one radio frequency up converter communicatively coupled to the baseband digital power detector;

a wideband power detector in communication with the radio frequency up converter to detect the up-converted summed signal; and

a host unit controller configured to compare information indicative of the digitized summed signal with information indicative of the up-converted summed signal to determine the health of the up-converter path.