MONITORING CELLULAR RADIO ACCESS NODE PERFORMANCE

• US 20120058759A1
• Filed: 09/07/2010
• Published: 03/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: LUNDBORG, Tomas, Klockar, Lars
• Granted Patent: US 9,014,690 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/424
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/155 Ground-based stations H04B7/204 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2606 Arrangements for base station coverage control, e.g. by using relays in tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/047 using dedicated repeater stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The technology in this application reduces the maintenance effort and expense to monitor the performance of a cellular radio access node (e.g., a relay or repeater) by having the cellular radio access node automatically perform radio performance monitoring on itself and providing some kind of indication of its status to an operations and maintenance node. The cellular radio access node monitors performance of a set of one or more radio characteristics of a received radio signal received by the cellular radio access node or a transmitted radio signal transmitted by the cellular radio access node and determines whether the performance exceeds an associated predetermined threshold. The cellular radio access node indicates a condition of the cellular radio access node for the operations and maintenance node based on the monitored performance. The cellular radio access node may take independent action, e.g., shutdown, restart, reduce transmit power, etc., if a monitored condition is exceeded, e.g., transmitted noise exceeds a threshold.

Claims

1. A method for a cellular radio access node in a cellular communications system, comprising:

facilitating communications between a radio access network and mobile radio terminals;

monitoring performance of a first set of one or more radio characteristics of a radio signal received by the cellular radio access node or a radio signal transmitted by the cellular radio access node;

determining whether the performance exceeds an associated predetermined threshold; and

indicating a condition of the cellular radio access node for an operations and maintenance node based on the monitored performance.

2. The method in claim 1, wherein the cellular radio access node is a relay node or repeater node and the facilitating communications includes:

receiving a downlink radio signal from a base station intended for a mobile terminal, amplifying the downlink radio signal or decoding the downlink radio signal, and transmitting the amplified or decoded downlink radio signal to the mobile terminal, and

receiving an uplink radio signal from the mobile terminal, amplifying or decoding the uplink radio signal, and transmitting the amplified or decoded uplink radio signal to the base station,

wherein the monitored performance is of the first set of one or more radio signal characteristics of a received radio signal or a transmitted signal

3. The method in claim 1, wherein the indicating includes sending a signal to an operations and maintenance node if the monitored performance is satisfactory.

4. The method in claim 3, wherein the cellular radio access node includes a communications module used in a mobile radio terminal and the communications module is used to establish a radio connection with the operations and maintenance node and to send the signal to the operations and maintenance node via the radio connection.

5. The method in claim 1, wherein the indicating includes not sending the signal to the operations and maintenance node if the monitored performance is not satisfactory.

7. The method in claim 1, further comprising:

if the threshold is exceeded, then initiating an action to improve the performance.

8. The method in claim 7, further comprising:

if the threshold is exceeded, then initiating an action independent from the operations and maintenance node,

wherein the action includes one of the following;

restarting the cellular radio access node, shutting down the cellular radio access node, or reducing an output power of the cellular radio access node.

9. The method in claim 1, further comprising:

if the threshold is not exceeded, then transmitting a feedback signal to the operations and maintenance node signifying satisfactory cellular radio access node performance, and

if the threshold is exceeded, then not transmitting the feedback signal to the operations and maintenance node or sending a non-satisfactory cellular radio access node performance signal to the operations and maintenance node.

10. The method in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an instruction from the operations and maintenance node, and

performing a task based on the received instruction.

11. The method in claim 10, wherein the task relates to any of the following:

reducing transmit power for a signal transmitted by the cellular radio access node, resetting the cellular radio access node, shutting down operation of some part or all of the cellular radio access node.

12. The method in claim 1, wherein the first set of one or more radio signal characteristics of the received downlink or uplink radio signal or the transmitted downlink or uplink signal includes one or more of the following:

outband interference caused by a transmission of the cellular radio access node, received interference, output power associated with a transmission of the cellular radio access node, signal distortion caused by the cellular radio access node, a signal to noise ratio associated with a transmission of the cellular radio access node.

13. The method in claim 12, further comprising:

monitoring performance of a second set of one or more conditions associated with hardware components of the cellular radio access node;

determining when the performance of one or more conditions associated with hardware components of the cellular radio access node exceeds an associated predetermined threshold; and

sending a message to an operations and maintenance node based on the monitored performance.

14. The method in claim 1, wherein the indicating includes sending a signal to the operations and maintenance node and the cellular radio access node sends the indication to the operations and maintenance node over a wire connection.

15. The method in claim 1, wherein the indicating includes sending a signal to the operations and maintenance node and the cellular radio access node sends the indication to the operations and maintenance node over a radio connection.

16. The method in claim 14, wherein the signal is sent using the Internet protocol (IP) and/or the signal is sent as a short message service (SMS) message.

17. The method in claim 1, further comprising:

modifying the first set of one or more radio characteristics.

6. The method 1, wherein the indicating includes sending a message to the operations and maintenance node including monitored performance data regarding the cellular radio access node.

18. An apparatus for a cellular radio access node facilitating communications mobile radio terminals, comprising:

monitoring circuitry is configured to monitor performance of a first set of one or more radio characteristics of a radio signal received by the cellular radio access node or a radio signal transmitted by the cellular radio access node;

comparison circuitry configured to determine whether the performance exceeds an associated predetermined threshold; and

indication circuitry configured to indicate a condition of the cellular radio access node for an operations and maintenance node based on the monitored performance.

19. The apparatus in claim 18, wherein the cellular radio access node is a relay node or repeater node and the facilitating communications includes radio circuitry configured to:

receive a downlink radio signal from a base station intended for a mobile terminal,

amplify or decode the downlink radio signal,

transmit the amplified or decoded downlink radio signal to the mobile terminal,

receive an uplink radio signal from the mobile terminal,

amplify or decode the uplink radio signal, and

transmit the amplified or decoded uplink radio signal to the base station,

wherein the monitored performance is of the first set of one or more radio signal characteristics of a received radio signal or a transmitted signal.

20. The apparatus in claim 18, wherein the cellular radio access node is a macro, micro, pico, or femto base station, a relay, or a repeater.

21. The apparatus in claim 18, wherein the indicating circuitry is configured to send a signal to an operations and maintenance node if the monitored performance is satisfactory.

22. The apparatus in claim 18, further comprising a communications module used in a mobile terminal, the communications module configured for use in establishing a radio connection with the operations and maintenance node and to send the signal to the operations and maintenance node via the radio connection.

23. The apparatus in claim 22, wherein the communications module is configured to share radio resources allocated to the cellular radio access node.

24. The apparatus in claim 22, further comprising a controller configured to control access by the communications module to the shared radio resources.

25. The apparatus in claim 18, wherein the indicating includes not sending the signal to the operations and maintenance node if the monitored performance is not satisfactory.

26. The apparatus in claim 18, wherein the indication circuitry is configured to send a message to the operations and maintenance node including monitored performance data regarding the cellular radio access node.

27. The apparatus in claim 18, further comprising circuitry configured to initiate an action independent from the operations and maintenance node if the predetermined threshold is exceeded,

wherein the action includes one of the following:

restarting the cellular radio access node, shutting down the cellular radio access node, or reducing an output power of the cellular radio access node.

28. The apparatus in claim 18, further comprising circuitry configured to:

transmit a feedback signal to the operations and maintenance node signifying satisfactory cellular radio access node performance, if the predetermined threshold is not exceeded, and

not transmit the feedback signal to the operations and maintenance node or sending a non-satisfactory cellular radio access node performance signal to the operations and maintenance node if the predetermined threshold is exceeded.

29. The apparatus in claim 18, further comprising circuitry configured to:

receive an instruction from the operations and maintenance node, and

perform a task based on the received instruction,

wherein the task relates to any of the following;

reducing transmit power for a signal transmitted by the cellular radio access node, resetting the cellular radio access node, shutting down operation of some part or all of the cellular radio access node.

30. The apparatus in claim 18, wherein the first set of one or more radio signal characteristics of the received downlink or uplink radio signal or the transmitted downlink or uplink signal includes one or more of the following:

outband interference caused by a transmission of the cellular radio access node, received interference, output power associated with a transmission of the cellular radio access node, signal distortion caused by the cellular radio access node, a signal to noise ratio associated with a transmission of the cellular radio access node.