PLACED WIRELESS INSTRUMENTS FOR PREDICTING QUALITY OF SERVICE

• US 20150103685A1
• Filed: 10/03/2014
• Published: 04/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tempo Communications, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Greenlee Textron Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Butchko, Jason Edward, Barmettler, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 9,992,690 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/145 involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/147 for predicting network behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5067 Customer-centric QoS measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 Utilisation of link capacity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0888 Throughput
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/55 Testing of service level quality, e.g. simulating service usage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/225 for indoor or short range network
• 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 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/12 Access point controller devices

Abstract

A system determines wireless network performance. A wireless instrument is configured to send, receive and measure received wireless signals in a monitored area. A master controller connected with the wireless instrument forms a distributed wireless network testing solution. The master controller is configured to send and receive wireless signals with the wireless instrument, measure received wireless signals and perform an analysis of the wireless signals to determine a radio frequency environment performance of the distributed wireless network based on the wireless signals.

Claims

1. A system for determining wireless network performance, comprising:

a wireless instrument configured to send, receive and measure received wireless signals in a monitored area; and

a master controller connected with the wireless instrument to form a distributed wireless network testing solution, the master controller configured to send and receive wireless signals with the wireless instrument, measure received wireless signals and perform an analysis of the wireless signals to determine a radio frequency environment performance of the distributed wireless network based on the wireless signals.

2. The system of claim 1, where one or more of the master controller and the wireless instrument is configured to determine a quality of experience value at a location of the wireless instrument based on the analysis.

3. The system of claim 1, where one or more of the master controller and the wireless instrument is configured to determine a quality of service value at a location of the wireless instrument connected with the master controller or an access point based on the analysis.

4. The system of claim 1, where one or more of the master controller and the wireless instrument is configured to determine a quality of service value for an entire radio frequency environment based on the analysis.

5. The system of claim 1, where one or more of the master controller and the wireless instrument is configured to determine a placement of a wireless access point based on the analysis.

6. The system of claim 1, where one or more of the master controller and the wireless instrument is configured to select preferred wireless access point channels based on the analysis.

7. The system of claim 1, where the master controller is configured to determine a maximum available data bandwidth between an access point and a wireless device based on the analysis.

8. The system of claim 1, where the master controller is configured to determine a quality of experience value for an entire radio frequency environment based on the analysis.

9. The system of claim 1, where the master controller is configured to act as an access point to the wireless instrument.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising a user interface connected with the master controller, where the user interface is configured to command the master controller to test the wireless network performance.

11. The system of claim 1, where the wireless instrument comprises a plurality of wireless instruments to test an entire radio frequency environment at once.

12. The system of claim 1, where the wireless instrument is configured to simulate a capability of Wi-Fi enabled devices or simulate traffic data patterns used by applications including one or more of streaming video, streaming audio, and web surfing services.

13. A wireless instrument, comprising:

a processor configured to analyze a radio frequency environment, the radio frequency environment including an access point and one or more wireless instruments, the processor configured to test an entire radio frequency environment at once.

14. The wireless instrument of claim 13, where the processor is configured to parse channel information from access point beacons to determine a channel width supported by the access point.

15. The wireless instrument of claim 13, where the processor is configured to perform a packet capture and analyze Wi-Fi traffic to determine a number and a type of stations connected to the access point.

16. The wireless instrument of claim 13, where the processor is configured to parse 802.11k information to determine one or more of a number of clients connected to the access point and a channel utilization factor.

17. The wireless instrument of claim 13, where the processor is configured to perform a packet capture and analyze traffic to determine a channel utilization based on a packet length and a transmit data rate.

18. The wireless instrument of claim 13, where the processor is configured to measure a time from when a packet is queued to when the packet arrives at a receiver.

19. The wireless instrument of claim 13, where the processor is configured to perform a packet capture and analyze traffic to determine a percentage of traffic that is a retry.

20. The wireless instrument of claim 13, where the processor is configured to perform a throughput measurement by simulating a capability of different Wi-Fi enabled devices or simulating traffic data patterns used by different applications including one or more of streaming video, streaming audio, and web surfing services.