LOCAL POWER MANAGEMENT FOR REMOTE ANTENNA UNITS IN DISTRIBUTED ANTENNA SYSTEMS

• US 20150382293A1
• Filed: 09/04/2015
• Published: 12/31/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Corning Optical Communications LLC (Corning Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: CCS Technology Inc. (Corning Incorporated)
• Inventors: Heidler, Christian, Kedziora, John, Sauer, Michael, Schweiker, Wolfgang Gottfried Tobias, Hull, Jonathan Robert
• Granted Patent: US 9,699,723 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/007 specially adapted for indoor communication
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 4/00 Circuit arrangements for mains or distribution networks not specified as ac or dc
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/16 Circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/11 Arrangements specific to free-space transmission, i.e. transmission through air or vacuum
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/25753 Distribution optical network, e.g. between a base station and a plurality of remote units
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/808 Electrical power feeding of an optical transmission system
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/085 Access point devices with remote components
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Power management for a remote antenna unit(s) (RAUs) in a distributed antenna system. Power can be managed for an RAU configured to power modules and devices that may require more power to operate than power available to the RAU. For example, the RAU may be configured to include power-consuming RAU modules to provide distributed antenna system-related services. As another example, the RAU may be configured to provide power through powered ports in the RAU to external power-consuming devices. Depending on the configuration of the RAU, the power-consuming RAU modules and/or external power-consuming devices may demand more power than is available at the RAU. In this instance, the power available at the RAU can be distributed to the power-consuming modules and devices based on the priority of services desired to be provided by the RAU.

Claims

1. A remote antenna unit (RAU) for a distributed antenna system, comprising:

at least one power-consuming RAU module comprising a radio frequency (RF) communications module having at least one antenna configured to provide RF communications services to a coverage area;

at least one powered port configured to provide power to at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port; and

a controller configured to;

determine an available power budget for the at least one powered port; and

enable power for the at least one powered port if the available power budget is sufficient to power the at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port.

2. The RAU of claim 1, wherein the at least one power-consuming RAU module further comprises at least one optical-to-electrical (O/E) converter configured to convert a downlink optical RF communications signal to a downlink electrical RF communications signal, and at least one electrical-to-optical (E/O) converter configured to convert an uplink electrical RF communications signal to an uplink optical RF communications signal.

3. The RAU of claim 2, wherein the at least one antenna is coupled by at least one electrical link.

4. The RAU of claim 2, wherein the controller is further configured to disable the at least one powered port if the available power budget is not sufficient to power the at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port.

5. The RAU of claim 2, wherein the at least one power-consuming RAU module is further comprised of at least one digital data services (DDS) module configured to provide DDS.

6. The RAU of claim 5, wherein the at least one powered port is configured to receive power configured to be provided to the at least one external power-consuming device.

7. The RAU of claim 6, wherein the at least one power-consuming RAU module further comprises at least one remote expansion unit (RXU) module configured to provide RF communications services, the RXU module being configured to receive downlink RF communications signals and uplink RF communications signals.

8. The RAU of claim 2, further comprising a load detector configured to provide a load sense signal to the controller indicative of a total power consumed by the at least one power-consuming RAU module and the at least one external power-consuming device.

9. The RAU of claim 2, wherein the controller is configured to determine the available power budget based on the power required by the at least one power-consuming RAU module, wherein the power required is determined based on which of the at least one power-consuming RAU modules are present.

10. The RAU of claim 9, wherein the controller is configured to determine which of the at least one power-consuming RAU modules are present by:

subtracting power consumed by the at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port from a total power available to provide a power consumed by the at least one power-consuming RAU module; and

correlating the power consumed by the at least one power-consuming RAU module to those of the at least one power-consuming RAU modules that are present.

11. The RAU of claim 2, where the controller is configured to determine the available power budget based on a total power available minus the power required for the at least one power-consuming RAU module.

12. The RAU of claim 2, wherein the at least one powered port is comprised of a plurality of powered ports, the controller being further configured to disable at least one first port among the plurality of powered ports if the available power budget is only sufficient to power the at least one external power-consuming device connected to at least one second port among the plurality of powered ports.

13. A computer-readable medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which when executed by a controller in a remote antenna unit (RAU) in a distributed antenna system, cause the controller to:

determine an available power budget for at least one powered port in at least one RAU provided in a distributed antenna system, the RAU configured to provide power to at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port based on power required by at least one power-consuming RAU module; and

enable power for the at least one powered port if an available power budget is sufficient to power the at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port, wherein

the instructions are configured to cause the controller to disable the at least one powered port if the available power budget is not sufficient to power the at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the controller to determine the power required for the at least one power-consuming RAU module by determining which of the at least one power-consuming RAU modules are present.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the controller to determine which of the at least one power-consuming RAU modules are present by:

subtracting power consumed by the at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port from a total power available to provide a power consumed by the at least one power-consuming RAU module; and

correlating the power consumed by the at least one power-consuming RAU module to those of the at least one power-consuming RAU modules that are present.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the controller to determine the available power budget based on a total power available minus the power required for the at least one of power-consuming RAU module, and to cause the controller to disable at least one first port of the at least one powered port comprising a plurality of powered ports, if the available power budget is only sufficient to power the at least one external power-consuming device connected to at least one second port among the plurality of powered ports.