SUPPORTING REMOTE UNIT UPLINK TESTS IN A DISTRIBUTED ANTENNA SYSTEM (DAS)
First Claim
1. A distributed antenna system (DAS) configured to support remote unit uplink tests, comprising:
- a head-end equipment (HEE) communicatively coupled to a plurality of RAUs over at least one downlink communications medium and at least one uplink communications medium, the HEE comprising a signal monitor; and
a centralized test signal generator located remotely from the plurality of RAUs, the centralized test signal generator configured to generate at least one uplink test signal and distribute the at least one uplink test signal to at least one RAU under test (RUT) among the plurality of RAUs over the at least one downlink communications medium;
wherein;
the at least one RUT is configured to return the at least one uplink test signal to the HEE over the at least one uplink communications medium; and
the signal monitor is configured to analyze the at least one uplink test signal received from the at least one RUT to determine uplink performance of the at least one RUT.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems for supporting remote unit uplink tests in a distributed antenna system (DAS) are disclosed. In this regard, in one aspect, a centralized test signal generator is provided in the DAS to generate uplink test signals for one or more remote antenna units (RAUs) under test (RUTs). By providing the uplink test signals to the one or more RUTs from the centralized test signal generator, it is possible to perform uplink tests more efficiently with reduced equipment cost. The uplink test signals are distributed to the one or more RUTs over a downlink communications medium of the DAS. In another aspect, the one or more RUTs return the uplink test signals to a signal monitor over an uplink communications medium of the DAS, whereby uplink performance of the one or more RUTs can be examined to help optimize the DAS to improve quality of service (QoS).
28 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A distributed antenna system (DAS) configured to support remote unit uplink tests, comprising:
-
a head-end equipment (HEE) communicatively coupled to a plurality of RAUs over at least one downlink communications medium and at least one uplink communications medium, the HEE comprising a signal monitor; and a centralized test signal generator located remotely from the plurality of RAUs, the centralized test signal generator configured to generate at least one uplink test signal and distribute the at least one uplink test signal to at least one RAU under test (RUT) among the plurality of RAUs over the at least one downlink communications medium; wherein; the at least one RUT is configured to return the at least one uplink test signal to the HEE over the at least one uplink communications medium; and the signal monitor is configured to analyze the at least one uplink test signal received from the at least one RUT to determine uplink performance of the at least one RUT. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A method for performing remote unit uplink tests in a distributed antenna system (DAS), comprising:
-
providing at least one uplink test signal from a centralized test signal generator to at least one remote antenna unit (RAU) under test (RUT) among a plurality of RAUs in a DAS, wherein the centralized test signal generator is located remotely from the plurality of RAUs; returning the at least one uplink test signal from the at least one RUT to a head-end equipment (HEE) in the DAS; and analyzing the at least one uplink test signal received from the at least one RUT to determine uplink performance of the at least one RUT. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A head-end equipment (HEE) in a distributed antenna system (DAS) configured to support remote unit uplink tests, comprising:
-
a downlink service router communicatively coupled to a plurality of remote antenna units (RAUs) over at least one downlink communications medium, the downlink service router configured to; generate a plurality of downlink communication signals based on one or more downlink signals received from one or more signal sources; and provide the plurality of downlink communication signals to the plurality of RAUs, respectively, over the at least one downlink communications medium; an uplink service router communicatively coupled to the plurality of RAUs over at least one uplink communications medium, the uplink service router configured to; generate one or more uplink signals based on a plurality of uplink communication signals received from the plurality of RAUs, respectively, over the at least one uplink communications medium; and provide the one or more uplink signals to the one or more signal sources; a test signal generator configured to; generate at least one uplink test signal to at least one RAU under test (RUT) among the plurality of RAUs; and provide the at least one uplink test signal to at least one RUT through the downlink service router; and a signal monitor configured to analyze the at least one uplink test signal returned by the at least one RUT and received through the uplink service router. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
-
Specification