METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE DETECTION OF DISTORTION OR CORRUPTION OF CELLULAR COMMUNICATION SIGNALS
First Claim
1. A system for determining the cause of distortion or corruption of signals in a cellular communications network, the cellular communications network including radio equipment and at least one radio equipment controller, and an uplink signal transmission medium and a downlink signal transmission medium interconnecting the radio equipment and the radio equipment controller, the uplink and downlink signal transmission media carrying transport digital data signals, including I (in phase) and Q (quadrature phase) digital data signals relating to cellular communications signals, the system comprising:
- a switching sub-assembly, the switching sub-assembly being operatively coupled to the uplink and downlink signal transmission media and providing as output signals therefrom the transport digital data signals of selected uplink and downlink signal transmission media, including the I and Q digital data signals, carried thereby;
a digital signal processor, the digital signal processor being responsive to the output signals of the switching sub-assembly and extracting the I and Q digital data signals from the transport digital data signals carried by the selected uplink and downlink signal transmission media, the digital signal processor processing the extracted I and Q digital data signals and generating therefrom signal spectrum data relating thereto;
an analytic computer unit operatively coupled to the digital signal processor, the analytic computer unit receiving the signal spectrum data generated by the digital signal processor, the analytic computer unit generating a control signal, the switching sub-assembly being responsive to the control signal and providing as the output signals therefrom the transport digital data signals of selected uplink and downlink transmission media in response thereto, the analytic computer unit analyzing the signal spectrum data, at least one of the digital signal processor and the analytic computer unit including;
at least one comparator and at least one memory operatively coupled to the at least one comparator, the at least one memory storing therein reference spectra of normal cellular communications signals having no distortion or corruption or abnormal cellular communications signals having known causes of signal distortion or corruption, the at least one comparator comparing the signal spectrum data with the reference spectra stored in the at least one memory to determine if the signal spectrum data has similar or dissimilar characteristics to the characteristics of the stored reference signal spectra, and generating a first signal corresponding to one or more possible causes of signal distortion or corruption relating thereto, the analytic computer unit analyzing the possible cause first signal from the comparator and determining therefrom a probable cause of signal distortion or corruption, the analytic computer unit generating a probable cause signal corresponding to the probable cause of signal distortion or corruption; and
a display, the display being responsive to the probable cause output signal generated by the analytic computer unit and displaying thereon the probable cause of signal distortion or corruption of the signal corresponding to the probable cause output signal generated by the analytic computer unit.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for troubleshooting signals in a cellular communications network, and in particular, for determining the cause of distortion or corruption of such signals, includes a robotic or other type of switch. The robotic switch can tap into selected uplink fiber-optic lines and selected downlink fiber-optic lines between radio equipment and radio equipment controllers in a wireless (e.g., cellular) network to extract therefrom the I and Q data. The selected I and Q data, in an optical form, is provided to an optical-to-electrical converter forming part of the system. The system includes an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) or the like, and an analytic computer unit, or web server, and SSD (Solid State Drive) and magnetic disk storage, among other components of the system. The system analyzes the I and Q data provided to it, and determines the cause, or at least narrows the field of possible causes, of impairment to transmitted signals. The system includes a display which provides the troubleshooting information thereon for a user of the system to review, or other form of a report, and may communicate the analytical findings to a remote location over a public or private internet protocol network.
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Citations
56 Claims
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1. A system for determining the cause of distortion or corruption of signals in a cellular communications network, the cellular communications network including radio equipment and at least one radio equipment controller, and an uplink signal transmission medium and a downlink signal transmission medium interconnecting the radio equipment and the radio equipment controller, the uplink and downlink signal transmission media carrying transport digital data signals, including I (in phase) and Q (quadrature phase) digital data signals relating to cellular communications signals, the system comprising:
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a switching sub-assembly, the switching sub-assembly being operatively coupled to the uplink and downlink signal transmission media and providing as output signals therefrom the transport digital data signals of selected uplink and downlink signal transmission media, including the I and Q digital data signals, carried thereby; a digital signal processor, the digital signal processor being responsive to the output signals of the switching sub-assembly and extracting the I and Q digital data signals from the transport digital data signals carried by the selected uplink and downlink signal transmission media, the digital signal processor processing the extracted I and Q digital data signals and generating therefrom signal spectrum data relating thereto; an analytic computer unit operatively coupled to the digital signal processor, the analytic computer unit receiving the signal spectrum data generated by the digital signal processor, the analytic computer unit generating a control signal, the switching sub-assembly being responsive to the control signal and providing as the output signals therefrom the transport digital data signals of selected uplink and downlink transmission media in response thereto, the analytic computer unit analyzing the signal spectrum data, at least one of the digital signal processor and the analytic computer unit including; at least one comparator and at least one memory operatively coupled to the at least one comparator, the at least one memory storing therein reference spectra of normal cellular communications signals having no distortion or corruption or abnormal cellular communications signals having known causes of signal distortion or corruption, the at least one comparator comparing the signal spectrum data with the reference spectra stored in the at least one memory to determine if the signal spectrum data has similar or dissimilar characteristics to the characteristics of the stored reference signal spectra, and generating a first signal corresponding to one or more possible causes of signal distortion or corruption relating thereto, the analytic computer unit analyzing the possible cause first signal from the comparator and determining therefrom a probable cause of signal distortion or corruption, the analytic computer unit generating a probable cause signal corresponding to the probable cause of signal distortion or corruption; and a display, the display being responsive to the probable cause output signal generated by the analytic computer unit and displaying thereon the probable cause of signal distortion or corruption of the signal corresponding to the probable cause output signal generated by the analytic computer unit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method for determining the cause of distortion or corruption of signals in a cellular communications network, the cellular communications network including radio equipment and at least one radio equipment controller, and an uplink signal transmission medium and a downlink signal transmission medium interconnecting the radio equipment and the radio equipment controller, the uplink and downlink signal transmission media carrying transport digital data signals, including I (in phase) and Q (quadrature phase) digital data signals relating to cellular communications signals, the method comprising the steps of:
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operatively coupling to the uplink and downlink signal transmission media, and providing the transport digital data signals of selected uplink and downlink signal transmission media, including the I and Q digital data signals, carried thereby; extracting the I and Q digital data signals from the transport digital data signals carried by the selected uplink and downlink signal transmission media; processing the extracted I and Q digital data signals, and generating therefrom signal spectrum data relating thereto; storing reference spectra of normal cellular communications signals having no distortion or corruption or abnormal cellular communications signals having known causes of signal distortion or corruption; comparing the signal spectrum data with the stored reference spectra to determine if the signal spectrum data has similar or dissimilar characteristics to the characteristics of the stored reference signal spectra, and generating a first signal corresponding to one or more possible causes of signal distortion or corruption relating thereto; analyzing the possible cause first signal and determining therefrom a probable cause of signal distortion or corruption, and generating a probable cause signal corresponding to the probable cause of signal distortion or corruption; and displaying, in response to the probable cause output signal, the probable cause of signal distortion or corruption. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
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56-258. -258. (canceled)
Specification