ESTABLISHING USEFULNESS OF REMOTE ANTENNA UNITS IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM

• US 20180152853A1
• Filed: 05/28/2015
• Published: 05/31/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: SDER, Johan, ASPLUND, Henrik, ERICSON, Mrten, SIMONSSON, Arne
• Granted Patent: US 10,405,203 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/20 for indoor coverage or short range network deployment
• 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 88/085 Access point devices with remote components

Abstract

A method (10) performed in a wireless communications system (10) for establishing usefulness of remote units is provided. The wireless communications system (10) monitors one or more remote units (2_i, 2_j, . . . , 2_N) of a distributed antenna system (1). The method (10) comprises: establishing (11), per remote unit (2_i, 2_j, . . . , 2_N), received signal strength of a wireless communication; establishing (12), per remote unit (2_i, 2_j, . . . , 2_N), a quantity related to the obtained received signal strength; and establishing (13) a measure on usefulness of each of two or more remote units (2_i, 2_j, . . . , 2_N) based on the received signal strength and on the quantity. A corresponding wireless communications system, computer programs, and computer program products are also provided.

Claims

1. A method performed in a wireless communications system for establishing usefulness of remote units, the wireless communications system monitoring one or more remote units of a distributed antenna system, the method comprising:

establishing, per remote unit of the distributed antenna system, received signal strength of a wireless communication,

establishing, per remote unit of the distributed antenna system, a quantity related to the obtained received signal strength, and

establishing a measure on usefulness of each of two or more remote units of the distributed antenna system based on the received signal strength and on the quantity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the quantity related to the obtained received signal strength comprises one or more of:

number of received wireless transmissions, number of received uplink data bits, and number of transmitted downlink data bits.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the establishing of received signal strength per remote unit is performed for the duration of a time slot,

the establishing the quantity comprises adding, in a respective counter for the remote units, number of data bits, for the remote unit having the highest received power in the time slot, and

the establishing of the measure of usefulness of each of the two or more remote units comprises calculating, for a number of time slots, fraction of data bits on the two or more remote units of the total number of data bits.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the establishing of received signal strength per remote unit is performed for the duration of a time slot,

the establishing the quantity comprises increasing by one a respective counter provided for each of the remote units for the remote unit having received data and having the highest received power in the time slot, and

the establishing of the measure of usefulness of the two or more remote units comprises establishing a counter reading of the respective counters.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising, prior to the establishing of the measure of usefulness, repeating the establishing the received signal strength and establishing the quantity.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing received signal strength per remote unit comprises identifying a first received signal strength as associated with a first remote unit based on a remote unit specific signature injected on top of a received first signal, and measuring a relative strength of different remote unit specific signatures in a combined signal, the combined signal comprising the received first signal.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising turning off the remote units one by one and observing variations in received signal strength and/or quantity.

8. The method claim 7, further comprising, before turning off a remote unit, ensuring that a condition is fulfilled, the condition comprising ensuring that the distributed antenna system operates on two or more frequency bands, channels or carriers, or ensuring that coverage is provided by another network node for user terminals using the remote unit to be turned off.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing comprises establishing the received signal strength for two remote units and increasing a counter, for the i:

th remote unit when;

the i;

th remote unit has the highest received signal strength, and

at least one other the remote unit has a received signal strength within a set range of the highest received signal strength.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the measure on usefulness for establishing that a remote unit should be removed, moved or added.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing need for an additional remote unit by identifying a first remote unit to have a significant fraction of low values when having the highest signal strength of the wireless communication.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein a preferred location of the additional remote unit is determined based on establishing which remote unit has the second highest signal strength when the first remote unit has the highest signal strength.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising indicating a respective usefulness of the two or more remote units in the respective remote units visually and/or audibly.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed in a network node of the wireless communications system.

15. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program for a network node, the computer program comprising computer program code, which, when executed by processing unit of the network node causes the network node to perform the method of claim 1.

16. (canceled)

17. A wireless communications system for establishing usefulness of remote units, the wireless communications system configured to monitor one or more remote units of a distributed antenna system, the wireless communications system being configured to:

establish, per remote unit of the distributed antenna system, received signal strength of a wireless communication,

establish, per remote unit of the distributed antenna system, a quantity related to the obtained received signal strength, and

establish a measure on usefulness of each of two or more remote units of the distributed antenna system based on the received signal strength and on the quantity.

18. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the quantity related to the obtained received signal strength comprises one or more of:

number of received wireless transmissions, number of received uplink data bits, and number of transmitted downlink data bits.

19. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the wireless communications system is further configured to:

establish the received signal strength per remote unit for the duration of a time slot,

establishing the quantity by adding, in a respective counter for the remote units, number of data bits D_i for the remote unit having the highest received power in the time slot, and

the establish the measure of usefulness of each of the two or more remote units by calculating, for a number of time slots, fraction of data bits on the two or more remote units of the total number of data bits.

20. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the wireless communications system is further configured to:

establish the received signal strength per remote unit for the duration of a time slot,

establish the quantity by increasing by one a respective counter provided for each of the remote units, for the remote unit having received data and having the highest received power in the time slot, and

establish the measure of usefulness of the two or more remote units by establishing a counter reading of the respective counters.

21. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 19, wherein the wireless communications system is further configured to, prior to the establishing of the measure of usefulness, repeat the establishing the received signal strength and the establishing the quantity.

22. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the wireless communications system is further configured to establish the received signal strength per remote unit by identifying a first received signal strength as associated with a first remote unit based on a remote unit specific signature injected on top of a received first signal, and measuring a relative strength of different remote unit specific signatures in a combined signal, the combined signal comprising the received first signal.

23. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the wireless communications system is further configured to turn off the remote units one by one and to observe variations in received signal strength and/or quantity.

24. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 23, wherein the wireless communications system is further configured to, before turning off a remote unit, ensure that a condition is fulfilled, the condition comprising ensuring that the distributed antenna system operates on two or more frequency bands, channels or carriers, or ensuring that coverage is provided by another network node for user terminals using the remote unit to be turned off.

25. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the wireless communications system is further configured to establish the received signal strength for two remote units and to increase a counter for the i:

th remote unit when;

the i;

th remote unit has the highest received signal strength, and

at least one other the remote unit has a received signal strength within a set range of the highest received signal strength.

26. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the wireless communications system is further configured to use the measure on usefulness for establishing that a remote unit should be removed, moved or added.

27. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the wireless communications system is further configured to establish a need for an additional remote unit by identifying a first remote unit to have a significant fraction of low values when having the highest signal strength of the wireless communication.

28. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 27, wherein the wireless communications system is further configured to determine a preferred location of the additional remote unit based on establishing which remote unit has the second highest signal strength when the first remote unit has the highest signal strength.

29. The wireless communications system as claimed in claim 17, configured to indicate a respective usefulness of the two or more remote units in the respective remote units visually and/or audibly.

30. (canceled)