Radio trunking fault detection system with power output monitoring and on-air monitoring
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A radio frequency repeater system including:
- a plurality of radio frequency repeater stations each capable of transmitting RF signals;
site controller means coupled to said repeater stations for controlling said stations, and for periodically polling said stations and receiving poll responses generated by said stations in response to said polling;
RF output power monitor means coupled to said site controller means and said plurality of radio frequency repeater stations for monitoring the RF power output level of active ones of said stations and for indicating to said site controller if any said monitored power level falls below a predetermined level; and
testing means connected to said site controller means for monitoring RF digital signalling produced by active repeater stations and for notifying said site controller means of errors detected in said signalling,wherein said site controller means automatically removes a repeater station from operation without human intervention whenever the station (a) fails to respond to polls, (b) has low RF power output level as detected by said RF output power monitor means, or (c) produces erroneous signalling as detected by said testing means, and restores removed repeater stations from service only when all three of said failure conditions (a), (b) and (c) are not present.
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Abstract
A trunked radio frequency (RF) repeater system for public service trunking (PST) or the like includes a fault detection system having an RF output power monitoring, over-the-air RF monitoring and other repeater transceiver testing capabilities. An over-the-air monitor continually tests the digital signalling transmitted by different transceivers within the repeater system. The site controller automatically removes transceivers that test faulty, and does not permit tested faulty transceivers to go back on line until they have passed poll response, power output and RF digital signalling tests.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A radio frequency repeater system including:
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a plurality of radio frequency repeater stations each capable of transmitting RF signals; site controller means coupled to said repeater stations for controlling said stations, and for periodically polling said stations and receiving poll responses generated by said stations in response to said polling; RF output power monitor means coupled to said site controller means and said plurality of radio frequency repeater stations for monitoring the RF power output level of active ones of said stations and for indicating to said site controller if any said monitored power level falls below a predetermined level; and testing means connected to said site controller means for monitoring RF digital signalling produced by active repeater stations and for notifying said site controller means of errors detected in said signalling, wherein said site controller means automatically removes a repeater station from operation without human intervention whenever the station (a) fails to respond to polls, (b) has low RF power output level as detected by said RF output power monitor means, or (c) produces erroneous signalling as detected by said testing means, and restores removed repeater stations from service only when all three of said failure conditions (a), (b) and (c) are not present.
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2. A digitally trunked radio frequency communication system of the type having an RF control channel and plural RF working channels, said system transmitting and receiving RF signals over said RF control and working channels, said working channels being temporarily assigned for RF communications by radio units in response to digital control signals passed over said control channel, said system comprising:
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plural radio frequency repeaters each transmitting RF signals on a respective associated RF channel; plural discrete processing means, operatively connected to and corresponding with said plural radio repeaters, for controlling said corresponding repeaters and for periodically generating poll response messages; RF output power monitoring means for monitoring RF power output of said radio repeaters; RF testing means for testing RF signals transmitted by said radio repeaters for digital signal content; and site controller means, connected to said processing means, said RF output power monitoring means and said RF testing means, for automatically removing a radio repeater from service when any of the following occurs; (1) the processing means associated with said radio repeater fails to generate poll response messages, (2) the radio repeater power output monitored by said power monitoring means falls to below a preset level, and (3) the testing performed by said RF testing means reveals errors in the digital signal content of RF signals transmitted by said radio repeater. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5)
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6. In a digitally trunked radio frequency communications system of the type having an RF control channel and plural RF working channels, said RF working channels being temporarily assigned for communication by radio units in response to digital control messages passed over said RF control channel, said control messages including embedded synchronization signals and being protected by error-checking signals, a method of testing the operation of said system comprising:
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(a) continually monitoring said RF control channel and receiving and demodulating digital RF control messages passed over said control channel; (b) testing for the presence of recurring digital synchronization signals within said monitored messages; (c) performing error-checking analysis on error-checking signals within said monitored messages; and (d) generating a fault indication whenever said testing step (b) reveals said recurring synchronization signals are not present and/or whenever said performing step (c) reveals the presence of errors in said messages. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. In digitally trunked radio frequency repeater system, a radio frequency testing/monitoring apparatus connected via a digital signal link to a digitally trunked radio repeater system site controller, said apparatus including RF transceiver circuitry which is capable of transmitting and receiving RF signals, said RF transceiver including:
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(a) a first arrangement which continually monitors RF digital signalling passed over an RF control channel and generates messages indicating control channel signalling status for application to said site controller over said link; (b) a second arrangement which provides for user calls by transmitting RF signals to and receiving RF signals from said trunked radio frequency repeater system in response to manual user control; and a third arrangement which provides RF digital test calls by automatically transmitting digital RF signals to and receiving digital RF signals from said system in response to digital test call commands originated by said site controller and passed to said apparatus via said digital signal link. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
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17. A digitally trunked radio frequency communication system which transmits and receives radio frequency signals over plural radio frequency channels, said system comprising:
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plural radio frequency repeaters which transmit digitally encoded radio frequency signals over corresponding said plural RF channels; processing means, operatively connected to said plural radio repeaters, for controlling said repeaters and for periodically generating poll response messages corresponding to different ones of said radio repeaters; RF output power monitoring means for monitoring the RF power outputs of said radio repeaters; RF testing means for receiving said demodulating radio frequency signals transmitted by said radio repeaters and for testing digital signalling encoded thereon; and means, connected to said RF output power monitoring means and said RF testing means, for automatically removing a radio repeater from service when any of the following events occur; (1) the absence of poll response messages associated with said radio repeater, (2) the radio repeater RF power output falls below an acceptable level, and (3) the testing performed by said RF testing means reveals the digital signalling produced by said radio repeater is erroneous, and for restoring to service a radio repeater previously removed from service whenever all of the following events occur; (1) poll response messages associated with said radio repeater are present, (2) the radio repeater RF power output monitored by said power monitor means is above said acceptable level, and (3) the testing performed by said RF testing means reveals the digital signalling produced by said radio repeater is acceptable. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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19. A digitally trunked radio frequency repeater system including:
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at least one radio frequency repeater which transmits digitally encoded radio frequency signals; a radio frequency signal testing arrangement which tests the digital encoding content of said radio frequency signals transmitted by said repeater; a digital signal response testing arrangement coupled to said repeater, said digital control signal response testing arrangement testing response by said repeater to digital signals applied to said repeater; an RF power output testing arrangement coupled to said repeater, said RF power output testing arrangement testing the RF power output of said repeater; and a controller coupled to said repeater, said radio frequency signal testing arrangement, said digital signal response testing arrangement, and said RF power output testing arrangement, said controller automatically taking and/or keeping said repeater out of service unless tests with favorable outcomes are performed by each of said radio frequency signal testing arrangement, said digital signal response testing arrangement, and said RF power output testing arrangement.
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Specification