Satellite and terrestrial remote monitoring system for wireless handheld mobile terminals

• US 6,836,726 B2
• Filed: 04/07/2003
• Issued: 12/28/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Integrasys SA
• Original Assignee: Integrasys SA
• Inventors: Sánchez Peiro, Juan Carlos
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): To, Tuan C
• Application Number:
  US10/408,710
• Publication Number:
  US 20040068365A1
• Time in Patent Office: 631 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.1, 455/415, 455/427, 455/422.1, 455/456.1, 455/67.4, 455/67.3, 370/310, 370/330, 370/316, 342/357.09, 701/207, 700/214, 340/686.1
• US Class Current: 701/207
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18597 Arrangements for system physical machines management, i.e. for construction, operations control, administration, maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/00 Wireless channel access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/06 Airborne or Satellite Networks space-based or airborne stations H04B7/185
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/14 Backbone network devices

Abstract

A system and method to allow the control and command of a measurement instrument from a remote wireless handheld mobile terminal for obtaining, dynamically, the trace information, in the frequency and time domains, that represents satellite and terrestrial signals by means of a wireless communication with a server, in such a way that measurements and trace information taken by the measurement instrument are shown in real-time on a remote wireless handheld mobile terminal graphics screen. In particular, the invention provides the means for performing remote line-ups on up-linked satellite carriers, including the cross-polarization isolation measurements, from remote wireless handheld mobile terminals such as cellular phones or handheld computers (PDA) equipped with a wireless communication transceiver such as a cellular telephone or Wi-Fi (IEEE-802.11). The invention also provides concurrent access to a common single measurement instrumentation shared, transparently, by multiple remote wireless handheld mobile terminal users for performing simultaneous and independent alignment operations on up-linked satellite carriers without coordination with the satellite control center or hub station personnel.

Claims

1. Satellite and Terrestrial Remote Monitoring System from Wireless Handheld Mobile Terminals, which comprises at least a signal capture element, a measurement instrument, for obtaining data traces representing those satellite and terrestrial signals, a server which commands the measurement instrument to obtain and process the measurement results and data traces provided by that measurement instrument, one or more wireless handheld mobile terminals comprising:

a control module to command the measurement instrument in order to obtain measurement results and traces from the wireless handheld mobile terminal through the server and also to control the reception of measurement data and traces, obtained by the measurement instrument, at the wireless handheld mobile terminal;

a command editing and control module for the selective edition of commands and its transmission to the measurement instrument through the server;

a graphics module for displaying in real time on the wireless handheld mobile terminal graphics screen the measurements results and traces obtained from the measurement instrumentation on the handheld screen, said screen being connected to the handheld computer non-volatile memory to store different traces obtained by the measurement instrumentation and record the spectrum activity during a given time period, the graphics module further comprising a processing sub-module to process and display in real-time several traces simultaneously, including any cross-polarization isolation measurement graphics representations, stemming from two signals from two different polarizations that may be displayed simultaneously, and a sub-module to zoom-in the represented traces and a sub-module to display, in real time, the maximum hold and minimum hold traces during a given time period;

the server further incorporating;

a wireless communication control module for communicating with the wireless handheld mobile terminals and comprising a multitasking sub-module for providing concurrent access to multiple simultaneous users;

a storage module which includes a user identification and authentication sub-module to perform its validation, once the communication has been established, allowing the access to the measurement instrumentation;

an instrumentation command control module for managing the commands received from the wireless handheld mobile terminal to command the measurement instrumentation, allowing its control, and comprising a shared instrumentation coordination sub-module to share the measurement instrumentation transparently among multiple wireless handheld mobile terminal users in real-time; and

a data base which stores that data that allows to remotely control the measurement instrumentation form the wireless handheld mobile terminals.

2. Satellite and Terrestrial Remote Monitoring System from Wireless Handheld Mobile Terminals, according to claim 1 wherein the wireless handheld mobile terminal is determined by a cellular mobile telephone terminal that also comprises a dial-up connection module for establishing the call to communicate the cellular mobile telephone terminal with the server, and a math processor to format and display the raw measurement results and trace information received, and a measurement set-up edit, save and recall module.

3. Satellite and Terrestrial Remote Monitoring System from Wireless Handheld Mobile Terminals, according to claim 1 wherein the wireless handheld mobile terminal is determined by a handheld computer with an integrated wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver, also known as Wi-Fi (IEEE-802.11 standard), also named pocket computer, pocket PC or PDA (Personal Device Assistant), which also comprises:

an instrumentation measurement set-up editing and save and recall module connected to the handheld computer non-volatile memory to save different measurement instrumentation set-ups and, afterwards, recall any pre-saved set-up and end it to the measurement instrumentation through the server to configure the measurement instrumentation with that selected operating set-up;

this instrumentation measurement set-up editing and save and recall module comprising a measurement trace limit mask sub-module to graphically indicate where and when the measurement results are above and/or below the defined upper and lower measurement limits, upper and lower, establish gap or margin; and

, also, defining relative upper and lower limits taking any single point of the measured trace as a reference;

a command editing and control module to facilitate the selective edition of commands that are sent to the measurement instrument through he server, that comprises;

a frequency sub-module to set the frequency parameters a the measurement instrument (start, stop, center, span, offset);

a markers sub-module to position and display markers at the displayed trace and its associated measurement readouts;

frequency and amplitude;

a filters sub-module to select different video and resolution filter bandwidths at the measurement instrumentation, and to specify the trace average factor and the sweep time parameter;

an amplitude sub-module to set the amplitude parameters at the measurement instrument (reference level, scale, input attenuation);

a display selection sub-module to establish a selection of different traces to be displayed on the handheld computer screen;

a measurement sub-module to specify one or multiple measurements (signal center frequency, amplitude, bandwidth, power, C/N ratio, cross-pol isolation) on the displayed trace at the handheld computer screen; and

a measurement parameter sub-module to specify or select the measurement parameter value to be used by processing algorithms applied to raw measurements readings in order to compute elaborated results of previously mentioned measurements.

4. Satellite and Terrestrial Remote Monitoring System from Wireless Handheld Mobile Terminals, according to claim 2, wherein the cellular mobile telephone terminal is integrated into a handheld or laptop computer, using its screen to display traces and measurement results.

5. Satellite and Terrestrial Remote Monitoring System from Wireless Handheld Mobile Terminals, according to claim 2, wherein the server is connected to the cellular mobile telephone network.

6. Satellite and Terrestrial Remote Monitoring System from Wireless Handheld Mobile Terminals, according to claim 3, wherein a solid-state or electromechanical switching matrix is inserted between multiple possible signal capture elements and the measurement instrumentation and wherein the command editing and control module in the handheld computer comprises a switching module that allows the selection of a particular input signal from those coming from the signal capture elements for performing its measurements through the server and, in particular, the orthogonal polarized vertical and horizontal inputs that allows the automation of the cross-polarization isolation measurement by alternating, in a measurement instrument sweep synchronized way, the input switching selection at the switching matrix between these two orthogonal polarized input signals (i.e. vertical and horizontal polarized signals).

7. Satellite and Terrestrial Remote Monitoring System from Wireless Handheld Mobile Terminals, according to claim 3, wherein the frequency sub-module comprises a block for selection or value definition for each of the measurement instrumentation frequency analysis parameters:

center frequency;

frequency spans;

start frequency;

stop frequency; and

center frequency.

8. Satellite and Terrestrial Remote Monitoring System from Wireless Handheld Mobile Terminals, according to claim 3, wherein the markers sub-module comprises:

a block with marker search functions to position the markers at the maximum or minimum amplitude point in a given trace being displayed on the handheld computer screen;

a block to set the analyzer'"'"'s center frequency to the frequency value indicated by the marker readout;

a block to set the analyzer'"'"'s amplitude reference level to the amplitude value indicated by the marker readout; and

a block delta marker to indicate the frequency and amplitude difference between two markers readouts.

9. Satellite and Terrestrial Remote Monitoring System from Wireless Handheld Mobile Terminals, according to claim 3, wherein the amplitude sub-module comprises a block for selection or value definition for each of the measurement instrumentation following amplitude parameters:

reference level;

amplitude scale; and

input attenuation.

10. Satellite and Terrestrial Remote Monitoring System from Wireless Handheld Mobile Terminals, according to claim 3, wherein the filters sub-module includes a block for selection or value definition for each measurement instrumentation following filtering parameters:

video filter bandwidth; and

resolution or IF filter bandwidth

said filters sub-module further comprising blocks for selection or value definition of the measurement instrumentation frequency sweep time and trace averaging factor.

11. Satellite and Terrestrial Remote Monitoring System from Wireless Handheld Mobile Terminals, according to claim 3, wherein the measurement sub-module to specify one or multiple measurements;

signal center frequency, amplitude, bandwidth, power, C/N ratio and cross-pol isolation on the displayed trace at the handheld computer screen comprises;

a block to selectively command the execution of each measurement ir, a single or continuous way.

12. Satellite and Terrestrial Remote Monitoring System from Wireless Handheld Mobile Terminals, according to claim 3, wherein the measurement parameters sub-module used to specify or select the measurement parameter values to be used by processing algorithms applied to raw measurements readings in order to compute elaborated results of previously mentioned measurements includes:

a block for signal modulation format selection;

analog or digital, used for computation of the power measurement;

a block for definition of reference frequency bandwidth for the normalization of the noise measurement result used in the calculation of the C/N ratio measurement;

a block for definition of signal center frequency offset to perform the noise measurement used in the calculation of the C/N ratio measurement;

a block for definition of amplitude offset in dB from maximum amplitude point of signal'"'"'s trace to perform the signal bandwidth measurement; and

a block for selection of input switching position of the cross polarized signal to perform the cross-polarization isolation measurement.

13. Satellite and Terrestrial Remote Monitoring System from Wireless Handheld Mobile Terminals, according to claim 3, wherein the display selection sub-module to establish a selection of different traces to be displayed on the handheld computer screen comprises:

a block for zooming in the represented traces on the screen;

a block for defining the storage place in the handheld computer memory for measurement traces;

a block for editing the measurement results with an external standard word processor; and

a block for printing the measurement results and traces on a printer connected to the handheld computer.

14. Satellite and Terrestrial Remote Monitoring System from Wireless Handheld Mobile Terminals, according to claim 3, wherein the handheld computer non-volatile memory stores, by default, the instrumentation preset set-up.

15. Satellite and Terrestrial Remote Monitoring System from Wireless Handheld Mobile Terminals, according to claims 1, 2 or 3, wherein the server is connected to the Internet Network.