Local power management for remote antenna units in distributed antenna systems

• US 9,160,449 B2
• Filed: 04/10/2013
• Issued: 10/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Corning Optical Communications LLC (Corning Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: CCS Technology Inc. (Corning Incorporated)
• Inventors: Heidler, Christian, Hull, Jonathan Richard, Kedziora, John, Sauer, Michael, Schweiker, Wolfgang Gottfried Tobias
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayard, Emmanuel
• Application Number:
  US13/859,985
• Publication Number:
  US 20140308043A1
• Time in Patent Office: 916 Days
• Field of Search: 375219-222, 375/142, 375/356
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/007 specially adapted for indoor communication
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 4/00 Circuit arrangements for mains or distribution networks not specified as ac or dc
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/16 Circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/11 Arrangements specific to free-space transmission, i.e. transmission through air or vacuum
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/25753 Distribution optical network, e.g. between a base station and a plurality of remote units
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/808 Electrical power feeding of an optical transmission system
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/085 Access point devices with remote components
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Power management for a remote antenna unit(s) (RAUs) in a distributed antenna system. Power can be managed for an RAU configured to power modules and devices that may require more power to operate than power available to the RAU. For example, the RAU may be configured to include power-consuming RAU modules to provide distributed antenna system-related services. As another example, the RAU may be configured to provide power through powered ports in the RAU to external power-consuming devices. Depending on the configuration of the RAU, the power-consuming RAU modules and/or external power-consuming devices may demand more power than is available at the RAU. In this instance, the power available at the RAU can be distributed to the power-consuming modules and devices based on the priority of services desired to be provided by the RAU.

Claims

1. A remote antenna unit (RAU) for a distributed antenna system, comprising:

at least one power-consuming RAU module;

at least one powered port configured to provide power to at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port; and

a controller configured to;

determine an available power budget for the at least one powered port; and

enable power for the at least one powered port if the available power budget is sufficient to power the at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port.

2. The RAU of claim 1, wherein the at least one power-consuming RAU module is comprised of at least one of a radio frequency (RF) communications module configured to provide RF communications services and a digital data services (DDS) module configured to provide DDS.

3. The RAU of claim 2, wherein the controller is the DDS module.

4. The RAU of claim 1, wherein the at least one powered port is configured to receive power configured to be provided to the at least one external power-consuming device.

5. The RAU of claim 1, wherein the at least one power-consuming RAU module is comprised of at least one optical-to-electrical (O/E) converter configured to convert a downlink optical RF communications signal to a downlink electrical RF communications signal.

6. The RAU of claim 5, wherein the at least one power-consuming RAU module is comprised of at least one electrical-to-optical (E/O) converter configured to convert an uplink electrical RF communications signal to an uplink optical RF communications signal.

7. The RAU of claim 5, wherein the at least one power-consuming RAU module further comprises at least one remote expansion unit (RXU) module configured to provide RF communications services.

8. The RAU of claim 7, wherein the at least one RXU module is configured to receive downlink RF communications signals and wherein the at least one RXU module is configured to receive uplink RF communications signals.

9. The RAU of claim 1, further comprising a load detector configured to provide a load sense signal to the controller indicative of a total power consumed by the at least one power-consuming RAU module and the at least one external power-consuming device.

10. The RAU of claim 1, wherein the at least one powered port is comprised of at least one Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) port.

11. The RAU of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to disable the at least one powered port if the available power budget is not sufficient to power the at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port.

12. The RAU of claim 1, where the controller is configured to determine the available power budget based on the power required by the at least one power-consuming RAU module.

13. The RAU of claim 12, wherein the controller is configured to determine the power required for the at least one power-consuming RAU module by determining which of the at least one power-consuming RAU modules are present.

14. The RAU of claim 13, wherein the controller is configured to determine which of the at least one power-consuming RAU modules are present by:

subtracting power consumed by the at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port from a total power available to provide a power consumed by the at least one power-consuming RAU module; and

correlating the power consumed by the at least one power-consuming RAU module to those of the at least one power-consuming RAU modules that are present.

15. The RAU of claim 1, where the controller is configured to determine the available power budget based on a total power available minus the power required for the at least one power-consuming RAU module.

16. The RAU of claim 1, wherein the at least one powered port is comprised of a plurality of powered ports,

wherein the controller is further configured to disable at least one first port among the plurality of powered ports if the available power budget is only sufficient to power the at least one external power-consuming device connected to at least one second port among the plurality of powered ports.

17. A method of managing power consumed at a remote antenna unit (RAU) in a distributed antenna system, comprising:

determining an available power budget for at least one powered port configured to provide power to at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port based on power required by at least one power-consuming RAU module; and

enabling power for the at least one powered port if the available power budget is sufficient to power the at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the at least one power-consuming RAU module is comprised of at least one of a radio frequency (RF) communications module configured to provide RF communications services and a digital data services (DDS) module configured to provide DDS.

19. The method of claim 17, comprising the at least one powered port receiving power configured to be provided to the at least one external power-consuming device.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

converting a downlink optical RF communications signal to a downlink electrical RF communications signal in at least one optical-to-electrical (O/E) converter; and

converting an uplink electrical RF communications signal to an uplink optical RF communications signal in at least one electrical-to-optical (E/O) converter.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising the at least one power-consuming RAU module providing RF communications services to at least one remote expansion unit (RXU) module.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

receiving downlink RF communications signals in the at least one RXU module; and

receiving uplink RF communications signals in the at least one RXU module.

23. The method of claim 17, further comprising providing a load sense signal from a load detector indicative of a total power consumed by the at least one power-consuming RAU module and the at least one external power-consuming device.

24. The method of claim 17, comprising determining the power required for the at least one power-consuming RAU module by determining which of the at least one power-consuming RAU modules are present.

25. The method of claim 24, comprising determining which of the at least one power-consuming RAU modules are present by:

subtracting power consumed by the at least one external power-consuming device connected to the at least one powered port from a total power available to provide a power consumed by the at least one power-consuming RAU module; and

correlating the power consumed by the at least one power-consuming RAU module to those of the at least one power-consuming RAU modules that are present.

26. The method of claim 17, comprising determining the available power budget based on a total power available minus the power required for the at least one power-consuming RAU module.

27. The method of claim 17, wherein the at least one powered port is comprised of a plurality of powered ports;

and

further comprising disabling at least one first port among the plurality of powered ports if the available power budget is only sufficient to power the at least one external power-consuming device connected to at least one second port among the plurality of powered ports.