Autonomous detecting and positioning method of indoor wireless network faults

• US 9,924,388 B2
• Filed: 12/24/2014
• Issued: 03/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ranplan Wireless Network Design Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Ranplan Wireless Network Design Ltd.
• Inventors: Zhang, Jie, Song, Hui, Qin, Chunxia
• Primary Examiner(s): Afshar, Kamran
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim, Minjung
• Application Number:
  US15/108,214
• Publication Number:
  US 20160323760A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,182 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/20 for indoor coverage or short range network deployment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/225 for indoor or short range network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/06 Testing, supervising or monitoring using simulated traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/10 Small scale networks; Flat hierarchical networks

Abstract

Method of autonomous detection and positioning method of indoor wireless network faults, the method comprising: building an indoor three-dimensional spatial structural model and an indoor transmitting antenna model of a target building, calculating the signal strength of the indoor transmitting antenna model inside the target building according to a ray-tracing propagation model algorithm to determine key testing positions of the target building, each key test position being associated to an individual transmitting antenna and maximizing the difference between the signal strength generated by its corresponding antenna and that generated by other antennas, deploying mobile phones with an automatic dial testing function at the key testing positions of indoor wireless networks and starting the dial testing mobile phones when the wireless networks are idle, collecting measurement reports reported by the dial testing mobile phones, detecting and locating faults of indoor networks and devices according to the measurement reports.

Claims

1. A method for autonomous detecting and positioning of indoor wireless network faults of one or more wireless networks, the method comprising:

building an indoor three-dimensional spatial structural model and an indoor transmitting antenna model of a target building,

calculating, in the indoor three-dimensional spatial structural model, a signal strength of the indoor transmitting antenna model inside the target building according to a ray-tracing propagation model algorithm to accordingly determine one or more key testing positions of the target building,

deploying one or more connection testing wireless units, each connection testing wireless unit having an automatic connection testing function, at the key testing positions of indoor wireless networks and starting the connection testing wireless units when the one or more wireless networks are idle,

counting on-states of the connection testing wireless units, collecting measurement reports reported by the connection testing wireless units, and determining the indoor wireless network faults of the one or more wireless networks and associated devices according to the on-states of the connection testing wireless units and the measurement reports reported by the connection testing wireless units.

2. The method for autonomous detecting and positioning of indoor wireless network faults according to claim 1, wherein the one or more connection testing wireless units with the automatic connection testing function include at least one mobile phone with an automatic dial testing function.

3. The method for autonomous detecting and positioning of indoor wireless network faults according to claim 1, wherein the automatic connection testing function is an automatic network service request function.

4. The method for autonomous detecting and positioning of indoor wireless network faults according to claim 1, wherein the connection testing wireless units are cellular devices.

5. A method for autonomous detecting and positioning of indoor wireless network faults, the method comprising:

building an indoor three-dimensional spatial structural model and an indoor transmitting antenna model of a target building;

calculating a signal strength of the indoor transmitting antenna model inside the target building in step (1) by using a ray-tracing propagation model algorithm on the indoor three-dimensional spatial structural model;

determining key testing positions of the target building and a reference signal strength that can be received by one or more wireless units at the key testing positions, according to calculation results;

deploying the one or more wireless units with a timer to initiate an automatic connection testing function at the key testing positions determined;

the automatic connection testing function includes one or more of a customizable testing time, frequency, target and service type of the one or more wireless units;

on a network side, determining on-states of the one or more wireless units, collecting measurement reports reported by the wireless units, respectively extracting the measurement reports of the wireless units that correspond to one or more transmitting antennas, according to the automatic testing function and labelling the one or more wireless units;

determining which of the one or more transmitting antennas have a fault according to the on-states of the one or more wireless units determined, the reference signal strength information in at least one of the measurement reports, and the reference signal strength that can be received by the one or more wireless units at the key testing positions.

6. The method for autonomous detecting and positioning of indoor wireless network faults according to claim 5, wherein building the indoor three-dimensional spatial structural model includes three-dimensional modeling CAD format drawings of the target building for each floor of the target building, and storing separately data representing the three-dimensional spatial structural model of each floor;

the data representing the three-dimensional spatial structural model includes vertical heights of each floor, horizontal areas of each floor, data of building materials and data of a layout and structures of the floors each floor.

7. The method for autonomous detecting and positioning of indoor wireless network faults according to claim 5, wherein building the indoor transmitting antenna model includes recording and storing data of the one or more transmitting antennas in the target building;

the data of the one or more transmitting antennas includes information of specific locations of the transmitting antennas inside the target building and three-dimensional radiation parameters, power, frequency and downtilt of the transmitting antennas.

8. The method for autonomous detecting and positioning of indoor wireless network faults according to claim 5, wherein when information of the one or more transmitting antennas within a region changes, recalculating field strengths of the transmitting antennas generated in the three-dimensional spatial structural model, recalculating the key testing positions of each of the one or more transmitting antennas, and recalculating and storing a reference signal strength received by the one or more wireless units at the key testing positions, and wherein the changes of the information of the transmitting includes:

adjustments to transmitting antenna parameters, alternations of locations of the transmitting antennas, or an increase in a number of transmitting antennas.

9. The method for autonomous detecting and positioning of indoor wireless network faults according to claim 5, wherein

the one or more wireless units are supplied with electric power by connecting to a wired power supply.

10. The method for autonomous detecting and positioning of indoor wireless network faults according to claim 5 wherein:

the automatic connection testing function is based on a distribution diagram of telephone traffic in the target building over time, the customizable testing time is set when the networks are idle, the frequency is set as once per day or a plurality of times per day, target objects of connection testing are other testing wireless units or internet servers, and the service type of connection testing are voice call, data connection or a combination of a plurality of services.