GB2525848A

GB2525848A - Base station deployment

Info

Publication number: GB2525848A
Application number: GB1406408.3A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Redford
Original assignee: Neul Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Research and Development UK Ltd
Priority date: 2014-04-09
Filing date: 2014-04-09
Publication date: 2015-11-11
Anticipated expiration: 2034-04-09
Also published as: GB2525848B; GB201406408D0

Abstract

A rooftop solar capture installation 2 having integrated therewith a wireless base station 1. The solar capture installation may be a solar or photovoltaic panel and power the base station directly. The base station may be configured to transmit messages indicative of the status and/or performance of the solar panel. The wireless base station may be connected to the internet via a wired interface port, wireless modem or cellular modem. Integrating a wireless base station with a solar capture installation could be used to extend coverage of a wireless network to allow further wireless devices to be connected to the Internet of Things (for example, parking meters, domestic appliances, road pricing schemes).

Description

BASE STATION DEPLOYMENT

This invention relates to the deployment of communication facilities, for example base stations.

At present, if a device is required to connect wirelessly to the internet in an arbitrary location it is common to provide the device with a cellular data modem. A cellular data modem can connect to a cellular network, such as a 3G or 4G network, and use that network as a means of accessing the internet. This approach has a number of difficulties. Amongst the more significant of these are that cellular networks are relatively expensive for data transfer; that the cellular modem needs to be provisioned with a cellular subscription or identity, which can be inconvenient for a user to do; and that there are areas that do not have cellular coverage.

It is currently proposed that an extensive range of devices, such as parking meters, utility meters, domestic appliances and road vehicles could be provided with access to the internet in order to enhance their functionality. This could, for example, permit parking meters to accept electronic payments, permit utility meters to report usage, permit vehicles to participate in road pricing schemes and permit domestic appliances to report faults to a central monitoring function. This diverse connectivity is referred to as the internet of things (loT"). For the most part, devices taking part in this system would have relatively low bandwidth requirements, individual communications might be of low financial value, the devices might not need to communicate in real time and the devices may be located in places that have no cellular coverage. These factors make cellular communications generally unsuited to loT applications. As a result, it has been proposed that specific wireless protocols can be used for loT communications. These protocols could operate with dedicated loT base stations, which would be deployed at sufficient density and in such locations as to give adequate coverage for the loT protocol. The required density will depend on factors such as the expected bandwidth requirements and the data rates permitted by the protocol.

Suitable locations will depend on the effective range of signals according to the protocol.

In order to roll out a network of this type there is a need for appropriate base stations to be installed. The installation of these base stations over a wide geographical area could be a considerable undertaking. One option would be for them to be co-located with cellular base stations. These have the advantage of being already located at elevated sites, with permission having already been obtained from the landowners.

However, this would require specific visits to cellular base station sites to install the new equipment. It would be preferable to reduce the amount of work required to roll out a new system of this type.

In a separate field, there are increasing pressures for domestic and commercial buildings to provide for environmentally friendly systems of energy capture, such as solar panels for electricity generation or water heating. Some solar electricity generation installations feed energy into the utility grid. These systems can be provided with a mechanism for reporting their output to a management centre so that the owner of the system can be credited for the energy they have contributed to the grid. That mechanism can be a cellular modem connected to a control unit for the solar generation system (an example is the Apollo Solar ACM-i cellular modem), or a wired or wireless connection from the control unit to a broadband internet connection.

It is known for cellular base stations to be powered from solar panels. See, for

example:

http://aptnk. in/wp-contentluploads/201 0/05/Technical-Whitepaper. pdf Such base stations are generally provided with additional sources of power, such as diesel generators, in order to ensure that the base station remains powered continually, even when there is insufficient solar energy available.

There is a need for an improved way of deploying base stations, particularly for internet-of-things applications.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a rooftop solar capture installation having integrated therewith a wireless base station.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of installing a rooftop solar capture installation, the method comprising simultaneously installing a wireless base station co-located with at least one rooftop component of the solar capture installation. The solar capture installation may be as described herein.

The wireless base station may be attached to the roof by a mounting. The rooftop solar capture installation may have a solar panel. The solar panel may be attached to the roof by the mounting. The mounting may comprise a bracket, stanchion, stand-off or the like.

The installation may have a photovoltaic panel. The base station may be configured to power the base station from the photovoltaic panel. The base station may be configured to be powered solely from the photovoltaic panel.

The installation may comprise a solar panel disposed on the roof of a building. The installation may comprise a communications device for communication with the internet. The installation may be configured to transmit via the communications device messages indicative of the status and/or performance of the solar panel. The communications device may be a wired interface port. The communications device may be a wireless modem. The communications device may operate according to a different protocol from the protocol according to which the wireless base station operates. The communications device may be a cellular modem. The wireless base station may be configured to use the communications device for its backhaul. The communications device may be located inside the building on whose roof the solar panel is disposed.

The wireless base station may be located at the roof of the building.

The installation may comprise one or more solar collectors, such as photoelectric panels, heat exchange panels or concentrating mirrors, arranged for extraction of thermal or electric energy from the rooftop. Those collectors may be installed on the rooftop. The installation may comprise a heat exchanger for transferring collected thermal energy to another medium, such as to running water of the building or to heating fluid for circulation in the building, or alternatively a voltage and/or current converter for converting collected electrical energy to a form suitable for use by appliances within the building. Those devices may be installed within the building, at a location remote from the rooftop, or may be installed close to the solar collector(s).

The present invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings: Figure 1 illustrates a combined solar capture and base station installation.

Figure 2 is a schematic drawing of a base station.

Figure 3 shows possibilities for antenna placement within a solar panel structure.

Figure 1 shows a base station 1 whose deployment is integrated with a roof-mounted solar capture system 2, 3. Deploying a base station in this way can have a number of advantages. For example, the hardware of the base station and the solar capture system can be configured synergistically in that the same backhaul mechanism can be used for both, and aspects of the base station hardware can be physically integrated with hardware of the solar capture system; and since the solar capture system is roof-mounted and would typically be installed by a professional installer it provides a reliable platform for deploying a base station at an elevated position, which enhances its effective range.

Figure 1 shows a building 10 having a roof 11. The solar capture system comprises one or more solar panels 2 and a control unit 3. The solar panels are disposed on the roof, facing in a direction exposed to the sun. In this example the solar panels are photovoltaic panels, which collect solar energy and convert it into electrical energy.

They could capture solar energy in other ways, for example by heating water that runs through conduits in the panel. In this example, the generated electrical energy passes via power cable 4 to control unit 3. The control unit is located inside the building so as to protect it from the environment. The control unit comprises a generation controller 5 and an inverter 6. The generation controller comprises a processor executing code that controls the operation of the inverter. The inverter converts a DC electrical supply from the power cable 4 to an AC electrical supply that is suitable for feeding into the electricity grid 20. The output of the inverter is connected to the electricity grid through the electrical cabling 21 of the building. Conveniently, the output of the inverter could be coupled to an electrical consumer unit of the building.

The system is a rooftop system in that at least the elements of the system that receive solar radiation (in this example the solar panel(s)) are disposed on the outer side of the roof of a building.

The generation controller 5 also monitors the amount of energy being generated by the solar panels 2 and being fed into the grid 20. In order to allow the owner of the solar collection system to be credited for that energy, from time to time the generation controller reports the amount of generated energy to a remote control centre 60. The control centre could be operated by the grid supplier, by the installer of the solar equipment or by an intermediary. The generation controller has two mechanisms for reporting to the control centre. First, it is coupled to a wired connection port 7 of the control unit 3. The wired connection port could, for example be an Ethernet port.

Connection port 7 can be connected via a cable to the internet 22, for example through an internet connection device such as a broadband or cable modem 12 installed in the building for providing internet access to other devices located in the building. Second, the generation controller 5 is coupled to a wireless modem 8 of the control unit 3. The wireless modem could be a cellular modem that can connect to a 2G, 3G or 4G cellular network for transmitting data from the generation controller to the control centre. As energy is generated by the solar panels 2 and fed into the grid 20 the generation controller 5 logs and stores the amount of energy that is being fed in. From time to time, for example every six hours, it forms a message reporting on the amount of recently generated energy and causes that to be transmitted over the internet to the control centre 60 via either wired port 7 or wireless modem 8. Since these reports are sent somewhat irregularly the wired port 7 and the wireless modem 8 can be dormant for most of the time, and can be activated to send the message and then returned to a power saving mode.

Typically the solar generation system will also include a panel controller 40 sited locally to each panel. The panel controller is an electronic device which monitors the performance of the panel and protects the control unit 3 against damage caused by malfunctions of the panel, such as short circuits. The panel controller may also perform other functions such as regulating the voltage output by the panel. In this example there is a data connection 9 from the panel controller to the generation controller. This allows the panel controller to receive feedback from the generation controller and to inform the generation controller of faults with a solar panel. The data connection 9 could be wired or wireless.

The panel controller can be attached to the roof by a mounting bracket 44. The mounting bracket could be affixed directly to the roof, or to the eaves of the roof. The same mounting member could support on the roof both the base station 1 and elements dedicated to or essential to the solar collection installation, such as the solar panel 2 or the panel controller 40.

A typical roof-top installation is made up of an array of multiple solar panels. Each panel may have a respective panel controller and a respective electrical connection to the control unit 3, or panel controllers and electrical connections may be shared between multiple panels.

In the installation illustrated in figure 1 a wireless base station 1 is co-located with the solar collection installation on the roof of the building. Conveniently the wireless base station could be housed in a common weatherproof housing 41 with a panel controller 40. Alternatively it could be attached to a solar panel or attached to the roof independently of the solar apparatus.

The wireless base station 1 can be powered by drawing DC energy from one or more of the solar panels. This could be provided through a power link 42 to a panel controller. The panel controller and/or the wireless base station could be arranged to store energy generated from the solar panels in a battery 43 located proximal to the base station and at the roof of the building. The battery could provide the base station with power at night. If required, the base station could be powered through a link 14 to the mains electricity circuit of the building.

The base station 1 could operate according to any convenient protocol. However, the present installation mechanism is particularly suited to base stations that operate according to a protocol suitable for providing low bandwidth connectivity to diverse devices, as is envisaged for the internet of things.

Figure 2 shows an example architecture of the base station 1. The base station comprises an antenna 51, a radio frequency (RF) front end 52, a baseband processor 53, a non-volatile memory 54 and a data cache 55. The baseband processor is configured to execute program code stored in a non-transient way in the non-volatile memory 54. When wireless data is received at the antenna 51 of the base station it is amplified, filtered and converted to baseband by the RF front end 52. The resulting signals are passed to the baseband processor 53. Program code stored in memory 54 causes the baseband processor 53 to interpret the received data, and to process it as required. When the program code requires data to be transmitted it is formed by the processor, converted to RF by the RF front end and then transmitted wirelessly by the antenna.

In some situations, which are typical of certain loT applications, remote devices may transmit information (e.g. describing their status or uploading an event log) which is intended to be conveyed to a remote entity 61 (see figure 1) for interpretation there, but which does not need to be transmitted promptly to the remote entity. An example of this is utility meters (so-called smart meters) making reports of energy usage to an energy supplier. A meter may collect usage information locally and then connect wirelessly to a base station such as base station 1 and transmit the collected usage information to the base station. The base station may then cache such information locally to itself and transmit it to the remote entity at a suitable time. Thus the data is conveyed asynchronously by the base station. Referring to figure 2, base station 1 has a data cache 55. The processor can store such information in cache 55 once it has been received from a remote device, and later recover the information from the cache and transmit it to a remote consuming entity.

The base station 1 is capable of connecting wirelessly to multiple client devices in order to provide an uplink or downlink for the client devices. As a base station it serves to provide those devices with an onward connection to a larger network, which may be exclusively a private network or may include a publicly accessible network such as the internet. As a base station it may also exercise control over aspects of the communication link with devices it is connected to, for example to influence their transmit power, modulation scheme, data rate, or frequency usage. In order for the base station to relay information to or from the client devices it has a backhaul connection. The backhaul connection could be solely to a private network.

Alternatively it could be a connection to the internet. The base station transmits data received from the clients over the backhaul connection to one or more recipients whose identity is/are either designated in the data or programmed into the code stored in memory 54. The base station receives data received from remote entities over the backhaul connection and forwards itto one or more of the client devices whose identity is/are either designated in the data or programmed into the code stored in memory 54.

For example, in the case where the client device is an electricity meter the base station could receive a data message from that device indicating an amount of energy usage and a forwarding address, and could forward that message or part of it to the indicated forwarding address.

Backhaul for the base station 1 could be provided in a number of ways. First, it could be provided with a dedicated wireless modem for connecting to a network of another protocol than the one it implements itself for RF communications. For example, it could be provided with a dedicated cellular modem. Such a cellular modem could be installed proximal to the base station, for example in housing 41. Second, when it needs to upload data it could use data link 9 to transmit that data to the control unit 3.

Control unit 3 could then transmit the data to a remote network either via wired port 7 or via wireless modem 8. Similarly, for data reception the control unit 3 could receive data via port 7 or modem 8 and then pass it to the base station via data link 9. In that way the base station 7 shares the communication connection available to the control unit 3 of the solar collection system. Base station 1 has a data port 56 for communicating with the data link 9.

In the system of figure 1 the solar capture system is integrated with base station 1 in a number of ways. First, the base station is housed in a common housing (41) with elements required for the functioning of the solar capture system. That may be a weatherproof and/or rooftop housing. Second, the base station is attached to the building by a common mounting (44) to elements required for the functioning of the solar capture system. Third, the base station is configured to share one or more interfaces (7, 8) for connection to a remote network (22) with the solar capture system.

Both the solar capture system and the base station are able to use/share one or both of those interfaces for remote connections.

A system of this type can provide a number of advantages for the deployment of a wireless network. First, the integration of a wireless base station with a solar panel array is synergistic in that solar panel arrays are generally installed in exposed locations, frequently on elevated sites such as roofs, which make for good transmission and reception range of the base station. Second, there is an ongoing increase in the number of solar capture installations. By integrating the installation of base stations with the installation of solar capture systems a network operator can readily increase the coverage of a network at little additional cost, particularly since the base station can use the same capabilities as the solar installation for its backhaul.

Third, a large proportion of solar capture installations are installed by professional installers. That reduces the risk of a failure or underperformance of a base station once installed. Fourth, the base station can be powered by photoelectric panels of the solar capture installation. In known installations where a base station is powered by a solar panel there is conventionally an alternative power source for use at night, or when the weather is cloudy. However, an loT base station may be able to adequately collect data from client devices even if it operates only intermittently. For example if the base station were to switch off at night due to lack of solar power then a client that is an electricity meter could readily wait until the base station is active the next day before sending a usage report. Fifth, as indicated above the base station can conveniently be integrated with roof-top equipment of a solar capture system, meaning that there is little if any additional burden to installing the solar capture system together with the base station over installing simply the solar capture system.

A further advantage is illustrated with reference to figure 3. Figure 3 is a cross-section through a solar panel. A typical solar panel comprises a frame 60, which might be made of extruded aluminium, a back-plate 61 and an active sheet 62. The active sheet could be a photovoltaic element, or in the case of a solar water heater a pipe network.

Figure 3 illustrates a range of alternative ways in which the antenna of a base station can be integrated with the panel. 63 indicates an antenna embedded in the frame of the panel. 64 indicates a planar antenna located behind the back-plate. The planar antenna could alternatively be located in the back-plate or between the back-plate and the active sheet. 65 indicates an antenna defined by conductive elements deposited on the outer surface of the active sheet. These could be wires or optically transparent conductive elements. In another alternative, the frame itself could be made of electrically conductive material and could serve as the antenna. A planar antenna is a convenient configuration for loT applications. It can be seen that a solar panel provides an efficient housing for such an antenna.

The solar capture installation may be a domestic installation. It may be on the roof of a domestic building. Alternatively it may be on a commercial or other building. The roof may be a pitched roof. The or each solar panel of the installation may be planar.

The or each panel may be disposed parallel to the plane of the roof, which may be inclined to horizontal.

Some businesses provide and install solar capture equipment for use by a building owner subject to the condition that the equipment provider receives an amount of the revenue obtained by feeding captured energy into the utility electricity grid. As part of this arrangement the provider typically arranges for the solar capture installation to be provided with communication equipment such as cellular modem 8. The system is arranged to use the cellular modem from time to time to upload data about the amount of generated energy in order that the commercial arrangement between the provider, the electricity utility and the building owner can be satisfied. In a system of this type the provision and use of the cellular modem is a cost to the provider. An operator of the network provided by the base station 1 may enter into an agreement with the provider of the solar capture equipment under which the operator will contribute to the cost of the provider's network connection, or even give the provider for free the cellular modem and connectivity therefrom for reporting energy capture information. An arrangement of this type may facilitate the roll out of the operator's network.

The applicant hereby discloses in isolation each individual feature described herein and any combination of two or more such features, to the extent that such features or combinations are capable of being carried out based on the present specification as a whole in the light of the common general knowledge of a person skilled in the art, irrespective of whether such features or combinations of features solve any problems disclosed herein, and without limitation to the scope of the claims. The applicant indicates that aspects of the present invention may consist of any such individual feature or combination of features. In view of the foregoing description it will be evident to a person skilled in the art that various modifications may be made within the scope of the invention.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A rooftop solar capture installation having integrated therewith a wireless base station.
2. An installation as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wireless base station is attached to the roof by a mounting, the rooftop solar capture installation has a solar panel, and the solar panel is attached to the roof by the mounting.
3. An installation as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the installation has a photovoltaic panel and the base station is configured to power the base station from the photovoltaic panel.
4. An installation as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the installation comprises a solar panel disposed on the roof of a building and a communications device for communication with the internet, and the installation is configured to transmit via the communications device messages indicative of the status and/or performance of the solar panel.
5. An installation as claimed in claim 4, wherein the communications device is a wired interface port.
6. An installation as claimed in claim 4, wherein the communications device is a wireless modem.
7. An installation as claimed in claim 6, wherein the communications device operates according to a different protocol from the protocol according to which the wireless base station operates.
8. An installation as claimed in claim 6 or 7, wherein the communications device is a cellular modem.
9. An installation as claimed in any of claims 4 to 8, wherein the wireless base station is configured to use the communications device for its backhaul.
10. An installation as claimed in any of claims 4 to 9, wherein the communications device is located inside the building on whose roof the solar panel is disposed.
11. An installation as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the wireless base station is located at the roof of the building.
12. A rooftop solar capture installation substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
13. A method of installing a rooftop solar capture installation, the method comprising simultaneously installing a wireless base station co-located with at least one rooftop component of the solar capture installation.
14. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the installation is an installation as claimed in any of claims ito 12.
15. A method of installing a rooftop solar capture installation, the method being substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.