KR101768995B1 - In-building mobile communication relay apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an in-building mobile communication repeater capable of coping with various output and communication environments while minimizing the installation and operation costs, and is characterized in that a single equipment is divided into an n band SISO high output repeater, a freely band configurable 2n band SISO repeater, n-band MIMO repeater to be utilized as an in-building mobile communication repeater, it is possible to broaden the versatility and expand the future bandwidth, as well as improve the device configuration and management efficiency.

Description

[0001] In-building mobile communication relay apparatus [0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an in-building mobile communication repeater, and more particularly, to an in-building mobile communication repeater capable of coping with various output and communication environments while minimizing installation and operation costs.

A plurality of repeaters are installed in each floor of the building to provide a communication service of a reference quality or more to a mobile communication terminal located inside the building. Such repeaters are classified according to the size of a building to be installed and the required output.

For example, a repeater for a medium-sized building and a repeater for an ultra-large or high-power building have different outputs, different configurations, and different configurations depending on the communication method used.

Currently, the mobile communication systems currently in use are largely divided into a plurality of types such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution). Among them, LTE supports a MIMO (Multi Input Multi Output) scheme for transmit diversity in a base station, and a single input single output (SISO) . Here, in the case of WCDMA, MIMO is supported in theory but actual service is not provided.

Accordingly, in order to support various communication methods currently in use, an in-building repeater may be configured to use only a device that supports SISO, a device that supports only SISO to support MIMO, or a device that supports MIMO SISO is used in an integrated manner, there is a limitation in the service that can be supported, a complicated equipment configuration, and an increase in operation cost.

In addition, since the SISO or MIMO repeater is configured to support n preset bands up to now, there is a problem that when the bandwidth is extended in the future, the entire system needs to be replaced or a repeater for additional bandwidth needs to be added. There is an inefficient problem.

Korean Patent No. 10-0986766 [Relay system for providing mobile communication service in an in-building]

An object of an embodiment of the present invention is to configure a pair of relay units of SISO type in a single equipment and to switch variously connected wires to an analog antenna unit by a manager's choice, Output increase, and support for MIMO scheme can be selected.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an in-building mobile communication relay apparatus which can reduce the size and cost of equipment and minimize power consumption by constituting a single equipment having flexibility and expandability in accordance with various purposes .

An in-building mobile communication relay apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is an in-building mobile communication relay apparatus connected to a base station and relaying n-band mobile communication signals in a building, wherein each of n used bands is set according to a control signal A pair of software defined analog antenna portions; A signal converter for converting a signal to be transmitted to and from the base station; A switching matrix unit for selectively connecting the two channel signals received through the signal conversion unit and the path between the pair of software defined analog antenna units according to a control signal; An administrator access interface is provided and the switching matrix section is set in accordance with the setting information received through the interface to select one of functions of SISO high output relay, SISO output relay, and MIMO relay, As shown in FIG.

In addition, the function that the control unit can set by selecting and setting the path of the matrix unit may be one of the SISO high-power relay of n bands, the SISO relay of 2n bands, and the MIMO relay of n bands.

Here, the relayable bands are different from n to 2n bands, and the bands may be changeable within a range supported by the software defined analog antenna unit.

In addition, the control unit can select four different wiring schemes through the signal connection of the switching matrix unit.

An in-building mobile communication relay apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention is an in-building mobile communication relay apparatus connected to a master hub unit connected to a plurality of base stations through an optical interface, wherein each of the n used bands is set according to a control signal A pair of antenna units; The master hub unit transmits and receives signals, distinguishes the signals for the two channels included in the signals, and selectively connects the signals of the respective channels to the pair of antenna units according to the set control information. The SISO high- Output relay, and MIMO relay.

Here, the digital unit can operate in one mode of SISO high-power relay of n bands, SISO relay of 2n bands, and MIMO relay of n bands.

Also, the relayable bands may be n to 2n different bands, and the bands may be changeable within the range supported by the software defined analog antenna unit.

The present invention enables a single device to be selected as an n-band SISO high-power repeater, a freely configurable 2n-band SISO repeater, and an n-band MIMO repeater to be utilized as an in- building mobile communication repeater, It is possible to increase the equipment configuration and management efficiency.

In addition, the present invention can significantly reduce power consumption when using two SISO equipment, one high-output equipment, or a combination of MIMO-supported equipment and SISO equipment when used as a repeater for a high output or very large building In addition to minimizing the size of the equipment and eliminating the need for external equipment, it has the effect of lowering installation and operation costs.

FIG. 1 is a configuration example of an in-building repeater for a middle floor.
Fig. 2 shows an example of the configuration of an in-building repeater for a high-rise building or a high-output building.
3 is a configuration example of an in-building repeater capable of supporting MIMO;
4 is a configuration example of an in-building repeater according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is an example of a multi-band support configuration of an in-building repeater according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 6 is an illustration of an in-building repeater system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
7 is a configuration example of an in-building repeater according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a table for comparing the power consumption of the existing building repeater and the number of used equipment according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a table comparing the configuration and operational efficiency of an existing building repeater according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

It is noted that the technical terms used in the present invention are used only to describe specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the present invention. In addition, the technical terms used in the present invention should be construed in a sense generally understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs, unless otherwise defined in the present invention, Should not be construed to mean, or be interpreted in an excessively reduced sense. In addition, when a technical term used in the present invention is an erroneous technical term that does not accurately express the concept of the present invention, it should be understood that technical terms that can be understood by a person skilled in the art can be properly understood. In addition, the general terms used in the present invention should be interpreted according to a predefined or prior context, and should not be construed as being excessively reduced.

Furthermore, the singular expressions used in the present invention include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. The term "comprising" or "comprising" or the like in the present invention should not be construed as necessarily including the various elements or steps described in the invention, Or may further include additional components or steps.

Furthermore, terms including ordinals such as first, second, etc. used in the present invention can be used to describe elements, but the elements should not be limited by terms. Terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, the first component may be referred to as a second component, and similarly, the second component may also be referred to as a first component.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like or similar elements throughout the several views, and redundant description thereof will be omitted.

In the following description, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail since they would obscure the invention in unnecessary detail. It is to be noted that the accompanying drawings are only for the purpose of facilitating understanding of the present invention, and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, detailed embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Although a 2.1 GHz reference repeater using three bands is used as an example in the illustrated embodiment, the number of bands and the reference frequency may be variously changed.

In addition, in the present invention, an in-building repeater corresponding to a middle / high-rise building and an in-building repeater corresponding to a high-rise building are separately described. In-building repeaters corresponding to middle / high- And an in-building repeater corresponding to a skyscraper means providing a high output (60W or more).

FIG. 1 shows an example of a typical in-building repeater 10 for a medium-sized building. As shown in FIG. 1, the repeater relays between a mobile communication terminal and a base station in a building, and supports only a single input single output (SISO) system. In the illustrated example, a typical 40 W output is taken as an example, which is suitable for coping with middle and high rise buildings.

The illustrated in-building repeater 10 has a three-band relay unit 11 for processing input and output for one channel and uses only one channel. Therefore, the reception repeater 10 and the transmission antenna 14).

This configuration causes a loss of about 0.5 dB due to the use of the divider, and can not support Mulit Input Multi Output (MIMO), which limits the efficiency and compatibility with the limited service.

FIG. 2 shows a general configuration example of a high-power building repeater for an ultra-high-rise building, in which two repeaters 20 and 30 shown in FIG. 1 are used. If such a configuration is used, the SISO signal can be output in a redundant manner, so that it can cope with a high-rise building and transmit different data if necessary, thereby providing a transmission diversity effect (MIMO). To this end, each of the repeaters 20 and 30 internally has three band relay units 21 and 31, and the bands are equal to each other. Since the two SISO repeaters 20 and 30 are used, they are connected to the receiving antenna 22 and the transmitting antenna 32, respectively. Thus, the loss can be reduced compared to a case where a divider is used without using a divider.

However, because of the necessity of using two equipments, the equipment becomes bulky and it becomes difficult to manage the equipments. Therefore, two separate equipments must be used, which is costly and consumes a lot of power.

On the other hand, it is also possible to use a configuration (not shown) that uses twice the output while using the configuration of FIG. 1 as it is. In this case, since a divider needs to be added to the outside, a loss due to use of the divider occurs and power consumption efficiency is low. There is a limit that can not cope.

FIG. 3 shows an example of an existing building repeater capable of supporting MIMO. As shown in FIG. 3, a device 40 for supporting MIMO using an LTE (Multi-Input Multiple Output) diversity (MIMO) function supported by a base station, The additional equipment 50 for supporting the communication system (WCDMA, CDMA, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, etc.) is combined through the channel combiner and the divider 60. [ That is, the dedicated equipment 40 for only MIMO support is configured to have a three-band main relay unit 41 and a three-band MIMO relay unit 42 therein to correspond to a LTE (Long Term Evolution) transmission diversity function, And a separate relay device 50 for other communication is additionally constituted.

Therefore, loss due to additional equipment naturally occurs and the equipment cost increases. Particularly, in terms of power consumption, there is a problem that it is most inefficient in terms of operating cost when compared with the above-described FIG. 2 and the 80W single repeater configuration described in detail.

An embodiment of the present invention for solving the problems of the conventional building repeater will be described.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a configuration of an in-building repeater 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, two 40W class SISO repeaters 110 and 120 are arranged in parallel in a single repeater, (130), so that a combination of a desired scheme can be configured according to a control signal. Since two SISO relay units are used, it is possible to connect them to the reception antenna 141 and the transmission antenna 142, respectively, so that a separate divider is not required, thereby reducing unnecessary power consumption.

One of the SISO repeaters 110 and 120 constructed in the inside can be configured to be capable of copying signals provided to the other repeaters 110 and can operate as a high output SISO repeater and use signals of different channels It can operate as a MIMO repeater. This can be achieved by varying the path setting of the digital switching matrix unit 130 by software, and will be described in detail later with reference to FIG. 7, but the configuration of the analogue antenna unit (not shown) So that the SISO relay for the 2n bands extended to the desired band as well as the n bands can be made possible. In the illustrated example, SISO relaying for six different bands is also possible. Here, n means a natural number of 1 or more (or any one of natural numbers of 1 or more).

Accordingly, when such a configuration is used, it is possible to freely set and use the n-band SISO high-power repeater, the freely settable 2n-band SISO repeater, and the n-band MIMO repeater through the routing of the switching matrix unit 130, If you use a software-defined analog antenna, you will be able to make changes to various bands (free band selection within the band supported by the corresponding software-defined analog antenna) or additional bands (n bands, Whether to use 2n bands one by one). In addition, if necessary, it is possible to replace a software-defined analog antenna unit or replace an analog antenna unit (antenna signal processing unit) and an antenna, thereby supporting a band that has not been previously supported.

5 illustrates an example of a multi-band supporting structure of an in-building repeater 200 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In order to maximize the availability of pre-configured equipment, .

4, if the SISO relay units 210 and 220 configured in parallel do not use the same band (corresponding to the three bands) but use different bandwidths to support different bands As an example of the case, when the SISO relay units 210 and 220 support n bands, they can support a maximum of 2n different bands. In this case, the receiving antenna 251 and the transmitting antenna 252 may be connected through the channel combiner 240.

For example, 0.8 / 1.8 / 2.1 / 0.7 / 2.3 / 2.6GHz service may be available when using this configuration (mode).

6 is a diagram illustrating an example of an in-building repeater system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 6, a master hub unit (MHU) 420 interworking with a plurality of base stations (BTS) And an in-building repeater 300 as a remote unit (RU) connected to an interface.

In this configuration, the in-building repeater 300 corresponding to the remote unit includes a digital unit 310 that is internally connected to the master hub unit through an optical interface to convert a signal and switch a channel path, and a pair of analog antenna units And an antenna signal processing unit (not shown) connected to the external multi-band antennas ANT A and ANT B).

7 is a configuration example of an in-building repeater 500 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 7, the digital repeater 510 includes a pair of software-defined analog antenna units 520 and 530 and a controller 540 do.

The three-band repeater of the repeater substantially mentioned above may correspond to a part of the corresponding digital unit 510, a part of the control unit 540 and one of the software defined analog antenna units 520 and 530, As a functional part.

The digital unit 510 includes an optical / electrical conversion unit (O / E) 511 connected to the master hub unit through an optical interface to exchange signals, and a conversion unit 511 for converting a serial signal converted into an electrical signal into a parallel signal (S / P) 512, and a switching matrix unit 513 for coupling the converted two channel signals to the desired software defined analog antenna units 520 and 530. The control unit 540 controls a path to a software defined analog antenna unit (i.e., an analog signal processing unit) connected to the two channel signals connected through the switching matrix unit 513 and controls the paths of the software defined analog antenna units 520 and 530, Quot;

The control unit 540 basically provides a manager access interface and sets the path of the switching matrix unit according to the setting information received through the interface, and transmits the SISO high-power relay of n bands, the SISO relay of 2n bands, MIMO relay, and sets the used band of the software-defined analog antenna units 520 and 530. [ Of course, these feature settings may change automatically as needed.

For example, when it is desired to support MIMO communication, the switching matrix unit 513 can provide a transmit diversity effect by outputting different data using paths 1 and 2, and can provide a high-power three-band For the SISO relay, high-power SISO relay is possible by providing the effect of copying signals of one channel by using 1, 3, 2 or 4 times.

Also, by controlling the band of the analog antenna unit under the control of the control unit 540, it is possible to perform SISO relay supporting up to six different bands (in this embodiment, the number of bands may vary depending on the equipment configuration) .

In addition, by integrating this configuration into a single device, it is possible to reduce equipment size, reduce unit costs, reduce the need for external support equipment, and consume less power than before.

FIG. 8 is a table for comparing the power consumption and the number of used equipment of an existing building repeater according to an embodiment of the present invention, and shows an example in which a very large building and a high output are required. Basically, it is assumed that the efficiency of the multi-band optical repeater is 43% for the GaN amplifier / DPD efficiency, and the mixed use ratio of various communication methods in the same band is assumed to be 50%. It is also assumed that the loss of the channel combiner and the divider is 2dB and the loss of the divider is 0.5dB.

In the case of 3B (3 band) 40W equipment (610), two units can be used (configuration of FIG. 2). In this case, since two separate units are required, the power consumption becomes 642W, In case of using the equipment (611), the power consumption becomes 613W, and when the LTE MIMO support configuration (configuration of FIG. 3) 612 using two 3W 40W is used, the power consumption becomes 796W, The power consumption of the conventional configuration is relatively higher than that of the power consumption 614W of the power supply 613.

FIG. 9 is a table for comparing the configuration and operation efficiency of an existing building repeater according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 9, a repeater for use in a very large / high power building and a repeater for use in a medium / .

(630) using the configuration of FIG. 2 as shown in FIG. 8, 631 using the 80 W single relay unit, using 632 using the configuration of FIG. 3, and using the configuration according to the embodiment of the present invention 640).

In the case of a repeater to be used in a very large / high power building like the comparison chart, it can be confirmed that the efficiency of installation and operation cost of the configuration according to the embodiment of the present invention is excellent in both the size of the equipment, the price of the equipment, and the power consumption.

In addition, even if the configuration according to the embodiment of the present invention is configured as a repeater for use in a medium / large-sized building, it provides efficiency equal to or higher than the existing configuration in terms of size, cost, It can be seen that the configuration according to the embodiment of the present invention can be effectively applied to a medium / large building or a very large / high-power building as a single equipment.

In addition, it can be seen that the configuration of the present invention, which can provide various compatibility that can not be provided in the conventional configuration, and which can support the multi-band, has an excellent effect even in the case of such installation or operation costs.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are intended to illustrate rather than limit the scope of the present invention, and the scope of the technical idea of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments. The scope of protection of the present invention should be construed according to the following claims, and all technical ideas within the scope of equivalents should be construed as falling within the scope of the present invention.

100: building repeater 110, 120: SISO repeater
130: switching matrix unit 141, 142: transmitting / receiving antenna
200: building repeater 210, 220: SISO repeater
230: switching matrix part 240: channel combiner
251. 252: transmitting / receiving antenna 300: in-building repeater
310 digital section 410 base station
420: Master Hub Unit

Claims (7)

An in-building mobile communication relay apparatus connected to a base station for relaying n-band mobile communication signals in a building,
A plurality of SISO relay units configured in parallel;
A pair of software defined analog antenna units each for setting n use bands according to a control signal;
A signal converter for converting a signal to be transmitted to the base station;
A switching matrix unit for selectively connecting the two channel signals received through the signal conversion unit and the path between the pair of the software defined analog antenna units according to the control signal;
And a function of selecting one of the SISO high-power relay, the SISO output relay, and the MIMO relay by setting the path of the switching matrix unit according to the setting information received through the manager access interface, And a control unit for setting a used band of the software defined analog antenna unit according to the function,
The control unit may set the path of the switching matrix unit and select one of the SISO high output relay of n bands, SISO relay of 2n bands, and MIMO relay of n bands,
The relayable bands may be varied from n to 2n bands, and may be varied within a range supported by the software-defined analog antenna unit,
Wherein the controller selects four different wiring schemes through a signal connection of the switching matrix unit,
When the plurality of SISO relay units operate as the high output relay function by the control unit, one of the SISO relay units of the plurality of SISO relay units is configured to be capable of copying signals provided by the other SISO relay unit,
Wherein when the plurality of SISO relay units operate as the MIMO relay function by the control unit, the plurality of SISO relay units each use signals of different channels,
And n is any one of natural numbers of 1 or more.
delete delete delete An in-building mobile communication relay device connected via an optical interface with a master hub unit connected to a plurality of base stations,
A pair of antenna units for setting n used bands according to a control signal;
The master hub unit transmits and receives signals, distinguishes signals for two channels included in the signals, and selectively connects the signals of the respective channels to the pair of antenna units according to the set control information. The SISO high power relay, the SISO Output relay and a MIMO relay.
The digital unit operates in one mode of SISO high-power relay of n bands, SISO relay of 2n bands, and MIMO relay of n bands,
The relayable bands can be varied from n to 2n bands and can be changed within a range supported by the software defined analog antenna unit,
When the digital unit operates in the SISO high-power relay mode of the n bands, any one of the pair of SISO repeaters included in the digital unit, which is configured in parallel, Copying is possible,
Wherein the pair of SISO relay units use signals of different channels when the digital unit operates in a MIMO relay mode of n bands,
And n is any one of natural numbers of 1 or more. delete delete

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