JP2002368665A - Passive antenna communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a passive antenna communication system, that can attain communication, even at a location where transmission reception of radio waves is normally interrupted from an external place or telemetry by radio communication is disabled, because the place is blocked by a building, without the need for revamping a radio unit and allow a center unit or a portable terminal or the like, to enable application of supervisory control to site data. SOLUTION: The passive antenna communication system is provided with a passive antenna system 20, comprising an antenna 21 placed in a transmission reception enable area by standard antennas 14 and having the same frequency band characteristic as that of the standard antennas 14; and an antenna 22 placed outside of the area, having the same frequency band characteristic as that of the standard antennas 14 and electrically connected to the antenna 21, and information outside of the area is transmitted/received to/from the standard antennas 14 via the passive antenna system 20.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wireless communication system applied to a site monitoring control system and the like, and more particularly to a passive antenna type communication system capable of transmitting and receiving information outside a wireless transmission / reception area.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a site panel monitoring control system,
In some cases, information from the site panel is collected by wireless. In such a system, a center device is provided in the center and site panels are provided at various places, and information from the site panels is collected by a wireless system.

In such a system, it is impossible to communicate in an area where radio waves cannot reach. For example, a place where a device to be monitored exists is a place or a building which is isolated from the outside such as a manhole, a basement or a tunnel. If it is a place such as a shadow of a building, it is not possible to monitor equipment installed in a place isolated from the outside or a place such as a shadow of a building.

[0004] In this case, it is conceivable to remodel the wireless system or add equipment so that the radio waves reach the above-mentioned manhole, basement or tunnel.

However, radio equipment cannot be used unless it has received technical conformity based on the Radio Law, and it is forbidden to modify radio equipment that has already undergone technical conformity. Do not go to

[0006]

As described above, in the conventional on-site monitoring and control system using radio, a place isolated from the outside, a place such as a shadow of a building, etc. can be used without remodeling the radio. Could not monitor equipment in places where normal radio waves did not reach.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to enable communication without modification of a wireless device even in a place where transmission and reception of radio waves are normally cut off from the outside or a shadow of a building and telementing by wireless communication is impossible. It is an object of the present invention to provide a passive antenna type communication system capable of monitoring and controlling the above data by a center device or a mobile terminal.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a communication system having a standard antenna and processing information transmitted / received from the standard antenna. A passive antenna device in which a first antenna having the same frequency band characteristics as the standard antenna and a second antenna having the same frequency band characteristics as the standard antenna provided outside the area are electrically connected, Information outside the area is transmitted to and received from the standard antenna via the passive antenna device.

According to the present invention, communication can be performed by a passive antenna device that connects two locations outside the radio coverage area and inside the radio coverage area with two antennas having the same characteristics as the frequency band to be used. Information on devices outside the radio coverage area can be easily collected without the need for obtaining a license or the like by the Radio Law.

[0010] Thus, a monitoring system without wiring can be constructed, and it is possible to reduce the cost in operation.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of a passive antenna type communication system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, with reference to an example of application to a wireless site monitoring and control system using a wireless portable station and a wireless base station. I do.

FIG. 1 shows a wireless site monitoring and control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. An operator console 10 constituting a center device is provided at the center side. In this center device, an operator console 10 and a controller 1 as an information terminal are connected by a transmission LAN 11.
2 are connected. A wireless antenna 14 and a field panel 15 are connected to the controller 12 via a communication line 13 as standard antennas. The field board 15 is connected to a device 17 such as a measuring device to be monitored by a signal line 16.

As shown in FIG. 2, a first rod having the same frequency band characteristics as the radio antenna 14 and constituting the passive antenna device 20 is provided in a radio coverage area indicated by a dashed line by the radio antenna 14. An antenna 21 is provided. Outside the radio coverage area, a second rod antenna 22 constituting the passive antenna device 20 and having the same frequency band characteristics as the radio antenna 14 is installed. These first and second rod antennas 21,
22 are mutually connected by a cable 20A.

The portable terminal 30 is located outside the radio coverage area.
There is an observer P who carries. The mobile station 30 is provided with a mobile station 40. The observer P who is outside the wireless reach area transmits data of the mobile terminal 30 with the mobile station 40,
When data is transmitted to and received from the second rod antenna 22 of the passive antenna device 20, the data of the portable terminal 30 can be transmitted and received from the first rod antenna 21 by the operation of the passive antenna device 20. Even so, data can be transmitted and received between the operator console 10 and the controller 12 and the portable terminal 30. In this case, the configuration and transmission method of the mobile terminal 30 and the controller 12 are described in "Monitoring System Using Mobile Radio" (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-0654).
No. 06), and the configuration and transmission method described in “Monitoring System by Separated Access Method” (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-024730).

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, when the place where the device to be monitored exists is a place isolated from the outside such as a manhole, a basement or a tunnel, or a place such as a shadow of a building, this place That is, the first antenna 21 of the passive antenna device 20 having the same frequency band characteristics as the radio antenna 14 is installed outside the radio coverage area, and the first antenna 21 having the same frequency band characteristics as the radio antenna 14 within the radio coverage area. By providing the two antennas 22 and connecting them, data of the portable terminal 30 and the like outside the wireless coverage area can be transmitted and received by the operation of the passive antenna device 20.

As a result, the operator console 10 and the controller 12 can monitor equipment in a place isolated from the outside or a place such as a shadow of a building as described above.

In this case, it is not necessary to remodel the radio system or add equipment so that the radio waves reach the manhole, basement or tunnel, so that the cost does not increase, the communication characteristics are improved, and the monitoring capability is improved. The improvement will be achieved.

In the above embodiment, the passive antenna device 20 is constituted by the two rod antennas 21 and 22. However, the passive antenna device having the structure shown in FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 3, a rod antenna 2 constituting a passive antenna device 20 having the same frequency band characteristics as the radio antenna 14 is provided in a radio coverage area of the radio antenna 14 indicated by a broken line by the radio antenna 14.
1 and a planar antenna 2 constituting a passive antenna device 20 having the same frequency band characteristics as the radio antenna 14 outside the radio coverage area of the radio antenna 14.
3 is installed. The rod antenna 21 and the planar antenna 22 are mutually connected by a cable 20A. Thus, data can be transmitted and received by the passive antenna device 20 inside and outside the radio coverage area of the radio antenna 14.

Further, as shown in FIG.
A first planar antenna 23 constituting the passive antenna device 20 and having the same frequency band characteristics as the radio antenna 14 is installed in the radio coverage area of the radio antenna 14 indicated by the dashed line in FIG. Out of the reach area, the passive antenna device 20 is configured,
A second planar antenna 24 having the same frequency band characteristics as the wireless antenna 14 is provided. These rod antennas 2
1. The planar antennas 22 are mutually connected by a cable 20A.

As a result, data can be transmitted and received by the passive antenna device 20 inside and outside the radio coverage area of the radio antenna 14.

As the passive antenna device 20,
Further, the configuration shown in FIGS. 5 to 7 may be used.

As shown in FIG. 5, a pair of rods constituting the passive antenna device 20 and having the same frequency band characteristics as the radio antenna 14 are provided in the radio coverage area of the radio antenna 14 indicated by the dashed line by the radio antenna 14. The antennas 21A and 21B are installed, and the radio antenna 14
Outside the wireless reach area, a pair of planar antennas 23A and 23B constituting the passive antenna device 20 and having the same frequency band characteristics as the wireless antenna 14 are installed. These rod antennas 21A and 21B and the planar antenna 2
3A and 23B are mutually connected by cable 20A. Here, the planar antenna 23A and the planar antenna 2
3B means 1 to support diversity radios.
/ Λ wavelengths.

Thus, data can be transmitted and received by the diversity passive antenna device 20 inside and outside the radio coverage area of the radio antenna 14.

Further, as shown in FIG.
By housing the rod antenna 21 of FIG. 3 in the case described above and using the case as the radio wave absorber 25, it is possible to further stabilize the spatial transmission between the passive antenna device 20 and the standard antenna 14.

As shown in FIG. 7, a signal amplifier 26 for amplifying a transmission signal and a reception signal is provided between the rod antenna 21 and the planar antenna 23 in the passive antenna device 20 of FIG.
In which the signal attenuation is suppressed.

As a result, data can be transmitted and received inside and outside the radio coverage area of the radio antenna 14 with the signal attenuation suppressed by the passive antenna device 20 provided with the signal amplifier 26.

Next, a radio site monitoring and control system according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 8, when the interface between the operator console 10 as the center device and the portable information terminal is performed by the LAN 52 having the router 51, the operator console 10 And a mobile terminal 30 provided with a mobile station 40. Further, in the case of a LAN using the TCP / IP protocol, the operator console 10 as the center device transmits the information of each information terminal and the portable terminal to each port as indicated by reference numeral 53 in processes 54 and 55. To process.

As a transmission system in this processing, for example, a DoPa network provided by NTT DoCoMo, Inc. can be used.

According to this embodiment having this configuration, similarly to the above-described embodiment, the place where the device to be monitored exists is
When it is a place isolated from the outside such as a manhole, a basement, or a tunnel, or a place such as a shadow of a building, the passive antenna device 20 cooperates inside and outside of the wireless reach area, so that the portable terminal 30 and the like outside the wireless reach area Can be transmitted and received.

As a result, the operator console 10 and the controller 12 can monitor equipment in a place isolated from the outside or a place such as a shadow of a building as described above. In this case, it is not necessary to modify the wireless system or add equipment so that the radio waves reach the manhole, basement, or tunnel, so there is no need to increase the cost and improve the communication characteristics and, consequently, the monitoring capability. It will be something that can be done.

Next, a wireless site monitoring and control system according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG.
In this embodiment, the transmission LAN in the configuration of FIG. 1 is replaced with a wireless LAN. Here, the operator console 10 is connected to the controller 12 by the control LAN 61.
And the wireless LAN is connected to the router 62, 10BA
It is composed of a wireless LAN cable 63 such as SE-T.

In this case, the configuration and transmission method of the mobile terminal 30 and the controller 12 are described in "Monitoring System Using Mobile Radio" (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-065406) and "Monitoring System Using Separate Access Method" (Special The configuration and transmission method described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-024730 can be used.

According to this embodiment having such a configuration, similarly to the above-described embodiment, the place where the device to be monitored exists is located in a place isolated from the outside such as a manhole, a basement, a tunnel, or a building. When the location is a shadow or the like, data of the portable terminal 30 or the like outside the wireless coverage area can be transmitted and received by cooperating with the passive antenna device 20 inside and outside the wireless coverage area.

As a result, the operator console 10 and the controller 12 can monitor equipment in a place isolated from the outside or a place such as a shadow of a building as described above.

In this case, it is not necessary to remodel the radio system or add equipment so that the radio waves reach the manhole, basement, or tunnel, so that the cost does not increase, the communication characteristics are improved, and the monitoring capability is improved. The improvement will be achieved.

Next, a radio site monitoring and control system according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the embodiment of FIG. 10, the transmission LAN in the configuration of FIG.
It has been replaced by a public wireless network. The operator console 10 is connected to the controller 12 by a control LAN 61. The public wireless network 70 has a router 71 and a base station antenna 72.

In this case, the portable terminal 30 and the controller 1
2 regarding the configuration and transmission method, see “Monitoring System Using Mobile Radio” (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-065406),
"Monitoring system using separate access method"
024730) can be used.

According to the present embodiment having this configuration, when the place where the device to be monitored exists is a place isolated from the outside such as a manhole, a basement or a tunnel, or a place such as a shadow of a building, The first antenna 21 of the passive antenna device 20 having the same frequency band characteristics as the base station antenna 72 is installed at a location, that is, outside the radio coverage area, and the base station antenna 72 is located within the radio coverage area of the base station antenna 72. By providing the second antenna 22 having the same frequency band characteristic and connecting the two, the passive antenna device 20 can transmit and receive data of the portable terminal 30 and the like outside the radio coverage area.

As a result, the operator console 10 and the controller 12 can monitor the equipment in a place isolated from the outside or a place such as a shadow of a building.

In this case, there is no need to modify the wireless system or add equipment so that the radio waves reach the manhole, basement, or tunnel, so that the cost does not increase and the communication characteristics are improved and the monitoring capability is improved. The improvement will be achieved.

Next, the configuration of the information terminal used in each of the above embodiments will be described with reference to FIG. The information terminal body 70 includes a charge controller 71, an arithmetic processing unit 72, a transmission circuit 73A as a notification processing unit, a reception circuit 73
B and a standard antenna 14.

The charge controller 71 of the information terminal body 70 controls the supply of power required by the information terminal body 70 from the storage battery 81 and controls the charging of the storage battery 81 with the power generated by the solar cell panel 80. The arithmetic processing unit 72 of the information terminal main body 70 collects monitoring data from the measuring device 17 and gives necessary instruction data and the like to the measuring device 17. The arithmetic processing unit 72 supplies power obtained through the charge controller 71 to each processing unit. The transmitting circuit 73A and the receiving circuit 73 as the alert processing unit
B receives data from a mobile terminal or the like from the standard antenna 14 and transmits data to the mobile terminal or the like via the standard antenna 14.

Next, the details of the arithmetic processing section 72 in FIG. 11 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 12, basic unit 72A, DC-DC converter 72B, D
C-DC converter 72C, photo Mos72
D, an interface for measurement equipment 72E1, an interface for maintenance 72E2, an interface for alarm device 72E3, a power terminal for measurement device 72F1, a power terminal for charge controller 72F2, and a power terminal for alarm device 72F3.

The basic section 72A is provided with a power supply terminal 72 for measuring equipment.
Power is supplied from the charge controller 71 of FIG. 11 via F1, the charge controller power supply terminal 72F2, and the alarm device power supply terminal 72F3.
The voltage and current are adjusted by the C converter 72B and the DC-DC converter 72C, and the adjusted power is supplied.

The basic unit 72A has a clock, and has an interface 72E1 for a measuring device, an interface 72E2 for a maintenance, and an interface 72E for an alarm device.
3 for processing signals input and output.

Next, with reference to FIG. 13, the power supply start processing of the information terminal or the portable terminal will be described. The power-on processing of the information terminal or the mobile terminal is configured such that a start time is set in the information terminal or the mobile terminal in advance, and the power is turned on at the set start time.

As shown in FIG. 13, the clock is checked as step S1. In step S2, it is determined whether or not to start based on the clock information. In step S3, a state acquisition process is performed. In step S4, the power of the measuring device for acquiring data from the monitoring target site panel is turned on.
In step S5, information of the measuring device is notified, and in step S6, the power is turned off after the status is acquired. In step S7, the preparation for communicating the information acquired by the measuring device to the central center device is established, and in step S8, the information acquired by the measuring device is communicated to the central center device. It is determined whether or not it is, and the process ends in step S10.

Next, with reference to FIG. 14, the start-up processing of the information terminal or the portable terminal will be described. This start-up process corresponds to a wireless site panel. In this case, communication between the information terminal and the portable terminal and the central center device is always performed at the request of the information terminal and the portable terminal. .

As shown in FIG. 14, when the power is turned on, the information terminal and the portable terminal transmit the status information of their own station to the central center device at a set value A, for example, at one minute intervals as a step T1 (step T1). T1 to T5).

Next, the information terminal and the portable terminal set the set value B
After 1 minute interval timer, retry R with set value C
T is performed, and if the number of RTs is exceeded, the interval is set to 5 minutes again as the set value D, and a reply from the center device is waited. If the number of RTs is exceeded, the terminal saves the abnormality in the RAS information (steps T6 to T14).

Next, a communication procedure between the information terminal and the center device at the center will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 15, the information terminal indicates the state of its own station and prompts the center terminal to issue a report. The center device responds to the request of the information terminal by requesting information acquisition of the current value, data history RAS.
(Abnormal history) Request information. In response to this request, the information terminal issues data handled by its own station to the center device.
When the acquisition of this information is completed, the center device informs the information terminal of the normally received announcement and the next station opening time.

Next, a communication procedure between the portable terminal and the center device at the center will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 16, the mobile terminal prompts the center device to issue an alert, similarly to the information terminal. The center device checks the information desired by the mobile terminal, and the mobile terminal transmits the desired information to the center device.
In response to this request, the center device transmits the data history, RAS
(Abnormal history) Information is transmitted to the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal ends the communication with the center device when the information acquisition is completed.

[0054]

As described above, according to the present invention, the transmission and reception of radio waves are normally cut off from the outside, and even in a space where wireless communication is impossible, communication can be performed without remodeling the wireless device. Monitoring and control of data in the center can be performed by a center or a portable terminal, and an inexpensive system without wiring can be constructed.

Further, in a monitoring system constructed using current wireless LANs and wireless terminals, the communication characteristics are improved by applying the system of the present invention to a place outside the wireless area and where transmission abnormalities occur frequently. Therefore, the reliability of the system is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a site monitoring and control system to which a passive antenna type communication system according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of a passive antenna device according to the present invention, and is a configuration diagram using two planar antennas.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of a passive antenna device according to the present invention, and is a configuration diagram using two planar antennas.

FIG. 4 shows another configuration example of the passive antenna device according to the present invention, and is a configuration diagram using two planar antennas.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another configuration example of the passive antenna device according to the present invention, which is compatible with diversity.

FIG. 6 is a view showing another configuration example of the passive antenna device according to the present invention, in which a radio wave absorber is added.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another configuration example of the passive antenna device according to the present invention, in which a signal amplifier is added.

FIG. 8 is an information terminal / site panel / information terminal according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an example of information transmission between center devices.

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the site monitoring and control system to which the passive antenna type communication system according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the site monitoring and control system to which the passive antenna type communication system according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an information terminal according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a circuit example of an arithmetic processing unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a power supply activation process of the information terminal according to the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an information terminal startup process according to the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of communication processing between an information terminal and a center device according to the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of communication processing between the portable terminal and the center device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Operator console 11 Transmission LAN 12 Controller (information terminal) 13 Communication line 14 Standard antenna 15 Field board 16 Signal line 17 Measurement equipment 18 Field board 19 Signal line 20 Passive antenna device 20A Cable 21 Rod antenna 22 Rod antenna 23 Flat antenna 24 Planar antenna 25 Radio wave absorber 26 Signal amplifier 30 Mobile terminal 40 Mobile station

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Koji Hagiwara 1-1-1, Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo F-term in the head office of Toshiba Corporation (reference) 5K072 AA01 AA29 BB13 CC31 DD11 DD15 GG01

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A communication system having a standard antenna and processing information transmitted and received from the standard antenna, comprising: a first antenna having the same frequency band characteristics as the standard antenna provided in an area where transmission and reception by the standard antenna is possible; A passive antenna device electrically connected to a second antenna having the same frequency band characteristics as the standard antenna provided outside the area, and transmitting information outside the area to the standard antenna via the passive antenna device. A passive antenna type communication system for transmitting and receiving data. 2. The passive antenna type communication system according to claim 1, wherein the passive antenna device houses the first antenna in a case of the standard antenna and uses the case as a radio wave absorber. 3. The passive antenna type communication system according to claim 1, wherein each antenna of said passive antenna device is constituted by a plurality of antennas in order to support a diversity type radio. 4. The passive antenna device is configured such that, when a site panel constituting a site monitoring system is installed outside an area where the standard antenna can transmit and receive, the site panel and the second antenna are connected. The passive antenna type communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the information on the site panel is transmitted / received to / from the standard antenna via the passive antenna device. 5. The on-site panel performs aerial transmission by wireless using the passive antenna device, and a controller including a data acquisition and storage unit that acquires and stores data from the outside, a processing unit that processes the data, and the passive antenna device. 5. The passive antenna type communication system according to claim 4, further comprising an alert processing unit having a portable terminal for browsing the contents of said center device at a place different from said information terminal and said center device. 6. The information terminal and the portable terminal according to claim 5, further comprising: means for turning off the controller and the alert processing unit except during data collection and data communication. Passive antenna communication system. 7. The communication between the information terminal and the portable terminal and the center device is performed by polling with the terminal side as a primary side, and the center device responds to a request from the terminal by requesting desired information. 7. The passive antenna type communication system according to claim 5, further comprising: means for terminating the communication at the terminal side when a necessary information is transmitted using a procedure for requesting the communication.