JP2555656B2 - Satellite communication earth station monitoring system - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a satellite communication earth station monitoring system for centrally monitoring the operating state of a small satellite communication earth station via a public communication network.

(Prior Art) As is well known, a satellite communication system is generally constructed to configure a relay line between exchanges in a terrestrial communication line by a satellite line, thereby enabling long-distance transmission. Therefore, it is customary for each earth station to be of large scale.

Conventionally, the monitoring system of this earth station is as shown in FIGS. 3 to 4, for example.

That is, in FIG. 3, the earth stations are communication devices 21 to 213.
, Antenna 231, communication devices 211-213 and antenna 231
Basically, it is composed of a transmitting / receiving device 221 for connecting between them, but each earth station has its own monitoring device 241, and the communication device 21-
The failure status of the transmitter 213 and the transmission / reception device 221 is displayed on the monitoring device 241, so that the maintenance staff can take appropriate measures.

In FIG. 4, 301 and 302 are earth stations connected by a satellite line via the satellite 300, and the earth station 301 serves as a master station to monitor a plurality of slave earth stations 302. ing.

That is, each earth station is provided with a supervisory control device 341 and a supervisory control device 342, respectively.
Depending on the communication devices 314 to 316 and 352 and the transmission / reception device 32
The operating state of No. 2 is monitored, the monitoring result is displayed and the like, and the result is sent to the satellite line from the antenna 332 via the communication device 352 and the transmitting / receiving device 322 toward the earth station 301 which is the main station.
On the other hand, the earth station 301, which is the main station, is
Depending on the communication devices 311-313, 351 and the transmission / reception device 32
The operation state of 1 is monitored and the monitoring result is displayed, and the monitoring result of the earth station 302, which is a slave station input via the antenna 331, the transmission / reception device 321, and the communication device 351, is displayed on the monitoring control device 341. To let it.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) By the way, in recent years, a so-called in-company closed satellite communication system has been constructed by paying attention to the characteristics of satellite communication, and the earth station in this system has a small capacity (one channel or several channels). ) Narrow-band communication stations and small satellite communication earth stations such as reception-only stations, but these stations are usually configured with an emphasis on economic efficiency. The problem is how to configure it.

That is, it is uneconomical to provide a monitoring device independently for each earth station as in the conventional case, which means that the monitoring is performed by a man. Further, when a centralized monitoring system using a satellite line is adopted as in the conventional case, it is necessary to provide each slave station with a dedicated device for sending monitoring information to the satellite line and a dedicated device for receiving with the main station. , Each station becomes expensive and uneconomical. In addition, there is a problem that manned monitoring is indispensable in the reception-only station, and the conventional monitoring method cannot be adopted. Therefore, the development of a new monitoring method is desired. Here, the following points should be noted when developing a new monitoring method. For example, there are some faults, such as short interruptions, where the continuous holding time of the state change is short, so if multiple small satellite communication earth stations detect faults at approximately the same time, it is important that they can be processed without loss of fault information. is there.

The present invention has been made in view of such problems,
An object of the invention is to provide a satellite communication earth station monitoring system capable of economically monitoring a small satellite communication earth station.

(Means for Solving Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the satellite communication earth station monitoring system of the present invention has the following configuration.

That is, the satellite communication earth station monitoring system of the present invention is a system in which a monitoring station and a plurality of small satellite communication earth stations are connected via a public communication network; the monitoring station controls the public communication network. Monitoring station data transfer means for transmitting and receiving signals to and from the corresponding small satellite communication earth station via the public communication network; output signals relating to the small satellite communication earth station transmission which the monitoring station data transfer means fetches from the public communication network The small satellite communication earth station is equipped with a monitor control means for managing each communication earth station, and the small satellite communication earth station monitors the operating state of the own satellite communication device; and the status change information monitored and output by the status monitor means. Storage means for storing; earth station data transfer means for controlling the network of the public communication network and transmitting and receiving signals to and from the monitoring station data transfer means via the public communication network; and transmitting the state change information to the monitoring station. To do Control means for controlling the ball station data transfer means to perform network control of the public communication network, and if the calling monitoring station data transfer means is busy, temporarily suspends the calling operation and restarts the calling operation after a lapse of a predetermined waiting time. And; are provided.

(Operation) Next, the operation of the satellite communication earth station monitoring system of the present invention configured as described above will be described.

In the small satellite communication earth station, the operating state of the own satellite communication device is monitored by the state monitoring means, and the monitoring result (state change information) is transmitted to the monitoring station via the public communication network by the earth station data transfer means. . As a result, the monitoring station can centrally manage the monitoring results by displaying the monitoring results for each small satellite communication earth station. By the way, it is conceivable that a plurality of small satellite communication earth stations may be damaged at about the same time. At this time, only one station succeeds in calling the monitoring station, but in the second and subsequent stations, the monitoring station data transfer means becomes busy, so the monitoring control means takes in the status of the first station. This results in waiting until the end, and there is a risk that the failure information in the second and subsequent stations that occurred during this waiting will be lost.

Therefore, in the present invention, the small satellite communication earth station is provided with storage means to store the failure information, and when the busy state of the called monitoring station data transfer means is detected, the calling is stopped and a predetermined waiting time elapses again. The monitoring station data transfer means is called to prevent the loss of fault information.

As described above, according to the satellite communication earth station monitoring system of the present invention, it is possible to intensively monitor the operating state of the earth station by using the public communication network that can easily perform communication. As a result, it is possible to monitor and control a small satellite communication earth station, which has hardly been monitored and controlled, and improve the reliability and maintainability of a so-called closed satellite communication system within a company. Further, in the present invention, the small satellite communication earth station is provided with storage means for storing the failure information, and when the called monitoring station data transfer means is busy, the monitoring station data transfer means is again provided after a predetermined waiting time has elapsed. Since it is possible to call up, even when a plurality of small satellite communication earth stations transmit the monitoring information to the monitoring station almost at the same time, the monitoring station can surely collect the plurality of monitoring information.
Further, according to the present invention, since the operation of the system can be centrally performed by the monitoring station, a small number of full-time operators can be used, and the operation is economical.

(Examples) Examples of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a satellite communication earth station monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This monitoring system is a system in which a monitoring station 30 and a plurality of small satellite communication earth stations 10 and 20 are connected via a public communication network 40. That is, a subscriber line of the public communication network 40 is drawn into the monitoring station 30 and the small satellite communication earth stations 10 and 20, and the monitoring station 30 uses the same communication form as ordinary telephone communication or facsimile communication. Stations 10 and 20
It is a system that manages all of the above.

The monitoring station 30 basically includes a data transfer circuit 131, a data transfer circuit 132 as a monitoring station data transfer means, and a central monitoring control device 133.

The data transfer circuits 131 and 132 have a network control function for establishing and releasing a communication line with each small satellite communication earth station (10, 20) via the public communication network 40, and a central monitoring control device 13
It has a communication function of transmitting the output signal of 3 to each small satellite communication earth station (10, 20) and transmitting the output signal of each small satellite communication earth station (10, 20) to the central supervisory control device 133. The data transfer circuits 131 and 132 have unique dial numbers.

The data transfer circuit 132 is for collecting monitoring information from each small satellite communication earth station, and the data transfer circuit 131 is for sending a command to each small satellite communication earth station to set monitoring items. belongs to.

The central supervisory control circuit 133 plays a central role in the supervisory system, and is a ROM in which the dial number and terminal address of each small satellite communication earth station, the terminal address of its own station, etc. are set, and each small satellite communication. Basically, it has a function of setting monitoring items for the earth station and sending a command to set a pseudo fault condition, and a function of controlling display of sent monitoring information.

Small satellite communication earth station 10 (20), communication device 111 (1)
12) and antenna 101 (102) are basically provided, and satellite 100
It is an earth station that constitutes a so-called closed satellite communication system within a company, which is connected by a satellite line via the. In such an earth station 10 (same as above), in the present invention, the monitoring circuit 121 (same as above).
22) and a data transfer circuit 123 (124). The monitoring circuit 121 (122) and the data transfer circuit 123 (124)
In this embodiment, for example, it is constructed as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 2, the monitoring circuit 121 (122) is basically composed of a state monitoring circuit 1223, a control circuit 1221, a state memory 1222, and a data transmitting / receiving circuit 1224. The data transfer circuit 123 (124) basically includes a data modem 1241 that implements the communication function and a network control circuit 1242 that implements the network control function.

In the monitoring circuit 121 (122), the state monitoring circuit 1223
Monitors the operating state of its own communication device 111 (112) and the related items based on the monitoring items presented by the control circuit 1221 and outputs it to the control circuit 1221 when the state changes. Mainly to do.

The state memory 1222 stores the state change information detected by the state monitoring circuit 1223 under the control of the control circuit 1221. The data transmission / reception circuit 1224 is an interface circuit between the control circuit 1221 and the data modem 1241. Finally, the control circuit 1221
Has a terminal address setting device of its own station, a register for setting monitoring items, a random number generator, etc.
It realizes the functions of (Id. 122).

Next, the operation of the monitoring system of this embodiment will be described. First, the monitoring station 30 sets monitoring items for each small satellite communication earth station. This is done as part of the initial setup. The central supervisory control device 133 controls the data transfer circuit 131 to control, for example, the data transfer circuit 123 of the small satellite communication earth station 10.
Is sent to the public communication network 40, and then control information including the dial number of the data transfer circuit 132 and a predetermined monitoring item is sent to the public communication network 40 with the terminal address of the control circuit 1221 attached.

On the other hand, in the small satellite communication earth station 10, the ringing signal based on the dial number transmitted to the public communication network 40 is detected by the network control circuit 1242, and the control circuit 1221 is notified of that fact. The control circuit 1221 issues a line connection command to the network control circuit 1242 to establish a line between the data transfer circuits 131 and 123, and subsequently processes the control information input via the data modem 1241 and the data transmission / reception circuit 1224. I do. That is, it is confirmed that the terminal addresses attached to the control information match, and the monitoring item is set in the register.

When the initial setting is completed in this way, the control circuit 1221
Indicates the contents of the monitoring item set in the register to the status monitoring circuit 12
It outputs to 23 and makes the state monitoring circuit 1223 perform a monitoring operation.

Here, the monitoring items are, for example, transmission ON / OFF, reception synchronization /
Loss of synchronization, the state of the baseband terminal connected to the communication device 111 (112), the alarm state of each circuit, and the like. Since this monitoring item is set for each small satellite communication earth station, the terminal address is set and the matching is confirmed to prevent erroneous setting control. The setting operation described above is performed for all small satellite communication earth stations.

Next, when the state change circuit 1223 receives the detected state change information, the control circuit 1221 stores the state change information in the state memory 1222 and controls the network control circuit 1242 to control the data transfer circuit 132 of the monitoring station 30. The dialed number is transmitted to the public communication network 40. If, for example, each of the small satellite communication earth stations 10 and 20 baseband terminals are in an alarm state (for example, a momentary interruption of the baseband signal) at approximately the same time, one of the two earth stations succeeds in calling, The other will fail.

Hereinafter, the case of success and the case of failure will be described in order.
In the monitoring station 30, since the incoming call detection of the data transfer circuit 132 is an interrupt signal to the central monitoring control device 133, the central monitoring control device 133 responds to the interrupt signal and permits the monitoring result information transmission. The indicated command is sent to the public communication network 40 via the data transfer circuit 132. At the corresponding earth station, this command is input to the control circuit 1221 via the data modem 1241 and the data transmission / reception circuit 1224 to know the success of the call.

Therefore, in the control circuit 1221 of the earth station that has succeeded in calling, the terminal address of its own station is added to the monitoring result information output from the state monitoring circuit 1223, and the data is transmitted / received to the public communication network 40 via the data transmission / reception circuit 1224 and the data modem 1241. It can be sent to the central monitoring control device 133 and reported. In this way, the central monitoring device 133 can know which small satellite communication earth station has changed to what state.

In addition, when the central monitor control device 133 finishes collecting necessary information, it sends an end command from the data transfer circuit 132 to the other earth station, and interrupts (calls) from another earth station via the data transfer circuit 132. Open the line to prepare for).

Upon receiving this end command, the control circuit 1221 of the partner earth station controls the network control circuit 1242 to release the line connection with the monitoring station 30.

On the other hand, when the data transfer circuit 132 of the monitoring station 30 is called by using the dial number, if the data transfer circuit 132 is busy, the busy tone is detected by the network control circuit 1242 and this is notified to the control circuit 1221. . Therefore, the earth station control circuit 1221 that has learned that the call has failed first controls the network control circuit 1242 to stop the calling operation so far, temporarily open the public communication network, and activate the random number generator to specify the specified value. A random number is generated and a predetermined waiting time determined by the specified random number is awaited.

If a new state change is detected within this waiting time, it is stored in the state memory 1222, so there is no possibility of loss. Also, even if the failure content is a temporary one such as a momentary interruption of the baseband, there is no possibility of loss. After the elapse of this predetermined waiting time, the network control circuit 1242
To make a call-out operation (operation of the control means). As a result, since the time until the re-call is random, even if a failure occurs in a plurality of earth stations at the same time and there is a call-out conflict, the call-recall is unlikely to compete and the call succeeds. In this way, the earth station can transmit the contents of the state memory 1222 to the monitoring station 30, and the monitoring station 30 performs the monitoring information collecting operation and the ending processing operation as described above.

Next, the monitoring station 30 can change and set the transmission channel and the reception channel of the small satellite communication earth station as one mode of the monitoring control. This is to send a corresponding command from the data transfer circuit 131 and cause the control circuit 1221 to perform a required operation in the same procedure as the setting of the monitoring item. Further, it is possible to confirm the normal operation of the monitoring system. This is also the same as the setting of the monitoring item, and the pseudo error information is sent from the data transfer circuit 131 to each small satellite communication earth station and set, and the failure detection operation is performed to each small satellite communication earth station based on this. In this way, the data transfer circuit 132 of the monitor station 30 is artificially operated.

The reliability and confidentiality of the supervisory control can be improved by applying a password, scrambling or the like to the data transferred between the supervisory station 30 and each small satellite communication earth station.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the satellite communication earth station monitoring system of the present invention, the operating state of the earth station can be intensively monitored by using the public communication network that enables easy communication. It is possible to monitor and control a small satellite communication earth station, which has hardly been monitored and controlled for economic reasons, and to improve the reliability and maintainability of a so-called corporate closed satellite communication system. Further, in the present invention, each small satellite communication earth station is provided with a storage means to store failure information,
When the called monitoring station data transfer means is busy, the monitoring station data transfer means can be called again after a predetermined waiting time, so that a plurality of small satellite communication earth stations can send monitoring information to the monitoring station at almost the same time. Even when it is transmitted to the monitoring station, the monitoring station can surely collect the plurality of monitoring information. Further, according to the present invention, since the operation of the system can be centrally performed by the monitoring station, a small number of full-time operators can be used, and the operation is economical.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a satellite communication earth station monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a small satellite communication earth station according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a conventional earth station monitoring system. 10,20 …… Small satellite communication earth station, 30 …… Monitoring station, 40 ……
Public communication network, 100 ... satellite, 101,102 ... antenna, 111,
112 ... communication device, 121,122 ... monitoring circuit, 123,124,131,
132, …… Data transfer circuit, 133 …… Central monitoring and control unit, 1
221 ... Control circuit, 1222 ... Status memory, 1223 ... Status monitoring circuit, 1224 ... Data transmission / reception circuit, 1241 ... Data modem, 1242 ... Network control circuit.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A system in which a monitoring station and a plurality of small satellite communication earth stations are connected via a public communication network; the monitoring station controls the public communication network, and the corresponding small-sized satellite via the public communication network. Monitoring station data transfer means for transmitting / receiving signals to / from the satellite communication earth station; monitoring for managing the output signal relating to the transmission of the small satellite communication earth station, which is received by the monitoring station data transfer means from the public communication network, for each small satellite communication earth station And a control means;
The small satellite communication earth station has a status monitoring means for monitoring the operating status of its own satellite communication device; a storage means for storing status change information monitored and output by the status monitoring means; and a network control for a public communication network. Earth station data transfer means for transmitting and receiving signals to and from the monitoring station data transfer means via a public communication network; network control of the public communication network to the earth station data transfer means for transmitting the status change information to the monitoring station If the monitoring station data transfer means called as a result of the call is busy, the calling operation is temporarily stopped and the calling operation is performed again after a lapse of a predetermined waiting time. Earth station monitoring system.