JP5890738B2 - Radio communication base station and radio communication base station control method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a radio communication base station and a control method thereof. More specifically, the present invention relates to a radio communication base station that can temporarily restore radio communication in the communication area when a failure occurs in another radio communication base station, and a control method thereof.

  Conventionally, in a communication system such as a mobile phone, when performing wireless communication between a wireless communication terminal and a wireless communication base station, various multiplexing schemes have been proposed and put into practical use from the viewpoint of efficient use of frequency bands. Has been. For example, there are methods such as FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) and TDD (Time Division Duplex) as multiplexing methods in a wireless section when performing wireless communication. FDD is also called frequency division bidirectional transmission, and is a communication method in which different frequencies are assigned to transmission and reception, and full-duplex communication is performed. TDD is also referred to as time-division bidirectional transmission, and is a communication method that enables full-duplex communication in the same frequency band by performing time-axis compression and switching between transmission and reception for each time. Which of these multiplexing methods is selected is determined after taking into account various factors such as national frequency policy and carrier policy. Hereinafter, in this specification, a radio communication base station is abbreviated as “base station” as appropriate, and a radio communication terminal (mobile terminal) is abbreviated as “terminal” as appropriate.

  By the way, in a communication system such as a mobile phone, a range (a communicable range) where radio waves such as a base station can reach is sometimes called a “cell”. A cell phone cell usually has a radius of about 1 km to 10 km, and such a cell is called a “macro cell”. On the other hand, a cell such as PHS has a radius of about 100 m to 500 m, and such a cell is called a “micro cell”. A configuration in which cells that are ideally regular hexagons are equally divided by angles using a directional antenna is called a “sector configuration”. In this case, one cell is composed of a plurality of sectors. In wireless communication, a three-sector configuration in which a cell is divided into three, a six-sector configuration in which a cell is divided into six, and the like are common. As described above, various proposals have been made for wireless communication systems having cells divided into a plurality of sectors (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In the case of a communication system using a microcell, by installing a base station in a place where radio waves are weak, communication can be performed by spreading radio waves to fine places. Also, even if a certain base station fails and communication becomes impossible, the communication area is originally small, or base stations are arranged so that the communication areas of other base stations are crowded Therefore, it may not be a big problem. However, since it is necessary to install a large number of base stations in order to perform such communication, there is an aspect that costs are increased as a whole, such as initial capital investment costs and subsequent maintenance costs.

  On the other hand, in the case of a communication method using a macro cell, since the communication area covered by one base station is wide, the number of base stations installed in a certain region can be significantly reduced compared to the case where a micro cell is used. it can. For this reason, the initial capital investment cost and subsequent maintenance cost of the entire system can be kept relatively low. However, in the case of a communication method using a macro cell, since a communication area covered by one base station is wide, if a failure occurs in the base station and communication becomes impossible, communication cannot be performed in such a wide range. End up.

  In a cellular network such as an existing mobile phone system, if a specific base station fails and becomes unable to communicate, an alarm will sound in a facility such as a monitoring center. An alarm is issued. Such alarms allow monitoring center personnel to know that a failure has occurred. When the monitoring center staff learns about the occurrence of a base station failure by an alarm, etc., it requests maintenance personnel to repair the base station and allows the base station to temporarily perform wireless communication even in areas where communication is not possible. Generally, temporary restoration is performed. Here, temporary recovery means that wireless communication can be temporarily performed in the communication area of the base station where the fault has occurred until the repair of the base station in which the fault has occurred is completed and the main recovery is started again. Means measures to do.

  In temporary restoration, the monitoring center staff can search for base stations in the vicinity of the base station where the fault has occurred and can cover the communication area of the base station in which the fault has occurred by the base stations in the vicinity. Judge whether or not. If the surrounding base station can cover the communication area of the base station where the failure occurred, the monitoring center staff can change the various settings of the base stations in the vicinity to change the base station where the failure occurred. In the communication area, wireless communication can be temporarily performed. Here, the various settings include adjustments such as increasing the intensity of radio wave output, and changing the angle (tilt angle) of a directional antenna provided in the base station. Various methods for adjusting the tilt angle of the antenna have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 2). Note that these operations are generally performed remotely by the monitoring center staff at the monitoring center. By such temporary restoration, in a communication system using a macro cell, even if a failure occurs in a certain base station and communication becomes impossible, the base station in which the failure has occurred can be changed by changing the settings of the neighboring base stations. Wireless communication in the communication area can be maintained.

JP 2003-37870 A JP 2000-269723 A

  However, there are points to be improved in the provisional recovery measures as described above.

  As described above, in the provisional recovery measures, the monitoring center staff searches for base stations in the vicinity of the base station in which the failure has occurred, and the base station in the vicinity of the base station communicates with the base station in which the failure has occurred. Determine whether the area can be covered. In order to make such a determination, the staff of the monitoring center may collect various data of base stations around the base station where the fault occurred and cover the communication area of the base station where the fault occurred. It is necessary to perform a simulation on the desk whether or not it is possible. Then, if the base station in the vicinity can cover the communication area of the base station where the failure has occurred, the staff of the monitoring center should set appropriate values as the values for the various settings described above for each base station in the vicinity. Must be calculated. Therefore, it takes a considerable amount of time from the time when a failure occurs in a certain base station to disable wireless communication until the above-described temporary recovery is completed and communication is possible. In this case, since work and verification by personnel are included, it is assumed that it takes at least several hours. During this time, as a matter of course, wireless communication cannot be performed in the communication area of the base station where the failure has occurred.

  In addition, as described above, provisional recovery measures require the work and verification of a staff member of the monitoring center, so that there is a problem that labor and labor costs of these personnel are required. Further, in the provisional recovery measure, the above-described various settings of the base station are changed via a staff member of the monitoring center. For this reason, there is no denying that this person may make mistakes in the work and verification performed in the process of provisional recovery, or in the operation when changing various settings. Such a human error may be a factor that delays or hinders temporary restoration in a situation where a base station originally has a failure.

  For example, when it is assumed that wireless communication is performed by the TDD method in a network configuration with macrocells, there is a surrounding area due to factors such as the use of the same frequency band in each sector and a propagation delay occurring in the sector. Interference with other base stations becomes a problem. In other words, in this case, if the staff of the monitoring center does not calculate appropriate values for the various settings described above, the radio communication radio waves temporarily restored by the neighboring base stations and the radio waves of other base stations It interferes and normal wireless communication cannot be performed. If such an interference is detected and the temporary recovery operation is performed again while taking countermeasures, it is assumed that the completion of the temporary recovery is greatly delayed.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention made in view of such circumstances is to automatically and temporarily restore wireless communication in a cell of the wireless communication base station in a short time when a failure occurs in a certain wireless communication base station. It is an object of the present invention to provide a radio communication base station that can perform communication and a control method thereof.

The invention of the radio communication base station according to the first aspect of achieving the above object is as follows:
A wireless communication base station that performs wireless communication with a wireless communication terminal using a time division duplex method,
A radio unit for transmitting and receiving signals by dividing the cell of the radio communication base station into sectors; and
Information for temporarily restoring wireless communication in the cell of the other wireless communication base station when other wireless communication base stations in the vicinity of the wireless communication base station become unable to communicate ,
A sector of the radio communication base station to supplement a cell of the other radio communication base station when another radio communication base station in the vicinity becomes unable to communicate;
Intensity of radio wave output when the radio unit transmits and receives signals in the sector of the radio communication base station to supplement the cell of the other radio communication base station, and
A storage unit for storing information on timing to add a subframe when the wireless unit transmits and receives signals in the sector of the wireless communication base station to supplement the cell of the other wireless communication base station ;
When it is detected that communication with other wireless communication base stations in the vicinity has become impossible, based on information for temporarily restoring wireless communication in the cell of the other wireless communication base station stored in the storage unit A control unit for controlling the radio unit so as to supplement the cell of the other radio communication base station by the sector;
With
When the control unit detects that the other radio communication base station has become unable to communicate, the control unit adds a subframe based on the timing information stored in the storage unit, and the radio unit Control to send and receive,
It is characterized by this.

The invention according to the second aspect is
A control method of a radio communication base station that divides a cell into sectors and performs radio communication with a radio communication terminal by a time division duplex method,
Information for temporarily restoring wireless communication in the cell of the other wireless communication base station when other wireless communication base stations in the vicinity of the wireless communication base station become unable to perform wireless communication ,
A sector of the radio communication base station to supplement a cell of the other radio communication base station when another radio communication base station in the vicinity becomes unable to communicate;
Intensity of radio wave output when the radio unit transmits and receives signals in the sector of the radio communication base station to supplement the cell of the other radio communication base station, and
Storing timing information for adding a subframe when the wireless unit transmits and receives signals in the sector of the wireless communication base station to supplement the cell of the other wireless communication base station ;
When it is detected that communication with other wireless communication base stations in the vicinity has become impossible, based on the information for temporarily restoring wireless communication in the cell of the other wireless communication base station stored in the storing step And controlling to perform wireless communication by supplementing the cell of the other wireless communication base station by the sector;
When it is detected that the other radio communication base station has become unable to communicate, a subframe is added based on the timing information stored in the storage unit so that the radio unit transmits and receives signals. Controlling step;
It is characterized by including.

  According to the radio communication base station of the present invention, when a failure occurs in a certain radio communication base station, the radio communication in the radio communication base station cell can be automatically and temporarily restored in a short time. A base station and a control method thereof can be provided.

It is a figure which shows the example of schematic structure of the radio | wireless communication base station which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows roughly a mode that multiple radio | wireless communication base stations shown in FIG. 1 were connected. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an aspect of frame allocation in the radio communication base station shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing time slot allocation in the subframe shown in FIG. 3. It is a conceptual diagram showing the relationship between the cell and sector in the radio | wireless communication which the radio | wireless communication base station which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention performs. FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically illustrating a state in which a plurality of cells illustrated in FIG. 5 are arranged to form a macro cell. It is a figure explaining the temporary restoration which the radio | wireless communication base station which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention performs. It is a figure showing an example of the data for temporary restoration of the peripheral station memorize | stored in the memory | storage part shown in FIG. It is a flowchart explaining the process of temporary restoration which the radio | wireless communication base station which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention performs. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the aspect of the allocation of the frame after the temporary restoration by this embodiment is performed. It is a conceptual diagram showing a mode that the temporary restoration by this embodiment was performed. It is a flowchart explaining the process after this restoration | recovery of the radio | wireless communication base station which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, a radio communication base station according to an embodiment of the present invention and radio communication performed using the radio communication base station will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a radio communication base station according to an embodiment of the present invention. The radio communication base station according to the present embodiment is preferably implemented in a system that performs radio communication using the TDD method in a network configuration using macro cells.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the base station 100 according to the present embodiment includes three sector radio units 10 (a sector 1 radio unit 10a, a sector 2 radio unit 10b, a sector 3 radio unit 10c), a control unit 20, and a storage Unit 30 and a line control unit 40. In the following description, a terminal configured to perform radio communication with the base station 100 can be a terminal configured similarly to a conventional mobile phone or the like, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

  In the base station 100 according to the present embodiment, each of the three sector radio units 10 (sector 1 radio unit 10a, sector 2 radio unit 10b, sector 3 radio unit 10c) corresponds to one sector and includes three sectors. One cell is configured. That is, the sector 1 radio unit 10a performs radio communication with the terminal in the sector 1, the sector 2 radio unit 10b performs radio communication with the terminal in the sector 2, and the sector 3 radio unit 10c performs radio communication with the terminal in the sector 3. Since the TDD communication method is assumed in the present embodiment, each sector radio unit 10 (10a, 10b, 10c) performs radio communication using the same frequency. That is, in this embodiment, the base station 100 performs radio communication with a terminal by a time division duplex method (TDD). At that time, each sector radio unit 10 (10a, 10b, 10c) transmits and receives signals by dividing the cell of the base station 100 into sectors (sector 1, sector 2, sector 3). The relationship between these sectors and cells will be further described later.

  Since the three sector radio units 10 (10a, 10b, 10c) can have the same configuration, only the sector 1 radio unit 10a will be described. The sector 1 radio unit 10a includes an antenna 11a, a transmission / reception unit 12a, and a radio control unit 13a. The antenna 11a transmits (RF) signals to the terminal and receives signals from the terminal. The transmitting / receiving unit 12a converts a signal transmitted / received by the antenna 11a into an RF band and a band that can be digitally processed. The radio control unit 13a modulates the signal output to the transmission / reception unit 12a and demodulates the signal input from the transmission / reception unit 12a. In addition, the wireless control unit 13a performs control such as adjusting the strength of radio wave output when the transmission / reception unit 12a transmits and receives signals under the control of the control unit 20. The antenna 11a can change the angle (tilt angle) when the transmission / reception unit 12a transmits / receives a signal, and the control at that time is also performed by the radio control unit 13a under the control of the control unit 20. .

  The control unit 20 controls and manages the entire base station 100 including each functional unit of the base station 100. The three sector radio units 10 (10a, 10b, 10c) are each connected to the control unit 20 by cables such as optical fibers. The control unit 20 also manages the frame configuration when the three sector radio units 10 (10a, 10b, 10c) transmit and receive signals in each sector. That is, for example, when the sector 1 radio unit 10a transmits and receives signals in the sector 1 (described later), the control unit 20 also performs timing control when subframes are arranged in each frame. As will be described later, the control unit 20 may control each sector radio unit 10 (10a, 10b, 10c) to perform transmission and reception with a terminal by adding a subframe to an arbitrary synchronized frame. it can.

  The storage unit 30 stores information for temporarily restoring wireless communication in the cell of the other base station when another base station in the vicinity of the base station 100 becomes unable to communicate. Here, information for temporarily restoring wireless communication in a cell of another base station will be described later together with a specific example.

  The line control unit 40 controls the bandwidth when communicating with another base station. As will be described later, the base station 100 is connected to another base station via the line control unit 40.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a state in which a plurality of base stations 100 shown in FIG. 1 are connected.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in the present embodiment, a plurality of the base stations 100 described above are included, and these base stations are all connected to the central controller 200. In FIG. 2, three base stations similar to the base station 100 described in FIG. 1, ie, a base station 100A, a base station 100B, and a base station 100C are shown. However, the number of base stations used in the present embodiment is not limited to three, and can be any number. In general, a large number of base stations 100 are installed so that radio waves reach all areas in a predetermined area.

  The central controller 200 controls a plurality of base stations 100 (base stations 100A, 100B, 100C) in a centralized manner through a logical interface. Through this central control device 200, in this embodiment, user terminal authentication, paging, and the like can be performed, and interconnection with other systems is also possible. The central control device 200 also enables exchange of control signals between the base stations used for header compression, packet management, handover control, and the like with neighboring base stations. In the present embodiment, the central controller 200 detects that each base station 100 has failed in communication due to a failure in a surrounding base station, or that the base station in which the failure has occurred has been recovered by repair, etc. can do.

  FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing, for each sector, how frames are allocated by the TDD communication method in the base station 100 shown in FIG. 3 shows the allocation of frames when the sector 1 radio unit 10a, the sector 2 radio unit 10b, and the sector 3 radio unit 10c shown in FIG. 1 transmit and receive signals, respectively. ing. In each of the sectors 1, 2, and 3 shown in FIG. 3, the horizontal axis represents the time elapsed from left to right, and the vertical axis represents the radio wave output intensity. Further, in each of the sectors 1, 2, and 3 in FIG. 3, each frame forms one synchronized period, and a plurality of subframes are allocated in the frame. For example, in sector 1, a downlink (DL) subframe is assigned to the first part of frame # 1 following the uplink (UL).

  As shown in FIG. 3, in this embodiment, when the sector 1 radio unit 10a, the sector 2 radio unit 10b, and the sector 3 radio unit 10c shown in FIG. 1 transmit and receive signals, different subframes are assigned to the three sectors. assign. For example, in sector 2, a downlink (DL) subframe is allocated to the middle part of frame # 1 following the uplink (UL). In sector 3, a downlink (DL) subframe is allocated to the end of frame # 1 following the uplink (UL). Also, as shown in FIG. 3, a guard interval is provided between subframes in each sector. By providing this guard section, interference from the downlink (DL) to the uplink (UL) can be prevented. If communication is performed with this guard section enlarged, the time that elapses between the subframes becomes longer, and the distance over which radio waves reach during that time becomes longer. Therefore, in this way, wireless communication can be performed with a macro cell configuration with a larger cell radius.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing time slot allocation in the subframe shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, as in FIG. 3, the horizontal axis represents the time elapsed from left to right, and the vertical axis represents the radio wave output intensity. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the subframe of sector 1 in more detail among the sectors shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, in this example, an uplink (UL) subframe is configured by eight time slots of uplink (UL) slots # 1 to # 8. Similarly, in this example, the downlink (DL) subframe is also configured by eight time slots of downlink (DL) slots # 1 to # 8. In this way, in this example, the uplink (UL) is assigned first on the time axis, and then the downlink (DL) is assigned, but various assignments are made according to the wireless communication specifications. Can do.

  In the present embodiment, all time slots are set at regular time intervals, and uplink (UL) or downlink (DL) communication is assigned to each time slot. The transmission rates in the uplink and downlink directions can be set according to the number of time slots assigned in this way. Wireless communication is performed by assigning these time slots to terminals connected to the base station 100, respectively.

  FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing the relationship between cells and sectors in wireless communication performed by the base station 100 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 5 illustrates an arrangement of sectors for configuring a macro cell using the base station 100 illustrated in FIG. FIG. 5 also conceptually shows subframes (described in FIG. 3) used by each sector radio unit 10 (10a, 10b, 10c) in each sector. As shown in FIG. 5, in this embodiment, a hexagonal cell indicating an ideal state is divided into three sectors by 120 degrees to form three sectors.

  Also, as shown in FIG. 5, in the present embodiment, the subframes are arranged so that different subframes are used for each sector. That is, each subframe is arranged so as not to overlap with subframes of other sectors in the same cell in terms of time. With such a subframe arrangement, the base station 100 configures a macro cell without causing interference in its own cell or in relation to other base stations in the vicinity of the base station 100. can do.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically illustrating a state in which a plurality of cells illustrated in FIG. 5 are arranged to form a macro cell. In the example shown in FIG. 6, 19 cells from the 1st cell to the 19th cell are shown. It is assumed that a base station having the same configuration as the base station 100 is installed at each cell center. However, the number of base stations used in the present embodiment is not limited to 19, and may be a plurality of arbitrary numbers. As described above, generally, a large number of base stations 100 are installed so that radio waves reach all areas in a predetermined area.

  Next, temporary restoration when a failure occurs in another base station by the base station 100 according to the present embodiment will be described.

  Hereinafter, assuming that a failure occurs in the base station 100 installed in the 10th cell among the plurality of base stations 100 illustrated in FIG. 6, other base stations by the base station 100 according to the present embodiment A temporary recovery when a station fails will be described.

  When a failure occurs in the base station 100 installed in the 10th cell shown in FIG. 6 and wireless communication becomes impossible, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. The 10th cell is supplemented by the sectors constituting 100 cells. In FIG. 6, the area of the 10th cell is supplemented by a part of the sectors of the three base station cells (6th, 9th, and 15th cells). That is, in FIG. 6, the lower left sector (sector 3) of the 6th cell, the lower right sector (sector 2) of the 9th cell, and the upper sector (sector 1) of the 15th cell. ) To supplement the area of the 10th cell. In this way, in order to supplement a cell of another base station 100 by a certain sector, for example, the strength of radio wave output when transmitting / receiving a signal in the sector is increased, or the angle (tilt angle) of the antenna 11 of the sector is increased. Is preferably changed. Furthermore, in this embodiment, a subframe is added as described later so that a certain sector supplements a cell of another base station 100 so as not to hinder the wireless communication originally performed in the sector. It is preferable to do this.

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, even if a failure occurs in the base station 100 installed in the 10th cell and wireless communication becomes impossible, The 10th cell is supplemented by the sector constituting the cell. For this reason, it is possible to continue wireless communication in the 10th cell, that is, temporarily restore wireless communication in the 10th cell.

  In order to realize such temporary restoration, in the present embodiment, each base station 100 grasps in advance various settings to be performed when other base stations in the vicinity become unable to communicate. There is a need. For this reason, in the present embodiment, the contents of various settings to be performed when each of the base stations 100 becomes incapable of communication with other base stations in the vicinity are preliminarily stored in the storage unit 30 as peripheral station temporary recovery data. Remember it.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of peripheral station temporary recovery data. FIG. 8 shows, as an example, peripheral station temporary restoration data stored in advance in the storage unit 30 of the base station 100 installed in the 15th cell shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the cells of other base stations around the 15th cell are the 10th, 11th, 14th, 16th, 18th and 19th cells. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8, the base station 100 installed in the 15th cell stores in advance the temporary station peripheral restoration data of the base station existing in the location of these cells in the storage unit 30. .

  As shown in FIG. 8, the assumed data for temporary restoration of the peripheral station of the base station in the vicinity is the sector number (1-3) used to compensate for the cell of the base station in which the failure has occurred, and the sector It is possible to assume the intensity of radio wave output when wireless communication is performed on the Internet. In addition, as assumed for the peripheral station temporary restoration data of the base station in the vicinity, as shown in FIG. 8, the position (timing) of the subframe to be added when wireless communication is performed in the sector. Information can also be assumed. Information on the position (timing) of the subframe to be added will be described later. In addition, for example, the angle (tilt angle) of the antenna 11 when performing wireless communication in the sector can be assumed.

  As shown in FIG. 8, when the base station 100 installed in the 15th cell fails in wireless communication due to a failure in the base station in the 10th cell, for example, the output of the sector 1 radio unit 10a is output. Increase to 20W. In this case, the base station 100 installed in the 15th cell performs wireless communication by adding a subframe to the position (timing) of B in the frame. Also, the base station 100 installed in the 15th cell increases the output of the sector 2 radio unit 10b to 18 W, for example, when a failure occurs in the base station in the 16th cell and wireless communication becomes impossible. In this case, the base station 100 installed in the 15th cell performs wireless communication by adding a subframe to the position (timing) of C in the frame.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, in order to compensate for the cell of the base station in which the failure has occurred by assuming the case where the base station in the vicinity has failed and wireless communication is disabled in advance. Are stored in the storage unit 30 of the base station 100. That is, in the present embodiment, the storage unit 30 stores information for temporarily restoring wireless communication in a cell of another base station. Such various data may be calculated by simulation based on theoretical values, or may be based on actually measured data. In FIG. 8, the peripheral station temporary restoration data stored in advance in the storage unit 30 of the base station 100 installed in the 15th cell is shown as an example, but in this embodiment, each base station The peripheral station temporary recovery data is stored for each peripheral base station. At this time, various data are stored in the storage unit 30 so that settings are made so as not to interfere with surrounding base stations even if the sector is selected and the subframe is added in each base station.

  Next, processing when the base station 100 according to the present embodiment performs temporary restoration will be described.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining temporary restoration processing performed by the base station 100. When the process shown in FIG. 9 starts, the control unit 20 of the base station 100 detects whether or not a base station in the vicinity of the base station 100 has failed and wireless communication is disabled (step S11). Here, whether or not a failure has occurred in a nearby base station can be determined by the base station 100 detecting a failure in another base station, or the central controller 200 that has detected a failure in another base station. You can also be notified from. Alternatively, the base station 100 can inquire of the central controller 200 whether or not a failure has occurred in another base station.

  When it is detected in step S11 that base stations in the vicinity of the base station 100 have become unable to perform wireless communication, the control unit 20 reads temporary recovery data of the base station in which the failure has occurred from the storage unit 30 (step S12). ). When the temporary recovery data of the base station in which the failure has occurred is read in step S12, the control unit 20 controls to change the setting of each functional unit of the base station 100 based on the temporary recovery data (step S12). S13). Here, to change the setting of each functional unit, as described above, determine the sector that covers the cell of the base station where the failure has occurred, adjust the radio wave output intensity of the sector, This means processing such as adding a subframe to this frame. By performing such processing by the peripheral base station of the base station in which the failure has occurred, the cell of the base station in which the failure has occurred is supplemented by the sector of the peripheral base station, and the provisional restoration according to the present embodiment is completed.

  FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram showing how frames are allocated after provisional restoration according to this embodiment is performed. Also in FIG. 10, as in FIG. 3, the horizontal axis represents the time elapsed from left to right, and the vertical axis represents the radio wave output intensity. FIG. 10 corresponds to FIG. 7, the base station 100 installed in the 10th cell fails and wireless communication becomes impossible, and the 10th cell is determined by the sectors constituting the cells of the surrounding base stations. It shows a state of supplementing. That is, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 10, when the base station 100 installed in the 10th cell becomes unable to communicate wirelessly, the sector 2 of the base station in the 9th cell and the base station in the 6th cell Cell 10 and the base station sector 1 in the 15th cell supplement the 10th cell.

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 10, in the sector 2 of the base station in the 9th cell, a subframe is added at the position (C) shown in the figure, and the radio communication radio output in the sector 2 is further increased. Strength is increased. Here, the position of (C) at which the subframe is added is the information on the position (timing) of the subframe to be added when performing wireless communication in the sector in the peripheral station temporary restoration data shown in FIG. Determine by reading. Further, in the sector 3 of the base station in the 6th cell, a subframe is added at the position (A) shown in the figure, and the radio wave output intensity of the wireless communication in the sector 3 is further increased. Further, in the sector 1 of the base station in the 15th cell, a subframe is added at the position (B) shown in the figure, and the radio wave output intensity of the wireless communication in the sector 1 is further increased.

  FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a state in which a cell of a base station in which a failure has occurred is supplemented by a sector of a base station in the vicinity by performing temporary recovery according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 11, only the cell of the base station in the periphery of the base station 100 installed in the position of the 10th cell where the failure has occurred is shown. As shown in FIG. 11, the area of the 10th cell in which the base station 100 that has become unable to perform wireless communication is located in the lower left sector (sector 3) of the 6th cell and the lower right of the 9th cell. It is supplemented by a sector in the direction (sector 2) and an upper sector (sector 1) in the 15th cell.

  FIG. 11 also conceptually shows subframes used by each sector radio unit 10 (10a, 10b, 10c) of each base station for radio communication in each sector, following FIG. . As shown in FIG. 11, according to the temporary restoration of the present embodiment, no interference occurs in the 10th cell in which the failure has occurred, and in relation to other cells around the 10th cell. However, no interference occurs.

  As described above, in this embodiment, when the control unit 20 detects that other base stations in the vicinity have become unable to communicate, the control unit 20 selects the cell of the base station 100 based on the information stored in the storage unit 30. The radio unit 10 is controlled so as to supplement the cell of the other base station by the sector to be configured. Here, the information stored in the storage unit 30 is information for temporarily restoring wireless communication in the cell of the other base station.

  The storage unit 30 preferably stores the sector of the base station 100 that should supplement the cell of the other base station when another base station in the vicinity becomes unable to communicate.

  Furthermore, the storage unit 30 preferably stores the intensity of the radio wave output when the radio unit 10 transmits and receives signals in the sector of the base station that should supplement the cell of another base station.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the storage unit 30 stores information on timing for adding subframes when the wireless unit 10 transmits and receives signals in the sector of the base station 100 that should supplement the cells of other base stations. In this case, when the control unit 20 detects that another base station has become unable to communicate, the control unit 20 adds a subframe based on the timing information stored in the storage unit 30, and the radio unit 10 Control to send and receive.

  According to the present embodiment, it is possible to automate all processes from the detection of a failure in a certain base station until the wireless communication in the cell of the base station is temporarily restored without the need for personnel. . Therefore, it is not necessary for the monitoring center staff to perform a desktop simulation in order to cover the communication area of the base station where the failure has occurred, as described above. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to remarkably shorten the time required until the wireless communication in the cell of the base station is temporarily restored after a failure occurs in a certain base station and wireless communication becomes impossible. it can.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, provisional restoration of wireless communication in the cell of the base station where the failure is detected is performed without the need for personnel. Therefore, since the work and verification of the staff of the monitoring center are not necessary in the temporary recovery measures, the labor and labor costs of these personnel are unnecessary. Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, since there is no need for personnel, there is a risk that radio interference may occur due to mistakes in operations and verifications performed during the temporary restoration process or incorrect operations when changing various settings. Absent.

  The temporary restoration according to the present embodiment is a measure that enables wireless communication temporarily even in the cell of the base station where the failure has occurred. Usually, personnel such as maintenance workers are dispatched to the base station where the failure has occurred, and the base station apparatus is repaired or exchanged and inspected locally. In this way, when the base station in which the failure has occurred itself is restored, interference occurs if the cell of the base station remains supplemented by a sector of a base station in the vicinity. Therefore, when the base station in which the failure has occurred is restored, it is desirable to perform processing after the base station is restored, as will be described below.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining processing after the main restoration of the radio communication base station according to the embodiment of the present invention. Note that the base station that performs the processing shown in FIG. 12 is provided around the base station in which the cell of the base station in which the failure has occurred is supplemented by the sector, that is, the base station in which the failure has occurred, due to the temporary recovery according to the present embodiment. Note that it is a base station.

  When the process shown in FIG. 12 is started, the control unit 20 of the base station 100 detects whether or not the base station that has become unable to perform wireless communication due to a failure has been restored by repair or the like (step S21). In step S21, when the control unit 20 detects the main recovery of the base station that has been unable to perform wireless communication, it may be performed in the same manner as the failure detection in other base stations as described in step S11 of FIG. it can. That is, the base station 100 can detect the main restoration of another base station, or can be notified from the central controller 200 that has detected the main restoration of another base station. Alternatively, the base station 100 can make an inquiry to the central controller 200 about the main restoration of another base station.

  When it is detected in step S21 that the base station that has been disabled for wireless communication has been restored, the control unit 20 reads the original setting data before the setting of the own station is changed (step S22). Here, the change of setting is a change of setting of each functional unit of the base station 100 described in step S13 of FIG. In order to perform the process of step S22, it is preferable that the control unit 20 stores various data before the setting change in the storage unit 30 when the setting is changed in step S13 of FIG. is there. Further, such data before the setting change may be originally stored in the storage unit 30 as basic information for the base station 100 to operate in a normal state.

  When the original setting data before the setting change is read in step S22, the control unit 20 changes the setting of each functional unit of the base station 100 again based on the read original setting data. Control (step S23). Specifically, the process performed in step S23 is substantially the same as the process performed in step S13 of FIG. Since each base station in the vicinity of the base station that has completed this recovery performs such a process, the sector of each base station returns to the original state before the temporary recovery. There will be no occurrence of new interference due to this restoration.

  Although the present invention has been described based on the drawings and examples, it should be noted that those skilled in the art can easily make various modifications and corrections based on the present disclosure. Therefore, it should be noted that these variations and modifications are included in the scope of the present invention. For example, functions included in each member, each means, each step, etc. can be rearranged so as not to be logically contradictory, and a plurality of means, steps, etc. can be combined or divided into one. Is possible.

  In the embodiment of the present invention described above, several parameters have been described as the peripheral station temporary restoration data stored in the storage unit 30. However, the present invention is not limited to some parameters described in the embodiments, and other parameters can be adopted. Further, the present invention is not limited to an aspect in which all of some parameters described in the embodiment are adopted. For example, one or more of several parameters described in the embodiments can be used in appropriate combination.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the peripheral station temporary restoration data has been described as being stored in the storage unit 30 in advance. However, in the present invention, it is sufficient that the peripheral station temporary restoration data can be obtained when the setting of each functional unit of the base station 100 is changed in step S13 of FIG. Therefore, for example, the peripheral station temporary recovery data may be supplied from the central controller 200 by this time.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Sector radio | wireless part 11 Antenna 12 Transmission / reception part 13 Radio | wireless control part 20 Control part 30 Memory | storage part 40 Channel control part 100 Wireless communication base station 200 Central control apparatus

Claims (2)

A wireless communication base station that performs wireless communication with a wireless communication terminal using a time division duplex method,
A radio unit for transmitting and receiving signals by dividing the cell of the radio communication base station into sectors; and
Information for temporarily restoring wireless communication in the cell of the other wireless communication base station when other wireless communication base stations in the vicinity of the wireless communication base station become unable to communicate ,
A sector of the radio communication base station to supplement a cell of the other radio communication base station when another radio communication base station in the vicinity becomes unable to communicate;
Intensity of radio wave output when the radio unit transmits and receives signals in the sector of the radio communication base station to supplement the cell of the other radio communication base station, and
A storage unit for storing information on timing to add a subframe when the wireless unit transmits and receives signals in the sector of the wireless communication base station to supplement the cell of the other wireless communication base station ;
When it is detected that communication with other wireless communication base stations in the vicinity has become impossible, based on information for temporarily restoring wireless communication in the cell of the other wireless communication base station stored in the storage unit A control unit for controlling the radio unit so as to supplement the cell of the other radio communication base station by the sector;
With
When the control unit detects that the other radio communication base station has become unable to communicate, the control unit adds a subframe based on the timing information stored in the storage unit, and the radio unit Control to send and receive,
A wireless communication base station. A control method of a radio communication base station that divides a cell into sectors and performs radio communication with a radio communication terminal by a time division duplex method,
Information for temporarily restoring wireless communication in the cell of the other wireless communication base station when other wireless communication base stations in the vicinity of the wireless communication base station become unable to perform wireless communication ,
A sector of the radio communication base station to supplement a cell of the other radio communication base station when another radio communication base station in the vicinity becomes unable to communicate;
Intensity of radio wave output when the radio unit transmits and receives signals in the sector of the radio communication base station to supplement the cell of the other radio communication base station, and
Storing timing information for adding a subframe when the wireless unit transmits and receives signals in the sector of the wireless communication base station to supplement the cell of the other wireless communication base station ;
When it is detected that communication with other wireless communication base stations in the vicinity has become impossible, based on the information for temporarily restoring wireless communication in the cell of the other wireless communication base station stored in the storing step And controlling to perform wireless communication by supplementing the cell of the other wireless communication base station by the sector;
When it is detected that the other radio communication base station has become unable to communicate, a subframe is added based on the timing information stored in the storage unit so that the radio unit transmits and receives signals. Controlling step;
A control method for a radio communication base station.

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