JP6798335B2 - Wireless communication device and control method of wireless communication device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a wireless communication device and a method for controlling the wireless communication device.

A wireless communication device in which a plurality of wireless units are mounted on the same substrate is widely used. If the wireless unit fails during the operation of such a wireless communication device, communication becomes impossible or performance deteriorates even if the failure is a part. Therefore, even in the case of some of the above-mentioned failures, it is necessary to deal with the failures, and the operating cost increases. Therefore, there is a need for a method for quickly detecting or preventing a failure and reducing costs.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique that enables detection and prevention of the above-mentioned failures. In this technique, a signal is transmitted from one radio unit among a plurality of radio units, the other radio unit receives this signal, and the transmission signal level and the reception signal level at that time are measured. Then, the measured value is compared with the reference value to detect a failure or deterioration. By switching the wireless unit that transmits the signal and performing the above inspection, it is possible to detect an abnormality or deterioration of each wireless unit. Further, the signal level of each wireless unit can be optimized by adjusting the signal level of the other wireless unit with reference to one wireless unit. As a result, deterioration due to a high load applied to the circuit can be prevented, and the life of the wireless unit can be extended.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-115267

However, the technique of Patent Document 1 has a problem that the operation of the wireless communication device must be stopped during the test and adjustment. That is, the operating rate of the wireless communication device is lowered.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a wireless communication device that extends the life of a wireless unit without lowering the operating rate.

In order to solve the above problems, the wireless communication device includes a wireless block composed of a plurality of wireless units, a power supply unit that supplies power to the wireless block, and a power supply monitor that monitors the power supply from the power supply unit to each wireless unit. It has a unit, each radio unit, and a main signal data processing unit that transmits and receives a main signal. The power supply monitoring unit monitors the power consumption of each radio unit when the power supply unit supplies power, adds an operating time to the power consumption, generates monitoring data, and transmits it to the main signal data processing unit. The monitoring data analysis unit analyzes the monitoring data and calculates the difference between the standard value of power consumption calculated for each operating time and the current power consumption. Then, the amount of adjustment of the band of each radio unit required to reduce the difference is calculated. The band control unit controls the band of each radio unit based on the calculated band adjustment amount.

The effect of the present invention is that it is possible to provide a wireless communication device that extends the life of the wireless unit without lowering the operating rate.

It is a block diagram which shows the wireless communication apparatus of 1st Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the wireless communication apparatus of 2nd Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the radio part of the 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation of the wireless communication apparatus of 2nd Embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the mobile communication network to which the 3rd Embodiment is applied. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of a part of the base station system of 3rd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation of the base station system of 3rd Embodiment. It is a graph which shows an example of the life monitoring data in the control of 4th Embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, although the embodiments described below have technically preferable limitations for carrying out the present invention, the scope of the invention is not limited to the following. Note that similar components in each drawing may be given the same number and description may be omitted.

(First Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a wireless communication device according to the first embodiment. The wireless communication device has a wireless block 10 composed of a plurality of wireless units 11. Further, a power supply unit 20 that supplies power to the wireless block 10, a power supply monitoring unit 30 that monitors the power supply from the power supply unit 20 to each wireless unit 11, and main signal data that transmits and receives a main signal to and from each wireless unit 11. It has a processing unit 40. Further, it has a power supply route 50 for supplying electric power from the power supply unit 20 to each radio unit 11, and a main signal route 60 for transmitting data between the main signal data processing unit 40 and each radio unit 11.

Each of the plurality of wireless units 11 constituting the wireless block 10 transmits the signal received from the main signal data processing unit 40 to the outside, and outputs the signal received from the outside to the main signal data processing unit 40.

The power supply monitoring unit 30 monitors the power consumption of each wireless unit 11 when the power supply unit 20 supplies power, adds the operating time of the wireless unit 11 to the power consumption, generates monitoring data, and generates the main signal data. It is transmitted to the processing unit 40.

The main signal data processing unit 40 has a monitoring data analysis unit 41 and a band control unit 42. The band is the amount of data that each radio unit communicates with per unit time.

The monitoring data analysis unit 41 analyzes the monitoring data received from the power supply monitoring unit 30 and calculates the difference between the reference value of the power consumption calculated for each operating time and the current power consumption. Then, the amount of adjustment of the band of each radio unit required to reduce the difference is calculated. The band control unit 42 controls the band, which is the amount of communication with each radio unit 11 per unit time, based on the band adjustment amount calculated by the monitoring data analysis unit 41.

With the above configuration, according to the present embodiment, the power consumption of the wireless unit can be optimized and the life of the wireless unit can be extended without stopping the operation of the wireless communication device.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a wireless communication device according to a second embodiment. The wireless communication device 1000 includes a wireless block 100 composed of a plurality of wireless units 110, a power supply unit 200, a power supply monitoring unit 300, and a main signal data processing unit 400. Further, it has a power supply route 500 for supplying electric power from the power supply unit 210 of the power supply unit 200 to each wireless unit 110, and a main signal route 600 for transmitting a main signal between the main signal data processing unit 400.

The radio block 100 has a plurality of radio units 110. In the example of FIG. 2, 110a, 110b, 110c, 110d, ... Are described. Each radio unit 110 has a modulation / demodulation circuit 111, a transmission / reception circuit 112, and an antenna element 113, as shown in the block diagram of FIG. The radio unit 110 communicates with the main signal data processing unit 400 via the main signal route 600. The transmission / reception data is modulated / demodulated by the modulation / demodulation circuit 111, converted by the transmission / reception circuit 112, and transmitted / received to / from the outside through the antenna element 113.

The current flowing from the power supply unit 200 to the power supply route 500 that supplies power to each wireless unit 110 is measured by the current monitor A. Then, the power supply monitoring unit 300 monitors the current flowing through each power supply route and the power consumption calculated from the current and the power supply voltage. In the example of FIG. 2, the current monitors A1, A2, A3, A4, ... Are illustrated. Next, the calculated power consumption is given the operating time of the wireless unit from the time when the power is turned on to the measurement time, monitoring data for each wireless unit is generated, and the data is transmitted to the main signal data processing unit 400. The operating time here may be calculated by converting the cumulative value of the counter from the time when the power is turned on into time, or time information such as GPS may be obtained from the outside.

The main signal data processing unit 400 has a monitoring data analysis unit 410 and a data control unit 420. It also communicates with external devices and networks via the data input / output route 700.

The monitoring data analysis unit 410 includes a reference value calculation unit 411, a state determination unit 412, and an adjustment value calculation unit 413.

The reference value calculation unit 411 calculates the reference value of the power consumption. The reference value is an appropriate value of the power consumption of the wireless unit 110 determined based on the specifications and operating time of the wireless unit 110. The reason for considering the operating time is to reflect the normal aging deterioration of the radio part. This reference value may be set as one value or may be set as a range having a predetermined width.

The state determination unit 412 calculates the difference between the power consumption of the wireless unit 110 and the reference value in the current operating time extracted from the monitoring data, and determines the state of the wireless unit 110 based on this difference. .. Then, the state determination unit 412 outputs the difference to the adjustment value calculation unit 413.

Here, when the power consumption is larger than the reference value, it is determined that the power consumption should be reduced due to a cause such as progress of deterioration. In other words, it is determined that the life needs to be extended. This is because when the power consumption is larger than the reference value, it means that if the wireless unit 110 is used as it is, the deterioration of the wireless unit 110 progresses quickly and the life is shortened. On the contrary, when the power consumption of the wireless unit 110 is equal to or less than the reference value, it is determined that the extension of the life is unnecessary. In addition, when the power consumption is smaller than the reference value by a predetermined amount or more, it is determined that there is a margin for increasing the power consumption of the radio unit. Here, when the difference is larger than a predetermined threshold value, the alarm may be notified to the outside as a sign of failure.

The adjustment value calculation unit 413 calculates the adjustment value of the band for reducing the difference based on the difference received from the state determination unit 412. Generally, if the amount of data that the wireless unit 110 communicates in a unit time, that is, the band is reduced, the power consumption is reduced, and if the band is increased, the power consumption is increased. In the present embodiment, this action is used to adjust the band of each radio unit 110 so that the power consumption approaches the reference value. The adjustment value calculation unit 413 calculates the adjustment amount of the band for reducing this difference based on the difference received from the state determination unit 412. That is, when the difference is a difference indicating that the power consumption is larger than the reference value, the adjustment value for reducing the band is calculated, and in the opposite case, the adjustment value for increasing the band is calculated. If the current power consumption is within the appropriate range, the adjustment value 0 is output.

The data control unit 420 has a distribution / aggregation unit 421 and a band control unit 422.

The distribution / aggregation unit 421 distributes / aggregates data transmitted / received via the data input / output route 700 to each radio unit 110. In parallel with the above data processing, the distribution / aggregation unit 421 may convert the monitoring data acquired from the power supply monitoring unit 300 into inter-device communication data and transmit it to the data input / output route 700.

The band control unit 422 controls the band, which is the amount of transmitted / received data per unit time, when the data is distributed to the wireless unit 110. This band is performed based on the adjustment value calculated by the adjustment value calculation unit 413. By this band adjustment, the power consumption of the wireless unit 110 whose power consumption is larger than the reference value is reduced, and the power consumption of the wireless unit 110 whose power consumption is smaller than the reference value is increased, both of which approach the reference value. That is, by this operation, the power consumption difference between the wireless units can be smoothed, the life difference can be smoothed, and the life of the wireless communication device as a whole can be extended.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the wireless communication device 1000.

First, the power supply monitoring unit measures the current of the power supply route (S1) and calculates the power consumption (S2). Next, the power supply monitoring unit assigns the operating time to the power consumption and generates monitoring data (S3). Then, the monitoring data is transmitted to the monitoring data analysis unit. The monitoring data analysis unit calculates the difference between the current power consumption of the target wireless unit held by the received monitoring data and the reference value (S4). Then, it is determined whether or not this difference is equal to or greater than the threshold value indicating the abnormality (S5).

If the difference is less than the threshold value (S5_No), it is determined whether the power consumption satisfies the adjustment target (S6). If the power consumption satisfies the target, the process returns to S1 and the monitoring operation is repeated. On the other hand, when the power consumption does not satisfy the target, the adjustment value calculation unit calculates the band adjustment amount for bringing the power consumption closer to the target (S7). Based on this band adjustment amount, the band control unit adjusts the band of the radio unit (S8). After that, it returns to S1 and is checked again whether the power consumption is adjusted to the target value. Here, if the target is not satisfied even after adjusting the band a predetermined number of times, the radio unit may be notified to the outside as a sign of failure.

If the difference is equal to or greater than the threshold value in the determination of S5 (S5_Yes), it is notified that there is a sign of failure (S9), and the process ends. The above operation is performed for each wireless unit.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to smooth the difference in current consumption between the wireless units and extend the life of the deteriorating wireless unit. As a result, the maintenance interval of the wireless communication device can be lengthened.

(Third Embodiment)
In this embodiment, an example of a mobile communication network to which the wireless communication device of the second embodiment is applied will be described. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a mobile communication network. The present embodiment has a base station system 2000 connected to the mobile network 3000 and a user terminal 4000. The base station system 2000 includes an outdoor device 1100 and an indoor device 1200 that bundles a plurality of outdoor devices 1100 and connects them to the mobile network 3000. FIG. 5 shows an example in which there are three outdoor devices 1100. In the above configuration, the function of the wireless communication device of the second embodiment is divided into an indoor device 1200 and an outdoor device 1100 and implemented.

The indoor device 1200 converts the data transmitted / received from the mobile network 3000 into wireless communication data, and transmits / receives the data to / from the outdoor devices 1100a, 1100b, and 1100c. A plurality of wireless units 1110 are laid out on the main board 1101 of the outdoor device 1100. The mobile communication user terminal 4000 wirelessly communicates with the outdoor device 1100 and realizes communication with the mobile network 3000. The outdoor device 1100 monitors the power information of the plurality of wireless units 1110 mounted on the main board 1101 in the enclosed space, and transmits the monitoring information to the indoor device 1200. The indoor device 1200 monitors the amount of transmitted / received data passing through its own device, analyzes it together with the received monitoring information of the outdoor devices 1100a, 1100b, and 1100c, and then controls the amount of transmitted / received data in units of the radio unit 1110.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a partial configuration example of the base station system 2000 including the outdoor device 1100 and the indoor device 1200. In this example, the indoor device 1200 is responsible for analyzing the monitoring data.

The outdoor device 1100 includes a plurality of wireless units 1110a, 1110b, 1110c, 1110d, ..., A main signal data processing unit 1140, a power supply unit 1120, and a power supply monitoring unit 1130 mounted on a main board.

The radio unit 1110 converts the signal transmitted by the main signal route 1160 into radio, and transmits and receives the radio signal to and from the user terminal 4000.

The power supply unit 1120 supplies electric power to each wireless unit 1110. The power supply monitoring unit 1130 measures the current of each power supply route 1150 and calculates the power consumption of each wireless unit. Then, the monitoring data converted into data for each operating time is output to the main signal data processing unit 1140.

The main signal data processing unit 1140 encapsulates the received monitoring data in the inter-device communication data format, inserts it between transmission and reception of the main signal data, and transmits it to the main signal data processing unit 1240 on the indoor device 1200 side. Further, as in the second embodiment, it has a function of controlling the band of each radio unit 1110.

The indoor device 1200 has a main signal data processing unit 1240 and a main signal data control unit 1250. Further, the main signal data processing unit 1240 includes a monitoring data analysis unit 1241.

The main signal data processing unit 1240 distributes and aggregates transmission / reception data between the mobile network 3000 and the plurality of outdoor devices 1100. Then, it has a band control function for controlling the band for each wireless unit in each outdoor device 1100 at the time of distribution. Here, the bandwidth control function is a function using a communication engineering technique that limits the amount of data transmitted and received in the network for each transmission route in a certain period unit.

The monitoring data analysis unit 1241 extracts and holds the monitoring data received in parallel with the main signal. The function of the monitoring data analysis unit 1241 is the same as that of the monitoring data analysis unit 410 of the second embodiment, the state of each radio unit is determined based on the monitoring data, and the difference from the reference value of the power consumption is used. Then, the band adjustment amount of the radio unit is calculated.

The main signal data control unit 1250 monitors traffic such as the data type and data amount of the main signal transmitted and received by the main signal data processing unit 1240, and appropriate data is used for each data type and each main signal route of the outdoor device 1100. Determine the amount. Further, a wireless unit that controls traffic in the main signal data processing unit 1240 and adjusts the band for each wireless unit 1110 in each outdoor device 1100 is designated.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of a part of the above base station system.

First, the current of the power supply route of each wireless unit is monitored, the power consumption is calculated, the operating time is given, and the monitoring data is generated (S101). Next, the monitoring data is encapsulated and transferred to the indoor device (S102). When the indoor device receives the monitoring data, the monitoring data analysis unit generates the life monitoring data (S103). This life monitoring data is data showing the transition of power consumption with respect to the operating time, and the graph shows the operating time on the horizontal axis and the power consumption on the vertical axis. When the operating time is 0, the life monitoring data represents the initial variation, and when the operating time is long, it represents the aged deterioration. The life monitoring data may hold the band of each radio unit for each operating time.

Next, the difference from the reference value is calculated based on the generated life monitoring data (S104). Then, it is determined whether or not this difference is equal to or greater than the threshold value indicating the abnormality (S105). If the difference is less than the threshold value (S105_No), it is determined whether the power consumption satisfies the adjustment target (S106). If the power consumption satisfies the target, the process returns to S101 and the monitoring operation is repeated. On the other hand, when the power consumption does not satisfy the target, the monitoring data analysis unit calculates the band adjustment amount for bringing the power consumption closer to the target (S107). Based on this band adjustment amount, the band control unit adjusts the band of the radio unit (S108). After that, the process returns to S101, and it is checked again whether the power consumption has been adjusted to the target value. Here, if the target is not satisfied even after adjusting the band a predetermined number of times, the radio unit may be notified to the outside as a sign of failure.

If the difference is equal to or greater than the threshold value in the determination of S105 (S105_Yes), it is notified that there is a sign of failure (S109), and the process ends. The above operation is performed for each wireless unit.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to construct a base station system suitable for a mobile wireless network and having a long maintenance interval.

(Fourth Embodiment)
In this embodiment, a specific operation example when bandwidth control is performed in the base station system of the third embodiment will be described.

8 (A) and 8 (B) are graphs showing specific examples of life monitoring data. The horizontal axis is the operating time (t) of the wireless unit, the vertical axis is the power consumption of the wireless unit, and the second axis is the band of the wireless unit. FIG. 8A shows the life monitoring data of the two radio units E1 and E2. FIG. 8A shows an example in which the power consumption of the wireless unit having high power consumption is reduced by band control when there is a variation in power consumption due to the initial variation of the wireless unit. The wireless communication device may include a display unit that displays the life monitoring data and graphs as described above. By using the display unit, the operator who performs maintenance or repair can grasp the state of the wireless unit at a glance.

When the device is operated (t = 0), the bands (data amount) of the radio units E1 and E2 are set to be the same. At t = 0, the power consumption of E1 is larger than that of E2 even though the bands are the same. In this case, the base station system calculates the band adjustment value of E1 based on the power consumption monitoring data, and controls to reduce the band of E1. In the example of FIG. 8A, this control is performed at the operating time t = t1, and the power consumption of E1 thereafter is reduced. In the same graph, the extrapolated line without bandwidth control is shown by the dotted line. If the same band is maintained without band control, the amount of constant heat generated by the radio unit E1 also increases, and it is estimated that high temperature deterioration will progress. Therefore, it is considered that the life of the radio unit E1 could be extended by band control.

FIG. 8B is a graph showing life monitoring data during long-term operation. When the operating time t = t2, the bands of the radio units E3 and E4 are set to be the same. When t = t2, the power consumption of the radio units E3 and E4 is almost the same, but the power consumption of E3 tends to increase thereafter. It can be considered that the power consumption of E3 is increasing due to aged deterioration.

In such a case, the base station system calculates the band adjustment value of E3 based on the power consumption monitoring data, and controls to reduce the band of E3. In the example of FIG. 8B, this control is performed at the operating time t = t3, and the power consumption of E3 thereafter decreases, and the increasing tendency disappears. In the same graph, the extrapolated line without bandwidth control is shown by the dotted line. As conceived from this extrapolation line, if the same band is maintained without band control, the power consumption of the radio unit E3 will continue to increase, and it will reach the end of its life earlier than other radio units. Be done. Therefore, it can be considered that the life of the radio unit E3 is extended by the band control. As a result, it is considered that the life of each wireless unit was smoothed and the period until maintenance was required could be extended.

In the above description, an example of band control for reducing power consumption has been described, but control for increasing power consumption can also be performed. When the power consumption of the radio unit is smaller than the reference value, it means that the radio unit has a margin of capacity. Therefore, it has the potential to carry a larger band than the present. At this time, the wireless communication device controls to increase the band of the wireless unit. By this control, the addition of other radio parts is lightened, the life of each radio part is leveled, and the life of the entire device is extended.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to level the life of a plurality of wireless units included in the wireless communication device, extend the life of the entire wireless unit, and reduce the number of maintenances.

The present invention has been described above using the above-described embodiment as a model example. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. That is, the present invention can apply various aspects that can be understood by those skilled in the art within the scope of the present invention.

10,100 wireless block 11,110,1110 wireless unit 20,200,1120 power supply unit 30,300,1130 power supply monitoring unit 40,400, 1140, 1240 main signal data processing unit 41,410,1241 monitoring data analysis unit 42, 422 Band control unit 50, 500, 1150 Power supply route 60, 600, 1160 Main signal route 420 Data control unit 1000 Wireless communication device 1100 Outdoor device 1200 Indoor device 2000 Base station system 3000 Mobile network 4000 User terminal

Claims (10)

Multiple wireless units that send and receive wireless signals,
A power supply unit that supplies power to each of the wireless units via a power supply route,
A power supply monitoring unit that monitors the power consumption of each of the wireless units and generates monitoring data in which the operating time of the wireless unit is added to the power consumption.
It has a main signal data processing unit that transmits and receives a main signal to and from each of the radio units and processes the data of the main signal.
The main signal data processing unit
Based on the monitoring data, a monitoring data analysis unit that calculates the adjustment value of the band of the radio unit required to control the power consumption of the radio unit, and
A wireless communication device including a band control unit that controls the band of each of the radio units based on the adjusted value. A reference value calculation unit in which the monitoring data analysis unit calculates a reference value of the power consumption of the wireless unit, which depends on the operating time of the wireless unit.
A state determination unit that calculates the difference between the current power consumption held by the monitoring data and the reference value and determines the state of the radio unit based on the difference.
The wireless communication device according to claim 1, further comprising an adjustment value calculation unit that calculates the adjustment value in the band so that the difference becomes small. The wireless communication device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the monitoring data analysis unit generates life monitoring data representing a transition of the power consumption with respect to the operating time. The power supply monitoring unit
The wireless communication according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the current of the power feeding route is measured, and the power consumption of each of the wireless units is calculated based on the measured value of the current. apparatus. The wireless communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
A base station system including a connecting device for connecting the wireless communication device and a mobile network. Send and receive wireless signals with multiple wireless units
Power is supplied to each of the radio units via the power supply route,
The power consumption of each of the wireless units is monitored, and monitoring data in which the operating time of the wireless unit is added to the power consumption is generated.
Based on the monitoring data, the adjustment value of the band of the wireless unit required to control the power consumption of the wireless unit is calculated.
A control method for a wireless communication device, characterized in that the band of each wireless unit is controlled based on the adjusted value. The reference value of the power consumption of the wireless unit, which depends on the operating time of the wireless unit, is calculated.
The difference between the current power consumption held by the monitoring data and the reference value is calculated.
The state of the radio unit is determined based on the difference,
The control method for a wireless communication device according to claim 6, further comprising an adjustment value calculation unit for calculating the adjustment value in the band so that the difference becomes small. The control method for a wireless communication device according to claim 6 or 7, wherein life monitoring data representing the transition of the power consumption with respect to the operating time is generated. The wireless communication according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the current of the power feeding route is measured, and the power consumption of each of the radio units is calculated based on the measured value of the current. How to control the device. Steps to send and receive wireless signals with multiple wireless units,
A step of supplying power to each of the wireless units via a power supply route,
A step of monitoring the power consumption of each of the wireless units and generating monitoring data in which the operating time of the wireless unit is added to the power consumption.
Based on the monitoring data, a step of calculating the adjustment value of the band of the wireless unit required for controlling the power consumption of the wireless unit, and
A control program for a wireless communication device, which comprises a step of controlling the band of each of the wireless units based on the adjusted value.

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