JP7514083B2 - Wireless communication unit - Google Patents

Description

This invention relates to a wireless communication unit in which the functions of a base station device and a core network (EPC) are integrated into a portable housing, and which is capable of performing wireless network communication with a mobile terminal in accordance with a communication protocol stack defined by 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project).

In wireless communication networks based on high-speed communication standards based on 3GPP specifications (for example, LTE (Long Term Evolution) or WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access)), it is essential to construct an EPC (Evolved Packet Core) that accommodates a wireless communication access network within the area, and wireless base stations to which mobile terminals connect are controlled for sending and receiving IP packets via the EPC. On the other hand, with the spread of mobile terminals such as mobile phones, smartphones, and tablet PCs, there is an increasing demand to use mobile terminals in areas where the infrastructure of EPCs and wireless base stations is not in place, such as at sea, in depopulated areas, or in areas where communication functions have been lost due to disasters, etc. (hereinafter referred to as "wireless undeveloped areas").

To meet these demands, for example, Patent Document 1 proposes a combined wireless communication unit that integrates a wireless base station and a core network (EPC). By installing such a wireless communication unit in a wireless non-equipped area as described above, a small communication area can be created by the wireless base station module contained in the unit, and the EPC module in the unit controls the higher-level communications, making it possible to carry out 3GPP-specification wireless communications between multiple mobile terminals connected to the wireless base station module.

JP 2016-12841 A

In the wireless communication unit described above, among the hardware modules housed in the housing, the wireless base station module and the power supply module that supplies the power supply voltage to it consume a lot of power and generate a lot of heat because the wireless base station is equipped with a high-output radio wave transmission unit. Therefore, it is necessary to cool the inside of the housing using a cooling mechanism such as a fan, but if an abnormality such as a failure occurs in the cooling mechanism and it stops working properly, there is a risk that the wireless base station and EPC will malfunction due to the temperature rise or act as a source of radio wave interference for other wireless systems. In addition, if the control program of the wireless base station or EPC is started in a state where it is expected to no longer function properly due to the temperature rise, the program may run out of control and the software data may be destroyed. In particular, if the wireless base station module and the EPC module are integrated into the same housing rather than as separate units, when the temperature inside the housing rises, the two modules will be exposed to high temperatures at the same time. In particular, if the control programs of the two modules are configured to be started together by a single switch operation, the risk of the above-mentioned malfunction occurring simultaneously in the two modules increases, and the impact is particularly serious.

The objective of the present invention is to provide a wireless communication unit that can prevent the risk of the internal wireless base station module and EPC module malfunctioning or acting as a source of radio interference for other wireless systems when an abnormality such as a malfunction of the cooling device or a rise in temperature occurs inside the portable housing.

In order to solve the above problems, the wireless communication unit of the present invention includes a wireless base station module including a wireless communication unit that performs wireless communication based on the 3GPP specifications with a mobile terminal, a base station function program storage unit, and a base station computer that starts up and executes a base station function program stored in the base station function program storage unit upon receiving a main body startup command and controls wireless communication for the wireless communication unit; and a base station module that is wired and connected to the wireless base station module and transmits EPC (Evolved Packet Control) signals. and an EPC module including an EPC computer that receives a main body startup command to start up and execute an EPC function program stored in the EPC function program storage section and performs upper network control for the wireless base station module based on the execution; a power supply module that supplies an operating voltage to the communication main body, a portable housing that integrally houses the communication main body and the power supply module, a main startup signal receiving section that receives an input of a main startup signal, an operating environment information acquiring section that acquires operating environment information of the communication main body within the portable housing including internal temperature information of the portable housing upon receipt of the main startup signal, an operating environment abnormality determining section that determines whether an abnormality has occurred in the operating environment of the communication main body based on the acquired operating environment information, a main body startup command transmitting section that transmits a main body startup command to the communication main body only when no operating environment abnormality has occurred, and an operating environment abnormality notifying section that outputs an operating environment abnormality notification when an operating environment abnormality has occurred; When one main surface is defined as a module mounting surface and the module support plate is positioned horizontally so that the module mounting surface is on the upper side, the direction rising vertically from the module mounting surface is defined as the up-down direction, an airflow inlet is formed in a side wall portion at a first end side in the first direction of the portable housing, while an airflow outlet is formed in a side wall portion at a second end side, and a cooling fan constituting a cooling device is attached to the airflow inlet, and when the cooling fan is operated, outside air is taken in through the airflow inlet and the outside air circulates inside the portable housing in the first direction as cooling air before being discharged from the airflow outlet, and on the module mounting surface of the module support plate, a group of wireless drive system modules including a wireless base station module and a power supply module are arranged on the side closer to the airflow inlet in the flow direction of the cooling air, and a group of control system modules including an EPC module and a general control module are arranged on the side closer to the airflow outlet, and as temperature sensors, a first temperature sensor is arranged in the space occupied by the group of wireless drive system modules, and a second temperature sensor is arranged in the space occupied by the group of control system modules .

The wireless communication unit of the present invention can be configured so that a main start-up signal is input to the main start-up signal receiving section in response to the operation of a predetermined start-up switch.

The wireless communication unit of the present invention may be provided with a cooling device that cools the internal space of the portable housing. In this case, the operating environment information acquisition unit may be configured to acquire operating environment information that further includes operating status information of the cooling device. In this case, the operating environment abnormality determination unit of the overall control module may be configured to determine that an operating environment abnormality has occurred when at least one of the following is true: operating status information of the cooling device indicates an operating abnormality of the cooling device, or internal temperature information of the portable housing exceeds a limit temperature.

The wireless communication unit of the present invention may also be provided with a rechargeable battery that supplies a battery voltage to the power supply module. The operating environment information acquisition unit may be configured to acquire operating environment information that further includes battery state information indicating the charging state and operating state of the rechargeable battery. The operating environment abnormality determination unit may be configured to determine that an operating environment abnormality has occurred, for example, when the remaining battery charge reflected in the battery state information falls below a threshold value. Furthermore, the power supply module may also be provided with an external power supply voltage receiving unit that receives an external power supply voltage. In this case, the operating environment information acquisition unit acquires operating environment information that further includes power receiving state information of the external power supply voltage receiving unit, and the operating environment abnormality determination unit may be configured to determine that an operating environment abnormality has occurred, when the remaining battery charge reflected in the battery state information falls below a threshold value while the power receiving state information indicates that the external power supply voltage is not being received.

The overall control module can be configured to include an operating abnormality response processing unit that instructs the communication main unit to execute a close process for the base station function program stored in the base station function program memory unit and the EPC function program stored in the EPC function program memory unit when the operating environment abnormality determination unit determines that an operating environment abnormality has occurred after the base station function program and the EPC function program in the communication main unit are started up, and then performs a power cut-off process for the communication main unit.

The wireless communication unit of the present invention can be provided with a plurality of operating environment information acquisition nodes, including an internal temperature information acquisition node that acquires internal temperature information of the portable housing. The overall control module has a first network interface to which the base station computer and EPC computer of the communication main unit are connected via a first network, and a second network interface to which the plurality of operating environment information acquisition nodes are connected via a second network, the operating environment information acquisition unit communicates and acquires operating environment information from the operating environment information acquisition node via the second network interface, and the main unit startup command transmission unit can be configured to transmit a main unit startup command to the communication main unit via the first network interface.

The second network is configured to connect a plurality of operating environment information acquisition nodes as slave nodes to a master node included in a second network interface, the operating environment information acquisition unit includes an acquisition target information request destination notifying unit that notifies the master node of the request destination of the acquisition target information, the master node sends an information request command to the second network in a form of addressing the slave node that is the request destination, and the slave node corresponding to the specified address acquires the information request command and transmits the acquisition target information indicated by the information request command to the master node via the second network. Specifically, the first network is, for example, a local area network (LAN), and the second network is an ^I2C network.

In addition, when a module support plate is provided inside the portable housing, one main surface of the module support plate is defined as a module mounting surface, and the module support plate is arranged horizontally so that the module mounting surface is on the upper side, the direction rising vertically from the module mounting surface is defined as the up-down direction. In a first direction defined along the module mounting surface, an airflow inlet is formed in the side wall portion of the first end side of the portable housing in the first direction, while an airflow outlet is formed in the side wall portion of the second end side, and a cooling fan constituting a cooling device is attached to the airflow inlet, and by operating the cooling fan, outside air is taken in through the airflow inlet and the airflow outlet is Outside air flows in a first direction inside the portable housing as cooling air and is then discharged from the airflow outlet. On the module mounting surface of the module support plate, a group of wireless drive system modules including a wireless base station module and a power supply module are arranged on the side closer to the airflow inlet in the flow direction of the cooling air, and a group of control system modules including an EPC module and a general control module are arranged on the side closer to the airflow outlet. As temperature sensors, a first temperature sensor is arranged in the occupied space of the wireless drive system module group, and a second temperature sensor is arranged in the occupied space of the control system module group.

In the wireless communication unit of the present invention, a communication main unit including a wireless base station module and an EPC module is integrated in a portable housing, and upon receiving a main startup signal, the base station function program and the EPC function program are started up together, and communication control is started. Meanwhile, a general control module is provided separately from the wireless base station module and the EPC module, and the general control module acquires operating environment information including internal temperature information of the portable housing, and determines whether an abnormality has occurred in the operating environment of the communication main unit based on the information. If an abnormality has occurred in the operating environment, a main unit startup command is not sent, and the startup process of the base station function program and the EPC function program of the communication main unit is not executed. As a result, even if an abnormality occurs in the operating environment of the communication main unit, such as when the wireless base station module and the EPC module are exposed to high temperatures at the same time in the portable housing, there is little risk that the wireless base station and the EPC will malfunction or act as a source of radio interference for other wireless systems. In addition, when an abnormality occurs, the startup of the base station function program and the EPC function program itself is prevented, so that destruction of software data due to program runaway can also be prevented.

1 is a schematic diagram showing the concept of a wireless communication unit of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of an electrical configuration of the wireless communication unit of FIG. 1 . FIG. 3 is another block diagram showing the configuration of FIG. 2 together with a power supply system. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a connection structure of each master node and slave node in FIG. 2 by an I ² C network and a frame structure in I ² C communication; 1 is a conceptual diagram of an IP packet structure. FIG. 1 is a diagram conceptually illustrating a protocol stack of a 3GPP control plane. FIG. 1 is a diagram conceptually illustrating a 3GPP user plane protocol stack. FIG. 1 is a diagram conceptually illustrating 3GPP downlink channel mapping. FIG. 13 is a diagram conceptually showing uplink channel mapping. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the relationship between frequency band channels and resource blocks. 11 is a flowchart showing a process flow of a master node in a read mode in I ² C communication. 11 is a flowchart showing a process flow of a write mode of a master node in I ² C communication. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of a start-up sequence in the control firmware of the overall control module. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of an abnormality analysis process. 10 is a flowchart showing the process flow of a normal termination sequence. 16 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the termination process of FIG. 15 . 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of an abnormality handling process during operation in the control firmware of the overall control module. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of power supply switching processing. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an alarm LED; 13A and 13B are diagrams showing modified examples of the manner of acquiring information from a cooling fan. FIG. 4 is a side view showing an example of an arrangement of modules inside the portable housing. Also a plan view. FIG. FIG. FIG. 4 is a side view showing details of the operation of the cooling fan and the airflow guide plate.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a wireless communication unit of the present invention. The wireless communication unit 1 is configured to perform wireless communication with a plurality of UEs (mobile terminal devices) 5 according to a communication protocol stack of a method defined by 3GPP (LTE in this embodiment, but other methods such as WiMAX may also be used). The wireless communication unit 1 is installed and used in wireless non-developed areas where EPC and wireless base stations are not developed as infrastructure, such as on the sea, in depopulated areas, or in areas where communication functions have been lost due to disasters, etc. The wireless communication unit 1 can procure power supply voltage from a battery, a private power generation device, etc., as described later, and can easily build a private wireless network that does not depend on a public network. Each UE 5 is connected to the wireless communication unit 1 by a wireless bearer 57.

The wireless communication unit 1 has a wireless base station module (wireless base station or eNodeB (evolved NodeB)) 4 and an EPC (Evolved Packet Core) module 3 that is wired to the wireless base station module 4 and functions as a higher-level network control unit for the wireless base station module 4. The EPC module 3 has an MME (Mobility Management Entity) 2 that serves as a gateway on the control plane side, an S-GW (Serving Gateway) 6 that serves as a gateway on the user plane side, and a P-GW (PDN (Packet Data Network) Gateway) 7 that is located at the junction with an upstream network element (here, a router 8) and manages IP addresses toward the upstream network element side. The router 8 connects to an application server (not shown) via an external network 60 (e.g., the Internet) wirelessly (e.g., satellite communication) or wired, and performs the function of acquiring content data such as terminal applications and videos (images). On the control plane side, the wireless base station module (eNodeB) 4 is connected to the MME 2 via the S1-MME interface. Also, on the user plane side, the wireless base station module 4 is connected to the S-GW 6 via the S1-U interface. The S-GW 6 is connected to the P-GW 7 via the S5 interface.

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the electrical configuration of the wireless communication unit 1. The wireless communication unit 1 has a portable housing 23 in which the EPC module 3, wireless base station module 4, overall control module 9, and power supply module 22 are housed together with peripheral components. The portable housing 23 is also provided with cooling fans 14A and 14B (cooling devices) for cooling the inside. The EPC module 3 and wireless base station module 4 together make up the communication main unit.

The EPC module 3 is mainly composed of an EPC computer 300. The EPC computer 300 is composed of a CPU 301, a RAM 302 which is a program execution area, a mask ROM 303 (which stores firmware for controlling microcomputer hardware peripherals that do not require permanent rewriting; the same applies below), and an internal bus 306 which interconnects them. A non-volatile storage device whose contents can be rewritten, such as a flash memory 305, is connected to the internal bus 306 as an EPC function program storage unit, and EPC communication firmware 305a (EPC function program) including an LTE protocol stack for EPC, and the programs of an MME entity 305b, an S-GW entity 305c, and a P-GW entity 305d which virtually realize the functions of the MME 2, S-GW 6, and P-GW 7 in FIG. 2 using the LTE protocol stack as a platform, and a software router 305e for realizing the functions of the router 8 in FIG. 1 are installed here. In addition, an Ethernet interface 304, which is a LAN interface, is connected to the internal bus 306. Note that in the above configuration, the MME 2, S-GW 6, and P-GW 7 in FIG. 2 are configured as virtual functional entities whose functions are realized by software on computer hardware, but each may be configured by independent hardware logic.

The wireless base station module 4 is mainly composed of a wireless base station computer 400. The wireless base station computer 400 is composed of a CPU 401, a RAM 402 which serves as a program execution area, a mask ROM 403, and an internal bus 406 which interconnects them. A flash memory 405 is connected to the internal bus 406 as a base station function program storage unit, and stores base station communication firmware 405a (base station function program) including an LTE protocol stack for wireless base stations. In addition, a wireless communication unit 412 for wirelessly connecting to UE 5 by establishing a wireless bearer, and an Ethernet interface 408 are connected to the internal bus 406.

The overall control module 9 is mainly composed of an overall control computer 900. The overall control computer 900 is composed of a CPU 901, a RAM 902 serving as a program execution area, a mask ROM 903, and an internal bus 906 connecting them to each other. A flash memory 905 is connected to the internal bus 906, and an overall control firmware 905a is stored therein. An Ethernet interface 904 (first interface), an input/output unit (I/O) 909, and a WiFi module 908 are also connected to the internal bus 906. In addition, in order to expand the function of the overall control module 9, a control board 13 that integrates control signals input and output to the overall control module 9 is separately provided. The control board 13 is equipped with an I ² C (Inter-Integrated Circuit) bus master 907 (second interface, master node) and an extended input/output unit (I/O) 910, which are each connected to the input/output unit (I/O) 909 of the overall control module 9. In a broad sense, the control board 13 can be regarded as one component of an overall control module.

The EPC computer 300, the wireless base station computer 400, and the overall control computer 900 are connected by Ethernet interfaces 304, 404, 904 via an Ethernet bus 32 (or a LAN cable) through a switching hub (e.g., an L2 switch) 11. That is, the EPC computer 300, the wireless base station computer 400, and the overall control computer 900 are LAN-connected via the switching hub 11, and are capable of network communication with each other according to the Internet Protocol (IP).

The power supply module 22 supplies power supply voltage to each component such as the EPC module 3, the wireless base station module 4, the overall control module 9, the switching hub 11, and the cooling fans 14A and 14B, and receives the original voltage from the external power supply 26 (e.g., commercial AC: AC 100V) and the rechargeable battery 21 (e.g., a lithium-ion secondary battery module or a nickel-hydrogen secondary battery module) via the battery controller 24. In this embodiment, the AC voltage of the external power supply 26 is converted to a DC voltage (DC 12V) by the AC/DC converter 25 and supplied to the power supply module 22. The power receiving state (receiving voltage) from the external power supply 26 (AC/DC converter 25) is monitored by the external voltage monitoring unit 16 provided on the board of the power supply module 22.

The battery voltage of the rechargeable battery 21 is converted to a stabilized direct current voltage (DC 12V) by the battery controller 24 and supplied to the power supply module 22. This allows the wireless communication unit 1 to autonomously obtain a drive power supply voltage from the secondary battery module 21, and it can be used without problems even in installation locations where external power supply voltages such as commercial AC cannot be used (for example, disaster areas where a power outage has occurred). The portable housing 23 is a box-shaped structure made of metal or reinforced resin.

The battery controller 24 is configured as a commercially available I ² C device, and multiple rechargeable batteries 21 are mounted in parallel and detachably. When the output voltage of the rechargeable battery 21 drops due to discharge, the secondary battery module 21 can be removed from the battery controller 24 and another charged rechargeable battery 21 can be attached. At this time, each rechargeable battery 21 can be hot-swapped on the battery controller 24. When the power supply module 22 is receiving power from the external power supply 26, the battery controller 24 can charge the secondary battery module 21 with the external power supply voltage. Furthermore, when the power supply module 22 is receiving power from the external power supply 26 and the power supply module 22 loses power due to a power outage, the wireless communication unit 1 can continue to operate without momentary interruption by switching to power reception from the secondary battery module 21 (described later).

The power supply module 22 is equipped with a plurality of stabilized DC power supply circuits (not shown) with different output voltages in order to correspond to a plurality of DC power supply voltages required by each component. FIG. 3 shows the form of power supply to each component in the wireless communication unit 1, where the circle marks on the frame of each component indicate power supply terminals, and the dashed lines connecting these indicate power supply lines. In this embodiment, DC 3.5V is distributed and input to the EPC module 3, whose main hardware is only the EPC computer 300, and DC 5V is input to the switching hub 11 having a switching drive unit, via the backplane 12. DC 3.5V is input to the wireless base station module 4 having the wireless communication unit 412, and DC 5V is input to the general control module 9 having the WiFi module 908. In FIG. 3, the square marks on the frame of each component indicate LAN ports, and the solid lines (single lines) connecting these indicate the Ethernet bus (or LAN cable) 32 forming the first network. Furthermore, the ■ marks on the frame of each component indicate I ² C ports, and the solid (double) lines connecting them indicate the I ² C bus 52 forming the second network. Also, ● marks indicate ports for external connection (and corresponding terminals on the components). Specifically, the external port group 31A of the software router 8 includes an APP port (a port for connecting to an application server), an MNT port (a port for connecting to an operation management LAN of the wireless communication unit 1), and a BH port (a backhaul port for connecting to the Internet, etc.). Also, the external port group 31B of the wireless base station module 4 is for connecting an antenna 413 to the wireless communication unit 412 in FIG. 2. The TRx1 port is a connection port for a common transmission/reception antenna, and the Rx2 port is a connection port for a common transmission/reception antenna and a receiving antenna that forms a diversity reception (in FIG. 2, the antenna 413 consisting of these multiple antenna groups is illustrated in a simplified form as one antenna).

Next, as shown in Fig. 2, a power switch 65, a control switch 66, and a plurality of LEDs 60 constituting an operating environment abnormality notification unit are provided on the portable housing 23. The power switch 65 and the control switch 66 are connected to an expansion input/output unit 910 on the control board 13. The plurality of LEDs 60 are also connected to an LED driver 17 configured as an ^I2C device via a current adjustment resistor 62 (see Fig. 3). As shown in Fig. 3, the signal lines of the power switch 65 and the control switch 66 are pulled up by a signal power supply voltage Vcc via a resistor 67, and a binary switch signal reflecting the switch open/close state is input to the expansion input/output unit 910. Among these, the switch signal input by the operation of the power switch 65 serves as a main start signal, and is used as a command signal for starting up the EPC communication firmware 305a and the base station communication firmware 405a collectively (the expansion input/output unit 910 functions as a main start signal reception unit). The switch signal input by the operation of the control switch 66 is used for system reset and other control inputs.

On the other hand, the wireless base station module 4 is provided with a first temperature sensor (hereinafter, also referred to as "temperature sensor 1" in the drawings) 15A, and the control board 13 described later is provided with a second temperature sensor (hereinafter, also referred to as "temperature sensor 2" in the drawings) 15B. Below, an example of the internal structure of the wireless communication unit 1 will be described together with the arrangement of each module, the temperature sensors 15A, 15B, and the cooling fans 14A, 14B. FIG. 21 is a side view showing the internal structure of the wireless communication unit 1, and FIG. 22 is a plan view. In the longitudinal direction (first direction: left-right direction in the drawing) of the portable housing 23, an airflow inlet 23y is formed in the side wall part on the first end side, and the cooling fans 14A, 14B are attached here. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 22, a pair of cooling fans 14A, 14B are arranged at a predetermined interval in the width direction (second direction: up-down direction in the drawing) of the portable housing 23. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 22, an airflow outlet 23w is formed in the side wall portion at the second end in the longitudinal direction of the portable housing 23, and is covered by an air filter 23f. When the cooling fans 14A and 14B are operated, outside air FA is taken in through the airflow inlet 23y, and after circulating inside the portable housing 23 in the longitudinal direction as cooling air, it is discharged from the airflow outlet 23w.

A bottom support plate 233 is disposed on the bottom of the portable housing 23. A duplexer 404 is attached to the top surface of the bottom support plate 233. As shown in FIG. 2, the duplexer 404 is disposed directly below the transmit/receive antenna included in the antenna 413 of the wireless communication unit 412, and is a component that electrically separates the antenna transmit path from the antenna receive path to prevent strong transmit waves from flowing into the receive side. In the case of a wireless base station, the transmit wave output is high, for example, around 100 to 250 W, so a large low-pass filter component made of a cavity filter or the like is included. The duplexer 404 has a large spatial dimension, but generates little heat. Therefore, it is desirable to place it on the top surface of the bottom of the portable housing 23, as shown in FIG. 21.

Next, an intermediate support plate 234 is disposed above the bottom support plate 233 as a module support plate. The bottom support plate 233 and the intermediate support plate 234 are connected to each other by a plurality of support columns 235 disposed on the outer periphery of the plate surface. The upper surface of the intermediate support plate 234 forms a module mounting surface, and in the flow direction (longitudinal direction, first direction) of the cooling air inside the portable housing 23, a group of wireless drive system modules including the wireless base station module 4 and the power supply module 22 are disposed on the upstream side (the side closer to the airflow inlet 23y), and a group of control system modules including the EPC module 3, the general control module 9, and the control board 13 are disposed on the downstream side (the side closer to the airflow outlet 23w). By disposing the group of wireless drive system modules with a large amount of heat generation on the windward side of the cooling air, it is possible to effectively cool the group of wireless drive system modules, and by isolating the group of control system modules on the leeward side, it is possible to prevent excessive temperature rise of the group of control system modules. The temperature sensors 15A and 15B are arranged such that the first temperature sensor 15A is disposed in the space occupied by the wireless drive system modules, and the second temperature sensor 15B is disposed in the space occupied by the control system modules. In the following description, the vertical direction is defined for convenience as the direction rising vertically from the upper surface (module mounting surface) of the intermediate support plate 234 (module support plate) when it is placed horizontally, but the orientation of the module mounting surface in the portable housing 23 is not limited to the horizontal direction, and for example, the module mounting surface may be inclined or perpendicular to the horizontal plane.

By arranging the first temperature sensor 15A in the occupied space of the wireless drive system modules that generate a large amount of heat during operation and detecting the temperature, it is possible to grasp the behavior of the wireless drive system modules as a heat source in the portable housing 23. On the other hand, by arranging the second temperature sensor 15B in the occupied space of the control system modules that generate a small amount of heat during operation and detecting the temperature, it is possible to accurately grasp whether the cooling effect on the control system modules is sufficiently achieved even with the cooling air that has passed through the wireless drive system modules. In addition, by combining temperature detection near the heat source (wireless drive system modules) and temperature detection at a position away from the heat source downstream in the air flow direction as described above, it may be easier to identify the cause when a temperature abnormality occurs in the portable housing 23. For example, when the cooling fans 14A and 14B stop due to an abnormality, a unique behavior occurs in which the temperature detected by the first temperature sensor 15A close to the heat source immediately begins to rise, and then the temperature detected by the second temperature sensor 15B rises with a slight delay. Furthermore, if an overcurrent occurs in the control system module group due to a short circuit or the like, the temperature detected by the first temperature sensor 15A does not change significantly, whereas the temperature detected by the second temperature sensor 15B, which detects heat generation in the control system module group, begins to rise rapidly. By referring to the difference in temperature detection behavior of the two temperature sensors 15A and 15B as described above, information that contributes to identifying the cause of the temperature abnormality can be easily obtained.

The wireless base station module 4 and the power supply module 22 are arranged vertically adjacent to each other so that the main surfaces of the boards 4s and 22s on which the components are mounted overlap each other in a plan view on the module mounting surface (upper surface) of the intermediate support plate 234, and a cooling air circulation gap 231 is formed between them. The cooling fans 14A and 14B are attached to the portable housing 23 in such a manner that a part of the cooling air can be blown into the cooling air circulation gap 231. By arranging the wireless base station module 4 and the power supply module 22, which form a wireless drive system module group that generates a large amount of heat, adjacently as described above, the area occupied by the wireless drive system module group on the module mounting surface in the portable housing 23 can be reduced, contributing to the compactness of the wireless communication unit 1. And, even though the wireless base station module 4 and the power supply module 22, which generate a large amount of heat, are arranged adjacently, the heat generated by both can be more effectively discharged by sending the cooling air to the cooling air circulation gap 231 formed between them, and the temperature of the wireless drive system module group can be more effectively prevented from rising excessively.

As shown in FIG. 21, the power supply module 22 has a board 22s on which components (including a coil 22i, a capacitor 22c, a DC/DC conversion IC 22d, etc.) are mounted. Similarly, the wireless base station module 4 has multiple boards 4s on which components (including power semiconductor elements 4a such as power amplifier elements) are mounted. These boards 22s, 4s are connected to each other vertically by support parts 232.

The power supply module 22 is disposed below the module mounting surface of the intermediate support plate 234, and the wireless base station module 4 is disposed above it. The cooling air from the cooling fans 14A and 14B is divided into a first airflow CFA toward the cooling air gap 231 and a second airflow CFB toward the opposite side of the cooling air gap 231 (i.e., the top surface of the wireless base station module 4 in FIG. 21) in the normal direction of the substrate 4s of the wireless base station module 4. This allows the cooling air to flow up and down, particularly for the wireless base station module 4 that generates a large amount of heat, enabling more efficient cooling. When the transmission output of the wireless base station module 4 is, for example, 100 to 250 W, it is preferable that the wind speed of the cooling air from the cooling fans 14A and 14B is about 1 to 2 m/s.

The power semiconductor element 4a of the wireless base station module 4 is mounted on the upper surface of the wireless base station module 4, that is, on the uppermost one of the multiple boards 4s, and a heat sink plate 4h made of a metal such as aluminum is provided in close contact with the upper surface of the power semiconductor element 4a. A plurality of metal heat dissipation fins 4f are integrally formed on the upper surface of the heat sink plate 4h in a form that rises vertically from the upper surface of the heat sink plate 4h. As shown in FIG. 22, the longitudinal direction of the heat dissipation fins 4f is arranged in accordance with the longitudinal direction of the portable housing 23 (the blowing direction of the cooling air), and the gap between adjacent heat dissipation fins 4f, 4f forms a passage 4k for the cooling air (see FIG. 24). This can significantly improve the cooling efficiency of the power semiconductor element 4a by the second airflow CFB in FIG. 21.

As shown in FIG. 21, the cooling fans 14A and 14B are attached to the portable housing 23 so that the extension of the rotation axis J of the fan blades 14p passes through the middle of the height direction of the side of the wireless drive system module group. Each of the cooling fans 14A and 14B has a base part 14b that houses the fan drive motor and the like, and a main body part 14m that is integrated with the base part 14b and houses the fan blades 14p. The main body part 14m is attached to the base part 14b so that the extension of the rotation axis J of the fan blades 14p is inclined upward so as to enter the inside of the cooling air circulation gap 231. As a result, the cooling air of the cooling fans 14A and 14B can efficiently blow the first airflow CFA into the cooling air circulation gap 231 from the diagonally downward side, while the second airflow CFB can be guided at a relatively large flow rate to the upper side of the wireless base station module 4 (the side where the heat sink plate 4h and the heat dissipation fins 4f are provided) far from the module mounting surface.

On the front side of the cooling fans 14A and 14B in the airflow direction, an airflow guide plate 14s is provided to divide the cooling air into the first airflow CFA and the second airflow CFB. The airflow guide plate 14s is arranged with its plate surface inclined upward from the rotation axis J of the fan rotor blades 14p so that the second airflow CFB is guided to the upper surface side of the wireless drive system module. This allows the second airflow CFB to be more efficiently guided to the upper surface side of the wireless drive system module group (the upper surface side of the wireless base station module 4 in the example of FIG. 21), promoting the cooling of the wireless drive system module group. As shown in FIG. 24, the airflow guide plate 14s has mounting arm parts 14sf integrated at both ends, and the mounting arm parts 14sf are fixed to the base parts 14b of the cooling fans 14A and 14B by fastening members 14t such as screws.

Also, as shown in FIG. 21, a shielding plate 4p is attached to the upper surface side of the heat dissipation fin 4f of the wireless base station module 4. The shielding plate 4p can also be made of metal. As shown in FIG. 24, by providing this shielding plate 4p, the above-mentioned cooling air passage 4k is formed between adjacent heat dissipation fins 4f, 4f with a square cross section whose upper part is blocked by the shielding plate 4p. As shown in FIG. 25, if the shielding plate 4p does not exist, the second airflow CFB blown diagonally from below to the entrance part of the passage 4k will blow up the passage 4k, and it is difficult to form a flow of cooling air along the plate surface of the heat sink plate 4h. However, if the shielding plate 4p is provided, the second airflow CFB is prevented from passing upward, and the flow inside the passage 4k becomes dominant, allowing the second airflow CFB to come into contact with the plate surface of the heat sink plate 4h more efficiently. In addition, an edge effect occurs when the second airflow CFB hits the edge of the entrance side of the shielding plate 4p from diagonally below, and the flow is narrowed and accelerated by the Karman vortex generated near the entrance inside the passage 4k, resulting in a pressure reduction effect that is expected to draw the airflow into the passage 4k.

Returning to FIG. 21, the EPC module 3, the overall control module 9, the switching hub 11, and the control board 13 that form the control system module group are arranged downstream of the wireless drive system module group (wireless base station module 4 and power supply module 22) in the direction of cooling air blowing. Of these, the overall control module 9 and the control board 13 are directly attached to the intermediate support plate 234. FIG. 23 shows the mounting layout of each board on the upper surface (module mounting surface) of the intermediate support plate 234, and when the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction (air blowing direction, left-right direction in the drawing) of the portable housing 23 within the module mounting surface is defined as the depth direction, the board of the overall control module 9 and the control board 13 are assembled adjacent to each other on the intermediate support plate 234 in the depth direction downstream of the power supply module 22 in the air blowing direction.

Furthermore, four columnar board support frames 236 are erected on the downstream side of the power supply modules 22 in the air blowing direction. As shown in FIG. 21, the boards of the EPC module 3 and the switching hub 11 are attached to the board support frames 236 in this order from below, at the four corner positions, while forming gaps for air blowing.

Next, the temperature sensors 15A and 15B are attached to the internal temperature monitoring devices 85A and 85B (upper part of FIG. 4) that constitute the drive status information acquisition node, and play a role in acquiring the internal temperature information of the portable housing 23 as the operating environment information of the communication main body. As shown in FIG. 21, the temperature sensors 15A and 15B are both mounted on the boards that constitute the internal temperature monitoring devices 85A and 85B. The first temperature sensor 15A is mounted on the side of the wireless base station module 4 together with the board of the internal temperature monitoring device 85A. The second temperature sensor 15B is mounted on the board 907s of the I ² C bus master 907 that is erected on the control board 13 together with the board of the internal temperature monitoring device 85B (the board 907s is considered to belong to the control board 13 in a broad sense). Both the temperature sensors 15A and 15B are arranged so as to detect the temperature at the side positions in the depth direction of the wireless drive system module group and the control system module group.

On the other hand, the cooling fans 14A, 14B incorporate fan operation monitoring devices 84A, 84B (top of Figure 4: cooling device operating status information acquisition node, slave node) which serve as operating status information acquisition nodes, and serve to monitor and acquire, for example, the fan rotation speed, temperature, and operating current value as operating environment information of the communication main unit. The external voltage monitoring unit 16 also serves as an operating status information acquisition node, and serves to monitor and acquire the received voltage from the AC/DC converter 25 of the power supply module 22 as operating environment information. Furthermore, the battery controller 24 also serves as an operating status information acquisition node, and serves to monitor and acquire the remaining battery (BTT), battery voltage, and battery temperature as operating environment information.

4, the fan operation monitoring devices 84A, 84B, internal temperature monitoring devices 85A, 85B, external voltage monitoring unit 16, and battery controller 24, which constitute operating environment information acquisition nodes, are configured as slave nodes of ^I2C communication. On the other hand, the ^I2C bus master 907 on the control board 13 functions as a master node in ^I2C communication, and constitutes an operating environment information acquisition unit to which the above-mentioned slave nodes (operating environment information acquisition nodes) are connected via the ^I2C bus 52 and which acquires operating environment information from each slave node in the form of a detection log.

In this way, by separating the network (second network) for acquiring the operating environment information from the communication network (first network) connecting the overall control module 9 and the communication main unit (base station computer 400 and EPC computer 300), the communication sequence for acquiring the operating environment information can be separated from the complex communication sequence required for controlling the communication main unit itself, and the operating environment information can be acquired more easily and smoothly. In addition, by providing a master node on the second network interface side, transmitting an information request command from the master node to the slave node in a form that addresses the slave node that is the operating environment information acquisition node, and transmitting the operating environment information from the slave node in response to this, the sequence does not become complicated when acquiring the operating environment information from multiple devices, and the operating environment information can be collected more efficiently. If an I ² C network is used as such a second network, it is possible to easily control transmission and reception by serial communication even for relatively large operating environment information, and complicated input/output port control processing is not required.

An outline of ^I2C communication will be described below. In ^I2C communication, a master node ( ^I2C bus master 907) and slave nodes are clearly distinguished, and the master node takes the lead in control. The ^I2C bus 52 that connects the master node and slave nodes consists of two lines, a clock line SCL and a data line SDA, and a binary data signal is serially transferred on the data line SDA based on the clock signal transmitted by the master node via the clock line SCL. Each slave node has a unique address, and when information is transmitted, an acknowledge signal (ACK) is always returned from the destination node to the source node.

4 shows the structure of a data frame 1100 for I ² C communication. The data frame 1100 includes the following fields.
Address field 1101: The address of the slave node to which data is to be transferred is transferred in 7 or 10 bits. The direction of information transfer in the address field 1101 is always from master (M) to slave (S). All slave nodes receive the address based on the clock at this time, and only the slave node whose address matches its own address continues sending and receiving thereafter. Different addresses are assigned to the fan operation monitoring devices 84A, 84B, internal temperature monitoring devices 85A, 85B, external voltage monitoring unit 16, and battery controller 24, which constitute the operating environment information acquisition nodes, and the addresses also function as information specifying the type of device from which operating environment information is to be acquired.
R/W field 1102: 1 bit of R/W mode information is transferred. When the R/W mode information is "0", it indicates information input from the slave (S) to the master (M) (Read mode: reading information from the slave node), and when the R/W mode information is "1", it indicates information output from the master (M) to the slave (S) (Write mode: writing information to the slave node). The transfer direction is from the master (M) to the slave (S).
ACK 1103: This is an acknowledge signal for transmission and reception of the R/W field, and the transfer direction is master (M) <- slave (S) in the read mode, and master (M) -> slave (S) in the write mode.
Data field 1104: 1 byte (8 bits) of information (data or command) is transferred. The transfer direction is master (M) → slave (S) in read mode, and master (M) ← slave (S) in write mode. If the content is a command, the type of operating environment information to be acquired for each type of device constituting a slave node (for example, in the case of the battery controller 24, the remaining battery level, battery voltage, temperature, etc.) is specified by the command uniquely associated with the type.
ACK 1105: This is an acknowledge signal for transmitting and receiving a data field, and the transfer direction is master (M) <- slave (S) in the read mode, and master (M) -> slave (S) in the write mode.
If the total size of the information to be transferred is larger than the size of the data field 1104, the information is divided into a plurality of data fields 1104 and then transferred.

11 shows the process flow of the master node in the Read mode. In S151, the ^I2C bus (SCL and SAD) is set to the information transfer start state (Start Condition), and in S152, the address of the slave node to which the information is requested is output, and "0" is output as the R/W mode information. If an ACK is input in S153, the process proceeds to S154, where data (or a command) from the slave node is input (if there is no ACK, the process proceeds to error processing in S159). If the data (or command) is input normally in S155, the process proceeds to S156, where an ACK is returned to the slave node (if the data is not input normally, the process proceeds to error processing in S159). If the input of all data is not completed in S157, the process returns to S154, and the following process is repeated. On the other hand, if the input of all data is completed in S157, the process proceeds to S158, where the ^I2C bus is set to the information transfer end state (Stop Condition), and the process ends.

12 shows the process flow of the master node in the Write mode. In S101, the ^I2C bus is set to the Start Condition, and in S102, the address of the slave node to which information is to be transferred is output, and "1" is output as the R/W mode information. If an ACK is input in S103, the process proceeds to S104, where data (or a command) is output (if there is no ACK, the process proceeds to error processing in S108). If an ACK is received from the slave node in S105, the process proceeds to S106, where it is confirmed whether the output of all data has been completed. If not, the process returns to S104, and the following process is repeated. On the other hand, if the output of all data has been completed in S106, the process proceeds to S107, where the ^I2C bus is set to the information transfer end state (Stop Condition), and the process ends.

The following is an overview of the 3GPP-specification communication method. Figure 5 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of an IP packet used for data transmission between UE 5 and wireless communication unit 1. IP packet 1300 consists of IP header 1301 and payload 1302, and IP header 1301 contains a PDU identification number, data source address 1301a, destination address 1301b, etc. Furthermore, ToS (Type of Service) field 1301c is formed in IP header 1301. ToS field 1301c specifies the packet transfer priority and the type of communication.

Figures 6 and 7 show the 3GPP-specification radio protocol stack that is the basis for the EPC communication firmware 305a or the base station communication firmware 405a. Figure 6 shows the user plane protocol stack, and Figure 7 shows the control plane protocol stack. The radio protocol stack is divided into layers 1 to 3 of the OSI reference model, with layer 1 being the PHY (physical) layer. Layer 2 includes the MAC (Medium Access Control) layer, the RLC (Radio Link Control) layer, and the PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol) layer. Layer 3 includes the RRC (Radio Resource Control) layer and the NAS (Non-Access Stratum) layer.

The roles of each layer are as follows:
PHY layer: Performs encoding/decoding, modulation/demodulation, antenna mapping/demapping, and resource mapping/demapping.
MAC layer: Performs data priority control, retransmission control processing by HARQ, random access procedures, etc. Data and control signals are transmitted via a transport channel between the MAC layer of the UE 5 and the MAC layer of the radio base station module 4. The MAC layer of the radio base station module 4 includes a scheduler that determines the uplink and downlink transport formats (transport block size, modulation and coding scheme (MCS)) and the resource blocks to be assigned to the UE 5.

RLC layer: Using the functions of the MAC layer and the PHY layer, data is transmitted to the RLC layer on the receiving side. Data and control signals are transmitted between the RLC layer of the UE 5 and the RLC layer of the radio base station module 4 via logical channels.
PDCP layer: Performs PDU header compression/decompression, and encryption/decryption.
RRC layer: defined only in the control plane that handles control signals. Messages (RRC messages) for various settings are transmitted between the RRC layer of the UE 5 and the RRC layer of the radio base station module 4. The RRC layer controls logical channels, transport channels, and physical channels according to the establishment, re-establishment, and release of radio bearers. If there is a connection (RRC connection) between the RRC of the UE 5 and the RRC of the radio base station module 4, the UE 5 is in RRC connected mode, and if not, it is in RRC idle mode.

The above layers are used in both the control plane and the user plane. On the other hand, only in the control plane, the UE 5 and MME 2 are provided with a NAS layer that performs session management, mobility management, and the like, which is even higher than the RRC layer. In addition, the user data transmission interface with the EPC module 3 side of the radio base station module 4 is provided with a GTP-U (GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) Tunneling Protocol for User Plane) layer. The GTP-U layer is used to identify the UE 5 to which it is connected and the radio bearer to be used.

Next, Fig. 8 shows downlink channel mapping. Here, the mapping relationship between the logical channel (Downlink Logical Channel), the transport channel (Downlink Transport Channel) and the physical channel (Downlink Physical Channel) is shown. Each will be explained in order below.
- DTCH (Dedicated Traffic Channel) is a dedicated logical channel for the transmission of data. DTCH is mapped to the transport channel DLSCH (Downlink Shared Channel).
Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH): A logical channel for transmitting dedicated control information between the UE 5 and the network. The DCCH is used when the UE 5 has an RRC connection with the radio base station module 4. The DCCH is mapped to the DLSCH.
CCCH (Common Control Channel): A logical channel for transmission control information between the UE 5 and the radio base station module 4. The CCCH is used when the UE 5 does not have an RRC connection with the radio base station module 4. The CCCH is mapped to the DLSCH.
BCCH (Broadcast Control Channel): A logical channel for distributing system information. The BCCH is mapped to the BCH (Broadcast Channel) or DLSCH, which are transport channels.
PCCH (Paging Control Channel): A logical channel for reporting paging information and changes in system information. The PCCH is mapped to the Paging Channel (PCH), which is a transport channel.

Moreover, the mapping relationship between the transport channels and the physical channels is as follows:
DLSCH and PCH: Mapped to the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). DLSCH supports HARQ, link adaptation and dynamic resource allocation.
- BCH: Mapped to PBCH (Physical Broadcast Channel).

Fig. 9 shows uplink channel mapping. As in Fig. 8, it shows the mapping relationship between the logical channel (Downlink Logical Channel), the transport channel (Downlink Transport Channel) and the physical channel (Downlink Physical Channel). Each will be described in order below.
CCCH (Common Control Channel): A logical channel used to transmit control information between the UE 5 and the EPC module 3, and is used by a UE 5 that does not have a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with the EPC module 3.
DCCH (Dedicated Control Channel): A point-to-point bidirectional logical channel used to transmit individual control information between the UE 5 and the EPC module 3. The dedicated control channel DCCH is used by the UE 5 having an RRC connection.
- DTCH (Dedicated Traffic Channel): A one-to-one bidirectional logical channel, which is dedicated to a specific UE and is used for the transfer of user information.

ULSCH (Uplink Shared Channel): A transport channel that supports HARQ, dynamic adaptive radio link control, and discontinuous transmission (DTX).
RACH (Random Access Channel): A transport channel on which restricted control information is transmitted.

PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel): A physical channel used for notifying the radio base station module 4 of response information (ACK (Acknowledge)/NACK (Negative acknowledge)) to downlink data, downlink radio quality information (CQI: Channel Quality Indicator), and a transmission request for uplink data (Scheduling Request: SR).
PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel): A physical channel used to transmit uplink data.
PRACH (Physical Random Access Channel): A physical channel mainly used for transmitting a random access preamble for acquiring transmission timing information (transmission timing command) from the UE 5 to the radio base station module 4. The random access preamble transmission is performed in the random access procedure.

As shown in FIG. 9, in the uplink, the transport channels and physical channels are mapped as follows: The uplink transmission/reception channel ULSCH is mapped to the physical uplink transmission/reception channel PUSCH. The random access channel RACH is mapped to the physical random access channel PRACH. The physical uplink control channel PUCCH is used as a physical channel alone. In addition, the common control channel CCCH, the dedicated control channel DCCH, and the dedicated traffic channel DTCH are mapped to the uplink transmission/reception channel ULSCH.

In the downlink of the LTE system, the UE 5 wirelessly connects to the radio base station module 4 by using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) access (OFDMA). The OFDMA method is characterized as a two-dimensional multiplexing access method that combines frequency division multiplexing and time division multiplexing. Specifically, subcarriers on the orthogonal frequency axis and time axis are divided and allocated to the UE 5, and the orthogonal subcarriers on the frequency axis are divided so that the signal of each subcarrier becomes zero (0 point). By dividing the subcarriers and allocating them on the frequency axis, it is possible to select another subcarrier that is not affected even if a certain subcarrier is affected by fading, so that the user can use a better subcarrier according to the wireless environment, and the wireless quality can be maintained.

In the OFDMA system, resource blocks (hereinafter also referred to as RBs) defined on a virtual plane spanned by a frequency axis and a time axis are adopted as radio resources. As shown in FIG. 10, RBs are defined as blocks obtained by dividing the above plane into a matrix of 180 kHz/0.5 msec, and each resource block RB includes 12 adjacent subcarriers spaced at 15 kHz intervals on the frequency axis and one slot (7 symbols) of a frame on the time axis. Two adjacent RBs (1 msec) on the time axis are assigned to UE5 as a set. On the other hand, in the uplink of the LTE system, resource blocks RBs of a similar concept are used as radio resources, except that SC-FDM (Single Carrier Frequency-Division Multiplexing) access (SC-FDMA) is adopted. In OFDMA, one resource block is divided into 12 subcarriers (bandwidth: 15 kHz) on the frequency axis, whereas SC-FDMA is a single-carrier method in which no division into subcarriers occurs.

In the wireless communication unit 1 having the above configuration, the overall control module 9 performs the following functional operations by executing the overall control firmware 905a.
Based on the operating environment information acquired by the operating environment information acquisition unit (I ² C bus master 907 ), it is determined whether or not a predetermined operating environment abnormality has occurred (operating environment abnormality determination unit).
Only when it is determined that no abnormality has occurred in the operating environment, a main body start-up command is sent to the communication main body (main body start-up command sending section).
When an operating environment abnormality occurs, an operating environment abnormality notification output is performed (operating environment abnormality notification unit).
- After the base station function program and EPC function program are launched in the communication main body, if the operating environment abnormality determination unit determines that an operating environment abnormality has occurred, it instructs the communication main body to execute a close process for the base station function program stored in the base station function program memory unit and the EPC function program (EPC communication firmware 305a) stored in the EPC function program memory unit (flash memory 305), and then performs a power cut-off process for the communication main body (anomaly response processing unit during operation).

The LED 60 in FIG. 2 has the function of the operating environment abnormality notifying portion of the present invention, and includes, for example, one as shown in FIG.
Power LED 60A: indicates the operating state of the power switch 65. For example, when the power supply module 22 is in a power receiving state, the power LED 60A lights up when the power supply switch 65 is turned on, and goes out when the power supply switch 65 is turned off.
Operation LED 60B: Notifies whether the communication main unit (EPC module 3 and wireless base station module 4) is receiving power and is in startup operation (whether the EPC communication firmware 305a and the base station communication firmware 405a are running). For example, it lights up when startup operation is in progress and turns off when not.
Fan LED 60C: For example, the LED 60C is turned on when an abnormality occurs in the cooling fans 14A, 14B, and is turned off otherwise.
Temperature LED 60D: For example, the LED 60D is turned on when there is an abnormality in the temperatures detected by the temperature sensors 15A and 15B, and is turned off otherwise.
Battery LED 60E: For example, this lights up when it becomes difficult to supply power normally from the battery 21, for example when the remaining charge of the rechargeable battery 21 falls below a threshold, and is turned off otherwise.
External power supply LED 60F: Lights up when there is an input from the external power supply 26, and turns off when there is no input.

The details of the function realization process by the overall control firmware 905a will be described below with reference to a flowchart. In FIG. 2, when the user presses the power switch 65 in FIG. 2 in a power-off state, a main start signal is input to the input/output unit 909 of the overall control computer 900. FIG. 13 shows the process flow of the start sequence when starting the operation of the wireless communication unit 1. When the main start signal is detected in S201, it is determined that the power is ON, and in S202, the overall control computer 900 (overall control firmware 905a) is started. In S203, the I ² C bus master 907 is notified that the power is ON. The I ² C bus master 907 transmits a command to turn on the power LED 60A to the LED driver 17 by I ² C communication. In response to this, the LED driver 17 turns on the power LED 60A in T203.

Next, in S204, the ^I2C bus master 907 is instructed to collect detection logs from the battery controller 24. The ^I2C bus master 907 transmits a detection log collection command to the battery controller 24 by ^I2C communication. The battery controller 24 receives this and transmits a detection log (operating environment information). In S205, the ^I2C bus master 907 receives the detection log from the battery controller 24.

Similarly, in S206, the ^I2C bus master 907 is instructed to collect detection logs from the cooling fans 14A, 14B (fan operation monitoring devices 84A, 84B) and the temperature sensors 15A, 15B (internal temperature monitoring devices 85A, 85B). The ^I2C bus master 907 transmits a detection log collection command to the fan operation monitoring devices 84A, 84B and the internal temperature monitoring devices 85A, 85B via ^I2C communication. The fan operation monitoring devices 84A, 84B and the internal temperature monitoring devices 85A, 85B receive this and transmit their detection logs (operating environment information). In S205, the ^I2C bus master 907 receives the fan operation monitoring devices 84A, 84B and the internal temperature monitoring devices 85A, 85B.

In S208, the received detection log is analyzed to determine whether or not there is an abnormality. FIG. 14 shows the details. In S2081, the detection logs of the first temperature sensor 15A and the second temperature sensor 15B are analyzed. For both temperature sensors, a "normal" state is determined when the detected temperature d is equal to or lower than the upper limit value dmax.

In S2082, the detection log of the cooling fans 14A, 14B (fan operation monitoring devices 84A, 84B) is analyzed. The conditions for determining that the operation of the cooling fans 14A, 14B is normal are as follows.
The rotation speed u is within the normal range (umin≦u≦umax: umin is the minimum permissible rotation speed, and umax is the maximum permissible rotation speed). The rotation speed can be detected by a rotation sensor such as a rotary encoder (neither is shown). If the rotation speed u is less than umin, it means that the drive motors of the cooling fans 14A, 14B are not rotating normally due to a broken wire or other factors, and there is a risk that the inside of the portable housing 23 will not be sufficiently cooled and will become hot. On the other hand, if the rotation speed u exceeds umax, there is a possibility that an excessive current will flow through the drive motors of the cooling fans 14A, 14B due to a short circuit or the like, causing them to run out of control and leading to a breakdown.
The temperature Tf is within the normal range (Tf≦Tfmax: Tfmax is the maximum allowable temperature). If the temperature Tf exceeds Tfmax, it means that the drive motors of the cooling fans 14A, 14B are abnormally hot due to a malfunction such as overload, which may lead to breakdowns. The temperature of the cooling fans 14A, 14B can be detected by, for example, a temperature sensor (not shown) that detects the temperature of the housing surface of the drive motor.

- The current If is within the normal range (Ifmin ≤ If ≤ Ifmax: Ifmin is the minimum allowable current value, and Ifmax is the maximum allowable current value). If the current If is less than Ifmin, it means that the drive motors of the cooling fans 14A, 14B are not rotating normally due to a broken wire or other factors, and there is a risk that the inside of the portable housing 23 will not be cooled sufficiently and will become hot. On the other hand, if the current If exceeds Ifmax, excessive current will flow through the drive motors of the cooling fans 14A, 14B due to a short circuit or the like, causing them to go out of control and leading to a breakdown.

It is possible to omit detection of either the rotation speed u or the current If, but detecting both may be beneficial in identifying the cause of an abnormality in the rotation of the cooling fans 14A, 14B more accurately. For example, when the current If exceeds Ifmax and the rotation speed u is umin, it is possible that the drive motor is energized, but the rotation of the fan is forcibly prevented by a foreign object or a malfunction in the transmission system, resulting in an overloaded state. On the other hand, when the current If is less than Imin and the rotation speed u is less than umin, there is a high possibility of a broken wire or a power supply abnormality. When multiple cooling fans are provided as in this embodiment, it is desirable to perform similar monitoring for each cooling fan.

As a simpler example, when simply monitoring whether the cooling fans 14A, 14B are operating, it may not be necessary to configure the cooling fans 14A, 14B as ^I2C devices accompanied by the fan operation monitoring devices 84A, 84B. For example, as shown in Fig. 20, the drive current value SF of the cooling fans 14A, 14B may be converted into a voltage signal by, for example, a shunt resistor 14R, and this voltage signal may be input to the overall control module 9 as a binary detection signal SF indicating the operation/stop of the cooling fans 14A, 14B (in this embodiment, it is input to the extended input/output unit 910).

Returning to FIG. 14, in S2083, the detection log of the battery controller 24 is analyzed.
The conditions for an operation to be judged as normal are as follows:
The remaining battery charge Cr is maintained at or above the specified lower limit Crmin.
- Battery voltage Vb is within the normal range (Vbmin≦Vb≦Vbmax: Vbmin is the minimum allowable battery voltage, and Vbmax is the maximum allowable battery voltage). When the battery voltage Vb is below Vbmin, it may be that the battery is low on charge, or that the battery itself is broken or not installed, causing no battery voltage to be output. When the battery voltage exceeds Vbmax, it may be that a short circuit from another power source has occurred in the battery output circuit or some other problem has occurred.
The battery temperature Tb is equal to or lower than the maximum allowable temperature Tbmax. If the battery temperature Tb exceeds Tbmax, there is a possibility that the battery is overheating due to operation outside the specifications of the rechargeable battery, such as overcharging or over-discharging.

Then, in S2084, it is checked whether all of the above analysis items are normal. If even one is abnormal, the process proceeds to S2085 where an abnormality determination is made. On the other hand, if all analysis items are normal in S2084, the process proceeds to S2086 where a normality determination is made.

Returning to Fig. 13, if the determination in S209 is not abnormal (i.e., if the determination is normal), in accordance with the IP protocol, a start instruction command (main body start-up command) for starting the EPC communication firmware (EPC function program) 305a is transmitted to the EPC computer 300 in S210 via the switching hub 11 and the Ethernet bus 32 (LAN, first network) in Fig. 2. The EPC computer 300 receives this command and starts the system, starts the EPC communication firmware 305a, and returns a start-up completion notice to the overall control module 9 if the start-up process is normally completed. In addition, in S211, a start instruction command (main body start-up command) for starting the base station communication firmware (base station function program) 405a is similarly transmitted to the wireless base station computer 400. The wireless base station computer 400 receives this command and starts the system, starts the base station communication firmware 405a, and returns a start-up completion notice to the overall control module 9. In S212, the overall control module 9 checks whether the EPC computer 300 and the radio base station computer 400 have been started normally based on whether the startup completion notification has been received. If normal startup is confirmed, the process proceeds to S213, where the ^I2C bus master 907 is notified of normal startup. In response to this, the ^I2C bus master 907 transmits an LED lighting command indicating "operation" to the LED driver 17. This causes the LED driver 17 to light up the LED 60B in FIG. 19 (T213).

On the other hand, if an abnormality is determined in S209, the processes of S210 and S211 are not executed. That is, a start instruction command (main body start-up command) is not sent to the EPC computer 300 and the wireless base station computer 400, and the start-up process of the EPC communication firmware 305a and the base station communication firmware 405a, that is, the start-up process of the communication main body including the EPC module 3 and the wireless base station module 4, is not performed. Instead, the process proceeds to S214, and the I ² C bus master 907 is notified of the occurrence of an abnormality. The I ² C bus master 907 receives this and transmits an LED lighting command indicating "abnormality" to the LED driver 17. Specifically, the type of the device in which the abnormality occurred (temperature sensor, cooling fan, and battery) is notified to the I ² C bus master 907 in the abnormality analysis process of FIG. 14, and the I ² C bus master 907 transmits a command to light the LED corresponding to the device in which the abnormality occurred to the LED driver 17.

Thereby, for example, when at least one of the cooling fans 14A, 14B experiences the above-mentioned abnormality (one or more), LED 60C in FIG. 19 lights up. When at least one of the temperature sensors 15A, 15B experiences an abnormality in its detected temperature, LED 60D lights up. When the battery controller 24 detects the above-mentioned abnormality (one or more), LED 60E in FIG. 19 lights up. When there are multiple devices in which an abnormality has occurred, the corresponding LEDs light up at the same time. On the other hand, when the above-mentioned abnormality occurs, LED 60B indicating "operation" is not lit. The details of the abnormality occurrence (such as the abnormality type and occurrence time for each device) may be configured to be outputted, for example, to an external PC 911 connected to the overall control module 9 in FIG. 2 via LAN or to a UE 5 connected to WiFi via a GUI (Graphic User Interface).

In the method of the above embodiment, if any abnormality occurs in the operating environment of the communication main unit, the startup process of the communication firmware of the EPC module 3 and the wireless base station module 4 is postponed. For example, if the temperature inside the portable housing 23 rises and the temperature detected by the temperature sensors 15A and 15B becomes abnormal, the operation of the EPC computer 300 or the wireless base station computer 400 is more likely to become unstable, and the wireless base station module 4 and the EPC module 3 may malfunction or act as a source of radio interference for other wireless systems. However, by detecting an abnormality in the operating environment, including an abnormal internal temperature, when the wireless communication unit is started and preventing the start-up of the communication main unit, the above-mentioned problems can be effectively prevented.

On the other hand, even if the temperature detected by the temperature sensors 15A, 15B does not indicate an abnormality, if an abnormality such as a stoppage occurs in the cooling fans 14A, 14B, cooling inside the housing will not progress, which will inevitably lead to temperature abnormalities and similar malfunctions. Therefore, as described above, by acquiring internal temperature information inside the portable housing 23 as well as operating status information of the cooling fan (cooling device), and detecting an abnormality when the wireless communication unit 1 is started up and preventing the start up of the communication main unit, the above malfunctions can be prevented even more effectively.

Although the EPC communication firmware 305a (EPC function program) and the base station communication firmware 405a (base station function program) are stored in a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory whose contents can be rewritten, during operation, some of the stored contents may be changed, including the rewriting of setting parameters. Therefore, the occurrence of a temperature abnormality may lead to the destruction of part of the software data due to program runaway, etc. However, by adopting the above method, such destruction of software data can be made less likely. In particular, in the above configuration in which the EPC computer 300 and the wireless base station computer 400 start up together with a single push of the power switch 65, the communication firmware 305a and 405a of both computers can be extremely effectively protected from runaway, destruction, etc. by being equipped with a function that detects the occurrence of an abnormality and stops the start-up as appropriate.

Next, in the method of the above embodiment, the state of the rechargeable battery 21 is also acquired by the battery controller 24 as operating environment information, and if an abnormality occurs, the startup process of the communication firmware of the EPC module 3 of the communication main unit and the wireless base station module 4 is blocked. Specifically, regardless of the detected temperature of the temperature sensors 15A, 15B and the presence or absence of an abnormality in the cooling fans 14A, 14B, if a battery abnormality is detected, the startup process of the communication firmware is blocked.

In an environment where the wireless communication unit 1 operates on a battery, if the EPC communication firmware 305a (EPC function program) and the base station communication firmware 405a (base station function program) attempt to start up when normal power supply from the battery is not possible due to, for example, insufficient remaining power, the software data may be corrupted due to a power cut while the programs are running. Therefore, by preventing the start-up process of the communication firmware when a battery abnormality is detected, this malfunction can be effectively prevented.

In particular, when the receiving voltage information (power receiving state information) indicated by the detection log of the external voltage monitoring unit 16 in FIG. 4 indicates that the external power supply voltage is not being received normally (for example, when it indicates approximately 0 V), the external power supply voltage cannot be used as a backup, so it is particularly desirable to avoid the startup process of the communication firmware of the communication main unit when a battery abnormality is detected. In this case, when the external power supply voltage is being received, it is possible to configure the communication main unit to execute the startup process of the communication firmware while using the external power supply voltage, even if a battery abnormality is detected.

On the other hand, even if the external power supply voltage is being received normally, it is also possible to configure the communication main unit to avoid starting up the communication firmware when a battery abnormality is detected. When the communication main unit is executing the start-up process of the communication firmware while using the external power supply voltage, if the reception of the external power supply voltage is interrupted due to a power outage or the like, if a battery abnormality occurs, it will be impossible to secure the power supply voltage to continue the start-up process of the communication firmware, and there is a possibility that the above-mentioned software data will be destroyed. Therefore, by configuring as described above, it is possible to protect the software data from destruction even in the event of a power outage or the like during the communication firmware start-up process.

Next, Fig. 15 shows a termination sequence of the wireless communication unit 1 under normal conditions by the overall control firmware 905a. In S401, when the power switch 65 in Fig. 2 is pressed while the wireless communication unit 1 is in an activated state, the process proceeds to S402, where termination processing is executed. Fig. 16 shows details of the termination processing, and in S4021, a termination instruction command for terminating (closing) the EPC communication firmware (EPC function program) 305a is transmitted to the EPC computer 300 via the switching hub 11 and the Ethernet bus 32 (LAN, first network) in Fig. 2 according to the IP protocol. In response to this, the EPC computer 300 proceeds to a closing process, closes the EPC communication firmware 305a, and returns a termination completion notification to the overall control module 9 if the termination processing is normally completed. In addition, in S4022, a termination instruction command for terminating (closing) the base station communication firmware (base station function program) 405a is transmitted to the wireless base station computer 400 in the same manner. In response to this, the wireless base station computer 400 transitions to a termination (close) process, closes the base station communication firmware 405a, and returns a termination completion notification to the overall control module 9 if the termination process is completed normally. In S4023, the overall control module 9 checks whether the EPC computer 300 and the wireless base station computer 400 have been terminated normally based on whether the termination notification has been received. If normal termination is confirmed, the process proceeds to S4024, where it notifies the I ² C bus master 907 of normal termination. In response to this, the I ² C bus master 907 transmits an LED turn-on command indicating "termination" to the LED driver 17. This causes the LED driver 17 to turn off the LEDs 60A (power) and 60B (operation) in FIG. 19. Then, the process of the overall control module 9 proceeds to S4025, where the termination process of the overall control computer is performed, and the power is shut off.

On the other hand, if the termination is not normal in S4023 (i.e., if an abnormality is determined), the process proceeds to S4026, where the ^I2C bus master 907 is notified of the occurrence of an abnormality. In response to this in T4026, the ^I2C bus master 907 performs processing to keep LED 60A (power) in Fig. 19 lit and turn off LED 60B (operation). By keeping LED 60A lit, the user can know that the termination process of the communication main unit was not completed normally. In this case, for example, the configuration may be such that forced termination processing is executed by pressing and holding the power switch 65.

Next, Fig. 17 shows the flow of processing by the general control firmware 905a when each communication firmware (EPC communication firmware and base station communication firmware) of the communication main unit starts up normally once and then an abnormality occurs during operation. This processing is repeatedly executed at a predetermined time interval by, for example, timer processing. In S501, the I 2 C bus master 907 is instructed to collect detection logs from the cooling fans 14A, 14B (fan operation monitoring devices 84A, 84B), the temperature sensors 15A, 15B (internal temperature monitoring devices 85A, 85B) and the battery controller 24, and in S502, the detection logs of each device are received from the ^{I 2 C} bus master 907. This step is the same as the processing from S204 to S207 in Fig. 13. Then, in S503, the same abnormality analysis processing as in Fig. 14 is performed. Then, only when an abnormality is determined in S505, the end processing in Fig. 16 is executed (S506). In this way, if an operating environment abnormality occurs in the communication main unit after the launch of the base station communication firmware 405a (base station function program) and the EPC communication firmware 305a (EPC function program), the power is cut off after the termination processing of both firmware is performed, so that the software data can be protected from destruction even in the event of the above-mentioned abnormality.

FIG. 18 shows the flow of processing by the overall control firmware 905a for switching between the external power supply and the battery power supply for the power supply module 22. This processing is also repeatedly executed at a predetermined time interval. In S601, the I ² C bus master 907 is instructed to acquire a detection log related to the receiving voltage from the external voltage monitoring unit 16 (FIG. 4). In S602, the detection log is received from the I ² C bus master 907. In S603, if the detection log indicates that power is being received, the process proceeds to S604, where the I ² C bus master 907 is notified that external power is being received. In response to this, the I ² C bus master 907 transmits a command to turn on the LED indicating "external power being received" to the LED driver 17. As a result, the LED driver 17 turns on the LED 60F (external power supply) in FIG. 19 (T604).

On the other hand, if the detection log does not indicate that power is being received in S603, the process proceeds to S606, where the ^I2C bus master 907 is notified that no external power is being received. The ^I2C bus master 907 receives this and transmits a command to turn off the LED indicating "power being received from an external power source" to the LED driver 17. This causes the LED driver 17 to turn off the LED 60F (external power source) in Fig. 19 (T606). The process then proceeds to S605, where the power source is switched to the rechargeable battery 21.

The above describes an embodiment of the present invention, but it is merely an example and the present invention is not limited to this.

1 Wireless communication unit 2 MME
3 EPC module 4 Radio base station module 5 UE (mobile terminal)
6 S-GW
7 P-GW
8 Router 9 General control module 11 Switching hubs 14A, 14B Cooling fan (cooling device)
15A, 15B Temperature sensor 16 External voltage monitoring unit 21 Rechargeable battery 22 Power supply module 23 Portable housing 23y Airflow inlet 23w Airflow outlet 24 Battery controller (slave node)
25 AC/DC converter 26 External power supply 32 Ethernet bus (first network)
52 ^I2C bus (second network)
57 Wireless bearer 65 Power switch 66 Control switch 60 LED (operating environment abnormality notification section)
84A, 84B Fan operation monitoring device (cooling device operation status information acquisition node, slave node)
85A, 85B Internal temperature monitoring device (internal temperature information acquisition node, slave node)
234 Intermediate support plate (module assembly support plate)
300 EPC computer 301 CPU
302 RAM
303 Mask ROM
304 Ethernet interface 305 Flash memory 305a EPC communication firmware 305b MME entity 305c S-GW entity 305d P-GW entity 305e Software router 306 Internal bus 400 Radio base station computer 401 CPU
402 RAM
403 Mask ROM
404 Duplexer 405 Flash memory 405a Base station communication firmware 406 Internal bus 408 Ethernet interface 412 Wireless communication unit 900 General control computer 901 CPU
902 RAM
903 Mask ROM
904 Ethernet interface (first interface, main body startup command transmission unit)
905 Flash memory 905a Overall control firmware (operating environment abnormality determination unit, operating abnormality response processing unit)
906 Internal bus 907 ^I2C bus master (second interface, master node)
908 WiFi module 909 Input/output unit (main start signal receiving unit)
911 External PC
912 Wireless Communication Division

Claims (12)

a communication main unit including a wireless base station module including a wireless communication unit that performs wireless communication based on 3GPP specifications with a mobile terminal, a base station function program storage unit, and a base station computer that starts up and executes a base station function program stored in the base station function program storage unit upon receiving a main unit startup command, thereby performing wireless communication control for the wireless communication unit; and an EPC module that is wired connected to the wireless base station module and includes an EPC (Evolved Packet Core) function program storage unit, and an EPC computer that starts up and executes an EPC function program stored in the EPC function program storage unit upon receiving a main unit startup command, and performs upper network control for the wireless base station module based on the execution;
a power supply module for supplying an operating voltage to the communication main unit;
a portable housing that integrally houses the communication main body and the power supply module;
an overall control module including a main startup signal receiving unit that receives an input of a main startup signal; an operating environment information acquiring unit that acquires operating environment information of the communication main unit within the portable housing including internal temperature information of the portable housing upon receipt of the main startup signal; an operating environment abnormality determining unit that determines whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the operating environment of the communication main unit based on the acquired operating environment information; a main unit startup command transmitting unit that transmits the main unit startup command to the communication main unit only when no operating environment abnormality has occurred; and an operating environment abnormality notifying unit that outputs an operating environment abnormality notification when the operating environment abnormality has occurred;
When a module support plate is provided inside the portable housing, one main surface of the module support plate is defined as a module mounting surface, and the module support plate is horizontally disposed so that the module mounting surface is on the upper side, the direction rising vertically from the module mounting surface is defined as the up-down direction,
an airflow inlet is formed in a side wall portion at a first end of the portable housing in the first direction defined along the module mounting surface, while an airflow outlet is formed in a side wall portion at a second end of the portable housing, and a cooling fan is attached to the airflow inlet, and by operating the cooling fan, outside air is taken in through the airflow inlet and the outside air circulates in the first direction inside the portable housing as cooling air, and is then discharged from the airflow outlet,
A wireless communication unit characterized in that on the module mounting surface of the module support plate, a group of wireless drive system modules including the wireless base station module and a power supply module are arranged on the side closer to the airflow inlet in the flow direction of the cooling air, and a group of control system modules including the EPC module and an overall control module are arranged on the side closer to the airflow outlet, and as temperature sensors, a first temperature sensor is arranged in the occupied space of the wireless drive system module group and a second temperature sensor is arranged in the occupied space of the control system module group . The wireless communication unit according to claim 1, wherein the main start-up signal is input to the main start-up signal receiving section in response to the operation of a predetermined start-up switch. a cooling device for cooling an internal space of the portable housing is provided;
The wireless communication unit according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the operating environment information acquisition section acquires the operating environment information that further includes operating state information of the cooling device. The wireless communication unit according to claim 3, wherein the operating environment abnormality determination unit of the overall control module determines that an operating environment abnormality has occurred when at least one of the following is true: the operating state information of the cooling device indicates an operating abnormality of the cooling device, or the internal temperature information of the portable housing exceeds a threshold temperature. A wireless communication unit according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a rechargeable battery is provided to supply a battery voltage to the power supply module, and the operating environment information acquisition unit acquires the operating environment information that further includes battery status information indicating the charging state and operating state of the rechargeable battery. The wireless communication unit according to claim 5, wherein the operating environment abnormality determination unit determines that the operating environment abnormality has occurred when the remaining battery charge reflected in the battery state information falls below a threshold value. The wireless communication unit according to claim 6, wherein the power supply module is provided with an external power supply voltage receiving unit that receives an external power supply voltage, the operating environment information acquisition unit acquires the operating environment information that further includes power receiving state information of the external power supply voltage receiving unit, and the operating environment abnormality determination unit determines that the operating environment abnormality has occurred when the remaining battery charge reflected in the battery state information falls below a threshold value while the power receiving state information indicates that the external power supply voltage is not being received. The wireless communication unit according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the general control module includes an operating abnormality response processing unit that, when the operating environment abnormality determination unit determines that the operating environment abnormality has occurred after the base station function program and the EPC function program in the communication main unit are started up, commands the communication main unit to execute a close process for the base station function program stored in the base station function program storage unit and the EPC function program stored in the EPC function program storage unit, and then performs a power cut-off process for the communication main unit. a plurality of operating environment information acquisition nodes including an internal temperature information acquisition node for acquiring internal temperature information of the portable housing;
The overall control module comprises a first network interface to which the base station computer and the EPC computer of the communication main body are connected via a first network, and a second network interface to which a plurality of the operating environment information acquisition nodes are connected via a second network, the operating environment information acquisition unit communicatively acquires the operating environment information from the operating environment information acquisition node via the second network interface, and the main body start-up command transmission unit transmits the main body start-up command to the communication main body via the first network interface.A wireless communication unit as described in any one of claims 1 to 8. The wireless communication unit according to claim 9, wherein the internal temperature information acquisition node acquires the internal temperature information from a temperature sensor provided in the portable housing. The second network is a wireless communication unit according to claim 9 or 10, in which the plurality of operating environment information acquisition nodes are connected as slave nodes to a master node included in the second network interface, the operating environment information acquisition unit includes an acquisition target information request destination notifying unit that notifies the master node of the request destination of the acquisition target information, the master node sends an information request command to the second network in a form that specifies the address of the slave node that is the request destination, and the node among the slave nodes that corresponds to the specified address acquires the information request command and transmits the acquisition target information indicated by the information request command to the master node via the second network. 12. The wireless communication unit of claim 11, wherein the first network is a local area network and the second network is an ^I2C network.
Wireless communication unit on board.

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