RU216742U1 - Repeater - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model relates to radio engineering and can be used in wireless data transmission systems. The technical result consists in increasing the reliability of the device. For this, the device is made in the form of a single unit, in which a radio transceiver unit, a microcontroller unit, a power control unit, a communication unit with a personal computer and an indication unit are installed. The microcontroller unit is connected by means of bidirectional interfaces to the radio communication transceiver unit and to the communication unit with a personal computer. The input/output of the transceiver antenna is installed on the upper end of the housing. The indication block is located on the front side of the repeater case and contains two status LEDs of the device, namely the radio exchange indicator and the battery charge indicator flashing red in case of low charge. 2 w.p. f-ly, 1 ill.

Description

The utility model relates to radio engineering, in particular to wireless data transmission, and can be used as a repeater of radio signals as part of a monitoring system based on measuring recorders of the TKA-PKL series in museums, libraries, restaurants, various warehouses, and also in other cases. simultaneous control of parameters in several rooms.

A radio signal repeater is known according to patent RU 2668224, 2018, (Patent holder FGBOU VO "Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University named after R.E. Alekseev" (NSTU) for a radio communication system consisting of 2p radio stations (subscribers) mutually communicating through the air, spaced between outside the line of sight, in which automatic control of the synchronization of work is carried out using a calculator and time stamps from the output of the receiver of signals of global navigation satellite systems.

Closest to the claimed, taken as a prototype, is an active repeater according to patent RU 2042272, 1990, (Patent holder St. Petersburg Institute of Railway Engineers), including a receiving antenna, a high-frequency amplifier, delay line frequency converters, a power amplifier, a transmitting antenna, local oscillators, control signal generator, electronic commutator, quartz resonators.

The disadvantages of this device, chosen as a prototype of a repeater for operation as part of a monitoring system based on measuring recorders of the TKA-PKL series, include:

the inability to receive and transmit radio signals from the measuring recorders of the TKA-PKL series using Lora technology;

the inability to set the repeater operating modes using a PC, namely, selective and end-to-end (not selective) relay modes, which negatively affects the reliability of the monitoring system and the autonomy of the repeater itself when it is powered by replaceable batteries.

The technical problem to be solved by the claimed utility model is to increase the reliability of the device.

The technical problem posed is solved due to the fact that in a repeater containing a radio transceiver unit with an antenna input/output, a microcontroller unit, a radio transceiver unit, a power management unit, a communication unit in the form of a USB connector designed for communication with a personal computer and an indication unit, the indication unit is located on the front side of the housing, while the microcontroller unit is connected to the radio transceiver unit and to the communication unit via bidirectional interfaces, and the antenna input/output is installed on the upper end of the repeater housing. And also due to the fact that the display unit consists of two repeater status LEDs - an indicator of transmission over a radio channel and an indicator of battery charge, and the repeater case can be made with the possibility of mounting it on flat metal or round surfaces.

This technical result is achieved due to:

implementation in the repeater of the control of the microcontroller with the possibility of preliminary processing of data before their transmission over the communication channel;

the ability to receive and transmit data via a wireless sub-GHz radio channel using LoRa technology, which provides a significantly greater communication range than other competing methods and significantly increases the sensitivity of the receiver and, similarly to other methods of spread spectrum modulation;

implementation of the repeater in two modifications: battery-powered and powered by an external power supply;

the ability to configure the repeater operation mode using a PC and a special program, namely the amplification mode from all devices of the TKA-PKL series or a selective mode in which specific numbers of devices are set from which it is necessary to receive and further transmit information;

the use of a combined adaptive system for channel activity detection (Channel Activity Detection, CAD) in the LoRa system, which eliminates overlapping radio signals and increases communication reliability.

The block diagram of the device is shown in Fig. 1. Structurally, the device is made in the form of a monoblock in a plastic case, inside which there is a radio transceiver unit 2, a microcontroller unit 3, a power control unit 4, a PC communication unit 5 and an indication unit 6. A universal mount (not shown) is located on the back of the case , which allows you to install the device on flat, metal (with the help of magnets screwed to the mount, included in the delivery) or round surfaces (with the help of cable ties).

Removable transceiver antenna 1 is installed on the upper end of the repeater housing. It is connected to the antenna input/output of the transceiver unit 2.

The radio transceiver unit 2 is implemented as a separate module based on a Semtech transceiver, in which the receiver and transmitter circuits work for one antenna. The radio transceiver unit 2 contains an analog input or output signal conversion unit, a digital modem unit, a power management unit, and a control unit that processes useful data and configures internal parameters via a digital communication interface.

The radio receiving path of this transceiver unit 2 is implemented according to the quadrature conversion scheme; in order to simplify the design, an unbalanced input signal is used. It is first fed into a low-noise amplifier surrounded by a feedback loop for automatic gain control. Further, to eliminate harmonics, it is converted into a differential form, then from the intermediate low frequency signal obtained in the mixer, the in-phase and quadrature components are separated, which are fed to two analog-to-digital converters. All further processing (filtering, demodulation, etc.) is performed on the digitally represented signal.

The microcontroller unit 3 ensures the operation of the radio transceiver 2 of the repeater according to an algorithm that implements the necessary reliability and stability of the radio relay. It incorporates a computing core, RAM and non-volatile memory for programs and settings, real-time clocks and timers, as well as modules for digital communication interfaces, such as USB and SPI.

Control and information exchange between the microcontroller unit 3 and radio transceiver units 2 and communication with PC 5 is carried out through bidirectional interfaces via digital data buses, which can work both for input and output.

The power control unit 4 converts the supply voltage to the desired level coming from the output of the PC communication unit 5 via the USB bus (when modifying the repeater powered by an external unit), and from rechargeable batteries (when the repeater is autonomously modified). The converted voltage from the above sources from the power control unit 4 is supplied via special power buses to the units of the radio transceiver 2 and the microcontroller 3. In addition, from the output of the power control unit 4 to the input of the microcontroller unit 3, information is received about the battery charge during autonomous modification of the repeater.

The communication unit with PC 5 is implemented in the form of a microUSB connector and auxiliary microcircuits that perform protective and matching functions for the USB bus. Data via the USB digital bus are received from the PC through the communication unit with the PC to the input of the microcontroller unit and vice versa.

The display unit 6 is located on the front side of the device case and consists of two LEDs of the device status, namely the radio transmission indicator and the battery charge indicator (power supply). During the next transmission of information over the radio channel, the microcontroller 3 switches the voltage at its output, connected to the input of the LED in block 6, which acts as an indicator of the radio transmission of the repeater, and this LED briefly lights up in a certain color. When the battery charge is low in the case of an autonomous modification of the repeater, the microcontroller 3 switches the voltage at its output, connected to the input of the LED in block 6, which acts as a battery charge indicator, and this LED starts to glow red, thereby warning the user about the need to charge the batteries installed in the repeater.

The principle of operation of the repeater is as follows: receive a signal and transmit it. The signal received by the transceiver antenna 1 is fed to the input of the transceiver 2 tuned to a certain frequency. After detecting the signal, the transceiver 2 informs the microcontroller 3 about this, which, in turn, using the program written to it, reads the received information packet from the receiver for further processing. The received packet is checked for errors and for uniqueness to protect against retransmission of the same packet previously transmitted. Then the microcontroller 3 puts the LoRa transceiver 2 into transmission mode using a digital communication interface, and the transceiver 2, depending on the operating mode, starts transmitting the packet on the air, having previously checked the radio channel for the possibility of transmission over it. After the transmission is completed, the repeater enters the receive mode.

This repeater is classified as an echo repeater, in which the reception and transmission of a signal do not occur simultaneously, but in turn. Receive first, then transmit. In this case, the reception and transmission frequencies are not separated, but there is some delay in signal propagation introduced by the repeater.

The repeater is used as an intermediate point of the radio link, amplifying the received signal and transmitting it further through the air from the measuring recorders, spaced apart from each other beyond the line of sight. Installing a repeater in the center of the monitoring system operation zone increases the range of TKA-PKL devices at least twice.

Claims (3)

1. A repeater containing a radio transceiver unit with an antenna input/output, a microcontroller unit, a power management unit, a communication unit in the form of a USB connector designed for communication with a personal computer, and an indication unit, characterized in that the indication unit is located on the front side of the housing , wherein the microcontroller unit is connected via bidirectional interfaces to the radio transceiver unit and to the communication unit, and the antenna input/output is installed on the upper end of the repeater housing. 2. The repeater according to claim 1, characterized in that the display unit consists of two repeater status LEDs - a radio transmission indicator and a battery charge indicator. 3. The repeater according to claim. 1, characterized in that the body of the repeater is made with the possibility of mounting it on flat metal or round surfaces.

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