Wireless access point apparatus and method for testing signal reception sensitivity

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10182359-B2
Application number	US-201114111992-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 17, 2011
Priority date	Apr 15, 2011
Publication date	Jan 15, 2019
Grant date	Jan 15, 2019

Abstract

A method and apparatus for testing signal reception sensitivity of a wireless access point are provided. The apparatus includes a receiver which is configured to receive a test start request signal, a transmission power level change request signal and a test packet retransmission request signal from a neighboring access point apparatus; a test signal generator which is configured to generate a test packet signal to be transmitted to the neighboring access point apparatus; a transmission power level adjuster which is configured to adjust a transmission power level of the test packet signal; a transmitter which is configured to transmit the test packet signal to the neighboring access point apparatus with a power having a level adjusted by the transmission power level adjuster; and a test executor which is configured to execute a test program having a predetermined sequence for testing a signal reception sensitivity of the neighboring access point apparatus.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for testing a signal reception sensitivity of a wireless access point apparatus, comprising operations of:
(a) transmitting a test packet from a first access point apparatus, as a transmission access point (AP), to a second access point apparatus, as a reception AP, the test packet being transmitted at a predetermined first transmission power level;
(b) measuring a packet error rate of the test packet and writing a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) level applied to the test packet, the packet error rate being measured and the MCS level being written by the second access point apparatus;
(c) transmitting a request for changing a transmission power level by increasing the transmission power level for retransmitting the test packet from the second access point apparatus to the first access point apparatus, in response to a completion of the measuring and the writing in operation (b);
(d) retransmitting the test packet at a changed transmission power level from the first access point apparatus to the second access point apparatus;
(e) repeating operations (b) to (d) until the changed transmission power level reaches a predetermined second transmission power level; and
(f) transmitting a test target AP switching request signal from the second access point apparatus to the first access point apparatus after operations (a) to (e), and in response to the test target AP switching request signal, repeating operations (a) to (e) with respect to the second access point apparatus as the transmission AP and the first access point apparatus as the reception AP.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the repeating operations (a) to (e) with respect to the second access point apparatus as the transmission AP and the first access point apparatus as the reception AP comprises operations:
(g) transmitting the test packet from the second access point apparatus to the first access point apparatus at a predetermined third transmission power level after transmitting the test target AP switching request signal;
(h) measuring the packet error rate of the test packet transmitted in operation (g) and writing the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) level applied to the test packet transmitted in the operation (g), the packet error rate being measured and the MCS level being written by the first access point apparatus;
(i) transmitting the request for changing the transmission power level for retransmitting the test packet from the first access point apparatus to the second access point apparatus;
(j) retransmitting the test packet at the changed transmission power level from the second access point apparatus to the first access point apparatus; and
(k) repeating operations (h) to (j) until the changed transmission power level reaches a predetermined fourth transmission power level.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein operation (h) further comprises:
measuring a reception power after receiving the test packet transmitted in said operation (g), the reception power being measured by the first access point apparatus; and
evaluating a signal reception sensitivity of the first access point apparatus based on whether the packet error rate of the test packet of the received MCS level is smaller than or equal to a predetermined reference value for the measured reception power, the signal reception sensitivity being evaluated by the first access point apparatus.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the operation (h) further comprises:
checking for a variable MCS level in the measured reception power level based on a pre-stored MCS table if the packet error rate of the test packet received by the first access point apparatus is smaller than or equal to the predetermined reference value, the variable MCS level being checked for by the first access point apparatus,
wherein operation (i) further comprises transmitting information on the variable MCS level from the first access point apparatus to the second access point apparatus, and
wherein operation (j) further comprises changing an MCS level to apply to the test packet based on the received information on the MCS level, the MCS level being changed by the second access point apparatus.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said operation (b) further comprises:
measuring a reception power after receiving the test packet, the reception power being measured by the second access point apparatus; and
evaluating a signal reception sensitivity of the second access point apparatus based on whether the packet error rate of the test packet of the MCS level is smaller than or equal to a predetermined reference value for the measured reception power.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein said operation (b) further comprises checking for a variable MCS level in the measured reception power level based on a pre-stored MCS table if the packet error rate is smaller than or equal to the predetermined reference value, the variable MCS level being checked for by the second access point apparatus,
wherein operation (c) comprises transmitting information on the variable MCS level from the second access point apparatus to the first access point apparatus, and
wherein operation (d) comprises changing an MCS level to apply to the test packet based on the received information on the MCS level, the MCS level being changed by the first access point apparatus.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first access point apparatus and the second access point apparatus are configured to communicate wirelessly and are connected by a wired network.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first access point apparatus and the second access point apparatus are connected by a wireless local area network.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first access point apparatus and the second access point apparatus are adjacent to each other.

10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising, prior to the transmitting the test packet from the first access point apparatus to the second access point apparatus, transmitting a switching request signal from the first access point apparatus to the second access point apparatus.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the transmitting the test packet from the first access point apparatus to the second access point apparatus is performed in response to the transmitting the switching request signal from the first access point apparatus to the second access point apparatus.

12. The method of claim 7 , further comprising, prior to the transmitting the test packet from the first access point apparatus to the second access point apparatus, transmitting a test start request signal from the second access point apparatus to the first access point apparatus.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the transmitting the test packet from the first access point apparatus to the second access point apparatus is in response to the transmitting the test start request signal from the second access point apparatus to the first access point apparatus.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the retransmitting the test packet is performed independent from the packet error rate measured by the second access point apparatus.

15. A wireless access point apparatus, comprising:
a receiver which is configured to, in a transmission mode of the wireless access point apparatus, receive a test start request signal, a transmission power level change request signal and a test packet retransmission request signal from a neighboring access point apparatus;
a non-transitory computer readable medium configured to store instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
generate a test packet signal t

Assignees

• Chung Jae Ho
• Rho Wi Sang
• Ji Yung Ha
• Han Kyu Jeong
• Kt Corp

Inventors

• Chung Jae Ho
• Rho Wi Sang
• Ji Yung Ha
• Han Kyu Jeong

Classifications

• H04B17/29

  Performance testing · CPC title

• H04W52/226

  using past references to control power, e.g. look-up-table · CPC title

• H04W52/20

  using error rate · CPC title

• H04W24/06 Primary

  Testing, {supervising or monitoring} using simulated traffic · CPC title

• H04B17/0085

  using test signal generators · CPC title