Network device for use in a wireless communication network and an end-to-end over-the-air test and measurement system for one or more network devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11742961-B2
Application number	US-202117545492-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 8, 2021
Priority date	May 31, 2017
Publication date	Aug 29, 2023
Grant date	Aug 29, 2023

Abstract

Among network devices for use within a wireless communication network, a transmitting network device is configured to transmit to a receiving network device via a control channel one or more control signals for configuring the receiving network device for a characterization of at least one of the transmitting network device and the receiving network device and/or for a characterization of one or more communication channels between the transmitting network device and the receiving network device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A network device for use in an Over-the-Air End-to-End test within a deployed wireless communication network,
wherein the network device is configured to perform a cooperative End-to-End test in cooperation with at least one further network device, wherein said at least one further network device is one of several devices participating in the cooperative End-to-End test,
wherein the network device is configured to orchestrate said cooperative End-to-End test by transmitting one or more control signals via a control channel to each one of the several participating devices for cooperatively performing the cooperative End-to-End test,
wherein said cooperative End-to-End test comprises a measurement of
at least one characteristic of the network device and/or of the at least one further network device, and/or
at least one characteristic of a communication channel between the network device and the at least one further network device,

wherein the network device and the at least one further network device are configured to perform the cooperative End-to-End test in-situ when they are used in a deployed network.

2. The network device of claim 1 , wherein said at least one characteristic of the network device and/or of the at least one further network device, or
wherein said at least one characteristic of the communication channel between the network device and the at least one further network device comprises at least one of:
a performance of the network device and/or of the at least one further network device,
a performance of the communication channel between the network device and the at least one further network device,
a throughput,
a reliability,
a latency,
a spectral efficiency,
an energy efficiency, and
an interference.

3. The network device of claim 1 , wherein the cooperative End-to-End test comprises an assessment test
for assessing said at least one characteristic of the network device and/or of the at least one further network device, and/or
for assessing said at least one characteristic of the communication channel between the network device and the at least one further network device.

4. The network device of claim 3 , wherein said assessment test comprises performing a plurality of measurements and combining their results
to make an assessment of said at least one characteristic of the network device and/or the at least one further network device, and/or
to make an assessment of said at least one characteristic of the communication channel between the network device and the at least one further network device.

5. The network device of claim 1 , wherein the network device is configured to control an operation and/or a configuration of itself and/or of the at least one further network device by means of the one or more control signals transmitted to the at least one further network device via the control channel for performing the cooperative End-to-End test.

6. The network device of claim 1 , wherein the network device is configured to instruct the at least one further network device, by means of the one or more control signals transmitted via the control channel, to do at least one of:
operating in a certain mode,
performing a certain action,
performing a certain test procedure,
performing a certain measurement procedure for determining the at least one characteristic of the network device and/or of the at least one further network device, and
performing a certain measurement procedure for determining the at least one characteristic of the communication channel between the network device and the at least one further network device.

7. The network device of claim 6 , wherein each of the certain mode, the certain action, the certain test procedure and the certain measurement procedure is referring to an outcome in terms of a metric or an effect,
while the actual doing (=performing/operating) to obtain the outcome is determined by the implementation of the network device and/or of the at least one further network device.

8. The network device of claim 1 , wherein the network device comprises a primary wireless communication interface for communicating with other network devices, and
wherein the network device is configured to instruct the at least one further network device, by means of the one or more control signals transmitted via the control channel,
to operate in a receive mode for receiving a signal via the primary wireless communication interface, or
to operate in a transmission mode for transmitting a signal via the primary wireless communication interface.

9. The network device of claim 8 , wherein the network device is configured to transmit the one or more control signals to the at least one further network device via the control channel for instructing the at least one further network device to operate in a transmission mode and to transmit a signal via the primary wireless communication interface, and
wherein the network device is further configured to receive, via its primary wireless communication interface, the signal from the at least one further network device via the primary wireless communication interface, and to perform a measurement of the received signal for evaluating one or more reception parameters of the received signal.

10. The network device of claim 9 , wherein the network device is configured to perform a predetermined action if the one or more evaluated reception parameters are outside a predetermined target range.

11. The network device of claim 8 , wherein the network device is configured to transmit the one or more control signals to the at least one further network device via the control channel
for instructing the at least one further network device to operate in a receive mode for receiving a signal from the network device via the primary wireless communication interface, and
for instructing the at least one further network device to perform a measurement of the received signal for evaluating one or more reception parameters of the received signal and to report the result of the measurement to the network device and/or to yet another network device.

12. The network device of claim 1 , wherein the network device comprises a primary wireless communication interface for communicating with other network devices,
wherein the network device is configured to transmit the one or more control signals to at least two further network devices via the control channel for performing a download test,
wherein the network device is configured to download predetermined data from each of the at least two further network devices via its primary communication interface.

13. The network device of claim 12 , wherein the network device is configured to compare the result of the download test of the at least two further network devices with each other and to select, based on the result of the download test, one of the at least two further network devices for connecting thereto via its primary wireless communication interface.

14. The network device of claim 1 , wherein the network device comprises a primary wireless communication interface for communicating with other network devices,
wherein the network device is configured to transmit the one or more control signals to at least two further network devices via the control channel for performing an upload test,
wherein the network device is configured to upload predetermined data to each of the at least two further network devices via its primary communication interface.

15. The network device of claim 14 , wherein the network device is configured to compare the res

Assignees

• Fraunhofer Ges Forschung
• Fraunhofer Ges Forschung

Inventors

• Leather Paul Simon Holt
• Haustein Thomas
• Sakaguchi Kei
• Askar Ramez

Classifications

• H04B17/191

  Over-the-air testing · CPC title

• H04B17/309

  Measuring or estimating channel quality parameters · CPC title

• H04B17/104 Primary

  of other parameters, e.g. DC offset, delay or propagation times · CPC title

• H04B17/0085

  using test signal generators · CPC title

• H04B17/0087

  using auxiliary channels or channel simulators · CPC title