Pre-fault detection of hardware degradation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12538145-B2
Application number	US-201917786851-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 18, 2019
Priority date	Dec 18, 2019
Publication date	Jan 27, 2026
Grant date	Jan 27, 2026

Abstract

Methods, apparatus and systems for pre-fault detection of hardware degradation; when embodied in a radio base station (RBS) of a wireless communications network, the method is characterized by: sensing at least a portion of an electrical waveform at a circuit location in the RBS; determining the radio resource load of the RBS proximate to the time of sensing the electrical waveform, the radio resource load being a measure of scheduled radio transmissions; determining whether the sensed electrical waveform is within a nominal operating window corresponding to the radio resource load, wherein the nominal operating window is a function of the sensed electrical waveform for the radio resource load at a prior time; and, if the sensed electrical waveform is not within the corresponding nominal operating window, triggering an alarm to indicate that the hardware has reached a degradation limit.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A method in a communications network for pre-fault detection of radio base station (RBS) hardware degradation, said method comprising the steps of:
sensing at least a portion of an electrical waveform at a circuit location in said RBS; determining a radio resource load of said RBS proximate to the time of said sensing, said radio resource load being a measure of scheduled radio transmissions; determining whether said sensed electrical waveform is within a nominal operating window corresponding to said radio resource load, said nominal operating window being a function of the sensed electrical waveform for said radio resource load at a prior time; and, if the sensed electrical waveform is not within said corresponding nominal operating window, triggering an alarm to indicate said hardware has reached a degradation limit.

2 . The method recited in claim 1 , wherein said step of sensing is performed whenever said radio resource load corresponds to one or more predefined levels.

3 . The method recited in claim 1 , wherein said step of sensing is performed at predefined intervals.

4 . The method recited in claim 1 , wherein said step of sensing comprises sampling said electrical waveform for a predefined sampling period.

5 . The method recited in claim 1 , wherein said nominal operating window is defined by at least an upper or lower threshold.

6 . The method recited in claim 5 , wherein said upper or lower threshold is a function of a predefined deviation of said sensed electrical waveform from said electrical waveform at said prior time.

7 . The method recited in claim 1 , wherein said prior time for said hardware corresponds to a value at the time of manufacture.

8 . The method recited in claim 1 , further comprising determining whether said sensed electrical waveform is within a second operating window, said second operating window being greater than said corresponding nominal operating window and indicative of a relative measure of degradation of said hardware.

9 . The method recited in claim 8 , wherein said step of triggering an alarm further comprises indicating said relative measure of degradation of said hardware.

10 . The method recited in claim 1 , wherein said hardware comprises a DC/DC converter in said radio base station.

11 . The method recited in claim 1 , wherein said nominal operating window is a function of a temporal measure of said electrical waveform at said prior time.

12 . The method recited in claim 11 , wherein said nominal operating window comprises boundaries that are a function of a predefined deviation from said temporal measure.

13 . A system in a communications network for pre-fault detection of radio base station (RBS) hardware degradation, said system comprising:
at least one processor; and, at least one memory, said at least one memory comprising instructions which, when executed by said at least one processor, are operative to: cause a sensing of at least a portion of an electrical waveform at a circuit location in said RBS; determine a radio resource load of said RBS proximate to the time of said sensing, said radio resource load being a measure of scheduled radio transmissions; determine whether said sensed electrical waveform is within a nominal operating window corresponding to said radio resource load, said nominal operating window being a function of the sensed electrical waveform for said radio resource load at a prior time; and, trigger an alarm if the sensed electrical waveform is not within said corresponding nominal operating window to indicate said hardware has reached a degradation limit.

14 . The system recited in claim 13 , wherein said sensing is performed whenever said radio resource load corresponds to one or more predefined levels.

15 . The system recited in claim 13 , wherein said sensing is performed at predefined intervals.

16 . The system recited in claim 13 , wherein said sensing comprises sampling said electrical waveform for a predefined sampling period.

17 . The system recited in claim 13 , wherein said nominal operating window is defined by at least an upper or lower threshold.

18 . The system recited in claim 17 , wherein said upper or lower threshold is a function of a predefined deviation of said sensed electrical waveform from said electrical waveform at said prior time.

19 . The system recited in claim 13 , wherein said prior time for said hardware corresponds to a value at the time of manufacture.

20 . The system recited in claim 13 , wherein said instructions, when executed by said processor, are further operative to determine whether said sensed electrical waveform is within a second operating window, said second operating window being greater than said corresponding nominal operating window and indicative of a relative measure of degradation of said hardware.

21 . The system recited in claim 20 , wherein triggering an alarm further comprises indicating said relative measure of degradation of said hardware.

22 . The system recited in claim 13 , wherein said hardware comprises a DC/DC converter in said radio base station.

23 . The system recited in claim 13 , wherein said nominal operating window is a function of a temporal measure of said electrical waveform at said prior time.

24 . The system recited in claim 23 , wherein said nominal operating window comprises boundaries that are a function of a predefined deviation from said temporal measure.

25 . A radio base station (RBS) for use in a communications network, said RBS operative to detect DC/DC converter hardware degradation in an associated radio unit, said RBS comprising:
at least one processor; and, at least one memory, said at least one memory comprising instructions which, when executed by said at least one processor, are operative to: cause a sensing of at least a portion of an electrical waveform at a circuit location in said DC/DC converter; determine a radio resource load of said RBS proximate to the time of said sensing, said radio resource load being a measure of scheduled radio transmissions by said associated radio unit; determine whether said sensed electrical waveform is within a nominal operating window corresponding to said radio resource load, said nominal operating window being a function of the sensed electrical waveform for said radio resource load at a prior time; and, trigger an alarm if the sensed electrical waveform is not within said corresponding nominal operating window to indicate said DC/DC converter has reached a hardware degradation limit.

26 . The RBS recited in claim 25 , wherein said sensing is performed whenever said radio resource load corresponds to one or more predefined levels.

27 . The RBS recited in claim 25 , wherein said sensing is performed at predefined intervals.

28 . The RBS recited in claim 25 , wherein said sensing comprises sampling said electrical waveform for a predefined sampling period.

29 . The RBS recited in claim 25 , wherein said nominal operating window is defined by at least an upper or lower threshold.

30 . The RBS recited in claim 29 , wherein said upper or lower threshold is a function of a predefined deviation of said sensed electrical waveform from said electrical waveform at said prior time.

31 . The RBS recited in claim 25

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Eleftheriadis Lackis
• Bengtsson Bengt-Ake

Classifications

• H04W24/08

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

• H04W24/04 Primary

  Arrangements for maintaining operational condition · CPC title