System and method for acquiring network data

Systems and methods for acquiring wireless network performance data comprising a user equipment accessible via a wireless network, the user equipment comprising; a receiver, a transmitter, a first processor configured with software executable instructions to cause the user equipment to perform operations comprising; receiving a data acquisition signal via the receiver, sampling a wireless network signal received at the user equipment in response to receiving the data acquisition signal, generating acquired network data, and transmitting the acquired network data via the transmitter, a server accessible via the wireless network, the server comprising, a second processor configured with software executable instructions to cause the server to perform operations comprising; transmitting the data acquisition signal, receiving the acquired network data; and generating network performance data using the acquired network data.

BACKGROUND

The wireless industry is increasingly focusing on high quality of service, which is a competitive advantage for a wireless service provider. Quality of service may be viewed in terms of network coverage, speech quality, network accessibility, and the number of dropped calls.

To achieve optimal network coverage and performance, wireless cellular carriers, must know the signal strength, interference and data throughput (capacity) at all locations of their network coverage areas. The current capacity test of cellular networks is accomplished with sophisticated drive test equipment that utilizes high-performance scanning receivers. The scanner receiver is typically integrated into a test system comprised of a GPS Receiver (location and time), devices that make and break connections, dedicated hardware for data collection, and a vehicular antenna. A laptop typically serves as the dedicated hardware.

The vehicle travels a predefined route while the scanner receiver collects signals from the antenna and performs protocol-specific measurements. The system transfers the measurement data, together with GPS time and position information, to the laptop or dedicated hardware for display and storage. After a single or a series of drive tests, the logged measurement data may be uploaded to a PC or server for analysis (e.g., post-processing). Application-specific software transforms the drive-test data into a user-friendly format, utilizing maps, graphics, and statistical functions.

The metrics determined from drive test data may be combined with metrics acquired by other scanners or with metrics determined at a different time to provide a picture of the health of the network.

Drive tests provide highly accurate and detailed data regarding the state of a network. However, a drive test is a time consuming exercise that captures data along a specified test route. The serial nature of drive tests results in data being captured at different times. A large network may require drive tests to be taken over several hours or even days.

The data that results from the drive tests provide a significant amount of specific data about the channel characteristics. Understanding the channel characteristics allows for manipulation of the phase and amplitude of each transmitter in order to form a beam (or beams, either in physical space or in vector space (virtual beam/beams)). To correctly form a beam (or beams), the transmitter uses knowledge of the characteristics of the channel. One approach to determining channel characteristics is to send a known signal (reference signal (RS) in LTE) to a mobile device (a user equipment or “UE” in LTE terminology). The mobile device then sends back the channel quality indicator (CQI) measures to the transmitter. The transmitter applies the correct phase and amplitude adjustments to form a beam directed at the mobile device. For beamforming, it is required to adjust the phases and amplitude of each transmitter. However, the CQI feedback from UEs is only with regards to the serving base station sector.

SUMMARY

Embodiments are directed to using user equipments (UEs), such as smartphones, to capture network data from diverse locations in real time. The network data may be delivered to an instant smartscan server (ISS) for processing.

In an embodiment, a UE comprises a data acquisition application that may be controlled by the ISS to acquire network data for all the nearby base station sectors. In another embodiment, the ISS operated by a network service provider may instruct the data acquisition application to acquire network data samples on frequency bands used by competitors of the network service provider.

In another embodiment, the UE is configured to collect network samples for various protocols such as LTE, LTE Advanced, WCDMA, HSPA, CDMA, EVDO and GSM.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments are directed to using UEs, such as smartphones, to capture network data from diverse locations in real time. The network data may be delivered to an instant smartscan server (ISS) for processing

FIG. 1is a block diagram illustrating an ISS configured to operate in an LTE MIMO communications system according to an embodiment.

An instant smartscan server (ISS) server102communicates with a base station A104and a base station B106. While two base stations are illustrated inFIG. 1, the illustration is not meant to be limiting. Any number of base stations may be connected to the ISS server102.

Each base station A and B (104and106) is configured to communicate with UEs that are in range of the base station signal, such as smartphones A . . . N (110,112and114). As illustrated inFIG. 1, at a point in time, the smartphone A110is in communication with base station A104and smartphone N114is in communication with base station B106.

In an embodiment, smartphones A and N (110and114) are configured with a data acquisition application (seeFIG. 2) that is responsive to control signals sent from the base station to which the smartphone is associated with at a point in time. In an embodiment, the time is determined by a reference signal, such as a GPS time.

By way of illustration and not by way of limitation, at the point in time, base stations A and B (104and106) instruct selected smartphones A and N (110and114) to collect network sample data (circle1). The data collection may be synchronized for the multiple receiver antennas so that the data will be collected with the same start time and duration. The UE smartphones A and N (110and114) may comprise receivers that may be configured to receive signals from sources that use different transmission protocols. The smartphones A and N (110and114) collect the network samples at the specified GPS time according to the frequency, bandwidth and time length commands. The network samples may include signals from both base stations A and B (104and106).

The smartphones A and N (110and114) send the network sample data to their associated base stations with their GPS location information via an LTE reverse link (circle3), which forwards the network sample data to the ISS server102(circle4).

FIG. 2is a block diagram illustrating a UE according to an embodiment.

A UE200may include a processor201coupled to an internal memory202, to a display203and to a SIM221or similar removable memory unit. Additionally, the UE200may have an antenna204that is connected to a transmitter226and a receiver225coupled to the processor201. In some implementations, the receiver225and portions of the processor201and memory202may be used for multi-network communications. In additional embodiments the UE200may have multiple antennas204, receivers225, and/or transmitters226. The UE200may also include a key pad206or miniature keyboard and menu selection buttons or rocker switches207for receiving user inputs. The UE200may also include a GPS device220coupled to the processor and used for determining time and the location coordinates of the UE200. Additionally, the display203may be a touch-sensitive device that may be configured to receive user inputs.

The processor201may be any programmable microprocessor, microcomputer or multiple processor chip or chips that can be configured by software instructions (applications) to perform a variety of functions, including the functions of the various embodiments described herein. In an embodiment, the UE200may include multiple processors201, such as one processor dedicated to cellular and/or wireless communication functions and one processor dedicated to running other applications.

Typically, software applications may be stored in the internal memory202before they are accessed and loaded into the processor201. In an embodiment, the processor201may include or have access to an internal memory202sufficient to store the application software instructions. The memory may also include an operating system222. In an embodiment, the memory also includes a data acquisition application224that provides additional functionality to the UE200to permit the UE200to acquire network sample data. The network sample data is derived from signals that are provided by the receiver225to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC)227and a down converter228to transform the radio waveform to digitized data samples.

Additionally, the internal memory202may be a volatile or nonvolatile memory, such as flash memory, or a mixture of both. For the purposes of this description, a general reference to memory refers to all memory accessible by the processor201, including internal memory202, removable memory plugged into the computing device, and memory within the processor201itself, including the secure memory.

After a UE, such as, for example, a smartphone, receives a data acquisition command from the ISS server via a basestation, it wakes the data acquisition application224. The data acquisition224application instructs a receiver205to tune to the requested radio frequency and instructs the ADC227and down-conversion functional blocks228to transform the radio waveform to digitized data samples at a specified intermediate sampling clock rate or at an intermediate sampling clock rate internal to the UE. In the case that the required sampling rate is not the same as the UE internal sampling clock rate, such as using a LTE smartphone to acquire CDMA data, the data acquisition application224may further run a decimation/integration step to transform the data to the desired sampling rate. The data acquisition application224may also run a data compression step to reduce the data size before feeding back to the ISS server. Besides network sample data (including the attenuation applied when collecting the data), the data acquisition application224also feedbacks GPS information from GPS receiver220.

Referring again toFIG. 1, the ISS server102analyzes the raw network sample data to acquire various measures of network performance. By way of illustration and not by way of limitation, the ISS server102may calculate a received radio waveform power level known as Carrier RSSI and then search nearby basestations by matching all possible Cell-ID synchronization signal patterns for LTE. In the case of other protocols, the signal patterns to be used for the search may be different, for example, the signal patterns may be Pilots for CMDA protocol. After a basestation (or basestation sector) is found, its SINR (signal to interference and noise ratio), Ec/Io, time offset, delay spread, and in the case of MIMO, channel condition number, transmit correlation, receiver correlation, and CQI of all the MIMO transmission modes may be measured/analyzed.

After the measurement/analysis for all the network sample data has been done, the ISS sever102maps measurements with GPS map information, and analyzes the network interference between basestations. The ISS server102will then provide recommendations to a network operator on how to improve the network efficiency, such as increasing or reducing the transmit power of some basestations (this will affect the MIMO operation as well, as different CINR levels are suited best for different MIMO transmission modes, such as spatial multiplexing or rank-1 pre-coding/transmit diversity, even under the same spatial correlation condition), and changing the tilt angle of some basestation antennas (this trades off coverage versus interference).

The ISS server102analyzes the data in ways known in the art and produces measurement results such as condition number, CQI (efficiency) for all LTE MIMO transmission modes, time offset and delay spread (circle5).

The analyzed data is conveyed to the base stations (circle6) to provide for optimization of MIMO channel conditions and efficiency UEs represent a lower cost and higher frequency network element than special-purpose scanning receivers. Referred to as User Elements (UEs) in LTE, popular UEs include the Apple iPhone 3G/4G, Motorola DROID, Google phone, RIM Blackberry HTC Droids and so on. Each UE contains antennas, RF paths, ADCs, baseband processors and micro-controllers. In an embodiment, a data acquisition application may be operated on a subset of these UEs to acquire network sample data in near real time. In an embodiment, the data acquisition application may control the UEs antennas, monitor the UEs RF paths, and collect network sample data.

In contrast to the information obtained from CQI feedback from UEs, the embodiments herein utilize UEs as distributed scanners (or sensors) and use the LTE reverse link to send back network sample data. These data may then be analyzed to provide an independent view of the network capacity, to provide UE CQI feedbacks on a selected MIMO mode, and to provide information such as condition number, CQIs for all MIMO modes and all TX antenna to RX antenna paths information with regard to the serving base station sector. Additionally, a cellular carrier may instruct the UEs of its customers to collect network sample data not only on its own band, but also on the bands of its competitors as well.

A number of the embodiments described above may also be implemented with any of a variety of computing devices, such as the server device800illustrated inFIG. 3. Such a server device800typically includes a processor801coupled to volatile memory802and a large capacity nonvolatile memory, such as a disk drive803. The server device800may also include a floppy disc drive and/or a compact disc (CD) drive806coupled to the processor801. The server device800may also include network access ports804coupled to the processor801for establishing data connections with network circuits805over a variety of wired and wireless networks using a variety of protocols.

In one or more exemplary aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. The blocks of a method or algorithm disclosed herein may be embodied in a processor-executable software module, which may reside on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that may be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media may comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that may be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that may be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media. Additionally, the operations of a method or algorithm may reside as one or any combination or set of codes and/or instructions on a machine readable medium and/or computer-readable medium, which may be incorporated into a computer program product.