Traffic distribution analysis in a land mobile radio system

In a system for interconnecting a plurality of radio channel units in a single trunk group with a plurality of directional antennas and/or antenna beams, each radio channel unit has a receive section and a transmit section and the system dynamically connects the receive and transmit sections of each one of the radio channel units with any one of the plurality of antennas which, on average during a sampling period, is best suited for receiving and transmitting RF signals at the operating frequency of the radio channel unit. The system further includes traffic distribution monitor for monitoring, storing and displaying information on a periodic basis indicative of the usage of each antenna and/or antenna beam. The specific antenna or antenna beam being utilized by a radio channel unit is monitored on a periodic basis during communications between the radio channel unit and a mobile radio unit, and this information is stored in a memory associated with the radio channel unit.

TECHNICAL FIELD 
The present invention is directed to a land mobile radio system, such as a 
mobile cellular telephone system, personal communications network (PCN), 
or other high frequency system, and more particularly, to improved 
analysis of traffic distribution in a land mobile radio base site of the 
land mobile radio system. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
In a typical land mobile radio system, such as a mobile cellular telephone 
system or personal communications network (PCN), a plurality of cells are 
defined which make up the system. Each cell is a geographically defined 
area wherein communications are handled by a land mobile radio base site 
(cell site) for mobile units operating within the boundaries of the cell. 
Although these cells are often represented as hexagons in cell design 
schemes, in reality, due to terrain and the presence of buildings and 
other structures, the actual boundary of a cell may have an irregular 
shape. 
As is well known in the art, cell layouts are typically characterized by a 
frequency reuse pattern where a number of different frequency sets are 
defined. Each cell uses a particular frequency set, and the cell layout is 
designed to provide the maximum separation between cells using the same 
frequency set so as to minimize interference. 
It is generally required, depending on the location of the cell site within 
a cell, that the cell site antennas provide coverage for communications 
over 360.degree. of azimuth in order to effectively cover the 
corresponding geographic area. In existing base sites, either 
omni-directional antennas or panel antennas are used to provide the 
360.degree. of azimuth. If panel antennas are used, the 360.degree. of 
azimuth is divided into a number of smaller sectors, such as three 
sectors, with each sector provided with a pair of antennas each having a 
beamwidth of 120.degree.. 
Usage monitoring in a base site is important to the operator of a base site 
because it provides important information regarding the utilization of the 
resources at the base site during communications between mobil radios and 
the base site (call traffic or traffic). In base sites such as those 
described above using omni-directional antennas or panel antennas usage 
monitoring is typically performed on a per-channel basis. More 
particularly, the operator of the base site is typically provided with 
usage information indicative of the amount (duration) that each channel is 
used during a specified time period. Therefore, the operator of the base 
site is provided information regarding the usage of each radio channel 
unit in the base site. However, in such systems the operator is unable to 
monitor usage based upon the physical location of a mobile unit with 
respect to the base site. 
Recently, base sites have been developed having a sectorized antenna 
configuration wherein a large number of directional antennas or antennas 
having a large number of directional beams are employed. In such systems, 
it would be desirable to provide more useful information to the operator 
of the base site. In particular, it would be desirable to provide the base 
site operator with information indicative of the azimuthal distribution of 
communications with respect to the base site. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
An object of the invention is improved monitoring and display of traffic 
distribution information in a land mobile radio base site of a land mobile 
radio telephone system. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide such improved 
monitoring and display of traffic distribution information which 
specifically provides an indication of traffic distribution in specific 
azimuthal directions with respect to the land mobile radio base site. 
According to the present invention, in a system for interconnecting a 
plurality of radio channel units in a single trunk group with a plurality 
of directional antennas and/or antenna beams, each radio channel unit 
having a receive section and a transmit section and the system dynamically 
connecting the receive and transmit sections of each one of the radio 
channel units with any one of the plurality of antennas which, on average 
during a sampling period, is best suited for receiving and transmitting RF 
signals at the operating frequency of the radio channel unit, the system 
further including traffic distribution monitoring means for monitoring, 
storing and displaying information on a periodic basis indicative of the 
usage of each antenna and/or antenna beam. 
According further to the present invention, the specific antenna or antenna 
beam being utilized by a radio channel unit is monitored on a periodic 
basis during communications between the radio channel unit and a mobile 
radio unit, and this information is stored in a memory associated with the 
radio channel unit. 
According still further to the present invention, the traffic distribution 
monitoring means is responsive to a transmit detect signal provided by a 
transmit switch connected to the radio channel unit for determining that 
the radio channel unit is communicating with a mobile radio unit, and in 
response to the transmit detect signal, information is stored in the 
memory associated with the radio channel unit. 
In further accord with the present invention, a supervisory controller is 
provided for storing traffic distribution information for each of the 
antennas or antenna beams and for all of the radio channel units. Means 
are provided for printing and displaying the traffic distribution 
information for the base site. 
According further to the present invention, the traffic distribution 
information may be used in a base site for determining the position of a 
transmit switch when an associated radio channel unit is not communicating 
with a mobile radio unit, the transmit switch position being determined 
based upon the azimuthal direction having the greatest amount of usage for 
the particular radio channel unit. 
The present invention provides a significant improvement over the prior art 
by providing improved identification of azimuthal traffic distribution at 
a cellular base site. This information may be used by the base site 
operator for improved management of a cellular base site and to aid in 
selecting the location of future cellular base sites. The invention 
provide for the automatic monitoring of all call traffic per antenna, per 
channel over a selected monitoring interval. The information is therefore 
used for the storage and display of information based on an azimuthal 
distribution as opposed to a "per channel" usage monitoring as done in the 
prior art. Usage data monitoring, storage and display are therefore 
performed for an entire trunk group of channels on an azimuthal traffic 
distribution basis rather than for individual channels. 
The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the present 
invention will become more apparent in light of the following detailed 
description of exemplary embodiments thereof, in view of the accompanying 
drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Referring to FIG. 1, a land mobile radio system base site 10 includes a 
modular radio signal scanning and targeting system 100. The system 100 is 
used to dynamically interconnect a plurality (N) of antenna 202 with a 
plurality (M) of radio channel units (RCU) 203. The radio channel units 
203 are transceivers having a transmit section and a receive section. The 
receive section is typically a diversity receiver having two diversity 
inputs, e.g., diversity 1 and diversity 2, capable of receiving RF signals 
from two different sources and selecting the strongest of the two. The 
scanning and targeting system 100 dynamically connects the receive section 
of each one of the radio channel units 203 with any two of the antennas 
202 which, on average during a sampling period, has the strongest received 
signal strength of RF signals at the operating frequency of the radio 
channel unit 203. The antenna having the strongest received RF signal 
strength is connected to the RCU diversity 1 input and the antenna having 
the second strongest received RF signal strength is connected to the RCU 
diversity 2 input. Additionally, the scanning and targeting system 100 
dynamically connects the transmit section of each one of the plurality of 
radio channel units with any one of the plurality of antennas which, on 
average during a sampling period, is best suited for transmitting RF 
signals at the operating frequency of the one radio channel unit in a 
direction corresponding to the desired destination for the transmitted RF 
signals. A scanning and targeting system of the above-described type is 
described in commonly owned, copending patent application Ser. No. 
08/708,130 filed on Jul. 26, 1996, the disclosure of which is incorporated 
herein by reference. 
An embodiment of the invention is described herein as being used with 12 
different narrow-beamwidth antennas 202 for the transmission and receipt 
of RF signals. These narrow-beamwidth antennas provide the significant 
benefit of improved signal quality, primarily due to reduced interference. 
However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that a variety 
of different antenna configurations may be used with the invention. The 
antennas can be though of as separate signal ports for interconnection 
with transceivers. As an alternative to 12 physically different 
narrow-beamwidth antennas, each antenna 202 may actually be a particular 
beam of a multi-beam phase array antenna system, wherein arrays of 
co-linear radiating elements form each phase array antenna, with the 
arrays driven by a phase array feed network, so as to generate a plurality 
of beams or lobes, each of which acts as a separate signal port for the 
reception or transmission of radio frequency energy in a particular 
azimuthal direction. Additionally, although 12 antenna beams are shown, 
different numbers of antennas or antenna beams may be used in different 
system configurations. In another embodiment of the invention, 16 antenna 
beams of a multi-beam phase array antenna are used. However, regardless of 
the number of antennas or antenna beams used, the present invention is 
equally well understood as described herein with respect to a base site 
having 12 different antennas or antenna beams. 
The antennas 202 are used for the transmission and receipt of RF signals, 
and a duplexer 206 of a type known in the art is provided for each antenna 
202, for controlling each antenna to either transmit or receive RF signals 
at any one time. 
Referring also to FIG. 2, the system 100 includes a receive modular 
interconnect matrix 200, i.e., a modular interconnect matrix which is used 
to provide signals received on antennas 202 to receive terminals 
(diversity inputs) mounted on the radio channel units 203. The receive 
modular interconnect matrix 200 comprises a plurality (N) of signal 
splitter modules 205, one signal splitter module 205 being associated with 
each of the antennas 202. Each antenna 202 is connected to its associated 
signal splitter modules 205 via a duplexer 206, a band pass filter 208, 
and an adjustable preamplifier 210 which amplifies the received signals 
before being provided to the signal splitters 205. In FIG. 2, twelve (12) 
antennas 202 are shown interconnected to twelve (12) signal splitter 
modules 205. The signal splitter modules 205 are power dividers which 
divide the amplified RF signals into a plurality (X) of equal parts, e.g., 
each of the equal parts has an identical signal characteristic (shape) as 
the amplified RF signal at a fraction (1/X) of the signal strength. For 
example, a 20-way power divider having a frequency range of 824 to 894 MHZ 
and an insertion loss of 16 dB may be selected for use as a signal 
splitter. Each signal splitter module 205 divides the received RF signal 
into 20 equal power parts. 
The receive modular interconnect matrix 200 also comprises a plurality (M) 
of first switching modules (radio switches) 217. There is one radio switch 
217 associated with each radio channel unit 203. Each of the radio 
switches 217 is interconnected with a pair of receiver connectors (the 
diversity 1 and diversity 2 inputs) on the corresponding radio channel 
unit 203. Each radio switch 217 also comprises a plurality of connectors 
each for interconnection with a corresponding one of the signal splitters 
205. Each radio switch 217 includes a 2-pole-N-throw switch which operates 
under control of control signals provided by a micro-controller 267, which 
is described in greater detail herein after, for connecting each RCU 
diversity input with an antenna via the signal splitters 205. The 
two-pole-N-throw switch may be a two-pole-twelve-throw electronic switch 
manufactured by the Celwave Division of Radio Frequency Systems, Inc., 
which is powered by a 15 VDC power supply and is controlled by a pulse 
width modulated data stream containing both timing (clock) data and 
control (switching) data. 
Using the above described arrangement, each one of the radio switches 217 
is provided with a portion (1X) of the RF signal output of each antenna 
202 due to the matrix interconnection of the radio switches 217 with the 
signal splitter modules 205. Therefore, depending on the position of the 
2-pole-N-throw switch within the switch module 217, each radio channel 
unit may be interconnected to any two antennas via its associated 
switching module 217 and the two signal splitters 205 associated with the 
two antennas. 
A plurality (Y) of control group switches 240 are also provided for 
interconnection with the signal splitter modules 205. Each control group 
switch 240 includes a one-pole-N-throw switch which operated under control 
of control signals provided by the micro controller 267. The 
one-pole-N-throw switch may be a one-pole-twelve-throw electronic switch 
manufactured by the Celwave Division of Radio Frequency Systems, Inc., 
which is powered by a 15 VDC power supply and is controlled by a pulse 
width modulated data stream containing both timing (clock) data and 
control (switching) data. 
Each control group switch 240 is connected between each of the signal 
splitters 205 and a corresponding RF scanning receiver 260. Associated 
with each RF scanning receiver 260 is a phase locked loop (PLL) device 263 
and a micro-controller 267, e.g., a HC11F1 (MCU) manufactured by Motorola. 
A more detailed description of the construction and operation of the 
receive modular interconnect matrix 200 can be found in commonly owned, 
copending patent application Ser. No. 08/708,130 filed on Jul. 26, 1996, 
the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
Associated with a number of radio channel units, for example 3 radio 
channel unites, is a control group in which one of the micro-controllers 
267 controls a corresponding phase locked loop 263, RF scanning receiver, 
control group switch 240, and three radio switches 217. Each radio channel 
unit 203 transmits and receives RF signals on an assigned (operating) 
frequency, and the phase locked loop 263 is configured to control the 
receiving frequency of the RF scanning receiver for sequentially receiving 
RF signals at three different frequencies, each of the three frequencies 
corresponding to the operating frequencies of the three radio channel 
units in its corresponding group. Under control of the micro-controller 
267, the control group switch 240 selects one of the twelve antennas 202. 
The signals provided by the antenna 202 are provided via the band pass 
filter 208 to the adjustable amplifier 210 where the received signals are 
amplified. Next the received signal is provided to the corresponding 
signal splitter module 205 where the signal is divided into 20 equal power 
parts. One of the equal power parts is provided to each of the control 
group switches 240. 
A control signal is provided on a line 270 from the micro-controller 267 to 
the control group switch 240 for controlling the position of the 
one-pole-twelve-throw switch of the control group switch 240 for antenna 
selection. The part of the amplified RF signal from the selected antenna 
is provided via the control group switch 240 to a line 272 which is 
connected to the RF scanning receiver 260. The micro-controller also 
provides control signals on a line 275 to the phase locked loop 263 to 
control the phase locked loop to in turn control the receiving frequency 
of RF scanning receiver 260 so as to sequentially receive RF signals at 
the three different frequencies corresponding to the three radio channel 
units within the corresponding group. Control signals are provided by the 
phase locked loop to the RF scanning receiver 260 on a line 278. First, 
the RF scanning receiver 260 measures the power level of the RF signal on 
the line 272 at the first frequency under control of the phase locked 
loop. The RF scanning receiver provides a signal on a line 280 to the 
micro-controller 267 indicative of the power level of the signal on the 
line 272 at the first frequency. After measurements are taken on one 
antenna, the micro-controller provides a control signal on the line 270 to 
the control group switch 240 for selection of the next antenna 202. The 
signal provided by the next antenna 202 is then measured at the first 
frequency and the measurements is recorded by the micro-controller 267. 
This procedure is repeated for all antennas 202. 
After measurements are taken on all of the antennas at the first frequency, 
the micro-controller 267 provides a control signal on the line 275 to the 
phase locked loop 263, which in turn controls the RF scanning receiver 260 
to receive RF signals at the second frequency. The RF scanning receiver 
then provides a second measurement of the power level of the received 
signal at the second excitation frequency on the line 280 to the 
micro-controller 267. The micro-controller then provides a control signal 
on the line 270 to the control group switch 240 for selection of the 
remaining antennas 202 so that a measurement is taken on each antenna at 
the second frequency. This procedure is repeated for the third frequency 
corresponding to the third RCU in the group. 
Each antenna 202 is sampled at all three frequencies approximately 8 to 16 
times per second, depending of the sampling speed as controlled by the 
micro-controller 267. The micro-controller 267 maintains a running average 
of the received signal strength at the three radio channel unit operating 
frequencies for all twelve antennas, and provides a control signal on a 
line 285 to each of the radio switches 217 in the corresponding group 
indicative of the two selected antennas having the strongest signal 
strength at the operating frequency of the corresponding radio channel 
unit. The two-pole-twelve-throw switch in the radio switch 217 connects 
the two diversity inputs to the two selected antennas in response to the 
control signal on the line 285 from the micro-controller 267. As is known 
in the art, the radio channel unit diversity amplifier then selects 
between the two input signals for providing an input to the receiver. 
Referring again to FIG. 1, the system 100 also comprises a transmit modular 
interconnect matrix 900 used to interconnect a plurality of radio channel 
units 203 with a plurality of antennas 202 for the transmission of signals 
provided by the radio channel units 203 via the antennas 202. Referring 
also to FIG. 3, the transmit modular interconnect matrix 900 is similar to 
the receive modular interconnect matrix 200 except that it includes a 
transmit switch 917 interconnected to a transmit terminal of each radio 
channel unit 203 (instead of a radio switch). Additionally, the signal 
splitter modules 205 (FIG. 2) are replaced with combiner modules 905 which 
combine RF signals provided by the various radio channel units into a 
combined RF signal which is provided from each combiner module 905 via an 
amplifier 910 and filter 908 to an antenna 202 for transmission. For 
purposes of controlling the transmit modular interconnect matrix 900, it 
is assumed that the antenna 202 indicated as having the strongest received 
signal strength at the operating frequency of the radio channel unit 203 
is the best antenna for transmission of signals provided by the radio 
channel unit 203, and therefore, a control group switch and corresponding 
scanning receiver, phase locked loop, and micro-controller are not 
required in the transmit modular interconnect matrix 900. Instead, each 
transmit switch of the transmit modular interconnect matrix 900 is 
controlled to interconnect the transmit terminal of the radio channel unit 
with the antenna having the strongest signal strength at the operating 
frequency of the corresponding radio channel unit. Additionally, since the 
control group switches are not required in the transmit modular 
interconnect matrix 900, the combiner modules 905 may be configured for 
connection with dummy loads 915 mounted to the combiner connectors which 
are not used. Alternatively, each combiner module 905 may be provided with 
only enough connectors for interconnection with the transmit switches. 
The traffic distribution analysis of the present invention interacts with 
both the receive modular interconnect matrix 200 and the transmit modular 
interconnect matrix 900 for monitoring, storage and display of traffic 
distribution information in the land mobile radio base site. Referring to 
FIG. 4, the micro-controller 267 includes a memory 300 for storing data 
indicative of traffic distribution information. During communications 
between a mobile unit and the base site, after communications have been 
established, each radio channel unit continuously transmits a carrier 
frequency modulated by a supervisory audio tone which is received by the 
mobile unit. The communications may be established between the mobile unit 
and the base site in a number of ways, for example as described in 
commonly owned copending Patent Application Serial No. (Ware, Fressola, 
Van Der Sluys & Adolphson Docket No. 916-080) filed on even date herewith, 
the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference. This supervisory 
audio tone is provided by the radio channel unit via the transmit switch 
917, combiner, amplifier, bandpass filter for transmission via the antenna 
202. As described above, the particular antenna which is utilized to 
transmit the supervisory audio tone and other communications from the 
radio channel unit to the mobile unit is determined by the transmit switch 
917 under control of control signals provided on the line 310 from the 
micro-controller 267. The selected antenna corresponds to the antenna 
indicated as having the strongest signal strength of receive signals at 
the operating frequency of the radio channel unit. 
Each transmit switch 917 is responsive to an RF signal being provided by 
its corresponding radio channel unit for providing a transmit detect 
signal on the line 315 to the micro-controller 267. The transmit detect 
signal indicates that the corresponding radio channel unit is 
communicating (transmitting an RF signal) via the selected antenna. The 
micro-controller 267 is responsive to the presence of a transmit detect 
signal on the line 315 from each transmit switch for storing traffic 
distribution information in the memory 300. As discussed above, the 
micro-controller determines the antenna having the strongest signal 
strength of receive signals at the operating frequency of each radio 
channel unit. In response to the presence of the transmit detect signal on 
the line 315, the micro-controller stores information in the memory 
indicative of the particular radio channel unit for which the transmit 
detect signal is present and the corresponding antenna having the 
strongest receive signal strength of RF signals at the operating frequency 
of the particular radio channel unit. This information is updated on a 
periodic update frequency as long as the transmit detect signal is 
present. For example, the information stored in the memory may be updated 
every 16.5 milliseconds provided that a transmit detect signal is provided 
on the line 315 from the corresponding transmit switch 917 to the 
micro-controller 267. 
As discussed above, a number of radio channel units are associated in a 
control group with each micro-controller 267. In the example of FIG. 4, 
there are three radio channel units associated with the micro-controller 
267. Therefore, the memory 300 stores traffic distribution information 
associated with the three radio channel units. In this case, the memory 
may be set up as a matrix of information with the size of the matrix 
corresponding to the number of radio channel units in the control group 
and the number of antennas at the base site. In the present example with 
three radio channel units in the control group and the base site having 12 
antennas, the memory may be set up as a 3.times.12 matrix. Information is 
stored in the memory matrix over a selected time period such as an hour, 
indicative of the usage of a particular radio channel unit on a particular 
antenna beam during the time period. Therefore, the information stored in 
the memory 300 of the micro-controller 267 is indicative of the amount of 
time that each radio channel unit was communicating on a particular 
antenna (antenna beam) during the selected time period. The information 
stored in each of the micro-controllers 267 for each control group may be 
downloaded at the end of each sampling period, for example at the end of 
each hour, to a supervisory micro-controller 350 to thereby provide the 
operator of the base site with information indicative of traffic 
distribution information for all of the radio channel units and all of the 
antenna beams. Because each antenna or antenna beam is directed in a 
specific azimuthal direction, this traffic distribution information may be 
categorized based on the azimuthal direction of a mobile radio unit with 
respect to the base site. 
The supervisory micro-controller 350 may be provided with an operator 
interface 360 so that the operator of the cellular base site can select 
the specific traffic distribution information for monitoring, display and 
printing. The supervisory micro-controller may also be interconnected via 
a computer (PC) with a remote operator interface 363, a visual display 365 
for viewing by the operator of the base site, and a printer 370 for 
printing a hard copy report indicative of the traffic distribution 
information. The supervisory micro-controller includes a memory 353 for 
storing the traffic distribution information retrieved from each of the 
micro-controllers 267. The supervisory micro-controller can store the same 
detailed data stored in each micro-controller 267, for example the 
specific usage of each antenna per channel during the sampling period. 
Alternatively, the supervisory micro-controller may simply accumulate all 
of the data for each of the channels to provide an indication of the total 
usage per antenna of the base site. 
Examples of the various data displays which can be obtained from the 
supervisory micro-controller for display or printing are illustrated in 
FIGS. 5-7. Referring to FIG. 5 a first display illustrates the usage of 
beam 1 during a 24-hour period by all of the radio channel units. This 
display can be used by the operator of the base site to determine the call 
usage or traffic distribution during a typical 24-hour period for each 
beam. For example, in a metropolitan area, the operator may find that 
certain beams have higher usage during morning hours when commuters are 
entering the metropolitan areas and other beams have higher usage during 
evening hours when commuters are exiting the metropolitan area. Still 
other beams may have higher usage either during business hours or after 
business hours. FIG. 6 illustrates an alternative display which may be 
selected by the operator of the system. This display illustrates the 
number of minutes during a 24-hour period that a particular channel 
communicated on each of the beams or directional antennas. FIG. 7 
illustrates the amount of time that each channel communicated on a 
particular beam during a 24-hour period. 
FIGS. 5-7 are provided for illustrative purposes only. The time period over 
which a display is generated may be selected by the operator for example 
to be 24-hour hours as illustrated or other time periods as desired to 
provide the operator of the system with the desired information. 
As mentioned above, the information provided by the traffic distribution 
system of the invention may be used by the network operator to accurately 
determine the call usage for each beam of the system. Therefore, the 
network operator is provided with an accurate indication of the usage of 
the base site on an azimuthal basis during a selected time period. 
Therefore, the network operator can analyze the traffic changes over a 
selected time period, such as over the course of a day, week, month, or 
any other desired time period. Additionally, the network operator can use 
the information to determine for example where more capacity is needed for 
the selection of future base sites. 
The traffic distribution information can also be used for improved control 
of the base site equipment. For example, referring to FIG. 4, the memory 
300 within the micro-controller 267 will contain information for the 
corresponding radio channel units of the particular azimuthal directions 
or beams which the radio channel unit has utilized for communications. 
When the radio channel unit is off the air, i.e., when the radio channel 
unit is not communicating with a mobile unit, the traffic distribution 
information stored in the memory 300 is used to determine the position of 
the transmit switch 917. The system tries to predict which beam the next 
call will come up on based on the information stored in the memory. 
Therefore, the transmit switch 917 is directed to interconnect the radio 
channel unit with the antenna beam which was the most used beam during a 
previous time period, such as one hour. 
As mentioned above, traffic distribution information is updated for each 
radio channel unit at a selected interval, such as 16.5 milliseconds, 
whenever the transmit switch corresponding to the radio channel unit has a 
transmit detect signal present on the signal line 315 provide to the 
micro-controller 267. The memory 300 stores one hour's worth of data for 
each radio channel unit in the corresponding control group. The 
supervisory micro-controller 350 polls the memory unit 300 at a selected 
interval, such as an hourly interval, to download the traffic distribution 
information from the memory 300 of each micro-controller 267 into a 
central memory 353 within the supervisory micro-controller 350. The memory 
353 within the supervisory micro-controller 350 also stores a selected 
interval of information, such as seven days worth of information for all 
of the beams and all of the radio channel units. 
Although the invention has been described herein with respect to exemplary 
embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art 
that the foregoing and various other changes, omissions and additions may 
be made therein and thereto without department from the spirit and scope 
of the present invention.