Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Zoned or cellular telephone system
Reexamination Certificate
1998-03-31
2001-09-11
Nguyen, Lee (Department: 2683)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Zoned or cellular telephone system
C455S067700, C455S226100, C343S703000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06289216
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application makes reference to, incorporates the same herein, and claims all benefits accruing under 35 U.S.C. §119 from applications for METHOD FOR MEASURING STANDING WAVE RATIO IN MOBILE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM earlier filed in the Korean Industrial Property Office on Mar. 31, 1997, and there duly assigned Ser. No. 11667/1997.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a base station test unit for testing a base station in a mobile communications system and, more particularly, to a method and system for measuring the standing wave ratio for a transmission antenna and a reception antenna so as to test a radio unit of the base station.
2. Related Art
In general, a mobile communications system, such as a code division multiple access (hereinafter referred to as “CDMA”) system includes a plurality of base stations, a mobile station, and a BSM (base station manager). The base stations thereof are connected via radio with the mobile station so as to enable each of the base stations to communicate with a PSTN (public switched telephone network). In order that the base stations communicate smoothly with the PSTN, there must be a periodic check and diagnosis as to whether or not there is an abnormal state at the base station or the base station is out of order. To meet this requirement, a base station test unit is required to test the base station and the test unit has the function of monitoring and diagnosing for the existence
onexistence of the base station and any disorder at the base station.
The base station test unit for testing the base station can be used to perform a number of test functions. In particular, if there is damage to a radio unit of the base station having an external antenna, the test unit is useful in testing whether or not there is damage to the antenna or whether or not there is damage to the radio unit of the base station. A characteristic value which is determinative as to the existence
onexistence of the radio unit of the base station and as to damage to the base station is the voltage standing wave ratio (hereinafter, referred to as “VSWR”). Therefore, the radio unit of the base station can be tested by measuring the VSWR. For reference, the VSWR has a value indicating the size of the standing wave ratio generated by voltage in the transmission path and the ratio is obtained by dividing a maximum value of the standing wave by a minimum value of the standing wave.
Nevertheless, in prior systems, there is a limit to measurement of the VSWR since, in such systems, hardware for measuring the VSWR and a controller capable of controlling the hardware are separately installed. Therefore, there has been a need for the development of a method and system for measuring VSWR without employing any other device for testing the radio unit of the base station in a mobile communications system.
The following patents are considered to be representative of the prior art related to the invention, but are burdened by the disadvantages discussed herein: U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,767 to Goldstein et al. entitled Controlled Antenna Tuner, U.S. Pat. No. 4,479,087 to Althouse entitled Standing Wave Ration And Power Meter, U.S. Pat. No. 4,584,650 to Kozuch entitled Method and Apparatus for Determining and Directly Measuring the Voltage Standing Wave Ratio of an RF Transmission System, U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,515 to Herzog entitled Voltage Standing Wave Ratio Bridge Measuring Circuit, U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,024 to Egashira entitled Antenna for a Portable Radiotelephone, U.S. Pat. No. 4,290,009 to Sanpei et al. entitled Standing Wave Ratio Detecting Apparatus, U.S. Pat. No. 4,262,246 to Fujii entitled Standing Wave Ratio Detecting Apparatus, U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,127 to Morgan entitled Standing Wave Measuring System, U.S. Pat. No. 4,110,685 to Leenerts entitled Standing Wave Ratio Measurement Instrument, U.S. Pat. No. 4,041,395 to Hill entitled Transmitter Performance Monitor And Antenna Matching System, U.S. Pat. No. 4,117,493 to Altmayer entitled Radio Antenna, U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,078 to Cremeen entitled Full Wave Communication Antenna, U.S. Pat. No. 4,096,441 to Schwartz entitled Test Instrument For Transmitters and U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,690 to Ishikawa et al. entitled Antenna Supervising Apparatus Comprising A Standing Wave Ratio Measuring Unit.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and system for measuring VSWR without employing any other device for testing a radio unit of a base station in a mobile communications system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and system for testing a forward feature and a reflect feature of a first terminal unit of a base station in a mobile communications system, while using a terminal.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and system for measuring the VSWR for a transmission antenna and a reception antenna in a base station of a mobile communication system, while using a terminal.
In order to achieve those and other objects, the present invention generates the given test signal by using a test terminal included in the base station, switches the forward path and the reflect path, respectively, upon passing the generated test signal through an antenna, measures the strength of the forward signal and the strength of the reflect signal, and calculates the VSWRs for the transmission antenna and the reception antenna by using the strength of the measured signals.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the present invention is provided with a method and system for measuring a standing wave ratio for a transmission antenna in a base station of a mobile communications system which includes at least one transmission antenna. The method comprises the steps of: (a) generating a test signal by using a given test terminal included in the base station and by transmitting the generated test signal to the transmission antenna; (b) upon the test signal being transmitted to the transmission antenna, measuring the strength of a forward signal and a reflect signal for the transmission antenna; and (c) obtaining the difference between the strength of the forward signal and the strength of the reflect signal, and calculating the standing wave ratio for the transmission antenna by using the obtained difference therebetween.
Further, according to another aspect of the present invention, the objects of the invention are achieved by a method and system for measuring a standing wave ratio for a transmission antenna in a base station of a mobile communications system which includes at least one transmission antenna and a variable attenuator. The method comprises the steps of: (a) generating a test signal by using a given test terminal included in the base station and by transmitting the generated test signal to the transmission antenna; (b) upon the test signal being transmitted to the transmission antenna, measuring the strength of a forward signal and a reflect signal for the transmission antenna; (c) adjusting the variable attenuator to make the strength of the forward signal equal to the strength of the reflect signal; and (d) calculating the standing wave ratio for the transmission antenna by using the strength of the adjusted signal.
Furthermore, according a further aspect of the present invention, the present invention is provided with a method and system for measuring a standing wave ratio for a reception antenna in a base station of a mobile communications system which includes at least one reception antenna and a transceiver. The method comprises the steps of: (a) generating a test signal by using a given test terminal included in the base station and by transmitting the generated test signal to the reception antenna; (b) upon the test signal being transmitted to the reception antenna, measuring the strength of a forward signal and a reflect signal for the reception antenna; and (c) obtaining the difference between the strength of the forward signal and the strength of the reflect sig
Kim Wan-Soo
Koh Kwang-Il
Park Jin-Soo
Bushnell , Esq. Robert E.
Nguyen Lee
Nguyen Simon
Samsung Electronics Co,. Ltd.
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