JP7601232B2 - COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, COMMUNICATION METHOD, AND COMMUNICATION DEVICE - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a communication system, a communication method, and a communication device.

In communication systems, there is known technology for switching to a redundant frequency channel (standby system) when, for example, an active relay radio device breaks down or when interference occurs in an active frequency channel, causing a line disconnection.

In addition, some wireless equipment, such as that for mobile phones, can be monitored by transmitting an alarm (warning: notification) in response to an abnormality detected (see, for example, non-patent document 1).

NTT Docomo, Inc. and five other companies, "Regarding the operation and maintenance of wireless base stations for mobile phones and BWA," Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Study Group on Periodic Inspections of Advanced Land Wireless Systems (3rd meeting), Document 3-3, July 9, 2020

However, the technology described in Non-Patent Document 1 detects a fault and transfers an alarm to a monitoring and control station when an abnormality occurs in radio station equipment, but there was an issue that if the radio transmission path was cut off, the alarm and control signals could not be transferred.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a communication system, a communication method, and a communication device that make it possible to efficiently control a communication device in which an abnormality or status change has occurred, even if a failure occurs in a wireless transmission path that transmits a notification indicating an abnormality or status change that has occurred in part of the communication device.

A communication system according to one aspect of the present invention is a communication system in which a first communication device and a second communication device communicate with each other via a wired transmission path and a wireless transmission path, characterized in that the first communication device has a wired signal transmitting unit that transmits a signal to the second communication device via the wired transmission path, a wireless signal transmitting unit that transmits a signal to the second communication device via the wireless transmission path, a wireless signal receiving unit that receives a notification indicating an abnormality or status change that has occurred in a part of the second communication device via the wireless transmission path, a wired signal receiving unit that receives a notification indicating an abnormality or status change that has occurred in a part of the second communication device via the wired transmission path when a fault occurs in the wireless transmission path, and a control unit that controls at least one of the wireless signal transmitting unit and the wired signal transmitting unit to transmit a control signal that controls the second communication device in response to the notification when the wireless signal receiving unit or the wired signal receiving unit receives the notification.

Moreover, a communication method according to one aspect of the present invention is a communication method in which a first communication device and a second communication device communicate with each other via a wired transmission path and a wireless transmission path, the method including the steps of: when a fault occurs in the wireless transmission path, the first communication device receiving a notification from the second communication device via the wired transmission path indicating an abnormality or status change that has occurred in a part of the second communication device; and, when the first communication device receives the notification, controlling the first communication device to transmit a control signal for controlling the second communication device in response to the notification to the second communication device via the wired transmission path, wherein the wireless transmission path accommodates a plurality of wireless lines, and the first communication device receives a notification for each of the wireless lines .

In addition, a communication device according to one aspect of the present invention is a communication device which communicates with other communication devices via a wired transmission path and a wireless transmission path, and which has a wired signal transmitting unit which transmits a signal to the other communication device via the wired transmission path, a wireless signal transmitting unit which transmits a signal to the other communication device via the wireless transmission path, a wireless signal receiving unit which receives a notification indicating an abnormality or status change that has occurred in a part of the other communication device via the wireless transmission path, a wired signal receiving unit which receives a notification indicating an abnormality or status change that has occurred in a part of the other communication device via the wired transmission path when a fault occurs in the wireless transmission path, and a control unit which, when the wireless signal receiving unit or the wired signal receiving unit receives a notification, controls at least one of the wireless signal transmitting unit and the wired signal transmitting unit to transmit a control signal that controls the other communication device in response to the notification.

Moreover, a communication device according to one aspect of the present invention is a communication device which communicates with other communication devices via a wired transmission path and a wireless transmission path, and which has a wired signal transmitting unit which, when a fault occurs in the wireless transmission path, transmits a notification indicating an abnormality or status change that has occurred in a part of the communication device to the other communication device via the wired transmission path, and a wired signal receiving unit which, when the wired signal transmitting unit has transmitted the notification to the other communication device, receives a control signal for controlling the communication device from the other communication device via the wired transmission path, wherein the wireless transmission path accommodates a plurality of wireless lines, and the wired signal transmitting unit transmits a notification for each of the wireless lines .

According to the present invention, even if a failure occurs in the wireless transmission path that transmits a notification indicating an abnormality or status change that has occurred in part of the communication device, it is possible to efficiently control the communication device in which the abnormality or status change has occurred.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a communication system according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating functions of a first communication device which is a communication device according to an embodiment;

An embodiment of a communication system will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a communication system 1 according to an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication system 1 is configured such that, for example, a first communication device 2-1 and a second communication device 2-2 communicate with each other via a wired transmission path 3 and a wireless transmission path 4.

Each of the first communication device 2-1 and the second communication device 2-2 has a function as a transmitting device and a function as a receiving device, and is capable of performing two-way communication. In addition, each of the first communication device 2-1 and the second communication device 2-2 can also operate as a relay wireless device. Here, an example is described in which the first communication device 2-1 transmits a user signal and the second communication device 2-2 receives the user signal.

The wired transmission path 3 is configured by connecting the first communication device 2-1 and the second communication device 2-2 by, for example, an optical cable, and is a wired section that enables two-way communication. Here, the wired transmission path 3 is an example in which communication devices 10-1 and 10-2 relay signals. Furthermore, communication devices 10-1 and 10-2 are connected by, for example, an undersea optical cable.

The wireless transmission path 4 is a wireless section that accommodates, for example, multiple wireless circuits using multiple frequency channels and enables two-way communication between the first communication device 2-1 and the second communication device 2-2. For example, the wireless transmission path 4 is used as a backup line for the wired transmission path 3.

The monitoring and control device 100 is capable of monitoring abnormalities or status changes of the first communication device 2-1 and the second communication device 2-2, for example, via the communication device 10-1. The monitoring and control device 100 may be configured integrally with the communication device 10-1, or may be configured integrally with the communication device 10-1 and the first communication device 2-1.

Figure 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating functions possessed by a first communication device 2-1, which is a communication device according to one embodiment. Note that the second communication device 2-2 is also assumed to have the same functions as the first communication device 2-1 shown in Figure 2.

As shown in Fig. 2, the first communication device 2-1 has, for example, a transmitting unit 5 and a receiving unit 6. In Fig. 2, the first communication device 2-1 is shown as an example in which the transmitting unit 5 and the receiving unit 6 have overlapping functions, but the functions common to the transmitting unit 5 and the receiving unit 6 may be combined into one and shared.

The transmission unit 5 has, for example, an interface (I/F) unit 50, a priority processing unit 51, a frame processing unit 52, a switching unit 53, two modulation units 54 each corresponding to a frequency channel, a wireless signal transmission unit 55, a control unit 56, and a wired signal communication unit 57.

The I/F unit 50 is a user interface that acquires user signals and outputs them to the priority processing unit 51.

The priority processing unit 51 performs processing to identify the priority of each user signal output by the I/F unit 50, and outputs the processed user signal to the frame processing unit 52. For example, the priority processing unit 51 processes the priority of each user signal in the same manner as the QoS (quality of services) control defined in IEEE 802.11e.

The frame processing unit 52 performs buffering, etc. on the user signal output by the priority processing unit 51 to generate a specified frame, and outputs the generated frame to the switching unit 53.

When an abnormality occurs in, for example, the frequency channel of the working system (system 0) through which the radio signal transmission unit 55 transmits a user signal, the switching unit 53 performs a process of switching the frequency channel of the working system in which the abnormality occurs to the frequency channel of the redundant system (system 1). The switching unit 53 then outputs the processed user signal to each of the two modulation units 54 for each frequency channel. The switching unit 53 also has a function of outputting an alarm to the control unit 56 when an abnormality occurs in the frequency channel of the working system.

Each of the modulation units 54 modulates the user signal output by the switching unit 53 for each frequency channel, and outputs the modulated user signal to the radio signal transmission unit 55. The modulation unit 54 may also have a BER (Bit Error Rate) measurement function. Each of the modulation units 54 also has a function of outputting an alarm to the control unit 56 when an abnormality occurs in the frequency channel of the current system.

The wireless signal transmission unit 55 has two RF (radio frequency) units 550 and an antenna 552, each corresponding to a frequency channel, and transmits a signal to another communication device via the wireless transmission path 4. Each RF unit 550 has a transmission amplifier, a filter, etc., and transmits the user signal modulated by the modulation unit 54 via the antenna 552 for each frequency channel. Each RF unit 550 also has a function of outputting an alarm to the control unit 56 when an abnormality occurs in the frequency channel of the current system.

The control unit 56 monitors whether an abnormality has occurred in the frequency channel of the current system, and controls each unit constituting the transmission unit 5. For example, the control unit 56 controls simultaneous switching between transmission and reception in the transmission unit 5 and the reception unit 6, detects abnormalities in the frequency channel of the current system, and controls the switching unit 53 to switch the frequency channel of the current system to the frequency channel of the redundant system. The control unit 56 also controls the priority processing unit 51 to process the priority of user signals.

Furthermore, when the wireless signal receiving unit 60 or the wired signal receiving unit 572 (described later) receives a specified notification, the control unit 56 controls at least one of the wireless signal transmitting unit 55 and the wired signal transmitting unit 570 (described later) to transmit a control signal that controls other communication devices in response to the notification.

The wired signal communication unit 57 is a wired communication interface equipped with a wired signal transmitting unit 570 and a wired signal receiving unit 572 that transmit and receive signals via the wired transmission path 3 (see Figure 1), and transmits and receives signals according to the control of the control unit 56.

The wired signal transmission unit 570 transmits a signal to other communication devices via the wired transmission path 3. The wired signal transmission unit 570 also transmits a predetermined notification via the wired transmission path 3 for each wireless line in the wireless transmission path 4. For example, when a fault occurs in the wireless transmission path 4, the wired signal transmission unit 570 uses the free capacity of the wired transmission path 3 to transmit a notification indicating an abnormality or state change that has occurred in a part of the communication device to other communication devices.

For example, when a fault occurs in the wireless transmission path 4, the wired signal receiving unit 572 receives a notification indicating an abnormality or a state change that has occurred in a part of the other communication device via the wired transmission path 3. For example, the wired signal receiving unit 572 receives a predetermined notification via the wired transmission path 3 for each wireless line in the wireless transmission path 4.

The notifications received by the wired signal receiving unit 572 include, for example, alarms (device alarms, communication alarms) and event information, which are sent with names separated for each part, such as a circuit board.

In addition, for example, when the wired signal transmitting unit 570 transmits a specified notification to another communication device, the wired signal receiving unit 572 receives a control signal for controlling the communication device from the other communication device via the wired transmission path 3.

The receiving unit 6 has, for example, a wireless signal receiving unit 60, two demodulation units 61 corresponding to each frequency channel, a switching unit 62, a frame processing unit 63, a priority processing unit 64, an interface (I/F) unit 65, a control unit 66, and a wired signal communication unit 67.

The wireless signal receiving unit 60 has two antennas 600 and an RF unit 602, each corresponding to a frequency channel, and receives a signal via the wireless transmission path 4. The antenna 600 receives a user signal for each frequency channel. The RF unit 602 includes a receiving amplifier and an AGC (automatic gain control), and detects a user signal as a received signal for each frequency channel via the antenna 600, and outputs the detected user signal to the demodulation unit 61.

Furthermore, the wireless signal receiving unit 60 receives a notification indicating an abnormality or a state change that has occurred in a part of the other communication device via the wireless transmission path 4. Furthermore, each of the RF units 602 outputs a detected signal to the control unit 66. Furthermore, each of the RF units 602 has a function of outputting an alarm to the control unit 66 when an abnormality occurs in the frequency channel of the active system.

Each demodulation unit 61 demodulates the user signal received by the wireless signal receiving unit 60 for each frequency channel, and outputs the demodulated user signal to the switching unit 62. The demodulation unit 61 may also have a BER measurement function. Each demodulation unit 61 also has a function of outputting an alarm to the control unit 66 when an abnormality occurs in the frequency channel of the current system.

When an abnormality occurs in the working frequency channel that transmits the user signals demodulated by each demodulator 61, the switching unit 62 performs a process of switching the working frequency channel where the abnormality occurs to a redundant frequency channel. The switching unit 62 then outputs the processed user signals to the frame processing unit 63 for each frequency channel. The switching unit 62 also has a function of outputting an alarm to the control unit 66 when an abnormality occurs in the working frequency channel.

The frame processing unit 63 performs buffering, etc. on the user signal output by the switching unit 62 to generate a specified frame, and outputs the generated frame to the priority processing unit 64.

The priority processing unit 64 performs processing to identify the priority of the user signal output by the frame processing unit 63, and outputs the processed user signal to the I/F unit 65. For example, the priority processing unit 64 processes the priority of each user signal in the same manner as the QoS control defined in IEEE 802.11e.

The I/F unit 65 is a user interface that acquires the user signals output by the priority processing unit 64 and outputs them to subsequent stages.

The control unit 66 monitors whether an abnormality has occurred in the frequency channel of the active system, and controls each unit constituting the receiving unit 6. For example, the control unit 66 controls simultaneous switching between transmission and reception in the receiving unit 6 and the transmitting unit 5, detects abnormalities in the frequency channel of the active system, and controls the switching unit 62 to switch the frequency channel of the active system to the frequency channel of the redundant system. The control unit 66 also controls the priority processing unit 64 to process the priority of user signals.

Furthermore, when the wireless signal receiving unit 60 or the wired signal receiving unit 672 (described later) receives a specified notification, the control unit 66 controls at least one of the wireless signal transmitting unit 55 and the wired signal transmitting unit 670 (described later) to transmit a control signal that controls another communication device in response to the notification.

The wired signal communication unit 67 is a wired communication interface equipped with a wired signal transmitting unit 670 and a wired signal receiving unit 672 that transmit and receive signals via the wired transmission path 3 (see Figure 1), and transmits and receives signals according to the control of the control unit 66.

For example, the wired signal transmitting unit 670 transmits a signal to other communication devices via the wired transmission path 3. The wired signal transmitting unit 670 also transmits a predetermined notification via the wired transmission path 3 for each wireless line in the wireless transmission path 4. For example, when a fault occurs in the wireless transmission path 4, the wired signal transmitting unit 670 utilizes the free capacity of the wired transmission path 3 to transmit a notification indicating an abnormality or state change that has occurred in a part of the communication device to other communication devices.

For example, when a fault occurs in the wireless transmission path 4, the wired signal receiving unit 672 receives a notification indicating an abnormality or a state change that has occurred in a part of the other communication device via the wired transmission path 3. For example, the wired signal receiving unit 672 receives a predetermined notification via the wired transmission path 3 for each wireless line in the wireless transmission path 4.

The notifications received by the wired signal receiving unit 672 include, for example, alarms (device alarms, communication alarms) and event information, which are sent with different names for each part, such as a circuit board.

In addition, for example, when the wired signal transmitting unit 670 transmits a specified notification to another communication device, the wired signal receiving unit 672 receives a control signal for controlling the communication device from the other communication device via the wired transmission path 3.

In addition, each function possessed by the above-mentioned transmitting unit 5 and receiving unit 6 may be configured in part or in whole by hardware such as a PLD (Programmable Logic Device) or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or may be configured as a program executed by a processor such as a CPU.

For example, the transmitting unit 5 and receiving unit 6 in one embodiment can be realized using a computer and a program, and the program can be recorded on a storage medium or provided via a network.

Next, a specific example of the operation of the communication system 1 (Figure 1) will be described. For example, the first communication device 2-1 transmits a user signal, and the second communication device 2-2 receives the user signal.

Here, if a fault occurs in the wireless transmission path 4, the first communication device 2-1 receives a notification from the second communication device 2-2 via the wired transmission path 3 indicating an abnormality or status change that has occurred in part of the second communication device 2-2.

The notification received by the first communication device 2-1 is, for example, a communication alarm, which is information transmitted from the second communication device 2-2 for each line accommodated in the wireless transmission path 4, such as a degradation in the bit error rate for each wireless line or loss of synchronization. The notification received by the first communication device 2-1 is, for example, event information, which may be information indicating a change in the operational state, such as the result of system switching between system 0 and system 1 within the communication device, or a CPU start.

When the first communication device 2-1 receives the notification, it controls the transmission of a control signal for controlling the second communication device 2-2 in response to the notification to the second communication device 2-2 via the wired transmission path 3.

In this way, in one embodiment of the communication system 1, when a fault occurs in the wireless transmission path 4, for example, the first communication device 2-1 receives a notification indicating an abnormality or status change that has occurred in a part of the second communication device 2-2 via the wired transmission path 3, and controls the second communication device 2-2 in response to the notification.

In other words, the communication system 1 transfers alarms and control signals via the wired transmission path 3 that is installed in parallel with the wireless transmission path 4. Therefore, the communication system 1 can grasp in detail the alarm and event information of the communication device with which the first communication device 2-1 or the second communication device 2-2 is opposed, and therefore, when a fault occurs in the wireless transmission path 4, it can accurately isolate the cause and accurately determine the method required to restore communication.

For example, if the first communication device 2-1 is a manned station and the second communication device 2-2 is an unmanned station, when a part of the second communication device 2-2 using the wireless transmission path 4 fails, the second communication device 2-2 notifies the first communication device 2-1 of the location of the failure as a device alarm via the wired transmission path 3. The first communication device 2-1 can then control the second communication device 2-2 via the wired transmission path 3 to switch the failed device of the second communication device 2-2 to a spare device.

In addition, if the CPU of the second communication device 2-2 goes into an abnormal state, the first communication device 2-1 can perform remote reset control. The first communication device 2-1 can also remotely control switching of the transmitter output signal of the second communication device 2-2 to a dummy load or an antenna.

In this way, even if a failure occurs in the wireless transmission path that transmits a notification indicating an abnormality or status change that has occurred in part of the communication device, communication system 1 makes it possible to efficiently control the communication device in which the abnormality or status change has occurred, efficiently restore communication, and perform high-quality wireless communication.

1: communication system, 2-1: first communication device, 2-2: second communication device, 3: wired transmission path, 4: wireless transmission path, 5: transmitter, 6: receiver, 10-1: communication device, 10-2: communication device, 50: I/F unit, 51: priority processing unit, 52: frame processing unit, 53: switching unit, 54: modulation unit, 55: wireless signal transmission unit, 56: control unit, 57: wired signal communication unit, 60: wireless signal reception unit, 61: demodulation unit, 62: switching unit, 63: frame processing unit, 64: priority processing unit, 65: I/F unit, 66: control unit, 67: wired signal communication unit, 100: monitoring and control device, 550: RF unit, 552: antenna, 570: wired signal transmission unit, 572: wired signal reception unit, 600: antenna, 602: RF unit, 670: wired signal transmission unit, 672: wired signal reception unit

Claims (6)

In a communication system in which a first communication device and a second communication device communicate with each other via a wired transmission path and a wireless transmission path,
The first communication device is
a wired signal transmitting unit for transmitting a signal to the second communication device via the wired transmission path;
a wireless signal transmitting unit for transmitting a signal to the second communication device via the wireless transmission path;
a wireless signal receiving unit that receives a notification indicating an abnormality or a state change that has occurred in a part of the second communication device via the wireless transmission path;
a wired signal receiving unit that receives, when a fault occurs in the wireless transmission path, a notification indicating an abnormality or a state change that has occurred in a part of the second communication device via the wired transmission path;
and a control unit that, when the wireless signal receiving unit or the wired signal receiving unit receives a notification, controls at least one of the wireless signal transmitting unit and the wired signal transmitting unit to transmit a control signal that controls the second communication device in response to the notification. The wireless transmission path is
Accommodates multiple wireless lines,
The wired signal receiving unit is
The communication system according to claim 1 , wherein a notification is received for each of the wireless circuits. A communication method in which a first communication device and a second communication device communicate with each other via a wired transmission path and a wireless transmission path,
receiving, by the first communication device via the wired transmission path, a notification indicating an abnormality or a state change occurring in a part of the second communication device when a failure occurs in the wireless transmission path;
and when the first communication device receives the notification, controlling the first communication device to transmit a control signal for controlling the second communication device in response to the notification to the second communication device via the wired transmission path,
The wireless transmission path is
Accommodates multiple wireless lines,
The first communication device is
A communication method comprising: receiving a notification for each of said wireless lines. A communication device that communicates with other communication devices via a wired transmission path and a wireless transmission path,
a wired signal transmitting unit for transmitting a signal to the other communication device via the wired transmission path;
a wireless signal transmitting unit for transmitting a signal to the other communication device via the wireless transmission path;
a wireless signal receiving unit that receives a notification indicating an abnormality or a state change that has occurred in a part of the other communication device via the wireless transmission path;
a wired signal receiving unit that receives, when a fault occurs in the wireless transmission path, a notification indicating an abnormality or a state change that has occurred in a part of the other communication device via the wired transmission path;
and a control unit that, when the wireless signal receiving unit or the wired signal receiving unit receives a notification, controls at least one of the wireless signal transmitting unit and the wired signal transmitting unit to transmit a control signal for controlling the other communication device in response to the notification. The wireless transmission path is
Accommodates multiple wireless lines,
The wired signal receiving unit is
The communication device according to claim 4 , wherein the notification is received for each of the wireless circuits. A communication device that communicates with other communication devices via a wired transmission path and a wireless transmission path,
a wired signal transmitting unit configured to, when a fault occurs in the wireless transmission path, transmit a notification indicating an abnormality or a state change occurring in a part of the communication device to the other communication device via the wired transmission path;
a wired signal receiving unit that receives a control signal for controlling the other communication device from the other communication device via the wired transmission path when the wired signal transmitting unit has transmitted a notification to the other communication device,
The wireless transmission path is
Accommodates multiple wireless lines,
The wired signal transmission unit is
A communication device that transmits a notification for each of the wireless circuits.

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