System Monitoring Solutions for Comms Infrastructure

Basestation (BTS) Applications 

BTS Monitoring & Control

New wireless technologies and services are increasing data rates to support web browsing, video etc. These trends increase the overall power requirements for the base stations. In addition, in order to support the growing number of subscribers in high population density areas, there is a trend to using several smaller cell sites (area of coverage) to be able to handle the number of calls. At the same time the form factor is getting smaller to enable them to be deployed more easily. All of these factors combine to increase the overall power density inside the box and make power and thermal management extremely critical to ensure reliability and ultimately fewer dropped calls. Consistent with everyone's desire to reduce the energy impact, there is also a growing trend to make the base stations self sufficient. Designs need to be highly energy efficient so they can be powered by alternative energy sources. Self sufficiency will reduce installation and operating costs and allow a base station to be installed almost anywhere including remote locations where power mains are not available. Good control and monitoring is needed to monitor the overall health of the basestation as well as multi-channel voltage monitoring to check power supply health and check for high voltage drops to determine if there is a component failure or reduce the cell coverage if the system gets too hot. National's hardware monitors and ADCs offer temperature, fan monitoring or control and voltage monitoring.

PA Monitoring & Control

The power amplifier (PA) in the transmit signal path of a base station is the primary component in maintaining overall transmission performance. A Digital-to-Analog converter (DAC) is used to control the PA and provides for optimized signal performance, output power and efficiency (minimizing power consumption). A temperature sensor is often used on the base station transceiver card to measure ambient temperature and provide additional signal correction

RSSI (Receive Signal Strength Indication) 

RSSI is used in systems designed to extending wireless high speed internet access to locations where the internet infrastructure is not available. Systems includes multiple wireless access points, power and synchronization sections to coordinate communication with the access points and transmission to and from primary internet system. ADCs are used to monitor signal strength and maintain consistent signal strength and communication from the access point to the primary system.

Applications

• Signal strength monitoring

Radio Transmitter Power Level 

In radio transmission systems and repeaters controlling the signal in the transmit path is a key component in maintaining transmission performance. ADCs are used to monitor RF input and output levels and provide input to the controller. A DAC is used to control the Variable Gain Amplifier (VGA) and provides for the proper signal performance, output power and efficiency (minimum power consumption).

Applications

• Radio transmitters
• RF Microwave
• Digital Repeaters
• Analog Repeaters
• Repeater for analog band selection

Optical Networks (ON) 

Optical repeaters are used in optical communication systems to regenerate optical signals that need to be sent over long distances. Signal attenuation and distortion effect can affect signal integrity and limit usable transmission length in optical systems. An ADC plus microcontroller and DAC is often used to measure the amplitude of the incoming signal and adjust the outgoing retransmitted signal. A temperature sensor is often used to measure ambient temperature and provide additional signal correction.

Applications

• Optical Repeaters
• Amplifier Gain Control