Measurement device and its Non-PSC connection method

Abstract

To provide a measuring device that can perform measurement on any channel without a user being aware of whether it is PSC or Non-PSC.SOLUTION: A measuring device includes a signal generation unit 11 for generating control data for communicating with a DUT 100 and various data related to measurement, a channel selection control unit 12 for selecting one channel from among multiple channels supported by the DUT 100, a wireless communication unit 13 for establishing a network connection with DUT 100 on a channel selected by the channel selection control unit 12, an RF measurement unit 14 for measuring the transmission and reception characteristics of the DUT 100 on the channel where the network connection between the wireless communication unit 13 and the DUT 100 is established, and a control unit 16 for automatically connecting via PSC, then sending a channel switching instruction to the DUT 100 to switch to Non-PSC when there is a channel connection instruction from a user, if that channel is Non-PSC.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a measurement device, and more particularly to a measurement device that measures radio signals transmitted and received by a communication device that operates in accordance with a wireless LAN (Wireless Local Area Network) communication standard. [Background technology]

[0002] With the development of information and communication technology, various wireless communication technologies have been developed. Among them, the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11 standard is known as a communication standard related to wireless LAN technology.

[0003] The concept of PSC (Preferred Scanning Channel) has been added to the IEEE802.11 standard as a specification specific to the 6 GHz band.

[0004] This is placed every fourth channel of the 20MHz bandwidth, and the other channels are Non-PSC (Non-Preferred Scanning Channel). The center frequency of the PSC is calculated using the following formula. PSC center frequency = 5940 - 55 + 80 × n(MHz) n = 1,...,15 The rules for PSC and Non-PSC are as follows: An AP (Access Point) that serves as a wireless LAN base station and only supports the 1.6 GHz band uses the Primary Channel as the PSC. 2.In Non-PSC, Active Scan, in which a STA (STAtion) acting as a wireless LAN client asks an AP whether it can communicate using a channel, is prohibited. etc. have been decided.

[0005] Rule 2 is expected to reduce the load on non-PSCs by concentrating scanning operations on the PSCs.

[0006] In passive scan, in which a STA monitors the notification information sent by APs to search for APs with which it can communicate, each channel needs to be monitored for at least 200 ms, and it takes nearly 8.5 seconds to check all 43 non-PSC channels in the 6 GHz band.

[0007] For this reason, STAs such as smartphones may not scan all channels, but may only scan PSC.

[0008] For such a STA, even if an attempt is made to measure all channels, the STA will only connect to PSC, and therefore will not connect as Non-PSC, making it impossible to make measurements.

[0009] Patent Document 1 describes that a measurement device, which is an AP, uses a CSA (Channel Switch Announcement) mechanism to switch the channel of a DUT (Device Under Test), which is also an AP, such as a smartphone, from PSC to Non-PSC to perform measurements. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0010] [Patent Document 1] JP 2022-175642 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0011] However, with such measurement devices, the user must determine whether the channel he or she is trying to measure is PSC or non-PSC, and if it is non-PSC, he or she must first connect to the DUT as PSC and then switch to non-PSC, which makes the measurement procedure complicated.

[0012] SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT EMBODIMENT An object of the present invention is to provide a measurement device that allows a user to measure any channel without being aware of whether it is PSC or non-PSC. [Means for solving the problem]

[0013] The measurement device of the present invention is a measurement device that measures the transmission and reception characteristics of a communication device by measuring radio signals transmitted and received by the communication device, and when a channel connection instruction is received from a user, if the channel is Non-PSC, it automatically connects with PSC and then transmits a channel switching instruction to the communication device, Without disconnecting the network connection with the communication device It is equipped with a control unit that switches to Non-PSC.

[0014] With this configuration, when a channel connection instruction is received from the user, if the channel is non-PSC, the system automatically connects to the PSC channel, and then: Without disconnecting the network connection to the communication device This allows the user to measure any channel without being aware of whether it is PSC or non-PSC.

[0015] In the measuring device of the present invention, the channel switching instruction is transmitted using a Channel Switch Announcement frame or an Extended Channel Switch Announcement frame defined in IEEE802.11.

[0016] This configuration uses the Channel Switch Announcement frame or Extended Channel Switch Announcement frame defined in IEEE802.11 as a channel switching instruction, so it is possible to switch channels without defining and enabling a special channel switching instruction.

[0017] Further, a Non-PSC connection method of the present invention is a Non-PSC connection method of a measurement device that measures transmission and reception characteristics of a communication device by measuring radio signals transmitted and received by the communication device, and includes the steps of automatically connecting in PSC mode when a channel connection instruction is received from a user and the channel is Non-PSC, and after connecting in PSC mode, transmitting a channel switching instruction to the communication device, Without disconnecting the network connection with the communication device and a step of switching the PSC to Non-PSC.

[0018] With this configuration, when a channel connection instruction is received from the user, if the channel is non-PSC, the system automatically connects to the PSC channel, and then: Without disconnecting the network connection to the communication device This allows the user to measure any channel without being aware of whether it is PSC or non-PSC.

[0019] In the Non-PSC connection method of the present invention, a Channel Switch Announcement frame or an Extended Channel Switch Announcement frame defined in IEEE802.11 is used as the channel switching instruction.

[0020] This configuration uses the Channel Switch Announcement frame or Extended Channel Switch Announcement frame defined in IEEE802.11 as a channel switching instruction, so it is possible to switch channels without defining and enabling a special channel switching instruction. Effect of the Invention

[0021] The present invention can provide a measurement device that allows a user to measure any channel without being aware of whether it is PSC or non-PSC. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0022] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a measurement device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating the procedure of a Non-PSC connection process of the measurement device according to one embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0023] Hereinafter, a measuring device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0024] As shown in Fig. 1, a measurement device 1 according to this embodiment wirelessly communicates with a DUT 100, which is a communication device, to measure the transmission and reception characteristics of the DUT 100. The frequency bands that the measurement device 1 according to this embodiment measures are, for example, the 2.4 GHz band, the 5 GHz band, and the 6 GHz band. In this embodiment, the measurement device 1 operates as an AP, and the DUT 100 operates as an STA. The DUT 100 is, for example, a transmission device such as a router, or a mobile terminal such as a smartphone or a notebook computer. It is assumed that the measurement device 1 wirelessly communicates with the DUT 100 in accordance with a communication standard conforming to IEEE802.11.

[0025] In FIG. 1, a measurement device 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a signal generating unit 11, a channel selection control unit 12, a wireless communication unit 13, an RF measurement unit 14, a user interface unit 15, and a control unit 16, and is configured to measure the transmission and reception characteristics of a DUT 100 using a wireless link consisting of multiple channels.

[0026] The signal generating unit 11 generates signals including control data for communicating with the DUT 100 and various data related to measurements.

[0027] The channel selection control unit 12 selects one channel to be used by the DUT 100 from among a plurality of channels supported by the DUT 100 .

[0028] The wireless communication unit 13 establishes a network connection (wireless communication connection) with the DUT 100 on the channel selected by the channel selection control unit 12. The DUT 100 and the wireless communication unit 13 may be connected to the network by being wired via a coaxial cable or the like. Alternatively, the DUT 100 and the wireless communication unit 13 may be connected to the network by installing the DUT 100 and a wireless communication antenna in an anechoic chamber and wirelessly connecting the DUT 100 and the wireless communication unit 13 via the wireless communication antenna.

[0029] The wireless communication unit 13 includes a transmitting unit 13a and a receiving unit 13b, and establishes a network connection with the DUT 100 in accordance with a communication standard conforming to, for example, IEEE802.11. After the network connection is established, the transmitting unit 13a and the receiving unit 13b transmit and receive various data related to measurement to and from the DUT 100.

[0030] The transmitter 13a includes an encoding processing circuit, a modulation circuit, a DAC (digital-to-analog converter), an up-converter, etc., and converts the signal generated by the signal generator 11 into a radio signal and transmits it to the DUT 100. The receiver 13b includes a down-converter, an ADC (analog-to-digital converter), etc., and performs reception processing of the radio signal transmitted from the DUT 100.

[0031] The RF measurement unit 14 measures the transmission and reception characteristics of the DUT 100 in a channel through which the wireless communication unit 13 and the DUT 100 are network-connected. The RF measurement unit 14 receives a radio signal transmitted from the DUT 100 via the receiver 13b, and measures the transmission and reception characteristics of the DUT 100. The RF measurement unit 14 can measure, as the transmission characteristics of the DUT 100, for example, transmission power, error vector magnitude (EVM), in-phase quadrature-phase (IQ) constellation, spectrum, etc. Furthermore, the RF measurement unit 14 can measure, as the reception characteristics of the DUT 100, for example, packet error rate (PER), frame reception rate (FRR), etc.

[0032] The user interface unit 15 includes an operation unit 15a and a display unit 15b. The operation unit 15a is for accepting an operation input by a user, and is configured, for example, as a touch panel equipped with a touch sensor for detecting a contact position by a touch operation on an input surface corresponding to the display screen of the display unit 15b. When a user touches the position of a specific item displayed on the display screen with a finger, a stylus, or the like, the operation unit 15a recognizes a match between the position detected by the touch sensor on the display screen and the position of the item, and outputs a signal for executing a function assigned to each item to the control unit 16. The operation unit 15a may be displayed on the display unit 15b in an operable manner, or may be configured to include an input device such as a keyboard or a mouse.

[0033] By operating the operation unit 15a, the user can set the channel to be used when establishing a network connection between the wireless communication unit 13 and the DUT 100, the type of RF measurement to be performed by the RF measurement unit 14, and an instruction to start the RF measurement.

[0034] The display unit 15b is composed of a display device such as a liquid crystal display or a CRT, and displays various display contents such as a setting screen and measurement results related to RF measurement of the DUT 100 on the display screen based on the display control by the control unit 16. Furthermore, the display unit 15b displays operation objects such as buttons, soft keys, pull-down menus, and text boxes for setting various conditions.

[0035] The control unit 16 is configured by a computer unit including a CPU (Central Processing Unit), not shown, a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a hard disk device, and an input / output port.

[0036] The ROM and hard disk drive of this computer unit store various control constants, various maps, and the like, as well as a program for causing the computer unit to function as control unit 16. That is, the CPU executes the programs stored in the ROM and hard disk drive, causing the computer unit to function as control unit 16. The hard disk drive may be a CF (Compact Flash) card or the like using flash memory.

[0037] The signal generating section 11, the channel selection control section 12, the RF measuring section 14, and the user interface section 15 are connected to the input / output ports of the control section 16, so that the control section 16 can transmit and receive signals to and from each section.

[0038] At least a part of the signal generating unit 11, the channel selection control unit 12, and the RF measuring unit 14 may be configured as software and operated on the computer unit of the control unit 16.

[0039] At least a part of the signal generating section 11, the channel selection control section 12, and the RF measuring section 14 may be configured with a digital circuit such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit).

[0040] At least a part of the signal generating section 11, the channel selection control section 12, and the RF measuring section 14 may be configured by appropriately combining hardware processing by digital circuits and software processing by a predetermined program.

[0041] Furthermore, at least a part of the control unit 16, the signal generating unit 11, the channel selection control unit 12, and the RF measuring unit 14 may be configured as software that runs on a personal computer that is capable of communicating with the measurement device 1.

[0042] In this embodiment, when a user inputs an operation to the operation unit 15a to specify a Non-PSC as the channel to be used when establishing a network connection between the wireless communication unit 13 and the DUT 100, the control unit 16 automatically establishes a network connection with the DUT 100 using a PSC, and then transmits a channel switching instruction to the DUT 100 to switch the network connection from the connected PSC to the specified Non-PSC.

[0043] The control unit 16 uses, for example, a Channel Switch Announcement frame or an Extended Channel Switch Announcement frame defined in IEEE802.11 as a channel switching instruction to switch channels without disconnecting the network connection with the DUT 100.

[0044] It is also possible to add information for notifying the DUT 100 of the new channel to a beacon frame, a probe response frame, or the like, in addition to the Channel Switch Announcement frame, to have the DUT 100 change the channel. If a frame similar to or equivalent to the Channel Switch Announcement frame is defined in the future, the new frame may be used to change the channel.

[0045] The user can set whether or not to use this function. When this function is turned off by the user's operation input to the operation unit 15a, the control unit 16 causes the network connection with the DUT 100 to be made by the specified Non-PSC even when Non-PSC is specified as the channel to be used when making a network connection between the wireless communication unit 13 and the DUT 100.

[0046] The Non-PSC connection process performed by the measurement device 1 according to this embodiment configured as above will be described with reference to FIG.

[0047] When a user inputs an instruction to set up a connection on 1ch through operation input to operation unit 15a, in step S1, if control unit 16 determines that 1ch is Non-PSC, it selects, for example, 5ch which is the closest PSC in frequency and instructs channel selection control unit 12 to connect on 5ch.

[0048] The channel selection control unit 12 outputs to the wireless communication unit 13 a frequency change instruction for establishing a network connection between the wireless communication unit 13 and the DUT 100 in 5ch.

[0049] The wireless communication unit 13 switches its own channel to 5ch, and transmits to the DUT 100 a beacon frame including information indicating that 5ch is an available channel.

[0050] The DUT 100 scans all channels that it supports, and when it detects the measurement device 1 using 5ch based on the information in the beacon frame transmitted from the wireless communication unit 13, it establishes a network connection on 5ch in step S2.

[0051] When the wireless communication unit 13 completes the procedure for connecting to the DUT 100, it notifies the control unit 16 that the connection has been completed.

[0052] In step S3, when the control unit 16 receives a notification that the connection in the PSC has been completed, it instructs the channel selection control unit 12 to switch the connection channel to 1ch.

[0053] The channel selection control unit 12 outputs a transmission instruction to the wireless communication unit 13 to transmit, to the DUT 100, a Channel Switch Announcement frame including information about the switching destination 1ch.

[0054] The wireless communication unit 13 transmits to the DUT 100 a Channel Switch Announcement frame including information on the switching destination channel 1.

[0055] The wireless communication unit 13 notifies the channel selection control unit 12 that the transmission of the Channel Switch Announcement frame to the DUT 100 has been completed.

[0056] In step S4, the DUT 100 scans all channels that it supports in order to switch to 1ch, which is set as the switching destination channel in the Channel Switch Announcement frame.

[0057] In step S5, the channel selection control unit 12 outputs a frequency change instruction to the wireless communication unit 13 to establish a network connection between the wireless communication unit 13 and the DUT 100 through 1ch.

[0058] The wireless communication unit 13 switches its own channel to 1ch, and transmits to the DUT 100 a beacon frame including information indicating that 1ch is an available channel.

[0059] In step S6, based on the information of the beacon frame transmitted from the wireless communication unit 13, the DUT 100 confirms that the wireless communication unit 13 is using 1ch, switches its own channel to 1ch, and transmits some kind of wireless LAN frame (e.g., a Null frame) to the wireless communication unit 13.

[0060] The wireless communication unit 13 notifies the channel selection control unit 12 that it has received any wireless LAN frame from the DUT 100, and the channel selection control unit 12 notifies the control unit 16 that the channel switching has been completed.

[0061] When the control unit 16 is notified by the channel selection control unit 12 that the channel switching has been completed, the control unit 16 causes the display unit 15b of the user interface unit 15 to display a message or the like notifying the user that the connection has been completed.

[0062] In addition, the control unit 16 may display a message such as "Connecting via 1ch" on the display unit 15b of the user interface unit 15 from the time when the user inputs an instruction to set up a 1ch connection by operating the operation unit 15a until the control unit 16 notifies the user that the connection has been completed.

[0063] In this manner, in the above-described embodiment, when a channel connection instruction is received from the user and the channel is Non-PSC, the control unit 16 automatically connects via PSC and then transmits a channel switching instruction to the DUT 100 to switch to Non-PSC.

[0064] This allows the device to connect as PSC and then switch to non-PSC when instructed to connect as non-PSC, allowing users to measure any channel without being aware of whether it is PSC or non-PSC.

[0065] Furthermore, even when the DUT 100 scans only the PSC, the connection to the DUT 100 and the measurement can be performed reliably.

[0066] Furthermore, the channel selection control unit 12 causes the wireless communication unit 13 to transmit a Channel Switch Announcement frame, which includes information on a channel to be switched to and is defined in IEEE802.11, as a channel switching instruction to the DUT 100, thereby causing the channel to be switched.

[0067] This allows switching from PSC to Non-PSC using the Channel Switch Announcement frame specified in IEEE802.11, and allows channels to be switched without defining and enabling a special channel switching instruction.

[0068] Although an embodiment of the present invention has been disclosed, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that modifications may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention, and all such modifications and equivalents are intended to be encompassed by the following claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0069] 1. Measuring equipment 12 Channel selection control section 13 Wireless Communication Section 13a Transmitter 13b Receiving section 14 RF measurement section 16 Control section 100 DUT (communication equipment)

Claims

1. A measurement device (1) that measures a transmission / reception characteristic of a communication device (100) by measuring a radio signal transmitted and received by the communication device, A measurement device comprising a control unit (16) that, when a channel connection instruction is received from a user and the channel is a Non-PSC (Non-Preferred Scanning Channel), automatically connects via a PSC (Preferred Scanning Channel) and then transmits a channel switching instruction to the communication device to switch to Non-PSC without disconnecting a network connection with the communication device.

2. 2. The measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the channel switching instruction is a Channel Switch Announcement frame or an Extended Channel Switch Announcement frame defined in IEEE 802.

11.

3. A Non-Preferred Scanning Channel (Non-PSC) connection method for a measurement device (1) that measures transmission and reception characteristics of a communication device (100) by measuring a radio signal transmitted and received by the communication device, comprising: When a channel connection instruction is received from a user, if the channel is a non-PSC, automatically connecting via a PSC (Preferred Scanning Channel); a step of transmitting a channel switching instruction to the communication device after the communication device is connected via PSC, thereby switching the network connection with the communication device to Non-PSC without disconnecting the network connection with the communication device.

4. The Non-PSC connection method according to claim 3, wherein a Channel Switch Announcement frame or an Extended Channel Switch Announcement frame defined in IEEE 802.11 is used as the channel switching instruction.

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