Control apparatus, program, and antenna control method

Abstract

A base station 30 acquires record information indicating operation record of an antenna ATN of each wireless device 20, and trains a model using the acquired record information as training data, thereby generating / updating a learning model for determining an antenna pattern improved in user experience quality. The base station 30 inputs, to the generated / updated learning model, three-dimensional map data of a surrounding area including the current position of a wireless communication terminal 100 acquired from an external server together with terminal data received from the wireless communication terminal 10 this time and wireless device data received from each wireless device 20 this time, thereby determining an antenna pattern improved in user experience quality to be set for each wireless device 20.

Description

Control device, program, and antenna control method

[0001] The present invention relates to a control device, a program, and an antenna control method.

[0002] In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for high-speed and high-capacity wireless communication systems. Accordingly, wireless communication traffic is expected to continue to increase, and there is an urgent need to adopt a high-speed, high-quality wireless communication system (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

[0003] Special Publication No. 2004-514314

[0004] Radio waves, which are the signal transmission medium for wireless communication, are more susceptible to the effects of obstacles and fading the higher their frequency, so base station antennas are installed in high places with fewer obstacles, etc. The communication range of a base station (the so-called coverage area) is derived from parameters such as the transmission power from the base station, as well as the antenna orientation and tilt angle.

[0005] Currently, base station antennas are fixed in high places, but when telecommunications carriers receive complaints from users about poor signal quality, unstable communications, or difficulty connecting to the system, they have to dispatch workers to the base station to directly move the antennas and improve the communications environment. This has been pointed out as a problem, increasing antenna maintenance costs and posing a risk.

[0006] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described circumstances, and has an object to provide a technique that enables easy and appropriate control of the directivity of a base station antenna.

[0007] A control device according to one aspect of the present invention is a control device that controls the antenna directionality of each radio device, and is characterized by comprising: a first receiving unit that receives, from a user's terminal, terminal data including reception information indicating the radio wave reception status of the terminal and location information indicating the location of the terminal; a second receiving unit that receives, from the radio device to be controlled, radio device data including the antenna pattern of the radio device; a first acquisition unit that acquires performance information that indicates the operational performance of the antenna pattern of each radio device; a learning unit that generates and updates a learning model for determining the antenna pattern of the radio device by learning a model using the acquired performance information as learning data; a determination unit that determines the antenna pattern of the radio device to be controlled by inputting terminal data and radio device data into the generated and updated learning model; and a notification unit that notifies the radio device to be controlled of the determined antenna pattern.

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a technique that enables the directivity of a base station antenna to be easily and appropriately controlled.

[0009] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a wireless communication system according to the present embodiment; FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of an antenna pattern; FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of beamforming according to the antenna pattern; FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the main hardware configuration of a wireless communication terminal, a radio device, and a base station; FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the main functional block configuration of a wireless communication terminal; FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the main functional block configuration of a radio device; and FIG. 7 is a sequence chart showing an example of antenna control processing executed by the wireless communication system.

[0010] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below. In the following description of the drawings, identical or similar parts are denoted by identical or similar reference numerals. However, the drawings are schematic. Therefore, specific dimensions and the like should be determined in light of the following description. Furthermore, it goes without saying that the dimensional relationships and ratios of parts included in the drawings differ from one another. Furthermore, the technical scope of the present invention should not be interpreted as being limited to the embodiment.

[0011] 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a wireless communication system 1 according to this embodiment. The wireless communication system 1 includes a wireless communication terminal 10, a wireless device 20, and a base station 30.

[0012] A wireless communication terminal (UE: User Equipment) 10 used by each user can be wirelessly connected to a base station 30 via a radio device 20 equipped with an antenna ATN.

[0013] The wireless communication terminal 10 can be applied to any terminal that supports 5G, such as smartphones, mobile terminals, wearable terminals, tablet terminals, personal computers (PCs), and notebook PCs, as well as various IoT terminals (e.g., home appliances such as televisions, cameras, and game consoles, medical equipment, and various sensors), and connected terminals for mobile objects such as vehicles and drones (e.g., navigation systems).

[0014] The radio unit (RU) 20 includes an antenna ATN compatible with, for example, a 5G frequency band, and realizes beamforming. The radio unit 20 realizes high-speed, large-capacity communication with the wireless communication terminal 10 by combining, for example, a directional MIMO antenna ATN utilizing MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) technology with highly accurate digital beamforming technology. The directivity and radiated energy characteristics of the antenna ATN are determined from an antenna pattern (i.e., a diagram showing how the antenna radiates energy into space) such as the one shown in FIG. 2 . In this embodiment, a MIMO antenna ATN equipped with multiple antenna patterns is assumed, but is not limited to this.

[0015] The base station 30 controls the directivity of the antenna ATN of each radio device 20, forms a coverage area within which communication with the radio communication terminal 10 is possible, and performs radio communication with the radio communication terminal 10 within the coverage area. The base station 30 is connected to a core network device (CN) via a core network interface. The core network device controls the base stations 30 and mainly handles load control between the base stations 30, calling (paging) the radio communication terminal 10, location registration, and other mobility control.

[0016] The base station 30 is, for example, a base station that applies virtualization technology in a virtual Radio Access Network (vRAN), and is configured with a general-purpose server or the like. The base station 30 includes a central unit (CU) and one or more distributed units (DU). The central unit controls the distributed units and controls Radio Resource Control (RRC), which is a communication protocol between the wireless communication terminal 10 and the base station 30. The distributed units perform signal modulation and demodulation and retransmission of lost signals. The coverage area of ​​the base station 30 is determined by parameters related to directivity, such as the position (including height) and tilt angle of the antenna ATN of each radio device 20 accommodated by the base station 30.

[0017] 3 is a diagram illustrating beamforming according to an antenna pattern. For example, as shown in A of FIG. 3, an antenna pattern in which the peaks of the beams of each antenna ATN are directed to the same location cannot achieve efficient beamforming. Therefore, in this embodiment, as shown in B of FIG. 3, an antenna pattern that aims to improve the user experience quality is determined based on the distribution of wireless communication terminals 10 and past operational performance in the area (described later), thereby achieving efficient beamforming.

[0018] 4 is a diagram showing an example of the main hardware configuration of the wireless communication terminal 10, the radio device 20, and the base station 30. The wireless communication terminal 10 and the base station 30 include a processor 11, a memory 12, a storage device 13, and a communication device 14 that performs wired or wireless communication.

[0019] The processor 11 is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), and controls the entire device.

[0020] The memory 12 is composed of, for example, a read only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), and / or a random access memory (RAM).

[0021] The storage device 13 is configured by storage such as a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), and / or an embedded multi media card (eMMC).

[0022] The communication device 14 is a device that communicates via a wired and / or wireless network, and is, for example, a network card, a communication module, etc. The communication device 14 may also include an amplifier, an RF (Radio Frequency) device that performs processing related to wireless signals, and a BB (Base Band) device that performs baseband signal processing.

[0023] In addition to these hardware components, the wireless communication terminal 10 and the base station 30 may also have an input device for accepting input operations, an output device for outputting information, etc. The input device may be, for example, a keyboard, a touch panel, a mouse, and / or a microphone, and the output device may be, for example, a display and / or a speaker.

[0024] <Functional Block Configuration> (Wireless Communication Terminal) Fig. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the main functional block configuration of the wireless communication terminal 10. The wireless communication terminal 10 includes a storage unit 110, a measurement unit 120, a GPS acquisition unit 130, and a communication unit 140. The storage unit 110 may be realized by the storage device 13, and the measurement unit 120 and the GPS acquisition unit 130 may be realized by the processor 11 executing a program stored in the storage device 13. The communication unit 140 may be realized by the communication device 14, or may be realized by the processor 11 in addition to the communication device 14 executing a program stored in the storage device 13.

[0025] The storage unit 110 stores various control programs and various data.

[0026] The measurement unit 120 acquires, for example, a cell identification ID (cell ID) for a cell (NR cell or LTE cell) of the wirelessly connected antenna ATN, measures the radio wave reception status of the wireless communication terminal 10, such as radio wave strength and quality, and outputs the result as reception information to the communication unit 140. The reception information is not limited to RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) and SINR (Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio), but may be RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality) or RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator), for example.

[0027] The GPS acquisition unit 130 receives GPS signals from GPS satellites (not shown), generates location information representing the absolute location of the wireless communication terminal 10, and outputs the location information to the communication unit 140. The communication unit 140 generates and transmits uplink signals to be transmitted to the base station 30 via the antenna ATN, and receives downlink signals from the base station 30 via the antenna ATN. The communication unit 140 also transmits the location information output from the GPS acquisition unit 130, together with reception information such as the cell ID and RSRP output from the measurement unit 120, to the base station 30 as terminal data.

[0028] 6 is a diagram showing an example of the main functional block configuration of the radio device 20. The radio communication terminal 10 includes a storage unit 210, an acquisition unit 220, an antenna control unit 230, and a communication unit 240. The storage unit 110 may be realized by the storage device 13, and the acquisition unit 220 and the antenna control unit 230 may be realized by the processor 11 executing a program stored in the storage device 13. The communication unit 240 may be realized by the communication device 14, or may be realized by the processor 11 in addition to the communication device 14 executing a program stored in the storage device 13.

[0029] The storage unit 210 stores various control programs and various data.

[0030] The acquisition unit 220 acquires neighboring base station information, such as a radio device identification ID and uplink / downlink channel information, by exchanging control messages with neighboring radio devices 20. The acquisition unit 220 may also acquire the SINR, RSRP, etc. of the radio communication terminal 10 (i.e., reception information of the radio communication terminal 10) by exchanging data with the radio communication terminal 10. Furthermore, the acquisition unit 220 acquires the antenna pattern currently set in the radio communication terminal 10. The acquisition unit 220 outputs the acquired information to the communication unit 240.

[0031] The antenna control unit 230 controls parameters (for example, direction, tilt angle, etc.) relating to the directivity of the antenna ATN mounted on the own terminal in accordance with the antenna pattern notified from the base station 30 .

[0032] The communication unit 240 transmits the radio device identification ID of its own device, the antenna pattern supplied from the acquisition unit 220, neighboring base station information, reception information of the radio communication terminal 10, and the like as radio device information to the base station 30. The communication unit 240 also receives an optimal antenna pattern (described later) intended to improve the user's quality of experience, which is notified (transmitted) from the base station 30. The antenna pattern received by the communication unit 240 is stored in the storage unit 210 and also sent to the antenna control unit 230. The antenna control unit 230 realizes highly accurate digital beamforming by controlling the directivity of the antenna ATN in accordance with the optimal antenna pattern intended to improve the user's quality of experience received from the base station 30.

[0033] (Base Station) Fig. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the main functional block configuration of the base station 30. The base station (control device) 30 includes a storage unit 310, a receiving unit 320, an acquiring unit 330, a learning unit 340, a determining unit 350, and a notifying unit 360. The storage unit 310 may be realized by the storage device 13, and the acquiring unit 330, the learning unit 340, and the determining unit 350 may be realized by the processor 11 executing a program stored in the storage device 13. The receiving unit 320 and the notifying unit 360 may be realized by the communication device 14, or may be realized by the processor 11 in addition to the communication device 14 executing a program stored in the storage device 13.

[0034] The storage unit 310 stores various control programs and various data. The control programs include a program for executing the antenna control process described below. The storage unit 310 also stores performance information representing the operational performance of the antenna ATN of each radio device 20 for a predetermined period (e.g., the past x months). The performance information includes, for example, the antenna pattern for each cell of each radio device 20, radio device identification ID, location information, the number of users connected to the radio device 20, past terminal data and radio device data representing reception information of the wireless communication terminal 10, etc. The storage unit 310 may also store multiple types of antenna patterns that can be set for each radio device 20.

[0035] The receiving unit (first receiving unit, second receiving unit) 320 receives terminal data from the wireless communication terminal 10 via the antenna ATN, and also receives wireless device data from the wireless device 20 .

[0036] The acquisition unit 330 includes a first acquisition unit 330a and a second acquisition unit 330b. The first acquisition unit 330a acquires performance information indicating the operational performance of the antenna ATN of each radio device 20 from the storage unit 310. The second acquisition unit 330b acquires three-dimensional map data of the surrounding area including the current location of the wireless communication terminal 10, for example, from an external server (not shown). As an example, the second acquisition unit 330b may acquire three-dimensional map data of the surrounding area including the current location of the terminal 10 from the external server based on location information included in the terminal data received from the wireless communication terminal 10.

[0037] The learning unit 340 uses the performance information acquired by the first acquisition unit 330a as learning data to learn the model, thereby generating and updating a learning model for determining an antenna pattern that aims to improve the user's QoE. Here, "QoE (Quality of Experience)" refers to the subjective quality of the user experience related to wireless communication services (e.g., radio wave reception strength, communication speed, etc.), and in this embodiment, any number of reception information items (i.e., values ​​such as SINR, RSRP, and SNR) included in the terminal data can be set as indicators of the user's QoE.

[0038] The determination unit 350 inputs the terminal data, radio device data, and three-dimensional map data received by the receiving unit 320 into the learning model generated and updated by the learning unit 340, thereby determining an antenna pattern to be set for the radio device 20 to be controlled (e.g., each radio device accommodated in the coverage area of ​​the base station 30). The determination unit 350 determines an antenna pattern to be set that improves the user's quality of experience. As an example, the determination unit 350 determines an antenna pattern that improves the average values ​​of values ​​such as SINR, RSRP, and SNR as the antenna pattern that improves the user's quality of experience. Note that if three-dimensional map data for the surrounding area including the current location of the wireless communication terminal 10 is not available, the antenna pattern may be determined by inputting the terminal data and radio device data into the learning model.

[0039] The notification unit 360 notifies (transmits) the antenna pattern determined by the determination unit 350 to improve the user's quality of experience to each wireless device 20 to be controlled. Each wireless device 20 controls parameters (e.g., direction, tilt angle, etc.) related to the directivity of the antenna ATN mounted on the wireless device according to the antenna pattern notified from the base station 30, thereby enabling high-precision digital beamforming to be realized. Next, with reference to the drawings, a processing flow up to when the antenna pattern is notified from the base station 30 to each wireless device 20 will be described.

[0040] (Antenna Control Processing) FIG. 8 is a sequence chart showing an example of antenna control processing executed by the wireless communication system 1. In FIG.

[0041] It is assumed that each wireless device 20 is equipped with a directional antenna (such as a MIMO antenna) that can control the antenna's directivity, such as tilt angle and azimuth.

[0042] Each radio device 20 to be controlled (for example, each radio device contained in the coverage area of ​​the base station 30) transmits radio device information including its own radio device ID, antenna pattern, neighboring base station information, and reception information of the wireless communication terminal 10 to the base station 30 (step S1).

[0043] Meanwhile, a wireless communication terminal 10 located within the coverage area of ​​the base station 30 transmits terminal data including reception information such as a cell ID and RSRP, location information, etc. to the base station 30 via an antenna ATN of one of the radio devices 20 (step S2).

[0044] The base station 30 acquires performance information representing the operational performance of the antenna ATN of each radio device 20, and generates and updates a learning model for determining an antenna pattern that improves the user's quality of experience by learning a model using the acquired performance information as learning data (step S3).

[0045] The base station 30 inputs the currently received terminal data and radio device data, as well as the three-dimensional map data of the surrounding area including the current location of the wireless communication terminal 10, acquired from an external server (not shown), into the generated and updated learning model, thereby determining an antenna pattern that should be set for each radio device 20 and that aims to improve the user quality of experience (step S4). Note that if the base station 30 cannot acquire three-dimensional map data of the surrounding area including the current location of the wireless communication terminal 10, it may input the terminal data and radio device data into the learning model to determine the antenna pattern.

[0046] The base station 30 notifies each radio device 20 to be controlled of the antenna pattern designed to improve the user's quality of experience (step S5). Each radio device 20 controls parameters related to the directivity of its antenna ATN (e.g., direction, tilt angle, etc.) according to the antenna pattern notified by the base station 30, thereby achieving highly accurate digital beamforming. The radio communication system 1 repeatedly executes the above-described series of processes in accordance with the antenna pattern determination cycle, for example, while the radio communication terminal 10 is present in the coverage area of ​​the base station 30. Thereafter, when it is detected that the radio communication terminal 10 has left the coverage area of ​​the base station 30, the above-described processes are terminated.

[0047] As described above, according to this embodiment, a model is learned using performance information representing the operational performance of the antenna ATN of each wireless device 20 as learning data, and by using the learned model, an appropriate antenna pattern that aims to improve the user's quality of experience can be set for each wireless device 20. This makes it possible to achieve digital beamforming that is more efficient and accurate than conventional methods.

[0048] B. Others In the above-described embodiment, the location information of the wireless communication terminal 10 is acquired based on a GPS signal, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the location information of the wireless communication terminal 10 may be acquired using base station positioning technology. Furthermore, the terminal data of the wireless communication terminal 10 acquired by the base station 30 may be acquired from another route, such as a web server (not shown).

[0049] In addition, in the present embodiment, the base station 30 generates and updates a learning model by utilizing surplus computing resources, and determines and notifies an appropriate antenna pattern that improves the user's quality of experience. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a learning server (control device) separate from the base station 30 may generate and update a learning model similar to that of the present embodiment, and determine and notify an appropriate antenna pattern that improves the user's quality of experience.

[0050] 1...wireless communication system, 10...wireless communication terminal, 20...radio device, ATN...antenna, 30...base station, 11...processor, 12...memory, 13...storage device, 14...communication device, 110...storage unit, 120...measurement unit, 130...GPS acquisition unit, 140...communication unit, 210...storage unit, 220...acquisition unit, 230...antenna control unit, 240...communication unit, 310...storage unit, 320...receiving unit, 330...acquisition unit, 330a...first acquisition unit, 330b...second acquisition unit, 340...learning unit, 350...determination unit, 360...notification unit

Claims

1. A control device for controlling the antenna directionality of each radio device, comprising: a first receiving unit that receives, from a user's terminal, terminal data including reception information indicating the radio wave reception status of the terminal and location information indicating the location of the terminal; a second receiving unit that receives, from a radio device to be controlled, radio device data including the antenna pattern of the radio device; a first acquiring unit that acquires performance information indicating the operational performance of the antenna of each radio device; a learning unit that generates and updates a learning model for determining the antenna pattern of the radio device by learning a model using the acquired performance information as learning data; a determination unit that determines the antenna pattern of the radio device to be controlled by inputting the terminal data and the radio device data into the generated and updated learning model; and a notification unit that notifies the radio device to be controlled of the determined antenna pattern.

2. The control device described in claim 1, wherein the antenna pattern of the radio device to be controlled, determined by the determination unit, is an antenna pattern that aims to improve the user's quality of experience, the index of the user's quality of experience includes the value of the received field strength contained in the received information, and the determination unit determines an antenna pattern that aims to improve the average value of the received field strength by inputting the terminal data and the radio device data into the generated learning model.

3. The control device according to claim 1, wherein the control device is a base station that accommodates the radio device to be controlled in its coverage area.

4. The control device described in claim 3, further comprising a second acquisition unit that acquires three-dimensional map data of an area including the current location of the terminal from outside, and the determination unit determines the antenna pattern of the radio to be controlled by inputting the terminal data, the radio data, and the three-dimensional map data into the generated learning model.

5. A program for causing a computer that controls the antenna directionality of each radio device to function as: a first receiving unit that receives, from a user's terminal, terminal data including reception information indicating the radio wave reception status of the terminal and location information indicating the location of the terminal; a second receiving unit that receives, from the radio device to be controlled, radio device data including the antenna pattern of the radio device; a first acquiring unit that acquires performance information that indicates the operational performance of the antenna of each radio device; a learning unit that generates and updates a learning model for determining the antenna pattern of the radio device by learning a model using the acquired performance information as learning data; a determination unit that determines the antenna pattern of the radio device to be controlled by inputting the terminal data and the radio device data into the generated and updated learning model; and a notification unit that notifies the radio device to be controlled of the determined antenna pattern.

6. An antenna control method executed by a computer that controls the directivity of the antenna of each radio device, comprising: a first receiving step of receiving, from a user's terminal, terminal data including reception information indicating the radio wave reception status of the terminal and location information indicating the location of the terminal; a second receiving step of receiving, from a radio device to be controlled, radio device data including the antenna pattern of the radio device; a first obtaining step of obtaining performance information indicating the operational performance of the antenna of each of the radio devices; a learning step of generating and updating a learning model for determining the antenna pattern of the radio device by learning a model using the obtained performance information as learning data; a determination step of determining the antenna pattern of the radio device to be controlled by inputting the terminal data and the radio device data into the generated and updated learning model; and a notification step of notifying the radio device to be controlled of the determined antenna pattern.

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