RF Gateway Modem Failover Using Preconfigured Spare Redundancy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Satellite communication systems are susceptible to outages and performance degradation due to environmental factors, particularly affecting RF gateways, which can lead to significant service disruptions when modem failures occur.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a redundancy scheme with preconfigured spare modems in a N:1 arrangement, managed by a gateway configuration manager, to dynamically switch over and take over operations from failed primary modems, utilizing a bootstrapper module for failure detection and configuration preloading.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If RF gateways operate without redundancy, then device complexity is reduced, but reliability deteriorates due to susceptibility to environmental factors and modem failures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by preconfiguring spare modems with the operational parameters, channel assignments, and operational state of primary modems before failures occur. The gateway configuration manager continuously maintains configuration data of active modems and pre-loads it into spare modems, enabling immediate takeover without reconfiguration delays when a primary modem fails.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies copying by creating redundant copies of operational modem configurations in spare modems. The gateway configuration manager replicates the operational state, channel assignments, and parameters of active modems into backup modem units, allowing exact replication of functionality upon failover to maintain service continuity.
2Loss of time
If manual switchover procedures are used, then device complexity is reduced, but loss of time increases due to service disruption during switchover
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service through automatic failover mechanisms where the gateway configuration manager autonomously detects modem failures, identifies appropriate spare modems, and executes switchover without external intervention. The system monitors modem health status continuously and automatically triggers reconfiguration and traffic redirection when failures are detected.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies feedback by implementing continuous monitoring of modem operational status through health check mechanisms. The gateway configuration manager receives real-time status information from modems, detects degradation or failure conditions, and uses this feedback to automatically initiate switchover procedures, ensuring rapid response to failures.
3Reliability
If comprehensive modem redundancy is implemented, then reliability is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to complex configuration management
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by implementing a single gateway configuration manager that handles multiple functions including health monitoring, failure detection, spare modem identification, configuration retrieval, and switchover execution. This centralized manager consolidates what would otherwise be complex distributed configuration management into a unified system that handles all redundancy operations automatically.
Data Source
AI summary
A data processing system and method for providing modem backup in a radio frequency (RF) gateway of a satellite communication system, wherein the system and method provide for grouping modems of the RF gateway into a redundancy group configuration comprised of a plurality of primary modems and one spare modem, preconfiguring the spare modem with configurations to store for each primary modems of the redundancy group configuration, detecting that one of the primary modems has become a failed primary modem due to a fault condition, and performing a switchover process to command the spare modem to perform a dynamic reconfiguration to take over operations performed by the failed primary modem after the fault condition has been detected using the configurations for the failed primary modem that have been preconfigured into the spare modem prior to detecting the fault condition.