# US 2014/0153418 A1 · Diagnosis of cellular network element states using radio frequency measurements > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2014/0153418 A1 - Document ID: US20140153418A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 13/693,271 - Filed: 2012-12-04 - Published: 2014-06-05 - Earliest claimed: 2012-12-04 - Assignees: AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. - Applicants: At&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. - Inventors: Srikanth Hariharan; Ernest Tsui; Christopher M. Riley; Bo Ji; Xiaojun Tang - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140153418A1 ## CPC - H04W 24/10: Scheduling measurement reports {; Arrangements for measurement reports} - H04W 24/08: Testing, {supervising or monitoring} using real traffic - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) ## Abstract Techniques for monitoring and diagnosing states of wireless network elements having a known impact on uplink interference are presented. In an aspect, a method includes receiving, by a system including a processor, diagnostic data for a cellular network including strength data representative of strengths of radio frequency signals, prior to demodulation, respectively received at a plurality of antennas of a base station of the cellular network over a defined duration of time and at a defined sampling rate. The method further includes, based on analyzing the strength data by the system, determining by the system, a state of a network element of the cellular network. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A system, comprising: a memory to store instructions; and a processor, communicatively coupled to the memory, that facilitates execution of the instructions to perform operations, comprising: receiving diagnostic data for a cellular network including strength data representative of strengths of radio frequency signals, prior to demodulation, respectively received at a plurality of antennas of a base station of the cellular network over a defined duration of time and at a defined sampling rate; and based on analyzing the strength data, determining a state of a network element of the cellular network. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the defined duration of time is from about 1.0 seconds to about 15.0 minutes and the defined sampling rate is about 1.0 milliseconds to about 15.0 minutes. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the strength data is representative of strengths of radio frequency signals respectively received at the plurality of antennas of the base station at the same time. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the network element includes hardware associated with an antenna of the plurality of antennas and the strength data includes data representative of strengths of radio frequency signals received at the antenna, wherein the analyzing the strength data includes: determining an antenna parameter descriptor associated with the antenna based on the data representative of the strengths of radio frequency signals received at the antenna, including determining a current gain for the antenna; comparing the antenna parameter descriptor with a reference parameter descriptor associated with the antenna, including comparing the current gain for the antenna with a reference gain for the antenna; and determining an error in the antenna parameter descriptor based in part on the comparing, wherein the determining the state of the network element includes classifying the hardware associated with the antenna as having an improper configuration state based on the error. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the analyzing the strength data includes determining a correlation coefficient between samples comprising strengths of first radio frequency signals received at a first antenna of the plurality of antennas and strengths of second radio frequency signals received at a second antenna of the plurality of antennas and comparing the correlation coefficient with a threshold, and wherein the operations further comprise determining a level of external interference associated with the base station based on a degree in which the correlation coefficient deviates from the threshold. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The system of claim 5, the operations further comprising: using the strength data, computing a signal-to-interference ratio associated with the base station; comparing the signal-to-interference ratio with a reference signal-to-interference ratio for the base station; based on the comparing, determining a difference between the signal-to-interference ratio and the reference signal-to-interference ratio; and based on the difference, determining whether proximity of a device transmitting to the base station contributes to the level of external interference. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the analyzing the strength data includes: computing first correlation coefficients between sets of samples representative of strengths of first radio frequency signals received at a first antenna of the plurality of antennas; determining a number of times the first correlation coefficients peak above a threshold; computing second correlation coefficients between sets of samples representative of strengths of second radio frequency signals received at a second antenna of the plurality of antennas; and determining a number of times the second correlation coefficients peak above the threshold, wherein the operations further comprise determining a source of external interference associated with the base station based on the number of times the first and second correlation coefficients peak above the threshold. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising: receiving additional diagnostic data for the cellular network including additional strength data representative of strengths of radio frequency signals, prior to demodulation, respectively received at a plurality of antennas of another base station of the cellular network over the defined duration of time and at the defined sampling rate; determining first correlation coefficients between the strengths of the radio frequency signals received at the plurality of antennas of the base station; determining second correlation coefficients between the strengths of the radio frequency signals received at the plurality of antennas of the base station and the strengths of the radio frequency signals received at the plurality of antennas of the other base station; analyzing the first and second correlation coefficients; and locating a source of external interference associated with the base station based on the analyzing. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the network element includes hardware associated with a first antenna of the plurality of antennas and the radio frequency signals respectively received at the plurality of the antennas include a first set of radio frequency signals received during a first period of low network traffic having traffic determined to be lower than a second period of high network traffic, wherein the analyzing the strength data includes: comparing first strength data representing strengths of the first set of radio frequency signals received at the first antenna during the first period of low network traffic with a thermal noise threshold for the first antenna, and wherein the determining the state of the network element includes determining a physical problem associated with the hardware in response to the strengths of the first strength data being determined to be outside the thermal noise threshold. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the network element includes hardware associated with a first antenna of the plurality of antennas and the radio frequency signals respectively received at the plurality of the antennas include a first set of radio frequency signals received during a first period of low network traffic having traffic determined to be lower than a second period of high network traffic, wherein the analyzing the strength data includes: computing a range of variation in first strength data representing strengths of the first set of radio frequency signals received at the first antenna during the first period of low network traffic, wherein the determining the state of the network element includes determining an issue with the hardware in response to the range of variation being outside a predetermined range. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the network element includes hardware associated with a first antenna of the plurality of antennas and the radio frequency signals respectively received at the plurality of the antennas include a first set of radio frequency signals received during a first period of low network traffic having traffic determined to be lower than a second period of high network traffic, wherein the analyzing the strength data includes: comparing first strength data representing strengths of the first set of radio frequency signals received at the first antenna of the plurality of antennas during the first period of low network traffic to second strength data representing strengths of the first set or radio frequency signals received at a second antenna of the plurality of antennas during the first period of low network traffic; and determining, based on the comparing, a value representing a deviation above a defined standard deviation between the first strength data and the second strength data, wherein the determining the state of the network element includes determining an issue with the hardware in response to the determining the value representing the deviation. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the analyzing includes: determining a first variation pattern in first strength data representing strengths of first radio frequency signals received at a first antenna of the plurality of antennas during a period of high interference determined to be higher than an average level of interference caused by network traffic; determining a second variation pattern in second strength data representing strengths of second radio frequency signals received at a second antenna of the plurality of antennas during the period of high interference; and calculating a difference between the first variation pattern and the second variation pattern, wherein the determining the state of the network element includes determining a degree of passive intermodulation associated with the network element based on the first variation pattern, the second variation pattern and the difference between the first variation pattern and the second variation pattern. ### Claim 13 A method, comprising: receiving, by a system including a processor, diagnostic data for a cellular network including strength data representative of strengths of radio frequency signals respectively received at a plurality of antennas of a base station of the cellular network, prior to demodulation, over a defined duration of time and at a defined sampling rate; and based on analyzing the strength data, determining a state of a network element of the cellular network. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the network element includes hardware associated with an antenna of the plurality of antennas and the strength data includes data representative of strengths of radio frequency signals received at the antenna, wherein the analyzing the strength data includes: determining an antenna parameter descriptor associated with the antenna based on the data representative of the strengths of radio frequency signals received at the antenna, including determining a current gain for the antenna; comparing the antenna parameter descriptor with a reference parameter descriptor associated with the antenna, including comparing the current gain for the antenna with a reference gain for the antenna; and determining an error in the antenna parameter descriptor based in part on the comparing, wherein the determining the state of the network element includes classifying the hardware associated with the antenna as having an improper configuration state based on the error. ### Claim 15 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the analyzing the strength data includes determining a correlation coefficient between samples comprising strengths of first radio frequency signals received at a first antenna of the plurality of antennas and strengths of second radio frequency signals received at a second antenna of the plurality of antennas and comparing the correlation coefficient with a threshold, and wherein the operations further comprise, determining a level of external interference associated with the network based on a degree in which the correlation coefficient deviates from the threshold. ### Claim 16 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the network element includes hardware associated with a first antenna of the plurality of antennas and the radio frequency signals respectively received at the plurality of the antennas include a first set of radio frequency signals received during a first period of low network traffic having traffic determined to be lower than a second period of high network traffic, wherein the analyzing the strength data includes: comparing first strength data representing strengths of the first set of radio frequency signals received at the first antenna during the first period of low network traffic with a thermal noise threshold for the first antenna, and wherein the determining the state of the network element includes determining a physical problem associated with the hardware in response to the strengths of the first strength data being determined to be outside the thermal noise threshold. ### Claim 17 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the analyzing includes: determining a first variation pattern in first strength data representing strengths of first radio frequency signals received at a first antenna of the plurality of antennas during a period of high interference determined to be higher than an average level of interference caused by network traffic; determining a second variation pattern in second strength data representing strengths of second radio frequency signals received at a second antenna of the plurality of antennas during the period of high interference; and calculating a difference between the first variation pattern and the second variation pattern; wherein the determining the state of the network element includes determining a degree of passive intermodulation associated with the network element based on the first variation pattern, the second variation pattern and the difference between the first variation pattern and the second variation pattern. ### Claim 18 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the determining the state of the network element includes the determining the network element is in a malfunctioning state, the method further comprising: issuing a remediation of the network element to transition the network element from the malfunctioning state to a proper functioning state; monitoring the state of the network element after the issuing the remediation; and determining that the network element has been placed into the proper functioning state and remains in the proper functioning state for a predetermined period of time after the determining the network element has been placed into the proper functioning state. ### Claim 19 A tangible computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a system to perform operations, comprising: receiving diagnostic data for a cellular network including strength data representative of strengths of radio frequency signals respectively, prior to demodulation, received at a plurality of antennas of a plurality of base stations respectively associated with a plurality of cells of the cellular network over a defined duration of time, and at a defined sampling rate; and based on analyzing the strength data, determining states of elements of the plurality of base stations. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The tangible computer readable medium of claim 19, the operations further comprising: based on the analyzing, determining a level of downlink interference and a level of uplink interference associated with the cellular network; and determining a level of inter-cell interference contributing to the level of uplink interference based on the level of downlink interference, the level of uplink interference, measures of respective distances between the plurality of the base stations, and measures of respective heights of the plurality of the based stations.