Base-station failure predictor
View Patent ↗A base-station failure predictor comprises an interface to at least one sub-unit of a base-station of a mobile communications network, an alarm memory, and an alarm evaluator. The base-station failure predictor is adapted to receive a plurality of alarms from the at least one sub-unit of the base-station via the interface. The plurality of alarms are stored in the alarm memory, and the alarm evaluator is adapted to analyze the frequency of the plurality of alarms to assess a likelihood of failure of the at least one sub-unit concerned. A base-station failure prediction method is also proposed. Furthermore, a computer program product with instructions for the manufacture and a computer program product enabling a processor to carry out the base-station prediction method are also proposed.
1. A base-station failure predictor, comprising
an interface to at least one sub-unit of the base-station,
a diagnostic indicator memory, and
a diagnostic indicator evaluator,
wherein the base-station failure predictor is adapted to receive a plurality of diagnostic indicators from the at least one sub-unit of the base-station via the interface, wherein the plurality of diagnostic indicators are stored in the diagnostic indicator memory, and wherein the diagnostic indicator evaluator is adapted to analyze a time of clustered occurrence and a type of each one of the plurality of diagnostic indicators to assess a likelihood of failure of the at least one sub-unit concerned.
2. The base-station failure predictor according to claim 1 , wherein the diagnostic indicator evaluator is adapted to analyze correlations of diagnostic indicators to assess the likelihood of failure of the at least one sub-unit concerned.
3. The base-station failure predictor according to claim 2 , wherein the combination of diagnostic indicators is a weighted combination, and wherein the diagnostic indicator evaluator is adapted to use the weighted combination for providing an indication of the likelihood of failure within a given period in time or an indication that the unit requires service or replacement prior to an actual failure.
4. The base-station failure predictor according to claim 1 , wherein the diagnostic indicator evaluator is adapted to establish a long-term trend in the diagnostic indicators of the at least one sub-unit concerned.
5. The base-station failure predictor according to claim 1 , further comprising a coverage assessment module adapted to quantize a percentage of sub-units of the base-station which are supervised by the base-station failure predictor.
6. The base-station failure predictor according to claim 5 , wherein the coverage assessment module is adapted to analyze the origin of the diagnostic indicators and to compare the origin of the diagnostic indicators with a list of sub-units to be supervised by the base-station failure predictor.
7. The base-station failure predictor according to claim 5 , wherein the coverage assessment module determines the ratio between the number of the sub-units that are actually cooperating and the number of the sub-units to be monitored.
8. The base-station failure predictor according to claim 1 , wherein the diagnostic indicators reported via the sub-units may have different levels of severity, ranging from minor problems that should be attended to during the next scheduled maintenance, to highly severe failures that may cause the sub-unit to cease operation.
9. The base-station failure predictor according to claim 1 , wherein a failure rate calculator is adapted to quantify a failure rate of the base-station based upon the severity of the reported diagnostic indicators of the at least one sub-unit or the importance of the originating sub-units.
10. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable medium and the non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising executable instructions for the manufacture of a base-station failure predictor comprising
an interface to at least one sub-unit of the base-station,
a diagnostic indicator memory, and
an diagnostic indicator evaluator,
wherein the base-station failure predictor is adapted to receive a plurality of diagnostic indicators from the at least one sub-unit of the base-station via the interface, wherein the plurality of diagnostic indicators are stored in the diagnostic indicator memory, and wherein the diagnostic indicator evaluator is adapted to analyze a time of clustered occurrence and a type of each one of the plurality of diagnostic indicators to assess a likelihood of failure of the at least one sub-unit concerned.