Base station and antenna installation including internet protocol addressable antenna line devices and methods of operating the same
A system includes a base station, an antenna coupled to the base station, and an antenna line device coupled to the antenna. The antenna line device is Internet Protocol (IP) addressable and is configured to receive a control signal from a controller.
1. A system, comprising:
a base station;
an antenna coupled to the base station; and
an antenna line device coupled to the antenna;
wherein the antenna line device is an amplifier, a remote electrical tilt system, a sensor, or a frequency scanning module, which is Internet Protocol (IP) addressable and is configured to receive a control signal from a controller.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the antenna line device is the amplifier that is coupled to an output of the antenna; and
wherein the amplifier is configured to adjust an amplification of a signal received from the output of the antenna responsive to the control signal.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the antenna line device is the remote electrical tilt system that is coupled to the antenna; and
wherein the remote electrical tilt system is configured to adjust at least one of an elevation angle of the antenna and an azimuth angle of the antenna responsive to the control signal.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the antenna line device is the sensor that is associated with to the antenna; and
wherein the sensor is configured to collect information that is associated with the antenna, the information comprising at least one of azimuth angle, elevation angle, latitude coordinate, longitude coordinate, Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates, wind speed, temperature, vibration amplitude, and vibration frequency.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the antenna line device is the frequency scanning module that is coupled to the antenna; and
wherein the frequency scanning module is configured to determine the frequency spectrum in use at the antenna.
6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a wireless modem coupled to the antenna line device, wherein the wireless modern is configured to implement a wireless communication protocol, the wireless communication protocol comprising one of Z-Wave, 6LowPAN, Thread, WiFi, GSM cellular, 3G cellular, 4G/LTE cellular, 5G/LTE cellular, Sigfox, Neul, and LoRaWAN.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the antenna line device further comprises a memory and is configured to store a plurality of antenna transmission patterns for the antenna in the memory, the plurality of antenna transmission patterns corresponding to a plurality of elevation angles for the antenna, respectively.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the antenna line device further comprises a memory and is configured to store a gain of the antenna, a return loss of the antenna, and an isolation of the antenna in the memory.
9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the antenna line device further comprises a power circuit that is configured to receive DC power via a radio frequency (RF) connection to the base station;
wherein the power circuit comprises a low pass filter without a modulation/demodulation circuit.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the antenna is coupled to the base station at a bottom end of the antenna and the antenna line device is coupled to the antenna at a top end of the antenna.
11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the antenna is one of a plurality of antennas and the antenna line device is one of a plurality of antenna line devices, the plurality of antenna line devices being coupled to the plurality of antennas, respectively, and the plurality of antennas being coupled to the base station;
wherein the plurality of antenna line devices are IP addressable, respectively, and are configured to receive a plurality of control signals, respectively, from the controller; and
wherein a first one of the antenna line devices is configured to communicate with a second one of the plurality of line devices via an IP communication connection.
12. A method, comprising:
establishing, at an antenna line device, an Internet Protocol (IP) connection with a controller;
receiving, at the antenna line device, a control signal from the controller, the control signal being associated with an antenna coupled to the antenna line device;
wherein the antenna line device is an amplifier, a remote electrical tilt system, a sensor, or a frequency scanning module.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the antenna line device is the amplifier that is coupled to an output of the antenna; and
wherein the method further comprises adjusting an amplification of a signal received from the output of the antenna responsive to the control signal.
14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the antenna line device is the remote electrical tilt system that is coupled to the antenna; and
wherein the method further comprises adjusting at least one of an elevation angle of the antenna and an azimuth angle of the antenna responsive to the control signal.
15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the antenna line device is the sensor that is associated with the antenna; and
wherein the method further comprises collecting information that is associated with the antenna, the information comprising at least one of azimuth angle, elevation angle, latitude coordinate, longitude coordinate, Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates, wind speed, temperature, vibration amplitude, and vibration frequency.
16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the antenna line device is the frequency scanning module that is coupled to the antenna; and
wherein the method further comprises determining the frequency spectrum in use at the antenna.
17. The method of claim 12 , wherein the antenna line device is coupled to a wireless modem; and
wherein establishing, at the antenna line device, the IP connection with the controller comprises using the wireless modem to establish the IP connection with the controller using a wireless communication protocol, the wireless communication protocol comprising one of Z-Wave, 6LowPAN, Thread, WiFi, GSM cellular, 3G cellular, 4G/LTE cellular, 5G/LTE cellular, Sigfox, Neul, and LoRaWAN.
18. The method of claim 12 , wherein the antenna line device further comprises a memory; and
wherein the method further comprises storing a plurality of antenna transmission patterns for the antenna, the plurality of antenna transmission patterns corresponding to a plurality of elevation angles for the antenna, respectively in the memory.
19. The method of claim 12 , wherein the antenna line device further comprises a memory; and
wherein the method further comprises storing a gain of the antenna, a return loss of the antenna, and an isolation of the antenna in the memory.
20. The method of claim 12 , wherein receiving, at the antenna line device, the control signal from the controller comprises receiving, at the antenna line device, the control signal from the controller over the Internet.