Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station September 22, 2005 PORTER SQUARE GALLERIA • ONE PORTER SQUARE, SUITE 18 • CAMBRIDGE, MA 02140 • 617 864 1711 • WWW.VANU.COM Copyright 2004, Vanu, Inc.
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station Contents Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station ..................................................................... 1 1. System Overview................................................................................................. 4 2. BTS Sites ................................................................................................................ 5 Routers ...................................................................................................
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station Troubleshooting......................................................................................................................21 VPN Key Server...........................................................................................................................21 Description ..............................................................................................................................21 Connections .............................................
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station 1. System Overview The Vanu Software Radio™ GSM/GPRS base station sub-system provides radio access network functionality by implementing the BTS and BSC in software running on a general-purpose server. For a standard network configuration, Vanu, Inc. deploys Vanu Software Radio Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) at each tower site, and a centrally located Vanu Software Radio Base Station Controller (BSC). The Vanu BTSs and BSC run on industry-standard HP ProLiant Servers.
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station The Vanu Software Radio base station is composed of four major subsystems: • RF front end, supporting either the 800MHZ cellular band or the 1900 MHz PCS band • Analog-to-Digital and Digital-to-Analog conversion • Signal Processing • Back end network connectivity Vanu, Inc. integrates these subsystems, running its software on top of the COTS hardware that comprises a complete radio access network, including the traditional functionality of the BTS, TRAU and BSC.
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station Routers The BTS router is a Cisco 1760 1U router. It has two WIC cards installed. One is a dual port T1 card, and the other is a four-port ethernet switch. The ethernet switch provides a local network for the server, its iLO, and any other diagnostic computers. The T1 card provides a connection to the BSC site. Some of the BTS sites are daisy chained together, and use both T1 ports, while some only use one.
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station Troubleshooting The connected ethernet ports should have green LEDs. The T1 port(s) in use should have only one green LED lit. If both an amber LED and a green LED are lit, the T1 connection is made, but there are alarms on it. An alarm indicates that there may be a problem with other equipment in the T1 link, or the line code or framing are not configured correctly. If only an amber LED is lit, the T1 connection has not been established at all.
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station Troubleshooting The power supplies should each show a green LED when the server is turned on. There are four LEDs on the front of the server by the power button. If one of the power supplies is not working, the heartbeat LED (second from the top) will be amber instead of green. The hard drive LEDs (the bottom two) will blink on and off as they are used. The hard drive LEDs will show red if there is an error with the hard drive.
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station Protium Front-End Indicators RF Power LED RF Alarm LED Figure 9: Protium Front End View Qty Connection 1 Alarm LED 1 Power LED 9
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station Protium Rear View Connections - Duplexer PA In Main Antenna Main RX Diversity Antenna Diversity RX Figure 10: Protium Rear View Connections Qty Connection 1 PA In port is an N connector where the PA Cable connects to the duplexer to transmit data via an RF signal to the handsets 1 Main Antenna port is an N Connector where the Antenna Coax Cable connects to the duplexer.
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station Protium Rear View Connections – RF Console Debug Port 1 Hz BNC Port for GPS Timing Source 10 MHz BNC Port for GPS Timing Source Chassis Ground Connection Power Button Diversity SMA RX port TX SMA Port RX SMA Port Ethernet Ports Figure 11: Protium Rear View Connections Qty Connection 1 Chassis Ground Connection – Power Source for RF Unit 1 Power Button on and off switch 4 Ethernet Ports; BTS Ethernet connection is established from one of these ports 1
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station 1 Console debug Port is where a connection would be established to debug system error messages 1 10 Hz BNC Port for GPS Timing Source 1 1 Hz BNC Port for GPS Timing Source Troubleshooting The LEDs on the front panel of the Protium RF are the best source for debugging problems with the remote. There is more information in the Protium manual.
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station Powerwave Amplifier The Powerwave G3L-1929-120 is used as the PA at each BTS. The output from the Protium RF Front End is sent to the PA via a Coax Cable and is then amplified by 63 dB.
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station Qty Connection 1 Status LED 1 Restart Switch 4 SMA Input Cables from the Protium Box for slots 0-3 4 N Connectors to Duplexer for slots 0-3 4 Front DC Power slots for PAs 0-3 14
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station Rear DC Power slots Qty 4 Figure 6: Powerwave Rear View Connection Rear DC Power for slots 0-3 15
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station GPS Timing Source The GPS Timing Source simply provides a 10 MHz clock signal and a 1 pulse per second signal to the Protium digital hardware for precision timing. It must be locked onto enough GPS satellites to operate properly, and it will indicate a lock with an illuminated LED on the front panel.
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station BSC Router Internet (optional) Gigabit Ethernet Switch VPN Router VPN Keyserver BSC TRAU MSC Components MSC Components MSC Components Figure 8: BSC Site The BSC can handle up to 150 GSM carriers, which is equivalent to 1200 full rate voice calls. Each TRAU can support up to 150 voice calls, and larger call volumes can be supported by increasing the number of TRAU servers. Routers The BSC router has 16 T1 connections to connect to the cell sites.
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station Connections Empty slots for Additional T1 Connections T1 Connections to Cell Sites/Internet LED Indicators Ethernet Connection to 24-Port Switch Ethernet Connection to VPN Router Public Connection Figure 9: Router Connections Qty Connection Multiple T1 connections to cell sites 1 T1 connection to the Internet (optional) 1 Ethernet connection to the 24 port switch 1 Ethernet connection to the public connection on the VPN 1 Power connector Troubleshooting
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station BSC Servers Figure 10: Key Server, BSC and TRAU Servers (top to bottom) The HP Proliant server runs the BSC software on top of a Linux operating system. Messages to the rest of the system are sent from the ethernet port to LAN where the TRAU and the MSC connect or to the router where they travel over the T1 to the BTS sites. The iLO port is used to monitor and control the server remotely.
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station Connections iLO Ethernet Port – Connection to Router Ethernet Port 1 Connection to Router Power Cables Figure 11: BSC and TRAU Server Connections Qty Connection 2 Power cables 1 Ethernet cable connecting ethernet port 1 to the router 1 Ethernet cable connecting the iLO ethernet port to the router Troubleshooting The power supplies should each show a green LED when the server is turned on. There are four LEDs on the front of the server by the power button.
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station 1 Ethernet cable connecting ethernet port 1 to the router 1 Ethernet cable connecting the iLO ethernet port to the router Troubleshooting The power supplies should each show a green LED when the server is turned on. There are four LEDs on the front of the server by the power button. If one of the power supplies is not working, the heartbeat LED (second from the top) will be amber instead of green.
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station The VPN Key Server is running on a 1U HP Proliant server. It serves as an authentication server for the VPN software.
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station Qty Connection 1 Power cable 1 Ethernet cables from the public ethernet port to the BSC router 1 Ethernet cable from the private ethernet port to the GigaSwitch Troubleshooting There is one LED labeled “SYSTEM” on the front of the VPN. This should be illuminated when the power is on. There are more LEDs on the back of the router. Each ethernet port has four LEDs. The two marked “LINK” and “100” should be lit. The one marked “TX” should blink from time to time.
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station 4.
Vanu Software Radio GSM Base Station 5.