A NETWORK DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM FOR ANALYZING THE PERFORMANCE OF A RADIO NETWORK DURING FUNCTIONAL OVER-THE AIR OPERATION

摘要

A communications network health-determining apparatus, the network comprising a plurality of network base station transceivers distributed over a geographic area and in bidirectional communication with radios operating in the network, each radio having a respective radio identifier and transmitting a signal including the respective radio identifier, the apparatus comprising: health determining devices configured to receive the signal during normal over-the-air operation of one of the radios; and configured to determine if the signal received by the one radio was transmitted from an authorized one of the radios; and when a health determining device determines that the signal is from an authorized radio: the health determining device measures signal parameters of the signal; the health determining device determines operating characteristics of the authorized radio from the measured signal parameters; and the health determining device determines a current location of the authorized radio within the geographic area; a master controller communicatively coupled to the health determining devices; a first of the health determining devices: configured to analyze the operating characteristics of the authorized radio and determining if the authorized radio is healthy; and configured to send a first analysis result of the authorized radio to the master controller; a second of the health determining devices: configured to analyze the operating characteristics of the authorized radio and determining if the authorized radio is healthy; and configured to send a second analysis result of the authorized radio to the master controller; and after both the first and second analysis results sent to the master controller indicate that the authorized radio is healthy, the master controller determines if the current location of the authorized healthy radio is geographically healthy or unhealthy based upon the first and second analysis results.