Iot automation and data collection system

Abstract

A system and method for automating a deployment site served by a distributed antenna system (DAS) is disclosed. The deployment site is configured with a plurality of remote antenna units (RAU). At least one of the plurality of remote antenna units includes a first transceiver for uplinking and downlinking a signal of a cellular service and at least one second transceiver for uplinking a signal of at least one electrical element. Data from the at least one second transceiver received from an electrical element is collected and routed to an electrical element data collector configured to aggregate the collected data. Adjustments to and optimization of a device within the deployment site are based on the collected data.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A remote unit comprising:
 a first transceiver configured for unlinking and downlinking a signal of a cellular service; and   at least one second transceiver configured to uplink at least one signal of at least one electrical element associated with a system device, the at least one electrical element configured to generate an electrical signal comprising electrical element data about the system device on the occurrence of an event related to the system device and to transmit the generated electrical signal to the at least one second transceiver,   wherein the at least one second transceiver is configured to communicatively couple to a router configured for routing data from the at least one second transceiver received from the at least one electrical element to an automation controller configured to control the system device based on the received electrical element data.   
     
     
         2 . The remote unit of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one second transceiver is further configured to downlink a signal to the at least one electrical element. 
     
     
         3 . The remote unit of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one second transceiver is configured to uplink at least one signal from one or more electrical elements selected from the group consisting of a sensor element, a processor, a value register, a protocol module, and a transmitter/receiver. 
     
     
         4 . The remote unit of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one second transceiver is configured to uplink at least one signal from one or more sensor elements selected from the group consisting of an accelerometer, a temperature sensor, a motion sensor, a consumption sensor, a utility meter, a power sensor, a power management sensor, a magnetic sensor, a pressure sensor, a proximity sensor, a direction sensor, and a global positioning sensor. 
     
     
         5 . The remote unit of  claim 1 , wherein the remote unit is part of a distributed antenna system (DAS). 
     
     
         6 . The remote unit of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one second transceiver is configured to operate using a protocol selected from the group consisting of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Z-WAVE, ZigBee™, Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), Thread, long range related protocols (LoRa), and SIGFOX. 
     
     
         7 . The remote unit of  claim 1 , wherein the remote unit is configured to provide an Internet of Things (IoT) hub. 
     
     
         8 . The remote unit of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one second transceiver is further configured to bidirectionally communicate signals to and from a computer communicatively coupled to the remote unit. 
     
     
         9 . The remote unit of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first transceiver and the at least one second transceiver is further configured to bidirectionally communicate signals to and from a user equipment communicatively coupled to the remote unit. 
     
     
         10 . The remote unit of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one second transceiver comprises a plurality of transceivers. 
     
     
         11 . The remote unit of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one second transceiver is configured to uplink the at least one signal from the at least one electrical element via a broadcast message. 
     
     
         12 . The remote unit of  claim 1 , further comprising a combiner configured to combine uplink signals received from the at least one electrical element and provide the combined uplink signals to the at least one second transceiver. 
     
     
         13 . The remote unit of  claim 1 , further comprising a splitter configured to split downlink signals received by the remote unit that are intended for the at least one electrical element and to provide the split downlink signals to an antenna configured to transmit at least a portion of the downlink signals to the at least one electrical element for which the portion of the downlink signals are intended. 
     
     
         14 . The remote unit of  claim 1 , further comprising a multiplexer/demultiplexer configured to:
 receive a plurality of uplink electrical signals comprising electrical element data about the system device from the at least one second transceiver and multiplex the plurality of uplink electrical signals for transmission to the router; and   receive a plurality of downlink signals from a head-end unit and demultiplex the plurality of downlink signals for transmission to one of more of the first transceiver and the at least one second transceiver.   
     
     
         15 . The remote unit of  claim 1 , wherein the remote unit is in a line of sight of the at least one electrical element. 
     
     
         16 . An automation system comprising:
 a plurality of remote units (RUs);   a wireless communications device configured to receive at least one cellular service and route the at least one cellular service to at least one of the plurality of RUs; and   at least one of the plurality of RUs comprising:
 a first transceiver configured for uplinking and downlinking a signal of a cellular service; and 
 at least one second transceiver configured to uplink at least one signal of at least one electrical element associated with a system device, the at least one electrical element configured to generate an electrical signal comprising electrical element data about the system device on the occurrence of an event related to the system device and to transmit the generated electrical signal to the at least one second transceiver, 
 wherein the at least one second transceiver is configured to communicatively couple to a router configured for routing data from the at least one second transceiver received from the at least one electrical element to an automation controller configured to control the system device based on the received electrical element data. 
   
     
     
         17 . The automation system of  claim 16 , further comprising a plurality of electrical elements, each of the plurality of electrical elements associated with a system device and communicatively coupled to at least one of the plurality of RUs and configured to generate electrical signals comprising electrical element data about the system device on the occurrence of an event related to the system device. 
     
     
         18 . The automation system of  claim 16 , wherein the at least one second transceiver is further configured to downlink a signal to the at least one electrical element. 
     
     
         19 . The automation system of  claim 16 , further comprising the router configured for routing data from the at least one second transceiver received from the at least one electrical element, wherein the router is further configured to connect to the at least one of the plurality of RUs. 
     
     
         20 . The automation system of  claim 19 , further comprising the automation controller configured to control the system device based on the received electrical element data.