FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT 1970
[39 OF 1970]
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
[See section 10; Rule 13]
TITLE: “METHOD AND ANTENNA SWITCHING CONTROL SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING ANTENNA SWITCHING”
Name and Address of the Applicant:
TATA PLAY LIMITED, 3rd Floor, Unit 301 to 305, Windsor, Off C.S.T. Road, Mumbai-400098, India.
Nationality: Indian
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present disclosure relates to satellite signal broadcasting. Particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and an antenna switching control system for controlling antenna switching.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Antennas are used by service providers to transmit the signals to satellites. During the normal operation of an antenna, each antenna can uplink the carriers for the transmission of signals between antenna and one or more satellites. When an antenna failure occurs, the operator must be present at the location of the antenna to resolve the antenna failure. To uplink carriers of a affected antenna, the operator will check the functional antennas individually and select one functional antenna to route the traffic of the affected antenna. In case the operator is not present at the location of the antennas, the outage time increases which affects user experience. Also, the conventional method requires manual efforts and increases the outage time.
[0003] Some of the existing techniques disclose using a backup antenna to serve an entire dish farm. Further, when an antenna fails, the backup dish recovers the feed of the failed antenna and signals using the backup antenna. However, in these existing techniques, failure of more than one antenna may delay the transmission of signals due to limitation of one backup antenna. Further, failure of multiple antennas at the same time may increase load on the backup antenna, leading to failure of the backup antenna and increasing the outage time.
[0004] The information disclosed in this background of the disclosure section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.
SUMMARY
[0005] Disclosed herein is a method of controlling antenna switching. The method comprises receiving, by an antenna switching control system, an alarm related to failure of an affected antenna among a plurality of operational antennas from a monitoring unit. Further, the method comprises dynamically selecting an operational antenna capable of handling traffic of the

affected antenna from the plurality of operational antennas based on one or more switching conditions. Finally, the method comprises routing traffic of the affected antenna to selected operational antenna by combining uplink carriers of the affected antenna with uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna.
[0006] Further, disclosed herein is an antenna switching control system for controlling antenna switching. The antenna switching control system comprises a processor and a memory. The memory is communicatively coupled to the processor and stores processor-executable instructions, which on execution, cause the processor to receive an alarm related to failure of an affected antenna among a plurality of operational antennas from a monitoring unit. Further, the processor dynamically selects an operational antenna capable of handling traffic of the affected antenna from the plurality of operational antennas based on one or more switching conditions. Finally, the processor routes traffic of the affected antenna to selected operational antenna by combining uplink carriers of the affected antenna with uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna.
[0007] The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
[0008] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments and, together with the description, explain the disclosed principles. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. Some embodiments of system and/or methods in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter are now described, by way of example only, and regarding the accompanying figures, in which:
[0009] FIG. 1A shows an illustration of communication between an antenna switching control system, a monitoring unit and plurality of antennas, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0010] FIG. 1B shows an illustration of an exemplary arrangement of an antenna switching control system, a monitoring unit and plurality of antennas, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
[0011] FIG. 1C shows an illustration of an exemplary scenario when an antenna is affected, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
[0012] FIG. 2 shows a detailed block diagram of an antenna switching control system, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
[0013] FIG. 3 shows a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling antenna switching, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; and
[0014] FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computer system for implementing embodiments consistent with the present disclosure.
[0015] It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative systems embodying the principles of the present subject matter. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow charts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudo code, and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer readable medium and executed by a computer or processor, whether such computer or processor is explicitly shown.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0016] In the present document, the word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment or implementation of the present subject matter described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.
[0017] While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiment thereof has been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail below. It should be understood, however that it is not intended to limit the disclosure to the specific forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternative falling within the scope of the disclosure.

[0018] The terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “includes”, or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a setup, device, or method that comprises a list of components or steps does not include only those components or steps but may include other components or steps not expressly listed or inherent to such setup or device or method. In other words, one or more elements in a system or apparatus proceeded by “comprises… a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the system or method.
[0019] The present disclosure relates to a method of controlling antenna switching. In an embodiment, the proposed method receives an alarm related to failure of an affected antenna among a plurality of operational antennas from a monitoring unit. Upon receiving the alarm, the proposed method dynamically selects an operational antenna capable of handling traffic of the affected antenna from the plurality of operational antennas based on one or more switching conditions. After dynamically selecting the operational antenna, the proposed method routes traffic of the affected antenna to selected operational antenna by combining uplink carriers of the affected antenna with uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna. Also, the proposed method adjusts power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the selected operational antenna by a first preconfigured level from a first initial power level and adjusts power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the affected antenna by a second preconfigured level from a second initial power level when the uplink carriers of the affected antenna are combined with the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna. Once the affected antenna is rectified, the proposed method receives a notification upon rectification of the affected antenna indicating activation of a rectified affected antenna. Further, the proposed method routes the traffic of the affected antenna to the rectified affected antenna by separating the uplink carriers of the affected antenna from the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna. Also, the proposed method adjusts power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the selected operational antenna to the first initial power level and adjusts power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the affected antenna to the second initial power level when the uplink carriers of the affected antenna are separated from the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna.
[0020] In an embodiment, the proposed method dynamically selects the operational antenna when an alarm is generated from a monitoring unit. This helps in eliminating the manual process of selecting an operational antenna to route carriers of the affected antenna. Further,

the proposed method routes traffic of the affected antenna to the selected operational antenna without the need of an operator present at the antenna location. Also, it helps in reducing the time required to determine failure of the antenna, The proposed method helps in reducing the outage time and reduces the effort of the operator by dynamically selecting the operation antenna when the alarm is generated and routing the carriers of the affected antenna using an operational antenna without the need of the operator. The proposed method adjusts power level of high-power amplifiers associated with the selected operational antenna. This helps to compensate the path losses that occur due to antenna switching. This also helps in eliminating the manual efforts associated with adjusting power level of the high-power amplifiers.
[0021] In the following detailed description of the embodiments of the disclosure, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the disclosure may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the disclosure, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The following description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.
[0022] FIG. 1 shows an illustration of communication between an antenna switching control system, a monitoring unit and plurality of antennas, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0023] In an embodiment, an antenna switching control system 101 may be any computing device that may be configured to control antenna switching. As an example, the computing device may include, without limiting to, a desktop computer, a laptop, a smartphone, a tablet phone and the like. The antenna switching control system 101 may be associated with a monitoring unit 103 and a plurality of operational antennas using a predefined communication network. The predefined communication network may include, without limitation a wireless and a wired connection. The monitoring unit 103 may be configured for constantly monitoring the operational status of the plurality of operational antennas. The monitoring unit 103 may include, without limitation, an Alarm Control Unit (ACU) and a Digital Tracking Receiver (DTR) (not shown in Fig. 1A). The ACU and DTR may be used to monitor the operational status of the plurality of operational antennas. As an example, when signal of an antenna goes down, the ACU in the monitoring unit 103 may generate an alarm indicating the signal down status of the antenna. Further, the alarm is received by the antenna switching control system

101 to perform further operations. In an embodiment, antenna 1051 to antenna 105N (also referred to as a plurality of antennas 105) can uplink the carriers to transmit signals to one or more satellite devices.
[0024] In an embodiment, the antenna switching control system 101 may be configured to receive an alarm related to failure of an affected antenna among a plurality of operational antennas from a monitoring unit 103. The monitoring unit 103 may detect the affected antenna based on one or more antenna failure conditions. The one or more antenna failure conditions may include, without limitation, a ACU failure, an Antenna Drive Unit (ADU) failure, a drive motor failure of an antenna, malfunctioning of feed horn, malfunctioning of transmitting waveguide, an issue with Network Operation & Control Center (NOCC), an issue with a dehydrator associated with one or more high power amplifiers installed in one or more equipment rooms, a scheduled maintenance of antenna drive motors, cleaning of Reflector, and cleaning of ADU. In an embodiment, an antenna may also be affected when the antenna is shut down to perform a scheduled maintenance of the antenna components.
[0025] In an embodiment, upon receiving the alarm, the antenna switching control system 101 may be configured to dynamically select an operational antenna capable of handling traffic of the affected antenna from the plurality of operational antennas based on one or more switching conditions. The one or more switching conditions may include, without limitation, alarm indication related to the operational antenna on the monitoring unit 103, specification of the operational antenna and current load on the operational antenna. As an example, when the operational antenna does not have any alarm indication on the monitoring unit 103, then the operational antenna may be dynamically selected for handling traffic of the affected antenna. Similarly, when the specification of the operational antenna is similar to the specification of the affected antenna, then the operational antenna may be dynamically selected for handling traffic of the affected antenna. Also, when the current load of the operational antenna is such that, the operational antenna is capable of handling additional traffic of the affected antenna, then the operational antenna may be dynamically selected for handling traffic of the affected antenna. In some embodiments, an operator may also select the operational antennas based on the preference/experience of the operator. In some embodiments, the operational antenna may be randomly selected by the antenna switching control system 101.
[0026] In an embodiment, upon dynamically selecting the operational antenna, the antenna switching control system 101 may be configured to route traffic of the affected antenna to

selected operational antenna by combining uplink carriers of the affected antenna with uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna. In an embodiment, the selected operational antenna may have its own carriers to be uplinked prior to getting selected. When the operational antenna is selected, the uplink carriers of the affected antenna are also combined with the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna. In some embodiments, such combination of uplink carriers may cause path loss in the selected operational antenna. To compensate the path loss, the antenna switching control system 101 may adjust power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the selected operational antenna by a first preconfigured level from a first initial power level of the selected operational antenna. Also, the antenna switching control system 101 may adjust power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the affected antenna by a second preconfigured level from a second initial power level. In some embodiments, the power level may be adjusted simultaneously when the uplink carriers of the affected antenna are combined with the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna. In some other embodiments, the power level may be adjusted before combining the uplink carriers of the affected antenna with the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna. In yet other embodiments, the power level may be adjusted after combining the uplink carriers of the affected antenna with the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna.
[0027] In an embodiment, an operator may manually rectify the affected antenna based on the one or more antenna failure conditions. In some other embodiments, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based rectifying unit may be used to automatically rectify the affected antenna based on the one or more antenna failure conditions. In yet other embodiments, a preconfigured rectifying unit may be used to map the failure condition with rectification action, and perform the rectification action to rectify the affected antenna. Upon rectification of the affected antenna, the antenna switching control system 101 may receive a notification indicating activation of a rectified affected antenna. In an embodiment, the antenna switching control system 101 may be configured to route the traffic of the affected antenna to the rectified affected antenna by separating the uplink carriers of the affected antenna from the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna. During the first routing process when the uplink carriers of the affected antenna were combined with the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna, the antenna switching control system 101 may be configured to adjust the uplink power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the selected operational antenna by a first preconfigured level from a first initial power level and the antenna switching control system 101 may be configured to adjust power level of one or more high-

power amplifiers associated with the affected antenna by a second preconfigured level from a second initial power level. Upon rectification of the affected antenna the uplink carriers of the affected antenna are separated from the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna, the antenna switching control system 101 may adjust power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the selected operational antenna to the first initial power level and the antenna switching control system 101 may adjust power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the affected antenna to the second initial power level.
[0028] FIG. 1B shows an illustration of an exemplary arrangement of an antenna switching control system, a monitoring unit and plurality of antennas, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0029] In an embodiment, one or more high-power amplifiers may be associated with an antenna. The one or more high-power amplifiers may be associated with the antennas. As illustrated in FIG. 1B high-power amplifier 1231 to high-power amplifier 123N (also referred to as one or more high-power amplifiers 123) may be associated with an antenna 1051. The one or more high-power amplifiers 123 may be present in equipment room ‘A’ 121. Similarly, high-power amplifier 1271 to high-power amplifier 127N (also referred to as one or more high-power amplifiers 127) may be associated with an antenna 1052. The one or more high-power amplifiers 127 may be present in equipment room ‘B’ 125. The carriers of the antenna 1051 may be uplinked using the antenna 1051 and the carriers of the antenna 1052 may be uplinked using the antenna 1052. Consider an exemplary scenario in which antenna 1052 (also referred as affected antenna 1052) is affected due to one or more antenna failure conditions (as illustrated in FIG. 1C). The antenna switching control system 101 receives an alarm from a monitoring unit 103 indicating failure of antenna 1052. Upon receiving the alarm, the antenna switching control system 101 may dynamically select an operational antenna to uplink carriers of the affected antenna 1052. In the present exemplary scenario, the antenna switching control system 101 selects an operational antenna 1051 to uplink the carriers of the affected antenna 1052. Upon selecting the operational antenna 1051, the antenna switching control system 101 routes traffic of the affected antenna 1052 to select operational antenna 1051 by combining uplink carriers of the affected antenna 1052 with uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna 1052 using a combiner 131 (as illustrated in FIG. 1C). While the carriers are combined, the antenna switching control system 101 adjusts power level of the one or more high-power amplifiers 123 associated with the selected operational antenna 1051 by a first preconfigured

level from a first initial power level. Also, the antenna switching control system 101 adjusts power level of the one or more high-power amplifiers 127 associated with the affected antenna 1052 by a second preconfigured level from a second initial power level. The adjusting of the power levels reduces the path loss occurred due to antenna switching. An operator may be notified by the antenna switching control system 101 about the alarm generated due to failure of antenna 1052. The affected antenna 1052 may be rectified manually by an operator and/or automatically using an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based rectifying unit, or a preconfigured rectifying unit. Upon rectifying the affected antenna 1052, the antenna switching control system 101 receives a notification from a rectifying unit indicating activation of a rectified affected antenna 1052. As the affected antenna 1052 is rectified, the antenna switching control system 101 routes the traffic of the affected antenna 1052 to the rectified affected antenna 1052 by separating the uplink carriers of the affected antenna 1052 from the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna 1051. Once the traffic is routed, the antenna switching control system 101 adjusts power level of one or more high-power amplifiers 123 associated with the selected operational antenna 1051 to the first initial power level and adjusts power level of one or more high-power amplifiers 127 associated with the affected antenna 1052 to the second initial power level when the uplink carriers of the affected antenna 1052 are separated from the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna 1051.
[0030] FIG. 2 shows a detailed block diagram of an antenna switching control system 101, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0031] In some implementations, the antenna switching control system 101 may include an I/O interface 201, a processor 203 and a memory 205. In an embodiment, the memory 205 may be communicatively coupled to the processor 203. The processor 203 may be configured to perform one or more functions of the antenna switching control system 101 for controlling antenna switching, using the data 207 and the one or more modules 209 of the antenna switching control system 101. In an embodiment, the memory 205 may store data 207.
[0032] In an embodiment, the data 207 stored in the memory 205 may include, without limitation, an alarm data 211, an antenna selecting data 213, a power level data 215 and other data 217. In some implementations, the data 207 may be stored within the memory 205 in the form of various data structures. Additionally, the data 207 may be organized using data models, such as relational or hierarchical data models. The other data 217 may include various temporary data and files generated by the one or more modules 209.

[0033] In an embodiment, the alarm data 211 may include information related to an affected antenna. In an embodiment, an alarm related to failure of an affected antenna among a plurality of operational antennas is received from a monitoring unit 103. The alarm data 211 may include, without limitation, Identification (ID) number of the affected antenna, time and date of failure, total traffic transmitted using the affected antenna prior to failure, type of failure and an impact of failure.
[0034] In an embodiment, the antenna selecting data 213 may include one or more switching conditions based on which an operational antenna capable of handling traffic of the affected antenna is dynamically selected from the plurality of operational antennas. The one or more switching conditions may include, without limitation, alarm indication related to the operational antenna on the monitoring unit 103, specification of the operational antenna, and current load on the operational antenna.
[0035] In an embodiment, the power level data 215 may include information related to the power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with a selected operational antenna. The power level data 215 may include, without limitation, an initial power level and the adjusted power level. The power level of the selected operational antenna may be adjusted during antenna switching. The power level data 215 may be used during antenna switching.
[0036] In an embodiment, the data 207 may be processed by the one or more modules 209 of the Antenna switching control system 101. In some implementations, the one or more modules 209 may be communicatively coupled to the processor 203 for performing one or more functions of the antenna switching control system 101. In an implementation, the one or more modules 209 may include, without limiting to, a receiving module 219, a selecting module 221, a routing module 223, a power adjusting module 225 and other modules 227.
[0037] As used herein, the term module may refer to an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a hardware processor 203 (shared, dedicated, or group) and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that provide the described functionality. In an implementation, each of the one or more modules 209 may be configured as stand-alone hardware computing units. In an embodiment, the other modules 227 may be used to perform various miscellaneous functionalities on the antenna switching control system 101. It will be

appreciated that such one or more modules 209 may be represented as a single module or a combination of different modules.
[0038] In an embodiment, the receiving module 219 may be configured for receiving an alarm related to failure of an affected antenna among a plurality of operational antennas from a monitoring unit 103. The failure of the affected antenna stops uplink of the carriers associated with the affected antenna. In an embodiment, the selecting module 221 may be configured for dynamically selecting an operational antenna capable of handling traffic of the affected antenna from the plurality of operational antennas based on one or more switching conditions. As an example, when the operational antenna does not have any alarm indication on the monitoring unit 103, then the selecting module 221 selects the operational antenna for handling traffic of the affected antenna. Similarly, when the specification of the operational antenna is similar to the specification of the affected antenna, then the selecting module 221 selects the operational antenna. Also, when the current load of the operational antenna can be capable to handle the traffic of the affected antenna, then the selecting module 221 selects the operational antenna.
[0039] In an embodiment, the routing module 223 may be configured for routing traffic of the affected antenna to selected operational antenna by combining uplink carriers of the affected antenna with uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna. Consider an exemplary scenario with two antennas: antenna ‘A’ and antenna ‘B’ in which the antenna ‘A’ is an affected antenna and the antenna ‘B’ is an operational antenna and the antenna ‘B’ is dynamically selected. The routing module 223 may route traffic of the affected antenna ‘A’ to selected operational antenna ‘B’ by combining uplink carriers of the affected antenna ‘A’ with uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna ‘B’. In an embodiment, upon routing, the power adjusting module 225 may be configured for adjusting power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the selected operational antenna by a first preconfigured level from an initial power level when the uplink carriers of the affected antenna are combined with the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna. Also, the power adjusting module 225 may be configured for adjusting power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the affected antenna by a second preconfigured level from an initial power level when the uplink carriers of the affected antenna are combined with the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna.
[0040] In an embodiment, the receiving module 219 may also be configured for receiving a notification upon rectification of the affected antenna indicating activation of a rectified

affected antenna. In an embodiment, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based preconfigured rectifying unit may be used to automatically rectify the affected antenna based on the one or more antenna failure conditions. In yet other embodiments, a preconfigured rectifying unit may be used to map the failure condition with rectification action, and perform the rectification action to rectify the affected antenna.. Further, the routing module 223 may also be configured to separate the uplink carriers of the affected antenna from the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna. Upon separating the uplink carriers, the routing module 223 may be configured for routing the traffic of the affected antenna to the rectified affected antenna. Finally, the power adjusting module 225 may also be configured for adjusting power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the selected operational antenna to an initial power level when the uplink carriers of the affected antenna are separated from the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna.
[0041] FIG. 3 shows a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling antenna switching, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0042] As illustrated in FIG. 3, the method 300 may include one or more blocks illustrating a method of controlling antenna switching using the antenna switching control system 101 illustrated in FIG. 2. The method 300 may be described in the general context of computer executable instructions. Generally, computer executable instructions can include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, procedures, modules, and functions, which perform specific functions or implement specific abstract data types.
[0043] The order in which the method 300 is described is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks can be combined in any order to implement the method. Additionally, individual blocks may be deleted from the methods without departing from the scope of the subject matter described herein. Furthermore, the method can be implemented in any suitable hardware, software, firmware, or combination thereof.
[0044] At block 301, the method 300 includes receiving, by a processor 203 of the antenna switching control system 101, an alarm related to failure of an affected antenna among a plurality of operational antennas from a monitoring unit 103. In an embodiment, the processor 203 may detect the affected antenna based on one or more antenna failure conditions. The one or more antenna failure conditions may include, without limitation, an Antenna Control Unit

(ACU) failure, an Antenna Drive Unit (ADU) failure, a drive motor failure of an antenna, malfunctioning of feed horn, malfunctioning of transmitting waveguide, an issue with Network Operation & Control Center (NOCC), an issue with a dehydrator associated with one or more high power amplifiers installed in one or more equipment rooms, a scheduled maintenance of antenna drive motors, cleaning of Reflector, and cleaning of ADU.
[0045] At block 303, the method 300 includes dynamically selecting, by the processor 203, an operational antenna capable of handling traffic of the affected antenna from the plurality of operational antennas based on one or more switching conditions.
[0046] At block 305, the method 300 includes routing, by the processor 203, traffic of the affected antenna to selected operational antenna by combining uplink carriers of the affected antenna with uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna. In an embodiment, the processor 203 may adjust power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the selected operational antenna by a first preconfigured level from a first initial power level and the processor 203 may adjust power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the affected antenna by a second preconfigured level from a second initial power level when the uplink carriers of the affected antenna are combined with the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna. In an embodiment, the processor 203 may receive a notification upon rectification of the affected antenna indicating activation of a rectified affected antenna. Further, the processor 203 may route the traffic of the affected antenna to the rectified affected antenna by separating the uplink carriers of the affected antenna from the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna. In an embodiment, the processor 203 may adjust power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the selected operational antenna to the initial power level and the processor 203 may adjusts power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the affected antenna to the second initial power level, when the uplink carriers of the affected antenna are separated from the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna.
Computer System
[0047] FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computer system 400 for implementing embodiments consistent with the present disclosure. In an embodiment, the computer system 400 may be the antenna switching control system 101 illustrated in FIG. 1. The computer system 400 may include a central processing unit (“CPU” or “processor” or

“memory controller”) 402. The processor 402 may comprise at least one data processor for executing program components for executing user- or system-generated business processes. A user may include a network manager, an application developer, a programmer, an organization or any system/sub-system being operated parallelly to the computer system 400. The processor 402 may include specialized processing units such as integrated system (bus) controllers, memory controllers/memory management control units, floating point units, graphics processing units, digital signal processing units, etc.
[0048] The processor 402 may be disposed in communication with one or more Input/Output (I/O) devices (411 and 412) via I/O interface 401. The I/O interface 401 may employ communication protocols/methods such as, without limitation, audio, analog, digital, stereo, IEEE®-1394, serial bus, Universal Serial Bus (USB), infrared, PS/2, BNC, coaxial, component, composite, Digital Visual Interface (DVI), high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI), Radio Frequency (RF) antennas, S-Video, Video Graphics Array (VGA), IEEE® 802.n /b/g/n/x, Bluetooth, cellular (e.g., Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA+), Global System For Mobile Communications (GSM), Long-Term Evolution (LTE) or the like), etc. Using the I/O interface 401, the computer system 400 may communicate with one or more I/O devices 411 and 412.
[0049] In some embodiments, the processor 402 may be disposed in communication with a network 107 via a network interface 403. The network interface 403 may communicate with the network 107. The network interface 403 may employ connection protocols including, without limitation, direct connect, Ethernet (e.g., twisted pair 10/100/1000 Base T), Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), token ring, IEEE® 802.11a/b/g/n/x, etc.
[0050] In an implementation, the preferred network 107 may be implemented as one of the several types of networks, such as intranet or Local Area Network (LAN) and such within the organization. The preferred network 107 may either be a dedicated network or a shared network, which represents an association of several types of networks that use a variety of protocols, for example, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) etc., to communicate with each other. Further, the network 107 may include a variety of network devices, including routers, bridges, servers, computing devices, storage devices, etc. Using the

network interface 403 and the network 107, the computer system 400 may communicate with a plurality of operational antennas 105 and a monitoring unit 103.
[0051] In some embodiments, the processor 402 may be disposed in communication with a memory 405 (e.g., RAM 413, ROM 414, etc. as shown in FIG. 4) via a storage interface 404. The storage interface 404 may connect to memory 405 including, without limitation, memory drives, removable disc drives, etc., employing connection protocols such as Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA), Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE), IEEE-1394, Universal Serial Bus (USB), fiber channel, Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI), etc. The memory drives may further include a drum, magnetic disc drive, magneto-optical drive, optical drive, Redundant Array of Independent Discs (RAID), solid-state memory devices, solid-state drives, etc.
[0052] The memory 405 may store a collection of program or database components, including, without limitation, user/application interface 406, an operating system 407, a web browser 408, and the like. In some embodiments, computer system 400 may store user/application data 406, such as the data, variables, records, etc. as described in this invention. Such databases may be implemented as fault-tolerant, relational, scalable, secure databases such as Oracle® or Sybase®.
[0053] The operating system 407 may facilitate resource management and operation of the computer system 400. Examples of operating systems include, without limitation, APPLE® MACINTOSH® OS X®, UNIX®, UNIX-like system distributions (E.G., BERKELEY SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTION® (BSD), FREEBSD®, NETBSD®, OPENBSD, etc.), LINUX® DISTRIBUTIONS (E.G., RED HAT®, UBUNTU®, KUBUNTU®, etc.), IBM® OS/2®, MICROSOFT® WINDOWS® (XP®, VISTA®/7/8, 10 etc.), APPLE® IOS®, GOOGLE TM ANDROID TM, BLACKBERRY® OS, or the like.
[0054] The user interface 406 may facilitate display, execution, interaction, manipulation, or operation of program components through textual or graphical facilities. For example, the user interface 406 may provide computer interaction interface elements on a display system operatively connected to the computer system 400, such as cursors, icons, check boxes, menus, scrollers, windows, widgets, and the like. Further, Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) may be employed, including, without limitation, APPLE® MACINTOSH® operating systems’ Aqua®, IBM® OS/2®, MICROSOFT® WINDOWS® (e.g., Aero, Metro, etc.), web interface libraries

(e.g., ActiveX®, JAVA®, JAVASCRIPT®, AJAX, HTML, ADOBE® FLASH®, etc.), or the like.
[0055] The web browser 408 may be a hypertext viewing application. Secure web browsing may be provided using Secure Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTPS), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), Transport Layer Security (TLS), and the like. The web browsers 408 may utilize facilities such as AJAX, DHTML, ADOBE® FLASH®, JAVASCRIPT®, JAVA®, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), and the like. Further, the computer system 400 may implement a mail server stored program component. The mail server may utilize facilities such as ASP, ACTIVEX®, ANSI® C++/C#, MICROSOFT®, .NET, CGI SCRIPTS, JAVA®, JAVASCRIPT®, PERL®, PHP, PYTHON®, WEBOBJECTS®, etc. The mail server may utilize communication protocols such as Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI), MICROSOFT® exchange, Post Office Protocol (POP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), or the like. In some embodiments, the computer system 400 may implement a mail client stored program component. The mail client may be a mail viewing application, such as APPLE® MAIL, MICROSOFT® ENTOURAGE®, MICROSOFT® OUTLOOK®, MOZILLA® THUNDERBIRD®, and the like.
[0056] Furthermore, one or more computer-readable storage media may be utilized in implementing embodiments consistent with the present invention. A computer-readable storage medium refers to any type of physical memory on which information or data readable by a processor may be stored. Thus, a computer-readable storage medium may store instructions for execution by one or more processors, including instructions for causing the processor(s) to perform steps or stages consistent with the embodiments described herein. The term “computer-readable medium” should be understood to include tangible items and exclude carrier waves and transient signals, i.e., non-transitory. Examples include Random Access Memory (RAM), Read-Only Memory (ROM), volatile memory, nonvolatile memory, hard drives, Compact Disc (CD) ROMs, Digital Video Disc (DVDs), flash drives, disks, and any other known physical storage media.
Advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated herein.
[0057] In an embodiment, the proposed method dynamically selects the operational antenna when an alarm is generated from a monitoring unit. This helps in eliminating the manual process of selecting an operational antenna to route carriers of the affected antenna.

[0058] In an embodiment, the proposed method routes traffic of the affected antenna to the selected operational antenna without the need of an operator present at the antenna location. Also, it helps in reducing the time required to determine failure of the antenna,
[0059] In an embodiment, the proposed method helps in reducing the outage time and reduces the effort of the operator by dynamically selecting the operation antenna when the alarm is generated and routing the carriers of the affected antenna using an operational antenna without the need of the operator.
[0060] In an embodiment, the proposed method adjusts power level of high-power amplifiers associated with the selected operational antenna . This helps to compensate the path losses that occur due to antenna switching. This also helps in eliminating the manual efforts associated with adjusting power level of the high-power amplifiers.
[0061] As stated above, it shall be noted that the method of the present disclosure may be used to overcome various technical problems related to antenna switching. In other words, the disclosed method has a practical application and provides a technically advanced solution to the technical problems associated with the existing approach into antenna switching.
[0062] In light of the technical advancements provided by the disclosed method, the claimed steps, as discussed above, are not routine, conventional, or well-known aspects in the art, as the claimed steps provide the aforesaid solutions to the technical problems existing in the conventional technologies. Further, the claimed steps clearly bring an improvement in the functioning of the system itself, as the claimed steps provide a technical solution to a technical problem.
[0063] The terms "an embodiment", "embodiment", "embodiments", "the embodiment", "the embodiments", "one or more embodiments", "some embodiments", and "one embodiment" mean "one or more (but not all) embodiments of the invention(s)" unless expressly specified otherwise.
[0064] The terms "including", "comprising", “having” and variations thereof mean "including but not limited to", unless expressly specified otherwise.

[0065] The enumerated listing of items does not imply that any or all the items are mutually exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise. The terms "a", "an" and "the" mean "one or more", unless expressly specified otherwise.
[0066] A description of an embodiment with several components in communication with each other does not imply that all such components are required. On the contrary, a variety of optional components are described to illustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the invention.
[0067] When a single device or article is described herein, it will be clear that more than one device/article (whether they cooperate) may be used in place of a single device/article. Similarly, where more than one device/article is described herein (whether they cooperate), it will be clear that a single device/article may be used in place of the more than one device/article or a different number of devices/articles may be used instead of the shown number of devices or programs. The functionality and/or features of a device may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices which are not explicitly described as having such functionality/features. Thus, other embodiments of invention need not include the device itself.
[0068] Finally, the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on an application based here on. Accordingly, the embodiments of the present invention are intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.
[0069] While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.

Referral Numerals:

Reference Number Description
100 Environment
101 Antenna switching control system
103 Monitoring unit
1051-105N Plurality of operational antennas
121 Equipment room A
1231-123N High power amplifiers in equipment room A
125 Equipment room B
1271-127N High power amplifiers in equipment room B
131 Combiner
201 I/O Interface
203 Processor
205 Memory
207 Data
209 Modules
211 Alarm data
213 Antenna selecting data
215 Antenna failure conditions data
217 Power level data
219 Other data
221 Receiving module
223 Selecting module
225 Routing module
227 Power adjusting module
229 Other modules

400
Computer system
401 I/O Interface of the exemplary computer system
402 Processor of the exemplary computer system
403 Network interface
404 Storage interface
405 Memory of the exemplary computer system
406 User/Application
407 Operating system
408 Web browser
409 Communication network
411 Input devices
412 Output devices
413 RAM
414 ROM

WE CLAIM:
1. A method of controlling antenna switching, the method comprising:
receiving, by an antenna switching control system (101), an alarm related to failure of an affected antenna among a plurality of operational antennas (105) from a monitoring unit (103);
dynamically selecting, by the antenna switching control system (101), an operational antenna capable of handling traffic of the affected antenna from the plurality of operational antennas (105) based on one or more switching conditions; and
routing, by the antenna switching control system (101), traffic of the affected antenna to selected operational antenna by combining uplink carriers of the affected antenna with uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising detecting the affected antenna based on one or more antenna failure conditions.
3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the one or more antenna failure conditions comprises an Antenna Control Unit (ACU) failure, an Antenna Drive Unit (ADU) failure, a drive motor failure of an antenna, malfunctioning of feed horn, malfunctioning of transmitting waveguide, an issue with Network Operation & Control Center (NOCC), an issue with a dehydrator associated with one or more high power amplifiers installed in one or more equipment rooms, a scheduled maintenance of antenna drive motors, cleaning of Reflector, and cleaning of ADU.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:
adjusting, by the antenna switching control system (101), power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the selected operational antenna by a first preconfigured level from a first initial power level when the uplink carriers of the affected antenna are combined with the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna; and
adjusting, by the antenna switching control system (101), power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the affected antenna by a second preconfigured level from a second initial power level when the uplink carriers of the

affected antenna are combined with the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna.
5. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprises:
receiving, by the antenna switching control system (101), a notification upon rectification of the affected antenna indicating activation of a rectified affected antenna; and
routing, by the antenna switching control system (101), the traffic of the affected antenna to the rectified affected antenna by separating the uplink carriers of the affected antenna from the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna.
6. The method as claimed in claim 5, further comprising:
adjusting, by the antenna switching control system (101), power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the selected operational antenna to a first initial power level when the uplink carriers of the affected antenna are separated from the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna; and
adjusting, by the antenna switching control system (101), power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the affected antenna to a second initial power level when the uplink carriers of the affected antenna are separated from the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna.
7. An antenna switching control system (101) for controlling antenna switching, the
antenna switching control system (101) comprising:
a processor; and
a memory, communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein the memory stores instructions, which, on execution, cause the processor to:
receive an alarm related to failure of an affected antenna among a plurality of operational antennas (105) from a monitoring unit (103);
select an operational antenna capable of handling traffic of the affected antenna from the plurality of operational antennas (105) based on one or more switching conditions; and

route traffic of the affected antenna to selected operational antenna by combining uplink carriers of the affected antenna with uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna.
8. The antenna switching control system (101) as claimed in claim 7, wherein the processor is configured to detect the affected antenna based on one or more antenna failure conditions.
9. The antenna switching control system (101) as claimed in claim 8, wherein the one or more antenna failure conditions comprises an Antenna Control Unit (ACU) failure, an Antenna Drive Unit (ADU) failure, a drive motor failure of an antenna, malfunctioning of feed horn, malfunctioning of transmitting waveguide, an issue with Network Operation & Control Center (NOCC), an issue with a dehydrator associated with one or more high power amplifiers installed in one or more equipment rooms, a scheduled maintenance of antenna drive motors, cleaning of Reflector, and cleaning of ADU.
10. The antenna switching control system (101) as claimed in claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to:
adjust power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the selected operational antenna by a first preconfigured level from a first initial power level when the uplink carriers of the affected antenna are combined with the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna; and
adjust power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the affected antenna by a second preconfigured level from a second initial power level when the uplink carriers of the affected antenna are combined with the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna.
11. The antenna switching control system (101) as claimed in claim 7, wherein the
processor is further configured to:
receive a notification upon rectification of the affected antenna indicating activation of a rectified affected antenna; and

route the traffic of the affected antenna to the rectified affected antenna by separating the uplink carriers of the affected antenna from the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna.
12. The antenna switching control system (101) as claimed in claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to:
adjust power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the selected operational antenna to a first initial power level when the uplink carriers of the affected antenna are separated from the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna; and
adjust power level of one or more high-power amplifiers associated with the affected antenna to a second initial power level when the uplink carriers of the affected antenna are separated from the uplink carriers of the selected operational antenna.