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CBRS and the Shift in Spectrum Ownership

April 17, 2017 Wade Leave a comment

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I have been speaking about how the spectrum of 5G will shift into the hands of the small business once again. Well, now there are more people on board with this theory. It seems that CBRS is making it all happen and IWCE had CBRS as one of its focal points. (Even though I could not make it this year, they talked about it!)

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Quick update, the US CBRS is the 3.5GHz band, which runs from 3550 to 3700 MHz band. CBRS stands for Citizens Broadband Radio Service (in remembrance of the CB, Citizens Band). It is a licensed spectrum, but it is split up into 2 areas. There is Military radar, and Earth stations that use this spectrum that are grandfathered in and have priority access. That will not change. There will be Authorized Shared Access, (ASA). Currently in the US only, but Europe is looking to follow suit with Licensed Shared Access, (LSA).

Here it is “The 5G Deployment Plan” available in PDF, Kindle, and Paperback!

ASA includes:

Incumbent access including the federal government and satellite providers.
Priority access licenses (PAL) which are 7 10MHz licenses to be awarded to the highest bidders. PALs will be protected from the GAA users. PAL will include commercial users like carriers, rural operators, are a 3-year license with only 1 renewal term allowed at this time, and will be in the 3500 to 3650 portion of the spectrum. One licensee can hold only 4 PAL licenses.
General access user, (GAA) which is “Licensed by rule” which requires the rules to be followed. This will be dedicated in the 3650 to 3750 MHz portion of the band.
A PAL may gain additional GAA spectrum.
Companies that currently have this spectrum licenses will be able to keep their licenses; this was used for WiMAX in the past, now it will be LTE focused.
Licensing will be done by the Spectrum Allocation System, (SAS), which is a group that can charge for these services, currently being led by Google and Federated Wireless.
Hardware vendors include SpiderCloud, Ruckus, Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung, ip.access, and Acceleron.

I have been continuously explaining how CBRS will become a major player if the vendors pick up on it. Well, Google seems very interested. My friend Tom Ulrich put together the following report that covers how Google is excited to work with this spectrum and how it is the new beachfront property. How it will open new doors for all of us to deploy over the next 5 years or so.

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IWCE had entire workshops on it where all the big OEMs were there to promote the spectrum. They see great opportunity for growth here. One such workshop was “Building an Ecosystem for the CBRS Band” that had all the big players there. Nokia, Ericsson, Ruckus, Google, WISPA, Airspan, Federated Wireless, Comsearch, Telrad, and Cambium Networks were all presenting something about what they could do to contribute. They all see great potential in this. If you are a system integrator or do network implementation, then hopefully you see the potential as well.

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I was reading a report by ABI Research that mentions several articles pointing to Verizon Wireless plans to use CBRS to replace middle price DAS systems, the articles in RCR and Fierce Wireless using CBRS as the neutral host solution. Then it shows how Nokia added the CBRS to its Airscale product and the Ruckus OpenG product to follow suit. Not to be outdone but Acceleron also has a CBRS product. Just to be fair, Spidercloud was one of the first to have a CBRS product. It spears that Spidercloud is already reaching out the DAS vendors and Verizon to bridge the gap for smaller DAS systems. We shall see more of SAS, (Small Cell Antenna Systems) popping up to replace the smaller DAS systems.

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Could CBRS solve the DAS middleware problem? Could CBRS products fill the void where no one wants to invest in those 100,000 to 500,000 square feet venues where it is too small for a carrier but too large for a small cell? Is this the savior we are looking for? I hope so! A clean way to hand off and a lightly licensed spectrum where we would not all be trampling on each other in the Wi-Fi space. I see a solution that could solve so many issues, financial and technical.

While this will mostly be an indoor solution, something where we could replace some DAS system with a common platform licensed spectrum that all the carriers and non-carriers could share to reach the dense population, it will be used for enterprise and outdoor coverage as a critical part of the 5G network slice. I am looking forward to seeing what small businesses can do with this spectrum to serve the people.

If you want a quick overview, here are 2 links that can help:

I focus mostly on the enterprise play here, but the reality is that we can use this spectrum for more than just indoor solutions. I see the spectrum to be used for new solutions like backhaul in the tough area or as a fixed wireless solution for placed where we need limited spectrum over short distances. I also see the carriers using this as a common small cell solution that can handoff from the licensed LTE spectrum we see today to be used to fill small holes without the very expensive LTE spectrum that they FCC auctioned off for a very high price. I see cost-effective small cells in public area where the more expensive solutions from, the bigger OEMs are not practical. Price matters, but the high cost of backhaul is one of the limitations that hold back deployment, along with permitting costs. All of this are restricting small cell deployment today causing the FCC to push legislation to streamline coverage. Everyone wants great coverage and high bandwidth, no one wants to see an ugly tower in their back yard.

I see CBRS filling the public venues with an alternative to smaller DAS systems by dropping in a CBRS small cell with multiple bands to provide a lightly licensed signal where the carriers would roam onto this device. Clean signal without the threat of another access point going up on the same band(s).

CBRS will allow small business and Enterprise to have their lightly licensed spectrum, something that the FCC has kept from small business for quite some time. I get it, they make billions on the auctions, but it has not helped small business broadband. They feel the ISM band was enough for them to build on. I feel differently. Now I see opportunity in CBRS, centimeter wave and millimeter wave spectrums. Let’s deploy and bring broadband and narrowband to the masses! Broadband for internet access and narrowband for IOT access. It’s exciting to see the industry have more opportunity again!

Tom’s Report:

Tom did put together some notes from IWCE. Here is Tom’s report from IWCE, Is CBRS ending “Beachfront Spectrum”?

I had the pleasure to attend IWCE this week and was blown away by Dr. Preston Marshall’s {Alphabet/ Google} presentation on CBRS.

If I had to describe his presentation into 3 words it would be:

Ecosystem
Incentive
Innovation

Is the Ecosystem of Spectrum Landscape changing? Will CBRS end the need for Beachfront Spectrum?

It is first important to look closely at the “Current reality” of Wireless Spectrum: How does the current Spectrum landscape preclude innovation?

Licensed Spectrum is Expensive – Past Auctions cost the WSP’s Billions to own the right to this FCC Licensed Spectrum and only come available once every ~3-5 years. They also really limit the number of participant and winners. Do you have a Billion dollars to purchase spectrum for your “Garage idea of the Century?

Newly Licensed Spectrum roll outs are meticulously planned and take forever to plan/ execute. They often force the WSP’s to commit to the next technology type before knowing how successfully adopted it will be. Even after the Spectrum purchase, Look at how many Billions of Dollars were committed in development/ deployment in WiMAX for Intel, Google, & Sprint before changing to an LTE-based solution. Look at how difficult turning off old technology types {Analog, iDEN, GSM, UMTS, & CDMA} have become.

Spectrum is Slow to deploy and can take 6-8+ years to clear spectrum, raise funding, and establish a product rollout. Look at failed Spectrum rollouts like Lightsquared, Next-Wave, etc. Some companies like Dish have even had the forward though of saving spectrum, waiting for the next technology shift, or WSP Spectrum shortage to capitalize on their dormant Wireless portfolio.

In today’s unlicensed wireless ecosystem it encourages OEM’s to make cheap, lousy radios that do not perform very well with interference present. 802.11 Wireless AP’s are often a cheap commodity that needs to be upgraded or replaced every 3-5 years. How much innovation can we drive with a $40 access point? This often drives the race to the bottom on who can create the least cost AP.

How does CBRS set-up to change the Spectrum Landscape and Drive Innovation?

Dr. Marshall stated, “CBRS will make spectrum buying an economic decision.” It incentivizes stakeholders to maximize their ability to deflect interference and operate with radios that can perform in a noisier shared spectrum environment.

Dr. Marshall detailed his 4 step plan to rolling out CBRS

Regulatory – Helped get FCC approval, help develop standards within the Wireless Innovation Forum, and CBRS Alliance. Established FCC Part 96.
Coexist – Creating an ecosystem environment for Multiple Technologies and Stakeholders
Recruit – Recruit top talent and buy-in from Wireless industry
Prove – Further innovate standards, product, Solutions, and Applications.

CBRS creates a Wireless Ecosystem that now will encourage innovation and allows for fast, less expensive rollouts. Why not put a solution in the Marketplace and let the market decide how well it is adopted before committing to extensive field trials and Millions of dollars?

Dr. Marshall detailed that this Spectrum Landscape is sustainable to support additional shared spectrum bands, and may hold some of the keys on Business models, and landscape of 5G.

Special thanks to Tom for sending this back to us.

Now, my opinion. We have seen the players be OEMs and carriers and other integrators in this space. Who has been conspicuously absent has been the cable companies. Here is space where they can shine, grow, and spread beyond Wi-Fi without building an ironclad agreement with one carrier. They have the money and the deployment process to make this a phenomenal area of growth. I would like to think that SpiderCloud would be calling the cable companies with proposals and business cases. Just my opinion. It is time for the cable companies to make it happen in wireless deployment.

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Will IOT be a 5G Service?

April 10, 2017 Wade Leave a comment

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Of course. When we look at 5G it is well beyond the devices that we are used to. It’s time to expand your horizons beyond a simple device. That is why IOT is used along with 5G in so many conversations. IOT and 5G are used synonymously even though they are not the same thing. The thing is, 5G is the network description and IOT is the application.

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When we think of 5G, we think of the signal to a device. Now the signal will go to much more than a smart device. It will go to smartphones and tablets, but it’s also going to go to sensors, video cameras, games, smart gloves, smart anything that can be connected. We already see it with Wi-Fi that set the stage for 5G to connect to anything. The problem is that we need more bandwidth for stuff like that.

Here it is “The 5G Deployment Plan” available now!

Just when we thought more and more bandwidth was the answer, IOT device makers realize that they don’t need the bandwidth, but they also realize that lots of bandwidth needs lots of battery power to support it. So, they thought, how did pagers last so long on that tiny AA battery? How? They did it with less bandwidth, with the power to sleep until the code wakes it, and not using the display all the time. WOW! Paging technology ideas are still the foundation for modern technology! I remember we had QAM 64 before carriers had LTE. Anyway, I digress.

While the broadband is adding amazing opportunities to the modern era, like remote surgery, self-driving cars, long-range drones, gaming, video, and applications. We also have machine to machine communications we call IOT, which we need to track devices that can track and control remote things without having a human constantly looking at a screen. In almost real-time it can adjust.

While wireless gets not only more advanced, it gets more and more efficient with less and less overhead. It’s not all the wireless side, the network is pushing the computing and decision-making to the edge. It all started with the cloud bringing the data closer to where we are. Now the edge is bringing it closer to the wireless edge with less overhead and lower latency. We can have the application’s source get closer to the actual remote device.

The Wireless Deployment Handbook Paperback and

The Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS showing you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute.

The edge makes all this possible. Efficiencies were built into the wireless formats. Now the network is building in its own efficiencies by reducing the latency that it would normally have in transport. Routers and switch have become more efficient but now we are finding a way to cut out the travel delay that has been there for years. Now we can eliminate the travel delays by having more computing done closer to the device making readings and changes happening real close to real-time.

WOW! Just a quick overview of what is out there and how cool it is.

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The PA Wireless Happy Valley Technology Rally Review

April 4, 2017 Wade Leave a comment

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I had the opportunity and honor to speak at the Pennsylvania Wireless Associations’ (PWA) event at State College, Pa. I was on a panel that discussed the IOT use in smart cities. I’ll get into that in a minute, let’s talk about the event and the other panelists first. If you want to see the agenda for the event, click here.

It was really a lot of fun, the first day we got a tour of the Penn State Football stadium, which was awesome. The tour guide’s name was Spider, that’s right, Spider. He was great. He took us all through the penthouses and through the area where they players parents wait and in the locker room and on the field. I really enjoyed it. Thank you for arranging that.

But wait, there’s more! They also have us a front seat to the AT&T and Verizon site and DAS head end for the stadium. That was cool to see; I have some pictures so you can see it was a full site. They have a lot of radio heads crammed into that shelter. They also have a packed DAS head end there as well. Pretty cool to see. The AT&T tech told us that they have a 1Gbps backhaul for that site. It just doesn’t seem like enough for over 100,000 people on gameday. It was an impressive setup and great to see!

Then, the next day was the actual conference. It was great to see so many people interested in wireless at one event. I thought the turnout was great. This was at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel.

Let’s get to business, here is where we had the panels that would set the stage for the Smart City work that I hope we all can participate in very soon. It’s finally happening using all the infrastructure that many of us put in over the past 5 years. Seriously.

Here it is “The 5G Deployment Plan” available now!

The opening speaker was Ram Narayanan from the Penn State School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He runs a lab for the school to do research into wireless systems and offering. He also runs a program where local businesses can come in and work with the school for research to create new things. It looks like a very exciting program and Ram took a lot of pride in what he built. If you are interested in working with Ram at Penn State then you can find his information here, http://www.ee.psu.edu/Directory/FacultyInfo/Narayanan/NarayananProfilePage.aspx to learn more about how it works.

The first panel was AT&T, who really had a nice presentation on how AT&T can do a complete end to end IOT offering. They are already offering the service, and they talked about security for the IOT network and devices. Peter Stephenson presented the offer well. If you would like a turnkey solution, this is the way to go. I am not sure if that’s how everyone would like to go but it’s one possible solution. It sounds like AT&T will have both LTE-M and NBIOT bands up and running. They already have proven solutions, and they are growing the program. They already have a NOC/call center and the coverage in most areas. Amy Mcllvaine explained what a smart city was and gave some examples of the smart city initiatives that were already being worked. Barb Burba was the moderator for this session.

The second panel was mine along with BIG Wireless. We had a unified message to let the people in that room know that they have an opportunity to participate in the IOT and Smart City ecosystems. Several cities are going to want to deploy their own networks, and it would be anything. If you want to see a copy of our presentation, click here. We drove home the point that cities will all have different priorities and want unique solutions. That is where the people in wireless can come in and look for new sources of revenue as well as provide valuable services for cities. They will have needs for everything from garbage tracking to vehicle tracking to parking meter and space solutions. Routing traffic, alerts, digital signage, city-wide Wi-Fi, and more. They will be looking for income from their poles and other assets that they have available. They will look to reduce their expenses by installing LED lights and tracking people. They have so many opportunities that we, the consultants, contractors, and wireless solution providers, can provide. You get the idea. Special thanks to Bob Hagarman and Roger Hayes from BIG Wireless and Mike Starner for being on the panel with me. It was a really great time.

The Wireless Deployment Handbook Paperback and

The Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS showing you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute.

The third panel was a varied group. The moderator was Ryan McBreen of Waterford Consultants. He did a fine job of asking relevant questions for each panelist. Tim from Crown Castle did a great job talking about the opportunities out there for deployment and DAS, he was interesting and made some great points about how DAS upgrades continue to keep him busy. Tony Cellucci gave a good talk about the use cases for IOT. It was good to learn what is already happening in the industry with IOT and the availability of new sensors. Joe Conlon got up and showed a video on how Itelisys connects contractors in the industry. That was one of our points, we all need to work together to become the end to end solution.

Then came the closing ceremonies for the event. This is where we could thank the people who worked hard to make it happen. There are so many people who worked hard to put this together, Barbara Burba (Amerisites Wireless Development) and Marc Geddio (Waterford Consultants LLC) went the extra mile to make sure that the event went off without a hitch. Great job! Both of you went above and beyond to make it a great event.

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Chris Pleibel is the president of PWA, and he gave a great talk at the end letting us know that the PWA is there to support the wireless industry growth in PA.

Special thanks go out to the PA Wireless Ass. Steering Committee! Thanks to each of you for putting this together.

Phil Burtner, NB&C, PWA Board
Ryan McBreen, Waterford Consultants
Lisa Batchelor, Crown Castle
John Shive, Crown Castle
Sarb Bassi, American Tower Corp
Michael Starner, Comcast

One thing I would personally like to thank the PWA for is its continued support for the Hubble Foundation. Hubble Foundation has been trying to raise money this year, but it has been tough. They rely on groups like the PWA to support them as well as people like you and me. I make a point to give something to Hubble Foundation each year, more often if possible.

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Smart City Sustainability

March 20, 2017 Wade Leave a comment

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I have seen some smart city questions come my way, specifically, how can the smart city be sustainable. When I think of sustainability, I think of how to make the system pay for itself. To make it a viable and long-lasting program that doesn’t rely on tax dollars just to survive. Those systems often die off a financial death. So, what can we look at for income and a reduction of expenses?

It’s a good idea to create a plan to add income and reduce existing expenses and make it all look nice. We want to be prepared for when the opportunity comes to us. We also should be prepared to look at the existing leases and contract because it’s a good idea to know where you’re starting from.

Here it is “The 5G Deployment Plan” available now!

Expense Reduction:

Expense reduction is not always obvious. Using lower power LED lights makes sense, if the lamps are easy to replace and have a payback of less than 1 year. Which has been an issue. However, we can see where we can save money in the long run by investing now. Expense reduction is not obvious to us because we normally we look to spend money up front but we know we can save them money in the long run. We need to build a good long-term case because technology people look at things so differently than the financial guys do. For example, the IT people see a new server that is energy-efficient and has a low heat footprint is going to save money on not only energy savings but with less heat the cooling isn’t so critical saving money on the air conditioning bill. Most financial people will look at the expense to buy the new equipment. They see the one-time bill, not the big picture. That is why the technology groups need to provide a bigger picture when possible. Don’t worry because most OEMs will do it for you so that they can sell their equipment. I just want you to be prepared to get the right data. To prove to the financial people that we have the answer for long-term sustainability, cost effectiveness, and that this is a long-term solution.

I know what you’re thinking, I just avoided specifics. Well, here they are. The obvious, LED lighting, which is coming down in the upfront costs. Solar systems which are also becoming more and more cost-effective, especially where there is plenty of sun. Not so effective in the northeast just yet, but I see them all over California in newer communities. What about low energy equipment? Wi-Fi has already learned this, they lowered power and became creative with the way they connect power, this has really helped the cable companies deploy Wi-Fi everywhere. Just like their interfaces. It works well and its reliable, and it’s made to be outdoors. They have Wi-Fi in street lamps, (in the lamp or in the post), so there is no obvious equipment on the post, Dallas is already doing this as is Los Angeles. That’s right, it’s real and being deployed. Just like LTE will be soon. (I am not talking about smart light bulbs in your home, they connect to Wi-Fi but they are not a hot spot.)

I know that aesthetics matter in the city. So, they could put in a new pole with new lighting that takes less energy. They could also have a pole that is ready for the growth of wireless equipment inside the pole. Maybe they could think through the poles to add small cells, Wi-Fi, and routing equipment with fiber access. Then what? You make money off the asset. This is where you really have something to gain. Replacing the pole costs money and if they have to run new power for the lamps it will be a lot of money. Older lamps ran on higher voltage, so it could be cost inhibitive now.

The Wireless Deployment Handbook Paperback and

The Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS showing you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute.

Now, let’s look at ways to make money of existing city asset.

The low hanging fruit for the city is to lease the assets, like poles, lampposts, traffic lamp posts, strand, and more. Just be smart when you negotiate the lease for the poles, remember that most carriers want the pole to themselves, but don’t get into an exclusivity contract for all poles. Be smart and plan it out. Also, if you don’t’ want to manage the poles, then work out a deal with a company that already is good at leasing poles. Make sure you get a piece of the rent for each pole. While up front, the income will seem low, as the need grows, you will have more income from new players. This is tough on many poles because there are already local telecom and cable companies on there. One thing that many cities learned is that many of these poles with fiber on already have contracts in place where they limit the competition getting on new poles. Don’t limit your options. Make sure you put in there that it must look nice and be quiet.

Be quiet? What does that mean? It means that older equipment had loud fans that really bothered the residents. If it’s in a residential neighborhood, then it should be quiet. It must look nice, so people don’t complain.

Let’s look at other income, do you already have fiber or wireless backhaul. This is something that you could position to lease or offer carrier services. If you don’t want to manage it, then you could work with a fiber distribution company to manage your fiber. It’s a source of income that could be utilized.

You would provide space for kiosks that would be great for Wi-Fi access and digital signage. I see two models, one where you just lease the space and let the company build and do it all. The second model is like what NYC has done, build the kiosk, put in Wi-Fi, and provide digital signage. You could make money from the rent, of the Wi-Fi access, or advertising on the digital signage. The choice is yours.

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Obviously, you will make money with the permits, just be smart about it, if you put crazy restrictions in place where you should inspect each one, you will lose money. If you are very clear on what the installation should look and sound like, then you can expect a quality installation and inspect a sample. To do this efficiently, lay out the expectations up front, don’t leave any room there to guess. Put in what the pole should look like, how they should run the cables underground, how they should mount the antennas, how it should be quiet, how the lamp should look, who can attach wires to it if that applies, where the fiber access should be and where the fiber equipment should be mounted (inside the pole, in a box, or underground. All the details should be thought out ahead of time, not after the fact. Be careful with whom you and out permits too. Pay attention to who does good work and who cheats.

Permitting also could be for the underground access. Remember that if someone something in the ground then you have control of it. I know many companies put in boxes underground for access and they look great. Underground boxes can add income to the city, and it can keep the equipment out of site and out of mind. They can put antennas on manholes, it’s a new frontier for Wi-Fi and small cells, to put the signal on the ground and shoot up.

Don’t forget the apps! The city can provide apps to promote city business. Remember that the goal is to grow the business, so partner with then, like your local chamber of commerce, will be happy to have a way to promote business in the city. Make it easy with the apps that residents and tourists can add to their smart devices. Make it easy!

With city-owned Wi-Fi, the workers will have broadband access all over the city. Give the workers a free account and have them use it for access to databases, trouble ticket systems, time keeping, and so on. Use the network that is there.

Use your assets to give remote access to your parking meters, another source of income. If people can pay with apps and credit cards over a wireless backhaul, then your revenue is not only going up, but you don’t need to dump the change out of the meters. You can also track what parking spaces are busy all the time and which ones never are used. Less expense and easier income along with real-time analytics make the city a winner. If the parking garages are city owned, then it’s a bigger way to get income and track open spaces.

If the smart city is going to survive and grown, then put some proper planning in place. A connected city is part of the smart city. A smart city is a happy city. A smart city has the foundation to grow and attract more residents and visitors. Sustainability is key to making this happen.

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Do you know what to put in your SOW, the details needed to get paid for milestones or job completion?

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Tower Family Foundation supports the families of tower climbers at the time of crisis when a climber falls with financial support and more.

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Building the Smart City Foundation – Assets

March 13, 2017 Wade Leave a comment

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The foundation for a smart city is really the assets it can provide. The key to good assets is to use what is existing. I am going to focus more on wireless, but there are great opportunities that the larger cities are already thinking of.

Here it is “The 5G Deployment Plan” available now!

Assets

Poles – there are plenty of poles throughout the city. They could be wood poles, lampposts, or poles to hold up traffic lights. Remember that these are valuable assets that could be utilized or rented.
- Small cells for dense networks is already happening. The pole owners, could be the city r a utility, have a great opportunity to rent these poles out or let people hang small cells and fiber on them.
- Cameras will be deployed more and more to track traffic conditions, track bad guys, and to help cities analyze foot traffic throughout the day.
- Lamp posts can be changed out to LED, which in the long run should save money. Solar panels can be put in, reducing the need for electric. Wind generators could be added, although a stretch, it can be done for energy. The city will have new sources for energy at each pole.
Underground – there is an opportunity to not only run fiber underground, but equipment can be mounted underground also. This is a new item I had the pleasure of discussing with a company called BrandBumps. They make an underground box that is suitable to mount equipment, like routers or small cells. Really a great idea. The equipment can stay dry and it does not look ugly. It’s underground. The only people that see it are the people that open up the box to see it. How cool is that? WOW!
Fiber should be thought of as an asset. I believe that it is going to be used by so many services to the pole. I think that the pole could be a main handoff for small cells and fixed wireless. So by putting fiber access at almost every pole the city should be covered. This will allow so many services to be deployed to each pole which could have wireless at each pole. Wireless is more than Wi-Fi, I will explain that later. Just remember that fiber is an asset, it is the key to internet and network access beyond the poles. It can be owned by anyone. Companies could own it or fiber companies or a carrier. If you have fiber and strands available, then someone will pay you to ride across it. Cities can regulate how much fiber is in or the utilities could regulate it or the fiber companies may have exclusivity to the poles and access. Just ask Google Fiber how hard it is to attach to a pole owned by the competition. Remember that the cable companies are also major players. They have a say, and if the competition, like Google fiber, wants to attach to a pole they will say NO to keep the competition out. It’s business folks. In Nashville pole attachment rears it’s ugly head, read about it https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/09/att-sues-nashville-in-bid-to-stall-google-fiber/ and http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2017/02/02/pole-position-we-found-out-exactly-where-google.html to see that the legal issue is very real.
Strands – that’s right, the strands that run from pole to pole along with some of the cable. Did you ever notice the cable companies started to put their Wi-Fi on the strands so that they would not have to mount to the poles? Do you know why? Permitting and zoning are almost nonexistent on the strand. They make strand mount radios with DOCSIS interface. The DOCSIS can provide power and backhaul to something like a low power Wi-Fi unit. It makes sense and it’s easy to deploy and all the cable companies are doing it. They also have the lowest spot on the poles, which is perfect for Wi-Fi and makes the strand mount easy and safe. It is well below the danger zone where power may be mounted. Don’t forget the strands that the traffic lights are hanging on! They too can be used in a wireless mounting situation as well as for cameras.
Lamps – Yes, they have lamps that have built-in Wi-Fi. Thank you LED lighting! They can put the Wi-Fi radio in with the lamp. The cities want everything to look nice, something the carriers didn’t pay attention to until recently. They want it to look nice and be quiet. The way it should be.
City Buildings – remember that the city has buildings all over. Why not use that as another asset to mount radios, lease to carriers, or maybe put public safety in the building. I know, you’re worried about the looks in these buildings, well stealth radios are a big issue, so make sure you set the rules up ahead of time.
Bus and Train stops – Here are assets that may already have power and maybe even backhaul that can be turned into a hotspot or add digital signs to advertise. It’s all there and can be added relatively quick.
Kiosks and billboards – here you have structures where you could add more digital video and Wi-Fi or even space to put radios in.

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What do we mount on these assets?

This is one thing most people look at the obvious and then forget about all the possibilities. Here is a list.

Cameras
IOT sensors and radios
Wi-Fi radios
Small cells for LTE
Traffic sensors
Autonomous driving car sensors
Fixed wireless for broadband to the business, could be CBRS or LTE or mmwave radios.
Rent space to mobile carriers
Rent space to internet service providers
Rent space to cable companies
Put in public safety radios
Make sure we have power and backhaul at every site.
Install backhaul radios where we can’t get fiber.
Install solar panels for energy
Install small wind farms for energy.
Make sure we have low power lighting, LED, for savings.
Connect sensors to detect open parking spaces.
Smart meter hotspots

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Mounting Small Cells in a City

March 6, 2017 Wade Leave a comment

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With the coming densification of cities, we often try to figure out how we will mount the devices in our cities. After all, urban areas are going to be the key focus of how to grow. Smart cities are not the only reason we will be mounting the equipment in cities. We want to bring underprivileged and underserved areas up to a high-tech region so that everyone there can become an internet business owner. I am an internet business owner; it’s a great opportunity for us to make something from our ideas. Ideas can be taken from our minds to reality faster than ever before. Cities are working hard to make these things happen for everyone. The don’t want favoritism; they only want to give everyone an opportunity to grow and build a business. The more successful the residents are, the more successful the city is and the more loyalty it will build for customers.

So how do we do all this great stuff? We densify networks. We offer Wi-Fi, CBRS, LTE-U, mmwave, and carrier networks where the people are. IOT will absolutely require that we have signal as close to the device as possible, not to mention the autonomous vehicles like cars and drones. While the technology is cool, we still need the physical mount. We still need to hang a box near the people. We still need to deploy a network and a backbone. That’s right; we need to install a box and a cable in the city.

Here it is “The 5G Deployment Plan” available now!

Cities want it to look nice and to be quiet. That is what I have learned. How do we do that? We look at what we can mount to.

Strands – Cable companies use strands to mount the Wi-Fi boxes they hang. It makes rolling out the equipment quick and easy. Fewer permitting issues, the lowest thing on the poles, so it’s less of an issue to attach, put it near an access spot with a DOCSIS interface and installation is easy and quick. Easy and quick to roll out. The backhaul is generally the cable connection. The power source is also the cable connection. It’s very efficient and cost-effective. Why don’t cable companies roll out small cells?

Poles and lampposts – Mounting to the pole are how most carriers do it. They like to have 360 coverage, generally 3-panel antennas but they could have 2 or one. Omni antennas still serve their purpose for the carriers, but they prefer sectors to manage traffic. The small cell and antenna will go on a pole. The fiber is the preferred backhaul for carriers. They mount an antenna or 3 on the pole; they put a box on the pole with the radio head and fiber equipment, then they are done. Prior to doing any of this, they need to get rights to the pole, sign a lease or agreement, get fiber to the pole, get the permit to mount to the pole, get permits for the fiber to the pole, and get power to the pole. There is so much prep and permitting that happens prior to any carrier getting on any pole almost everywhere. It adds to the cost. Small cell hardware is cheap. Installation is cheap. Backhaul, permitting, planning and leasing are expensive.

Underground and manholes – There are solutions where Wi-Fi has been deployed on manholes for coverage. Fiber and small cells are put underground near the poles to keep the poles clean and pretty. Fiber is being run underground where possible to avoid those overhead and exposed cables from hanging off the poles and looking ugly. Underground can look nice, but as we grown and make changes, it’s a nightmare. We need to pull tons of permits and rip up the pavement and spend a ton of money to add a few strands of fiber just so we can grow or add new equipment.

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Buildings – remember that the building is still a great way to mount the equipment. The buildings are not only the roof, don’t limit yourself. We can use the outside walls to mount small cells. We can use the windows in stairways to get the signal out to the people. We can put small cells in the windows of large buildings with storefronts. Why not, it’s easy and effective if the glass passes RF. Let’s get creative here. Why not work with small businesses and give them free access to the broadband to get inside their building and get the signal on the street. It just makes sense to me. It’s an asset that could be a win-win for everyone involved.

Public Transportation – we will be looking at buses and trains to have Wi-Fi. They could also pass the signal outside to the people there. They could have hot bus stops and train stations that can spread the signal to the people.

Kiosks, billboards, and signs – here is something that is really underutilized by most cities, they need to use city-owned assets beyond the bus stops. Billboards are obvious, they are everywhere and prove to be valuable in mounting wireless assets because most already have power. Many larger cities have kiosks to help people around the city. They have signs showing people city maps. They have pay phones that may be there for emergencies. I recommend using these assets or renting them so that broadband can get out to the city for more people to use. It could be a game changer by using something you already have available to provide new rental opportunities.

We need to get more creative to roll out new wireless formats. Whether it’s Wi-Fi, 5G, IOT, or any other format, let’s get the assets out there and see what we can realistically mount to.

Think about what the options could be! We can do so much more in a Dense Network. Dense networks are becoming mainstream for all of the world, so let’s get started here in the USA.

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Drone Pilots have Rule!

February 13, 2017 Wade Leave a comment

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Drone update! Put Drones to Work! The eye in the sky (in the USA) is the FAA and they have laid out some drone pilot rules and. Your eye in the sky is your drone. As we move into an era of IOT, drones will play a larger part in businesses. In fact, there will come a day when drones will be traveling the skies much like the airlines do now. But first, let’s talk about some recent news before we get into what is to come.

First, let me thank the FAA for doing something about the tedious process we had for flying commercial drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, (UAS), finally. It was funny that for fun I could do almost anything with a drone but for business purposed I could only hover over my head after I took the full pilots course.

Here it is “The 5G Deployment Plan” available now!

Now, you just need to follow these guidelines. Link to FAA fact sheet, https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=20516. The FAA was kind enough to put this list together, well, to be honest, it’s their job. They need to define the rules so that businesses can move forward. They were holding back a business that was ready to burst at the seams.

What is on the sheet? Here is a quick overview is taken right from the FAA document.

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Operational limits:

Unmanned aircraft must weigh less than 55 lbs. (25 kg).
Visual line-of-sight (VLOS) only; the unmanned aircraft must remain within VLOS of the remote pilot in command and the person manipulating the flight controls of the small UAS. Alternatively, the unmanned aircraft must remain within VLOS of the visual observer.
At all times the small unmanned aircraft must remain close enough to the remote pilot in command and the person manipulating the flight controls of the small UAS for those people to can see the aircraft with vision unaided by any device other than corrective lenses.
Small unmanned aircraft may not operate over any persons not directly participating in the operation, not under a covered structure, and not inside a covered stationary vehicle.
Daylight-only operations, or civil twilight (30 minutes before official sunrise to 30 minutes after official sunset, local time) with appropriate anti-collision lighting.
Must yield right of way to other aircraft.
May use visual observer (VO) but not required.
First-person view camera cannot satisfy “see-and-avoid” requirement but can be used if the requirement is satisfied in other ways.
Maximum ground speed of 100 mph (87 knots).
Maximum altitude of 400 feet above ground level (AGL) or, if higher than 400 feet AGL, remain within 400 feet of a structure.
Minimum weather visibility of 3 miles from control station.
There is so much more, download the PDF to get it all!

The Wireless Deployment Handbook Paperback and

The Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS showing you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute.

Remote Pilot Certification

Establishes a remote pilot in command position.
A person operating a small UAS must either hold a remote pilot airman certificate with a small UAS rating or be under the direct supervision of a person who does hold a remote pilot certificate (remote pilot in command).
To qualify for a remote pilot certificate, a person must:
- Demonstrate aeronautical knowledge by either:
  - Passing an initial aeronautical knowledge test at an FAA-approved knowledge testing center; or
  - Hold a part 61 pilot certificate other than student pilot, complete a flight review within the previous 24 months, and complete a small UAS online training course provided by the FAA.
- Be vetted by the Transportation Security Administration.
- Be at least 16 years old.
Part 61 pilot certificate holders may obtain a temporary remote pilot certificate immediately upon submission of their application for a permanent certificate. Other applicants will obtain a temporary remote pilot certificate upon successful completion of TSA security vetting. The FAA anticipates that it will be able to issue a temporary remote pilot certificate within ten business days after receiving a completed remote pilot certificate application.
Until international standards are developed, foreign certificated UAS pilots will be required to obtain an FAA-issued remote pilot certificate with a small UAS rating.

A remote pilot in command must:

Make available to the FAA, upon request, the small UAS for inspection or testing, and any associated documents/records required to be kept under the rule.
Report to the FAA within ten days of any operation that results in at least serious injury, loss of consciousness, or property damage of at least $500.
Conduct a preflight inspection, to include specific aircraft and control station systems checks, to ensure the small UAS is in a condition for safe operation.
Ensure that the small unmanned aircraft complies with the existing registration requirements specified in § 91.203(a)(2).
A remote pilot in command may deviate from the requirements of this rule in response to an in-flight emergency.

There is more in the PDF, go ahead and download it at https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=20516.

So here we are building a business case to do drone work at towers. I am all for it. It won’t replace the climber but it will make inspections so much easier. The video they can use today is just awesome; it can catch almost any flaw that can be seen. It can do measurements either with extreme HD video or Lidar. How cool is that? To be able to do these inspections at the site in so much less time. WOW!

To be able to do coverage testing, optimization, and assist in the close out of a site. WOW!

Don’t you worry, NATE has been looking at this for over a year! That’s right, they put together a guide for people to use at Vertical Communications Structures. I think they mean towers because most buildings in today’s world are communication structures. Link to NATE’s UAS around vertical structure PDF, https://natehome.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/UAS-Operations-Document-2nd-Edition-Jan-2017-E-FILE.pdf.

Nate’s UAS committee is made up of:

Christopher Desmond (Verizon Wireless)
Greg Emerick (Sentera)
Jim Goldwater (Bob Lawrence & Associates)
John Paul Jones (Tower & Turbine Technologies LLC)
Robert McCoy (Crown Castle)
Jimmy Miller (MillerCo, Inc.)
Chris Moccia (Measure)
Art Pregler (AT&T)
Todd Schlekeway (NATE)
Jim Tracy (Legacy Telecommunications, Inc.)

Nate’s UAS Committee has pledged to be a source of information by providing timely updates to NATE members and industry stakeholders. (They have more in the bulletin, so go ahead and download it!)

Learn more about NATE at www.natehome.com when you have time.

Back to Drones!

Look how far we have come in a short time! Everyone was so scared to share the videos they took, but now they can show them and share them and make money with them. This opens new businesses in more than just the wireless industry.

I see a future of drone air traffic controllers. Human and machine monitoring the drone traffic, creating and verifying flight paths, weather stations, and more. All of this is moving into reality as drones are being used to deliver stuff. Can you imagine? Drones will be a useful part of society that will alleviate the traffic off the road. You know, the roads where we will have self-driving cars. Less oil and gas being used because the batteries of the drone are getting better and better every year. Remote work and safety can be monitored real-time remotely or locally as drones will take over the skies for a small economical job.

Can you imagine when we can fly them using 4G and 5G systems to monitor and control them? We will have the flight path and mission already programmed in them, but the possibilities will be endless for what they can do I the air and where they can go. They could be used for microwave path inspection, aerial population inspections, emergency surveillance, and so much more. Someone will need to monitor them and keep tabs on them, like air traffic controllers. Someone will need to collect the video. Not only that but they will be equipped with radar and be able to talk to each other to verify flight patterns. It will be a cool future.

Drones have already made an impact with the wow factor. We all loved the videos early on. Now we are trying to put that video to work. I don’t think just anyone will jump in when they see the price tag for the equipment needed. It’s not cheap, sometimes up to $100K per drone and camera. Then you need to get in a network of pilots to get referrals in your area. Then you need engineers that know the industry, in our case the tower and wireless industry. Don’t forget; you still need the training and certification! You need to be certified.

It’s not all good; they will be spying on all of us. It’s bound to happen. The police will start using drones more and more in rescue and criminal investigations. It’s only a matter of time until they start flying up to windows and looking in. Draw your blinds! I have some links below about some spy issues, good and bad.

So, there you have it. I have resources below if you’re interested in becoming drone certified or want to learn more.

Was the FAA too slow to make this happen? Find out what Keven Gambold of Unmanned Aerial Experts thinks https://wade4wireless.com/2016/06/14/keven-gambold-explains-using-drones-for-tower-work/.

Resources:

Link to the FAA PDF, https://www.faa.gov/uas/media/Part_107_Summary.pdf
Link to the FAA PDF regulations full, https://www.faa.gov/uas/media/RIN_2120-AJ60_Clean_Signed.pdf
Link to FAA fact sheet, https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=20516
Tower Safety Drone training class – http://towersafety.com/tower-safety-instruction-announce-new-improved-drone-class/
Tower Safety drone training for audits – http://towersafety.com/drone_training_audits/
Drone Cell Tower Inspect video from Tower Safety and Instruction – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoOIuNVg9YA
Link to NATE announcement about unmanned aerial systems operations, https://natehome.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/NATE-UAS-Operations-Around-Vertical-Communications-Infrastructure-Final-Document-1.pdf
Link to NATE’s UAS around vertical structure PDF, https://natehome.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/UAS-Operations-Document-2nd-Edition-Jan-2017-E-FILE.pdf
Remote pilot small unmanned aircraft systems certification standards – https://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/acs/media/uas_acs.pdf
Remote Pilot Knowledge Test Guide – https://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/test_guides/media/r emote_pilot_ktg.pdf
Knowledge Test Study Guide – https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/media/remote_pilot_study_guide.pdf
Knowledge Test Sample Questions – https://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/test_questions/media/uag_sample_exam.pdf
Pilot’s handbook of Aeronautical knowledge – https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/phak/
Legal rights on spying drones:

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The Smart City 5G Business Plan

February 6, 2017 Wade Leave a comment

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The Smart City 5G Business Plan

Here it is “The 5G Deployment Plan” available now!

Build your business case around your needs. Think of who will use it. Most cities think that they can put everyone on one system, but that’s not practical.
1. The thing about a smart city is that there is more to it than wireless. Smart cities are about communication, efficiently and everywhere, but also about the energy savings and the lighting and the efficiency that will save money.
2. The residents want a well-connected A city wants to run as cost effectively as possible and safety.
3. The government wants a city with low costs for power and communications and a safe city.
4. Tourists want a well-connected, (Wi-Fi and carrier coverage), and safe city. They also want to get around easy and find places to go, so apps that help them do that will give the city a good reputation and spreads a lot of good will.
5. A smart city to be run smart, costs should be kept to a minimum for not only communications but for electrical and safety. It all adds up. If you are billing each department, from electric to water to gas to garbage, then think of each source of revenue. Think of the tourism and the residents because they will be paying the bills.
6. What about the buildings? Most smart cities don’t care about the buildings unless they are city buildings. Then they want to save costs. If you can make the buildings, say museums, part of the smart city rollout, it would help shine the light on what the features are of the city as well as provide cost savings for operations. Cities may do this because it could use grant money, a key to rolling out smart cities would be a great way to use it.
7. Don’t forget the parking meters, open spaces for parking, traffic management, red light management, and remote management of almost all city assets. Even smart meters for gas or electric or water play into this.

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Coverage would be the city or area that they want to cover. I should be honest; most cities would never spend much money on a public wireless network. In fact, they would put it in, but they would not want to spend the money to maintain something like that. There are exceptions, like New York City where they put Wi-Fi hotspots around the city for the tourists and locals. That is where the public/private partnership comes into play. I’ll discuss more on that below. The coverage for a city may seem obvious, but I’ve built networks where the cities cover not only city limits but the outskirts of town and other places nearby to work partnerships with neighboring communities and municipalities. Don’t just think about city limits, think about partners. In this case, though you may want to read meters, turn lamps on and off, control vehicles throughout the city, monitor traffic lights or even sewer levels.
The goal of this coverage needs to be thought deeply about because you need to know what the use case is. Is it for video and security? Is it for the residents to have internet access? Is it for police and fire workers to have internet access? Is it for the workers to have network access? If you are building it for the city, think about how to maintain it as well as coverage. The functionality may be for meters today, or lampposts, but what do you want to add to the system? What could be a potential target for a year?

The Wireless Deployment Handbook Paperback and

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The budget will be determined by what you use it for. The key to smart cities is to provide services and to save costs.
1. The coverage will determine the budget. The coverage will not be solid in most cases. Make sure you figure it out what the needs are for the use. The thing is when the smart city planners start looking at the budget they will look beyond the wireless CapEx and into the OpEx. They will take the maintenance and monthly costs of the service into account. They will also look at what the electric bills will be. Who will be looking at the data? You could manage the system in a central location, or the system may need to send the data to different NOCs throughout the city. If you plan to cover multiple types of equipment, like from water levels to gas pressure levels to traffic lights, then you need to make sure each group can grab some of your data. Several cities are even thinking of garbage levels in waste bins so they can pick it up before it runs over. These are all target goals for coverage and send out data.
2. Is it a prevailing wage area? Is it union required area? If you think it doesn’t matter, let me tell you a story. I was working in Philly, coverage testing. To do this my partner and I had a bucket truck to test. The rules are the engineer could use a radio and a laptop but no tools. So, before we went into Philly, we put all the tools in the truck box and locked them up. We were down an ally, on a back street, behind some abandoned buildings. Sure enough, a black Lincoln pulls up, and the guy jumps out and starts yelling at us to see our union cards. My partner was ready for this and explained that we’re engineers, not workers. He had the paperwork and our business cards. This guy didn’t care; he started to call everyone, including the city. He got all the answers that we gave him, but that wasn’t good enough, he called the union halls to make sure there was not work being done on that street. Then he watched us for the next 3 hours or so from his car. We went from street to street to test, and he followed us most of the day, making sure we didn’t touch any tools.
3. Are you providing outdoor coverage only or venues or streets? What about smart buildings? Traffic lights? What apps are you adding? What will be the use, video? Will you control the traffic lights or just monitor the traffic or do both? Will you turn the street lamps on and off? Are you adding free Wi-Fi for tourists and residents?
Spectrum for smart cities can vary based on what the goal is.
1. You may want to be sure that your emergency responders have high-speed internet throughout the city, the thing you need to look at is whether it’s dedicated to them or if they will share a public network. What data will they be passing and what encryption will they be passing. If it is for data only, then it may not be mission critical. The only time it may be an issue of there is an emergency in an area where there are a lot of spectators and reports that are sharing the public Wi-Fi. The same happens to cell sites during an emergency; they get overloaded causing them to go down or drop calls.
2. Internet access for the citizens and tourist is one of the most obvious uses of Wi-Fi. Maybe LTE-U will start to ramp up but the way I see it, this is a great service. No one looks at Wi-Fi to have great coverage, but rather hotspots. So, this is something that you could strategically place on city-owned poles or kiosks. Always a good idea to make the residents and tourists happy.
3. Monitor and control traffic lights could take a licensed spectrum, low latency. It should be an IOT play, maybe in the 900MHz spectrum. Make sure you have the timers in there for backup.
4. Video will need high spectrum, like mmwave. Many cities have used Wi-Fi on a dedicated network. It worked well in the past when properly engineered. I would not just throw up a network, plan, and engineer.
5. Parking meters and garage space monitoring would be a great IOT play with low-bandwidth. However, chances are you may have Wi-Fi in those areas, or maybe, in a parking garage you could have a video application. You may piggyback on of another system. It should all go back to a NOC to monitor. The deal with parking meters is that they may take a credit card which would need to be approved quickly or a remote need approval. Think through the application and latency before just jumping into an existing system.
6. If you are going to capture data to do analytics, then think of IOT. What are you going to monitor and control? Traffic lights? Video cameras? All of this is something that you may want to add to your smart city network. There’s a variety of spectrum options. Just like reading meters, like parking meters and monitoring the parking garages. The video would add safety for the city and a way to track criminals pursued throughout the city.

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The 5G Deployment Plan Book Release!

January 30, 2017 Wade Leave a comment

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The 5G Deployment Plan Handbook!

You bombarded me with questions about 5G, like what is it, what’s special about it, and how will it be deployed. You also said you didn’t care about the technical details, just how to implement it and how to build the business plans. You kept asking, so I worked on this for over a year. Many of you want to learn about what’s possible with 5G in the real world.

Since you asked for it I put together a book that covers the 5G deployment of macro sites, small cells, LTE-U and even CRAN and c-RAN. It’s more than deployment but the business case because 5G will enable more people to deploy in the US than just the carriers! Spectrum availability in the USA will go far beyond the carriers. How? Find out! Learn more about 5G in the book, and it’s there waiting for you to learn more about it.

Introducing “The 5G Deployment Plan” to cover the 5G deployments from business case to execution.

Get it the way you want it!

The Amazon Paperback, Full Color 8.5″ by 11″ Version

The Amazon Kindle Version

The Full PDF on Sellfy

The Full PDF on Gumroad

Many books talk about 5G in a very technical manner or talk about what the carriers will do. You are probably wondering what you can do! Learn more in this book which is written for the business owners and deployment teams so that 5G can become a reality. I am sure many of you have read that 5G is the wave of the near future. It’s a new type of network. That’s right, instead of having the typical format associated with wireless systems, like LTE was with 4G, 5G encompasses so much more.

This is a follow-up to the original Wireless Deployment Handbook for LTE Small Cells, CRAN, and DAS!

We need some guidance on the 5G wireless rollout plans. Business plans in this book may help you get started or give you ideas of how to move forward. The ideal situation is that we can use the existing systems, which we can.

There are so many questions around 5G technology, but you all are in deployment and want to know what systems to build. This book will help you align the deployment model with a great business case.

Questions like, “Can I build a private 5G system?” “What would it take to deploy 5G systems?” “What would the business case look like for a 5G system?” “How does 5G tie into IOT?” “Will LTE be part of 5G?”

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The beauty of 5G is that it included so many networks. When LTE came out, we associated that with 4G Even though 4G included HetNets to make up one bigger network. HetNets include Wi-Fi and other formats that can work with LTE. One issue has been that LTE never could create a clean handoff to Wi-Fi.

Voice over Wi-Fi was starting to take off, and it worked great on a dedicated Wi-Fi system, but it still would not hand off to the carrier’s LTE system so well. It goes both ways, VoLTE would not hand off to Wi-Fi as clean as they had hoped.

Here is a document that will help you deploy 5G and understand what is involved as well. Giving a technical explanation and touching on the business needs to ensure you get the big picture.

It has not been easy. I have been studying 5G for the past year and a half. I thought it would make sense to put it all in a book for you to use a reference. I recorded what I could and captured it all on paper to make a reference for your teams to have all in one place covering the deployment from business case creation to delivery. You will have a text that will serve to help you design and build your 5G system.

You will become part of the 5G ecosystem by building your portion of the 5G HetNet. How cool is that?

Here is the table of contents to give you an idea of what’s included.

Who is this book for?

How to use this Book

Introduction

Why 5G?

What is 4G?

A quick history lesson.

The 4G network.

What is 5G?

Quick history recap

Will 5G replace LTE?

What Applications will 5G have?

What will the 5G be used for?

Why the Need for Speed?

Why the need for 5G Low Latency?

Why Narrow Bandwidth systems in 5G?

5G Network Slicing

4G and 5G Spectrum and Technologies

4G soon to be part of 5G Spectrum

TDD and FDD Formats

The Wireless Network outline.

The Evolved Core.

The RAN

Wireless Deployment Planning Overview

Pre-deployment Planning Overview

Planning and budgeting for deployment.

Start with the end in mind.

Put some thought into whom you are going to serve.

What is the service?

Break it down even more.

Inter-Network Connectivity

RAN Backhaul and Fronthaul Overview

Fiber connections:

When is fiber used/not used?

Microwave Connections:

When is Microwave used/not used?

What is LTE UE backhaul?

Resources:

RAN Site Components

BBU.

Radio.

Antennas and Jumpers.

The Mounting Structure and Hardware.

Battery backup.

Testing at the site for more than the equipment!

The 4G deployment plan

Types of Cell Sites

The BTS Installation.

The Radio Head Installation

Antenna Notes

LTE MIMO Deployment Notes

From 4G to 5G.

The 4G and 5G HetNet

What will 5G networks look like?

System Outline

What is the 5G System Plan?

What is the overall 5G plan?

The 5G System

Standard System

Base Station

Antennas and Radio Heads

How does MIMO work?

Deploying 5G Small Cells

Will 5G be a Success?

The 5G HetNet

The Cloud RAN

What is Edge and FOG Computing?

What is SDN and NFV?

What about Wi-Fi?

Cheap and Dirty

Carrier Grade

Who will win in 5G?

The Real 5G Winners Will have VISION!

Resources:

The 5G Business Case Foundation

What is your Business Case for Wireless Coverage?

Medical and Health Care

Utilities

Transportation

Rail or Bus

Highway

County and City Transportation

Air Travel

Unmanned Vehicles

Drones/plane

Automobiles

Boats

Emergency Responders

WISP

Small Carrier

IOT Systems

Enterprise

Business or Building Owner

Building Maintenance

Entertainment, Stadium, Large Venue

Smart City

Construction vehicles and sites

Renewable Energy

Gaming

Other – what will your business plan look like?

IOT

What is NB IOT and how will we use it?

What is NB-IOT?

Resources:

Glossary – Naming Overview (Abbreviations and Acronyms)

A Note from Wade

Other Books by Wade

Extras

More business plan sheets:

Other – Write your business plan.

Scope of Work Outlines Cover Sheet

Scope of Work Details

The end to end deployment will be more efficient as you learn more and do more deployments. You can learn more about LTE, Wi-Fi, and more. Think about the spectrum issues that are coming up, like mmwave, CBRS, and LTE-U. Think about what systems will be out there, indoor and outdoor, macro and small cell, broadband and narrowband. What about the end user’s equipment? It’s not just for smartphones anymore.

Now we have IOT coming out getting ready to connect millions of devices to the system. There isn’t just one system, as the network slicing chapter explains, it’s a collection of networks. What about the dedicated networks? You know, like the virtual reality networks for entertainment venues. You learn what is possible and what you can do. Just like your Wi-Fi system, the new 5G network will allow you to build smaller and affordable 5G wireless system that you control and manage. It’s not always easy, but you have the control, and the spectrum is becoming available to more than just the carriers. It’s a new age of communications.

As 5G progresses, we can open new wireless venues that we can control. The new devices will be adding more and more receivers for new spectrum. It’s all very exciting! You are one of the lucky ones to be involved in the future of communications which wireless frees all of us and opens new possibilities across all industries. Awesome!

Where to get it!

The Amazon Paperback, Full Color 8.5″ by 11″ Version

The Amazon Kindle Version

The Full PDF on Sellfy

The Full PDF on Gumroad

Thank you for your support! I truly appreciate it.

Don’t forget the original Wireless Deployment Handbook for LTE Small Cells, CRAN, and DAS!

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention! We need to smart and safe out there.

Wade4Wireless BlogCast

What is NB IOT and how will we use it?

January 30, 2017 Wade Leave a comment

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Are you curious about IOT? Do you know the different flavors of IOT? Do you wonder why they use IOT and 5G interchangeably? Who would use this technology? Read on wireless tech fan if you want to find out.

Here it is “The 5G Deployment Plan” available now!

Isn’t IOT just the internet of things? Do we need so many variations? YES! There are different flavors of IOT that are available. Each one has a different use case. The one thing that you learned about 5G is that it will be made up of HetNet. If you’re building out a network, look at NB-IOT as a very powerful tool in your war chest. Any of us could install a smart thermostat or light switch in our homes, right? While that is cool, it’s very limited, and anyone can do it. For IOT you will want to build a business plan around deploying the network to control thousands of meters for a utility, remote devices, alarms, track equipment, and more. A way for you to break the network down to each specialty item. For low-bandwidth, high battery life remote devices, this is perfect. Maybe open and close doors remotely in a building or track where all the equipment is in real-time, like for a corporate building or a hospital. Cool, right?

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What is NB-IOT?

It is Narrowband Internet of Things which is, according to Wikipedia, “ is a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) radio technology standard that has been developed to enable a wide range of devices and services to be connected using cellular telecommunications bands. NB-IoT is a narrowband radio technology designed for the Internet of Things(IoT), and is one of a range of Mobile IoT (MIoT) technologies standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).” So basically, it is a technology used for machines that have low data needs and don’t need to be connected all the time. The connection issue is so that the battery life I extended, hopefully, batteries will last ten years. By that time, you may replace the unit altogether because of the advances in technology.

Why do people use 5G and IOT interchangeably I do? It doesn’t make sense to me mainly because I look at 5G as the network and I look at IOT as a service. Now, IOT will be a big reason for deploying 5G. However, there is also NB IOT for applications in IOT devices.

The application is pretty specific. Let’s look at how they will be used and who will use them.

Let’s look at NB-IOT which I believe is above 3GPP release 13. Yes, 3GPP is developing this along with the IOT technologies, so it’s not a fly by night format. It is a low-power wide area network, LPWAN, format. It means just what it says, low power RF reaching many devices over a wide area. Its major focus is to reach low power devices, something that may need the battery to last over ten years. Limited bandwidth using 250 Kbps up and 250Kbps down. Very low-bandwidth. Not for video, or any high bandwidth application. A meter could report, “I’m reading 35 degrees Fahrenheit” or for the system to tell a relay to close or open. These are short data bursts that don’t require much data to send a simple machine language command. It is half duplex, meaning it will talk and then listen. The antennas are very simple, one transmit, and one receive, SISO which is single in single out. Transmit power is very low, 23dBm, around 200 milliwatts of power.

The Wireless Deployment Handbook Paperback and

The Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS showing you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute.

It is very limited, but how can it help I the IOT deployments? Who would use this? In large buildings, there could be a need for something like this to track equipment or open and close doors. It would be low latency and quick access because it would be a dedicated network. Most likely be an add-on to an existing network. It would be specifically to contact devices that you may only need to poll once a week or so. It’ss meant to communicate with objects that can give you a simple response or one that you could send a simple command. If you have a large outdoor network, then you could use this to extend it or talk to devices that run on the battery. Maybe even to use for security to send out an alert if it is tripped in a remote area. Look at this as another tool in your HetNet arsenal. A network that you could deploy cost-effectively to communicate with devices that are very remote or don’t have access to power.

There are several possibilities, like remote fence alarms, meters, equipment tracking, animal tracking, and more. An extension of the larger network.

The spectrum is an issue for me here in the USA because there is not dedicated spectrum that I found. It looks like anyone who may have narrowband spectrum may be able to use this. I did read that GSM spectrum would work. I don’t see much of that spectrum nationwide, but I am not sure if a nationwide deployment would be necessary. It looks like 200Khz of bandwidth would work for something like this. Would the GSM bands be re-farmed to run something like this? It could be, why not? What an opportunity to build something for IOT only.

While I said, this is part of the HetNet. There are attempts to build large networks to cover these specialty IOT circumstances. When you think of all the devices and systems that can benefit from a network like this. It could be more than just remote devices. Think about agriculture, metering, lighting control, smart city control and monitoring, and industrial equipment. See the value of a system that could keep these devices connected with extremely long battery life? Remember that these devices only need small data bytes to communicate. What a great opportunity for a new specialized network to be built.

All this when you thought small data networks were history. We need to connect everything, but we need to be smart about it. It means that we can build a better strategy for these specialized networks and hopefully we won’t overcharge customers like the carriers intend to. It makes better business sense to build a cost-effective system for these systems where they don’t want the bandwidth or constant connections. They want to have a connection for a few dollars a month. Here’s a great business plan!

Resources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NarrowBand_IOT

http://www.samsung.com/global/business-images/insights/2016/IoT-Whitepaper-0.pdf

http://www.huawei.com/minisite/4-5g/img/NB-IOT.pdf

http://resources.alcatel-lucent.com/asset/200178

https://networks.nokia.com/innovation/iot

http://www.ericsson.com/res/docs/whitepapers/wp_iot.pdf

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

Do you know what to put in your SOW, the details needed to get paid for milestones or job completion?

The foundations below do beautiful work, helping families in their time of need. Climbers often get seriously injured or die on the job. The foundations below support those families in their time of greatest need!

Hubble Foundation helps the families of climbers in time of need!

Tower Family Foundation supports the families r tower climbers at the time of crisis when a climber falls.

Tom’s Report:

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

Hubble Foundation helps the families of climbers in a time of need and beyond with financial support and counseling!

Tower Family Foundation supports the families of tower climbers at the time of crisis when a climber falls with financial support and more.

Share this:

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

Hubble Foundation helps the families of climbers in a time of need and beyond with financial support and counseling!

Tower Family Foundation supports the families of tower climbers at the time of crisis when a climber falls with financial support and more.

Share this:

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

Hubble Foundation helps the families of climbers in a time of need and beyond with financial support and counseling!

Tower Family Foundation supports the families of tower climbers at the time of crisis when a climber falls with financial support and more.

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Expense Reduction:

Now, let’s look at ways to make money of existing city asset.

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

Hubble Foundation helps the families of climbers in a time of need and beyond with financial support and counseling!

Tower Family Foundation supports the families of tower climbers at the time of crisis when a climber falls with financial support and more.

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Assets

What do we mount on these assets?

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

Hubble Foundation helps the families of climbers in a time of need!

Tower Family Foundation supports the families r tower climbers at the time of crisis when a climber falls.

Share this:

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

Hubble Foundation helps the families of climbers in a time of need!

Tower Family Foundation supports the families r tower climbers at the time of crisis when a climber falls.

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Operational limits:

Remote Pilot Certification

A remote pilot in command must:

Back to Drones!

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The Smart City 5G Business Plan

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

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The 5G Deployment Plan Handbook!

Get it the way you want it!

Contents

Where to get it!

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention! We need to smart and safe out there.

Share this:

What is NB-IOT?

Resources:

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

The foundations below do beautiful work, helping families in their time of need. Climbers often get seriously injured or die on the job. The foundations below support those families in their time of greatest need!

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Tips to Work With