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.
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 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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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 a time of need!
Tower Family Foundation supports the families r tower climbers at the time of crisis when a climber falls.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
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!)
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.
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 a time of need!
Tower Family Foundation supports the families r tower climbers at the time of crisis when a climber falls.
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.
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.
The residents want a well-connected A city wants to run as cost effectively as possible and safety.
The government wants a city with low costs for power and communications and a safe city.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 budget will be determined by what you use it for. The key to smart cities is to provide services and to save costs.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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 narrowbandradiotechnology 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.
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!
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.
When looking at the RAN you may not think of backhaul or fronthaul as a component, but it is a critical one. Think about it, without backhaul you have no connection to the core, and without fronthaul, you have no connection between the BBU and the radio.
Let’s start with the backhaul. The backhaul is the connection between the BBU and the core, not a plug and play device just yet, although the small cell has that aspect of it. At the site, you need to have the components to make the connections happen.
First, let’s cover what the backhaul is. Today’s network will have an all-IP backhaul. What this means is that it will have an Ethernet connection to the router. The formats will all be IP-based for 4G and 5G connections. LTE is an all-IP format, as 5G will be. Remember that LTE is one of the building blocks of 5G.
In the days of CDMA and GSM, what we called 3G, they had traditional telco formats like T1 and DS3. These formats worked great at that time, and they were the foundation for what telco had to offer. However, they were over copper. They had limited bandwidth whereas today, with fiber, we can get more bandwidth. When building these systems, there is a need for more and more bandwidth. While DS3 could supply up to 155Mbps of bandwidth, it took more equipment to take it from IP to DS3 format and back again, so now Ethernet connections are the standard in most carrier backhaul systems.
What do you have in the backhaul and fronthaul components? You have the router at the RAN. Chances are the router will be Ethernet
in and Ethernet out. 3G systems used T1 and DS3 formats for the connection to the internet, but now all connections are pretty much IP in and out.
The standard connections could be copper, fiber, or microwave. Fiber is the most common for macro sites because they can deliver speeds greater than 100Mbps, in fact, as we go to 5G, the carriers will expect 1Gbps and up. Microwave is trying to catch up. You can find backhaul that can do 1Gbps links, but the hops are very short and LOS. You also should worry about latency, which is a real issue with fronthaul. We’ll get into that later.
Then, out of the router, you will have IP access which may go to a switch to distribute the data among the components in the BTS. While the primary purpose is to connect to the BBU for the backhaul, it also passes more information back to the core such as alarms and BTS status. There is also a control channel for the remote MME to manage the BTS. With the IP connection, there are so many things you can monitor and control Most OEMs already have most of this built into their alarming systems. They even look at temperature and open doors. Some carriers are running video back through the backhaul so that they can see what’s going on at the site when no one is supposed to be there. However, the data to the BBU is the top priority, and video is a convenience at best.
Fronthaul is a connection between the BBU and the radio. In the case of a macro site, you have a fiber run, generally in a hybrid cable, between the BBU and the radio head on or at the tower which could be a simple piece of fiber connecting the 2. The reason they call the cable a hybrid is that it will have 3 to 9 or more fiber strands running through it along with power for the radio heads. The power lines are copper lines for DC power up the tower. There can be AC power on these lines, but it would be low power, chances are DC or AC it will be 48V or less. Does it have to be big enough to carry the current to run 3, 6, or 9 radio heads on the tower? There is loss through the cable that, if the engineering is wrong then you could have problems. Radio heads need power to work.
Fronthaul at the tower is straightforward. However, in today’s world, we have small cells and remote radio heads that are part of CRAN, Concentrated RAN, systems, and we have radio heads that could be part of a cRAN, cloud RAN. The idea of these systems is that the controller, a BBU, will be at a remote location controlling several radio heads from that location. Generally, in CRAN they are called BBU hotels, making maintenance and control of multiple radio heads at remote locations a lot easier when the tech can go to the one location to make changes or upgrades.
So, fronthaul will have a router, and most of the time it is fiber. You could also have microwave. Copper is not too common because they want dedicated connections, fiber and microwave offer that. Copper does not.
The issue with fronthaul is that the latency must be very low, there are communication timing issues between the BBU and the Radio Head and the UE that are critical. You don’t want the packet to time out, so you have distance limitations with fiber and microwave. Fiber is clean and works very well. Some microwave systems have longer delays due to the conversion between the data and microwave which can be an issue when transmitting signals because if they time out, then it causes retransmissions which will cause problems in the network if there are too many. Yes, there are delays through the microwave system usually from converting from IP to RF then from RF to IP on both sides. It takes processing power, and if there is a problem with the link, noise or interference, then the RF side will start data recovery and possibly retransmissions.
Let’s look at the backhaul connection. You can have fiber, copper, microwave, or other connections.
Fiber connections:
The most desired connection to the core. Fiber allows a huge amount of bandwidth. Over 1Gbps of bandwidth is available with the right equipment. You have limitations, but it works well.
What options do you have for fiber?
Dark Fiber – this is an unused dedicated fiber optic cable that to the customer’s purpose. In other words, you aren’t sharing it with anyone. A dedicated connection between the RAN and another site or the core or wherever you pay to have it sent. For dark fiber, the customer, you, will need to provide all the equipment to connect. You can get large amounts of bandwidth through dark fiber, 1Gbps, maybe more. Your limitation may be your gear. It is easy to scale dark fiber. If you run your dark fiber, it can be very expensive because you must get permits, right of ways, pay pole rents, maybe trench, and so on. It can get very expensive.
Lit fiber – this is a shared fiber, and you connect to the carrier’s equipment. The carrier could be a telco or fiber carrier or anyone who offer service. It is usually cheaper, but it is not a dedicated connection. It will still connect between 2 points, but the bandwidth may be limited because you are sharing the fiber. You may have a problem scaling up and need to coordinate with the carrier to make changes.
When is fiber used/not used?
Macro sites that require high-capacity could connect to the core or to another macro site to save on costs.
Fronthaul for low latency and high-capacity to connect the BBU to the remote radio head in a CRAN option.
Small cell sites when heavily loaded or no other option is available.
CRAN Hotel BBUs to connect to high-capacity backhaul and to connect to remote radio heads for fronthaul creating a situation where you would have several fiber runs.
In the case of C-RAN, Cloud RAN, it would be to connect the cell that is connected and controlled by a BBU in the cloud. New in 2016 and being tested in China and the USA.
Fiber is not available everywhere. There are issues connecting to fiber in some areas.
Fiber could be cost prohibitive to run to your specific site which has slowed the growth of small cell sites on remote poles. The cost of getting fiber to the pole may be more than the expense of the small cell and the installation of the small cell. That has been a problem that holds back the mass deployment of small cells.
In some cases, you have only one fiber provider to choose from, and their costs may be probative.
Point to Point, (PTP) is where you have a dedicated microwave shot between to end points.
Point to Multi Point, (PTMP) is where you have one control point connected to multiple endpoints.
Latency varies, and it is hard to capture in a band. Why? Let’s review this list:
Distance – just like fiber, the farther the data travels, the higher the latency. In microwave, the longer the link, the higher the latency.
Equipment – specifically the radio equipment in this case. The longer it holds on to a packet the longer the latency. The longer it takes to process the conversion from RF back to IP, the longer the latency. The longer error correction takes to complete the longer the latency.
Spectrum, microwave can be in many spectrums that serve many purposes. High-level explanations for the US market but they could apply to the world. These are the most common. Remember that the distance and dish size and engineering will affect throughput and latency.
6GHz range – general for long-range shots. Point to Point LOS (Line of Site) microwave using larger dishes for longer shots. Licensed. Used early on, but the limitations in bandwidth and the large dish size have made them less attractive to modern sites. The dishes are over 6 feet and over. However, the FCC will allow 3-foot dishes in some situations. The limitations are the spectrum, licensing, and potential interference. The FCC did allow larger channels, but the current licenses in the US make it hard to get larger channels. Antenna size is an issue, but because the propagation of 6GHz is great, meaning it can travel far, it makes it hard to license without causing someone else problems. It was great with voice channels when they could travel great distances. Public safety in rural areas relies heavily on this because many of their sites are spread out.
11GHz range – generally used for midrange shots. Point to point LOS microwave using mid-size dishes, around 4 foot or so, but the FCC will allow 2-foot dishes. Licensed. Used extensively I the past and is a good midrange solution. The FCC was going to allow smaller dishes, but this band usage is high and very dense in the USA. The throughput is just over 200Mbps if properly engineered.
18GHz range – generally used for short to midrange shots. Point to point LOS microwave using 1 to 4-foot dishes. Licensed. These are an attractive solution with high bandwidth. Do the engineering because these links are heavily affected by weather, specifically, rain. Bandwidth through these links could be 100Mbps up to just over 300Mbps
23GHzrange – generally for very short hops. Licensed. Point to point LOS microwave using smaller dishes, around 1 to 4 foot. High throughput, 100Mbps and up. Very prone to rain degradation. Very easy to license in the USA.
24GHz range – generally used for short hops. Point to point LOS microwave using 1-foot dishes could go down to 8 inches. Not licensed, very easy to license. With a throughput of 100Mbps, some companies can get this band to over 700Mbps with proper engineering, but rain is a factor when it comes to engineering these links. Very limited on distance. Interference is usually low because of the propagation properties of this spectrum. This spectrum is good for short hops.
2.4GHz and 5.8GHz range – the ISM band used for short hops, (although I have seen companies connect 15 to 20-mile links). Could be PTP or PTMP. Could be LOS or Near LOS or in some cases non-LOS. Not licensed. This sub 6GHz license free spectrum is a popular choice among non-carriers because the spectrum is free and the hardware is cost-effective using smaller dishes (or panels) which are easy to install and setup. No license makes it easy to deploy anywhere, and the low-cost equipment makes it affordable to deploy anywhere. A short hop solution but there are claims that are using the right size dishes that it can be a long-haul solution. The downside is that it’s prone to interference because anyone can put them up or any Wi-Fi hotspot may affect it. They are easy to deploy. Throughput varies on the engineering but generally, 10Mbps to 150Mbps. I have seen more throughput, but it takes the right design and engineering to get it.
E-band 71-76GHz and 81 – 86GHz range – generally for very short distances, prone to weather issues. Dishes are very small, under 2 foot. Point to point hops. Licensed links, but light licensed, so getting the license is very easy in the US and Europe. These are a popular choice for short hops that could need up to 1Gbps of throughput. Very high throughput looks like a fiber connection.
60GHz – generally for very short hops. Point to point, but there is talk of a multi-point product coming out. Dishes are 6 inches to 2 foot. Throughput is very high, over 1Gbps.
When is Microwave used/not used?
Microwave is a cost-effective alternative to fiber, but can only be used in specific cases. Your paying for the hardware, so CapEx is higher. The OpEx is lower because the only reoccupying cost is license renewal and tower rent if you’re paying it, and maintenance.
Microwave works for macro and small cells for backhaul or fronthaul.
Microwave does have its drawbacks because it is a limited solution, although a very cost-effective one if you’re looking at OpEx.
So, when looking at fronthaul or backhaul you have:
Router.
A connection from point a to point b, fiber, microwave, or copper.
Switch (if needed).
What is LTE UE backhaul?
It is backhaul that uses the carrier’s spectrum, just like the UE, User Equipment, your smartphone. If you have ever used your smartphone as a Wi-Fi hotspot, then you know the concept, using the carrier’s backhaul to create a new hotspot. Now imagine taking your usage and multiply by hundreds or thousands of megabits. The UE backhaul device in something that will use the carrier’s LTE spectrum for backhaul. This is something that is commonly used for internet access when there is no Wi-Fi available. The carriers all sell these units and many of today’s smartphones do something similar. However, they just use the standard signal. Using it for a tiny hotspot and for an eNodeB are 2 different things.
Let’s talk hotspot. Many vendors provide equipment that a user can add coverage quickly and easily. It is a quick Wi-Fi connection to the internet using the carrier’s LTE to connect to the internet. Everyone has Wi-Fi, and there are devices that create an instant hotspot. Verizon has the Mi-Fi, or you can use your smartphone as a hotspot. Every carrier has a wireless modem that you will provide a Wi-Fi hotspot. I think anyone who is reading this knows about the hotspots. I thought it would be a good example to get started.
What is a cell extender? There is a practice where many carriers will use a cell extender that will have a UE relay backhaul to extend the signal. This is also like a smartphone hotspot or a Mi-Fi unit because it was just to help a few customers but extends the carrier’s signal instead of Wi-Fi. This is a type of repeater to extend the macro’s signal, a cell extender. This is a way for the carrier to extend the coverage just a little bit farther. It’s a way to provide coverage someplace quickly and easily. These were common in 2G, 3G, and now LTE. It is a simple and quick way to install a repeater to extend carrier coverage down an ally. In the old days of DAS, this is what they did. They would take the signal where it was strong or use an antenna and amplifier to increase the strength to get it into a dead spot. People paid a lot of money for these systems.
It’s not a simple cell extender, and let me tell you why. Now you are talking about putting the small cell in an area where there is a loading issue. This goes beyond coverage. The data and spectrum usage could go through the roof! If you set it up like a cell extender with backhaul to the macro site, then guess what! You will see an overloaded macro sector! The macro not only has to deal with all its users but all the small cell or Mini macro users too. This sucks up all the spectrum and bandwidth for that sector. What can be done? Read on!
I am bringing this up because now there is talk about using the UE backhaul for small cells, mini-macros, and macro cell sites. It’s making a more powerful cell extender. It sounds like a great idea on the surface. This is a cheap, quick and easy backhaul. However, what is the drawback? It’s not as easy as you think, the carrier needs to set up the donor site properly. I mentioned it earlier, and it is not something you just throw out there to feed a cell site. It draws a ton of data. It sounds like a great idea on the surface. It looks like a cheap, quick and easy backhaul.
The donor site needs to break the bottleneck. You need to dedicate spectrum in the macro eNodeB that will be feeding the UE backhaul. This will alleviate the spectrum usage for the regular users on the macro sector. We don’t want them to get knocked off if the small cell US backhaul overloads the macro. This will make it so that the users on the macro don’t get shut knocked off if the small cell pulls the entire spectrum of its users. This will allow the small cell UE backhaul to have a dedicated pipe. It needs to have dedicated spectrum for this purpose. Then the small cell will know how much backhaul spectrum it has to available. By the way, not an easy change, changes in the eNodeB and possibly the core need to be considered as well as neighboring sites. This “dedicated backhaul spectrum” needs to be set aside for this sector and others too. It takes some planning and changes.
You could still have the data bottleneck at the macro’s backhaul. That’s another issue that needs planning.
So now you dedicated part of the band to the UE backhaul, which seems OK. Remember that the carrier paid a lot of money for that spectrum and now they are choosing to use it for backhaul. So the pipe is limited based on coverage and availability. It is a quick and easy to add UE backhaul, but is this the best use of the spectrum? Will you lose something in this backhaul? Yes, you have delay issues, timing issues, and neighbor issues. All of this is a problem when building a site for any type of real loading. Go to the links below to learn more.
However, what’s the real issue? Is it all the problems I mentioned above? They are all technical issues that good engineers will resolve. This appears to be a cheap and quick solution. But that’s not the real issue, is it? The carriers paid a crap ton of money for spectrum. Is backhaul a smart way to use this resource? Is that billion-dollar investment there to save some CapEx for the company? I thought it was for the customers! Backhaul could have been something in the unlicensed band for a lot less money. It could be a fiber link for more money. Is this an easy out or will it cause problems down the road because the spectrum is only going to get more and more valuable? Do investors want to see that spectrum used this way? I don’t see the auctions being a cheap alternative to providing backhaul.
So just because it looks cheap and easy doesn’t mean it’s a good move strategically. Don’t get me wrong; the UE relays, the repeaters serve an important purpose for coverage and filling holes, I am just saying be strategic and think it through. For more information hit the links below to learn about these solutions.
If delays were lower, this would be a great technology for fronthaul, now that would be something!
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.
There are two technologies for LTE. For LTE, they have FDD and TDD which both are viable options. Both are viable options. They are both used by carriers in the USA although FDD has been the choice in the past.
There are two technologies for LTE. For LTE, they have FDD and TDD which both are viable options. Both are viable options. They are both used by carriers in the USA although FDD has been the choice in the past.
What is FDD? FDD – Frequency Division Duplex is something that was used commonly in 3G. It’s paired spectrum with an uplink band and a downlink band in their specific spectrum. For 1G, 2G, and 3G this was common so you could have a talk and receive channel in the system. There is a guard band in between the transmit band and the receive band. FDD was very popular with GSM and CDMA. It is very difficult to take advantage of MIMO antenna technology in FDD compared to TDD.
What is TDD? TDD – Time Division Duplex is where there is one large piece if spectrum used for uplink or downlink. Any part or percentage can be assigned to be the uplink or downlink. If you have 20MHz of bandwidth available, then you’re not locked into
10MHz up and 10MHz down like FDD. Instead, you have full control over how much goes up and comes down. The downside that some carriers had been the timing of the spectrum, and it’s higher bands that have this. However, Wi-Fi spectrum is pretty much all TDD, and it works quite well for data. On the other hand, WiMAX used TDD, and it seemed to be taking off but it never fully blossomed and was cast aside for LTE. TDD makes MIMO technology easier to use because it is all in one band.
So, what can LTE do? It can do both, and it does do both. Just not the same equipment. You could have equipment do either LTE-TDD and LTE-FDD. Both are released commercially as well as part of the 3GPP standard. When you look at the deployments, it helps to know which format will be deployed. You see, FDD may need two antennas or a combiner to work on a tower. While TDD is all in the same spectrum and the same antenna is used for transmit and receive. The way that today’s radio heads work it isn’t much of an issue anymore because they can handle the formats quite well. In 2016, you still can’t run them together in the same radio head, although the OEMs are working towards that functionality. Antennas are being designed to run both together by adding more ports and more weight to the antennas.
Note that Wi-Fi is TDD and ZigBee is TDD. Most Bluetooth is TDD. TDD appears to be the choice moving forward. Most 2G and 3G systems were FDD, and they are being phased out.
Carriers are learning that when everything becomes truly digital in IP format that it will matter less and less for the BTS but antennas and spectrum efficiency become more important. As of 2016, most of the carriers already have implemented VoLTE into their main networks, all except maybe Sprint who was still relying on CDMA to carry the voice. The carriers know that when they convert VoLTE, it should be the last step to dismantling the 3G networks, saving them money in the long run by retiring 2G and 3G systems.
Sprint is a great example of having both. They have FDD on the CDMA and LTE carriers as well as TDD for their 2.5GHz spectrum of LTE. They have a huge amount of spectrum in 2.5GHz, over 100MHz of bandwidth. They have successfully deployed on both formats.
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.
Network slicing is 5G’s way to get you everything. What is 5G network slicing? It is slicing up the wireless networks to serve specific purposes. You see, one network will not provide all services for everyone, so they have 5G which will encompass many networks, wireless networks, into one big network. You can’t do everything with one wireless network. Like Steven Wright says, “You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?” If you had one network, it would not be efficient enough to serve all the devices on it. You want a network that works. Otherwise, you have a notwork because it does not work! Most IOT devices don’t need broadband. Most smartphones need mobile coverage. Most laptops need broadband. Most gamers need massive broadband to get the VR to work. Each specific group has a different need. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have several different wireless networks and have them all go into one core and share resources? Well, 5G came up with network slicing so we can do just that!
The research on network slicing showed me one thing that this is a fancy way to say different networks all connected to a common core. I think this term is interesting, but if you are in IT, then you know that you could have multiple networks, virtual or separated, all sharing the same backbone or even the same physical network. The way I see it, it is all about the RAN! Let’s explore why.
Well, in 5G, it is not much different. The big difference is that you could have a wireless network dedicated to a specific service. What this means is that when planning a network, in this case, a RAN network, make sure you know what the application will be so that you can plan accordingly.
Think about the different markets 5G will be serving. It could be autonomous cars, virtual reality, or tons of simple IOT devices. Each system will have different need and purpose. The goals are not the
same for each. Therefore, they should not all share the same network. So, for the 5G network to include them all, they came up with a cool term like network slicing. The reality is that they will all be different networks that could be sharing the same core or even backhaul. We are creating a way to share resources and build in efficiencies.
We’ll get into why in a few minutes, let’s look at how they will work together first. It’s all about sharing of resources. Think of the HetNet and how we had small cells working with Macrocells and Wi-Fi all working together as one network. Now you have multiple networks all working independently, yet, connecting to the common core.
Which resources are shared in network slicing? The backhaul and the core but also routers and servers and possibly even cloud resources. The key to getting latency down is to rely on the cloud. However, the end use will determine which network will be used and how it will be utilized. The way I see it, from a wireless viewpoint is that the device will need to have a wireless network that fits the needs. In other words, virtual reality with need low latency and very high bandwidth to work properly. Autonomous cars will have very low latency but lower bandwidth needs. IOT devices will have medium latency but very low data rates, and they will not be listening to the network all the time like the other 2, they will only listen to the network on a need to know basis.
The examples above show us that there will be a need for specific wireless networks to serve each purpose. The common denominator will the core. The core will need to know how to process each part of the network. Making the major carriers happy that they have resource sharing capabilities to save costs. They want to reuse as many resources as possible. Device manufacturers will continue to improve devices and battery life.
Although, battery life is still an issue. While battery life has greatly improved, the power draw is so much higher than it was five years ago, Hell, it’s so much higher than even a year ago, While the processors are drawing less and less power, we have higher demands on many of our devices, like the smartphone. We want bigger and brighter displays, and we are on them for most of the day not only to talk but to gather data. Even when you are not talking on your phone, the chances are good that it’s getting updates for email or other data without you even looking at it, drawing on the battery even more. Not only that but the constant communication with the LTE and Wi-Fi networks are drawing power all day.
Back to network slicing. We will have several different use cases for the network, which will require a specific last mile network to serve the purpose. It seems a bit crazy to have multiple wireless networks until you realize that billions of devices will be connected and each group will have a specific purpose. Each group will have a unique revenue stream. Some will be high usage and draw more money per month and others will have extremely light usage and will only cost pennies a month. Each slice of the network is built for a specific purpose, and the billing for each slice will be dramatically different. Here are the efficiencies.
These networks will be running in parallel to each other. They will be independent of each other but have a common core. With the growth of software defines networking, SDN, and Network Function Virtualization, NFV, the networks will become smarter and smarter and start to improve efficiencies without human intervention. It’s already happening, but it will get better and better with improved efficiencies.
While all of this will be interconnected, they will be isolated from each other. Some networks will be independent of each other. The key to slicing is even though networks share resources, they will not be reliant on each other to keep the network up and running, (unless the core crashes).
The drawback is the core will control everything. Get to the core, and you get to the heart of multiple networks all at one time. If they make changes to the core, they need to be sure it will not affect the other networks. I would imagine that updating the server controlling the IOT network would have no effect on the autonomous driving network. But, what if it does? Then a real problem will be at hand!
The core will be the key connecting point to these networks. Running on the cloud should help efficiencies along with the rise of the virtual core, the impact should be minimal. Just remember, they all need a brain, and that brain is the core!
You could have several companies serving several markets, like the carriers taking care of smartphone users and someone like SigFox working with the IOT users and maybe someone else taking care of virtual reality and yet another company taking care of autonomous automobiles.
While this is a slice if heaven, (sorry, I couldn’t resist), we expect each slice to be running independently of the other even though they share a common core.
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.
If you are in health care, then you probably want to cover a hospital or a medical center for a specific reason. Your customer may be the patients or doctors or specialists or technicians. For patients, it may be a public network, but it’s likely you will be looking to build a private network.
If you are in health care, then you probably want to over a hospital or a medical center. Your customer may be the patients but more likely you will be looking at the following for a private network.
Hospital coverage for patients and visitors. Wi-Fi coverage and cell coverage would be just what they need to help the time pass by and to alert family of the ongoing conditions of the patients.
Paramedics coverage so they can collect data before they arrive at the hospital to treat patients properly. They would know the allergies prior to reaching any hospital and looking up medical records. They could see it all on the scene within minutes.
Emergency care centers and hospitals could give their doctors instant access to data on a tablet anywhere in the hospital.
Remote diagnosis could happen with accuracy. How, think of virtual reality and how if you could do a brain scan, MRI, or a live scan on a patient and someone, a specialist somewhere else in the world could look at it real-time using virtual reality seeing what the machine sees in real-time. They could not only see it, look at it in all angles, maybe even control the machine doing the scan and talk to the patient at the same time. This could save someone’s life as well as make specialists available nationwide from one location!
Remote surgeries could happen with robotics and massive bandwidth. How? By having a remote doctor look and control the robot along with the local physician to help the patient along. They could upload surgeries for someone halfway around the world, looking at the live video while the surgery is happening. Taking the time to make evaluations and talking to the local surgeon while the specialist is operating the robotic surgical apparatus all while the patient is receiving the best care possible. This could give a new perspective to doctors without borders! WOW! This makes 5G a game changer for medicine worldwide!
Coverage – Cover your building (or campus), which could be:
Hospital – I have covered hospitals and the things you have to look out for are crazy. They have lead lined rooms for X-Ray which means nothing will penetrate. Do you declare it a dead
zone? Probably but the real issue is that you need to make sure you have antennas on each side of it, over and under it. The room causes problems all around it. Make sure to do your due diligence when covering such a complex building. Also, remember that there are lines run through it, like oxygen. It’s more than plumbing and electrical in a hospital.
Medical Centers can be just as complex as hospitals, but on a smaller scale. It is a good idea go not only have the plans but to talk to the doctors and maintenance group to see what is really in the building. They don’t always document what is there, even though they are supposed to. What I am saying is, don’t just trust the drawings, ask around.
Emergency Care Center is a place that you may think is like a hospital. Generally, they are an extension of the hospital with all the things a hospital may have, but on a smaller scale. Plan carefully.
Surgery Centers are generally prepped for planned surgeries only. It has been my experience that these buildings are planned very carefully. I have had a lot of luck with drawings for these places, but again, ask around.
Patient Care centers, generally doctor offices.
Administrative Offices that are for the paperwork only.
Medical campus or hospital grounds could be an issue. Here is an area where you may have to cover outside of the building. This is where you could have issues with privacy. When I was doing wireless backbones for hospitals and medical they were very concerned about privacy. There are rules under HIPAA for the privacy of the patients to be protected at all costs. Think about what the coverage is for. If it is simple access for Wi-Fi for the patients, then it will be handled differently than if it’s the coverage for hospital staff. Medical records are treated with the utmost confidentiality.
Mobile coverage, this is generally handled by a carrier, most medical companies don’t spring for too much outside the building or off the campus.
Goal – What is your primary goal?
Track equipment, equipment in the hospital get lost or misplaced all the time, so why not track it, look for where it is at. Make your hospital a smart building to locate equipment quickly on a computer or tablet with an app.
Page doctors for emergencies. This is obvious.
Update patient records. Use tablets to keep records up to date then if someone sets a tablet down, use a location app to find it quickly. Patient records will be available to many nurses with proper privileges. Quickly, easily access, and anywhere in the hospital or just in a zone that is approved.
Notify an alert when equipment leaves an area of the hospital. Prevents theft of not only equipment, but data if a tablet if being removed from a specific area like intensive care. HIPAA is a serious thing! (HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act that protect patient’s privacy. If you have ever done wireless work for hospitals, then you are aware of the HIPAA.)
Connect all the admin computers with a secure and private connection to avoid running wires everywhere.
Internal wireless phone system so that all staff members can communicate anywhere on a floor or in the hospital. They should have devices that would have all the necessary features a Dr would need like voice and test.
Patient monitoring and tracking so that patients can be moved and tracked in the hospital or medical center while their vitals are being monitored. If someone is going into cardiac arrest in a hallway, then the alert will come through immediately identifying the problem and the location.
Connect paramedics to the hospital when they are on their way there with a patient. Again, mobile coverage but this is where they could start treating the patient in the vehicle. If they could have all the details prior to getting to the hospital, then they would be aware of any allergies that could kill the patient. They would be so much more effective if they get the information ahead of time.
Remote countries could have robotic surgeries or training using high bandwidth. How? It would be in a hospital and the data would be sent in from someplace on the other side of the world. Surgery could be performed by a robot. Then, if done properly, MRIs or brain scans or any scan could be seen by someone in another country where they have the expertise for that symptom and they could make a diagnosis using 3D coverage. If the bandwidth is there, in that country and the specialist is in another country, he can help remotely with all the data. He could even remotely perform the surgery using robotics in another county by showing it what to do. I know this involves virtual reality and artificial intelligence to a certain point, but we are almost there! Isn’t it exciting that we can help more people around the world?
What is your budget? You will need to decide how much you want to spend before you determine what equipment you will purchase. This is a limiting factor if you are starting out with a preset amount. What most companies do is determine the need then ask an engineer or solution architect to create a design, which will cost money, then they know what the budgetary numbers are for the equipment and installation and testing. Don’t forget that you need to purchase the devices. Many people design the system but don’t add the cost of the end device, and they cost money too!
Once the use is settled on, ask for a system design.
Determine how many user devices you will need.
Determine your backhaul needs and the cost to support it.
Determine your estimated usage.
Determine what support personnel you will need to support and maintain the system.
Determine what the warranty is what the software updates will cost.
Determine the life cycle of the system, technology moves quickly, will you grow or replace the system in 5 years?
The spectrum needs to be thought out by where and how it will be used. Bandwidth could be critical or low latency could be critical.
In building is obvious to provide internet access to patients. Wi-Fi or LTE-U would be the ideal spectrum for much of this use because it is license free, which is free and available on smartphones! They may want to use a licensed band but most medical centers leave that up to a carrier to cover the med center. If they decide to partner with a carrier then it is up to the carrier.
In building for special services, like robotic operations by remote doctors or remote doctors giving their opinion for treatment while looking at video or MRIs of a patient while it is happening! These applications have very high bandwidth needs and would need to have mmwave to truly be effective. That way the doctors could see what is happening real-time, full video. Latency would depend on where in the world they were, but with the advances in robotics, remote doctors could guide the robot while seeing the patient real-time during the operation.
Campus outdoor coverage would also be something like Wi-Fi or LTE-U. It would be something very cost-effective with off the shelf hardware to deploy. All the money will be put into security of the information. Network security will matter more than spectrum and will get a sizable budget towards it. HIPAA regulations will require heavy network security of patient’s records are sent over it. I dealt with that when working with point to point microwave to connect hospitals. We setup a remote MRI monitoring service and security on the network and over wireless was taken very seriously. HIPAAcompliance was critical.
For mobile coverage, it would probably be handled through a carrier. I don’t see any medical budget allowing for anything outside of the building or campus. I am being realistic here, they would use an existing service whether it is a carrier or a public safety partner. I would think public safety, like FirstNet, would allow them to use their network for a fee.
Thank you, all of you! For all of your support, feedback, following me, and purchases! I appreciate all of you for all of this.
To all of you field workers out there, Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah. Happy holidays to all of you. We all work very hard all year and we deserve the rest we get over this vacation time. Normally this year is very busy as most companies would try to spend their budget money. It’s a little late for planning but if they want to get a project financed and paid for, sometimes they need to get it in by the end of the year. This is a problem we appreciate although many of us want to take a break.
I get exhausted. I usually cover for all the people that must use vacation by the end of the year or they lose it. I am just happy to have vacation time. As the work model changes, we may lose that luxury. Ask any contractor that works for himself. They only get paid for when they work. Times are changing and it’s going to get rough but we shall all make it and I believe as the work increases we will improve.
So, take this time to do a few things if nothing else.
Take a moment and be grateful for what you have. Look at your mate and be thankful. If you have children, be glad they are around and healthy. If you have family and friends, be thankful.
Reflect on the past year and figure out what went right and what went wrong. I often look back to try to course correct. I figure out which habits need to change and then I focus on how to improve. I don’t always make the right choice, but I try to get a little better each year.
Look ahead. Where do you want to go? What is your plan? Do you have a plan? Where do you want to be in 5 years? How do you get there? Do you know the steps to move ahead? Is it more about what you can do or just money? What will make you happy for the long-term?
As you look ahead and get busy with the holidays. Take some time to focus on what you really want and where you want to go.
Remember, enjoy the holidays. Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Enjoy the break and clear your head for the new year ahead.
Be smart, be safe, and pay attention! After all, it will soon be a new year and all of you will be setting new goals!
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.
and in the locker room and on the field. I really enjoyed it. Thank you for arranging that.
turnout was great. This was at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
![DAS 101 Distributed Antenna System: A Basic Guide to In-Building Wireless Infrastructure by [Baasan, Soyola]](https://i0.wp.com/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41lhG0BQVJL.jpg?resize=49%2C79&ssl=1){kind=small}
![DAS 101 Distributed Antenna System: A Basic Guide to In-Building Wireless Infrastructure by [Baasan, Soyola]](https://i0.wp.com/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41lhG0BQVJL.jpg?resize=99%2C158&ssl=1)
