Tag Archives: smart city

5G Fixed Wireless Spectrum and Why it Matters

May 15, 2017 Wade Leave a comment

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I am excited that we talk of 5G and fixed wireless. Fixed Wireless is where we put a radio up and shoot it to a building or a kiosk or a small cell or even a macro cell. If you’re in the wireless deployment business, then you would call this point to point, PTP, or Point to Multi-Point, PTMP or PMP. We used to call these microwave hops, but in this case, it is broadband to a specific facility. While this has been done for a while, not it’s going to be a viable competitor to ISPs and Cable companies. Wireless is taking over, and we have a shot to change the world here. Not just the carriers, but the small businesses who want to become ISPs really have a shot to provide real bandwidth to business and home customers. WOW! Can you feel it, a new era is rising in wireless broadband!

Don’t worry, I tie this into smart cities at the end.

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First, let’s look at the 5G spectrum. I’m not sure if any of you saw it, but the 5G Americas group put together a great sheet on the 5G spectrum. I have the link so go ahead and download it.

http://www.5gamericas.org/files/9114/9324/1786/5GA_5G_Spectrum_Recommendations_2017_FINAL.pdf

Look at the new bands that the FCC is proposing to use:

24 GHz bands: 24.25-24.45 GHz and 25.05-25.25 GHz
Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS) band: 27.5-28.35 GHz, 29.1-29.25 GHz, and 31-31.3 GHz
39 GHz band: 38.6-40 GHz • 37/42 GHz bands: 37.0-38.6 GHz and 42.0-42.5 GHz
60 GHz bands: 57-64 GHz and 64-71 GHz (extension)
70/80 GHz bands: 71-76 GHz, 81-86 GHz, 92-95 GHz

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If you think this is just ridiculous because you remember that this is merely a point to point short-haul solution, at least if you’re in the business and been around, you might be surprised that both Verizon and AT&T are bidding on Straight Path for their 38GHz licenses, http://www.phonearena.com/news/AT-T-outbid-for-Straight-Path-by-mystery-firm-rumored-to-be-Verizon_id93451 to gain that particular spectrum. Oh yeah, it is real, and it is valuable, and it will be a pain I the ass to engineer. Don’t forget about the Verizon XO deal, http://www.telecompetitor.com/in-pursuit-of-5g-spectrum-verizon-xo-purchase-closes/ where Verizon wants to lease the 28 to 31 GHz and 39 GHz spectrum.

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

Even T-Mobile is getting in on the act, over a year ago they tested 5G on 38GHz, http://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/t-mobile-files-to-conduct-5g-tests-at-28-38-ghz, to see how viable it is.

I don’t see this spectrum as a mobile solution, but more of a fixed solution. This is going to be a thorn in the side of the cable and ISP business model. Why? It’s a new competitor that will have the reach and customer base and savvy to steal those customers. Remember, fewer millennials are watching traditional TV, they watch on demand as most of you do. Don’t deny it, do you really sit down and watch a show at the designated time or do you watch it on Amazon or Netflix or Zulu or with your DVR?

I tell you that I watch it on my DVR, but also on Amazon. I don’t watch much at the time the show airs except live sports. If there is the demand for live TV, sports is it! Even though I can watch sports on a device as well.

So, the push for massive broadband is coming. Those crappy TV packages that they cable companies are pushing will slowly fade away. Seriously, why can’t I get the channels I want and why do they always change the lineup which cancels the one channel I watch? I really hate paying a lot of money for something that I don’t really want, but the cable companies are not changing fast enough in my opinion. However, they do have great internet speeds to the home. I won’t deny that. They have a great model there with the cable modems.

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The wireless carriers are going to have to make it cost-effective, so all they need to do is come in lower, about 25%, on price to compete. They can’t come in at the same price because cable is very reliable and I get the feeling wireless will need a year to get there. I think they will need to work out the bugs. Then they will do what they always do, slowly raise the price until you leave.

That is why I am hoping that Legere at T-Mobile makes waves by getting there first. He already said he wants to attack the big cable companies the way that he attacked the big wireless carriers. If anyone can do it, I believe that John Legere can do it. He needs to push into fixed wireless. However, I believe he is too smart to just jump in. I think he will wait for Verizon and AT&T to work out the bugs and then pounce. First isn’t always best when there are problems. So why be first when the technology isn’t quite there? When it is, hammer the deals out to the customer, like he did with mobility. Great job there becoming #3 and pushing into #2.

Of course, CBRS will also be a game changer for those businesses that don’t need 100Mbps.It will allow us to do more in the rural areas. Remember CBRS, 3.5GHz? I love this spectrum because it will be open to more than just the big bad carriers who rule the spectrum. We have a chance to create something great when I say we, I mean the small businesses who must feed off the scraps which the carrier doesn’t own or manage. This may be the most valuable of all because it may not require LOS, a line of site, as shown here, http://www.telecompetitor.com/fixed-lte-in-cbrs-band-not-expected-to-require-line-of-sight-for-fixed-wireless/ for the connections to be made. This opens new doors for connectivity. I think it’s real and exciting! Hey don’t take my word for it, ask Google, http://www.rcrwireless.com/20161117/carriers/google-sees-cbrs-spectrum-band-key-5g-new-model-industry-tag2, and they will vouch for this.

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To be fair, the 5G Americas Spectrum document that I reference above also has a quick blurb in it about CBRS, and I quote “Other bands of interest, From the point of view of global harmonization in the 3 to 5 GHz range as the main mid-range spectrum target for 5G, interests have been expressed in use of this range for 5G in the United States. This could potentially include current CBRS band (3.55-3.7 GHz) and beyond (e.g. up to 4.2 GHz).” I believe that the CBRS will play a large part because the carrier doesn’t want to deploy small cells everywhere, in fact, they are going to let that up to the business owners or the landlord to do. They won’t admit this but I think they are looking for a neutral host solution and CBRS is a great solution! Licensed and protected and it could potentially have multiple carriers on one band. If you think this is crazy, have you ever heard of Wi-Fi? Does it discriminate based on a carrier in your home? NOPE! It just connects, so this will be a stepped-up version of that where it will connect, but it may discriminate based on your carrier. Amazing!

The Wireless Deployment Handbook Paperback

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.

If you want to read more about it, 4G Americas put together a document back in October of 2014, found here http://www.5gamericas.org/files/2414/1323/5229/4G_Americas_Spectrum_Sharing_-_FINAL_Oct_2014.pdf that helps explain CBRS. Go ahead, download it, it’s free!

Why does Fixed Wireless Matter to a Smart City?

Why? Because cities are going to want alternatives to running fiber on poles and underground. The dig once the policy is going to be enforced more and more throughout the USA. The poles are going to be a point of contention among competitors. The access rights and permitting battles will heat up until we find a resolution. The FCC is working to streamline small cell deployments, and the cities are realizing that they must lay out the requirements for a proper installation. If things go as planned, the fixed wireless base stations should be a lot like small cells with batteries. I believe that power is going to be the issue because if the power goes out people still want Internet access. So, this issue needs to be resolved.

The smart city is going to be aware that they need broadband service for small businesses and for kiosks as well as food trucks. They will rely on smartphones, but the demand will grow. As demand grows we come up with new solutions. If you go to a city, you will see stands that sell newspapers, hot dogs, and T-Shirts almost on every busy street. They rely on landlines and smartphones to do business now. It will become a game changer when they can run the online business out of the same small stand that they run the physical business out of. Things change and become more and more advances. As the business grows, revenue grows, the city gains more in tax revenue. It’s a win-win all around.

I am hoping that fixed wireless can be one of the catalysts to help make this happen.

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Fixed Wireless Access Overview

May 1, 2017 Wade Leave a comment

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What is Fixed Wireless? What is FWA? What is the future of fixed wireless? Will FWA replace FTTH? Will FWA replace FTTx? Will the carriers roll out FWA to compete with the cable companies? Read on to learn the answer to all of these questions!

Chances are it will take off, in fact, the major carriers are counting on it!

Is 5G mostly fixed wireless? Some of it will be, along with IOT, massive broadband, augmented reality, and surprising mobility.

Will fixed wireless replace fiber to the home? The carriers are hoping it does because of the cost effectiveness and the ease of installation.

Will fixed wireless replace cable modems? Again, the carriers are betting on this, and the cable companies know this, they know that can do something and finally enter the wireless arena, for real this time.

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Fixed wireless access, FWA, is going to be a game-changer in so many ways. It is going to be part of the 5G network slicing that we have all heard about. There is a spectrum, like CBRS, mmwave, and CMwave that will make it or break it. Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint already are testing this on MIMO antennas. They are counting on a new income stream. The question will be, what is the ease of install to the end-user, the consumer, you and me? Do we still need someone to come out and wire up the house? Do we need someone like the DISH network guys to put an antenna on the roof? Alternatively, maybe, can we just put a unit in the window that could receive the licensed or lightly licensed signal then transmit Wi-Fi in the home? Wouldn’t that be cool? Just like the wireless modems we used to know only on steroids giving us speeds of over 50Mbps and up. That is the dream right, bad weather or good, power or no power (UPS backup) that businesses and homes have massive broadband with under an hour of setup.

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

What is fixed wireless? Think of your internet access at your home. Many of you have cable modems; some have fiber to the home, FTTH, which you may call Verizon FIOS or AT&T U-Verse. The wired solutions are expensive for the larger companies to deploy, just ask Google who thought they could do it for less money but learned the hard way that physical attachment to poles takes more than just goodwill to the city. I talked to my friend in Nashville where the poles had rights of refusal by AT&T and the local cable companies that did NOT want Google to play in their neighborhoods. It did not matter what the city said; whoever had rights to the poles had the last word!

That is where the wireless option looks so attractive for so many reasons and 5G technology, like cmwave, mmwave, and CBRS can help make this happen. We still need fiber, that part is crucial, but we do not need to run it to every home. There is an opportunity to build out FWA to the home using 3.5Ghz or 28GHz, all depending o the location and distance to the BTS.

By the way, this has been done before with microwave connecting buildings for telecom services; this is not new. It is just that now we have a way to get it to each business and we are an all-IP network now. This technology is available today and being done by point to point microwave as well as multipoint systems. It is just now we have a spectrum that we can use with newer and better technology. We have the opportunity to shape the broadband rollout to improve the broadband infrastructure in a profound way. The technology has arrived.

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Can we get more spectrum? It looks like the US FCC took the first steps, they have opened 28GHz (27.5–28.35GHz), 37GHz (37–38.6GHz), and 39GHz (38.6–40GHz). It is something that we can use, I hope. Also, 7GHz of the unlicensed spectrum from 64–71GHz. If you remember, some of these bands were utilized in the past to deliver point to point, PTP, microwave for building access. Now that the equipment is changing and becoming more cost-effective, it can be used in new applications. MIMO antennas and systems are also helping the cause. Technology has come a long way!

Wade@techfecta.com

I am looking forward to having fixed wireless rollout. If we can get broadband to the homes without cables or fiber running through the house, how cool would that be? If small businesses could have broadband in their stores and homes without waiting for fiber to be deployed, how great would that be? If we could only have a unit that we could put on a window facing one antenna outside and have the Wi-Fi inside, life would be grand! I think this is coming.

The carriers are pushing to get fixed wireless out to the public. They have been trying to work with several technologies. Whatever they work with it looks like LTE will be the foundation of the format. It could be mmwave or spectrum they have for LTE today. The carriers will tell you that this is 5G, but it has more to do with LTE being able to push the limits using carrier aggregation in the current spectrum and making new spectrum multipoint. Carrier aggregation makes that look realistic. I think Sprint is in a great position with all the 2.5GHz spectrum they have to pull this off quickly. If only they would spend the money to do it.

The Wireless Deployment Handbook Paperback

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.

With mmwave, we have large bands. The great news is that it could be deployed quickly. I think it will be lightly licensed because the coverage area is so small. I also believe it could be the solution to getting large amounts of spectrum to building in a short time. The current systems are a point to point, but they are rolling out multipoint systems. There is an article in Gigabit Wireless that helps to explain more about mmwave and the multipoint technology in that band.

I believe that 1Gbps links will make it possible to run 100Mbps to multiple homes from one cell, be it a small cell or a Macro. Although only a Macro can do that now, it has to improve. All the carriers are promising this.

http://bgr.com/2017/01/04/is-5g-faster-t-mobile-att-sprint-verizon/ Where he says AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint all promised 1Gbps in 2017.
http://www.rcrwireless.com/20160726/carriers/verizon-5g-trials-seeing-1-gbps-speed-expected-lower-costs-tag2 where they explain that Verizon already sees 1Gbps.
http://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/sprint-cto-hints-at-1-gbps-class-speed-2017-challenge-to-t-mobile where Sprint promises 1Gbps.
T-Mobile hits nearly 1Gbps in lab, https://www.wirelessweek.com/blog/2016/12/watch-t-mobile-hits-nearly-1-gbps-lte-lab-test

I believe that we will see a fixed wireless solution very soon. I believe that 100Mbps to the house via a wireless link is very realistic. This will be a game changer that will have a dramatic effect on our daily lives. With my cable modem, I feel I get pretty good speed, today I tested it and got 67.3Mbps down and 11.9Mbps up. I am happy with this at home, today, which I show from Google’s internet speed test on Comcast, shown below. Way to go Comcast!

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If I get fixed wireless, will it work this well? I hope so. As you can see, it must give about 100Mbps to each home. The cable company can do this today and more. Verizon and AT&T both offer this over fiber and more. If they do it with LTE, I see TDD working better the FDD so that they can proactively balance the upload and download speeds. That is why Sprint has a prime spectrum with their 2.5GHz band. This band travels well and would work great as a fixed wireless platform.

The question now is, is it cost-effective to use FWA over other technologies? The installation and setup will determine that. That is why I say KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid! The key is to make the installation so easy that anyone can do it, as the end-user. If someone has to pay $1,000 for an installation, it may not be cost-effective. Most companies may do this for 100Mbps of service but at home people bitch over paying the cable company to come out and install their equipment for a few hundred dollars. I know I do. Especially when you are paying hundreds a month for service. Home users want value at an affordable price. However, home businesses rely on reliability, so make it very reliable. Price and reliability which will be determined by competition, which is one thing that the cable companies do not have right now. Seriously, whoever has a connection to your home is the winner, and cable modems are way faster than DSL. Will that change with FWA? Will cable be competing with the wireless carriers? Of course.

If they can make the installation simple, easier than hooking up my phone, I would be happy. I do not see why not. Have the outdoor wireless connect to something straightforward and efficient indoors. Let the people see the signal level for the outdoor connection, like DISH used to do, and make it broadcast Wi-Fi inside. Preferable Wave 2 with the ability to connect an indoor router via wired Ethernet. Then life is great!

Will this be easy for the carrier or service provider to do, not really? However, would it be easy for the cable companies to roll out, definitely yes? They have the infrastructure to make this happen. They could deploy the radios efficiently and quickly. They have the workforce and the structure to handle business and residential. If only they had the spectrum. If only the cable companies would move into the wireless realm. They would be a force to be reckoned with. They already have a huge customer base, and they have the core and the support centers. I think that cable companies are positioned well. Will they roll something out? If they can get in on the CBRS or the mmwave or the

I just heard an interview with John Legere where he explains, (I am paraphrasing) how companies are identified by their infrastructure, wireless or cable, and the end-user could care less. I agree with this. I think that people just want broadband when they need it, whether it is home or on their device or in a coffee shop. I agree with Legere when he explains how mobile is taking over and that people just want to have a great connection. He has been on fire lately because T-Mobile has had a kick ass year and he will not stop. He turned T-Mobile into a player, putting Sprint behind him and making AT&T sweat.

I want to congratulate John Legere and T-Mobile for winning a ton of 600MHz spectrum in the recent auction, great job T-Mobile for getting national coverage after all this time. He says “Little Ole T-Mobile, ” but they are not little anymore, in any way.

For more look at all the John Leger interviews listed below.

I think that he makes an excellent point. I believe that the internet providers will be listed as providers and as companies like Google will be media providers. I think that AT&T is trying to play both sides. There are going to be providers of the service and providers of the content. Who is going to win in the upcoming battle? I am not sure but we need to stop looking at cable companies and carriers for service their specific audiences, and they will start service everyone. Barriers are coming down, and the gloves will come off.

Will cable companies merge with carriers to remain competitive? Probably, look at Comcast working with Verizon and AT&T taking over DirecTV. Competition is rising. Comcast has the money to start their wireless system or take over a player like T-Mobile, but will they spend the money? They have not so far, but the playing field is changing, and Comcast sees the writing on the wall. It is time to make something great happen!

As a final note, and a way for me to bring smart cities into this. I believe that all smart cities want competition in broadband, they want the service everywhere in their cities, so the FWA will make that option a reality of the carriers build the entire city. All areas of the cities need to be served, not just the business districts or the upscale neighborhoods. I get that the carrier wants payback, but we need to blanket cities to give everyone an equal opportunity! This is making broadband the new infrastructure backbone of America and giving us all an opportunity to play. Let’s make something great happen!

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

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Wade4Wireless BlogCast

IOT and the Smart City

April 24, 2017 Wade Leave a comment

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Will Smart Cities use IOT? Will IOT be an integral part of the smart city vision? Yes and yes! IOT is going to be a key factor in many smart city services and it will fill the holes for services other than broadband. If you wonder if it will take off, just ask AT&T who is building an entire business unit around IOT, AT&T IOT website found here. AT&T has invested in complete end to end services for vehicles, asset management, smart cities, and healthcare. So they see a definite future in the IOT ecosystem.

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What about Verizon? Yes, they have their IOT business as well, the website found here. While they are focused more on the enterprise, they too see the ecosystem that I see. In fact, Verizon had a developers website set up, found here, to encourage developers to come up with solutions and fill holes around the IOT need and exponential growth.

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

So you’re asking yourself, as a small business consultant or integrator, “How does that help me?”. I will tell you how, you have an opportunity to build, deploy, manage, and fill holes in the IOT solutions. We can compete with the larger behemoths like AT&T and Verizon by building our own systems, or by piggybacking onto their network with our unique solutions. We can provide the answers that smart cities are looking for. We are the local consultants and contractors, the small businesses that are the backbone of America that know what the cities need. However, the cities need help and we can provide them with vendor agnostic solutions. IOT will open new areas of business for smart cities.

The smart city will use IOT services for a foundation of many things. Funding, cutting expenses, services that will make residents and tourist happy. Why? It is going to be the foundation of many services and how they will work in the city. There are many services that you may have heard of, and some you may think are too futuristic. However, this will be the norm in the very near future. Remember when the smartphone was a luxury? How many people claim they can’t live without it? What about Uber, it has changed the way we get a ride and forever hurt the Taxi service model. What services will be needed?

Let’s begin!

Parking services are an immediate need that most cities are addressing. Until the drones and self-driving cars to take over, we need parking meters that should be easy to pay, which are already taking over. Remotely connected meters that people can pay with a credit card or with a phone application. Those services are already here! What about open parking spaces? Parking is a huge issue in many cities. Wouldn’t it be nice to reroute traffic to the parking spaces and garages that have spaces? YES! Did you ever fly over Thanksgiving? Airport garages fill up quickly, they reroute traffic to the open garages. Also, open street parking is a huge issue. Why not let people know where the spaces are by looking at an app and pointing people to the open spaces. This is valuable to avoid small traffic jams. It just makes sense! This is happening, go to http://www.nedapidentification.com/news/insights/the-business-case-for-wireless-parking-sensors.html and https://www.smartparking.com/technologies/smarteye to see some ideas of how it is done today.

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.

Garbage dumpster sensors are something that has been growing as a service. If you don’t think this is a big idea, then you must not care when garbage is laying all over the streets. When a dumpster is full, it’s because there is a lot of garbage and it will start to overflow, and it will blow all over the city. Then the city has to clean it up, especially if it’s going to make the city dirty and possibly spread disease. Now we have a way to get the garbage crews out there when they are needed and if a restaurant is closed for a week and the dumpster stays empty, then why dispatch a truck? What a wasted trip for the garbage company it’s a waste of time and fuel. Think this isn’t real? Then look at https://www.smartbin.com/markets/level-sensor-general-waste-recyclables/ and http://www.enevo.com/waste-analytics-solution/ to see who is doing it.

Sensors around the city are going to be key. This could be water sensors that could detect high water at levees, drains, sewers where an overflow can cause major issues with traffic or resident safety. Water pressure in water mains could drop quickly, which would mean that there is a break in the line which means street flooding or a sinkhole is forming which leads to traffic problems and residents not feeling safe. What about gas lines that have leaks, gas detection could be a huge service.

How about ShotSpotter? Public safety will need to get creative to stay on top of the crime in any city. As luck would have it, someone reminded me of ShotSpotter this morning. Someone just sent me an article, http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/03/02/incredible-tech-detects-gunfire-across-america.html that had sensors put all over cities to identify shots fired in the city and locate them and identify them, You’re asking, is this IOT? Yes, it was a completely automated system that would sense gunfire then alert an NOC, probably an e911 call center, that there are shots fired. All automated. How did the system work? Imagine this, microphones that are hyper sensitive all across a city all connected via wireless backhaul to a central location where there is a server that identifies the sound then puts up an alert on a computer screen. There you go, classic IOT automated services connected wireless to a server that alerts a human when something happens, what a great model to follow. Remember that this technology has been around for over 10 years. The article is new, but I installed one around 10 years ago. I installed the system in York, Pa, which let it go because they could not afford to support it. Here is an article for that service specifically, http://ydr.inyork.com/ydr/opinion/ci_9642210 and http://yorkdispatch.inyork.com/yd/local/ci_10618140 stating how it was unreliable. I don’t blame the system, but maybe there needed to be more systems around the city. Remember that it was over 8 years ago, so the technology may not have been there.

What about Drone Traffic Control? Did you know that Uber is working towards drone passenger service, I would say taxi, but seriously, Uber is the anti-taxi. The article is here, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/09/26/uber-plans-self-flying-drone-taxis-to-beat-city-traffic/ where it explains Uber’s drone vision. My point is if Amazon does the package delivery and Uber does passenger delivery, we will need to have drone traffic control. While it may be the FAA that manages the traffic, each city will need their own way to manage and track the drones. It will be a city service at some point because in the city the drone traffic will be heavy. Deliveries are one thing that the city may not worry about, but when humans take the air, it will be life or death. This is what we have all waited for, to get off the road and into the air. It’s almost here. Why is it the city? Because the intercity traffic will take a long time for drones to do, but intracity traffic is almost here, within the next 5 years. Thank you, Uber! I heard the DJI Matrice, (Amazon affiliate link) which is a great drone for commercial work.

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Wait, how can we connect these services to the main line? Wireless and wired backhaul. Get creative! I actually have a plan that could help, but hey, you need to reach out to me via Wade@TechFecta.com if you want to learn more. I am not talking about putting it all on a carrier’s system, although they would love that. The key is to have a long battery life where there is no power and where you have the power you could use anything. These services don’t need a lot of bandwidth, what some of them need is a great battery life, and that is where wireless comes in. Low power draw sensors that need minimal bandwidth that won’t drain the battery in the sensor. All of this is real. Even Amazon has them available, found on my affiliate link here, and Honeywell writes about their sensor at https://www.alarmgrid.com/products/honeywell-5821 if you’re interested.

So to wrap it up, the IOT services for the city are huge, not just for the businesses to become more efficient and effective, but for the city to maintain safety and cleanliness. This is one of the foundations of the smart city and services that we will all expect every city and town to have. It will become more of an expectation that a luxury.

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

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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.

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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.

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

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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.

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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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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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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.

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?

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.

Wade4Wireless BlogCast

Do Smart Cities need Wireless?

September 12, 2016 Wade Leave a comment

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I would say yes, like I always do with wireless. However, to be honest most people don’t know what smart city is. It’s a cool buzz word that most people throw around. They include renewable energy, like solar, because solar is cool and easy on the eyes. I don’t see too many cities throwing up wind farms because they don’t look as nice in the city, but they would be something that would be renewable energy. They talk mostly about power in the beginning, but that isn’t what people really want, is it? They want connectivity. Preferably wireless connectivity.

Connectivity, to connect what? When we think of smart cities, we don’t really picture anything, so we? We talk about the connectivity, energy, infrastructure, and all the things needed to make a smart city. However, what services will we have in the smart city?

I often hear about how people that live in smart cities are excited. However, most of the smart city features I see now are about solar power. They have solar panels everywhere. Is that what people really want when they live in a city? Maybe, just maybe they want to be able to have internet access everywhere, with their devices. It’s nice to have connectivity with the smartphone, that is a given and an expectation in today’s world. However, many of us still rely on our laptops to do actual work. Maybe they can work on a tablet but most people rely on the laptop. Get them coverage for the laptop and then, life is good!

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What is a “Smart City”?

Well, this is something that I find interesting because a smart city could be smart for so many reasons. Let’s break it down so we have a better understanding of the smart city.

Energy – it could be renewable energy, like solar. I would say wind but it seems no one wants a wind generator standing along a street in a city, but I’m not sure why. They all have solar panels on building tops and roof tops and they promote having battery backup available.

Infrastructure – this could be the way that the city controls things, like street lamps. Again, they revolve around energy but they would only turn on as needed and they would have LED lights. Billboards would be the same way, see you coming and they would not only turn on but maybe if they can connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth they could get your profile and send an advertisement tailored for you, if your privacy settings would allow that.

Utilities – We would expect all of our meters to not only have a device in it to be read remotely, but we could see our electric or gas or water usage in real-time when we log into a website just like we can look at the minutes of usage for our smartphone.

Data Collection – the city would like to collect data about people and car traffic in each area so that they can allocate resources to an area when they expect it to be busy. Big data analytics will be a big part of this. They will collect the information so that the traffic lights are synchronized properly and that the police can be in an area prior to a busy time of day.

Transportation – This will include vehicles that can talk to each other, electric cars, automated parking meters, and real-time controlled traffic lights to allow for the perfect balance of foot and auto traffic. This is a dream of the connected city to provide solutions for all of these issues. Parking is a big one that would be great if you not only knew what parking garage had openings, showed you the height restriction for those of you with trucks and SUVs, but also a price comparison of what you would pay by the hour or day. All of this would be a proactive feature sent to your car or smartphone prior to going to the garage. By the way, I already see electric charging stations in many cities for electric cars. I was in Ocean City, Md., and they provide charging stations in random areas for Tesla and other models. I think that is really cool that a vacation destination would offer charging stations for tourists! Great job Ocean City!

Smart buildings – the building will have more than just smart thermostats. They will know how many people will show up on any given day, hour, or for a particular event so that they can control the lighting and temperature for that event which should save energy by not wasting it when no one is there. It would have great wireless connectivity throughout the building for your phone and with Wi-Fi so that you stay 100% connected and safe. It will have full alarming capability so that building security not only get the alarm real-time but can access video to wee what is happening in that particular hallway at that time.

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.

Wireless Connectivity – Here is where the city must stand apart, and I don’t’ mean just from the carriers. They should have a good Wi-Fi system all around the city with good connectivity to attract all of those mobile workers that appreciate the city life. They need to have an amazing public safety presence so that when a fireman runs into a building he or she can communicate with their team real-time to save not only other lives but their own. So that police can report on a situation and maybe even show the body cam footage in real-time to control a situation before it escalates. So many of us think that the wireless is just Wi-Fi and carrier, but public safety connectivity is critical. Many cities forget about this when allowing buildings to ignore the public safety coverage in buildings. Then when someone dies they never look at the wireless connectivity, instead they look at other issues when if the first responders had better coverage then they could have made a bigger impact on the outcome.

If you notice the above themes are mostly about energy and connectivity. While energy is big, most people don’t really seem worried about it in their daily life. Broadband connectivity, on the other hand, is very personal and affects all of them daily.

While people promote the energy aspect of the smart city, it usually isn’t enough to drive people in, if you know what I mean. If you tell people that they will have broadband access everywhere in the city limits and they will save energy, then they will relocate there in no time. Don’t believe me? Then why do so many cities get excited when Google Fiber is coming to their city? Google Fiber is sexy and we all want the broadband, am I right? I want the best connection I can get for the least amount of money.

Let’s design and build a smart city! So how do we do that? I have 3 examples to show you some business models that are already in place.

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.

Starbucks

What does your home and Starbucks have in common, other than maybe the coffee? Wi-Fi access to the internet. One, look at your own home. Do you have Wi-Fi there? How many of you will use Wi-Fi for the last 100 feet of access? If you have a cable modem or fiber connection, then I would guess all of you, I know I do. Wi-Fi is a great in-home solution. This is what smart cities need to make coverage available everywhere. They need Wi-Fi access is every public venue. I like free access, I am not going to lie, and Wi-Fi is great when it’s free.

Why do so many people hang out at the Starbucks? Because they have free Wi-Fi, yes, free Wi-Fi in their establishments and we love it. Even when it’s slow or loaded we love it. They set the new standards for coffee shops everywhere. Starbucks got it early on, they know that we all like free Wi-Fi Internet access. Yes, free Wi-Fi, we love it and that’s why Starbuck gets more than $5 a cup here in the US. Oh, they make a great drink but when people hang out there every day to write or do work or just stop in to update their email, it’s a combination of the great service, great drinks, and free Wi-Fi. The trifecta of a mobile worker’s paradise! The croissants are good too!

The Stadiums

Now, let’s look at stadiums, here in the USA most NFL stadiums have awesome coverage for both Wi-Fi and carrier access. Here is where you need both. Wi-Fi is nice, but I noticed it gets overloaded and slows down. That’s why they have so many access points in a stadium, to limit the number of users per unit. Here you have a large group of people, usually over 50,000 people on game day, that most of them have smartphones. They want to share the experience. They want to see the replay not only on the big screen but on their smartphone.

The NFL has done something really cool though, they realize that connectivity is not enough, they know that to add to the in-stadium experience that they need to add apps that you can only get in the stadium. Remember that the game ticket is a big money item. It’s much cheaper to watch the game at home on TV, so they added to the user experience by giving you apps that are only active on the Wi-Fi in the stadium. How cool is that? WOW! They offer replays, access to the big screen video, coupons for food and products. Now that is a game changer because they went over the top. They could have given just awesome access but they enhanced the user experience.

My point here is that most cities have connectivity is some way, but they need to enhance the user experience. Many do this with a website but they will need to get some city-specific apps. They will need to partner with in city business and provide real value to the people in the city. Whether they live there or are just visiting they need to have an awesome experience and learn more about the how great the city really is. They need to learn about the city without being super proactive.

The stadiums have more than you think behind the scenes. They are as green as they can be with recycling, http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/community/gogreen.html. They have wireless connections for vendors in the stadium for credit card processing, http://www.crn.com/slide-shows/networking/300081973/its-game-time-10-things-you-dont-know-about-nfl-stadium-connectivity.htm. They understand that fans need better wireless every year, http://www.patriots.com/news/2016/04/14/tackling-tech-nfl-fan-frenzy-drives-new-venue-wireless-specs. You see, they know their fan’s demographic. They get it and they continuously work to improve upon it. They also know how to keep the vendors in the stadium happy. They see the big picture, mainly because they have around 8 games a year, in the NFL, to make money, big money, enough to cover that billion dollar stadium they built. Cities need to approach their growth the same way.

Lesson to cities, reach out to the people first because if they have to rely on the locals then they only learn what that local knows, not what they may really be interested in. I travel quite a bit and I learn what the people I hang out with already know, but we may have different interests meaning I may think less of the city. For example, I like seafood, but if everyone that I know in a city likes steak, they will only take me to steak houses which may or may not have good seafood, get it?

The Office

When you go in an office, most of them have Wi-Fi access. In today’s world many rely on the workers to use their smartphone. The days of large phone systems are slowly fading. There are still office phones, but when getting on conference calls, many people use their smartphone unless a landline is convenient or if coverage stinks. The office has changed, today we rely more on our wireless device to talk and text than the office phone.

Why did I bring this up? For one, cities need to have good mobile coverage everywhere to be taken seriously. They can’t have spotty coverage so they need to work with the carriers to ensure that smartphone coverage, preferable LTE, is great inside and out. Yes, in building coverage is just as crucial as outdoor coverage. How many cities in the North will have people sitting in a park in February? Not many. They will all be inside an office building or a restaurant or a public venue.

Wireless coverage is critical for more than the convenience, but for public safety. If something happens and we need to call 911, then we want to connect ASAP. We want to be able to tell the 911 operator what is happening immediately, without have to hold the phone 3 feet over our heads to get a signal.

Safety matters and wireless connectivity is a big part of that.

Resources

https://www.nextenergy.org/nextchallenge/

https://www.ruckuswireless.com/solutions/smart-cities

https://youtu.be/m45SshJqOP4

https://youtu.be/Br5aJa6MkBc

https://www.umbel.com/blog/publishers/10-ways-stadiums-are-using-technology-to-delight-fans/

By the way, if you’re interested in IOT and you want to learn more about the smart home and IOT devices, there is a great podcast by Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel called “The IOT Podcast”, found here, http://iotpodcast.com/ and learn even more about the IOT industry.

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

TOWER CLIMBING: AN INTRODUCTION (The book about getting started as a tower climber)

Do you know what to put in your SOW, the details needed to get paid for milestones or job completion? Would it hold up in claims court? Would you rather plan up front instead of fighting for it after the job is done?

Why does Fixed Wireless Matter to a Smart City?

Resources:

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 assistance and more.

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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 assistance 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.

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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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The Smart City 5G Business Plan

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What is a “Smart City”?

Starbucks

The Stadiums

The Office

Resources

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

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Tips to Work With