Network planning
Other providers include TEOCO,
which off ers its ASSET planning tool
for LTE capacity planning and PRB
dimensioning. iBwave specialises in
planning for indoor coverage; its tools
consider the needs of fi re and medical
teams in particular who will need to
access diffi cult areas inside a building
including staircases, corridors and other
rooms without an external wall or
window. Th e EDX Wireless SignalPro
tools also focus on planning for public
safety needs covering frequencies from
30MHz to 100GHz and are able to
show how diff erent technologies work
together. Th is is helpful during the
transition to an all-4G/5G network.
A closer look….
Based on a live deployment, this
case study outlines the challenges
and risks associated with deploying
a public safety network, alongside
other connectivity systems, into a very
complex environment.
Radio One is a turnkey systems
integrator and one of the largest
authorised Motorola Solutions channel
partners in the US. Working with
Ranplan it is responsible for aiding
the deployment and maintenance of
the public safety system for one of the
country’s largest theme parks.
Th e project had to overcome a
number of challenges. Th ese included
the sheer scale of the network,
given that it had to cover a large site
consisting of several physical parks, each
with their own indoor and outdoor
coverage requirements, making it harder
to visualise. Th e site also had high
capacity needs, due to the large amount
of footfall. Th ere was also the missioncritical
nature of the network to
consider – any errors could potentially
put the park’s patrons at risk, as well as
potentially leading to a large monetary
cost over the project’s lifecycle. Finally,
there were a large number of internal
and external stakeholders to manage.
Just as a public safety agency team
might struggle to have a clear picture of
a large complex and evolving incident,
so too can it be diffi cult for network
planners and project managers to keep
track of a similarly challenging roll-out
and ensure that everyone is working
with the latest documents and plans.
Th is can be made much easier through
the use of cloud-based applications,
to provide everyone with a common
operational picture. Th is project used
Ranplan’s cloud-based Public Safety
Collaboration Hub Platform, which
has project visualisation (including 2D
and 3D fl oor design views), workfl ow
management, and project monitoring
and auditing functions.
It eff ectively guided walk test and
design resources so that they could
correctly identify non-compliant
buildings inside the campus. Th is was
made possible through the visualisation
of the wider campus using high-quality
geo-data that combined detailed
models of the campus’s in-building
and outdoor areas. It also allowed the
project management team to enforce
best practices in terms of input control
and to standardise reporting for all
stakeholders. Finally, it provided the
team with data protection and security
by allowing them to set user access
controls for fi les, protected against data
loss and ensured the smooth fl ow of
data in standardised formats.
Planning for 5G
5G is still on the horizon from the
perspective of critical communications
but planning may need to start soon.
Huawei has identifi ed the specifi c
challenges that 5G creates for network
planners, with two key ones being
the use of Massive MIMO (multiple
input, multiple output), which replaces
sector-level wide beams with usercentric
dynamic narrow beams, with
users sharing frequencies; and multiuser
MIMO, which allows multiple
spatially distinct users to share the same
frequency. Th e company’s network
planning tools include ray-tracing,
UMi (urban micro) and UMa (urban
macro) propagation models, Massive
MIMO modelling, balancing uplink
and downlinks, 2D and 3D coverage
prediction and automatic cell and
site planning.
The whole picture
Th e focus of this article has been on
planning the radio element of the
network. Th is is vital as cell sizes,
quality of service, data throughput and
backhaul all begin with these fi rst steps.
But the next stages will be to plan in
terms of the data transmission network,
core elements and switching; all have to
be dimensioned, costed and planned.
As we are considering public safety,
resilience and security requiremenrs will
also be a consideration. An intriguing
question for future study will be selfoptimising
networks and the use of
artifi cial intelligence. Th e capabilities
and complexities of 5G networks may
well lend themselves to AI.
Th e radio network plan is just the
start of the planning process which
itself will have to be revisited when
there are signifi cant changes to the
physical environment, frequencies, user
needs, or regulations. As legacy PMR
systems are replaced by 4G and 5G,
the same or better levels of service must
be maintained. As two-way radio has
long been a foundation of public safety
operations, planning for this transition
has to be securely based on reliable tools
and processes. We can’t miss a step.
A representation
from Ranplan
of Vancouver
comprised of
2 metre 3D
building vectors.
It represents the
“hot spots” and
“not spots” in a
connected city.
Service is being
provided via
street level small
cells with blue
areas equating
to areas of low
signal quality –
this could either
be because of
interference
with adjacent inbuilding
systems
or low signal level
Precision is key…
We need to ensure
that we exceed today’s
compliance requirements and
be ready to meet those in
the future
September 2019 @CritCommsToday 31