System Map: how can it reduce troubleshooting time?

Close-out package has a lot of benefits. But it should be built around one principal premise:
How much time can it cut down during troubleshooting?

Finding out the source of the problem is a big deal during DAS troubleshooting - especially if you have a short Service Level Agreement (SLA) to resolve issues with a tough customer. Most of the DAS elements being hidden above the ceiling tile, and spread out through a building does not make life easy. A System Map can help... actually quite a bit.

System Map is essentially a spreadsheet (i.e., hardware summary) that allows a technician to quickly trace DAS elements from head-end all the way to floor level where the antennas are installed.

Designing DAS in Pilot Pollution Environment

For CDMA network, an indoor area with Pilot Pollution usually means it's an area with high signal strength, but low signal quality. This is a common phenomenon in high rise buildings in Houston (Houston, we have a problem!)

In CDMA network RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) at a point is the total CDMA power received. So if at any point you are getting a RSSI of -65 dBm on a Sprint phone, that RSSI is the sum of RF Power received at that point point from all the Sprint base stations your handset can see or sniff.

Ec/Io on the other hand is an indicator of signal quality. Ec/Io at any point for a particular server (or base station) is the contribution of power from that base station divided by combined received power at that point from all base stations.

0 + 0 = 3

One of my favorite questions to ask to a new DAS engineer during interview is what is 0 dBm + 0 dBm. Say what? Answer is 3 dBm. And here's how:

0 dBm = 1 milliwatt

So 0 dBm + 0 dBm = 1 milliwatt + 1 milliwatt = 2 milliwatt

2 milliwatt = 10* Log(2) = 3 dBm

Therefore, 0 dBm + 0 dBm = 3 dBm.

Use of Info-graphics for DAS Project Management

I often get a "say-what?" look from a group of people when they come from a diverse background. While working on a healthcare DAS project, I had to give bi-weekly status update to the project stakeholders on the client side who came from diverse background - from IT, to facilities management, nursing department, infectious control, and even doctors. Talking about a DAS project can become little tricky in these situations. After a few of the bumpy sessions, I found that status update through infographics can be very effective.

Infographics is a fancy name for presenting your data visually. If you look around on the web though, infographics is mainly focused on being visually exciting and stimulating; and I don't blame the infographer, because just presenting table of data can be little boring. However, when I am using the graphics, I try to make sure that the background graphics adds value to the update I am presenting. So for example below, you can see how the major elements of the system is connected. Audience is also getting the updates on the different elements of the system. This can be fun, and presentation can be little more interesting than just presenting drab data. Audience from different background can have a better understanding of the system and how it's connected together. I also don't like to use a lot of slides when I am presenting to my clients. If a few slides are getting the point across then I am all for that.

By the way, I used Microsoft Excel and Paint for this presentation. Approximate time to put together the graphics was 20 minutes. Once I have the base graphics prepared status update boxes take just a few minutes to update.

Blue and White Coax for MIMO

Depending on the type of DAS platform (i.e., SOLiD, Andrew, MobileAccess) you are deploying, if it's a MIMO DAS you may have to pull parallel cable. For those who are not familiar with MIMO deployment, you will have to pull two sets of coaxial cable, splitters/couplers to a pair of antennas at the same location only 4-6 ft apart. In the field, this may become little complicated, because you don't want the parallel cables to get crossed. Installers usually mark the tip of the cables before pulling so that they can differentiate the cable sets.

One idea might be using cables of different color. So for example, you can pull a set of blue coax, and white coax as parallel network. I am strictly looking at it from the perspective of reducing confusion; however, logistically this may become a little complex - especially if the two colors of coax are produced by different manufacturers, etc.  

Cut me a slack...

During the DAS deployment phase, it's not unusual for cable pullers to leave some slack at the points where connectors will be installed. They do that with the thinking that having a little slack is much, much better than coming short on cable run at the point of, say, splitters or couplers. I had been in a project recently where the crew chief picked up a few crew from the local Union Hall to pull cables, and to make things simple and straightforward asked them to leave 5 ft slack at every connector point. This ended up costing us 15 ft of wasted cable per 2-way splitter or directional coupler (3 ports, 5 ft per port, a total of 15 ft). Waste doubled because this was a MIMO system. This waste is in addition to the waste we usually get from reaching the end of the spool. So when the crew chief asked for additional cable, we started suspecting the scale of the design first. We got more puzzled when we found that design was done according to the right scale. It took us almost over a week before we could figure out the principal cause.

A slackin' Situation

For this particular MIMO project, we had close to 376 antennas, 33 remotes, and 306 splitters/couplers. Just for the 5 ft slack at each connection point, the waste came out to be about 6,635 ft. From materials perspective, best thing to do is to connectorize as you go. In that case though, you may have to have crew who pulls cable and also knows how to put connectors on.

Walking-Coffin

We often use low tech thingy-ma-jiggy to build hi-tech network. One such device is - as the builder Jeremy Tesson fondly calls it - Walking-Coffin. Walking-Coffin may look like a transport vehicle for Fred Flintstone, but this was used to pull 2 sets of coax simultaneously for a neutral host MIMO DAS, where 2 parallel coax were going to 2 different antennas at a single location.

I also liked the way Jeremy accesorized the walking-coffin - a front end basket to carry around hardware and light tools, a hook to hang a dust pan. Cool!

lightRadio: a new promise for DAS

Base Station on the palm of your hand

Here is a paradigm shifting technology from Alcatel-Lucent (ALU)… lightRadio. A Base Station that fits in the palm of your hand. It’s generating bold, disruptive titles such as: “The tiny cube that could save wireless”, “lightRadio shoves a base station in a box”, “End of Mobile Towers?” – and they are all legitimate claims or predictions.
Even bigger news is that is not a concept anymore.  Telefonica, whose customers are in 25 countries across Europe and Latin America, announced the first live test of the 4G network over lightRadio, and the cube was supporting 1,000 users at the last Mobile World Congress of 2012 in Barcelona in February.

I am illustrating some basic configuration block diagram of lightRadio cube based on the information provided by ALU.

QR Code in DAS: is it feasible?

QR Code is an interesting new technology. Invented in Japan, QR is short for Quick Response. They can be read quickly by a smart phone by using QR reading apps. They can store more information than a standard bar code; such as URL links, Latitude and Longitude, text (upto 250 characters) etc. Another advantage over bar code is that you won't need a separate hand-held scanner, by using QR reading apps on your smart phone you will be able to read them.

Here is an example...

This is a QR Code for a text phrase, "Relax! It's On Air". I used a free QR generator at Kaywa. For reading this QR I use a free Android app "Qr Barcode Scanner" on my Smasung Galaxy S2. There are other free QR Generators as well as readers available. [To learn more about this technology, you can read Marc Lyne's article or check out the USA Today article, "What's a QR code and why should you care?".]

Can we use QR code for DAS industry?
We are exploring a few options in a current DAS project in a large healthcare campus expected to be completed in a month.

Using Video Clip as a part of DAS survey, design or closeout package

A picture is worth a thousand words; and video explains whatever words you didn't understand from those thousand words. Well no need to talk about the power of video - we all know that.

Video can always be a powerful addition to DAS package - whether it's survey, design or engineering, or close-out package. Sometimes you can look at multiple pictures, and still may not be able to figure out how it all comes together. It's not feasible for the DAS Design Engineer to survey all the sites - video can be the 2nd best thing. During my site walks I try to take video which may be hard for me to explain to the engineers. These can be especially effective if you are working on some sort of manufacturing plant.

A few weeks ago when I was working with one of our designer (Mr. Mir) on a large underground parking garage DAS, it was becoming hard to explain just through pictures, how the large I-Beams in the ceilings will have big impact on running the coaxial cable. Floor plans did not show these I-beams, and pictures were not sufficient. After seeing various pictures, when I pulled out the video on my phone the designer immediately understood what I was trying to explain. The short video clip basically brought it all together. You can see the video here:

Discussion on Feedback process for our DAS Design & Engineering Team

If the vision for DAS Design & Engineering team is considered to be the destination, then we have to let people know their "lat and long", guide them to that destination point. The feedback process is that lat and long. This process has to be able to answer 2 questions:

1. Where are you now? (how is the engineer doing, his/her strength and weakness)
2. Where does he need to be in next 30 days? This needs to be specific - What does he need to train on or achieve? When does he need to complete the training (or achieve the goal)? Then make sure that he has the required tools, time, and training to achieve this goal.  

Vision for a DAS Design & Engineering Team

I had the opportunity to fill in the Engineering Manager's position for a few weeks. After engaging with these smart engineering dudes immersed in design rigmarole on a daily basis I started wondering what are our vision for this team and how can we lay out the foundation for that vision. DAS industry is changing fast and to keep up with the pace, vision for the DAS design team needs to morph. So here is my vision for a DAS Design & Engineering Team:

1. A well-oiled machine
(designer knows what to do, how to do it, does it without constant supervision, does it in the most expedited manner, helps each other, great team work in every project, has structured design standard)

2. Versatile
(can do site survey of any size, design any kind of site, can troubleshoot, can integrate and commission DAS in multiple platforms, can develop training materials and train, can design a site in the best possible manner given the information)

3. Knowledgeable
(have good knowledge of multiple technology platforms for iDAS and oDAS, knows optimization techniques, knows all the tools and programs we have access to such as iBWave, Spectrum Analyzer, Power Meter, CW Source, Sweeper, RF Scanners etc.)

In the next post, I will address what steps we are planning to take to get to the vision.

Future Job Posting: DAS Consumer Advocate

This is not a current job posting - but may be a future role. I am writing about a very important role that is currently in demand, but almost non-existent in the market - this is the role of a DAS Consumer Advocate (DCA).

When do we need one?
More organizations (e.g., health-care industries, commercial buildings, public vanues, colleges, universities, etc.) are becoming aware of the need for a DAS inside their buildings. Some of these organizations are willing to consider a DAS for the building as one of the utility features. Since DAS is still in its infancy stage, there are not many people in any organization that understand the different aspects of DAS - legal and contractual aspects, network deployment, operations and maintenance, hand-set provisioning, etc..  Most of the time, someone proactive within the organization starts with Google searches, a few cold calls, start talking to sales departments of the wireless carriers, etc. Despite the tremendous amount of reconnaissance work she puts in, there is still room for confusion and missteps. When a Wireless Carrier identifies this customer to be a potential future customer with hundreds or thousands of devices and multi-year agreement, things can become even more complex. What this customer needs is a vendor & carrier neutral DAS Consumer Advocate (DCA).

Getting Organized: Field Book, USB Stick, Field Laptop

When you are under deadline and trying to finish commissioning a DAS, getting stuck for missing minor information can be very frustrating. Unfortunately, this happens a lot. Working at a DAS site demands you to be very disciplined. Purpose of the field book is to make the lives of technicians and Field Engineers easier by helping them to be organized. Give them information when they need most. Make it very accessible.

There are 3 things you can provide to accomplish this:


1. Field Book:
Obvious choice is to provide a hard-copy of these information in a file folder - or at least that's what we do. However, since folder is a dead-weight, only pack it with documents that will be accessed most frequently. We first compiled a Field Book for our installers and technicians over 5 years ago. We recently upgraded (much needed) that Field Book. It was surprising how much of the old data has changed. Anyway, following are some of the items we included in our Field Book:

• Frequency and Bands used in different markets by carriers
• Username, passwords, URLs or IP addresses of different DAS electronics
• How to change IP Settings in different Windows operating systems? How to get into Device Manager? (Yes, I forget those often!!)
• Quick Installation guides of the most frequently used electronics (Repeaters, DAS Head-end, etc.)
• How to set up a modem connections
• Various Tips and tricks, Debug codes for test phones
• Employee contact information
• Tech Support numbers of different manufacturers  

2. USB Stick (we call it Field Stick :)
Provide a companion USB stick with all Field Books. You can buy 8 GB of flash drive for less than $6.00. 8 GB will have plenty of space to pack all kinds of Spec Sheet for reference, frequently used programs, software and patch programs, and soft copies of all the information mentioned in the hard copy content.

3. Field Laptop:
This is the ideal solution if you can afford it for all of your technicians. A laptop which will be loaded with all the informations mentioned in the Field Book and the Field USB stick.

• Load it up with all frequently used browsers, softwares and programs (for example, MCT program for Mobile Access NMS, Skype, FastStone Capture, etc.). 
• Load up the browser's bookmark panel with frequently used IP Address based URL (e.g. 192.168.1.1, etc.). This can be really cool - because this can save a lot of time in the field.
• If you are using Windows 7 as OS, make sure you have the option to use XP version. Also, add some frequently used serial, USB cables, dongles - the usual suspects.
• If you have a savvy programmer in house, have them make a browser-based Switch Board. Basically, you will have all the links to your files from one place. This keeps things organized and streamlined.
• Make sure that your Field Engineers have the faculty of mind not to fill up the laptop with garbage files programs, malware, etc. It can ruin the whole purpose of getting organized and fast when you need to be.

Lessons Learned: Managing Document Version

Most of the times I end up using Excel to create trackers needed for a project. If more than 1 person are inputting data into this tracker than document version control can become an annoying little problem. You may have updated the tracker this morning, but then, in the afternoon, your team mate updates the tracker you sent out yesterday - not today. This happens a lot, if there is not any simple process set up for managing document version effectively.

We adopted 3 simple rules to maintain one of the major trackers we used in our Big Project:

1. We had a tab within the tracker where the last person updating the spreadsheet put his name and noted the last time he updated the tracker (See Screen shot 1). So for example, according to this screenshot, last update was done by Kevin on 4/13/11 at 2:33 PM.
2. Once he updated the file, he would save the file with a new name by adding his initial at the end and the time. So for example in Screen shot 2, original file name is "Master Progress Tracker", date updated was 4/13/11, and the time was 2:33 PM. That's a good amount of information packed into the name.  
3. We had 3 guys updating the report on a daily basis; so Kevin would update this ONLY in the morning, and Eric would update this ONLY in the afternoon, and then if I had any update I would enter them at night - and that's the protocol we followed most of the time.

Screen shot 1:

Screen shot 2:

These rules may or may not apply to all cases, but if you have a tracker that gets updated multiple times, some sort of ground rules can help maintain the sanity.

A quick note... why not construct the tracker for online update? Well, it was not possible for our particular project; since this was a very fast paced project, and also, we wanted to make the tracker evolve as the project dynamics changed. How about on-line spreadsheet such as Google Docs? This can be a viable solution - however, our stakeholders preferred to receive project updates in an Excel based tracker.