Showing posts with label Country UK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Country UK. Show all posts

Tuesday, 6 May 2025

How Vodafone UK Prepares its Network for Storms and Heatwaves

Extreme weather is a growing concern for mobile network operators, and Vodafone is no exception. Storms and heatwaves can damage infrastructure, interrupt power supply, and delay repair work. To keep people connected during such events, Vodafone has developed a range of technical measures and operational strategies that help it prepare for and respond to disruption.

The most exposed part of the network is the mast, which is usually above ground and can be up to 25 metres tall. While it is not possible to make these completely immune to bad weather, Vodafone designs them with resilience in mind. Many mast sites are equipped with backup batteries and generator connection points, provided there is space to install them safely.

Vodafone operates around 18,000 masts across the UK. Each one is part of the wider Radio Access Network, with traffic routed through dedicated signalling controllers hosted in secure data centres. These centres are equipped to maintain at least one mobile service, even in the event of a power outage, by prioritising the use of backup power.

In rural areas, some masts rely on microwave links instead of fibre or copper connections. These links require a clear line of sight between masts, so engineers carry out preventative maintenance to remove any vegetation that might interfere with signal transmission.

The Network Operations Centre (NOC) monitors the network and directs field engineers. During weather alerts, Vodafone increases staffing levels to improve response times and ensure the right resources are in place. Temperature sensors at mast sites detect heat-related issues and automatically alert the NOC if thresholds are exceeded. This can lead to quick interventions, such as cleaning or replacing clogged air filters in cooling systems.

If a mast repeatedly shows signs of overheating, the NOC flags it for further investigation. Possible solutions include enhanced maintenance schedules or upgrading the cooling technology. Despite all these precautions, access and repair work after storms or floods can still be complicated by damaged roads or infrastructure. Engineers may need to assess fibre cables, antennas or even the structural integrity of masts.

Where power supply is disrupted for extended periods, Vodafone’s network planners must carefully manage the use of batteries and generators. Coordination with external bodies such as the National Grid is often essential.

By investing in resilient infrastructure and ensuring rapid response capabilities, Vodafone aims to keep its mobile network running reliably, even in the face of increasingly unpredictable weather.

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Thursday, 6 June 2024

Vodafone UK Takes COWs to the Fields

Like every operator, Vodafone UK has a variety of Cell On Wheels (COWs) that they take to special events where there may be a need for extra coverage and/or capacity. While we have a good number of posts looking at COWs (see related posts 👇), here is their short video explaining it:

Quoting from their news article earlier this year: 

Some of the UK’s best known and largest events, from music festivals and agricultural shows to leading events in the sporting calendar, will see the masts. Known as ‘Cells on Wheels’ (COWs), they will be wheeled onto site to deliver an outstanding network experience and to cope with the extra demand expected on the network.

With over 120 deployments planned, Vodafone’s fleet of COWs will be kept very busy throughout the year. Some events will receive more than one unit, depending on terrain, the size of the event area and estimated number of attendees.

The season started at Cheltenham Race Festival in March. Compared to last year, overall data usage at Cheltenham increased by nearly 10%, with 35% of all data carried over 5G.

In September 2023, Vodafone revealed that 5G data usage at special events was rapidly increasing, with customers using 80% more 5G data in 2023 compared to 2022. One of the busiest was Glastonbury 2023 where Vodafone deployed nine COWs. Over 168 terabytes of data was consumed across the event. Elsewhere, the King’s Coronation saw COWs being placed around Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace. Data usage increased by around 90% compared to a typical Saturday in the capital.

A slightly more detailed video is ☝️ here while this detailed article from last year talks about the process:

Vodafone’s planning for any given event starts long before the organisers open their doors to the public; up to a year in advance for some city-sized. Surveying the site in question, requesting access from landowners and working out how to get lorry loads of equipment up narrow country roads – these are are serious logistical issues that can’t be left to chance.

Mobile signal at an event will be provided by one or more ‘cells on wheels’, or COWs. A COW is effectively a mobile mast – and its associated equipment – mounted on a trailer manned by a crew of three or four engineers. Setting up a COW can not only require a hoist, crane and/or cherry picker, but also the usual data links, power and a suitable location. This trifecta is tricky enough to secure under everyday circumstances in the UK’s villages, towns and cities – never mind the stadia, fields, valleys, shorelines and other unusual venues that host festivals and other such special events.

For festivals and shows that take place in remote rural locations, short-range microwave radios may be needed. These link the COW to the rest of Vodafone’s network as the usual fibre optic or copper cables often aren’t available or can’t be laid.

But such radio links need to be within line-of-sight of the next mast along to work, so locations need to be reasonably clear of obstructions such as trees and hills – obstructions that can also block the mobile signal from the mast once it’s operational.

While Vodafone may have the pick of locations at events that it has partnered with, that’s not always the case, with space at any given event in high demand for stages, retailers and of course the room needed for audiences and tents.

Powering the COW takes more than running a mere extension lead. If grid power isn’t available, then diesel generators are used. The generators then need to be carefully tended and guarded to ensure they continue working properly and aren’t ‘borrowed’ by either desperate or opportunistic third parties.

Getting a COW up-and-running in a surveyed location can take at least a day, often two to three days. But the work doesn’t stop once it’s powered on. Engineers carefully monitor and adjust the COW’s antennas and other equipment to ensure that it delivers the speeds and capacity that the public expect.

Frederic Sundin, Vodafone’s Head of Network Connectivity and Deployment explains: “You have stages in the way, depending on where the special event is, or it can be hilly, it can be trees. That can block the signal. And you need to predict where the crowds will be, because they move around.”

Vodafone’s engineers can draw upon analyses of traffic patterns in previous years when providing coverage at events that the company has been to before. But for new events or those that have relocated to new venues, responding quickly to unexpected events can be crucial.

For example, if there is a massive shift of people up a hill because they’re all watching and snapping/livestreaming the sunset, then engineers must be able to spot this and then actively optimise the network for such a sudden concentration of people in a small space.

The demands expectations of the public lie at the heart of why Vodafone provides mobile coverage at special events. “Festivals, summer events – the UK audience just love it. They flock to them. And, rightly so, they demand good coverage, a good experience,” Andrea, Vodafone’s Chief Network Officer in the UK said.

There is, of course, the other crowd at any given event – the organisers and the retailers. From ticketing to contactless payments, a variety of business processes now rely on mobile connectivity, not to mention first responders from the emergency services and event security.

If you spot a COW in a field near you, snap a picture and send it to us.

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Saturday, 16 December 2023

Testing Vodafone UK's Open RAN Deployment Performance

It's been a while since Vodafone selected their UK Open RAN partners. The good news is that according to the press release from Samsung as well as Vodafone UK the rollout has already started. According to the press release, the following partners are involved:

  • Samsung: 4G and 5G radio, including 64T64R Massive MIMO, as well as the software platform.
  • Intel: General Purpose Processor (GPP), acceleration hardware and network interface cards.
  • Keysight: Drive test services using Keysight Nemo Solutions to assure the OpenRAN end-to-end live network performance. Pre-deployment OpenRAN functional and interoperability testing using Keysight Open RAN Architect (KORA) solutions.
  • Dell Technologies: Dell PowerEdge servers designed for cloud-based OpenRAN workloads.
  • Capgemini: Testing partner in Vodafone labs.
  • Wind River: Cloud network platforms (also known as abstraction layer software).

Dr. Peter Clarke, who is an actual medical doctor rather than a PhD, and also a mobile network infrastructure hobbyist, has been featured across our blogs on a regular basis. Recently he took a trip to the coastal town of Torquay, Devon, to see for himself how these Samsung Open RAN networks were performing. Quoting from his LinkedIn post: 

Vodafone UK's Samsung Networks based Open RAN 5G delivers capability and performance to the coastal town of Torquay, Devon, providing a compelling window into the future of radio access architecture. 

The Vodafone spectrum deployed is impressive, illustrating the capability of the Samsung Radios and serving the town well: 90MHz n78 with Massive MIMO on Samsung Active Antenna Units and quad 4G band through Commscope passives.

Throughputs with EN-DC utilising 50MHz n78 carrier were consistently around 500mbps, which for an umbrella site serving a town was pleasing. Field testing video below, in comments, please watch for on the scene testing.

Here is a video from his testing:

I am looking forward to the official results that will hopefully be shared around MWC 2024.

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Wednesday, 28 September 2022

Temporary Infrastructure to Support Queen Elizabeth II's Funeral Procession

Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, died on 8 September 2022 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, at the age of 96. Elizabeth's reign of 70 years and 214 days was the longest of any British monarch.

A lot of people attended the funeral procession. To ensure that connectivity is available to the people attending, all UK operators put up temporary sites to supplement the capacity available. Peter Clarke posted photo of the infrastructure along with the speed test results as can be seen in the Tweet below:

It was good to hear that the temporary coverage from all MNOs provided sufficient capacity to everyone who was there.

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Monday, 11 July 2022

Three UK's 5G C-RAN Infrastructure in Birmingham, UK

The Wireless Infrastructure Group (WIG), recently announced the launch of a significant new infrastructure project set to transform mobile connectivity across Birmingham. They have deployed their own fibre backbone across the city and partnered with Birmingham City Council to connect up tens of thousands of streetscape assets for mobile infrastructure. An article highlighted:

WIG’s neutral host network infrastructure can support all mobile networks and has been anchored by Three UK running 5G services and creating the UK’s first large-scale 5G centralised radio access network (C-RAN) to enable super-fast speeds for all Three’s customers.

WIG’s network will also play a key role in supporting the vital testing of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) on Birmingham’s streets. WIG has developed this complex project in its role as lead communications infrastructure partner to Midlands Future Mobility – the organisation responsible for the UK’s largest real world test bed for CAVs.

Project Highlights:

  • Birmingham-wide 5G C-RAN network utilising WIG-owned fibre back-bone enabling ultra-low latency capability with fibre fronthaul.
  • Contiguous high speed and high capacity 4G and 5G services from Birmingham International Airport through to the city centre.
  • Future-proof, multi-operator, multi-technology architecture that will support 5G in standalone and non-standalone modes.
  • Long-term agreement for WIG and its customers to utilise tens of thousands of assets owned by Birmingham City Council.
  • Deployment of long-term sustainable infrastructure solutions, supporting small cells and making use of existing street furniture.
  • Three UK customers already benefitting from 4G and 5G delivered by the infrastructure with service throughput in excess 1Gb/s. Three’s initial deployment area includes city centre capacity hot spots together with contiguous high speed and high-capacity services across 20kms of the busiest parts of the Midlands Future Mobility testbed route.

A short case study on this is available here.

In a recent video, embedded below, Dr. Peter Clarke highlighted 'Blazing Three UK 5G from Brand New Small Cell Poles of Wonder in Birmingham'. The video embedded below feature Commscope VVSSP-360S-F antennas, Commscope cabinets and Ericsson Radios.

For more details also checkout Peter's LinkedIn post here.

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Friday, 10 June 2022

Omniflow Smart Street Lighting for 5G and IoT

I wrote about Omniflow back in 2017 so it was nice to see it in reality at MWC 2022 at Deutsche Telekom stand. A blog post on Telekom's website throws more light on the partnership:

Omniflow’s smart IoT lamp pole provides light, WiFi access, measures traffic flows, and many other services, all powered by sun and wind and using Telekom’s 5G technology.

Conventional street lights provide light, consuming a considerable amount of energy. Generating this energy releases up to 1.3 tonnes of CO2 per year. Not so with the smart IoT lamp pole manufactured by a Portuguese company, Omniflow. Omniflow’s state-of-the-art Smart Pole supports all kinds of practical uses such as traffic monitoring, smart parking, WiFi access, 5G small cells and many more. And thanks to solar modules, a wind turbine and integrated energy storage the smart pole can operate even during power network fails, being resilient and very energy-efficient. Compared with conventional street lighting, that enables operators to reduce their energy costs by over 90 percent.

A further reason for the growing global success of Omniflow smart poles is that the lights can be equipped with a wide range of IoT functions. Telekom supports this sustainable Smart City solution with LTE and 5G small cell modules for functions such as WiFi reception and data transmission to the cloud. Omniflow already has more than 2,000 smart poles in use around the world.

Digital Catapult has a case study on Omniflow here:

A graduate in material engineering, Pedro Ruão is the company founder and CEO of Omniflow. He started his career in product design, developing 3D prototypes. 

In 2009, a magazine article caught Pedro’s attention – a feature on Richard Branson and his search for cleantech innovators. Although Pedro did not work directly with energy at the time, the article inspired him to start formulating ideas. 

Pedro’s original idea was to generate and sell energy using a hybrid turbine and solar energy device. However, he soon realised this would be difficult to scale, let alone compete with the megawatts produced by giant wind farms and solar parks. 

Instead, Pedro saw the potential of using edge computing and IoT technologies to transform the turbine into a multi-purpose device, designing the Omniflow Smart Pole. 

Powered by wind and solar with integrated battery storage, the Omniflow Smart Pole transforms a regular streetlight into a sustainable smart infrastructure. One unit can provide WiFi, IoT sensors, computer vision, traffic management and charging points for electric vehicles or phones, among many possible services, to drive additional revenue for cities.

In 2021, Omniflow joined the 5PRING Green Innovation accelerator programme, designed to help small businesses develop cutting-edge technologies that reduce carbon emissions using 5G connectivity. 

5PRING is part of a programme of strategic projects led by West Midlands 5G (WM5G) to accelerate the benefits of 5G throughout the region.

As the technical lead for the 5PRING Green Innovation accelerator programme, Digital Catapult supported Omniflow to validate its 5G use case and access 5G testbed facilities.

Refining the technical configuration setup to use the 5G testbed, Digital Catapult installed the Omniflow test equipment and remotely performed tests using a private 5G network. 

By reporting latency of 17ms – compared to 125ms with public 4G – Digital Catapult confirmed that Omniflow’s unit would allow the delivery of a real-time surveillance solution and process video analytics through 5G.

Omniflow installations now span all continents, from Asia, to Europe and the United States. In Dubai Internet City, Omniflow is in partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, showcasing 5G capabilities and innovation with an Omniflow Smart Pole equipped with computer vision, public WiFi and edge computing services. 

As a key market for green innovation, California has adopted a wide range of Omniflow solutions and 5G-enabled services across the state, including airport infrastructure, university campus security, city-wide smart lampposts and onboard technology for boats, used for Alcatraz Cruises. 

As cities across the UK commit to net zero targets, an Omniflow installation in Manchester recently reported energy savings of more than 90%, simply by replacing two-year-old LED streetlights.

Omniflow is also seeing a growing interest in drone charging stations, beneficial for managing solar parks, wind farms or surveillance for areas with a large perimeter. Powered by the smart pole, drones can also be used for logistics or medical emergencies, deploying defibrillators on demand.

With the expansion of its 5G offering and solutions, Omniflow plans to increase the battery capacity of its units, which could collectively generate megawatts of power.

Recently, Omniflow was selected as one of the 12 startups for AWS Sustainable Cities Accelerator. You can read the details on Pedro Ruão's LinkedIn post here.

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Friday, 27 May 2022

London Underground Mobile Network Infrastructure

Earlier we made a tutorial on Infrastructure required for bringing connectivity to underground rail network. So it was good to see Nick Hudson, Director of Global Partners & Programmes at BAI Communications share some pictures of Mobile Network Infrastructure on London Underground network on his LinkedIn post.


Back in June 2021, BAI Communications (BAI) was awarded a 20-year concession by Transport for London (TfL) to deliver high-speed mobile connectivity across the capital in the most advanced and largest infrastructure project of its type in the world. The press release said:

BAI’s partnership with TfL will establish a long-awaited backbone of connectivity with a city-wide integrated communications network delivering multi-carrier cellular, Wi-Fi, and fibre connectivity services. The 4G-enabled and 5G-ready communications network that BAI will build and operate as a neutral host for fixed and mobile operators will fast-track London’s evolution as a smart city. BAI will also help to create a safer, smarter London by building and operating critical communications infrastructure that will support police, fire, and ambulance services.

The first phase of the project will see the rollout of modern multi-carrier infrastructure. This will allow fixed and mobile operators to immediately provide continuous 4G coverage to their customers across the London Underground stations and tunnels. The new wireless infrastructure will also be 5G ready. Work on the project will begin immediately, with all stations and tunnels due to have mobile coverage in four years.

Additionally, a new high-capacity fibre network running throughout the London Underground will enable fibre service providers to provide full fibre connectivity to premises across the city. The network will connect to buildings and street assets housing small cells to leverage the power of 5G and the IoT, and deliver improvements in areas like traffic congestion, public safety, and city planning.

Through this concession, BAI will help the transport authority support London’s post-covid recovery as travel resumes, delivering seamless 5G ready connectivity that will enable people to move around the city more efficiently, safely, and securely. More specifically, this project will enable TfL to reduce overcrowding and manage station flow, while improving safety with real-time information and reliable ‘from anywhere’ communications.

BAI was awarded the concession after a competitive tender process. The company has proven experience deploying mission critical communications networks in highly dense urban environments, including the underground rail networks in New York, Toronto, and Hong Kong. This project supports BAI’s strategic intent to sustainably accelerate growth globally. This is achieved through our work deploying outdoor neutral host infrastructure and developing 5G-driven offerings that introduce and scale connectivity solutions for emerging services and fresh revenue opportunities. Ultimately, our work supports our customers by delivering better connectivity and enhanced customer experiences. BAI’s ambitious plans include expanding its wireless infrastructure business across the public transport sector and growing its private network services portfolio.

Last month, BAI announced that they have completed the first milestone of its rollout of high-speed mobile coverage across the London Underground as it launches a permanent 4G service on the eastern section of the Jubilee Line. The press release said:

Customers of Three and EE are the first to be confirmed to have permanent access to 4G and 5G-ready communications between Westminster and Canning Town. The connectivity has been available as part of a pilot service since March 2020. This follows agreements made last year by both mobile operators to join BAI’s network, making them the first to cement their commitment to providing coverage to London Underground passengers.

Whilst on this section of the Jubilee Line, customers will continue to be able to check the latest travel information, keep on top of their emails, catch up on social media, live stream videos wherever they are on the Underground.

Cities all over the world are improving connectivity for subways and metros. With London already a centre of mobile connectivity, it's surprising that getting coverage in the Tube took so long.

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Friday, 20 May 2022

Vodafone Explains Mobile Phone Mast

Questions related to what does a mobile phone mast consist of keeps popping up time and again. I looked at it some years back but it doesn't stop people asking additional questions. 

When the UK MNOs started their Shared Rural Network journey, Vodafone put together a nice primer on what does a mobile network mast consist of. Here is an extract from the article:

What do all the bits of a mast actually do?

  1. Antenna: Antennas send calls, texts and internet data to your smartphone using radio waves and in turn receive radio waves from it. The higher up an antenna is, the more likely it is that you’ll get a strong and reliable mobile signal from it. Most masts will have at least three antennas to provide coverage in every direction. Masts that need to serve more people, because they’re located in more heavily populated areas, will have more antennas.
  2. Radio unit: The radio unit generates the radio waves transmitted by the antennas. Traditionally, the radio unit was installed at ground level. Nowadays, they’re more likely to be installed higher up the mast closer to the antenna to help improve performance.
  3. Transmission/backhaul: Cables, traditionally copper but now far more likely to be fibre optic, are used to connect the mast with other masts and the rest of the Vodafone network in the UK. These are usually buried in the ground. In a few cases, a microwave dish is used instead.
  4. Cabin/cabinets: Located at ground level, these contain computers which communicate with other masts in the network. Additional equipment, such as a battery backup in case of power failure and connectors for the transmission/backhaul, are also stored here.
  5. Power: Most masts will draw their power from the National Grid; some will have their own renewable power source on-site. In a handful of cases, such as with temporary masts, power will instead be provided by a diesel generator.
  6. Microwave dish: In some locations, such as remote rural areas, a microwave satellite dish is used instead of fibre optic cables to act as transmission/backhaul, connecting the mast to the rest of Vodafone’s network. To do so, the dish must be within line of sight of a dish on another mast.

Why can’t you build it somewhere else?

Not all sites are suitable. To provide the strongest mobile signal to as wide an area as possible, there can’t be too many neighbouring buildings, trees or other geographical features in the way. These tend to block the mast’s signal.

Masts also need their own power and what’s known as “backhaul” – data connections to the rest of the network. To meet soaring demand for faster speeds, that backhaul often consists of fibre optic cables under the ground – it’s a common misconception that most of Vodafone UK’s masts communicate wirelessly with the rest of the network.

And to run these power and data lines to a mast, we have to negotiate with the owners of the land, and quite often, with the owners of land adjacent to it. Those negotiations aren’t just about how much rent we will pay, but how easily we can access those sites for construction, maintenance and repairs.

These so-called “wayleave” negotiations can take time – and sometimes break down completely – setting back mast construction by several months.

Why can’t you just build a shorter, less conspicuous mast?

The taller the mast, the wider the area it can cover and the more people it can provide with a fast and reliable mobile signal. Under current rules, most UK masts are around 25m (82ft) tall. But in fact 50m masts would provide a better, more far-reaching signal in many areas.

Update April 2021 – the UK Government has proposed rule changes that would allow new and existing masts to be up to five metres taller and two metres wider than they currently can be. This would not only help increase the range of their wireless signal, it would also make it easier for masts to be potentially shared with other mobile network operators, as more equipment can be fitted onto taller masts.

Who decides where masts are built?

Our engineers pick sites that best meet the technical, logistical and economic requirements for hosting a mast, but the local council has to grant planning permission for the building works to go ahead. So councils hold public consultations before making their decision and residents can have their say.

You can read the complete article here.

The old video of cell tower construction site is worth a watch and is embedded below:

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Friday, 18 February 2022

UK will make Street Furniture accessible for Telecoms Infrastructure

The UK government has announced new plans to slash red tape from 5G roll out and improve mobile phone connectivity. For this to happen, street lights, bus shelters and traffic lights will be allowed host more mobile network equipment thereby helping boost mobile coverage as part of a new scheme to cut red tape and install more 4G and 5G kit.

The following is from the press release:

Eight winning projects will receive a share from the £4 million Digital Connectivity Infrastructure Accelerator (DCIA) to explore how digital software can help simplify local authority processes when telecoms operators request access to publicly-owned buildings and curbside infrastructure.

Street furniture such as road signs and CCTV poles can be used to improve 4G coverage but they are also integral to the roll out of 5G, which requires a larger number of smaller ‘cell sites’ - where antennas and other telecoms equipment are placed to form a network - to ensure seamless coverage and to meet surging demand for connectivity.

However, telecoms firms can often find it difficult and time consuming to acquire the information needed to verify a structure is suitable for hosting network equipment - such as its location, physical dimensions, proximity to the street or access to a power source - which is slowing down the pace of deployment.

In response, the government will invest in piloting the latest innovations in digital asset management platforms. This software will enable local councils to more easily share data mobile companies need to accelerate their roll out plans and deliver the revolutionary benefits of 4G and 5G to people and businesses.

From what we can see, this news has been well received by operators.

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Friday, 10 December 2021

Telefonica on the Impact of 5G so far

Enrique Blanco, Global CTIO, Telefónica presented a Keynote at Telecoms Europe 5G 2021 virtual event on 9 Nov 2021. The title of his presentation was What’s the impact of 5G so far? and it discussed how the unprecedented speed is just the start of how 5G is changing the face of connectivity. What has been the impact so far on how people live, work, and play, all over the world? 

The video of his talk is embedded below.

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Sunday, 10 October 2021

Multi-sectorised sites and Small Cells help O2 UK handle Capacity in Busy Areas

Radio planning becomes essential in dense urban areas where operators don't only have to serve the highly mobile users but also slow moving pedestrians and users indoors. One some location in London, UK, is O2 UK's highest capacity Nokia site with six-sector low-band LTE in 800 and 900MHz in addition to high-band 4T4R L18/L21, 8T8R L23 as well as standard n78 8T8R 5G.

The site also features numerous high-end Commscope antennas with dual-beam panels that are needed to create six-sector LTE 800 and 900 MHz and then 24 port antennas that carry all the other including 8T8R 2300 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz as well as n78 8T8R.

In addition, O2 has multitude of Nokia Small cells sprinkled across the City of London. While these come in all different shape and configurations. In many locations there are ones with directional antennas while there are others with omni-directional antennas as well.

The small cells are located on their own poles, rather than lamp posts and many of these also feature Wi-Fi access points as additional means to alleviate the capacity crunch. In fact they can also be mounted on-top of phone boxes, shops, side of buildings, etc. 

If this is an area of interest and you enjoyed reading the post above, you will no doubt enjoy watching this short video from Peter Clarke who has a great collection of infrastructure from UK and Ireland on his website here. Video as follows:

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Friday, 17 September 2021

Bigbelly's Telebelly Small Cells to Connect Rural and Urban Users


Bigbelly claims to be the world leader of smart waste and recycling solutions for public spaces. According to their website, they have a proven solution that has been deployed in 50 countries around the globe. When the company started back in 2003, the mission was to transform one of the least efficient and resource heavy operations - waste operations. Today, Bigbelly provides a public right-of-way platform to deliver smart solutions and host communications infrastructure.

Earlier this year, they announced that Telebelly, an integrated pole and antenna solution that expands the Bigbelly station’s service by offering enhanced wireless services to the communities it serves, is set to boost connectivity across UK cities following its decision to launch. The press release said:

The move is expected to accelerate growth of the UK’s small cell network, which is a series of small antennas attached to existing urban infrastructure within densely populated areas. It will also pave the way for 5G by making it easier for telecommunication companies to deploy a faster and more reliable service without relying on large-scale mast installations.

Telebelly, which is 4G and 5G capable, will also reduce visual clutter associated with the growing number of small cells currently secured externally to fixed structures such as streetlights, as it is securely and internally housed.

Bigbelly anticipates interest in Telebelly from UK local authorities, which are seeking solutions for their public spaces that utliise, wherever possible, existing or multi-purpose infrastructure.

Councils, mobile network operators and other third parties are now able to consider the existing 2,500 Bigbelly units in operation across the UK, as well as new locations, for potential Telebelly sites. Wherever a public waste bin is appropriate, a Telebelly may be the solution to hide small cells in plain sight.

Meanwhile their press release in Australia announced:

Today Bigbelly Solar, Cellular Asset Management Services, and Smartsensor Technologies, Bigbelly distributor in Australia, announce they have deployed a number of Telebelly Wireless cabinets, a hybrid telecom and waste management cabinet to benefit the community providing waste services and wireless coverage.

Bigbelly Solar says this is a global first, with Blackman Park in the municipality of Lane Cove being the first one in the world to go live.

The Lane Cove council commented: “Lane Cove has been using Bigbelly compacting waste bins successfully in the community to help provide more capacity and a cleaner environment compared to conventional litter bins. The integration of this solution with mobile connectivity allows us to additionally provide much needed mobile service in currently underserved locations.”

Bigbelly Solar says the benefit of these units is that they blend in with the surrounding environment and matches the recognisable form of an adjacent big belly waste bin.

Not only does the community benefit from the increased mobile coverage footprint, each new Telebelly station now features a Bigbelly high capacity solar-powered waste compactor, complete with hands-free capabilities.

In addition to providing 4G voice and data services, the Telebelly could also be configured to provide Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity and Wi-Fi. A strong and reliable wireless connectivity not only provides a telecom advantage; such a service improves safety and security around public spaces.

Telecommunications have played an integral part during the recent Covid-19 crisis, allowing Australians to continue to work from home and stay connected with friends and family.

For those living in areas with limited coverage due to topography, small infrastructure solutions allow mobile operators to utilise public spaces such as parks and community ovals with coverage while also providing waste solution for the community’s benefit. Bigbelly Solar says these smaller solutions will reduce congestion on the network thus allowing mobile operators to provide mobile coverage in homes and businesses.

Meanwhile in the USA, where their Smart Waste & Recycling solution has been deployed in all 50 states, they deployed Telebelly small solutions in Milwaukee last year. Their blog post says:

The City of Milwaukee first connected with Bigbelly when a major wireless carrier reached out regarding siting challenges ahead of a significant event in the area. The event was fast approaching, and the city required a solution to host small cell in those central, inevitably high-traffic locations. The City looked to solve the all-too-common problem of hiding small cell infrastructure in a manner with the least visual impact. In other words: their complex technology needed to hide in plain sight.

Like many central locations, these high-traffic downtown areas were deemed to be “aesthetically sensitive.” Project approval was fully contingent on the Telebelly’s concealment solution: its ability to be compact, efficient, safe, and self-effacing.

The City was excited about the Telebelly’s multipurpose capabilities, such as small cell hosting, smart waste, IT hosting and more. But most importantly, Milwaukee was intrigued by the Telebelly’s ubiquitous form factor; its simple & understated aesthetic is inherently non-intrusive. This was essential to their form factor challenge.

Within six months of the initial conversation with the wireless carrier, the Telebellies were installed and ready to go! Already, both wireless carriers and the City are thrilled with the installation & performance of their new fleet, and assert that the Telebelly units are an excellent solution for areas which are traditionally difficult to permit.

Readers of this blog will no doubt be aware of many different solutions for both the scenarios listed above, coverage and capacity, that I have covered over the years with similar solutions. It remains to be seen how operators and councils embrace it. 

Embedded below is a detailed video from them from Smart Cities Week 2020, discussing "Smart Alternatives to Small Cell Deployment":

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Friday, 6 August 2021

Panorama's ESN Antennas

It feels like last year when I was involved in testing some emergency networks but it was a long while back.

Believe it or not, your mobile network is only as good as the antennas. How often have I come across networks that try and add some cheaper antennas to cut down the costs but the loss of coverage, especially on the edges is a far bigger loss than saving some money on the antennas. 

The UK's Emergency Services Network (ESN) is moving along nicely, though far slower than most people expected it to. One of the important pieces of the puzzle is different types of antennas that are needed on the blue light vehicles. The image on the top nicely summarises these antennas and a brochure with details is available from Panorama here. In fact you can check out all different types of antennas here.

The following videos provide an idea on how these antennas look and work

Do check out other posts below related to ESN on our blogs.

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Thursday, 1 July 2021

Bringing Connectivity to Underground Rail Network

It's always been a challenge to bring mobile connectivity to commuters in the underground rail network. The same challenges extend to mines and other facilities under the ground. One solution that has been widely adopted is the use of leaky feeders as antennas.

This solution is also used to compliment the existing terrestrial network in case of tunnels. We made a small tutorial looking at this from metro point of view but the same solution is applicable in many different scenarios. 

The video and slides are embedded below


5G presents a small challenge for this as it is tricky to go beyond 4T4R easily. Each T/R requires a leaky feeder which makes it expensive as well as challenging in other scenarios.

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Friday, 4 June 2021

Three UK's Gigabit 5G Poles Explained


Peter Clarke does a great service to the mobile industry, especially in UK, with his detailed look at the mobile network's infrastructure. 

Three UK was Huawei shop but after the limitations imposed on them, they moved to Ericsson and announced with a big bang.

When they said in December that they will have 1000 5G sites, many were left wondering how many of those would be Huawei and Ericsson

But they did make a fantastic progress transitioning to E///

Now Peter has made a video detailing the Ericsson Three UK sites. It has a lot of useful information and is embedded below.

Let us know what do you think.

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