Author: Robin Mitchell

Sales Engineering Manager, iBwave Robin is a dedicated professional with over 28 years of design and performance engineering experience in the Wireless Telecommunications Industry with a thorough knowledge of wireless infrastructure and protocols. From working with teams integrating the first CDMA Network for Alltel Wireless to In-Building and Small Cell Design with Verizon Wireless, he has been an early adopter of many of the industry’s implementation, optimization, and design tools. He is also an iBwave Design Level 2 Certified Instructor. Most recently acquiring his CWNA and CWDP.

Surveying Industrial and Logistical Private LTE & 5G Networks: All You Need to Know

Private LTE and 5G networks have become indispensable for industries seeking to enhance operational efficiency, safety, and connectivity across diverse environments. These networks offer tailored solutions that ensure reliability, security, and high performance, providing dedicated, high-speed communication channels specifically designed to meet industrial needs. This blog explores critical aspects of surveying these networks, including their benefits, challenges, diverse use cases, and effective surveying techniques, sourced from recent insights and advancements in the field.

Benefits of Deploying Private Networks

Deploying private LTE and 5G networks offers substantial advantages tailored to industrial requirements:

Enhanced Security: Private networks employ robust encryption and authentication protocols, ensuring secure transmission of sensitive data crucial in industries such as healthcare, finance, and manufacturing.
Reliability: With dedicated bandwidth and Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees, private networks deliver consistent connectivity essential for real-time applications like remote monitoring and control systems.
Customized Performance: Industries can prioritize critical applications with stringent latency requirements, optimizing operational processes and responsiveness to dynamic demands.
Scalability: Designed for scalability, these networks support future growth and technological advancements without compromising performance, making them ideal for long-term industrial deployments.

Why Survey Private LTE & 5G Networks?

Surveying private LTE and 5G networks is pivotal for optimizing deployment and ensuring ongoing performance excellence:

Identifying Coverage Gaps: Comprehensive site surveys pinpoint areas with inadequate signal coverage, crucial for seamless connectivity across operational zones within industrial facilities.
Analyzing Network Performance: Detailed surveys measure Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as signal strength, throughput, and latency, enabling precise network optimization and proactive maintenance.
Mitigating Interference: Early detection of potential interference sources allows preemptive measures to mitigate issues that could compromise network reliability and performance.

Challenges in Surveying Private LTE & 5G Networks

Surveying private LTE and 5G networks in industrial settings presents specific challenges that require tailored solutions:

Complex Environments: Variations in building materials, machinery, and operational dynamics necessitate customized survey approaches to accurately predict network coverage and performance outcomes.
Signal Propagation: Factors such as signal attenuation due to physical barriers and electromagnetic interference demand meticulous planning and analysis during network design to ensure optimal performance across all operational areas.
Cumbersome Traditional Solutions: Traditional network survey solutions are often complex, heavy, and expensive, making the process complicated and costly for field technicians and RF engineers.

Various Use Cases for Industrial and Logistical Private LTE & 5G Networks

Private LTE and 5G networks cater to diverse industrial and logistical applications, integrating advanced surveying capabilities to meet specific sectoral needs:

Mining Operations: Surveys in mining operations extend coverage to remote environments, enhancing safety and productivity. Challenges such as harsh environmental conditions, terrain variations, and limited infrastructure require specialized surveying techniques to ensure comprehensive network coverage.
Manufacturing Plants: In manufacturing environments, private LTE and 5G networks facilitate automation, machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, and quality control processes. Surveys ensure robust connectivity for seamless integration of IoT devices and smart manufacturing solutions. Accurate surveys identify potential coverage gaps and interference sources, crucial for maintaining continuous and efficient operations.
Warehouses: Warehouses rely on network connectivity for inventory management and logistics operations. Surveys in warehouses focus on optimizing coverage and capacity to support real-time tracking, inventory control, and supply chain management.
Hospitals: In healthcare facilities, robust networks are vital for supporting critical healthcare applications and patient care. Surveys in hospitals prioritize coverage, reliability, and data security to ensure seamless communication between medical devices and systems.

How to Survey Private Networks Effectively

Effective surveying of private LTE and 5G networks requires strategic planning and utilization of advanced tools:

Comprehensive Data Collection: Thorough site surveys capture critical KPIs such as signal strength, carrier information, and frequency details essential for optimizing network performance and ensuring seamless connectivity across industrial environments.
Advanced Survey Tools: Integration with GPS facilitates accurate mapping and supports continuous and stop-and-go survey modes. Detailed reporting capabilities from Survey Tools enable informed decision-making in the field for network design and deployment, ensuring optimal performance.

How iBwave Helps with Network Surveys

iBwave offers advanced solutions tailored for efficient surveying of private LTE and 5G networks:

Integration Capabilities: iBwave integrates seamlessly with the Epiq PRiSM scanner and various third-party data collection tools, enhancing survey accuracy and efficiency. This integration provides comprehensive insights into network performance across diverse industrial environments.
Ease of Use and Cost Effectiveness: iBwave Mobile Survey with the Epiq PRiSM scanner provides the simplest and most cost-effective way to survey wireless networks. With its user-friendly interface and scanner weighing only 6 ounces, this compact and affordable solution makes wireless surveying a breeze.
Streamlined Data Collection: iBwave Mobile Survey solution automates data collection processes and eliminates post-processing hurdles, ensuring real-time analysis and accurate coverage mapping crucial for precise network planning and optimization.
Reporting and Analysis: iBwave generates detailed reports on network performance metrics, facilitating informed decision-making in network design and deployment. These capabilities support continuous improvement and future scalability in wireless communication technologies.

Conclusion

Surveying industrial private LTE and 5G networks is instrumental in enhancing connectivity, operational efficiency, and innovation across various sectors. By leveraging the benefits, understanding the challenges, and implementing effective surveying techniques with advanced tools like iBwave Mobile Survey, industries can optimize network deployment and harness the full potential of these transformative technologies.

Watch our on-demand webinar on Surveying Private LTE & 5G Networks, where we explore industrial and logistical use cases with our customer George Stefanick from Active Expert to learn more!

Check out our blog for more tips and topics to learn more about wireless networks and their planning!

How To Survey 5G and LTE Networks Efficiently: Stepping Beyond Network Testing

Wireless networks, especially LTE and 5G, play a pivotal role in our increasingly connected world. Efficient surveying and testing of these networks is essential for optimal performance and reliability. This article explores the key benefits, challenges, and strategies for mastering effective wireless network surveying, with a focus on simplicity and cost-effectiveness.

1. Why We Survey 5G and LTE Networks

5G and LTE network surveying serves as an indispensable requirement for several reasons. It contributes to the optimization of network performance by providing insights into signal strength, coverage areas, and potential interference, allowing engineers to enhance overall network efficiency. Additionally, it plays a crucial role in troubleshooting and maintenance, enabling proactive identification and resolution of network issues, and minimizing downtime.

Capacity planning is another critical aspect where LTE and 5G surveying shines. It helps determine network performance in areas with potential high capacity, allowing for optimal resource allocation and meeting the growing demand. Moreover, network surveying offers valuable insights during the initial design phase, post-installation validation, and subsequent expansion projects, while ensuring precise planning and efficient use of resources.

2. Key Benefits of Network Surveying

a. Network Performance Optimization: Network surveys verify signal strength and coverage and identify interference, ensuring a seamless user experience. By collecting key data, wireless engineers optimize network performance.

b. Troubleshooting and Maintenance: Regular surveys proactively address network issues like signal degradation, interference challenges, and coverage gaps, minimizing downtime and extending infrastructure lifespan.

c. Efficient Capacity Planning: Survey data is foundational for efficient capacity planning in high-density areas, managing handoff zones, and optimizing resources to meet growing demand effectively.

d. Streamlined Network Design and Expansion: Network surveying offers insights from design to expansion, ensuring precise planning and efficient resource utilization. This streamlined approach contributes to successful initiatives and minimizes change orders from equipment placement to address dominance over macro coverage and poor overlap zones.

e. Cost Savings and Time Efficiency: Network surveying contributes to significant cost savings and time efficiency by detecting issues early, reducing operational costs, and streamlining processes. This cost-effective approach enhances overall network efficiency. The resolution of network discrepancies increases exponentially the further along the project lifecycle it takes for discovery.

3. Challenges with 5G and LTE Surveying

Conducting surveys for LTE and 5G networks is pivotal for optimal performance and reliability. However, technological advancements bring forth multifaceted challenges that demand attention.

Complexity of Current Solutions: In the dynamic world of wireless network planning, existing tools fall short in complexity as networks evolve. Evolved technologies create a disconnect between solutions, demanding a reassessment of tool suitability and capability.

Operational Hurdles: Beyond technical challenges, operational complexities arise. Navigating new environments, addressing aesthetic challenges, and adapting to evolving demands for various applications add layers of difficulty to effective survey execution.

Heavy and Disjointed Tools: Many available solutions are characterized by their heaviness and lack of cohesion. Cumbersome tools hinder maneuverability, impacting the effectiveness of the test and survey and contributing to challenges faced by field technicians and IT teams.

Financial Implications: The repercussions of using complex disjointed tools extend to financial aspects. Network surveying and testing become more expensive with extensive training requirements and potential errors during operation. Overcoming these challenges necessitates a shift towards simpler, cohesive tools, prioritizing both operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Wireless network survey challenges encompass technical, operational, and financial considerations. Streamlining the survey process involves strategic tool choices, emphasizing simplicity, employing cohesiveness, and empowering field technicians. As connectivity evolves, proactive solutions are necessary to master effective tests and surveys.

4. Mastering Effective Wireless Network Surveying

Achieving proficiency in wireless network surveying and testing involves strategic planning, efficient tools, and insightful analysis. Here is a comprehensive breakdown:

Testing vs Surveying:

Testing the network can be done simply with an end-user device. Verifying the device can access the network, transmit and receive voice or data, and handoff between RF (Radio Frequency) signal sources is testing the network, but it is not enough. Even though end-user devices may be able to display critical key performance indicators (KPIs), capturing that test data for further analysis on a map/floorplan is surveying.

Surveying is only as good as the test data captured, but adding clearly mapped critical area annotations with as much information as is available makes a good survey great. Great surveys create efficiency in the life cycle of the project from design to deployment, ongoing maintenance, and future expansion.

Essential Steps Before the Survey:

Prior to initiating a survey, meticulous preparation is essential. Understanding the deployment environment, the network technology of service, and the end-user device capabilities are critical fundamentals, then identifying potential interference sources and establishing a clear survey plan is foundational. This phase acts as a compass, guiding technicians through the intricacies of the test and survey. It also involves verifying the network design to ensure alignment with the intended deployment goals.

During the Survey:

Optimizing the survey process requires employing lightweight, powerful tools for simultaneous channel scanning. This approach ensures a swift yet comprehensive analysis of active frequencies, providing real-time insights. The emphasis is on empowering field technicians with tools that elevate the survey process strategically. Implementing a blind scan at the beginning of the survey can verify the intended signals and uncover unexpected interference or anomalies, contributing to a more robust process.

Post-Survey Analysis:

The post-survey phase involves a thorough examination of collected data, scrutinizing signal strength, coverage areas, and potential interference. Identifying areas for improvement becomes a strategic roadmap for enhancing network performance. This analysis is not just routine; it is a diagnostic tool ensuring optimal network functioning. Ongoing maintenance checks, including periodic blind scans, are crucial to identifying evolving network challenges and maintaining peak performance.

Efficient Process:

Streamlining the network survey process goes beyond tool selection. It involves seamlessly integrating tools into the workflow, minimizing field setup time, capturing geolocated test and survey notations efficiently, and eliminating post-processing complexities. This comprehensive approach provides instant access to survey data, enhancing overall efficiency. It also incorporates the validation of network designs during and after the survey, ensuring they align with performance objectives.

Mastering effective wireless network evaluation for LTE and 5G demands a comprehensive approach that encompasses meticulous preparation, empowered testing, efficient surveying, insightful analysis, including blind scans, ongoing maintenance checks, and strategic validation of network designs. It is about strategically navigating challenges, saving time, and ensuring optimal network performance in the dynamic landscape of connectivity technologies.

5. How iBwave Helps Streamline 5G and LTE Surveys

When surveying LTE and 5G networks, our easy-to-use app, iBwave Mobile, along with the lightweight and powerful Epiq PRiSM scanner, emerges as the simplest and most cost-effective tool. It enables you to save time and costs thanks to eliminated post-processing, survey multiple technologies at once, and determine interference and active frequencies with a spectrum analyzer.

Elevate your network surveying with iBwave and unlock massive cost and time savings! Learn more about our seamless survey solution here!

You can also watch our full 5G survey demo video below!

Conclusion

Efficient 5G and LTE network surveys are indispensable for maintaining optimal performance and reliability in today’s dynamic connectivity landscape. Embracing simplified survey and test techniques and leveraging advanced tools like iBwave’s solution ensures seamless network design, deployment, and management. As networks evolve, mastering effective surveys requires proactive solutions to overcome challenges, save time, and ensure optimal performance.

Understanding the Basics of Public Safety Networks

Public safety networks are the backbone of emergency response, law enforcement, and disaster management. These dedicated communication systems provide first responders with the tools they need to coordinate efforts during critical situations. In this blog, we’ll explore the essential aspects of public safety networks, emphasizing their importance, the role of RF (Radio Frequency) engineering, and the various communication technologies employed in these networks.

Importance and Role of Public Safety Networks

Public safety networks play a pivotal role in ensuring the safety of the public and the effectiveness of first responders. When a 911 call comes in or an emergency incident occurs, improved communication can be a matter of life and death. These networks enable first responders to share critical information, coordinate their actions, and respond rapidly to incidents, making them indispensable in times of crisis.

Navigating RF Propagation

RF engineering, or Radio Frequency engineering, is at the heart of public safety networks. RF engineers design, deploy, and maintain wireless communication systems that operate in the radio frequency spectrum. To understand these networks, it’s essential to grasp key RF concepts:

Signal: Information transmitted wirelessly, carrying voice, data, or video.

Frequency: Measured in Hertz (Hz), it refers to the number of complete cycles of a waveform in one second.

Wavelength: The physical distance covered by one complete cycle of a waveform, usually measured in meters (m).

Amplitude: Indicates the magnitude or strength of the RF signal.

Band: A portion of the electromagnetic spectrum within which radio signals can be transmitted and received.

Understanding these concepts is crucial for managing and optimizing RF signals in public safety networks.

Public Safety Radio Spectrum

Public safety agencies rely on specific frequency bands to ensure reliable and interference-free communication. These bands are chosen based on their characteristics:

VHF (Very High Frequency): Suitable for long-distance communications and often used in rural areas.

UHF (Ultra High Frequency): Offers better indoor coverage and is widely used in urban settings.

700 MHz: Strikes a balance between coverage and capacity, often chosen for nationwide networks.

800 MHz: Offers high capacity and is used in densely populated areas.

Selecting the right frequency band is a critical decision in network design, ensuring that coverage meets the specific needs of each environment.

Communication Technologies in Public Safety Networks

Public safety networks employ various communication technologies to ensure effective communication. These technologies include:

P25 (Project 25): A suite of standards designed to enable secure and interoperable digital radio communication systems. P25 is commonly used by federal, state, and local public safety agencies in the United States and has seen adoption in several other countries worldwide, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, India, and Russia.

LTE (Long-Term Evolution): A high-speed wireless communication standard providing fast data rates, quality of service (QoS), priority and preemption mechanisms, security features, and interoperability. LTE is essential for supporting real-time video streaming and data sharing in the field. It is widely used globally, including in countries like the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

Tetra (Terrestrial Trunked Radio): A digital mobile radio standard optimized for professional mobile radio systems, providing features like group communication, presence information, and call priority. Tetra is widely used in public safety and other professional sectors, particularly in Europe and other parts of the world.

Understanding where each technology shines helps public safety agencies make informed decisions about their network infrastructure.

The Importance of Network Planning

Network planning is a crucial task in the network deployment or optimization processes. With proper network planning, you will ensure your public safety networks will work properly and will be deployed in the lowest time and cost possible. The process is typically as follows:

Survey > Design > Verify > Maintain

The Role of Network Surveys and Grid Tests

Ensuring reliable network coverage is paramount in public safety. Network surveys and grid tests are indispensable tools. Network surveys meticulously examine signal strength, quality, and coverage, while grid tests verify that network coverage meets specific requirements in each cell.

These assessments help identify coverage gaps, interference sources, and other network issues, empowering you to make data-driven decisions to enhance network performance and reliability and ultimately get your Public Safety Network approved by the Authorities Having Jurisdiction.

The Significance of Network Design

Network design is the bedrock of a robust Public Safety Network. It involves strategically planning the placement and configuration of network components to achieve desired coverage, capacity, and reliability. Network design ensures that critical areas have radio coverage spanning 99% of the floor area.

Furthermore, network design is pivotal in ensuring network resilience. Notwithstanding, redundancy, backup power systems, and disaster recovery plans are essential requirements to maintain network availability and reliability, even during power outages or emergencies.

With proper network design, you also save a lot of money and time as you minimize the need for further network optimizations and the time to deploy, which are often costly and time-consuming.

How iBwave Helps

Plan your Public Safety Networks for approvals quickly and effectively! iBwave offers specialized solutions for surveying, grid testing and designing public safety networks. Our tools streamline the network survey and design process, ensuring that it meets all regulatory compliance and safety requirements.

Learn more about iBwave Mobile Survey if you’re looking for a seamless and cost-effective solution for network surveying and grid testing or explore iBwave Public Safety, a software trusted by over 90% of the public safety market for designing the most reliable public safety networks!

With iBwave’s solutions, you can design and maintain networks that meet the needs of first responders and gain authorities’ approval!

Eager to Learn More?

If you want to learn more, take our free online course on the RF Fundamentals for Public Safety Networks! This one-hour course is a great fit for everyone from RF engineers to field technicians, students, or telecom journalists, who want to enhance their knowledge of public safety networks.