Release 19.1 of iBwave Private Networks (CBRS & Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi only) is now available. As part of the latest release, we’ve added a new feature that makes the design tool more flexible for users: Basic Design mode. And we’ve added Wi-Fi 6E to our Auto Channel Assignment to further streamline the Wi-Fi network design process.
These additions make the process of designing in-building private wireless networks more straightforward. By leveraging them, network designers can build robust, reliable networks more quickly and easily.
Scale Workflow to Job Complexity With Basic Design Mode
Network designers often have a large variety of networks to design. Some are highly complex and intricate while others are much more straightforward. By default, iBwave Private Networks (CBRS & Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi only) has everything a network designer needs to design high-quality networks at either end of the scale.
The addition of Basic mode gives designers the ability to scale the complexity of the tool they’re using to the complexity of the network they are designing. This flexibility allows users to switch their UI and structure their work process to fit the task they’re undertaking.
Toggle Between Basic and Advanced Modes as Needed
Basic Design mode has been added to the drop-down menu in the top right of the application window of iBwave Private Networks. This menu allows users to toggle between Advanced mode and Basic mode as needed. Network designers can move dynamically between modes during a single project. If a job ends up becoming more complex than anticipated, simply toggle Advanced mode and every tool needed is immediately available. If it ends up being more straightforward than expected, Basic mode offers a stripped-down, streamlined UI, simplifying the work process.
In Basic mode, there are only four ribbons:
| Design | View | Tools | Help |
The Design ribbon contains the four main functionalities needed to design a Wi-Fi network: Home, Building Modeling, Network Design, and Reports. Walls drawn on floor plans in Basic mode also have a bigger trace width by default.
With these additions, users have the flexibility to ensure they always have the solutions they need, without getting distracted by things they don’t. This not only enhances the user experience but enables more efficient design by helping designers focus, resulting in higher quality, more accurate networks more quickly.
Watch our demo for more information.
Wi-Fi 6E Added to Auto Channel Assignment
We’ve also added Wi-Fi 6E to our Auto Channel Assignment for iBwave Private Networks. The addition of Wi-Fi 6E further simplifies the channel assignment process to the full suite of Wi-Fi technologies. Network designers working on any type of Wi-Fi network can now benefit from the time and energy freed up by reliable, automated channel assignment. This is especially useful in environments with many access points, which can create interference in frequencies.
Simpler Processes Result in Faster and More Accurate Design
Accurate network design is crucial for all private wireless networks and Wi-Fi networks, from shipyards to shopping malls.
Designing these networks can be a challenging and complex process, but iBwave Private Networks makes it easier to design more accurate coverage for any private wireless and Wi-Fi network requirement.
The basic design mode in our latest release further enhances iBwave Private Networks. Network designers can simplify their work processes as they tackle the design for less complex spaces, while automatic channel assignment eliminates busywork. Both additions deliver an improved user experience and allow users to adjust the tool to meet their specific design needs.
Find out how you can enhance your private network design process here.
If you want to learn the fundamentals of Private Networks, access our new course here!
The future of mining is smart mining enabled by the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The $2 trillion global mining industry is among the most demanding in many ways: communications, safety, regulatory requirements, sustainability, and other challenges must be addressed on every site. By leveraging IoT and AI, mine operators can successfully maintain and enhance profitability, safety, and regulatory compliance with powerful automation, environmental sensing, worker safety, and training systems, as well as a wide variety of productivity and asset management tools.
Below, you can see the various private 4G & 5G use cases in mining.
To take advantage of all the benefits IoT and AI offer, smart mining operations will require the use of many different types of information technology and communication (ITC) networks. But private wireless networks (4G/LTE and 5G) will be the key enablers of IoT and AI. Private wireless networks provide the reliable, low-latency, and high-capacity connectivity IoT and AI devices need to be truly effective in a mining environment.
However, private wireless, especially 5G, is still a relatively new option for the industry. While there are approximately 100,000 mining sites worldwide, estimates suggest that only 200 have private wireless networks. Of these, most are likely 4G/LTE networks. And wireless network design for mining operations is more challenging than it is for other venues, such as malls, factories, ports, and warehouses. With a variety of variables to consider, accurate network design, coverage prediction, and site surveys will be critical to cost-efficient and effective smart mining network deployments.
Unique Geographic, Logistical, and Technical Network Challenges
Private wireless networks for mining sites can provide the effective coverage and low-latency connections needed for a variety of safety-critical IoT and AI applications across what are often large, uneven operational areas. Many sites often combine above-ground and underground environments, which makes it difficult to design and deliver comprehensive and reliable coverage for an entire operation.
There are three main challenges network designers must address to deploy tailored private wireless networks that support smart mining.
Large and Complex Locations
The first is geographic. Mines can be 10 km or more in radius and feature multiple tunnels that measure in the 10s and even 100s of kilometers in length. The physical topography of the environment is also very challenging: not only do networks have to cover large areas, but very uneven ones, both above and below ground. Deep pits, underground tunnels and shafts, and isolated railways all create network coverage challenges. And all these factors impose constraints on safe locations for core network elements.
With the challenging environment, companies need a way to accurately the mining area and its landscape. iBwave Reach allows you to create an accurate and detailed 3D model of your site, including the various typology of the surroundings such as mountains or valleys, using GIS data.
Hazardous Materials in Dynamic Environments
The second challenge is logistical. The omnipresence of metals in mining environments — ore in the mine walls, as well as 400-ton mining trucks, metal cranes, and conveyers — inhibits wireless propagation. Dangerous materials in mines, such as explosives for blasting rocks and potentially hazardous gases such as methane, require connected equipment to be mobile to avoid certain hazards. Meanwhile, connected devices such as drones are increasingly being used for security surveillance, monitoring environmental conditions, and calculating stockpile levels. And mines are highly dynamic environments in which new pits and tunnels are regularly being opened as others are exhausted and closed. All these logistical challenges make network planning an ongoing process.
Seamless Coverage and Redundancy Necessary
The third major challenge is technical. AI and IoT devices offer substantial benefits, but they require seamless coverage as they operate and coordinate heavy machinery in an unpredictable and often dangerous environment. Redundancy is critical, as is ongoing planning and testing to ensure connectivity remains seamless.
Challenges Create Five Major Design Considerations
An effective network design for a smart mining operation addresses these challenges by minimizing the potential for coverage gaps and potential disruptions, which can be both costly and dangerous. This requires network designers to focus on five considerations — the Five Cs — of effective private network design.
Coverage
The aforementioned physical challenges inherent in mining operations all come together to make establishing and maintaining consistent coverage challenging. For example, the changing nature and number of underground tunnels can only be covered with customized, local wireless connectivity. Deep pits create significant challenges for propagation, with local small cells or radio heads required to deal with shadowing effects. And as site topography changes over time, network infrastructure itself may need to be moved to continue to provide the coverage needed to support ongoing operations.
Control
Controlling the level of performance is difficult given the coverage challenges. To maintain control, operators will need to stratify their networks to ensure that the highest performance bands are always available for the most critical operations. They must also choose their own mechanisms for redundancy and cybersecurity to align with sector-specific best practices and regulations and the requirements of IoT and AI functions. And for demanding applications like streaming video or low-latency remote control of machinery, they must customize and optimize radio resource management and redundancy.
Cost
Cost is obvious, but worth stating. While deploying and maintaining a wireless network is going to be a small percentage of the overall cost of mine operation and management, it is important to ensure that the network is providing the ideal balance between cost and performance.
Cloud Integration
Network designers must also consider cloud integration. Connecting a wireless network to a cloud computing environment can help optimize operations, particularly when using AI and IoT. But leveraging cloud-based computing also places significantly greater data demands on the network.
Compensation
Finally, overall compensation must be considered. The wireless network should be a multiplier for the rest of a mining operation. When evaluating the effectiveness of a wireless network, designers should consider how it is contributing to enhancing revenues via productivity and asset management improvements, while reducing costs such as downtime and injury.
Sophisticated Pre-Deployment Tools Efficiently Head Off Challenges
Ultimately, while mining operations stand to benefit immensely from the integration of AI and IoT technologies that enable smart mining, the highly complex nature of mining environments make the risks associated with a poor wireless network design substantially higher than they are for other venues.
Accurate network design, coverage prediction, and site surveys provide mining operations the first, best chance to optimize the deployment of private wireless networks. With the right tools, mining operators can accurately determine the coverage needed, balance cost and performance, simplify and streamline deployment, minimize risk, and maximize efficiency as they transition to smart mining.
The iBwave solutions for mining allow RF engineers to model a surface or underground Mining environment with indoor or outdoor network elements with the necessary analysis to reach the KPIs networks requirements.
iBwave Reach, our all-in-one planning and design solution for campus wireless networks, provides network architects with all they need to accurately predict and design coverage/quality for any surface smart mining operation. For underground smart mining operations, you can use iBwave Design, our software for planning and designing indoor wireless networks.
Our software eliminates time-consuming and costly site surveys and gives you end to end view of both the macro and indoor data as you design. Finally, you can use iBwave Mobile Survey to make measurements in order to validate your design and/or calibrate the propagation modules.
To learn more about how private wireless is transforming mining — and how iBwave can help you design an efficient network for your operation — read our e-book.
Release 19.1 of iBwave Public Safety is now available. As part of the latest release, we’ve added a new feature to iBwave Mobile Survey for Public Safety: GRID TESTING.
The addition of the GRID TESTING feature further simplifies the process of surveying in-building wireless networks for public safety requirements with the iBwave Mobile Survey solution. It streamlines the approval process for public safety network surveys. And it retains the ease-of-use that comes with the integration of the Mobile Survey solution with the Epiq Solutions PRiSM™ Scanner. All of which makes iBwave Mobile Survey for Public Safety a flexible, lightweight, and affordable option for all public safety network surveys.
Easy, Efficient Grid Tests
An important tool in any public safety field technician’s toolbox is the ability to perform accurate grid tests and generate reports for approval from Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJ). This requires being able to draw grids according to code regulations, capture P25 measurement data, visualize whether a grid will pass or fail, and generate reports to send to AHJs.
Our new grid test feature simplifies the grid testing process for public safety engineers and field technicians. It enables simple drawing of grids, making it easy to stay within code guidelines, while integrated threshold settings flag deviations from AHJ requirements.
Under the new GRID TESTING tab in the app, users have four functionalities: ADD GRID, CRITICAL, SETTINGS, and START TEST.
ADD GRID allows users to add and edit grids as needed, including changing the number of rows and columns, as well as the ability to ignore cells using the “disable cell” button.
CRITIAL allows users to add markers on the floor plan to assign critical areas.
SETTINGS provides four options:
Set limits for each measurement type
Choose which measurements to include in grid testing
Choose between three types of data collection: average, minimum, and maximum
Set the percentage of general and critical areas that need to pass
Simplified Scanning
P25 measurement data can easily be captured with the handheld Epiq Solutions PRiSM scanner. This lightweight and robust tool is optimized to quickly scan and analyze coverage, interference, and anomalies in P25 networks. The easy-to-use interface simplifies the capture of measurement points. Integration with the iBwave Mobile Survey for Public Safety solution enables real-time, robust, and fast collection of survey data with minimal start-up time and cost.
Streamlined Workflows
Generating reports that will pass AHJ review is also a lot easier with this latest release. With the grid test feature’s ability to automatically generate pass/fail reports, the approval process is simple and more straightforward. Plus, reports can be submitted on the spot to AHJs for approval.
By leveraging these new capabilities, engineers and field technicians can streamline their workflows, saving valuable time while also ensuring they’ve maximized the chance of their report package submittal being approved.
More Surveys Faster
Using the simple and cost-effective combination of iBwave Mobile Survey for Public Safety and the Epiq PRiSM Scanner, more survey engineers can be equipped, and more surveys can be conducted more quickly and easily on any budget.
We’ve also added an Uplink RSSI Output map feature to the Public Safety desktop solution with this release, which provides a more complete picture of network performance and simplifies the network design process.
Faster, Easier, More Accurate Public Safety Network Surveys
The ability to quickly, easily, and affordably survey network coverage is critical to efficient design and deployment of in-building public safety wireless networks.
The latest release of our robust iBwave Mobile Survey for Public Safety solution and its integration with the Epiq Solutions PRiSM Scanner makes iBwave an all-in-one public safety network survey option. Designed, engineered, and optimized to meet the specific survey requirements of public safety P25 and LTE networks, our solution provides a simpler, more affordable way to perform site surveys
Learn more about our Grid Test and Epiq Solutions’ PRiSM scanner in our press release.
