Several companies are moving into the network planning business, ready to offer computer-based design expertise to new wireless operators and existing operators faced with increasing competition in the cellular and personal communications services markets.
Most of these firms use computer software programs to merge radio frequency databases with geographic information and display it all on computer screens in the form of colorful maps. The programs can analyze signal strengths and allow system designers to add and subtract antennas to the database with just a keystroke, in addition to performing other applications.
Some companies sell such software to in-house system designers who want to perform the analyses themselves. Other firms contract with operators to design these geographic information systems and analyze data for them.
“It may be more efficient for some operators to subcontract this,” said Oscar Miranda, vice president of CelPlan Technologies Inc. of Reston, Va. “Some of the newer operators may not have in-house expertise and that would take time to develop. And for some (existing) operators, hiring people is very expensive right now, so it may not render a savings doing it in-house.”
Hence, the array of network planning companies vying to be noticed. These companies use a variety of mapping software products and draw upon numerous sources of data, including the Global Positioning Satellite system. Still, each company seeks to distinguish itself one way or another. For instance, CelPlan uses its own proprietary software that works on a personal computer.
“Others use Unix but we can’t justify a complex platform for this. Today’s PCs are evolving at such a speed there is not a delta there. And we want to give the people on the field with laptops the same capabilities,” Miranda said.
CelPlan has designed networks in Malaysia and provided the RF design for an analog system built in Argentina by GTE Corp. and AT&T Corp. The raster data-a pattern of horizontal scanning lines-that CelPlan uses to create on-screen map overlays provides the precise dimensions that engineers require, Miranda said. The company can digitize maps in-house to help create the database and then overlay streets, schools and other data over the topographic base of an area.
TEC Cellular Inc. of West Melbourne, Fla., also provides a PC-based RF consulting and design service. TEC President Larry Sakayama spent 14 years with AT&T Bell Laboratories, where he designed and developed PC-based cellular propagation software.
The TEC tool is called Wizard and runs on standard PC hardware using Microsoft Windows. Wizard analyzes the strongest signal, overlapping signal, handoffs, noise floor, total noise and interference. Through a geographic user interface and a terrain database of the United States, Wizard provides overlays of streets, hex grids and highways.
“The system is easy to use and the development staff is a support staff,” said Joel Williamson, TEC software development manager and a 10-year veteran of Bell Labs. Screen displays can be plated, sent to a color printer, or faxed. The Wizard also can be used on a laptop for on-site field work, the company said.
A London-based company with U.S. headquarters in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., is offering services above and beyond network design. Mobile Systems International Inc. not only provides computer-based RF planning and analysis, but has contracts with two companies to see the design through construction.
The executive vice president of Mobile Systems International is Robert Beckmann, a network systems veteran from Motorola Inc. and E.F. Johnson Co. He said PCS operators with cellular holdings probably won’t be able to use their cellular engineers to build out the PCS system.
“Cellular is still growing and adopting digital technology, and they are very busy with that. PCS is new and different. The propagation is less, the technologies are different and traffic is different. The guys that build out these new systems have to consider faxing, paging, computer interfaces-a wealth of new services that impact system design,” Beckmann said.
Large operators are expected to hire consultants, such as Mobile Systems International, to design the system, help with construction, train the operators’ employees to run it, then fade into the role of consultant.
“Once these systems are built and deployed, they won’t need a large group of people. Consulting firms won’t go away and we have the expertise,” Beckmann said.
PlaNET is the planning tool developed by Mobile Systems International. It requires a Unix platform and a Windows software environment. It has an open architecture, so users can interface with the proprietary databases of customers.
Coverage information can be displayed in many formats. Signal data can be overlaid on high resolution terrain data to predict coverage, interference and traffic density. Or hexagons can be maintained while cell sites are switched around on screen. Existing cells sites can be “dropped into their locations” then the network analyzed, the company said. The system also profiles the path between points, with signal strength predicted and measured across the profile.
Propagation predications can be made, allowing the designer to consider power or antenna changes interactively. Composite coverage plots can be produced on the screen or on a paper printout. PlaNET provides four kinds of propagation modeling.
Mobile Systems International has contracted with Biby Telecommunications Inc. of Falls Church, Va., to do site acquisition field work. Biby will use a mobile RF engineering tool called the SATCAD that operates simple Windows on site acquisition software. To provide SATCAD with precise parameters while in the field, Biby will use the GPS satellites via a PC receiver card developed by Socket Communications of Fremont, Calif., to locate actual points. Socket says its GPS PC card is the smallest GPS receiver on the market.
Mobile Systems International also has signed up with Fluor Daniel Construction Co. to build networks designed by Mobile Systems International.
Qualcomm Inc. of San Diego has introduced QEDesign, a Unix-based network planning software that can design and analyze Code Division Multiple Access systems. QEDesign can predict CDMA coverage and network performance using geographic data, field measurement data, satellite imagery, demographic and network layout data. The software analyzes soft handoff regions, forward-and-reverse-link coverage, channel resources and automatic cell size adjustment, Qualcomm said.
“QEDesign was an outgrowth of Qualcomm’s own need for highly accurate CDMA network design and analysis tools,” said Mark Kelley, director of network planning for Qualcomm. The company also has developed proprietary path loss and line-of-sight cursor functions.
