Hello all,

So you want to work in the field because you like be out at tower sites and away from all the office mumbo jumbo. Well don’t think that you can escape the paperwork. It all depends what your job may be but chances are good you will be doing some type of paperwork.

Pre installation paperwork for the field worker. This is what you may be working off of based on a design. There are several designs in CDMA and LTE systems. They have the RF Design, high level designs that show the system. There are network designs showing not on the RF connectivity but also the network all the way back to the core. Then there is the Low Level Design, which will include the site design. Oh the site design, this is what you will be working on. This could anything at the site and here is where the paperwork begins for the field work.

Now, pay attention! This is job related paperwork. I will go over all of the safety paperwork in another blog.

1)      Installers and tower climbers – you are going to work off of these possible sheets prior to the installation. This is something the project manager or foreman or customer should give to you prior to the installation.

1. Bill of Materials – BOM for those of you who know it that way, it is a list of all the hardware that was set aside for the site. If you’re on the tower it should include not only the large items like the RRH, antenna, mounts, steel, and cabling. It will also include the smaller hardware kits to do the mounting and the connections between the equipment like jumpers, connectors, boxes, mounting hardware. It won’t have everything. I used to put weather proofing in my kits but now they expect the installation crew to supply all miscellaneous hardware, at least that is my experience. Different companies use different formats but most BOMs are basically an excel spreadsheet.
2. Scope of Work (SOW) or Method of Procedure (or Process) (MOP) – This is what is going to be your guide to the installation. You will be using this to know what to mount where. It should have how high, grounding specifications, mounting specifications, cable routing information, and placement of equipment on the tower and in the shelter. Cable entry may even be on there. It may or may not have the specific procedures on it for the hardware and housekeeping. Sometimes there are 2 versions of SOWs/MOPs, one may be site specific and one may be general procedures.
3. Site prep documents and data sheets – these are generally provided by the OEM and go over standards for mounting the hardware. This is a good guideline to get familiar with the hardware, like the antennas and or the RRH. It may have standard grounding principles and mounting guidelines. This is only a reference so while it is good to be familiar with the hardware you are installing remember that the SOW/MOP will be your actual installation guide. This is the document that should be site specific. If you think all towers and rooftops are the same, wake up or get out of the business. While they may be similar each one will have a nuance that will force your team to be creative. If you’re installing cable this is going to be very important. You may be asked to make a sharp bend and the cable may not be rated for a 90 degree bend so you need to point that out ASAP!

2)      Field technicians/engineers – you may be the one call out to complete the connections and power up/commission/integrate the transmitter or the whole site. You will be working with the equipment that is already installed.

1. Wiring diagram or plumbing diagram – these are documents that will show you how to make the final connections to the inside equipment. The tower crew may need them as well to connect up all the RRHs and the antennas properly. You will need to make sure that the base band unit (BBU) or indoor unit (IDU) is properly connected.
2. Power diagrams – this is your diagram to connect the power supplies and batteries to the proper equipment. You may need to complete the UPS connections but generally the electricians will have all of the AC completed before you arrive. That doesn’t mean you can’t fry something if you screw up the batteries so make sure you understand if you are working with a -48VDC or 24VDC or 120VAC system.
3. Commissioning procedure – this may be a standard procedure you have for commissioning but you should have a spreadsheet that shows the configuration of the unit. You may also need to update the firmware before you connect it to the network. This is something that the Low Level Design should have made available to you. You will also need to enter the IP address or the ID so that it can connect to the network without issues.
4. Integration handoff procedure – again while this is a common procedure you should have something that is site specific so that when the routers are configured and turned up that Network Operations Center (NOC) will be able to see the site and turn it up. Chances are in today’s world they will complete the configuration, the updates and bring it up live without the field doing much more.

3)      Closeout paperwork

1. Closeout paperwork could be anything you need to close out the site. It could be names anything but I am willing to bet that you will need to document this list

                                                              i.      All equipment serial numbers like antennas, RRH, indoor equipment, and OEM hardware.

                                                            ii.      Cable lengths and color coding of all cables

                                                          iii.      Grounding specifics

                                                           iv.      Pictures of everything

1. On the tower
2. Cabling coming down the tower
3. Inside equipment, each racked piece of equipment
4. Power plants
5. Batteries
6. Grounding
7. Power

                                                             v.      Safety issues

                                                           vi.      Telco/internet access information

                                                         vii.      Site access information

                                                       viii.      Security concerns

                                                           ix.      Site owner

                                                             x.      Power supplier

                                                           xi.      Telco/Internet provider

                                                         xii.      Notes

4)      Timesheet – some companies and customer may ask for a timesheet, which usually is an Excel spreadsheet. If your company did a flat fee then no one will care as long as you are on schedule.

5)      Safety paperwork – I will cover this is another blog.

6)      There may be more. If you have more than let me know.

Below are some commissioning and alignment videos to help you understand what is involved.

Good RRH connection video. http://youtu.be/2x9PPLcgths

Nokia indoor commissioning with power. Very long and boring but you get the idea. If you skip to the end you get to the RRH outside. http://youtu.be/JS7msAfyRkw

Another Huawei video, not in English, but it shows the BBU commissioning. http://youtu.be/An7L463o1qs

Another Huawei commissioning video of a radio link, http://youtu.be/IJG17EBxEx4

SAF microwave dish alignment http://youtu.be/aEDqaU4hSAs

Ericsson has an RBS Installation video, PTP unit; it’s quick and easy to understand. http://youtu.be/VmtWakP907I

Guys – this is Huawei video and the safety measures in this video are the worst! I can’t believe that Huawei posted this on YouTube but I thought you might appreciate the dish construction. Dish alignment configuration http://youtu.be/WUNUcCvmfHg

Not in English but LTE RRH installation http://youtu.be/RRtpXutcEZo