Amatel Challenge/Solutions

Amatel has selectively created a team that has a deep level of expertise in wireless communications, and has been involved in planning for cellular and PCS for more than a decade.

Our team has hands on experience in building wireless networks around the world. They have led in the design, implementation, optimization and integration of major projects in the U.S. wireless markets.

Below is a partial list of some client projects we recently completed:

Reference Project 1

Project: Deploy and Optimize AT&T Wireless’ GSM 1900 (overlaid on TDMA) Network
Market:  Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Market

Project Challenges:

The region’s hilly terrain presented a design and engineering challenge: physical obstructions limited coverage reach, high hill tops lead to over-reaching signals, and hill edges caused signal diffractions and shadowing. In addition, the original network was a TDMA 850 MHz with a frequency plan of N=7. The GSM overlay implementation reduced it to N=5, which substantially increased the network’s capacity but made it more critical to carefully select the orientation of the antennas to maximize coverage. Also, the GSM 1900 MHz system reduced the RF signal strength which also tested the engineers’ expertise and skills.

The new network’s key performance indicators needed to equal to or exceed that of the existing network despite the frequency reuse plan and lower power.

Solution:

Over a seven-month period, Amatel dedicated a team of two highly experienced RF engineers and five drive test teams to identify and overcome the challenges of getting the GSM overlay up and running. Based on skill and expertise, the team employed a combination of hardware and software, which created a network meeting all required parameters. Both Ericsson and AT&T Wireless applauded the team’s knowledge of and experience with GSM systems and assistance in training AT&T personnel in the use of Ericsson products and operating support systems.

Reference Project 2

Project: Expand Switch Capacity for Telecom New Zealand
Market: Los Angeles

Project Challenges:

Within a short three-month period Amatel’s charter was to engineer, install and test Ericsson’s AXE switching equipment, which included adding 656 T1s, 288 E1s, 28 ETSI C7 signaling terminals, 8 ANSI SS7 signaling terminals, 8 pulse code device digital magazines and 3 power distribution cabinets.

In addition to the short time frame, Amatel’s engineers grappled with material delivery delays, and delays caused by faulty used AXE switching equipment with a high percentage of faulty printed circuit boards.

Solution:

In order to meet the tight deadline, the Amatel team -- one switch engineer, six installers, two switch test engineers and one project manager – devised a flexible work schedule which was key in the timely completion of the project. The quality of the installation, professionalism and service exceeded the customer’s expectations.

Reference Project 3

Project: GSM/GPRS 1900 overlay Network Design and Optimization for AWS San Francisco Bay Area
Market:  San Francisco Bay

Project Challenges:

Amatel’s charge was to design and optimize the new GSM/ GPRS network of nearly 750 sites, which had been the best-performing AT&T network in the country. Amatel’s mandate included ensuring that the new GSM 1900 network maintained or exceeded the existing network’s key performance Indicators, despite the area’s hilly terrain and surrounding waters. The San Francisco Bay divides the coverage area, which meant very tight control over the spread of coverage and limiting interference.

Adding to the challenge was the mix of equipment which had been used to upgrade the 15-year old sites over the years. This assortment meant that a single-standard site design solution would not suffice – each site had to be custom designed and built using multiple vendors to meet the performance of their TDMA counter-parts.

Other challenges included last minute requests for design changes due to clearance difficulties and zoning approvals.

Solution:

Over an 18-month period, Amatel devoted three RF engineers and six drive teams to the project. The team developed innovative solutions and achieved design of one-third of the market including numerous in-building and tunnel solutions.

The customer commended the team for a well-executed design of one-third of the market, including determining compliance with FCC radiation exposure limits (OET-0654) and managing and supporting drive routes for determining cell site performance.

Reference Project 4

Project: Cingular Wireless OSS Engineering and Network Performance
Market: Cingular Corporate

Project Challenges:

Within a relatively short period – six months -- Amatel was engaged to work with Ericsson’s customer Cingular in the areas of system design, deployment, integration and implementation of open source solutions, and to ensure that feature sets were deployed and operating in a consistent manner across all regions and markets.

Solution:

Amatel developed strategies for the evolution and migration of Cingular’s existing management systems that met the company’s short and long-term requirements. This included developing step-by-step feature implementation guidelines, training the markets on systems administration and management, and determining key performance indicators. The engagement also encompassed providing a performance optimization review; identifying and documenting recommended parameter changes; and conducting analyses and studies of systems operational efficiency including outage, mean time to repair and other indicators.

Reference Project 5

Project: Cingular Wireless Network Operation & Maintenance Services
Market: Los Angeles

Project Challenges:

Amatel was engaged to perform operation and maintenance of Cingular GSM networks both switches (MSC, BSC, HLR, and STP) and Transport System.

Solution:

The Amatel engineering teams used their skill and experience to perform a wide range of activities to keep the network humming. The teams isolated and troubleshot complex switch problems, and provided solutions for any switch translation-related issues. The teams were instrumental in providing assistance with the acceptance of new switches and expansions, and with installing hardware upgrades, cell site rehomes and integrations, in addition to performing call testing to test the integrity of the network after software upgrades.