Intelligent Prioritization

Intelligent prioritization

QAM Snare

Manage the process.

There are far too many high frequency leaks in any given network to reasonably attempt to fix them all. A framework needs to be established to facilitate the prioritization of leaks by degree of urgency. Leaks that are most likely to be the source of egress problems for LTE providers or forward ingress problems need to be handled first. Other competing platforms provide insufficient or misleading information, making it impossible to handle network repairs efficiently or intelligently.

Only QAM Snare provides the method to Intelligently Prioritize repairs, enabling you to efficiently allocate resources and improve network performance by fixing the right leaks.

Productivity Driven
LTE leaks in two typical systems.

IP rule No. 1:

Measure at a relevant frequency

The frequency at which you measure for leakage is critical if you want to fix the right leaks! All leaks have an associated frequency response that results in significantly varied detection results when detection is performed at different frequencies, and especially when it is performed 100MHz plus away from the LTE band. Comprehensive testing and field trial have repeatedly proven this. A trial was performed over several days at a major MSO. Simultaneous detection was performed in one vehicle at 609MHz (where several competitors operate their fixed frequency detectors) and 789MHz.

The detected levels for every leak in both 609 MHz and 789 MHz LTE frequencies linking its two corresponding data points.

Some leaks are significantly higher at 609 MHz, others are significantly lower at 609 MHz, while some are relatively the same Some leaks exist at 609 MHz that do not exist at 789 MHz, and vice versa. The data shows a trend of the majority of lines sloping to the left, indicating a higher detected level at the LTE band as compared to 609 MHz. This is a trend has been observed in many locations – there are more leaks at greater levels in higher frequencies.

Now let’s examine the leaks you would be left with at the LTE band if your leak mitigation decision criterion was based on the detected level far from the LTE band at 609MHz.

The detected levels for every leak in both 609 MHz and 789 MHz LTE frequencies after fixing all 609 MHz leaks.

The assumption is that all leaks at 609 MHz greater than 20µV/m would be scheduled for repair. The chart above filters the previously presented data, and a very large number of leaks > 20µV/m within the LTE Band still exist. In fact, the quantity of remaining leaks in the LTE band that are > 20µV/m represented 55% of the total number of leaks!

Clearly, an LTE leak mitigation strategy based upon 609MHz detection rules is not effective.

IP rule No. 2:

Use measured LTE downlink signal level to better define your repair priorities

LTE signal strength varies significantly even over relatively short distances. Proximity to a known LTE transmitter is a weak indicator of LTE signal strength due to antenna directionality, geographic features, buildings, and many other variables. Leak locations where a strong LTE signal level exists should logically receive significantly higher priority for repair than locations with weak LTE signal strength, from both the egress and forward ingress perspective. For example, expending resources to repair a leak at a location with weak LTE signal strength will not do anything for the network, its extremely unlikely that that leak is the source of forward ingress or the source of an egress problem for the LTE providers.

Using LTE signal levels in QAM Snare Manager to prioritize repairs.

QAM Snare’s agile tuning capability and instant correlation, measures LTE by jumping to the LTE downlink and public safety frequencies during idle time after the detection process is complete. QAM Snare then scans the band, and updates the server with data found. Your database now contains an LTE level associated with each leak, which can be used to prioritize your resources.

IP rule No. 3:

Use Network Maps and QAM Signal Level for added efficiency

The most dominant factor impacting forward ingress level is the QAM signal level in the plant. For example, at a location following an amplifier where QAM level is the highest, even a very strong ingressing signal will not negatively affect CNR because the QAM signal level is so high. Conversely, at locations with very low QAM signal levels such as the input to an amplifier, even relatively low-level ingressing signals can significantly affect the CNR of your forward channels. As such, network signal level can and should be used as an important repair prioritization criterion.

QAM Snare Manager displays network components along with leaks

To assist in the process, QAM Snare can import your electronic maps as an overlay of the leak locations displayed on the maps within the QS Manager software. Additionally, since our TDOA location technology is so accurate, we can pinpoint the leak location to better make use of this information.

Quantifying Leakage Thresholds for QAM/LTE Interference >

IP rule No. 4:

Use BROADBAND CAPTURE MODEMS to DRIVE forward ingress mitigation

Harness the power of Proactive Network Maintenance (PNM), to detect the presence of ingress captured from broadband capture modems or more simply query modem SNR at the LTE downlink frequency. Match ingress locations with corresponding leak locations that are up stream of the CM location to help you better prioritize repair. Use this valuable information as a driver of forward ingress mitigation efforts.

PNM tools used to investigate forward ingress

> learn about Intelligent prioritization with hunter

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