IWPC Tower Top Electronics Reliability Workshop

Workshop Background: As LTE deployments roll out in the near future, smarter and more complex, active and passive electronics are required at the top of the cell tower. Failures of these more expensive electronics have a significant impact on the operator’s CapEx and OpEx because field replacements require tower climbs that are 5-10 times more expensive than ground or rooftops repairs (where no tower climb is required) and may cause delays in schedule of up to 6 months. The industry aims to improve reliability of the design, installation, operation and maintenance of tower top electronics to minimize the operator’s total cost of ownership. In November 2008, the IWPC established a working group led by Andrew, Smiths Interconnect, Ubidyne, and Westower to address these reliability challenges. The goals of the working group are: Create an objective reliability test protocol; specifically for "electronics up the mast" via Reliability Test Requirements Document Develop a common, relevant library of prediction tools and guidelines that correlate to industry experienced failure rates via Reliability Prediction Guidelines Whitepaper Develop and implement a process for collection and sharing of industry data to help "raise the bar" on reliability of tower top electronics experienced by mobile operators via an anonymous survey by the tower top electronics OEM who has agreed to provide field failure data. This workshop is a culmination of these activities including presentations by the whole tower top electronic ecosystem and learning of the latest advancements in reliability.
Workshop Goals: The Goal of this workshop is to gather all members of the supply chain that represent the product lifecycle of tower top electronics - design, installation, operations, and maintenance: Explore new ways to lower Operator’s CapEx and OpEx To evaluate lessons learned and the state of the art of tower mounted electronics. To clearly identify what the industry needs to do to provide more reliable tower top electronics AND – move the IWPC’s Tower Top Electronics Reliability (TTER) Working Group activities forward.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010
7:30 PM to 9:00 PM	Social and Networking Reception & Registration	At Hotel
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
7:00 AM	Breakfast & Registration
8:00 AM	Opening Remarks	IWPC Opening Remarks Director IWPC
8:20 AM	Self Introductions	Each person will be asked to introduce him/herself and share how they can contribute to this process
9:00 AM	Keynote presentation Looking down the road at Tower Top Electronics (TTE)	The Benefits and Potential Drawbacks of Deploying Tower Top Electronics for 4G: An Operator View DMTS, Technology Development US Cellular
9:45 AM	Networking Break
10:25 AM	Tower Top Electronics Reliability (TTER) Working group Overview Background Status of Deliverables Test Methods for Reliability Reliability Prediction Data Collection and Explanation Next Steps – Moving the working group forward	IWPC Tower Top Electronics Reliability Working Group Status Leadership Team Ubidyne Andrew Smiths Interconnect
11:00 AM	Operator Views of Tower Top Electronics (TTE) System Issues of TTE Active or Passive TTE RF Coax vs. Fiber Considerations Related Reliability Issues Related Cost Issues of CapEx and OpEx Pros and Cons for using TTE OPEX and CAPEX saving? Adding size and weight to the towers? Possibly adding to tower rental costs? Geographical considerations? North American views European views Asian views What scenarios and use case are best to deploy TTE vs. Roof Top vs. Ground Base Equipment? LTE versus Legacy 2G and 3G Roof top versus existing tower versus greenfield tower builds What are the causes of failure? What percentage of TTE is used because tower is overloaded? What percentage of TTE is used because improved link budget is needed? What are the circumstances that TTE is NOT used by the operator? Installation What are the most reliable and unreliable parts of the TTE installation? TME Connectors Cabling Other What additional validation is needed besides PIM and DTF to verify TTE installation? Operation What is the impact of collocation on TTE reliability? How often does lightning effect tower equipment? Direct versus indirect strikes Maintenance Where should TTE alarms/notifications received by the Operator? Base station NOC Impact of SON on TTE reliability? Other What new types of alarms and notifications would the operator want to be available? How much does No Trouble Found (NTF) cost the operator? What are the recommendations to provide feedback to the supply chain to reduce NTF? What is desired from the supply chain to increase TTE Reliability?	Can You Hear Me Now? DMTS/RF Technology, RF Network Planning Verizon Wireless AT&T’s Perspective of the Requirements for TTE Exceptional Reliability & Graceful Durability Principal - Product Development Engineer AT&T
12:30 PM	Networking Lunch
1:30 PM	Installer Views How do Installers feel about tower vs roof vs ground mounted electronics? What is the solution to avoid under/over torquing the connectors? How can the TTE be better designed for easier installation and maintenance? Handles Connectors Right angle versus Straight Eliminating Torque Standardization Cable Assembly Better indicators on TTE What improvements in diagnostic tools are desired for field installers? How can tower top platforms be made more consistent and installation friendly? Monopole Lattice Towers Power Poles Fiber vs. Coax tradeoffs Best practices for avoiding water ingress	The Truth from the Field on Installation Reliability - Coax vs Fiber, Active vs Passive Electronics VP, Sales and Marketing WesTower Communications Benefits of Fiber-From-The-MTSO-To-The-Antenna VP, National Fiber Byers Engineering and Market Development Manager Corning Cable Systems
2:40 PM	Panel - Operators and Installers	Confirmed AT&T Byers Engineering Corning Cable Systems T-Mobile US Cellular Verizon Wireless WesTower
3:40 PM	Networking Break
4:10 PM	Oem Views - Tradeoffs of Ground vs. roof tower top electronics Lessons Learned – good and bad – of tower mounted electronics What are the case studies for TTE? Link Budget Analysis OpEx vs. CapEx Tradeoffs Total Cost of Ownership Design What are the advancements in protocols such as AISG 2.0, CIPRI, OBRI, and OBSAI and how do they impact TTE reliability? What are the advancements in TTE reliability? Reduction of number of parts Redundancy Improvement How are designs being improved to reduce no trouble founds (NTFs)? Installation What base station diagnostic tools are available at time of install? What are new alarming/diagnostic capabilities to determine: The right power at all connectors Integrity of multiple units – daisy chaining or hub and spoke Operation & Maintenance How do remote diagnostics improve troubleshooting the equipment from the ground? How does field failure data get back to the supply chain to reduce NTF?	Recent Improvements in Tower Top Electronics Reliability and Economics DMTS, Wireless Networks Alcatel-Lucent RRU Deployment in Canada RF Technology Huawei
5:10 PM	Adjourn for Day
7:00 PM	Bus leaves for: Dinner Chicago Style	Bus Transportation provided to and from hotel.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
7:00 AM	Breakfast
8:00 AM	Sub-System Manufacturer's view of TTE Reliability (Antennas, Diplexers, TMA’s, Remote Radio Heads, Remote Electronic Tilt (RET)) Design What architectures can improve TTE reliability? Antennas, TMAs, RRHs, and RETs What are the advancements in reliability? Reduction of number of parts Redundancy Improvement What are the latest improvements? Lighter and Smaller Durability Easy of handling Cooling Installation How can installation be made easier for the field installers? Carrying up the tower Connections Cabling Handles Operations What indicators are available to help field troubleshooting? Tradeoffs of indicator reliability vs. unit reliability? What advancements in enclosures, weatherproofing, cooling, etc. How is field failure data used to improve subsequent designs? Maintenance How can no trouble founds (NTFs) be reduced? What are new alarming/diagnostic capabilities reporting back to base station and NOC? What advancements are available for better management of TTE? CPRI - Common Public Radio Interface OBSAI - Open Base Station Architecture Initiative OBRI - Open BBU RRH Interface AISG 2.0 - Antenna Interface Standards Group	The Site as a System - Holistic View of Service Availability VP/Marketing and Business Development Ubidyne & Manager - System Reliability Assurance Andrew Corrosion and Failure Physics Sr. Manager, Quality & Reliability Engineering Powerwave Technologies Lessons Learned from the Real World Dir., Mktng & Tech. Services Radio Frequency Systems Solving Tower Top Overload/Reliability Problems - Adding Services, Capacity and Bands by Upgrading Antennas, not Adding Antennas or Active Components CTO Americas Quintel Solutions
10:10 AM	Networking Break
10:50 AM	Cables & Connectors Views- Coax, Fiber, DC power, Ethernet What connectors work best for different installation tower top electronic scenarios? Fiber Coax DC Power Ethernet What field failure analysis can be provided due to the following: Water Ingress Lightning Torquing What advancements exist to solve: Under/over Torquing Water Ingress Prevention What advancements in cable and connectors are available to help installers?	Passive Intermodulation Distortion: The Enemy Beneath The Surface Technology Manager Spinner North America Fibre-to-the-Antenna (FttA) & New and Future Technologies Global Market Manager FttA and Global Market Manager for Corrugated Cell Site Solutions Huber+Suhner Does a 0.5 dB Coax Cable Loss Reduction Change System Design Thinking? Senior Research Engineer Dow Chemical Co.
12:20 PM	Networking Lunch
1:20 PM	Testing and PIM - Installation and maintenance How can testing improve reliability of TTE installation? How does PIM effect installation of TTE? What are the latest advancements in testing?	Base Station Field Testing Goals Business Unit Manager Anritsu Corp. Passive Intermodulation (PIM) Testing Sites with Tower Top Electronics VP, Business Development Summitek Instruments
2:20 PM	Networking Break
3:00 PM	Materials, Packaging & Enabling Technologies for Improved Reliability Cooling Technologies Enclosures Materials Packaging Semiconductors Lightning Protection	Environmental Impact on the Performance of High Frequency PCB Materials Market Development Engineer Rogers Corp. Lightning Protection Update VP,Global Engineering & Product Management Smiths Protection Technology Group Semiconductor Contributions to Improved Tower-Top Reliability Systems Applications Manager Analog Devices
4:30 PM	CLOSING PANEL Session Operators The Operators will be asked to recap the extent to which the workshop has addressed their wish lists. What are the next steps?	AT&T U.S. Cellular Verizon Wireless T-Mobile
5:15 PM	TakeAways & Closing Remarks
6:00 PM	Adjourn
7:00 PM	*Dinner (Dutch)** * = in this context, Dutch is a term which means that each person will be responsible for their own dinner costs.	For those who desire to join us, we get together to enjoy good friends, good food, good wine and [really] bad jokes
Friday, October 29, 2010
7:00 AM	Breakfast
8:00 AM - to Noon	IWPC Tower Top Electronics Reliability Working Group Session http://www.iwpc.org/Workshop_Folders/10_10_TowerTop/TTER_WG_MEETING.htm How do we close the loop? What are the next steps? Feedback from the supply chain How do we socialize the documents to drive acceptance? Looking at whole site as system and reliability as a whole, can we create any tools for OEMs or other companies to provide this reliability? Agenda Introduction of Working Group Review of Current Documents/Processes Test Methods for Reliability Reliability Prediction Data Collection and Explanation Discussion: Possible other Areas of Focus Task Force Break-out Groups Report of Breakout Groups Next Steps for TTER WG
1:00 PM	Tour of US Cellular Network Operations Center (NOC) and Datacenter Note: Restrictions may apply-- tour attendance subject to US Cellular's approval	Bus Transportation provided from and to hotel. Bus to depart from the hotel at 1:00 pm and return back to the hotel approximately 3:30 pm