The Industry

The Truth about Designing Cell Phone and Other Networks

Things at the Boston Marathon Finish Line in 1910 were much calmer—and simpler—than the 2013 edition sans cell phones and other wireless devices. Author: Unknown. (Image credit: Wikipedia).

As was demonstrated by the tragic events in Boston April 2013, cell phone networks cannot accommodate every potential caller or texter using a mobile access device in times of peak load usage—such as during a crisis occurring in real-time on television and social media. Erroneously, some pundits at the time ascribed the outage to a co-conspiracy to take down the public wireless networks. Or an action by the civil authorities to thwart additional remote control saboteurs as has happened in Spain and other places. However, the simple truth is that demand far outstripped capacity for a time in Massachusetts due to the fact that mobile phone networks are designed to function with a typical level of subscriber activity—calls, text, mobile web, etc. When virtually everyone in the vicinity of the finishline of the Boston Marathon unlocked their iPhone or Samsung Galaxy smartphone and started to communicate the unfolding story to the outside world, it came as no surprise to network designers at the mobile operators that the infrastructure slowed to a crawl then ceased to work for a time. But this was news to the general public.

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- June 4, 2018
White Paper: Evolving Public Safety Networks

Public Safety networks are changing and becoming more advanced in terms of applications and services that are required by its users. Networks that were initially deployed to carry low capacity voice circuits are now faced with the challenges of being increasingly adaptive, elastic and intelligent to accommodate the constantly evolving traffic it carries.

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- April 12, 2018
Capacity Planning for Next Generation Utility Networks (Part 2)

Capacity planning guidelines for utility transport networks

In PART 1 of this blog, we provided an analysis of utility applications and expected capacity demands. Applications, especially security and surveillance, are rapidly increasing capacity requirements for utility networks. In this blog, we will outline an approach for performing capacity planning for a sample utility network in light of the applications traffic requirements.

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- September 19, 2017
Ensuring Reliable Emergency Communications During Natural Disasters

For many, Labor Day marks the end of summer vacations and children heading back to school. But this time of the year also includes potential severe weather threats for many states in the South and along the east coast of the United States.

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- September 8, 2017
FCC Rule Changes and the Future for Unlicensed 5.8Ghz PTP Backhaul Links

The tragedy of the commons happens when people sharing a common resource are inclined to overuse it, degrading it so much that becomes useless. An example is a field open to all in which cattle, have grazed for generations. At some point, a cattleman increases the number of animals of his herd to maximize profit.

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- August 16, 2017
Four Recommendations for FirstNet Backhaul

Opt-in or opt-out of the FirstNet plan is the biggest decision states will make about public safety in the coming years. Costs are critical, but states must ensure a sound architecture for mission critical communications. Whatever the opt-in/out decision, the advantages of microwave will play a huge part in the FirstNet network, and states will do well to follow these four recommendations:

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- June 23, 2017
State-Wide Public Safety Networks: Brief Update from Aviat

Aviat: The American Microwave Company and The Trusted Choice for State-Wide Microwave Networks

Aviat is the #1 provider of microwave and microwave routing systems to state/local government networks nationwide with 25 of 50 state-wide networks running Aviat equipment.

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- March 10, 2017
State-Wide Microwave Network Case Study: Extra High Power Radios

This large western US state had a longtime relationship with a microwave radio vendor and would have continued buying from them if their radios and support evolved with the State’s needs. However, over time its needs changed and it had to have more capabilities from its communications network. But it did not want to unnecessarily build new sites and erect costly new towers.

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- February 24, 2017
Getting it Done! Aviat & Australia Public Safety Networks

The public safety market has relied for many years on Aviat Networks to be a supplier of mission-critical microwave backhaul equipment. For example, since the introduction of the Eclipse microwave radio a few years ago, it has been received very successfully in the Australia public safety market. In the last five years, Aviat has sold and deployed thousands of radios (i.e., TRs) in the public safety and life critical radio ecosystem.

“The cutting-edge Gigabit Ethernet and IP capabilities of Eclipse were critical for Australia government agencies,” says Raj Kumar, vice president, sales and services, Asia Pacific, Aviat Networks. “As radio sites rolled out across Australia, Eclipse has enabled efficient deployment of multiple radio carriers in a single chassis—a mission-critical advantage for the simulcast trunking sites.”

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- May 31, 2016
3 Facts that Simplify Backhaul Procurement for Government

U.S. based state and local government backhaul buyers face a dilemma. Their microwave networks require continuous upgrades—now with the expectation that they become broadband capable—but their funding apparatus remains stagnant or even atrophies under fiscal pressures from citizens and policymakers. How can they obtain the next generation of wireless backhaul equipment vital to public safety and other purposes while doing so on a reality-based budget? The answer lies partly in an ongoing program that Aviat Networks can offer its government customers.

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- February 12, 2016