UPDATED 02:05 EDT / JULY 09 2015

NEWS

Nokia builds drones to inspect telco network towers

Nokia Networks is teaming up with the Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, which prefers to go by the much simpler name of Du, to design drones that can help the company test and analyze its networks.

Du is one of the biggest telcos in the Middle East, and it recently carried out a proof-of-concept (PoC) test alongside Nokia that involved using drones equipped with smartphones loaded with network testing applications. Those drones were successfully able to test the performance of its networks and run network optimization actions when necessary. The drones were also used to carry out tower inspections, test line-of-sight between radio towers, and test radio planning.

Many industries are currently testing out ways in which drones can be used to help improve business efficiencies and performance, and reduce business costs. The most famous example of this is probably Amazon.com, Inc.’s plan to use drones to deliver products to consumers, but other uses include monitoring emergency situations, delivering WiFi to remote areas, and inspecting oil and gas pipelines.

“Drones are becoming a common phenomenon across the world and multiple sectors are embracing the benefits drones bring such as faster deliveries in logistics or delivering emergency services in health care,” said Tony Awad, head of Nokia’s Du customer team, in a press release. “In the telecoms sector, certain operators have already embraced the use of drones for telecom tower audits. … With the use of drones, we continue to bring innovation and automation into our service delivery to make our networks even more efficient and reliable.”

Nokia and Du carried out its tests in Dubai Sports City’s 25,000-capacity International Stadium. During the PoC, the drones were able to gather network data and provide network performance indicators. The drones’ data was processed at Nokia’s Global Delivery Center, where it was analyzed to see what actions could be taken to improve performance.

Drones offer a number of advantages when compared to humans, Nokia pointed out. For example, drones can cover much larger areas far faster than people could possibly do, and they can return the data more quickly. Drones also do away with the need for someone to physically climb a tower, and can carry out tests when inclement weather might make it dangerous for humans to do so (though we’d like to see how Nokia’s drones fare during a sandstorm).

Several companies worked alongside Nokia and Du in the PoC, including Ascom Network Testing, DroneWorks FZ and SecuTronic. The latter two companies provided the actual drones, while Ascom’s TEMS Pocket applications were pre-installed on the smartphones carried by the drones.


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