The Benefits of Wireless Infrastructure Remote Monitoring and Management

There's an old philosophical question about trees falling in the forest with no one around. Does it make a sound? Well, any engineer will tell you: yes, and no. It produces sound waves. But if nothing can pick them up, it doesn't matter. In order for the "sound" to happen, there needs to be a connection between the sound producer and the receiver.

It's pretty much the same way for your wireless telecom infrastructure.

Your wireless infrastructure sends communication waves across vast distances, powering wireless providers, private networks, and public broadcasting channels. And for all that to work, you need to have uptime, all the time.

That's where wireless infrastructure remote monitoring and management comes in. Remote monitoring and management will help you keep track of all the components of your system. It lets you understand what is going wrong, and what is potentially going wrong so that you can fix it. It boosts efficiency while lowering costs.

In short, remote monitoring and management will make sure that there's a connection whenever it's needed, which is always.

Protecting Your Towers From Downtime

Microwave point-to-point towers have an incredibly complex job to lead to a very simple outcome - that is: people talking to each other. On the ground, people think it's easy and essentially demand 100% uptime. When something goes wrong, you have very upset customers, clients, and potentially, regulators.

That's why remote monitoring systems for telecom towers are crucial. What it does, fundamentally, is give you complete visibility over all your remote sites.

This system is comprised of a couple of primary parts.

• RTUs. Remote telemetry units that collect information from your system and send signals

• Master Stations that receive the information and take action, which could be collecting more information, enacting an automated response, or sending a message to the correct parties (through page, text, email, signal, etc.)

(Caveat: if you have fewer than 10 towers, you might not need a master. Otherwise, it could be an unnecessary expense. The RTUs can send a signal right to your pager, text, or email)

What Should You Remotely Monitor?

So what do these RTUs monitor for your remote towers? Well, whatever you need them to. This can include:

• Tower beacon obstruction lighting for towers over 150 ft. You can face steep fines if this isn't illuminated for airplanes, not to mention the tragedy if a plane actually collides.

• Power conditions. Are your batteries working? Is the generator working? Are you going to be able to keep running?

• Environmental conditions. Is it getting too humid? Is it raining too much? Monitor the environmental factors that could lead to a breakdown.

• Equipment temperature. If your system is overheating, your can take immediate action to prevent a malfunction.

• Security. You can even understand if a door is open when it shouldn't be. Remote sites are a considerable target for thieves - you can protect yourself 24/7, year-round.

• The actual equipment. Your radio transmitting equipment is both powerful and delicate. You need a durable remote monitoring system that can stand up to conditions to make sure your equipment is doing the same.

So that's what your system will monitor, along with anything else you gauge to be appropriate. But what does that mean for you?

Benefits Of Wireless Infrastructure Remote Monitoring and Management

Look, we'll be honest. These can be expensive systems. Getting one on the cheap from a fly-by-night company might seem like a great bargain, but if they are gone tomorrow, you're out of luck. So you want a good system. But how will it be worth the cost?

Well, there are three huge benefits you should be aware of.

• Total awareness. You can continually monitor any location, any tower, and any point of your infrastructure. You know what is happening, and your system is programmed to know if anything is going wrong. Without even having to do anything- and certainly without having to spend the time and valuable man-hours on people to inspect or watch everything - you have eyes on your whole operation.

• Lower maintenance costs. It's expensive when something breaks. It's expensive to send people out to repair something that isn't broken. Knowing exactly what is working, and what isn't, means you only have to do routine preventative maintenance. This makes your whole operation more efficient.

• Less downtime. This is the big one. Ideally, you'll have zero downtime. The closer you are to understanding data and information about your systems, the closer you are to 100% uptime.

How do you get there? By getting the right partner.

Find the Right Partner to Maximize The Benefits

Look, even a cheap little system is better than none at all, however, it's certainly not in the long-run. You're going to want a partner who:

1. Understands the telecom industry
2. Will create a custom system for your unique needs
3. Has the highest-quality RTUs and Master Stations
4. Offers in-depth training so your people can get the most out of your monitoring and management systems
5. Has world-class support

We're not philosophers. We're not sure if the engineers answered the tree question with any hidden wisdom about the universe. But what we do know is that every day, people from all walks of life depend on being connected. Emergency services rely on it. Our country relies on it.

That's a lot of work for a telecom operator. A reliable wireless infrastructure remote monitoring and management system makes it easier. Helping those who help others is our philosophy.

DPS Telecom has the experience and expertise to help companies monitor what matters most - including their wireless infrastructure remote monitoring. Our technicians can work with you to install RTUs with easy-to-use interfaces for more automatic responses. Reach out and get a quote today!

Image courtesy Shutterstock