Over the last few years, we have surveyed many leading O&G companies to see what they thought the requirements for broadband would be as they migrate to the true deployments of DOF (Digital Oilfield). To keep the analysis relevant, and since not all sites have the same requirements, we broke them in site types, to best understand what was needed when and at what time.
The more time we spent in the Oilfield and continued to interview workers, managers, contractors OT telecom/ IT telecom, and the business unit’s representatives, the more we can pinpoint what requirements are at what location and at what time during the life of the wells. Since most of this data gathering is done driving a pickup, you must also include the “four wheels” mobile office as a site type.
Once you map out the activities at sites, the number of people and the applications used, you start to have a clear perspective. Doing an RF coverage analysis for the AOI (Area of Interest) is just one of the steps required, the next step is the most demanding one, and it is RF capacity planning and engineering. This is where all the interviews and charts above come into play. Coverage analysis does not need all of this data gathering. However, once we have this data in hand, the RF planning and design engineer can effectively design the wireless network to deliver the RF capacity near the tower, but most importantly at the edge of the AOI, where the challenges are.
This complex capacity analysis is called a “Detailed RF Design” and it is focused on delivering the capacity needed for each site type, throughout the network. Anyone looking at designing an RF Network that will offer coverage and capacity must go through these steps. Bypassing the needs analysis and not using sophisticated RF capacity design tools and methodologies will only result in coverage analysis at best.
For more information on how RF planning is done see my other posts.
Radio Coverage & Capacity Engineering.
Thanks – To a number of customers that participated in the survey.
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