Case Studies

In Building coverage customer case studies:-

A Hospital – DHB the upper South Island

The Challenge.

The Hospital suffered with poor Mobile signal strength in the lower basement level’s where the operating rooms were located. The wall’s and ceiling of the lower basement of the Hospital are 500mm thick.

The Surgeons and clinicians rely heavily on having real time updates on patients and calendar changes sent to their smart phones for the smooth running of operating procedures 24/7

The Solution.

Sky Communications installed an ADC Active DAS (Distributed Antenna System) fed by the local Cell. This brought Mobile RF signals in doors right into the area’s of the hospital where there was no signal, at a sustained power level, providing excellent coverage throughout the area’s poorly served by the local cell site.

Key Results.

Sky Communications consulted with the mobile operators Optimisation team, the Telco’s Account team and the hospital’s IT and property manager to deliver a safe, reliable solution that satisfied the hospitals and Mobile operator’s stringent requirements.

Before and after reports and coverage maps were provided as a part of the design utilising Sky Communications RF scanner with nemo software and spectrum & UMTS analysers.

Eden Park stadium in Auckland

The Challenge.

Eden Park stadium is well served by the three operators with cell sites in the local vicinity. How ever, Eden park suffers with very poor signal strength to support 2G and 3G Mobile signals in many parts of the stands and in doors due to the concrete and steel construction. Furthermore, the local cell sites have very limited capacity and capability to support the very large numbers of smart phones that operate in the stadium during large sports events

The Solution.

Sky Communications installed an ADC Prism solution (Distributed Antenna System) fed by the two operators Base Stations located on site. This brought Mobile RF signals in doors right into the area’s of the stadium, in and out door’s, where good mobile signal strengths are needed for the smart phone users. Furthermore, the operators were able to provide more capacity to support the vast number of mobile users during large sports events.

Key Results.

Sky Communications consulted with the mobile operators Optimisation and Network planning team, to deliver a robust, reliable solution that provided enough capacity and sustained 3G mobile coverage throughout the stadium during large sports events.

The ADC prism solution is remotely monitored and maintained to provide optimum performance and network uptime.

New Zealand’s largest ICT provider – Gen-I NZ

The Challenge.

The Head offices of Gen-I NZ in Auckland was well served with 7 cell sites transmitting good mobile signals into the building.

Over 90% of the staff at Gen-I Auckland have smart devices as their primary mobile data device served via Microsoft’s Unified Communications. The lack of any one cell providing dominance caused a condition on the devices known as “soft handover”

In short, the smart devices were not able to stay locked onto one or the other cells serving the building. They moved between the various cell’s signals constantly.

The Solution.

Sky Communications installed an ADC Express Active DAS (Distributed Antenna System) fed by one donor cell. This brought the donor cell’s signal’s in doors, into Gen-I’s floor’s, improving the signal strength to -40dB from -50dB, only 10dB higher then the surrounding serving cell sites, thereby providing signal dominance into Gen-I’s building.

Key Results.

Sky Communications consulted with Telecom’s mobile operators Optimisation and Network planning team, to deliver strong dominant signal into Gen-I’s floor space so that smart device users could send and receive phone call’s and view mobile applications via their smart devices. In excess of 60% of Gen-I’s smart phone user’s are Apple iPhone users.

Before and after reports and coverage maps were provided as a part of the design utilising Sky Communications RF scanner with nemo software and spectrum & UMTS analysers

Historic Projects

Sydney Olympic Stadium

Sky Communications provided assistance with the turnkey installation of the stadium's cellular fibre optic distribution system. The system went live to air on time, despite an extremely tight timeframe.

Vodafone Australia

3G RAN (Radio Access Network) Site Design

Sky Communications performed an evaluation survey and produced design reports for a selected sample group of sites in Sydney. Vodafone then utilised the reports to assist with the production of the business case for the 3G rollout and to assist with rollout planning.

Vodafone Fiji

Vodafone Fiji / Harris Stratex Networks – Transmission Rollout

In April 2007 Sky Communications were awarded a contract to deploy a large number of Harris Stratex Eclipse microwave links in the Suva region. The scope of the contract has subsequently increased to include site upgrades and the Rigging of BTS antennas and feeders for new sites.

Work involved:

Project management including the resolution of issues well outside the intended scope of work
Site surveys and report submission
Rigging of feeders, antennas and ODU's
Upgrading of earthing systems
Equipment installation and Commissioning

Western Samoa - DAMPS Expansion

Telecom Cellular Samoa DAMPS Expansions and Base Station Construction. Prior to the Digicell GSM Rollout project Skycomms was awarded and subsequently carried out the contract of a turnkey design, installation and commissioning of additional base stations and transmission links and an expansion programme for the Telecom Cellular Samoa AMPS network. This project was completed ahead of schedule despite tight deadlines.

Work involved:

Project management
Mast engineering and structural calculations
Antenna mount design and fabrication
Air-conditioning Design
Cabinet Design and fit-out.
Transmission design and installation
Shipping of equipment to Samoa
Customs clearances
Equipment installation and commissioning
Maintenance checks including outside plant equipment

Western Samoa - Digicel GSM Rollout

Telecom Cellular Samoa/Digicel GSM Rollout - Ericsson

In 2006 Sky Communications performed a 'turnkey' rollout for Ericsson involving a new GSM network for Telecom Cellular Samoa which, during the Rollout, was purchased by Digicel.

The sites comprised of Ericsson GSM equipment and a Microwave Radio network Comprising Ericsson Mini links and Traffic Nodes.

Towers were either le Blanc Lattice or Timber Lattice. The launch date target was 30 sites. This number was increased to 35 and at launch date Sky Communications delivered 39 operational sites.

Work involved:

Project Management
Shipping of equipment to Samoa
Customs clearances
Civil, Earthing and Head frame Design
Site Civil Construction
Access Road construction and Tower construction
BTS and DMR Equipment installation, commissioning and integration.