Network faults, remedy and recovery

Sky Communications has expertise in RF base station performance (vendor agnostic) and external noise investigations.

We review build quality, RF design and external issues that affect RF Network performance. This includes Passive and Active Inter modulation and external interference.

Our experienced engineers are among the best in Australasia and are sought after by major Global vendors to track and trace external interference that impacts on Mobile Network operators networks across NZ, Australia and the Pacific.

Our experience in this specialised service offering is based upon real world knowledge developed from working with a range of technologies while working with clients around the globe since 1997.

International Network Faults

The challenge:

A mobile Operator in the greater Pacific Islands area was experiencing a lot of RSSI interference on their Network which had greatly affected the performance of the network. Mobile data transfers were virtually non existent.

The solution:

A global vendor partner called on Sky Communications to expedite one of our most experienced engineers to the Islands to start tracing and tracking the course of the Interference.

There were many issues present on the Network. Sky Communications engineer remedied each issues a long the process of resolution.

The main cause of the interference was found to be a third party repeater that had be connected to the network without due authority and was immediately turned off and decommissioned after extensive drive tests had discovered its location.

The key results:

The Mobile network began transmitting and supporting mobile Data Transfers and the voice quality and session uptimes improved 100%

The Global vendor Partner that engaged with Sky Communications was delighted with the result and the
American Mobile Network Operator working in the Pacific Island were very pleased with the outcome.

Mobile & WiFi Network faults.

The challenge:

A Global FMG company with it’s main Ware housing and logistics’ located in Auckland, began to notice that their roboticised forklifts were returning the wrong pellets to the truck dock for further processing. In some cases, the robotic forklifts were not initiating a search and retrieve job.

The solution:

The Global FMG’s National Integrator and service provider began initial investigations to ascertain if the problem was related to the WiFi access points, Ethernet switching infrastructure or perhaps the greater LAN and server / application infrastructure.

After exhausted investigations and testing of the end to end infrastructure supporting the FMG’s WiFi network across the warehouse, a decision was made to invite Sky Communications to investigate further.

Sky Communications engineers were quickly able to plot the WiFi networks coverage area (and lack of coverage spots) with their test equipment and a decision was jointly made to relocate a large number of the access points to locations where good coverage and signal dominance was more certain. Furthermore, additional access points were installed to better allow hand off from one cell to the next and to provide coverage into the main office and cool stores for occupational health and safety concerns.

Sky Communications also consulted with the National Integrator / service providers Network engineers to enable some Qos (quality of service attributes) to the back office switching infrastructure and to the Server application that was sending and receiving jobbing exercise to the roboticised forklifts.

The key results:

The ware house robot forklifts now work tirelessly throughout the day and night, picking, retrieving, restocking the warehouse and to our knowledge not one forklift has failed in operation due to a wireless or back office Network issue. How ever, there have been some power failures due to flat batteries and mains failure.

The National Integrator, service provider partner of the FMG has since engaged sky Communications to consult on a large number of WiFi Network issues throughout NZ and the pacific. Sky Communications is also the trusted partner the Integrator turns too, for all WiFi network designs and implementations.