Du, a telecom operator in the Middle East, has tapped drones for network testing to analyze its moble network, said Nokia Networks.

The telecom service provider, which has more than 7.5 million individual customers and over 80,000 businesses in the UAE, has used drones for the test at the Dubai International Stadium, Dubai Sports City. The telecoms used drones for tower inspections, radio planning and Line of Sight (LoS) testing between radio towers.

One of the main advantages is that drones can cover the desired area quicker, said Nokia Networks. Drones can collect data automatically and send to a server for processing at Nokia Networks’ Global Delivery Center (GDC) for reporting. Nokia Networks can take necessary actions to improve network performance.

With the availability of telecom drones, tower inspections will become easy. It reduces the number of times technicians need to climb up and down a telecom tower. Nokia Networks claims that this method delivers a high-quality site audit with detailed panoramic and top-down views of the lattice tower captured in one pass. Drones can also help supervise the quality of installation by remotely monitoring the installation via wireless video streaming.

The drones assist telecom engineers to achieve optimal site design, establish a clear LoS, as well as suitable antenna height and site location.

Nokia Networks’ partners Dubai Sports City, Ascom Network Testing, DroneWorks and Secutronic also participated in the trials.
Marwan BinShakar, vice president – Mobile Access Network & Operations at du, said: “We are satisfied with the results from the use of drones for network planning and faster optimization in specific location at Dubai International Stadium, as well as for radio planning and tower inspection which will result in greater efficiency and improved safety.”

Baburajan K
[email protected]