Electronics giant Samsung said it was able to successfully deploy drones to do maintenance works on 4G and 5G cell sites particularly taking important measurements on antennae configurations.
According to Samsung, the new solutions “automatically measures antenna rotation and tilt at the touch of fingertip using a mobile device; improves tower climber safety and efficiency in network maintenance.” Samsung said it conducted the deployment as part of demonstrations for its drone and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions.
The demonstration was held in Samsung’s campus, where the drones took off conducted measurements on a nearby 5G antenna located in one of its office buildings. Samsung said the drone solution gives “operators a simplified way to more efficiently manage cell sites, improve employee safety, and ultimately optimize network performance.”
In the demonstration, Samsung said the drone was controlled with a smartphone. The drone then captured images of the antennas on strategic angles. The visual data, Samsung said, was transmitted to a Samsung cloud server within seconds of deployment. The AI part of the solution comes in by verifying the visual data on the rotation of the antennas. This information was then used by actual engineers who made the adjustments.
The process was fast, and it took less than a minute to send the data and the AI to “process” the data. Engineers received the data through their smartphones. One of the key advantages of this solutions, Samsung said, is that it could eliminate hours and hours of work. Engineers and other personnel will no longer need to climb up and down the tower or cell site to take the measurements.
Sohyong Chong, Samsung VP and head of network automation, said “as the number of 5G network sites grows, there has been a heightened focus on network performance by operators, and we are seeing an increased market demand for intelligent solutions for site maintenance.”
The executive said “once this solution launches globally later this year, it will offer a safer, more cost-effective and convenient way to satisfy market demands, leveraging our unique capabilities in combining the latest technologies — drones, AI and 5G.”
