Posted by: MartinFocazio
Boring But Important: Cell Tower Backup Power - 12/08/08 01:09 PM
See entire at:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/200...er-backups.html
Excerpt:
After Hurricane Katrina, the FCC launched an inquiry into how to improve first responder communications during a crisis of similar magnitude. In June of 2006, the panel identified power outages as one of the top causes of the life-costing breakdown of communications that took place during the disaster.
"The unique conditions in Katrina's aftermath—substantial flooding, widespread, extended power outages, and serious security issues—were responsible for damaging or disrupting communications service to a huge geographic area for a prolonged period of time," the Katrina panel observed. As a result, thousands of police, fire, and medical responders had to resort to radio communication via three mutual aid licenses. The FCC urged service providers to beef up their power backup systems.
In May of 2007, the Commission went further, issuing an Order establishing the "backup power rule," under which all carriers and mobile services of a certain size had to maintain sufficient emergency reserve power to keep central offices going for 24 hours, and keep remote switches, digital loop carrier systems, and cell phone sites going for eight hours.
Mobile service companies protested that the agency had not asked for public comment on the decision, and that it would cost too much to maintain these backup systems. The FCC was mostly unmoved by these protests. "We find that the benefits of ensuring sufficient emergency backup power, especially in times of crisis involving possible loss of life or injury, outweighs the fact that carriers may have to spend resources, perhaps even significant resources, to comply with the rule," the agency concluded in October of 2007.
My takeaway: Don't rely on 1 mode of communications, ever. In the fire company, we have AT LEAST three different ways to communicate, and if it's a large scale, we end up with 5 communications paths thanks to the county emergency communications truck.
(in case you're wondering -
1. 500 Mhz Motorola ASTRO digital trunked county radio system
2. 500 Mhz Conventional Analog (point to point) fallback
3. Cellular
4. Satellite Communications (they have a mini-earth station on the big command center, has Voice + Date + Local 500 Mhz Repeater intertie)
5. Landline. Yes, good old copper. Coax, actually. I found out that they can basically connect to any copper, and in a pinch, call in a giant spool of copper and just run a new line back to any existing (surviving?) point of the landline infrastructure. Amazing what you can do with 50,000 of twisted pair.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/200...er-backups.html
Excerpt:
After Hurricane Katrina, the FCC launched an inquiry into how to improve first responder communications during a crisis of similar magnitude. In June of 2006, the panel identified power outages as one of the top causes of the life-costing breakdown of communications that took place during the disaster.
"The unique conditions in Katrina's aftermath—substantial flooding, widespread, extended power outages, and serious security issues—were responsible for damaging or disrupting communications service to a huge geographic area for a prolonged period of time," the Katrina panel observed. As a result, thousands of police, fire, and medical responders had to resort to radio communication via three mutual aid licenses. The FCC urged service providers to beef up their power backup systems.
In May of 2007, the Commission went further, issuing an Order establishing the "backup power rule," under which all carriers and mobile services of a certain size had to maintain sufficient emergency reserve power to keep central offices going for 24 hours, and keep remote switches, digital loop carrier systems, and cell phone sites going for eight hours.
Mobile service companies protested that the agency had not asked for public comment on the decision, and that it would cost too much to maintain these backup systems. The FCC was mostly unmoved by these protests. "We find that the benefits of ensuring sufficient emergency backup power, especially in times of crisis involving possible loss of life or injury, outweighs the fact that carriers may have to spend resources, perhaps even significant resources, to comply with the rule," the agency concluded in October of 2007.
My takeaway: Don't rely on 1 mode of communications, ever. In the fire company, we have AT LEAST three different ways to communicate, and if it's a large scale, we end up with 5 communications paths thanks to the county emergency communications truck.
(in case you're wondering -
1. 500 Mhz Motorola ASTRO digital trunked county radio system
2. 500 Mhz Conventional Analog (point to point) fallback
3. Cellular
4. Satellite Communications (they have a mini-earth station on the big command center, has Voice + Date + Local 500 Mhz Repeater intertie)
5. Landline. Yes, good old copper. Coax, actually. I found out that they can basically connect to any copper, and in a pinch, call in a giant spool of copper and just run a new line back to any existing (surviving?) point of the landline infrastructure. Amazing what you can do with 50,000 of twisted pair.