As newbie, I have recently come across the cell on wheel (COW) concept which is use to solve the network congestion issue in case of disaster or public event with a greater number of Users expectations or lack of network connectivity. There is enough information available on internet about what is COW? and how do they work? but I’m curious about how network operators select/build/rent specific COW support? basically I wanted to understand how they compile specific site requirement?what are the different network parameters they consider while selecting different COW options?
Well, you need access to the place that is relevant for the target coverage of the cow, after that it is about permission and energy so you can turn it on.
So we can say:
Have access to a place whether you rent it or is yours, and this place should attend your need in terms of your objective, if not the cow will not address correctly your problem(coverage/capacity).
Permission to turn it on from government
Check if theres energy available which can be tricky because the energy bill in some places need to have registered an specific meter in order to invoice.
Transmission check is also a needed, mostly line of sight to some MW point.
Deploy, test and put it on air
maybe somethings have change but thats pretty much how it was done some time ago.
Thanks for the information. Your input helps me to understand the deployment perspective of COW site which is value addition for me but I’m looking for the factors/parameters which drives the network operator’s decision to select specific COW equipment as I’m thinking these equipment’s must be coming with different shapes and sizes which cost network operators hell of money. Few parameters which I could think about are coverage and capacity requirements. Are there are any other parameters?
Yes you’re correct, I give you the point of view of engineer/deployment. Now operators do it because there’s traffic not possible to attend with existing infrastructure, some times due to events. Some times because the final solution will take more time and then the cow is the patch solution, and some times because there are some vips. So thats my 2 cents. Now Cows, in terms of electronic equipment installed is no different from equipment you will have in a ‘regular’ site, so you may configure it to the max allowed capacity and thats it, in terms of the moving pole, possible height etc etc never knew about it.