Ankur Lal, Chief Executive Officer, Infozech
Ensuring and maintaining network uptime has become the priority for most telecom operators due to the low availability or erratic supply of grid power. Moreover, the increased use of diesel generators to power telecom towers has resulted in increased costs, compelling operators to focus on managing their energy expenditure and carry out operations effectively. Currently, energy costs, including fuel, storage and battery costs, constitute more than 50 per cent of the operational expenditure of a base transceiver station (BTS) at the tower site. It has also been observed that power at some tower sites is available from the grid and diesel generators for more than 24 hours. Therefore, optimum usage of energy becomes critical. One way to ensure efficient energy consumption and, thereby, effective management of energy costs is to undertake remote monitoring of tower sites on a real-time basis. An analysis of the energy consumption data provided by monitoring devices can help companies design effective business strategies to manage costs.
In order to gather data for analysis, it is essential to monitor energy sources such as diesel generators, hybrid energy solutions of solar cells and wind generators; the electricity grid; air-conditioning equipment; preventive maintenance, which provides data regarding the life expectancy of the equipment; and access control, which prevents arbitrary access to the tower sites. Monitoring devices include weather sensors, fuel level sensors, light sensors and thermostats. The sensors can be deployed at the tower site inside the shelter, along with a diesel generator as well as in the battery bank. These provide data on diesel generators, electricity from the grid and air-conditioning equipment.
Aggregation of data collected from these devices results in about 10 million heterogeneous non-correlated data points given that 20 equipment devices are deployed at 10,000 sites each, recording data every 15 seconds for three months. The examination of this multidimensional heterogeneous data helps in acquiring business intelligence. An analysis of this data allows companies to build a hypothesis that can be set as a target for improving energy efficiency at tower sites. Further, it facilitates the discovery of new insights from the available data. However, in order to formulate a strategy for cost management, each operator needs to prioritise its targets such as reducing energy costs, optimising air-conditioning requirements, preventive maintenance and access control.
Analysis of tower site data
The timely availability of data is necessary for ensuring accurate analysis. In the past, data was collected from different sources, which would take a long time to reach the desired destination, making it difficult for companies to address issues related to energy efficiency on a real-time basis. Data related to energy consumption would be recorded using traditional log books and tabulated in Excel spreadsheets. These records would then be transferred to cluster or circle offices every month and reach the final destination after several stopovers. At each halt, there would be a possibility of delay and information loss or change, leading to inaccurate analysis of the data.
However, with innovations in communication technologies, companies now possess the capability to supply data to the cluster offices within a stipulated time. Infozech has developed an energy tracking system (ETS) to help customers manage their fuel consumption, primarily their diesel consumption. The system uses the company?s energy data record to track the real-time movement of fuel and electricity usage through a mobile application. The data collected is transferred over the cloud platform for validation and the filtered data is sent to an analytics platform. Infozech?s analysis of real-time data has resulted in higher mean time between failures, ensuring greater reliability, time savings due to a reduction in site visits and improvements in energy efficiency at the tower sites.
Challenges
Despite the advantages of remote monitoring, its implementation remains a key concern. Moreover, data collection from various tower sites in remote places as well as its real-time aggregation and analysis involves a complex process of adapting to site-specific solutions to cater to local needs. Moreover, the source data systems are dynamic and aligning these systems is necessary for accurate analysis. In this regard, Infozech?s ETS verifies the collected data with information received from multiple sources such as the electricity board, oil companies and asset management companies. Multiple validations ensure that only accurate data is being fed into the system for analysis.
Going forward, the effective management of energy costs through business intelligence would require the creation of a sustainable process, transparent monitoring and a proactive approach towards data analysis.
