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Abstract-The continuous introduction of converged services such as VoIP and Video-On-Demand has created many operational challenges for service providers. In this paper, we describe how to use location-aware technologies, not only to integrate disparate management applications, but also to transform the underlying process to use geographical views as the focal point of management operations. Based on an engagement with a large Cable provider, we have designed and implemented 3i-Integrated Infrastructure Intelligence-to address key issues in the service assurance process. 3i is highly componentized and provides an intuitive way for creating role-based views through dynamic scoping, event aggregation and status projection, and location-driven active probing. We analyze the current service assurance process and compare it with the improved process after introducing 3i. Overall, the re-engineered process offers base execution improvements in alarm collection, problem drill-down and reporting, as well as complexity improvements throughout. 3i is a fully implemented tool and has demonstrated capabilities beyond its original intended scope as a decision support tool in planning and marketing functions.

A model i s described which may be used t o p r e d i c t land mobile radio system performance over irregular t e r r a i n . The model uses a semi-empirical formulation t o c a l c u l a t e p r o p a g a t i o n l o s s e s from a selected basestation location to surrounding mobile locations within a variable-size "box" not exceeding two degrees l a t i t u d e by two degrees longitude. Terrain data is obtained from a computer-accessible data base. The output i s a p l o t showing contours of constant propagat i o n loss, power d e n s i t y , o r a v a i l a b l e r e c e i v e d power.Model's PurDose Land mobile communication system designers and engineers often must decide whether ; o use design-aid models not well suited to the problem of predicting s i g n a l a t t e n u a t i o n o v e r i r r e g u l a r t e r r a i n o r t o perform many tedious and laborious hand c a l c u l a t i o n s which, coupled with certain "rules of thumb", provide an estimate of system performance.The model documented i n t h i s t a l k p r o v i d e s r e l i e f from such problems. By using a computer to determine a p a r t i c u l a r a r e a ' s t e r r a i n c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s and a l s o l e t t i n g t h e computer make t h e t e d i o u s and complex c a l c u l a t i o n s o f propagation losses for the given terrain, the model user can spend more time optimizing the land mobile system's performance by evaluating different base s t a t i o n l o c a t i o n s , a n t e n n a h e i g h t s , e t c . CaDabilitiesFor communication systems which o p e r a t e a t VHF and higher frequencies, t h e character of t h e t e r r a i n between t h e transmitting and receiving antennas, as well as the heights of the antennas above immediate t e r r a i n , will a f f e c t s i g n i f i c a n t l y t h e a t t e n u a t i o n o f t h e r a d i o s i g n a l s .The model reported considers these terrain influences, along with other commonly considered influences, by automatically accessing digitized topographic data files* t o d e v e l o p t h e p a t h d a t a needed t o compute the basic transmission l o s s . Computation of the basic transmission loss i s accomplished using a formulation for point-to-point paths. The s t a t i s t i c a l c h a r a c t e r o f t h e b a s i c transmission loss r e s u l t s from long-term fading (time a v a i l a b i l i t y ) , p a t h -t o -p a t h d i f f e r e n c e s ( l o c a t i o n v a r i a b i l i t y ) and prediction confidence considered in t h e model'. The type of model output data i s s e l e c t e d by t h e user. Options range from s i m p l e p a t h t e r r a i n i n f o r m a t i o n t o b a s i c t r a n s m i s s i o n l o s s e s t o u t i l i z at i o n s o f t h e basic transmission loss i n computing power density or received signal level between a base s t a t i o n and any mobile location within time availab i l i t y and l o c a t i o n v a r i a b i l i t y . P l o t t e d o u t p u t data are contoured over a geographical area n o t t o exceed two d ...

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