Blog 22: Senior Project Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your Block Presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

I am most positive towards my audience response to my presentation. Mostly everyone in the audience seemed to love how I presented because a lot of the juniors told me that they learned alot in the short block that we had, and that they loved the humorous jokes I threw in their to lighten the mood of the crowd. This made me proud because I knew that I did really good if the students told me that they really enjoyed my presentation.

(2) Questions to Consider

a. What assessment would you give yourself on your Block Presentation (self-assessment)?

Honestly, I believe I deserve a P+ or higher.

b. What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

I believe I deserve a P.

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?

In my senior project I believe that mentor, Oscar Holzmeister, has had the most contribution to my senior project. He helped me with my presentation, gave me sources for research, and gave me ideas on who to interview. I am so glad that I had a mentor like Oscar because he always assisted me in anything that I needed help with in my senior project and always had the time to help me.

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would have you done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?

I felt I would've done much better with my exit interview, so I would probably go back in time and spend more time practicing on what to say and how to respond properly to the questions. 

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors? Be specific and use examples.

Since I love technology and I am aiming for a major related to technology, my senior topic, RF Field Engineer, has allowed me to understand what it's like to work as an engineer and work with hardware and software issues. Hopefully I can find a career related to this topic one day.  

Blog 21: Mentorship

Content:

Literal:

Link is on the side of my blog labeled mentorship log hours under the heading mentorship.

Contact Name: Oscar Holzmeister

Mentorship Place: There isn't one place we work at because we travel to different cities every single time I do mentorship.

Interpretive

What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

The most important thing that I gained from this experience is all of the information that I know about Cellular Networks. Since I would like to pursue a career in engineering, mentorship at T-Mobile as RF Field Engineer has taught me alot about how the cellular network functions, and it's a good first step to take towards learning what it's like to be an Engineer. From the cellular networks I will be applying what I learned to my future college courses and maybe even career, since I will try to major into something related to the smartphone industry. Obviously, I am not an expert towards knowing everything about the cellular networks, but from most of my knowledge, it's always good to know the basics.

Applied

How has what you’ve done helped you to answer your EQ? Please explain.

From my firsthand experience with troubleshooting Radio Base Stations I have come up 3 stable answers to my EQ. My three answers have to do with software, hardware and power issues in the RBS, and from these you can troubleshoot the cellular network in a city. For example, my first answer focused on power issues in the RBS, and I had come up this answer due to the many experiences I have had to deal with power issues in the RBS. 

In my second answer, I asked my mentor if he would provide me with any sources for research and in response he handed me a handbook called, RBS O&M for T Mobile Modernization by Ericsson. He told me that this handbook would explain all the type of issues that occur in the cellular network. And the first thing that I had read were all of the different types of hardware's in an RBS and what type of issues could occur within the hardware of an RBS. This is how my I came up with my second answer towards my EQ.

For my last answer I had a pretty hard time coming up with software issues. I wasn't sure if this was a good answer, because I had first come up with this answer through a few mentorship experiences that I had done. To assure myself of this answer, I asked my last interview what he thought were some issues in an RBS, and from his response he had mentioned "software problems" and that is how I came up with my third answer. 

Blog 20: Exit Interview

(1) What is your essential question and answers? What is your best answer and why?

My essential question is how can an RF Field Engineer best troubleshoot cellular coverage in a city?, following up with three answers, the first one being, identifying whether a power outage is an external or internal issue in a Radio Base Station. My a second way, is by analyzing and replacing a damaged hardware component within a Radio Base Station, and my final answer is by troubleshooting the internal software within a Radio Base Station. My best answer to this question, corresponds to my first answers, by identifying a power outage, because over my months of experience with issues in an RBS, with my mentor, we have encountered power issues being the most common issues. Sure the other two answers are issues that can be fixed as well but if their isn't any power within the RBS, then none of the equipment within the RBS will work properly.

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

I came up with this answer through my mentorship experience. On November 18, I was first exposed to a power issue, more significantly an external power source issue, and the power wasn't working within the RBS due to the station being vandalized, meaning that the power cables from the main power source had been completely stolen. Now dealing with an internal power issue, I had my first encounter on November as well, where my mentor discovered that the 2G system was down due to a power issue. To solve this issue we found the control unit had defective cable within the internal compartment of the radio. These encounters were one of my first times that I did mentorship, and overtime, I came up with my first answer through more power issues that I encountered.

(3) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?

Most of the problems that I faced, were power issues, hardware issues, or software issues. When it came down to power issues, we needed to locate the Local Power Issue within the Radio Base Station. We had to first check the power that comes from the mainline that comes from the transformer and that goes through the power meter. Usually when that’s the issue transformer has to be replaced. If that isn't the problem then you must check the power panel in the site because their could be a bad fuse, loose cable, or a breaker that tripped off which needs to be replaced. If the power issue is not an external issue, then it would most likely be an internal issue. In this case, you have a device that has burned out and is damaged within the inside. Usually those devices are radios, transmitters, or even the Power Source Unit, this becomes into a hardware issue. When it's a hardware issue, we needed to replace the damaged equipment's with one that is working and upgraded. And I also encountered software issues, where if the base was out-of-date, then we need to load a new up-to-date software so it has more capacity, and its faster.

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

The most significant sources is my mentor, because through the opportunity to be able to mentorship with him and have first hand experience with Radio Base Stations, he has allowed me to come up with all of my answers and my EQ.
My second most significant source, is a book called, Ericsson WCDMA System Overview, because it has a good explanation of how the cellular network works, and what are the different types of issues within a Radio Base Station. It explains those issues in a very detailed manner.

Blog 19: Independent Component 2

Literal


(A) “I, Facundo Holzmeister, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.”

(B) My Mentor, Oscar Holzmeister, helped me complete my independent component 2.

(C) Independent Digital Spreadsheet link is under the Mentorship Log link.

(D) I have dedicated 30 hours of my mentorship to my independent component 2. I believe that I have gained more knowledge about Radio Based Stations than I did when I completed my first independent component. I assisted my mentor with troubleshooting RBS around many different cities. I have experienced hardware issues, software issues, data issues, and power issues. I have learned to analyze cables and check if they are in good condition, replace damaged hardware within the internal and external components of the station, and have learned to upgrade the software or install new software into the RBS remotely.

Interpretative

Testing the signal speed for a New RBS just recently installed.

Checking a set cables to an antennae
to see if it's receiving proper power.

The radios to a Radio Base Station that we had to analyze
and upgrade the software to because it was out of date.

Power problem with the AC Unit, due to someone standing
on this cable and tearing it apart.

My mentor trying to access the key for the
apartment building because the RBS was in the basement of
this building.

Updating the software within the RBS.

This program shows us what problems their are in an RBS,
and in this RBS their was three hardware problems.

The location to an RBS was within these walls.

The antennae to an RBS was located within this building.

Applied

During my experience of my independent component 2 I have learned much more about RBS and all of the different problems that an RBS can have. I gained alot of experience during a training that I had to do with my mentor because I had been taught by one of T-Mobile's top engineers, and he explained how an RBS works, the entire spectrum of T-Mobiles network and issues within the RBS that occur every so often, such as software and hardware issues. From this I knew how to find more research on my topic, and how to better answer my EQ with my second and third answer. I also had to install new software to an RBS that was just built into the area, with the help of my mentor and from this I had come up with my third answer. I understand how the cellular network fully works and how I can improve my research.

March Monthly Post: Get Faster Data Speeds

Requirements:

• Root
• Android Device

For all of those who own an Android and want faster data speed check out this application on the Google Play Store, called 3G/4G Speed Optimizer developed by Vista. This application optimizes your Data network speed so you can obtain better data speeds. Without this application, I would be getting around 1.27 mb/s download speeds and 0.24 mb/s which is not the best. And with the application enabled, I obtained 1.87 mb/s download speeds and 0.31 mb/s upload speeds, and from these results you can see the results of this application.

How it works:
It optimizes the Build.prop in your phone to obtain a better scan for data.

Video example provided by my best friend: Daniel Ariza.

Enjoy!

Blog 18: Third Answer

EQ:

How can an RF Field Engineer best troubleshoot cellular coverage in a city?

Answer #3:

By troubleshooting the internal software within a Radio Base Station.

3 Details:

1. Two key issues in the implementation of software radios are the development of optimal receivers that require the minimum number of bits in the wide-band analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and efficient channelizers that extract individual channels from the digitized wide-band signal.
2. The idea of software radio is to place the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) as close as possible to the antenna, ideally right after the low noise amplifier (LNA) and bandpass filter (BPF), thus the remaining RF/IF functions, such as channelization, downconversion, synchronization, and filtering, can be performed digitally on a general purpose processors (GPP) to provide the full advantages of reconfigurability.
3. The main advantage of software radio is flexibility. Application developers are interested in software radio because operating characteristics of the radio can be changed on-the-fly: frequency band, modulation scheme, error correction, etc

Research Source:

Lee, C. (2008). Power-efficient integrated cognitive and software radio system: Architecture, algorithms, and protocols. (Order No. 3299835, Princeton University). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 202. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/304508399?accountid=10357. (304508399).

Zangi, K.C.; Ericsson Inc., Traingle Park, NC, USA ; Koilpillai, R.D.

<http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?tp=&arnumber=761036&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fiel4%2F49%2F16463%2F00761036.pdf%3Farnumber%3D761036 >

Blog 17: Fourth Interview Questions

1. How can an RF Field Engineer best troubleshoot cellular coverage in a city?
2. In your experience, how do you think the cell phone has affected the lives of other people?

3. How do you think T-Mobile, can improve cellular networks and data speeds?

4. Which carrier do you think has the best networks speeds as of right now? Why?

5. What is the next generation of cellular networks and how fast will it be?

6. When working with cell sites, what are some of issues you have to troubleshoot?

7. In your experience, what are some hardware issues you have had troubleshoot?

8. Similar question, what are some software issues you have to troubleshoot?

9. What types of problems can you remotely troubleshoot for an RBS?

10. What precautions do you take in a red zone area at night?

11. What do you do if you cannot find or enter an RBS due to lock doors or different locks?

12. Do you believe that an RF Field Engineer impacts the lives of others? Why or why not?

13. What do you do with the damaged equipment of an RBS once you replace it?

14. How do you report to T-Mobile that you fixed an issue in an RBS?

15. If an RBS is located inside a small room and you accidentally get locked in what should you do?

16. What do you do if their is a living animal, such as a poisonous snake, inside the RBS?

17. What happens around the area of an RBS that does not work?

18. If you cannot resolve a problem within the RBS what do you do in response?

19. What determines the location of an RBS?

20. In your experiences, why would you need to call a general contractor?