Utilities face the ongoing challenges of aging infrastructure and an increasing need for new facilities to meet demand of the communities they serve. Essential, mission-critical applications depend on the reliability, security and widespread coverage of these networks. As a premier partner in navigating the complex hurdles posed by communication site upgrades, we help plan and execute capital projects that drive success.
We design and build the facilities and structures that are crucial to communications networks: communications towers, antennas, shelters, outdoor enclosures, battery backup systems, emergency generation systems, underground facilities and fiber-optic infrastructure. We provide full communication site design services, focusing on efficient land use that accommodates maintenance crews, enables properly spaced equipment and achieves permitting compliance, and our 3D scans and data capture processes leads to development of geospatially accurate and scaled drawings. Our constructed sites are secure and use security systems that comply with North American Electric Reliability Corp. Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC-CIP) standards.
Efficient Project Completion Through EPC Delivery
Our integrated engineer-procure-construct (EPC) delivery approach results in the most efficient transition from engineering design to project construction. Our EPC team can take on sole responsibility for project outcomes, working to identify timesaving and cost-reducing solutions by incorporating parallel scoping, preliminary design, bulk equipment ordering and detailed project activity planning. We can leverage our robust vendor relationships to deliver projects anywhere, using our in-house procurement specialists to facilitate high-quality and cost-effective purchases. Our construction teams focus on safely and efficiently bringing your project to successful completion.
Additionally, whether your contract is for EPC services or an alternate contract type, we apply detailed quality assurance processes to design, and our project controls are integrated to mitigate project risks at the earliest opportunity. The plan: Deliver the work on time and within budget.
Comprehensive Services for Site Infrastructure Projects
Our experience includes overall site infrastructure design, wireless system design, civil/structural and earthwork design, commissioning and licensing, and permitting. We actively support infrastructure construction for all modern communication solutions, data centers and private wireless networks.
As a full-service firm, we provide consulting support from project development through commissioning. Our planning includes the technical and executable scoping and design, cost estimates, wireless network design, and coordination with regulatory agencies to establish environmental compliance. Our infrastructure site design services focus on efficient use of land while integrating the latest data capture technology and can 3D scan sites to develop geospatially accurate and scaled drawings.
Backup Power Systems for Critical Operations
Backup power systems, whether battery backup or emergency generation, see that the mission-critical operations you oversee keep running in the face of disasters. Building resiliency into your telecom systems is critical as you blend network expansions with aging infrastructure. Beyond keeping pace with demand, your networks must withstand challenges from disasters, both natural and human-made. Our team delivers the alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) power systems that keep your operations on track.
DC calculations are imperative to confirm that battery backup systems provide enough power during outages and disaster situations. We have the experience needed to properly size, wire and install batteries that keep essential communications online during power grid disruptions.
Our team designs emergency backup systems for shelters to meet your specific power requirements. Based on generator size, we size the fuel tank based on the fuel source and the intended duration of operation. We can design a fuel tank monitoring system to allow remote monitoring of your fuel consumption.
Communications Towers & Supporting Site Facilities
Communications towers and supporting site facilities are complex and connected. To successfully bring new towers online or enhance the services available, you need a comprehensive perspective on the function, structure and site features.
- Towers & Antenna Systems: We have experience deploying antenna systems including master address systems (MAS), point-to-point microwave, land mobile radio (LMR), LTE and more. Whether the tower is guyed, self-supporting or a monopole, our engineers design towers to withstand the climate in which its built. We perform tower analysis, structural improvements, geotechnical analysis, foundation design, path design, antenna alignment, equipment installations, and tower lighting installations. Our team includes in-house specialists to address real estate acquisition, siting and permitting, site preparation (grading, geotechnical analysis and fencing) and tower design (grounding, foundations, ice bridges and shelter interfaces).
- Shelters and Enclosures: Many aspects of communications shelter infrastructure affect the reliable operation of your networks. These aspects include equipment space and mounting provisions, structured cabling, primary and backup power systems, building foundations, conduits to adjacent equipment and facilities, and physical interface to your towers and adjacent communications sites. Our experience with shelters ranges from single outdoor enclosures to 20-rack shelters. Our team works with you to produce an enclosure that meets AC/DC power and grounding requirements, provides sufficient rack space, includes facility monitoring and alarming, and supports automatic transfer to emergency power systems for wireless, network electronics and fiber-optic applications. We support the full installation of the shelter through final cutover of network applications, and we perform factory and system acceptance testing on the shelter and network systems.
- Underground Facilities: Proper mapping, planning, routing and trenching are critical for underground facilities. We factor in underground gas lines, conduit-encased fiber, power lines and communication lines. Our team guides you through the process, from the initial survey with ground-penetrating radar and utility location identification through the final design and installation of your new underground facilities.
- Fiber Infrastructure: Developing and deploying a fiber-optic network is an intricate process for designing the physical fiber, both inside and outside the plant. We have deployed thousands of miles of fiber on utility transmission and distribution structures. In addition to the design and construction of physical infrastructure, we conduct testing and characterization of installed fiber in support of traditional SONET and packet-based networks, coarse and dense wavelength-division multiplexing (CWDM/DWDM), and passive optical networks (PON).
