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by gordaco
2857 days ago
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I agree so much with your latest paragraph. I'm currently working on a software that helps telcos decide the placement and configuration of mobile network cells and antennas, and it's like you said: it's actually a very interesting and deep problem, the pay is good, and since the users are engineers, it doesn't matter that the UI is just average looking as long as it does what the application manual says. The application is huge but reasonably maintainable. I worked for about two years and a half in web development, and in one case the application was widely, widely used. Everything was on fire and users complained constantly. Saying that I don't miss it would be a big understatement. |
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I'd love to hear more about how such a system works, purely for engineering value's sake, because it happens to be a thing I find very interesting from an outsider's standpoint.
On the surface, as someone mostly naive about cellular RF, I know you're dealing with things like
- Given <n> buildings, how do you optimize for reception around (and, for 1000 bonus points, inside) said buildings, while minimizing echos (and, subsequently, in-band noise that the RF frontends can't mechanically filter) from signal reflections?
- Given a tunnel long enough to need a snake-antenna system (what are these properly called, and are they actually snakes? I just see long thick cables at the (dark) entrances to train tunnels), how should you place the towers near both ends of the tunnel to optimize handover?
- Given <random bunch of hills>, how do you optimize placement within terrain, elevation, landscape features, etc?
I'm guessing your system has access to highly-accurate databases of landscape/terrain and building geometry/geography (basically the machine-readable equivalent to Google Maps)?
The reason I mention the above is to characterize/elucidate this problem space to hopefully attract interested replies encouraging you to find out what details your boss will let you share. :D