Preliminary Design Review

Final Report

Low cost rural internet solution for George's Valley

May 5th, 2020

Created by the Class of EDSGN 558 at The Pennsylvania State University

Team members: Leen Abubaker, Brianna Bannister, Romario Barnes, Edouard
Buisson, Tanya Dhaka, Daniel Henneh, Siddharth Jhawar, Areeb Mahmood,
Adnen Mezghani, Philip Miruri, Yoonah Nam, Zijia Peng, Aditya Savla, Todd
Spurgeon, and Nate Watson
Introduction
This preliminary design review describes a system intended to provide a low-cost rural internet
solution for George’s Valley. Currently George’s Valley has limited access to the internet which
restricts them from modern conveniences as well as necessary access to work and school. During
the COVID-19 pandemic the world is currently facing, the number of people who need a reliable
connection to the internet to continue their jobs or schooling has grown. Adding to that, George’s
Valley does not have the population density to make financial sense to service the area through
current service providers. A system’s design approach was followed to reach a solution to this
problem.

As the name suggests, George’s valley is in a valley which cuts off line of sight transmission of
wireless internet which can be provided by the current infrastructure in the area. The valley also
does not currently have wired connections to the network like cable or fiber optics. This leaves
George’s Valley’s options of internet to just satellite internet which is costly, limited by data caps,
slow, and plagued by low latency. This internet is able to be used for basic applications but is near
unusable for any live applications such as video calls which has become an even more important
part of our lives because of our need to connect with others. In order to provide a better
connection to George’s Valley, a wired or wireless solution needs to be found.

The solution is challenging because most methods currently used are too expensive for this
application. Running a wired connection would require miles of cable to be run to service few
households. There are roughly 400 people living in George’s Valley and fewer households. This
means whatever solution would have to be paid for by the population in George’s Valley in their
monthly payments. This works within dense neighborhoods but cannot be done in sparse areas
like George’s Valley without raising prices too high and then reducing the number of people who
can afford it which further reduces the population which must pay for it.

The system covered in this preliminary design review intends on addressing this problem through
designing a self-sustaining business entity which could operate in the area as a service provider.
The system would also include how the system could be deployed within the challenging terrain
of the valley. The system will deal with the technological needs of the system but will be limited
to picking currently available hardware components rather than designing them. The system also
will not thoroughly address the complexities of interfacing with governing entities about gaining
access to spectrum through change in legislation, although the issue will be addressed as the
current laws and those lobbing to change those laws could affect the system.

System Objectives
To overcome the challenge of providing internet to the low population density area of George’s
Valley in a meaningful way, some objectives must be met. The system must provide broadband
access to the internet for the entire population of George’s Valley. The price must be affordable,
this will take into consideration both the price in other areas which don’t face the issues which
the valley faces as well what the population can afford. The system will also have to fit the needs
of the population, both in the internet service provided, such as speed and latency, but also in
how it is provided, making the system too inconvenient or unsightly. Lastly, the system must be
financially sustainable from the population of George’s Valley, the need for constant subsidies
will render the system vulnerable and in turn, the population of George’s Valley.

Team structure
The students of the class EDSGN 558 were split into five sub-teams, as illustrated in the team
structure diagram presented in Figure1. (1) A Customers needs team, which collects
requirements and needs of the customers in the Georges Valley area. (2) A Technical team, which
collects information about the relevant technology available and develops the technical expertise
needed. (3) An Environmental and site-planning team, which studies the environmental
constraints that might be present in the area of interest and presents sight-planning
considerations. (4) A Business operation team, which finds typical business plans and funding
sources, and generates a business architecture for the system. Finally, (5) A Legislation team,
which collects relevant information about the current legislation pertinent to internet system
implementation. One student was selected for the role of the system engineer to oversee the
progress of the project and take part in the decision making alongside the five teams.

Figure 1: Team Structure Diagram

Background research
Rural internet Speeds

There are few companies already providing rural internet, but with data caps and low internet
bandwidth.
There is a need for high-speed internet, that overlooks the problem of line of sight.
Some of the internet speeds already being provided by the companies are:

Satellite Internet Plans:

ViaSat:
Option Subscription cost Data rates
1 $50/month 12Mbps and 12GB data
2 $75/month 12Mbps and 25GB data
3 $100/month 12Mbps and 50GB data
4 $150/month 25Mbps and Unlimited data

HughesNet:
Option Subscription cost Data rates
1 $60/month 25mbps down 3mbps up data: 10
GB
2 $70/month 25mbps down 3mbps up data: 20
GB
3 $100/month 25mbps down 3mbps up data: 30
GB
4 $150/month 25mbps down 3mbps up data: 50
GB

There are various types of broadband internet services in rural areas such as DSL, satellites, fixed
wireless (WISP: Wireless Internet Service Provider) and TV White Space. DSL, Digital Subscriber
Line, is the most popular connection in the world with fairly high-speed bandwidth connection
from a phone wall jack on an existing telephone line. Satellite connection is the most available
rural internet option, but provides the slowest speeds and largest latency, and is expensive. WISP
is a reliable internet service for rural areas with high speed and simple installation for customers,
however, the range of WISP is affected by obstructions such as trees and hills which limit its
range. The bandwidth available to WISP also limits the speeds available to the customers and
must be limited by price to not reach capacity of the available bandwidth. During System Concept
Review, we chose WISP as a best option over the other internet services such as satellites and
DSL by comparing all three services with advantages and disadvantages (Table 1).
 Table 1: Advantages and Disadvantages of DSL vs. Satellite vs. WISP

However, among these various types of broadband internet service, the ideal option for this
project is TV White Space. TV White Space refers “to the unused TV channels between the active
ones in the VHF and UHF spectrum” (Figure 2). These unused TV channels are called as “buffer”
channels. It has been researched and proven this buffer channels can be used to provide
broadband internet access while operating harmoniously with surrounding TV channels. After
researching more about TV White Space, our team decided to choose TV White Space over WISP.
There are few reasons of why we choose TV White Space over WISP. First, TV White Space
equipment consume less power. Second, TV White Space frequencies are much lower in
frequency where signals travel farther and are not interrupted by obstructions while WISP can
be interrupted by obstruction. Third, TV White Space is cost effective than WISP. TV White Space
technology in rural area can be 80 percent less expensive than bringing optic-fiber connections
to homes and 50 percent less expensive than using WISP. Finally, since all customers share the
available channels with any other customers in that particular area, TV White Space therefore
performs the best in rural areas where the spectrum is generally less congested than in urban
areas. Many of these benefits are showing TV White Space to be the best option for connecting
broadband internet in rural areas.

Figure 2: TV White Space Channels

Weather Research
In order to ensure that the system is operational at certain weather conditions in the area, the
environmental site planning team acquired sets weather records that are common and also
uncommon but yet severe. Below is a set of data collected that may need to be considered to
maintain the resulting system. The research of the team was focalized on certain climate
behaviors in State College and Spring Mills since both are very close to the targeted area with
Spring Mills being the closest.

Temperature
State College Spring Mills USA
Minimum Temp -20 - -
Recorded (°F)
Average Minimum 16.9 16.4 21.7
Temp (°F)
Maximum Temp 102 - -
Recorded (°F)
Average Maximum 81.9 82.3 85.8
Temp (°F)
Table 2: Temperature Data

It was found that the minimum monthly temperature is around 16.7 °F while the minimum
monthly temperature in the U.S is 21.7 °F. And over the span of 60 years, the minimum
temperature ever recorded in state college was –20 °F while the maximum ever recorded is 102
°F.

Temperature can affect certain mechanical properties of materials. High temperature reduces
material stiffness and strength, while low temperature increases material stiffness and strength.
However, depending on the chemical structure of the material, high temperatures can cause
brittle materials to behave like ductile materials while low temperatures can cause ductile
materials to behave like brittle materials. It is also important to note that almost all materials
creep over time when subject to elevated temperatures. Such a behavior was important to keep
in mind during the design process of the project, especially in a system involving structural
support of telecommunication equipment.

Winds
State College Spring Mills USA
Maximum Wind 68 - -
Velocity Recorded
(mph)
Average Wind Velocity 13 18.16 16.93
(mph)
 Maximum Monthly 24.7 25.6 20.2
Wind Velocity (mph)
Average Wind NW - -
Direction
Table 3: Wind Data

The highest recorded wind velocity in state college was found to be 68 mph which was measured
at the top of beaver stadium. At the same moment, a speed of 56 mph was measured closer to
the ground. This gave the team an idea of the maximum wind velocity that should be considered
for the newly installed equipment at altitude.

Considering wind velocity is significant as it applies wind loading onto tower structures. As the
weight increases at the top of the structure from additionally installed equipment, the cellular
tower will experience a higher bending moment causing it to undergo deformation. If this is not
studied in the design phase of the project, the tower could enter plastic deformation or exceed
yield strength causing the structure to fail. Additionally, due to the targeted area being in a valley,
the research group found that wind flows over the ridge can cause turbulence. This is because
the wind tends to go uphill during the day and downhill during the night due to the change in
temperature. This is also important to note as it could affect structural life with fatigue.

Precipitation
State College Spring Mills USA
Annual Rainfall (in) 40.4 41.78 38.67
Annual Snowfall (in) 43.82 43.82 23.27
Table 4: Precipitation Data

Annual rainfall in spring mills is a total of 41.78 inches and annual snowfall is up to 43.82 inches
which are both higher than the national average with an annual rainfall and snowfall of 38.67
and 23.27 inches. Since these statistics are higher than the national statistics, we believe that this
data was worth mentioning as it will help us to see in the future if we need to further account for
water resistant hardware or structure.

Water, snow and ice are major contributors to corrosion of metals, ceramics or polymers.
Corrosion degrades the useful properties of materials and structures including strength,
appearance and permeability to liquids and gases. Not only do materials degrade from the water
in rain but also from the chemicals present. Rain is slightly acidic by nature with a pH value of 5
to 5.5. When around polluted areas, rain combines with sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxides to
create acid rain with a pH level of 4. The sulfuric and nitric acid particles corrode metals and cause
paint and stone to deteriorate more quickly. Fortunately, Georges Valley is surrounded by much
rural land and is not subject to a polluted environment thus limiting the acidic effects of rain in
the area. Lastly, water can also get into cracks and expand when it freezes leading the material
to deform and weaken.
 Sunlight Exposure
State College Spring Mills USA
UV Index (0-15) 3.6 3.6 4.3
Maximum Monthly UV 9 9 -
Index (0-15)
Maximum Average 9 9 -
Sunshine Hours (hours)
Maximum Average 15 15 -
Daylight Hours (hours)
Table 5: Sunlight Exposure Data

Radiation in Georges Valley is low compared to the national average. However, this does not
mean corrosion from sunlight is limited in the area as it is still sufficient enough to cause
photoelectrochemical degradation. These statistics should be analyzed while keeping in mind
that UV index indicates the risk of overexposure for humans and not materials with 0 being low
and 11+ being extremely high.

Ultraviolet radiation effects synthetic polymers such as plastics as well as naturally occurring
polymer materials, limiting their life cycle. It is the synergistic effect of increased UV radiation
with other factors such as the temperature that would determine the extent of such reduction
in service life.

Humidity
State College Spring Mills USA
Average Humidity (%) 77.75 77.66 77.52
Maximum Monthly 94.6 92.9 79.9
Humidity (%)
Table 6: Humidity Data

The maximum monthly humidity in Spring Mills is 92.9% which is also higher than the national
maximum monthly average with a value of 79.9%. Since this set of statistics shows a significant
difference in maximum monthly humidity, this data is worth mentioning as it helped determine
if further supply of water/humidity resistant hardware or materials was necessary.

Although it is highly unlikely that ice is formed from humidity, the absorption of water can cause
buckling deformation and swelling of materials. It can also cause hygroscopic damage or fungal
growth. Because humidity levels can get high in Georges valley, precautions must be taken to
prevent deterioration of installed materials and electronics.

Natural Disasters
State College Spring Mills USA
Earthquake Index (0- 0.01 0.02 1.81
432.77)
 Tornado Index (0-696.05) 56.79 62.44 136.45
Table 7: Natural Disaster Records

There aren't many natural disasters that are common in the area. It can be seen from the table
above that earthquakes are not persistent and posse very little threat to the environment in
Georges Valley. It can also be seen that tornadoes are the most common types of natural
disasters in the area despite it being less frequent than the national average.

Natural Disaster Magnitudes from 1950 to 2010

State College Spring Mills USA
Maximum Tornado
Magnitude Recorded (out 4 4 5
of 5)
Maximum Earthquake
Magnitude Recorded (0- None over 3.5 recorded 9.2
10)
Table 8: Natural Disaster Magnitudes

The table above shows that the type of natural disaster that tends to cause the most damage are
tornadoes with a total of 20 recorded in the past 60 years and a recorded maximum magnitude
of 4.

Extreme Weather Counts from 1950 to 2010

State College Spring Mills USA
Thunderstorm Winds 1,096 1,304 -
Blizzard 2 3 -
Flood 278 293 -
Tropical Storm 1 1 -
Hail 212 317 -
Ice Storm 7 13 -
Winter Storm 21 49 -
Heavy Snow 36 77 -
Strong Wind 28 107 -
Tornadoes (Magnitude of 2 or greater) 16 20 -
Table 9: Extreme Weather Records

The data in the table above shows the number of certain conditions recorded between 1950 and
2010. Some other common extreme weather conditions in Spring Mills are floods, hail,
thunderstorm winds, winter storms, and heavy snow. There can also occasionally be some hail
storms.

The possession of this data enabled the team to analyze certain options that would allow the
chosen system to operate without interruptions and with minimal maintenance.
Terrain Research
Georges’ Valley is located approximately 16 miles East of State College. It is between Egg Hill with
a summit of 597 meters and Kohler Mountain with a summit of 576 meters. The elevation of
George’s Valley is around 366 meters. Therefore, Georges’ Valley is located between two large
hills that are about each 120 meters tall. These hills block some ground level winds from either
the North or South.

Figure 3: Tower Line of Sight

The only tower that is currently operating near George’s Valley is located near the intersection
of General Potter Highway and Old Ford Road. It is installed on Kohler Mountain at the elevation
of 418.9 meters which is 60 meters above the valley. Therefore, the signal is unlikely to be
blocked by obstacles in the valley. The tower is currently supporting cell sites for several different
service providers such as AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. However, none of these service providers
supply wireless service to George’s Valley. The TV whitespace antennas must be correctly
installed to cover the Georges’ Valley. The signals emitted from the tower must cover the
direction of 360 degree to 50 degree in order to cover all of George’s Valley, a 50-degree
coverage.

External Entities Research

External entities play an important role in maintaining broadband legislative standards. Several
governance authorities are responsible for carrying out the appropriate procedure to run a rural
broadband service. The broadband legislation governs entities such as third-party owners,
municipal authorities, telecommunication services, Federal communication commission (FCC)
licensing and other infrastructures in a rural area. The state of Pennsylvania has various house
bills serving the deployment and support of broadband legislation and operation in rural areas
such as Georges’ valley. Following is a use case to characterize different needs of customers in
Georges’ valley:

Demographics

Georges Valley’s demographics with median household income as $40,069.

Table 10: Demographics Table

Frequency spectrum procurement
Specifically, we propose and analyse such a business model secondary operator purchase
spectrum (both dedicated and shared) from a white space database to serve their subscribed
end-users. In this case, the database manager acts as a spectrum broker, purchasing the
dedicated spectrum from TV licensees or requesting the shared spectrum from regulators, and
then selling spectrum to secondary operators. This leads to a three-stage hierarchal model
illustrated in Figure given below. In Stage I, the database manager determines the wholesale
prices of dedicated spectrum and shared spectrum to each secondary operator. In Stage II, each
secondary operator determines the order quantity of dedicated spectrum (called initial inventory
or inventory for short), and the service price to end-users.
In Stage III, each end-user demands service from one of these secondary operators based on his
quality-of-service (QoS)in different secondary operators’ networks and the service prices of
secondary operators; as a result, each secondary operator purchases the shared spectrum (called
replenished inventory) to replenish the excess demand if the total end-user demand exceeds his
initial inventory of dedicated spectrum).

Figure 4: Three Stage Hierarchal Model

Auction 904 (Rural Digital Opportunity Fund)

The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund is the Commission’s next step in bridging the digital divide.
On August 1, 2019, the Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposing
to establish the $20.4 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund to bring high speed fixed broadband
service to rural homes and small businesses that lack it. On January 30, 2020, the Commission
adopted the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Report and Order, which establishes the framework
for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, building on the success of the CAF Phase II auction by
using reverse auctions in two phases. The Phase I auction, which is scheduled to begin on
October 22, 2020, will target over six million homes and businesses in census blocks that are
entirely unserved by voice and broadband with download speeds of at least 25 Mbps. Phase II
will cover locations in census blocks that are partially served, as well as locations not funded in
Phase I.
We were asked to look into the aspect of 904 auction from our SCR review. As we know 904
auction involves an auction procedure (The auction works in the following way once the bid is
placed by the service provider a weighted score is calculated across various operators and these
scores are calculated on basis of the speed of internet and latency issues). Once the bid is verified
and accepted, we would look into the aspect of budget that was allotted to this area. These
budgets were decided on the basis of two phases mentioned above. Phase 1 wherein the there
was no service present at all in the current area. Phase 2 was where an area was partially serviced.
Upon looking into which phase the State college area belonged we came to a conclusion that this
belonged to Phase 2 and thus was allotted a fund of $542,000. And these funds would be
disbursed over a period of 10 years to the service provider and a constant performance review is
done over time to meet the standards.

Figure 5: Auction 904 Map

Business Models:
Three business/delivery models were found to be suitable for the rural broadband internet:

1. Municipality (Local Government): The government builds, owns, and operates the
infrastructure and services. It can be operated by a single municipality or several ones.
2. Public-Private Partnerships: Contractual agreement between the government and the
private sector where they share the cost, resources, risks, and revenues.
3. Private Company/ISP. It’s obvious that internet providers are not able to recover their
cost in a short time, which makes it as an unattractive business opportunity for them.

The local governments may have different roles:

1. Provide grants and loans for local providers to expand their internet business.
1. Partner with local providers to offer the service.
2. Directly offer the service.
3. Build and lease the infrastructure.
The state of Pennsylvania places restriction on building networks or engaging in partnerships.
This means that we are only allowed to use the private company business model while taking
advantage of the grants and loans that the government offers. We may ask Pennsylvania
regulators about other partnership options in order to enable the residents in such rural areas to
enjoy high-quality Wi-Fi services.
Suggested Business Model

Business Model Canvas

Figure 6: Business Model Canvas

Funding Opportunities

There are several funding opportunities that support rural broadband services and are usually
offered by the government agencies including but not limited to the below:

• Federal Communication Commission (FCC)

• U.S Dept. Of Agriculture –Community Connect Grants
• USDA
• NSF & PAWR –Advanced Wireless Research
• Appalachian Regional Commission
• U.S Dept. Of Commerce
• U.S Dept. Of Housing
• U.S Dept. Of Transport

These grants target local governments, non-profit organizations, and for-profit organizations.

Projected Profit and Loss

Projected
P&L
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
No. Of 40 90 120 180 250
Customers

Subscriber
Revenue
Subscription $ 33,600 $ 75,600 $ 100,800 $ 151,200 $ 210,000
Fee
Installation $ 2,000 $ 4,500 $ 6,000 $ 9,000 $ 12,500
Fee
Equipment $ 2,000 $ 4,500 $ 6,000 $ 9,000 $ 12,500
Fee

Total $37,600 $ 84,600 $ 112,800 $ 169,200 $ 235,000

Revenue

Cost of Sales
Marketing $ 4,000 $ 4,000 $ 4,000 $ 2,000 $ 2,000
Client $ 3,000 $ 3,000 $ 3,000 $ 3,000 $ 3,000
Equipment
Installation

Total Cost of $ 7,000 $ 7,000 $ 7,000 $ 5,000 $ 5,000

Sales

Gross Profit $ 30,600 $ 77,600 $ 105,800 $ 164,200 $ 230,000

Gross Margin 97%

Debt Service
Infrastructur $ 146,225
e&
Equipment ()
Interest on $ 7,019 $ 8,464 $ 10,646 $ 12,000 $ 12,700
Debt

Depreciation
Infrastructur $ 6,333 $ 6,333 $ 6,333 $ 6,333 $ 6,333
e
Electronics $ 9,245 $ 9,245 $ 9,245 $ 9,245 $ 9,245

Other $ 35,000 - - - -
Startup Costs
Operating
Costs
Accounting & $ 15,000 $ 15,000 $ 15,000 $ 15,000 $ 15,000
Legal
Billing & $ 3,000 $ 3,000 $ 3,000 $ 3,000 $ 3,000
Processing
Engineering $ 10,000 $ 10,000 $ 10,000 $ 10,000 $ 10,000
Services
Office $ 10,000 $ 3,000 $ 3,000 $ 3,000 $ 3,000
Expenses
Insurance $ 12,000 $ 12,000 $ 12,000 $ 12,000 $12,000
Other Fees $ 10,000 $ 10,000 $ 10,000 $ 10,000 $ 10,000
(Backbone,
Utilization,
etc)
Truck $ 10,000 $ 10,000 $ 10,000 $ 10,000 $ 10,000
Client $ 3,023 $ 3,779 $ 4,723 $ 5,904 $ 7,380
Electronics
Maintenance
Services
Software $ 1,000 $ 1,000 $ 1,000 $ 1,000 $ 1,000
Maintenance
Misc. $ 12,000 $ 12,000 $ 12,000 $ 12,000 $ 12,000
(Margin)

Operating $ 179 $ 74 $ 56 $ 38 $ 28
Expenses per
Household
per Month

Total Debt, $ 152,332 $ 112,533 $ 115,659 $ 118,194 $ 120,370

Depreciation
, Startup,
Operating
Costs

Net Profit $ (121,732) $ (34,933) $ (9,859) $ 46,006 $ 109,630

Before Taxes
Payback 3.5 Years
Period
Cash Flow 13.11% per
Return Rate year
Annualized 9.57%
ROI
Gross Margin 97%
Business Concept of Operation

Figure 7: Business Concept of Operation 1

Figure 8: Business Concept of Operation 2

Stakeholder Analysis
Stakeholder Role Stakeholders Identified for Rural Broadband
System
System Advocate or Proponent Government Agencies (FCC), Service
Providers
System Shareholder Government Agencies (FCC) - Funding Entity,
Service Providers,
System Owner The company, municipality,
System User(s) Service Providers, municipality, FCC,
Suppliers
System End Users Citizens, local shops, local businesses,
System Developer The company and service providers
System Acquirer Municipality, The company, local regulators,
communication unions
System Architect System Engineers, Engineers (SW, HW,
Communication, ..) The company (directors),
FCC
Services Provider The company, third party internet service
providers
Independent Test Agent/Agency (ITA) FCC, NLC - Federal Advocacy Committee
(ITC), CDIA, Municipality
System Administrator The company, Municipality,
Mission Planner Company’s TMT, FCC/Funding Entity
System Analyst The company
System Support Government FCC, Internet Service Providers,
Developers,
System Maintainer FCC, NLC - Federal Advocacy Committee
(ITC), CDIA, Municipality, System Developers
System Instructor FCC, The company’s management, Senior
Engineers
System Competitor Other local Internet service providers, Mobile
Internet Providers, Satellite Internet
Providers
System Critic Government Agencies (FCC), System Users
and End-Users,
System Adversary System Competitors (Other local Internet
service providers, Mobile Internet Providers,
Satellite Internet Providers), Funding
Providers
System Threat System Competitors (Other local Internet
service providers, Mobile Internet Providers,
 Satellite Internet Providers), Funding
Providers

Decision-makers Requirement Drivers

System Architects: System Engineers, Government Agencies (FCC)
Engineers (SW, HW, Communication, etc.)
Municipality Funding Entity
System owners and developers Municipality
Suppliers
Other local Internet service providers, Mobile
Internet Providers, Satellite Internet
Providers
System Users and End-Users,

System Technical Requirements

Selecting the Final Concept

The decision-making process relied on a Pugh matrix to assess the alternatives and rank the
options. While it was suspected that TV whitespace may come out on top from a performance
standpoint for the low-density population there was concern with how best to weight this
capability against the difficulty navigating licensing the spectrum for FCC. The Pugh matrix is
shown in Figure 6.
 Figure 9: Pugh Matrix Analysis

The Pugh matrix was useful in understanding the effect of different weights. While the weight
assigned to any criteria maxed out at five a sensitivity analysis revealed how insensitive the
result was to the weight assigned to the FCC Licensing. The 2.4/5 Ghz spectrum only beat out
the whitespace once the weight assigned to that requirement passed twenty – four times the
allotted maximum for each score. This factor was a source of confidence in the decision to
settle on the TV-whitespace as the preferred technology for delivering rural broadband to this
community.

First and Second Level Requirements

The technical requirements for our system were categorized into two categories. The first
category is the first level design requirements which consists of a general criterion which was
presented during the SCR. These top level requirements included a design of a wireless
broadband system for the people living in Georges Valley, the system should be safe, inexpensive,
feasible, and stable, the system should be easily maintainable, the system should withstand harsh
weather conditions of the area, and the system should be able to stream videos, make video
calls, and browse the internet.

The first level design requirements then flowed down to the second level design requirements
which are more specific. These requirements included a frequency range of 470- 790MHz in order
to make us of TV White Space, the system provided a minimum bandwidth of 10Mbps per
household, the latency of the system ranged from 24-35ms, the system has to be implemented
in approximately 200 households. These requirements will ensure the satisfaction of our
customers.

TV White Space Competitive Analysis

A competitive analysis was conducted with different manufactures in order to see how Carlson
Gen 3 ranked against the other companies. It was evident, as seen in table 2, that Carlson Gen 3
was the best TV White Space manufacture because it provided the highest bandwidth, longest
range, and the lowest customer premise equipment price.

Bonding Including
Manufactures Range Max Mbps GPS CPE Price
Channels Antennas
Carlson Gen 2 14 km No 16 Mbps No Yes $400
Carlson Gen 3 14 km Yes 60 Mbps Yes Yes $250
KTS 8 km No 3 Mbps No Yes $900
Adaptrum 10 km No 14 Mbps No No $800
6harmonics 6 km No 12 Mbps No No $800
Redline 8 km No 20 Mbps Yes Yes $2000+
Table 11: TV White Space Competitive Analysis
Equipment Selection
Carlson Wireless Technology provides the RuralConnect Gen 3 equipment, shown in figure 10,
for use of TV White Space in order to deliver broadband to its customers. The reason that our
system uses this equipment is due to several reasons. The first reason is that it covers a non-
line-of-sight radius approximately 10 to 40 kilometers. The RuralConnect Gen 3 provides
exceptional throughput and low latency for video streaming, voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP), and Over-the-top (OTT) TV. This equipment can serve up to 90 broadband subscribers
on a single base station. A major reason this equipment was chosen, was because it had a more
affordable build out than fiber, fixed LTE, or other TV White Space equipment.

Figure 10: RuralConnect Gen 3 Equipment

Technical System Architecture

With the equipment chosen, the technical team developed the system architecture based on
the RuralConnect Gen 3 as illustrated in Figure 11. The system architecture captures the two
main components of the system, which are the base station(tower) and the client with will be
connected by TV white space signal (UHF 470 – 698 MHz). Subsequently, the concept of
operation of the system was developed utilizing the chosen equipment as illustrated in Figure
12.
 Figure 11: Technical System Architecture

Technical Concept of Operation of the TV White Space Solution

Figure 12: Technical Concept of Operations

Environmental Site Planning

Tower Structure
The intended tower of use is currently the property of SpectraSite Communications which is
owned by American Towers and is one of the largest tower operators in North America.

Figure 13: Free-Standing Lattice Tower on Kohler Valley

The structure is located on Kohler valley with an elevation level of 418.9 meters making the base
of the tower safe from floods. As it can be seen in the picture above, the tower is a free-standing
lattice structure with a height of 82.3 meters, which is above the average range of 45 to 76
meters.
There are already 3 active cell sites out of the 5 cell arrays present on the structure. However,
the base stations of the RuralConnect are able to be grouped with the equipment from other
service providers onto the same tower array. A horizontal separation would have to be
maintained in which 60 decibels of isolation between the TV white space and neighboring
antennas is achieved which is assumed to be a maximum of 40 centimeters. Installation of the
equipment is simple as just one base station and antenna will be needed per setup. The base
station is also designed to be installed onto a 1 to 2-inch-long vertical mast, which is something
that the tower provides on each array. Additionally, due to the tower’s elevated height and line
of sight, the residents of Georges valley would experience minimal signal interference.
The CPE client units are installed similarly to the base stations on a 1 to 2-inch-long vertical mast
except at the client’s place of residence.

Environmental System Requirements

Eventually, the decision was made to move along with the idea of using TV whitespace to provide
wireless service to the residents of Georges’ Valley. The RuralConnect Gen 3 was decided by the
environmental site planning group and the rest of the team to be the system utilized due to it
meeting the most requirements. The environmental site planning team was in agreement with
the selection of this technology as it also met the requirements set by the subgroup. The
requirements that the team came up with can be seen in the list below.

1. System must be resistant to corrosion from rain and snow.

2. System must not be impacted by temperatures of –20 °F to 102°F.
3. System must not experience or cause structural damage by winds of 68 mph.
4. System must not be resistant to UV radiation.
5. System must be operational in humidity levels of up to 95%.
6. Tower structure must not experience plastic deformation or fail due to wind loading and
dead loading from the equipment installed.
7. Equipment and structural damage from tornadoes should be minimized.
8. Signal interference from environmental obstacles should be minimized.
9. System should not experience damage from floods.
10. System should experience little to no damage from thunderstorms.
11. System should experience no operational damage from hail.
12. System should experience no damage from heavy snow.
13. System should experience little to no damage from winter storms.

The RuralConnect Gen 3 base station and CPE unit are covered in anodized aluminum. It involves
a controlled oxidation process of aluminum creating a surface that is three times harder than
aluminum. Because no coatings are involved, the surface will not chip, flake or peel, even when
processed to add color. And also, the anode electrodes formed by the anodizing causes the
surface to not rust, patina, or weather. This makes these stations resistant to corrosion from rain,
acidic rain, snow, ice, and UV radiation.

Both stations are operational at humidity levels of up to 95% and temperatures of –86 °F to 131
°F. They are also able to operate in rain and snow as they are tightly enclosed to not allow water
in.

The base station weighs 6 pounds which along with the number of units intended to be installed
should make up for a maximum total additional weight of 30 pounds to the tower structure. Due
to the ability of the lattice tower to support 5 cell sites, the small additional weight of these base
stations will provide very little extra wind loading compared to the average weight of other cell
sites used for wireless service.

The equipment and tower structure would not experience damage from floods as the free-
standing tower is located at an elevated height of 418.9 meters on a downhill valley making the
base of the tower safe from floods. Due to the tower’s great elevation height, the TV white space
equipment has a great line of sight to the residents of Georges’ Valley with very little to no signal
interference from trees around the tower.

The base station and client station are operational in severe weather conditions as they have
followed Environmental Engineering Considerations and Laboratory Tests (MIL-STD-810). This is
a U.S Military Standard that emphasizes tailoring an equipment's environmental design and test
limits to conditions that it will experience in its service life. For this specific equipment, test
methods for shocks and vibrations were utilized to ensure the continued operational capability
of the stations in the severe weather conditions mentioned in the requirements. This maximizes
the equipment’s maintainability in conditions such as thunderstorms, hail, heavy snows and
winter storms. Part of this is due to the stations’ anodic layer of anodized aluminum providing
impact toughness and three times the hardness of raw aluminum.

Lastly, the TV white space equipment is able to experience no damage from lightning as the
electronics inside the stations are tightly sealed and enclosed by highly electrical insulating
material.

These strengths make the RuralConnect a simple system to install with very few installment
accommodations needed and no additional protective equipment necessary for the TV white
space equipment.

Environmental Concept of Operations

The concept of operation is displayed below for the environmental-site-planning team. It defines
the steps in the process of ensuring that the system is not affected by tower location or weather.
The four main steps of the process include site planning, equipment installation, operation, and
maintenance. The earlier phases of the system started with site planning and exploring the area
of George’s Valley with respect to weather and terrain. This would then lead to equipment
preparation and installation and then operation. Plans are created for monitoring the tower
structure as well as the equipment while the weather impact prevention is reviewed and
understood. A maintenance plan is then created for structures and equipment along with the
testing of the maintenance response. The maintenance response test is repeated as necessary to
ensure that the tower and equipment remain unaffected by location or weather in George’s
Valley.
 Figure 14: Environmental Site Planning Concept of Operation

Structural maintenance will be provided by the owner of the tower (American Tower’s) while
equipment maintenance will be provided by the service provider. Maintenance is further
discussed in the use cases section below.

Use Cases
1. Technical Repair and Grievance Redressal

The ‘Technical Repair and Grievance Redressal’ use case (shown Fig. 14) peeks into how a typical
troubleshooting session initiated from the client end would proceed. Given the niche technology
we are intending to implement in a remote area like Georges Valley, we have taken into account
the possibility of increased client-side grievances based on the technology and proposed a flow
that can help smoothen those problems out.
 Figure 15: Repair and Grievance Redressal Use Case

2. Tower Maintenance

Tower Maintenance is another key issue that the technical team took precedence in developing
an understanding for. We proposed that we intend to use the currently available tower presently
situated at the edge of the valley. Given that this tower already supports cellphone reception,
adding instrument that enables high-speed internet availability in the entire valley makes it all
the more critical and its maintenance equally more important. The proposed use case follows
general tower maintenance guidelines that help increase the tower life-time.
 Figure 16: Tower Maintenance Use Case

3. Initiation of Service

Given the lack of connectivity in Georges’ Valley it may not be feasible for users to call to initiate
service, therefor multiple avenues for initiating service were drafted as an important use case.
We proposed looking into either working closely with the local municipality or setting up a public
facing office for handling customer interactions where they may have limited access to a cellular
network.
 Figure 17: Initiation of Service Use Case

Risk Assessment

The design team acknowledges the risk inherent in the design decision of leveraging the TV
Whitespace is the ability to secure the necessary approval from the FCC. The Pugh matrix used in
analyzing this decision fails to capture the impact of not being able to secure this spectrum. If the
team is unable to secure the spectrum the next best solution would become the conventional
2.4 and 5 GHz frequencies. Such a change would unfortunately alter the calculus of the cost of
service where the team might be required to seek a partnership with the local municipality to
subsidize the cost and make it affordable for the residents.

Another risk is in the adoption rate for the new service. George’s Valley has a significant Amish
population which are unlikely to buy-into this infrastructure. Others may have limited adoption
due to lack of perceived need or interest due to varying demographics in the area.

Conclusion
The system presented here is designed to provide broadband internet to George’s Valley at an
affordable price by creating a TV white space solution along with a business entity to maintain it.
The TV white space solution will eliminate the need of constructing new towers which drastically
increases both the cost of starting and maintaining the system. The TV white space transmitters
and receivers will be able to traverse the challenging terrain with non-line of sight transmitting
allowing it to be mounted on an existing tower. The business entity would then interface with
the customers by providing the service to them for a monthly cost along with the tower owner
to rent space, the fiber owner to rent the use of the fiber optic cable the tower already has access
to. The business would also interface with the FCC or the spectrum owner to gain access to the
needed spectrum for the TV white space solution.