We are still in the process of implementing CBRS. I wanted to reach out to other WISPs in the community to find out what your processes are? It seems that we are in an area that requires CPAS for every link. This is very difficult, and inefficient.
We have discussed importing a potential turn up with Cambium, and the suggestion was to request authorization a day prior to the install because CPAS runs at night.
However, what if you do not know which sector the new customer will be on? We have multiple towers. Sometimes there will be 3 or 4 options, depending on trees and other restrictions.
Also, for a trouble ticket, the tech will not know if the radio will need to be changed until the tech diagnoses the issue. So if there is an SM swap, we can’t even peak it in until authorized by the SAS. What are we supposed to do? Make two trips to the customer’s location?
I’m curious, do you require to wait for CPAS even when operating in the GAA? My first couple APs I moved over to CBRS, I too had to wait for CPAS before getting authorization, but I was selecting frequencies outside of GAA since they were not in use yet. I just found that if the AP channel falls in GAA then I get approval pretty quickly.
I too have been toying with this situation and almost think its going to require a 2 visit setup for customers. Or pay the price for cnHeat and LiDAR data to see if that is able to help us verify installs before visits.
The answer to this question (like so many others) is “It depends”… many sites will not require CPAS to happen, and the SAS can issue a grant immediately upon request. However, there may be locations nearby an incumbent (FSS or grandfathered protection zone) where the new radio may potentially cause interference, therefore CPAS must be completed.
Cambium provides tools within cnMaestro that can alleviate the need to visit a site twice, and ensure that waiting for the grant is not a factor in deploying new SMs on a given sector. This does become a bit more complicated when multiple sectors are all viable options at a given subscriber location. As noted, cnHeat may be a valuable tool in determining which sector has the best chance to work, prior to actual deployment.
Regarding alignment of a new installation, this is allowed under the rules even if the devices is not granted. User traffic is not passed, but alignment and even link tests can be performed.
it’s going to be different based on what’s around you. We are in an area that is under DPA and have grandfathered wireless sites nearby we have only had CPAS happen once. After the sector was initialized we have not had to go through CPAS again when adding clients to the sector.
If you are needing CPAS for each CBSD you could always request multiple grants one for each sector you would have to have a different radio for each sector. the downside is this requires more hardware on hand and incurs a little extra cost for SAS devices but this would avoid the two trips.
Right now we just go to the site and figure out what corner of the house, plug it in to cnMaestro, and then hit go. It takes a couple of minutes to get total.
It would be really nice to be able to just point it at the AP and with the ICC use the alignment tool, even though it won’t get past the AP, we can at least get an RSSI and link test.
I was corrected, and apologize, but I made an error in my statement above.
The radio must be in session in order for the alignment tone and link test to work. The normal procedure for deployment is the following:
Decide on the AP the radio will connect to (unfortunately, at this time, if you don’t choose one, this process won’t work, we are investigating some options, but they would be future enhancements).
Input the CPI data into the CBRS Tool in cnMaestro
Once the grant is obtained for that SM (whether immediately or the following day after CPAS if needed), then proceed to deployment