Digital Tools for Engineering Survey and Design of Communication Networks

To adapt to the rapid development of the global digital economy and speed up the construction of communication networks, engineering survey and design services are undergoing a digital and intelligent transformation. Relying on the self-developed digital delivery platform iEPMS, ZTE has launched the electronic technical site survey system (eTSS) to enhance the efficiency of survey and design services. This system provides digital and intelligent solutions for the rapid and high-quality delivery of communication network projects.

As the front-end of network delivery services, the accuracy and completeness of survey directly affect the implementation of design solutions. The traditional survey mode exhibits the following issues:

• Non-standard survey data entry: Incomplete survey data and poor photo quality often lead to rework, significantly affecting both project execution efficiency and the implementation of back-end solutions.
• Long survey report submission period: In the traditional survey mode, after completion of the survey, the technical site survey report (TSSR) needs to be manually created based on survey information, resulting in low production efficiency and delayed submission.
• Low efficiency in review management: In the traditional approach, survey reports are typically submitted offline for review. Communication regarding survey progress often relies on emails or phone calls, which is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and results in high management costs.

ZTE’s eTSS system focuses on the above-mentioned pain points, achieving full-process digital and intelligent management.

• Full process online handling: The eTSS system achieves full-process online digitization of survey and design services, from creating survey fields to submitting survey technical reports. It effectively addresses the issue of real-time visibility for site survey task status and report submissions, supporting collaborative and visual management of survey and design services for customers, partners, and ZTE.
• Efficient task management: The eTSS system supports data synchronization and interaction between apps and the web client. Survey and design tasks can be edited online, while task reporting and approval can be viewed and managed in real time. Task-related report data can be output with a single click, and information is displayed in multiple dimensions, improving the efficiency of managing survey and design tasks.
• Easy operation: The eTSS system features a simple and intuitive interface with a clear function layout, reducing user cognitive load. The operation environment is simple and convenient. Partners can complete individual sit survey tasks using the mobile APP, thereby lowering the required level of professional expertise for personnel.  
• Multi-account collaboration for efficiency improvement: The eTSS system provides multi-account collaboration and allows task assistants to be added as needed for site survey tasks. It simultaneously processes data provided by both the responsible person and assisting personnel to improve on-site operational efficiency.
• Invoking historical data: The eTSS system supports the invocation of historical data, so that site historical data from previous projects can be fully utilized in subsequent ones. When surveying the same site in later projects, surveyors only need to check for updates in the historical data instead of conducting the survey again. This functionality reduces on-site workload and enhances the efficiency of survey tasks.
• Automatic report output: The person in charge of a site survey task can collect data via the mobile app and generate structured TSSR documents with a single click. This function shortens the time required to produce site survey reports, greatly improves TSSR submission efficiency, and facilitates efficient approval and acceptance of survey documents.

At present, ZTE’s eTSS system has been successfully applied in over 120 projects worldwide (Fig. 1). By the first quarter of 2024, it had processed nearly 15,000 survey documents. In an Asian country’s network delivery project, the cycle from survey completion to report submission was shortened from an average of 8.9 days to about 2.5 days, increasing the efficiency by 72%. In an African project, a partner uses a single mobile phone to complete all survey and report submission tasks without requiring additional manpower for offline survey reports. This significantly enhances partner on-site survey efficiency and effectively supports efficient network delivery.

In the future, ZTE will continue to explore the field of electronic engineering surveys. With advanced AI technologies, ZTE will closely integrate survey and design scenarios with AI models to promote the automation and intelligence of survey and design services. This will enable efficient delivery of communications network projects and foster collaboration with partners to create greater value for customers.