Using computer programming, mere zeroes and ones, Bentley Systems has helped to build some really big things in the infrastructure space. Take, for example, the Sea-Tac Airport International arrivals facility in Washington State, Melbourne Rectangular Stadium in Australia, and the Gordie Howe International Bridge between Detroit, MI and Canada. You can add to that thousands of cell towers.
Due to the ever-increasing demand for data along with reliable connections, telecom owners are increasingly trying to digitize their workflow to accurately understand available spaces, estimate tower ratings for proposed loading, understand defects and more importantly updating their inventory with as-built information. The current process is manual, labor intensive, and expensive. As telecom infrastructure is now shared by multiple mobile network operators and as tower owners are adopting to 5G evolution, one major telecom company in India looked to its geospatial partner,
Bentley Acceleration Initiatives today announced the availability of OpenTower® iQ, a digital twin solution “powered by iTwin” for telecom towers that provides 3D visualization, real-time decision support, and predictive design from the ground up. OpenTower iQ is the result of a digital co-venture between Bentley and Visual Intelligence, a Houston, Texas-based sensor technology company, and Aeroprotechnik, an aerial inspection engineering company based in Viseu, Portugal.
OpenTower iQ is a newer division in Bentley to focus our digital twin offerings in the telecom sector. I help to manage this group. Bentley’s digital twin platform, known as iTwin is offered as a PaaS (platform as a service) solution allowing our users and partners to develop and customize products to suit their needs and requirements.
OpenTower iQ has been steadily transforming how the telecommunications industry handles tower management, but the digital twin solution didn’t start its life as the best-in-category leader it is today. Hear from Apurba Tribedi, Senior Director of Tower Products at Bentley Systems, about how OpenTower iQ became a powerhouse solution.
Telecom industry’s transition to fifth-generation technology (5G) along with digitization of its infrastructure for 3D representation, document management, and colocation analysis will lead to the creation of smart cities that will revolutionize everyday lives.
With the advancement of 4G and build-out of the 5G network occurring at about the same point in time for multiple carriers—and a significant percentage of carrier capital expenditure going toward micro cell sites to help densify urban population centers at the forefront of the industry— the macro telecommunications engineering industry has been shifting to cost sharing and thereby optimizing contracts between major carriers and tower owners.