---
title: "Field services, explained | Nexus Observatory"
description: "Interactive explainer: field services in 3D, chapter by chapter: seven stages, one site, decades apart, the truck takes the cheapest way up…"
url: https://observatory.global/field-services/explainer/
publisher: Nexus Observatory Inc.
updated: 2026-10-28
---

**Pier stakes** *· three legs, 3.4 m face* 

**GNSS base** *· pier positions* 

**Survey drone** *· terrain model* 

**25.2 m** *· lattice to 18 m, straight above* 

**Radios and backhaul** 

**Lines swept, links proven** 

**Three sectors in service** 

**Radios swapped** *· steel stays* 

**Footprint restored** *· piers removed below grade* 

**Crew truck** 

**Survey** *· year 0* 

**Year 20** *· removal* 

**Year 0** *· in service* 

**Needs 1.8 m** 

**Ground** *· 6.5 m below the feet* 

**Stock 3** *· covers 95 % of lead times* 

**Fleet** *· red units are down* 

**Failures in one lead time** *· Poisson* 

**Fibre to the hub** 

**Cabinet** *· sweep and power* 

**Lattice steel** *· recycle* 

**Concrete piers** *· recycle* 

**LFP battery packs** *· recycle* 

**Equipment cabinet** *· reuse* 

**Hybrid trunk cable** *· recycle* 

**Radios** *· reuse* 

**Depot** *· 1,523 m, valley floor* 

**Depot** 

**Crew truck** 

**Site A** *· 2,727 m* 

**Site B** *· 2,636 m* 

**Site C** *· 2,520 m* 

01

02

03

04

05

06

07

Intro.

Field services · Explainer

# One site, from survey stake to final truckload.

A remote site is built, proven, kept running and finally taken away by people in trucks and on ladders. Seven steps of that work, each worked live: the lifecycle, the crew's route, the radio survey, the climb, the acceptance test, the spares that keep a fleet running and the ledger that closes the site. Every number below is computed live from your inputs.

**01** Site lifecycle

**02** Crew route

**03** RF survey

**04** Tower climb

**05** Acceptance test

**06** Repair time and spares

**07** Decommission ledger

**01** · Site lifecycle

## Seven stages, one site, decades apart.

Survey fixes where the foundations go and what the ground will carry. Design turns that into drawings and a structural check. Install and commission happen in weeks; operation lasts as long as the structure and the power hold, broken by planned refurbishments; decommissioning returns the ground. Planned attendances are the three build visits, the preventive visits over the service life, each refurbishment and the final removal.

Stage

Survey: a GNSS base fixes the pier positions to the centimetre, a drone flies the parcel for a terrain model and test pits tell the designer what the ground will bear.

**Preventive visits over the life**: 40
**Refurbishments**: 2
**Planned site attendances**: 46

**02** · Crew route

## The truck takes the cheapest way up, not the shortest.

On the Bow Valley elevation model the route is a least-cost path from the valley-floor depot: each step costs its surface length weighted by 1 + 10g², where g is the grade, and steps steeper than the limit are not allowed. Lower the limit and the route lengthens, switches back or stops short of the ridge.

Site

Average speed

**Route length**: 25.7 km
**Total climb**: 1,364 m
**Steepest step on the route**: 13.6 %
**Straight-line distance**: 12.5 km
**Drive time, one way**: 0 h 51 min

**03** · RF survey along the route

## Free space sets the floor. The ridge decides the rest.

The survey walks the access route and predicts the signal from the mast at every step. Free-space loss is 20 log10(d km) + 20 log10(f MHz) + 32.44 dB. Each path is checked against the terrain with the Earth bulge for k = 4/3; where a ridge cuts into Fresnel zone 1, the worst obstacle is treated as a knife edge, ν = h√(2(d₁+d₂)/(λd₁d₂)), with loss 6.9 + 20 log10(√((ν−0.1)²+1) + ν − 0.1) dB. Points below −100 dBm turn red.

Frequency

**Surveyor distance**: –
**Free-space loss**: –
**Worst obstruction loss**: –
**Predicted level**: –
**Route above −100 dBm**: 100 %

**04** · Tower climb

## A fall arrest only works if there is room to stop.

Clearance needed below the feet is the free fall, plus the arrest distance, plus about 0.3 m of harness stretch and D-ring shift, plus a 0.6 m margin. The runner on a rigid ladder rail lets the climber drop about 0.3 m and stops within about 0.6 m. A 1.8 m energy-absorbing lanyard falls its own length plus the drop from anchor to D-ring, about 1.5 m above the feet, and its absorber may extend up to about 1.2 m. Low on the ladder, or just above a platform, a lanyard tied at the feet cannot stop a fall in time.

Fall-arrest system

- Permit, rescue plan, radios locked out ground
- Runner on the rail before climbing 0.3 m
- Rest platform 9 m
- Rest platform 17 m
- Through the hatch, tied off before leaving the rail 24 m

**Free fall**: 0.3 m
**Clearance needed below the feet**: 1.8 m
**Clearance available**: 6.5 m
**Verdict**: Arrest stops in time

**05** · Acceptance test

## Commissioning ends when every line of the checklist passes.

The antenna line is swept for reflections: with reflection coefficient Γ = (VSWR − 1)/(VSWR + 1), return loss is −20 log10Γ and mismatch loss is −10 log10(1 − Γ²); the line passes at 14 dB of return loss or better. The fibre passes when the optic's power budget exceeds 0.35 dB/km at 1310 nm, two connectors at 0.5 dB, a splice every 2 km at 0.1 dB and a 3 dB repair margin.

Optic power budget

Run the test

- Visual and torque inspection –
- Grounding and bonding –
- Antenna line sweep –
- Fibre link budget –
- Timing reference lock –
- Alarms reach operations –
- As-built record filed –

**Return loss · mismatch loss**: 19.1 dB · 0.05 dB
**Fibre loss · margin left**: 5.8 dB · 6.2 dB
**Result**: Not run

**06** · Repair time and spares

## Availability is bought with repair time and stock on the shelf.

A fleet of N units with mean time between failures MTBF fails N · 8760 / MTBF times a year. One unit is available MTBF / (MTBF + MTTR) of the time. Failures in a resupply lead time follow a Poisson distribution with mean N · lead time / MTBF, so the spares to hold are the smallest stock whose cumulative probability reaches the service level. Each bar in the scene is one stock level.

Service level

**Failures a year**: 10.5
**Unit availability**: 99.988 %
**Downtime per unit a year**: 63 min
**Mean failures in a lead time**: 1.30
**Spares to hold**: 3 · P(enough) 95.7 %

**07** · Decommission ledger

## Every tonne leaves the site with a destination.

The ledger weighs what comes down by class figures: about 120 kg of lattice steel per metre of a light three-leg tower, concrete piers at 2.4 t/m³ for three Ø1.0 m × 3 m piers, lithium iron phosphate packs at about 7 kg per kWh, 150 kg per equipment cabinet, and hybrid trunk cable at 0.6 kg per metre for six runs up the tower. Choose each line's destination; the diversion rate is reused plus recycled mass over total mass. Each block in the scene is half a tonne.

- Lattice steel · 3.0 t
- Concrete piers · 17.0 t
- LFP battery packs · 420 kg
- Equipment cabinet · 150 kg
- Hybrid trunk cable · 90 kg
- Radios, antennas, dishes · 240 kg

**Total removed**: 20.9 t
**Reused · recycled**: 20.9 t
**To disposal**: 0.0 t
**Diversion rate**: 100.0 %

[Nexus Observatory](https://observatory.global/)**Field services** . Survey to decommission, one accountable crew.[Talk to us](https://observatory.global/contact/)

Field services

- [Survey](https://observatory.global/field-services/survey/)
- [Install and commission](https://observatory.global/field-services/install-and-commission/)
- [Managed Site](https://observatory.global/field-services/managed-site-cell/)
- [Support](https://observatory.global/field-services/support/)
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- [Decommission](https://observatory.global/field-services/decommission/)

Technologies

- [Survey and site acquisition](https://observatory.global/technologies/field/survey-and-site-acquisition/)
- [Permitting and approvals](https://observatory.global/technologies/field/permitting-and-approvals/)

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- [Public safety](https://observatory.global/industries/public-safety/)
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