Typical project · Quebec and Ontario
Mobile coverage for two levels of underground parking
These are typical projects, described from the kind of work we do. They do not describe a named client or a specific building.
At the bottom of the ramp the phones go silent: no calls, no payment app, no way to reach the superintendent. This is how coverage is measured, designed and brought down to the levels below ground.
The situation: two levels below ground where no phone works
The client is the company that manages a building with two levels of underground parking. As soon as a car passes the bottom of the ramp, mobile phones lose their signal. Tenants cannot call from their car, visitors cannot open the app that pays for parking, and a driver facing a garage door that will not open has no way to reach anyone.
The staff are affected too: the superintendent misses calls while working in the mechanical rooms, and contractors go back up to the street to phone their office. The manager has received complaints for years and has been told, more than once, that nothing can be done about concrete.
What the first visit, phone in hand, finds
- A usable signal on the roofOn the roof, the signal of the main carriers is strong and steady. That is the first condition: a system can only bring down a signal that exists outside.
- Nothing below the rampThe measurements fall off a few steps past the entrance and stay at nothing on both levels, in the stairwells and in the elevator lobbies.
- A long way from the roof to the garageThe only vertical path is a riser shared with other services. Its length decides the type of cable and where the amplification is placed.
- Concrete walls that divide the levelsRamps, structural walls and the mechanical rooms cut each level into several pockets. One antenna in the middle would leave half of the parking spaces uncovered.
What is designed, and why
The design follows the measurements, carrier by carrier, and is limited to the areas where coverage is missing.
- A donor antenna placed where the signal is cleanestThe antenna on the roof is aimed from the survey results, not from a map. Its position is chosen with the building manager, clear of the mechanical equipment and of the edges where it would be seen from the street.
- Amplification sized for the two levelsThe amplifier is chosen for the area to cover and for the carriers measured on the roof. It is placed in a locked room with power, where it can be reached for service.
- Indoor antennas for each pocketAntennas are laid out level by level so that the drive aisles, the stairwells, the elevator lobbies and the pay stations are covered, with the signal kept inside the garage.
- Cable routes that respect the buildingThe cable follows the existing riser and the ceiling of the garage, supported and labelled, and every opening made through a fire-rated wall or floor is sealed again.
- Room to extendThe layout leaves a connection for the storage level or the basement corridors, in case the manager wants them covered later.
How the work is sequenced in a garage that stays open
The garage is never closed. A few parking spaces are blocked at a time, and the manager knows which ones the day before.
- Survey and report
The signal is measured by carrier on the roof, then on a grid across both levels. The manager receives the readings on a plan, with the design that follows from them.
- Roof and riser
The donor antenna is mounted and the cable is brought down the riser to the equipment room, with the building staff opening the rooms along the way.
- One level at a time
The cable and the antennas of the upper level are installed first, a few parking spaces at a time, then those of the lower level.
- Switch-on and adjustment
The system is switched on, then the gain is adjusted so that the coverage is even across both levels.
- The same walk, a second time
The measurements of the first visit are repeated at the same points, and the before and the after are put side by side.
What is handed over
- The signal readings before and after, by carrier, on the plan of each level
- A drawing of the antenna positions and the cable routes
- The list of equipment, with its location and labels
- The settings of the amplifier as left at commissioning
- A short note for the building staff: what the indicator lights mean and whom to call
- The list of areas left out of the design and what covering them would involve
Services involved
Industry
Other typical projects
- Entry panel and fobs in an occupied rental building
- Cameras, alarm and a radio link on a construction site
- Low-voltage package of a new mixed-use building
- Wi-Fi and dock cameras in a warehouse that never closes
- A cut fibre backbone repaired and re-certified
- Leak detection with shut-off by riser in a condo building
- An office move on a fixed date: cabling, Wi-Fi, doors and phones
- Analogue cameras replaced by IP cameras across a group of stores
- Access control for an office building with several tenants
- Licence plate recognition at the gate of a logistics yard
- Audio and video for the meeting rooms of an office
- A network put back in order after a security incident
- An old alarm system replaced in a store with offices and a stockroom
A project like this starts with a signal survey
Tell us which levels and which carriers are the problem, and whether there is access to the roof. We measure outside and inside, then send the readings with a quote for the areas you want covered. We reply in English or French.