[Hefei, China, July 29, 2022] China Mobile Anhui, Huawei MBB Automation Engine (MAE) and Huawei Customer Support (CS) launched the Intelligent AR Site Inspection solution. So far, this solution has been applied at scale in Hefei, Wuhu, and two other cities in Anhui province. It has been used more than 10,000 times in three months to check nearly 1,000 equipment rooms, improving inspection efficiency by 50%. China Mobile Anhui is now looking to bring this solution to even more cities across the province.
Mobile communications network is the information infrastructure of this generation. In order to ensure stable mobile communications network operation, operators must carry out regular inspections of equipment rooms and other site resources. Traditional inspections, however, are labor-intensive and costly. Operators have to find intelligent solutions to improve efficiency and quality while reducing costs.
Towards this goal, China Mobile Anhui takes the lead in innovating site inspection. With the help of Huawei MAE and CS teams, it combines intelligent algorithms with AR and expert experience to develop the Intelligent AR Site Inspection solution. MAE digitizes and learns the CS Team’s experience from routine inspections through intelligent algorithms to constantly optimize inspection models. This, in turn, enables intelligent problem identification, fault association analysis, and intelligent decision-making, providing the following benefits:
- Automatic equipment room inspection using image recognition: Inspection covers 25 items across 11 categories, such as door locks, batteries, grounding, and surge protection. It can identify nine types of problems, such as rusty batteries, abnormal temperature displays, and expired warranties. Voice alarms and a visual display help engineers quickly and accurately collect photos, increasing inspection efficiency and making sure all inspection items are checked.
- Proactive risk rectification using knowledge-graphs: Inspection personnel check for abnormal equipment and performance alarms by following inspection rules. If there are issues, personnel can refer to MAE’s online knowledge-graphs or easily contact experts of the Network Operation Center (NOC) who can view images transmitted from AR devices in real time and give accurate instructions to solve problems. This greatly improves equipment room inspection and problem handling efficiency.
Operation interface of Intelligent AR Site Inspection
China Mobile Anhui connects Intelligent AR Site Inspection to a third-party system for outsourced maintenance and brings the application online, turning site inspection and review into an online, automatic, and intelligent process with a 50% higher efficiency and an 80% accuracy. Labor costs are greatly reduced, with an estimated cost saving of millions of CNY per year.
Commenting on the success, Ma Hongbo, President of Huawei Wireless MAE Product Line, said: “We will continue to enhance MAE intelligent inspection capabilities, and our goal is to bring it to 85% of Anhui site inspection items and improve the accuracy to over 90% by the end of the year. We will broaden and deepen cooperation with our partners in network intelligence to build a benchmark for autonomous networks.”
Huawei MAE will continue to drive digitalization and sustainable development across the mobile industry through continuous innovation and industry exploration.
