Usability analysis of a telecom Remote Radio Unit and development of mounting equipment : -to facilitate the installation and to reduce errors and time required

Abstract: Mechanical Design Mast & Wall Mounted Enclosures is one out of five units within Ericsson AB, Network and Enclosure Solutions. The department develops mast and wall mounted products for Radio Base Stations and is responsible for the Remote Radio Unit (RRU), one out of two main units in a main remote radio base configuration. The RRU is designed to be located near the antenna to reduce feeder loss and power use. There are high demands for mast and wall mounted telecommunications products and the handling and installation of the products are key features to meet technical requirements. These operations are not always so intuitive why the product documentation is very important information. Occasionally these instructions are not fully followed. The aim of the master thesis was to analyze how the design of an RRU and the mounting equipment affects the handling and installation of the product, and show that by designing for usability enhance the intuitive sense of how to perform the installation. The thesis follows a user centered design (UCD) process, including four main steps; specify the context of use, specify requirements, create design solutions and evaluate designs , which keep the user in focus through the whole work. The first two steps were done by information gathering and a usability analysis of the RRU. This part contained the handling and installation of the whole RRU, while the development part would only focus on the mounting equipment. Recommendations for future design of RRU‟s regarding usability aspects have been documented. Based on the analysis requirements for the development phase was set up. The most prominent requirements were to design a solution that did not contain loose details such as nuts and bolts, and that it had to be backward compatible to fit elder models. A mounting equipment design was developed and a prototype was produced in order to evaluate the design. Feedback on the design was collected from a usability practice with Ericsson engineers. The final solution of the new mounting equipment is designed to use the same components for both mast- and wall configurations. The design consists of three main components which are all used for mast mounting and where two of the components are used for wall mounting. The design depends on the manufacturing possibilities of extruded aluminum and bent stainless steel as well as on the usability requirements. The final design solution have been documented in this report and submitted in CAD-files to Ericsson.