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Invitation for Participation

GR-43-CORE
Generic Requirements for Telecommunications Huts, Issue 2

GR-43 was designed to address Telecommunications Huts, and the stated requirements intended to provide a suitable environment for communications company electronic equipment that is housed in above ground, prefabricated structures.

Telcordia proposes that a new issue of GR-43 be developed to support the increasing demand for weather-resistant, energy efficient, physically robust shelters and structures to protect the increasingly complex and expensive electronic, opt-electronic, optical and wireless equipment deployed in remote and harsh OSP locations. The placement of such sensitive switching units, interconnection and active transmitting/receiving equipment in these remote shelters requires that the internal environment of Huts be well maintained to achieve the expected and necessary performance of individual pieces of equipment and the network.

The major concerns intended to be addressed in this GR-43 update will include:

1. Add energy efficiency criteria and factors in hut design consideration with particular attention directed at the options and choices of exterior coatings, materials, and wall design to
   • Limit solar heating of structure and interior
   • Increase fire resistance
   • Improve aesthetics to address local community concerns
   • Resist particulate (sand and dust) and gaseous pollution stresses.

   These additions will include criteria for retrofitting exterior coating and walls to existing installed huts. Factors pertaining to energy efficiency of internal equipment inside the hut will be covered in a re-issue of GR-3108, Generic Requirements for Network Equipment in the Outside Plant (OSP), planned for 2012.

2. Add structural integrity and material design criteria to both walls and roofs to incorporate the applicable building codes requirements and expected severe weather conditions for given sites. We anticipate developing a 2- or possibly 3-tier system hut design to cover Standard-Moderate-Severe locales. The distinction between different locales would be based on occurrence frequency of hurricanes, tornados, lighting storms, floods, etc. New functional performance criteria to cover these circumstances would include resistance to
   • Hurricane — Wind and rain stress
   • Flood and water ingress
   • Impact damage from flotsam (floods) or flying debris (wind storms).
3. Design factors to facilitate expansion of huts as increasing demands for more equipment occurs deeper into the local loop to support wireless, FTTx and other broadband architectures. For example, standard sizes and mechanical design criteria will be added to allow cost effective and modular expansion of a "standard hut" to become a "super-sized" hut, while maintaining structural integrity and mechanical robustness.
4. Add a new section for "huts that serve wireless facilities" to explicitly elucidate specific additional or special criteria for wireless nodes and facilities to address
   • Increased need for EMC protection in vicinity of cell tower sites — huts located beneath towers with the cable connections going up towers needing protection against lightning and GPR (Ground Potential Rise) incidents.
   • Entry facilities — physical protection and EMI/EMC isolation
   • Coordination with the new GR-3171, Generic Requirements for OSP Network Elements Used in Wireless Networks — Physical Layer Criteria.

The Value of Participation

Since GR-43 was first released in October 1996, there is a greater need to protect today's expensive and sophisticated electronic equipment from the outdoor elements, and to address wireless-related requirements. As a participating company, you will be able to contribute changes to the existing generic requirements and develop new requirements. Participants will also have the opportunity to influence the best practices and performance test procedures and the overall technical content of GR-43, Issue 2.

Telcordia Invites Your Participation

Pursuant to provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, related to the development of industry-wide generic requirements, Telcordia invites all interested parties to participate in the development of this new GR. If your company is interested in participating in this activity, please contact Telcordia. The resulting document will only be available through the purchase of an Enterprise License. Such a license is provided under the participation fee for this project.

To proceed with this new GR, it is expected that Telcordia will need at least five industry participants. While the project can proceed with fewer participants, the scope of work may need to be scaled back accordingly. Participating industry members will be apprised regularly of project status and change in scope.

A preliminary conference call for all interested participants in this GR development project is scheduled for December 2011, at which time project details and status will be discussed. Please contact the project manager above for conference call details. If this date is not convenient, one-on-one discussions can be arranged with the project manager.