You might be one of the lucky ones to get to enjoy the summer without checking your emails too often, but back here at CloseOut we have been working hard to develop new AI modules and other functionalities, so our app and your fieldwork operations are ready in time for back-to-work season.
Our development team pushed hard to meet the needs of our growing list of clients, all eager for their custom-tailored CloseOut solutions.
We are more than proud to showcase what we have developed during the summer months. Every upgrade we have developed has been the result of fruitful cooperation with one of our clients – old or new – and is a proven necessity for reaching sky high standards in the universe of Quality Management.
Let us dive into what’s new at CloseOut and how our summer was spent!
AI MODULES
STB detection
STB stands for Set-Top Box, a device used to receive and decode digital signals to display content on a television. It allows televisions that don’t have built-in digital capabilities to access and display digital broadcasts, cable TV, satellite TV, or IPTV. Some STBs also offer smart features like internet browsing, streaming services, and video recording.
In the telecom industry, STBs are widely used to manage content delivery for services like digital TV and streaming, turning a regular TV into an interactive entertainment system.
Our AI detects the lights on the front side of the Set-Top Box, checks if everything is working properly, and validates and approves STB installation.
ONT detection
ONT (Optical Network Terminal) is a device used in fiber-optic networks, located at the customer’s premises. It converts the fiber-optic signal from the service provider into an electrical signal that can be used by devices like computers and TVs. It’s key in Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) setups and connects to a router to provide internet, voice, and TV services.
Our AI module once again does its job by detecting the blinking lights on the ONT device. If the lights are present, AI will realize the signal is good, and the picture will be validated.
Attenuation detection
Our AI assistant works with an optical power meter as well. It can check the signal quality and level on the user’s ONT device and determine if it exceeds the reference value reject limit.
We made an educational short movie about this AI module and would like to invite you to take a look at it!
Trench depth detection
Since different trench depths are needed depending on the situation on the field, we made sure all the options are covered and developed AI modules for each of them: 0.6, 0.8, 0.9, 1, 1.2 and 1.4 meters of depth.
Each depth has its own AI module which uses photograph of a trench with a meter in it to decide if the depth is optimal and the picture validated.
It’s extremely valuable as proof that the cable was installed on the right depth.
Serial number detection
This AI module is fully developed and just around the corner from being released. It works by taking a picture of any device or object with its belonging serial number. Our AI then recognizes, analyses and reverts to the user the full serial number, which is ready to be used in any needed way.
Getting to know the exact serial number of any piece of equipment is extremely useful, since it gives you the exact information about which device has been taken from the warehouse, which router has been installed in a certain home and which Set-Top Box has been sent for repair.
Acting like unique fingerprints, serial numbers are a great way to keep track of every part of your inventory.
Opened access termination box
An Opened Access Termination Box is a type of termination point in a fiber-optic network where multiple customer connections or service lines converge. It serves as an interface between the fiber-optic provider’s network and the customer’s premises, allowing access for technicians to manage connections and perform maintenance.
Since this piece of equipment is found in buildings, we want to make sure it’s properly fastened to the wall. Technicians would take pictures of the box, and CloseOut AI would analyze it and look for the two screws supposed to keep it fixed to the wall. If found, the picture will be validated.
This feature is in development, soon to be ready to go live.
FUNCTIONALITIES
Milestones
CloseOut’s revolutionary Project Management feature, crafted from our deep expertise in Quality Management, is live! Milestones are unlike any other Project Management feature because they come directly from the Quality Management perspective and are thoroughly thought through and tested on-site from a quality paradigm.
Adding a milestone to a CloseOut workflow structure, or even more precise – to a selected folder or subfolder – is allowing us to follow through the process on a site represented in that specific folder. Once the work represented in the folder is done, the milestone assigned to it will be archived and completed.
We can also represent the progress on site with percentages, so when a certain milestone is achieved, we can mark the site progress as, let us say, 50% completed.
Even more important, we can now add a target date to a site and have a clear goal for when a milestone should be completed.
So, this is what you can do if you use Milestones. You assign a milestone (or how many you need) to a site, you name it as you wish, and you add a target date for that specific site related milestone, which you are going to follow in the operation phase. Now your progress is being marked in percentages, depending on the job being done on the site.
And of course, you can export your plan with all the milestones assigned whenever you wish.
Offline phase II – checklists
Many of the CloseOut functionalities are developed so our customers can manage their remote sites. Often, internet connection is limited on such distant locations. CloseOut allows you to access your schedule on your mobile phone app and see where your shift is assigned to even if you are offline.
We also enable our offline users to upload photo documentation, which will be sinched to the cloud once the user’s phone connects to the internet.
This summer, we added checklists to the list of things users can submit to the app in offline circumstances, which now covers the most of important formats needed to be available to users to submit while without internet connection.
SOSI file GIS import support
SOSI is a geospatial vector data format predominantly used for exchange of geographical information in Scandinavian countries. Having Nordic fiber customers, it became an imperative for CloseOut to implement this innovative format and make it available to import into the app.
SOSI brings a completely new layer of information to the map, making it possible for the user to pre plan not only the route, but the specific locations as well, such as shafts and cabinets.
With SOSI, we can now integrate with a heavily used Fiber Design tool from Norway, TelMe by Micado, which enables element types and Geo location.
GIS Works Navigator – single point support
Fiber design tools are software solutions used in the telecommunications and fiber optics industries to plan, design, and optimize fiber optic networks. These tools are essential for managing the complexity of fiber infrastructure, whether for small-scale projects or extensive fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) rollouts.
CloseOut now enables its users to import predesigned multi element information into its GIS navigator map. This means that our clients now can preload their maps with different elements on their fiber routes, such as cabinets, shafts, handholes or conduits.
Each of these components plays a critical role in the physical infrastructure of fiber optic networks, ensuring robust and reliable data transmission, and now the location of each one of them is available in CloseOut GIS navigator.