The FCC exempted some Vertical Bridge towers from regular lighting inspections and encouraged other tower owners to invest in a state-of-the art lighting monitoring system.
Vertical Bridge and Drake Services, Inc. sought an exemption from the required quarterly tower lighting system inspections in locations where it has installed the Drake System. The FCC determined the self-diagnostic features in the Drake system made the quarterly inspections “unnecessary.”
Drake and Vertical Bridge sought the exemption in August 2022. They also asked the agency to allow other towercos using its system to get the same exemption. They suggested that could quickly be accomplished “by submitting a signed certification that they are using the Drake System on their towers.”
In the Memorandum Opinion and Order from the Wireless Bureau, the agency said: “Our actions today should encourage other tower owners to invest in state-of-the-art technologies so that they, too, will become capable of continuous monitoring of both their lighting systems and control devices.”
FCC rules state tower owners registered with the Commission must have their lighting systems inspected “at intervals not to exceed three months.” This includes “all automatic or mechanical control devices, indicators, and alarm systems associated with the antenna structure lighting to ensure that such apparatus is functioning properly.” But the FCC has an exemption from this requirement for “any antenna structure monitored by a system that the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau has determined includes self-diagnostic features sufficient to render quarterly inspections unnecessary, upon certification of use of such system to the bureau.”
Drake Services is an LED lighting and monitoring systems manufacturer. Vertical Bridge and Drake asserted the Drake Tower Lighting Monitoring System (DMS) satisfies the exemption criteria.
They told the agency the DMS provides the functional equivalent of a continuous inspection of control devices on all towers it monitors. As a result, they assert that Drake can detect all failure modes of the obstruction lighting system or monitoring device itself nearly instantaneously.
The FCC said the DMS is similar to other tower lighting monitoring systems the agency has granted waivers for “in that it has a continuous and permanent two-way link between the tower site and the response center; timely reporting of potential problems; continuously staffed response centers; 24-hour polling of both lighting and communications systems; on demand interrogation capabilities; backup response centers; and essentially uninterrupted communications between the response center and the towers during power outages.”
The bureau granted American Tower Corporation (NYSE: AMT) and Global Signal waivers in 2007 to allow annual, rather than quarterly, inspections for towers monitored by “technologically advanced monitoring systems.” The Commission has granted similar waivers since then to towers “monitored by qualifying systems, as long as they continued to meet the advanced monitoring obligations to which they had already certified.”
The bureau concluded, based on the petitioner’s representations “that the DMS is a safe and reliable monitoring system with tracking mechanisms that ensure proper functioning of their remote monitoring technology. Such advanced technology provides the benefits of more rapid response in case of a lighting failure.”
The FCC granted the quest for other tower owners that use the DMS system to obtain an expedited exemption provided the owners certify: (1) the structure is monitored by the DMS under the process described in the order; and (2) the owner maintains a facility to receive notifications of failures from the DMS, which will enable the tower owner to carry out its responsibilities under Part 17 of the Commission’s rules.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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