AR-guided field engineering for FTTP rollout.

Business requirements & challenges

Business requirements & challenges

Engineers struggled to find installed devices that were underground or behind vegetation. AR view is far more intuitive for identifying network assets in situ, but no off-the-shelf solution could ingest BT's existing network data and structure.

• Confidence in FTTP network infrastructure locations using AR
• Map view of all installed devices as a bird's-eye reference
• Ability to switch between map and camera AR at the point of work
• History of installation/fixes available at the engineer's fingertips

Solution

Solution

We delivered a proof-of-concept iOS app combining Apple ARKit, Unity 3D, Mapbox, and the OS Maps layer. Engineers can scan an area to augment network nodes onto the camera view, see associated routing detail per node (serving Splitter ID / spare CBT ports), and flip to a top-down map view for the same data on tap.

• AR overlay of network nodes on the live camera feed
• Per-node detail: Splitter ID, spare CBT ports, routing context
• Highlight nodes on the engineer's planned route
• Map view fallback (OS Maps) with identical data on tap

Business benefits

Business benefits

Field engineers can now confidently locate buried or obscured network assets, drastically reducing time-per-job and engineer callbacks. The solution is simple enough to onboard in minutes, and intuitive enough for routine field use.