Unit of competency Outline
Date retreived
22/07/2026 8:28 AM AWST
22/07/2026 8:28 AM AWST
Whilst all efforts are made to provide accurate and timely information from the relevant source/documentation, please be aware that the information supplied may not be the most current version. The accuracy of the detail has not been confirmed by the Department and therefore should not be relied upon without first confirming the contents.
Plan a transmission network
Plan a transmission network
Unit of competency
National Code
ICTTEN7193B
ICTTEN7193B
State Code
WI924
WI924
TGA Status
Replaced
Replaced
DTWD Status
Replaced
Replaced
State Implementation and Classification
Approved Date
12/06/2014
Field of Education
031309 - Communications Equipment Installation And Maintenance
Original Release Date
12/06/2014
Nominal Hours
55
Description
This unit describes the performance outcomes, skills and knowledge required to analyse requirements and plan a telecommunication transmission network for a service provider.The plan may be for a project associated with a new installation or an upgrade of capacity or technology in an existing network or for convergence to Next Generation Networks (NGN).
Notes
Elements and Performance Criteria
1. Scope the project
- 1.1 Obtain relevant legislation, codes, regulations and standards and follow occupational health and safety (OHS) and environmental requirements for the given work
- 1.2 Obtain project brief from appropriate person
- 1.3 Evaluate potential transmission options and select the most suitable type of transmission network that meets the criteria outlined in the project brief
- 1.4 Analyse the limitations of the transmission path characteristics and develop solutions for transmission impairments
- 1.5 Produce a report outlining the reasons for the selection of a transmission network together with a shortlist of suitable equipment vendors and products
- 1.6 Obtain the traffic load from network information sources or forecasts and dimension the proposed network service
- 1.7 Produce a brief on the relationship between transmission network architecture components and the overall network and their impact on the work
- 1.8 Evaluate the equipment type and technologies to determine availability, cost and compatibility with existing network equipment
- 1.9 Determine resources and equipment needed for the work according to enterprise procedures and check for correct operation and safety
- 1.10 Assess the capacity limitation of various platforms in the context of the work to optimise maximum network performance
- 1.11 Determine product capability and calculate allowable capacity of transmission network to allow for network growth
2. Produce a link budget
- 2.1 Analyse the transmission system using equipment and vendor’s specifications to produce a link budget and assess the resulting margin
- 2.2 Document the results of the link budget analysis
3. Produce deployment plan for transmission network
- 3.1 Conduct planning work using current equipment components and complying with transmission network deployment rules and exemption process criteria
- 3.2 Produce a preliminary plan on the deployment of the network that maintains integrity of the transmission network
- 3.3 Establish a solution to unexpected situations through discussion with appropriate personnel, with consideration to job specifications, safety and enterprise procedures
- 3.4 Review plan to ensure that it complies with all standards and codes required when working on network access and make adjustments where appropriate
4. Complete work
- 4.1 Produce final deployment plan including recommendations agreed with the customer
- 4.2 Provide a report on network management and performance monitoring system to be incorporated in the transmission network to ensure the network is performing at optimum level
The range statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the performance criteria, is detailed below. Essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) may also be included.
Relevant legislation, codes, regulations and standards include:
Australian Communications Industry Forum (ACIF) standards and codes
Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) Radiation Protection Standard - Maximum Exposure Levels to Radio Frequency Fields - 3 kHz to 300 GHz
AS Communications Cabling Manual (CCM) Volume 1
Australian building codes and regulations
Environmental Protection Acts
fire regulations
OHS
relevant international standards
technical standards AS/ACIF S008:2006 and AS/ACIF S009:2006.
Project brief may include:
access to existing services
details of budgeted costs
details of the grade of service required
location of intermediate add-drop points
location of transmission terminals
network topology
presence of existing services
protection methods
traffic bit rate
traffic protocols.
Appropriate person may include:
network engineer
project engineer
project manager.
Transmission network may include:
Core Network
geostationary
long haul network
mesh network
metropolitan area network
optical fibre:
passive optical network (PON)
submarine cable
terrestrial cable
point-to-point link
satellite
ring network
hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) network
terrestrial microwave:
licensed
unlicensed
WiMAX.
Limitations may include:
optical:
chromatic dispersion
four-wave mixing
polarisation mode dispersion (PMD)
satellite:
loss of orbital position
rain attenuation
terrestrial interference
wireless and terrestrial microwave:
atmospheric absorption
fading
terrestrial interference.
Network information sources may include:
network management databases for:
capacity assessment data
network performance data
traffic dimensioning data
network management tools.
Dimension may include:
allowance for future growth
capacity of the channels
number of channels required.
Transmission network architecture components may include:
earth command and control station
earth station
horn antenna
low noise amplifier (LNA)
low noise block (LNB)
multiplexing equipment:
network management system
STM-1 multiplexer
STM-16 multiplexer
STM-192 multiplexer
STM-4 multiplexer
STM-64 multiplexer
synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH)
optical fibre network:
optical add-drop multiplexer (OADM) sites
reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer (ROADM)
terminal sites and optical add-drop multiplexer sites:
battery backup
dispersion compensation devices (DCD)
dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) system
equipment racks
erbium doped fibre amplifier (EDFA)
optical amplifier
patch panel
power supplies
Raman amplifier
rectifier
regenerator
parabolic reflector
patch antenna
satellite antenna:
fixed
rotatable
satellite network
satellite receiver
satellite transmitter
satellite transponder
terrestrial microwave network:
circulators and isolators
coaxial cable
indoor unit
microwave transmitter and receiver
outdoor unit
parabolic reflector antennas
radio tower, mast, rooftop
waveguide.
Equipment type may include:
asymmetrical
circuit switched
coarse wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM)
DWDM
digital
duplex
IP based
packet switched
simplex
symmetrical
time division multiplexing (TDM)
wavelength division multiplexing (WDM).
Technologies may include:
compression types:
H.264
MPEG-2
MPEG-4
protocols and transport methods:
asynchronous serial interface (ASI)
DVB-ASI
HD-SDI
SD SDI
optical transport network (OTN):
IP/MPLS over OTN/DWDM
optical Ethernet:
fast Ethernet
gigabit Ethernet
10 Gbps
synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH)
synchronous optical network (SONET).
Resources may include:
equipment
hardware
installation platforms
ladders
manpower
materials
safety equipment
software
tools.
Enterprise procedures may include:
asset registration
compliance
preferred suppliers
preferred vendors
procurement agreements
purchase requisition
service level agreements.
Link budget may include:
actual received power level
allowance for splices due to fibre cuts
contingencies
fade margin
margin
path loss
required receive level
transmitted signal power level
transmitter hardware losses.
Network management may include:
administration
alarms
event history
maintenance
operation
provisioning.
Performance monitoring may include:
alerting users that network degradation is underway
gauging the quality of payload signals
power level lower limit
power level upper limit
threshold crossing levels.
Relevant legislation, codes, regulations and standards include:
Australian Communications Industry Forum (ACIF) standards and codes
Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) Radiation Protection Standard - Maximum Exposure Levels to Radio Frequency Fields - 3 kHz to 300 GHz
AS Communications Cabling Manual (CCM) Volume 1
Australian building codes and regulations
Environmental Protection Acts
fire regulations
OHS
relevant international standards
technical standards AS/ACIF S008:2006 and AS/ACIF S009:2006.
Project brief may include:
access to existing services
details of budgeted costs
details of the grade of service required
location of intermediate add-drop points
location of transmission terminals
network topology
presence of existing services
protection methods
traffic bit rate
traffic protocols.
Appropriate person may include:
network engineer
project engineer
project manager.
Transmission network may include:
Core Network
geostationary
long haul network
mesh network
metropolitan area network
optical fibre:
passive optical network (PON)
submarine cable
terrestrial cable
point-to-point link
satellite
ring network
hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) network
terrestrial microwave:
licensed
unlicensed
WiMAX.
Limitations may include:
optical:
chromatic dispersion
four-wave mixing
polarisation mode dispersion (PMD)
satellite:
loss of orbital position
rain attenuation
terrestrial interference
wireless and terrestrial microwave:
atmospheric absorption
fading
terrestrial interference.
Network information sources may include:
network management databases for:
capacity assessment data
network performance data
traffic dimensioning data
network management tools.
Dimension may include:
allowance for future growth
capacity of the channels
number of channels required.
Transmission network architecture components may include:
earth command and control station
earth station
horn antenna
low noise amplifier (LNA)
low noise block (LNB)
multiplexing equipment:
network management system
STM-1 multiplexer
STM-16 multiplexer
STM-192 multiplexer
STM-4 multiplexer
STM-64 multiplexer
synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH)
optical fibre network:
optical add-drop multiplexer (OADM) sites
reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer (ROADM)
terminal sites and optical add-drop multiplexer sites:
battery backup
dispersion compensation devices (DCD)
dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) system
equipment racks
erbium doped fibre amplifier (EDFA)
optical amplifier
patch panel
power supplies
Raman amplifier
rectifier
regenerator
parabolic reflector
patch antenna
satellite antenna:
fixed
rotatable
satellite network
satellite receiver
satellite transmitter
satellite transponder
terrestrial microwave network:
circulators and isolators
coaxial cable
indoor unit
microwave transmitter and receiver
outdoor unit
parabolic reflector antennas
radio tower, mast, rooftop
waveguide.
Equipment type may include:
asymmetrical
circuit switched
coarse wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM)
DWDM
digital
duplex
IP based
packet switched
simplex
symmetrical
time division multiplexing (TDM)
wavelength division multiplexing (WDM).
Technologies may include:
compression types:
H.264
MPEG-2
MPEG-4
protocols and transport methods:
asynchronous serial interface (ASI)
DVB-ASI
HD-SDI
SD SDI
optical transport network (OTN):
IP/MPLS over OTN/DWDM
optical Ethernet:
fast Ethernet
gigabit Ethernet
10 Gbps
synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH)
synchronous optical network (SONET).
Resources may include:
equipment
hardware
installation platforms
ladders
manpower
materials
safety equipment
software
tools.
Enterprise procedures may include:
asset registration
compliance
preferred suppliers
preferred vendors
procurement agreements
purchase requisition
service level agreements.
Link budget may include:
actual received power level
allowance for splices due to fibre cuts
contingencies
fade margin
margin
path loss
required receive level
transmitted signal power level
transmitter hardware losses.
Network management may include:
administration
alarms
event history
maintenance
operation
provisioning.
Performance monitoring may include:
alerting users that network degradation is underway
gauging the quality of payload signals
power level lower limit
power level upper limit
threshold crossing levels.
The evidence guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the performance criteria, required skills and knowledge, range statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package.
Overview of assessment
Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit
Evidence of the ability to:
evaluate potential transmission options and select the most suitable type of transmission network
analyse the effect of transmission path characteristics on transmission systems and develop solutions for transmission impairments
select appropriate testing regimes for transmission technologies
determine key multiplexing features of transmission technologies
develop a transmission network work plan.
Context of and specific resources for assessment
Assessment must ensure:
site where transmission network may be planned
equipment and system manuals and specifications
legislation and documentation to plan a transmission network.
Method of assessment
A range of assessment methods should be used to assess practical skills and knowledge. The following examples are appropriate for this unit:
direct observation of the candidate planning the deployment of a transmission network
review of reports completed by the candidate for differing transmission network examples
review of final deployment plan prepared by the candidate outlining recommendations for the customer
oral or written questioning to assess knowledge of equipment and technologies as used within the transmission network.
Guidance information for assessment
Holistic assessment with other units relevant to the industry sector, workplace and job role is recommended, for example:
ICTRFN7182B Produce a radio link budget.
Aboriginal people and other people from a non-English speaking background may have second language issues.
Access must be provided to appropriate learning and assessment support when required.
Assessment processes and techniques must be culturally appropriate, and appropriate to the oral communication skill level, and language and literacy capacity of the candidate and the work being performed.
In all cases where practical assessment is used it will be combined with targeted questioning to assess required knowledge. Questioning techniques should not require language, literacy and numeracy skills beyond those required in this unit of competency.
Where applicable, physical resources should include equipment modified for people with special needs.
Overview of assessment
Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit
Evidence of the ability to:
evaluate potential transmission options and select the most suitable type of transmission network
analyse the effect of transmission path characteristics on transmission systems and develop solutions for transmission impairments
select appropriate testing regimes for transmission technologies
determine key multiplexing features of transmission technologies
develop a transmission network work plan.
Context of and specific resources for assessment
Assessment must ensure:
site where transmission network may be planned
equipment and system manuals and specifications
legislation and documentation to plan a transmission network.
Method of assessment
A range of assessment methods should be used to assess practical skills and knowledge. The following examples are appropriate for this unit:
direct observation of the candidate planning the deployment of a transmission network
review of reports completed by the candidate for differing transmission network examples
review of final deployment plan prepared by the candidate outlining recommendations for the customer
oral or written questioning to assess knowledge of equipment and technologies as used within the transmission network.
Guidance information for assessment
Holistic assessment with other units relevant to the industry sector, workplace and job role is recommended, for example:
ICTRFN7182B Produce a radio link budget.
Aboriginal people and other people from a non-English speaking background may have second language issues.
Access must be provided to appropriate learning and assessment support when required.
Assessment processes and techniques must be culturally appropriate, and appropriate to the oral communication skill level, and language and literacy capacity of the candidate and the work being performed.
In all cases where practical assessment is used it will be combined with targeted questioning to assess required knowledge. Questioning techniques should not require language, literacy and numeracy skills beyond those required in this unit of competency.
Where applicable, physical resources should include equipment modified for people with special needs.
Replaced By
| State Code | National Code | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| AUX14 | ICTTEN801 | Plan a transmission network | Unit of competency |
| State Code | National Code | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| W819 | ICT70110 | Graduate Certificate In Telecommunications Network Engineering | Qualification |