Manual Del Usuario LinkPlanner 3.1.2
Manual Del Usuario LinkPlanner 3.1.2
Manual Del Usuario LinkPlanner 3.1.2
User Guide
Version 3.1.2
I
Accuracy
While reasonable efforts have been made to assure the accuracy of this document, Cambium Networks assumes no liability resulting from any
inaccuracies or omissions in this document, or from use of the information obtained herein. Cambium reserves the right to make changes to any
products described herein to improve reliability, function, or design, and reserves the right to revise this document and to make changes from time to
time in content hereof with no obligation to notify any person of revisions or changes. Cambium does not assume any liability arising out of the
application or use of any product, software, or circuit described herein; neither does it convey license under its patent rights or the rights of others. It
is possible that this publication may contain references to, or information about Cambium products (machines and programs), programming, or
services that are not announced in your country. Such references or information must not be construed to mean that Cambium intends to announce
Copyrights
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other 3rd Party supplied computer programs stored in semiconductor memories or other media. Laws in the United States and other countries
preserve for Cambium, its licensors, and other 3rd Party supplied software certain exclusive rights for copyrighted material, including the exclusive
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reproduced, reverse engineered, distributed, merged or modified in any manner without the express written permission of Cambium. Furthermore, the
purchase of Cambium products shall not be deemed to grant either directly or by implication, estoppel, or otherwise, any license under the copyrights,
patents or patent applications of Cambium or other 3rd Party supplied software, except for the normal non-exclusive, royalty free license to use that
Restrictions
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License Agreements
The software described in this document is the property of Cambium and its licensors. It is furnished by express license agreement only and may be
Components, units, or 3rd Party products used in the product described herein are NOT fault-tolerant and are NOT designed, manufactured, or
intended for use as on-line control equipment in the following hazardous environments requiring fail-safe controls: the operation of Nuclear Facilities,
Aircraft Navigation or Aircraft Communication Systems, Air Traffic Control, Life Support, or Weapons Systems (High Risk Activities). Cambium and its
supplier(s) specifically disclaim any expressed or implied warranty of fitness for such High Risk Activities.
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Contents
Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
List of figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 Getting started 11
LINKPlanner Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
NLoS and LoS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Inputs and Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Installing PTP LINKPlanner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Windows Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Mac Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Quick Tutorial - Unlicensed Band . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Creating Project, Sites and Link (Unlicensed Band) . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Updating Profile with Obstructions (Unlicensed Band) . . . . . . . . . 19
Adjusting Configuration and Requirements (Unlicensed Band) . . . . 20
Quick Tutorial - Licensed Band . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Creating Project, Sites and Link (Licensed Band) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Updating Profile with Obstructions (Licensed Band) . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Adjusting Configuration and Requirements (Licensed Band) . . . . . 30
i
3 Using PTP LINKPlanner 35
Starting the Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Main Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Options (Preferences) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Project Navigation Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Creating, Saving and Viewing Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Project Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Importing Path Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
New Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Sites List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Viewing and Updating Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Copying or Importing Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Creating Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Displaying the Sites List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Site Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Creating Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Displaying Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Obtaining Link Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Link Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Link Description and Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Configuration at Each End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Performance Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Performance Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Bill of Materials for Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Project Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Available Antennas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
TDD Synchronization List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Link Formatting Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Bill of Materials for Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Creating an equipment order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Viewing & saving the project BOM file in MS Excel . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
User Interface Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Advanced User Interface Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Advanced Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Optimizing E1 or T1 Latency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Setting TDD Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Setting Hot Standby Protection (1+1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Setting 2+0 Antenna Sharing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Long Waveguide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Project Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Adjusting Link Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Using Google Earth(TM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Verifying Link Ends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Verifying High Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Updating Link Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Link Profile Adjustment Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
ii
Verifying a Link End Using a Map and Google Earth . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Verifying a Link End Using a Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Verifying a High Point Using a Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Verifying a High Point Using a Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Exporting and Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Exporting Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Creating Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
iii
Governing Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Survival of Provisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Entire Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Third Party Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Python License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
wxWidgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Genshi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
FormEncode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Python for Windows Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
matplotlib . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
NumPy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Universal Encoding Detector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Profile Images in Google Earth(TM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
py2app . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
py2exe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
ObjectListView . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
PyYAML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Reportlab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
bbfreeze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Limit of Liability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
iv
Changes in version 2.0.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
7 Glossary 192
8 Credits 194
Index 195
v
vi
List of Figures
1
PTP LINKPlanner User Guide, Release 3.1.2
2 List of Figures
PTP LINKPlanner User Guide, Release 3.1.2
3.49 Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
3.50 Available Antennas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
3.51 TDD Synchronization List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
3.52 Link Formatting Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
3.53 Rule Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
3.54 Rule Expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
3.55 Formatting Rules Pop-up Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
3.56 Bill of Materials for Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
3.57 Smart Paste Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
3.58 Lowest Telecoms Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
3.59 TDD Synchronization Error Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
3.60 TDD Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
3.61 Navigation Tree for Protected (1+1) link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
3.62 Link Node Information for Protected (1+1) link . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
3.63 Detailed Reports Information Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
3.64 Detailed Reports Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
3.65 Proposal Report Performance Information for Protected (1+1) Link 110
3.66 Navigation Tree for 2+0 Cross-Polar link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
3.67 Navigation Tree for 2+0 Co-Polar link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
3.68 Link Node Information for 2+0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
3.69 Equipment (2+0) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
3.70 Configuration at Each End for 2+0 Cross-Polar . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
3.71 Configuration at Each End for 2+0 Co-Polar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
3.72 Select Transmit Frequency 2+0 Co-Polar Adjacent Channel Error . 115
3.73 Link Equipment for Long Waveguide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
3.74 End Equipment for Long Waveguide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
3.75 Losses (Long Waveguide) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
3.76 Losses (Long Waveguide for IRFU) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
3.77 Choosing the template file type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
3.78 Google Earth(TM) Aerial Photograph with Distances Shown . . . . . 121
3.79 Google Earth(TM) Aerial Photograph (Zoomed) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
3.80 Fresnel zone representation in Google Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
3.81 Profile Vizualization Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
3.82 Profile Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
3.83 Profile Updated With Tree Obstructions (in green) . . . . . . . . . . . 126
3.84 Adding a Profile Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
3.85 Setting a Constant Gradient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
3.86 Reflection Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
3.87 Profile with Reflection Visible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
3.88 Profile with Reflection Obscured . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
3.89 Path Profile Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
3.90 Original path profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
3.91 Adjusted path profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
3.92 Unadjusted profile near antenna site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
3.93 Map of Addislade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
3.94 Obstructions and higher ground near Addislade . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
3.95 Profile Updated with Map and Google Earth Results . . . . . . . . . . 134
3.96 GPS Calibration Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
3.97 Using a ruler to estimate height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
3.98 Results of site survey at Addislade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
3.99 Profile updated with site survey results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
List of Figures 3
PTP LINKPlanner User Guide, Release 3.1.2
4 List of Figures
CHAPTER 1
The purpose of this user guide is to describe how to install and use Cambium PTP
LINKPlanner.
Cambium Networks provides the PTP LINKPlanner application with the PTP 250,
PTP 300, PTP 400, PTP 500, PTP 600 and PTP 800 equipment. Use PTP LINKPlanner
to help predict where and how equipment will work. It allows the network planner
to answer these questions:
Will each link transmit data fast enough for the user?
Will each link be reliable enough for the user?
If any problems are experienced with PTP LINKPlanner, see Contacting Cambium
Getting started
To understand the concepts of PTP LINKPlanner, see LINKPlanner Concepts
If any problems are experienced with PTP LINKPlanner, see Contacting
Cambium.
To install or upgrade the software, see Installing PTP LINKPlanner.
5
PTP LINKPlanner User Guide, Release 3.1.2
General Information
Purpose
General Information 7
PTP LINKPlanner User Guide, Release 3.1.2
Contacting Cambium
We appreciate feedback from the users of our documents. This includes feedback
on the structure, content, accuracy, or completeness of our documents. Send
feedback to solutions@cambiumnetworks.com.
You can receive help from the wider LINKPlanner community through the
LINKPlanner forum:
http://www.cambiumnetworks.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=47.
Postal address:
Cambium Networks,
Linhay Business Park,
Eastern Road,
Ashburton,
Devon,
TQ13 7UP
United Kingdom
URLs:
Main web site: http://www.cambiumnetworks.com
Web support: http://www.cambiumnetworks.com/support/index.php
Email addresses:
Sales enquiries: solutions@cambiumnetworks.com
Email support: solutions@cambiumnetworks.com
Reporting problems
If any problems are encountered when using PTP LINKPlanner, follow this
procedure:
1. Search this help document for a solution
In the Table of Contents
In the Index (Windows only)
Contacting Cambium 9
PTP LINKPlanner User Guide, Release 3.1.2
The following describes how warnings and cautions are used in this document and
in all documents of this Cambium document set.
Warnings
Cautions
Cautions precede instructions and are used when there is a possibility of damage
to systems, software, or individual items of equipment within a system. However,
this damage presents no danger to personnel. A caution has the following format:
Caution text and consequence for not following the instructions in the
caution.
Notes
Note text.
Getting started
This section describes the main concepts of PTP LINKPlanner and how to install
the software:
LINKPlanner Concepts
Installing PTP LINKPlanner
This section also contains quick tutorials for experienced Windows or Mac users.
They describe how to create a project to analyse the performance of a single link.
Quick Tutorial - Unlicensed Band (for PTP 250, PTP 300, PTP 400, PTP 500 and
PTP 600 links).
Quick Tutorial - Licensed Band (for PTP 800 links).
11
PTP LINKPlanner User Guide, Release 3.1.2
LINKPlanner Concepts
Architecture
User Interface
The following example shows the LINKPlanner User Interface for the “Tutorial”
project, which models a PTP network linking three sites:
LINKPlanner Concepts 13
PTP LINKPlanner User Guide, Release 3.1.2
Windows Installation
Mac Installation
To install PTP LINKPlanner on a Mac, open the ‘readme’ file provided and follow the
instructions.
This section is a quick tutorial for experienced Windows or Mac users. It describes
how to create a project to analyse the performance of a single link operating in an
unlicensed frequency band (below 6 GHz) between two sites.
Before starting this tutorial, complete the following steps:
1. Install the software in the usual way. See Installing PTP LINKPlanner.
2. Start the application.
3. Enter the correct details in the Options (Preferences) page. Ensure that Email
address and Network Settings are correct. See Options (Preferences).
There are three parts to this tutorial:
1. Create a project with two sites and one link. See Creating Project, Sites and
Link (Unlicensed Band).
2. Obtain the path profile for the link and update it with obstructions. See
Updating Profile with Obstructions (Unlicensed Band).
3. Adjust the antennas at both ends of the link and confirm that the selected
equipment meets the performance requirements. See Adjusting
Configuration and Requirements (Unlicensed Band).
The profile request is sent to the Cambium PTP Path Profiler. After about 5
minutes, PTP Path Profiler will send an email containing the profile to your
inbox.
7. While waiting for the path profile email, configure the link equipment, see
Equipment (unlicensed bands):
Band: 5.8 GHz
Product: PTP 58500
Regulation: FCC
Bandwidth: 15 MHz
E1/T1: None
Optimisation: TDM
Sync: Disabled
Symmetry: Symmetric
Dual Payload: Enabled
Master: North Middle School
Obtain the path profile for the link and update it with obstructions:
1. Review your email inbox after about 5 minutes. If an email entitled
Cambium PTP Path Profile Do Not Reply has been received, open it.
Double-click on the attached file
North_Middle_School_to_Park_Lane_Elementary.ptpdat and select
Open.
The profile in PTP LINKPlanner is automatically updated with the information
from the .ptpdat file.
2. Review the Profile.
3. Check that the profile is accurate and identify any obstructions that may
affect signal quality.
The profile can be verified using Google Earth(TM), maps, GPS data and site
visits. It is particularly important to verify the antenna heights, to measure
interference and to identify obstructions near both ends of the Fresnel zone.
For more information, see Using Google Earth(TM).
4. Double-click on the profile. The Profile Editor is displayed. Enter a 4 metre
high Obstruction at Range 0.501 km and a 3.5 metre high Obstruction at
Adjust the antennas at both ends of the link and confirm that the selected
equipment meets the performance requirements:
1. Adjust the Antenna Heights in the Link Page to given values and add
Interference Density. Adjust the Interference Density to the required value.
2. Insert target values in the Link Page data rate boxes for Mean Throughput
Required, Minimum Throughput Required and Minimum Throughput
Availability Required.
Observe that the predicted values are now red because they are less than
required values.
3. Select different antennas and change Antenna Heights in the Link Page.
Adjust User limits if required.
This section is a quick tutorial for experienced Windows or Mac users. It describes
how to create a project to analyse the performance of a single link operating in a
licensed frequency band (6 GHz or greater) between two sites.
Before starting this tutorial, complete the following steps:
1. Install the software in the usual way. See Installing PTP LINKPlanner.
2. Start the application.
3. Enter the correct details in the Options (Preferences) page. Ensure that Email
address and Network Settings are correct. See Options (Preferences).
There are three parts to this tutorial:
1. Create a project with two sites and one link. See Creating Project, Sites and
Link (Licensed Band).
2. Obtain the path profile for the link and update it with obstructions. See
Updating Profile with Obstructions (Licensed Band).
3. Adjust the antennas at both ends of the link and confirm that the selected
equipment meets the performance requirements. See Adjusting
Configuration and Requirements (Licensed Band).
The profile request is sent to the Cambium PTP Path Profiler. After about 5
minutes, PTP Path Profiler will send an email containing the profile to your
inbox.
7. While waiting for the path profile email, configure the link equipment, see
Equipment (licensed bands):
Band: 26 GHz
Product: PTP26800 with ODU-A
Regulation: ETSI
Link Type: 1+0
T/R Spacing: Preset to 1008 MHz
Bandwidth: 56 MHz
Modulation Mode: Adaptive
Maximum Mod Mode: 256QAM 0.91 (368.65 Mbps)
Minimum Mod Mode: QPSK 0.80 (77.15 Mbps)
Polarisation: Vertical
Obtain the path profile for the link and update it with obstructions:
1. Review your email inbox after about 5 minutes. If an email entitled
Cambium PTP Path Profile Do Not Reply has been received, open it.
Double-click on the attached file Wood_Farm_to_West_Tower.ptpdat and
select Open.
The profile in PTP LINKPlanner is automatically updated with the information
from the .ptpdat file.
2. Review the Profile.
3. Check that the profile is accurate and identify any obstructions that may
affect signal quality.
The profile can be verified using Google Earth(TM), maps, GPS data and site
visits. It is particularly important to verify the antenna heights, to measure
interference and to identify obstructions near both ends of the Fresnel zone.
For more information, see Using Google Earth(TM).
4. Double-click on the profile. The Profile Editor is displayed. Enter obstructions
as shown below.
The + and - buttons may be used to add and remove points. For more
information, see Updating Link Profiles.
Adjust the antennas at both ends of the link and confirm that the selected
equipment meets the performance requirements:
1. Adjust the Antenna Heights in the Link Page to given values.
2. Insert target values in the Link Page data rate boxes for Mean IP Required.
Observe that the predicted values are now red because they are less than
required values.
3. Select different antennas and change Antenna Heights in the Link Page.
The goal of link planning is to ensure that each direction of the link will perform to
an acceptable level, measured by the Throughput and Availability values in the
Performance Summary section of the Link Page. To allow PTP LINKPlanner to
predict Throughput and Availability, the planner must enter the variables that
affect link performance, such as: band, region, equipment, antenna, height,
terrain, obstructions and reflection.
To achieve this goal, follow this process:
1. Start the application and set options. See Starting the Application.
2. Build a project to model a PTP link (or network). See Projects.
3. Enter details of all sites in the project. See Sites.
4. Define the links between sites, create profiles of those links and update the
profiles with details of obstructions. See Links.
5. Adjust the link profile to allow for terrain height variance, obstructions and
reflection. See Adjusting Link Profiles.
6. Confirm that the link will perform to an acceptable level, measured by the
Throughput and Availability values in the Performance Summary section of
the Link Page.
7. Export and report project, site and link data. See Exporting and Reporting
8. If TDD Synchronization is required, see Setting TDD Synchronization
9. If Hot Standby Protection or Spatial Diversity is required, see Setting Hot
Standby Protection (1+1)
10. If 2+0 Antenna Sharing is required, see Setting 2+0 Antenna Sharing
11. If ODUs are to be mounted indoors or at the base of the tower, see Long
Waveguide
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Main Screen
Options (Preferences)
Before using PTP LINKPlanner, use the Options page (Preferences in Mac) to enter
personal information, select units and choose network settings.
To open the Options/Preferences page:
On Windows, select Tools, Options.
On a Mac, open Preferences.
Personal Information
Enter contact details for the person who prepares link plans on behalf of the
customer. PTP LINKPlanner uses the email address to obtain Path Profiles (see
Options (Preferences) Page).
The Watermark can be used to insert additional watermark text on the path
profile graph and the interactive map.
The Request Profiles page will send information, including your contact
details and path profile coordinates, to Cambium Networks. Cambium
Networks stores this information on its servers so that we can provide
the best possible customer service and sales support. Please see
http://www.cambiumnetworks.com/legal/terms_of_use.php for more
details.
Templates
Choose the directory that contains the LINKPlanner templates and then select the
default template that will be used when creating a new project.
If the ‘New project template’ is blank then new projects will use the in-built
LINKPlanner template.
See Project Templates for details on creating new templates.
Select the required units for Height, Length, Latitude and Longitude. Set the
prediction model that is used to calculate the link availability (see Availability).
Default Regions
Select the priority order for the default licenses for each region.
Network Settings
Select options for connecting to the network. The Get Profiles feature uses these
settings, as described in Obtaining Link Profiles. PTP LINKPlanner obtains proxy
settings automatically from computer system settings. If network connection does
not work when using the default settings, then enter the correct settings.
To test the settings, click on Test network settings. If the response is not “Network
test succeeded!”, review and correct the network settings.
Reports
Select the required font and page size for LINKPlanner reports.
Select the option to generate detailed reports. This only applies to Hot Standby,
where the detailed reports will give performance information for all paths. The
standard reports will only provide information for the primary to primary path.
Graphics
Select the default line style and colour for links and the default colour for sites in
the Offline Map.
Bill of Materials
When one or more projects are open, navigate between sites and links using the
tree in the left hand panel. The following example shows one open project
(Navigation Tree):
Use the + and - boxes to open and close each level: project, site and link. Click on
a node to open it for viewing and updating.
The PTP 800 product has different types of links which are differentiated using the
link icon as follows:
Project Node
To display the Project page, click on a project node, for example “NLOS Short
Distance”. See Project Page. When a project name is displayed in bold in the
navigation tree, it means that project details have been inserted or updated but
not yet saved.
To save a project, select File, Save (or Save As), or select Save Project . All
project, site and link data is saved. The project name reverts to normal typeface
when saved.
To see how many sites and links there are in a project hover the mouse over the
project name in the navigation tree.
Sites Node
To display the list of all sites within the project, click on the “Sites” node. See
Displaying the Sites List.
To display the Site page, click on an individual site node, for example “North
Middle School”. See Site Page.
Links Node
To display the list of all links within the project, click on the “Links” node. See
Displaying Links.
To display the Link page, click on an individual link node, for example “North
Middle School to Park Lane Elementary School”. See Link Page. If the link name is
displayed in red, it means that the performance of the link is not acceptable.
To edit custom antennas, TDD synchronization parameters, custom fields and link
formatting rules, click on the “Project Configuration” node. See Project
Configuration.
To view the Bill of Materials (BOM) for the whole project, click on the “Bill of
Materials” node. For attribute descriptions, see Bill of Materials for Link.
Projects
New Projects
To create a new Project, either select File, New Project (Ctrl+N), or select New
Project .
The Project page is displayed. See Project Page.
Saving Projects
Save the project by selecting File, Save (or Save As) or by selecting Save
Project .
Enter the required project name, for example NLOS Short Distance.ptpprj
(Project Node NLOS Short Distance in Navigation Tree).
PTP LINKPlanner now uses the .ptpprj file name as the project name in the
navigation tree.
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Project Page
Use this page to enter details of the project customer, and the default settings for
new links.
You can vary these defaults settings in the Links Page for each link. See
Introduction to Link Evaluation.
General Information
Enter details of the customer for whom this plan is being prepared. Enter a
description of the project. This information is optional, and is included in the
reports.
Map
There are potentially three types of map available, depending on the operating
system and Internet access.
Offline Map - available on all platforms
Google Maps - available on Windows providing that there is Internet
access
Google Earth - available on Windows providing that there is Internet
access
The maps can be enabled/disabled through the View menu.
Offline Map
The Offline Map is a schematic plan of the sites and links that have been
entered in this project. See Map Icons for details on how to interact with the
project.
By default, link lines are colored to indicate whether or not their predicted
performance meets requirements: red means performance is not acceptable,
green means performance is acceptable. It is possible to alter the default colours
in the Graphics Page along with the default line style. Additional formatting
settings can be applied using Link Formatting Rules. The size of the link lines and
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sites can be controlled using the sliders below the map. A circle is used as the
default site marker. To change the marker shape, right-click on the site and select
Properties from the pop-up menu. The Site Properties Dialog can then be used to
alter the shape or to set a custom icon (Custom Icons and Label Positioning).
The site labels can be repositioned if necessary. Drag the label to the required
location. To reset the label, drag it over the site marker.
Google Maps
The embedded Google Maps view is available when LINKPlanner is running on
Windows. The map can be used to view and edit the project. See Map Icons for
more information.
Large projects may experience poor performance due to the time that
it takes to refresh the map. If the project is large, you may wish to disable the
Google Maps view in the Views menu.
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Google Earth
The embedded Google Earth view is available when LINKPlanner is running on
Windows. The map can be used to view and edit the project. See Map Icons for
more information.
Large projects may experience poor performance due to the time that
it takes to refresh the map. If the project is large, you may wish to disable the
Google Earth view in the Views menu.
Map Icons
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Icon Description
Reset the zoom/pan for the map to fit the entire project
Create a new site On the Google Maps and the Google Earth views
you must select the approximate location for the site before the new
site dialog (New Site Page) is displayed
Zoom in rectangle
Display all of the sites, even those which do not have any links
associated with them
Select the Equipment Defaults for the project. For definitions of the fields, see Link
Description and Equipment.
Select the Default 1 and Default 2 site antenna defaults for the project. For
definitions of the fields, see Configuration at Each End.
To use these defaults in all new projects, then save the project as a project
template.
If path data is available in Hydra, PTP, csv or Pathloss files, it can be imported and
used to populate a project with sites, links and profiles.
Before importing path data, create the project and enter defaults. Path data can
then be imported from Hydra, PTP, csv or Pathloss.
Hydra files contain data for sites, links, profiles and obstructions. Select File,
Import, Path from Hydra (.pth).
Hydra file formats are specified in Import File Formats.
PTP files contain data for sites, links and profiles. Select File, Import, PTP Path
(.ptpdat).
CSV files contain data for profiles and obstructions. Select File, Import, Path
from csv.
CSV file formats are specified in Import File Formats.
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Pathloss files contain data for sites, links, profiles and obstructions. Select File,
Import, Path from Pathloss.
Further information on Pathloss files can be found in Import File Formats.
Sites
Sites are points that must be connected via PTP links. A Project would normally
contain at least two sites.
Identify all sites in the project and obtain their latitude and longitude using the
WGS84 frame of reference. Use tools such as:
GPS during a site survey.
Google Earth(TM): http://earth.google.com. This application must be
downloaded and installed.
Multimap: http://www.multimap.com/.
New Sites
Sites List
Display the list of sites in the project, as described in Displaying the Sites List.
When sites have been created, open them in the following ways:
Single-click the site node in the Navigation tree.
Double-click on the site in the Sites list.
The Site page is displayed. See Site Page.
Site data can be brought into PTP LINKPlanner from Google Earth(TM) (.KML) or
from comma-separated files (.CSV). Before copying or importing sites, ensure that
the correct project is open in PTP LINKPlanner.
Site details can be copied or imported from Google Earth(TM). Locate the sites in
Google Earth(TM) using address or zip code, then insert placemarks.
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Use this method when site information is in a spreadsheet. The required fields for
each site are Name, Latitude and Longitude. The optional fields are Maximum
Antenna Height and Description. The procedure is:
1. Import the data either by copy and paste, or by importing from CSV.
To import by copy and paste (Importing From a Spreadsheet Using Copy
and Paste): select the data in the spreadsheet and select Edit, Copy;
then in PTP LINKPlanner, select Edit, Paste Sites.
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Use Google Earth(TM) to confirm the latitude and longitude from .csv
files.
When sites have been imported, access them from the Sites node in the
navigation tree, as described in Project Navigation Tree.
Creating Sites
If sites cannot be imported, create them using the New Site page.
Locate the sites using Google Earth(TM) or Multimap. Copy the latitude and
longitude of each site.
To insert the site in PTP LINKPlanner, either select Project, New Site, or select
New Site . The New Site page is displayed.
Format Examples
Decimal degrees prefixed by sign to indicate point of +12.34567
Compass: -12.34567
+ means North or East.
- means South or West.
Decimal degrees and point of Compass. 12.34567N
12.34567E
Degrees, decimal minutes and point of compass. 12:34.567S
Degrees, minutes, decimal seconds and point of 12:34:56.7W
compass.
WGS84 is used by Google Earth(TM) and all GPS equipment, but
sometimes the GPS is set to some other frame of reference.
Description: Enter the site description.
When one or more sites have been created, they appear in the Sites List. To
display this list, select the “Sites” node in the navigation tree. The Sites list is
displayed in the right hand panel.
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Copying Sites
Deleting Sites
The Sites list can be used to delete sites altogether. To delete a site, right-click
over it and select Delete Sites from the Sites Pop-up Menu..
Site Name and Description can be edited directly in the Sites list. To edit any other
Site attribute, double-click on the Site and update it in the Site Page.
Site Page
Use this page to view and update the details of an existing site.
Details
View and update the Name, Maximum Height, Latitude, Longitude and
Description. For field definitions, see Creating Sites.
Links
This is a list of links that have been defined between this site and other sites in
the project. To add or remove columns to the list, right click and tick or untick
columns. If the link is displayed in red, it means that the predicted performance of
the link is below requirements. Double-click on a link to open the Link page to
evaluate the link, as described in Link Page.
Links Graph
This is a map of the sites and links in the project. Link lines are colored to indicate
whether or not their predicted performance meets requirements: red means
performance is not acceptable, green means performance is acceptable.
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Links
Define the links between sites, obtain profiles of those links and enter link details.
The process for each link is:
1. Create a new link as described in Creating Links.
2. Display the list of links in the project and open the new link, as described in
Displaying Links.
3. Obtain profiles of the link terrain as described in Obtaining Link Profiles.
4. Enter the variables that affect performance, such as band, region,
equipment, antenna and height. See Link Page.
For more information on improving the performance of links, see Optimizing E1 or
T1 Latency, Setting TDD Synchronization and Setting Hot Standby Protection
(1+1)
Creating Links
To create a new Link, either select Project, New Link (Ctrl-L), or select New
Link . The New Link page is displayed.
This is an example of a completed New Link Page:
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Two lists of the available sites to be connected are displayed. The search fields
narrow the choice when there is a large number. Select one site from each list and
hit OK. The link is made between those two locations and the Link page is
displayed.
Multiple links can be selected from the To list if the the From site is a hub.
On Windows, hold the Ctrl key when selecting.
On OSX, hold the Command key when selecting (on some Apple keyboards,
this key also has an Apple logo).
Displaying Links
When one or more links have been created, they appear in the Links list and can
be opened in the Link Page. To display this list, select the “Links” node in the
navigation tree.
By default, if the link is displayed in red, it means that the predicted performance
of the link is below requirements. It is possible to alter the default colours in the
Graphics Page. Additional formatting settings can be applied using Link
Formatting Rules.
Copying Links
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Duplicating Links
Select one or more links that you wish to duplicate and choose Duplicate from
the Links Pop-up Menu. The new versions will have the same attributes as the
original links.
Deleting Links
The Links list can be used to delete links altogether. To delete a link, right-click
over it and select Delete Links from the Links Pop-up Menu.
A number of link attributes can be edited in the Links list. To edit the link attribute,
select the link in the list and right-click on the cell that you wish to change. The
Links Pop-up Menu will appear. Choose Edit <attribute-name> (where the
attribute name will be the name of the column heading).
The same attribute can be edited for several links at the same time. If the new
value is not valid for the other link settings (e.g. choosing a PTP250 product even
though the band is set to 38 GHz) will result in a warning and the product value
will not update.
To edit any other Link attribute, open the link using one of the following methods:
Single-click the link node in the Navigation tree.
Double-click on the link in the Links list.
The Link Page is displayed.
The Request Profiles page will send information, including your contact
details and path profile coordinates, to Cambium Networks. Cambium
Networks stores this information on its servers so that we can provide
the best possible customer service and sales support. Please see
http://www.cambiumnetworks.com/legal/terms_of_use.php for more
details.
To obtain profiles of the terrain between the two end points of each link, follow
these steps:
1. Select Project, Get Profiles:
If PTP LINKPlanner cannot connect to the network, it responds to the Get
Profiles request by displaying an “Internet configuration failed” message. If
this happens, then review and update the HTTP Proxy settings, as described
in Options (Preferences).
2. The Request Profiles Page is displayed:
The links that do not yet have profiles are ticked by default. The links that
already have profiles are unticked by default. Tick them if the profiles require
update.
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Link Page
Use the Link page to evaluate the performance of a Link by selecting different
combinations of the variables that affect performance, such as band, region,
equipment, antenna and height. The results are displayed in the Performance
Summary and Performance Details sections.
Before using this page, ensure that the following requirements are defined for
both ends of the link:
Mean Throughput Required (Mbps).
Minimum Throughput Required (Mbps).
Minimum Throughput Availability Required (%).
The Link page includes the following features:
Each section begins with a blue title bar. Click on this bar to open or close the
section.
The numeric data entry fields can be incremented or decremented in steps
by using the up and down arrow keys. Use this feature to evaluate the
impact of step changes on link performance.
If a field is highlighted in pink, its value is out of the permitted range.
The Link page contains the following sections:
Link Description and Equipment
Profile
Configuration at Each End
Performance Summary
Performance Details
Bill of Materials for Link
Flags
Link Description
Select the equipment, regulation and optimisation method for this link. The fields
that are displayed in the “Equipment” box will change depending on the type of
equipment selected. For example, when a PTP 600 is selected, the E1/T1 field is
displayed.
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Profile
This section contains a visualization of the path between the two sites (Profile with
Trees).
In this example, a 4m high tree at 0.5 km and and a 3.5 m high tree at 0.68 km
enter the Fresnel zone and alter the slope.
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To view the profile in Google Earth(TM), select the Google Earth toolbar icon .
For more information, see Using Google Earth(TM).
An additional shortcut menu is available by right-clicking on the profile which will
give access to the following items:
Copy: selecting this option copies the profile information. It can then be pasted
into another link or into an Excel spreadsheet or text editor, see Updating Link
Profiles.
Paste: this option is only available if a profile has previously been copied either
from another profile or from a spreadsheet, see Updating Link Profiles.
Edit Profile: selecting this option displays the Profile Editor, see Updating Link
Profiles.
Edit Reflection Parameters: selecting this option displays the Reflection Editor,
see Updating Link Profiles.
Reverse Link: Selecting this option will reverse the ends on the link, for example
a link “End A to End B” will become “End B to End A”, with associated changes to
the Link Description and report titles. All properties associated with an end will
move with the end, for example antenna and power configurations and
Master/Slave or Hi/Lo settings.
Use this section to evaluate different antenna configurations at each end of the
link. Enter data about the antenna, transmission power and interference density
(at both ends). In response, the Performance Summary section is updated
automatically to show the effect upon the Mean Throughput, Minimum
Throughput and Availability. The two ends are each divided into three parts:
Data that affects both transmission and reception: Antenna, Diversity
Spacing, Antenna Height and Cable Loss.
Data that affects transmission only: Maximum EIRP, Maximum Power.
Data that affects reception only: Interference Density.
Antenna: Select the required antenna from the drop-down list. The list can be
sorted by any column by clicking the column heading. If operating in the
unlicensed band and the required antenna is not in the list, select Other... and
enter the details in the User Defined Antenna page. Antennas may also be
viewed, created, edited and deleted from the Available Antennas page. Licensed
band antennas may only be viewed, at present only Cambium supplied antennas
are supported at these frequencies.
Antenna Height (meters): This is the height of the antenna AGL, not the height
above the building on which it is mounted. The Profile visualization is
automatically updated in response to changes in Antenna Height.
Diversity Spacing (meters): This field is only displayed if a single polar external
antenna is selected with an unlicensed band product. For Spatial Diversity in the
licensed band see Setting Hot Standby Protection (1+1)
Cable Loss (dB): This field is not displayed for INTEGRATED antennas. If a
non-integrated antenna is used, power may be lost in the cable connection
between the radio and the antenna, therefore the Cable Loss must be estimated.
To enter Cable Loss: either enter the estimated loss in the dB field; or tick the
Calculate box, select the type of cable that connects the radio to the antenna
(LMR400, LMR500 or LMR600), and enter the length. In response, the dB field is
automatically updated.
Maximum EIRP (dBm): The maximum available Equivalent Isotropic Radiated
Power. The default value is determined by the Band, License, Product and
Antenna. If a lower user-defined limit is required, tick the User Limit box and enter
the value. In response, the default Maximum EIRP is automatically reset to the
User Limit.
Maximum Power (dBm): The maximum available transmission power. The
default value is determined by the Band, License, Product and Antenna. If a lower
user-defined limit is required, tick the User Limit box and enter the value. In
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response, the default Maximum Power is automatically reset to the User Limit.
Interference (dBm): This is the amount of site noise in the selected channel
bandwidth, expected at the antenna connector. This noise is assumed to be a
constant power added to the thermal noise of the front end of the wireless. The
bandwidth displayed depends on the bandwidth selected in the Equipment
Settings box (in this example it is 15 MHz). To enter Interference, tick the box and
update the default value. If the link has been set up and mean power
measurements from DFS are available, then use these measurements.
Licensed bands
For links operating in licensed bands, the following additional attributes are
displayed:
Feeder Loss: This replaces the Cable Loss field in the unlicensed band. The
licensed band equipment uses a flexible waveguide, which is of a fixed length and
the feeder loss is automatically entered when a non-integrated antenna is used.
This field is also used to display the coupler loss in the Protected Hot Standby
mode. When using a common non-integrated antenna in Hot Standby this field
will show the sum of the feeder loss and coupler loss.
To change the automatic feeder loss select Edit and enter any additional loss in
the Other Losses field. The Flexible Waveguide Loss can be deselected, which
will remove it from the loss calculation and will also remove the 3’ Flex Waveguide
equipment item from the BOM. In a Hot Standby configuration any Coupler Loss
cannot be edited by the user. Once any changes are made to the Losses panel,
Feeder Loss will change to User Defined Feeder Loss. If an IRFU has been
selected Feeder Loss will change to Maximum Feeder Loss and will show the
maximum loss for either transmit or receive, this is usually the loss on receive at
that end. The loss on transmit is incorporated into the Maximum EIRP value.
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Tx Capacity Limit: Select the limit that must be applied to data throughput
capacity at this end of the link (Mbps). When this is changed, the Throughput data
in the Performance Summary section at the OTHER link end may change
automatically.
Performance Summary
This section shows how well the link is predicted to perform in response to the
selected combination of the variables, such as band, region, equipment, antenna
and height. It shows throughput performance at each end of the link.
If the predicted Throughput and Availability values fall below the required values,
they are displayed in red (Performance Summary). If they meet or exceed the
required values, they are displayed in black. In the following example, the
predicted values at North Middle School are displayed in red because they fall
below requirements, but the predicted values at Park Lane Elementary School are
displayed in black because they exceed requirements:
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Operating Conditions
This option is only available when the PTP 250 product is selected. The throughput
of the PTP 250 product is more dependent upon frame size than the other PTP
products and this option allows the user to select different frame sizes and view
the impact on the throughput.
Link Summary
This summary highlights the Free Space Path Loss component and the Excess Path
Loss based upon the diffraction loss over the obstacles that cut the Fresnel zone
number 0.5. The Total Path Loss and System Gain Margin are also given.
Aggregate Throughput (Mbps): The sum of the Mean IP Predicted at
both ends.
Lowest Mode Availability (dB): This is the availability of basic link
operation. This is equivalent to the availability of the most robust
modulation or better in both link directions.
FCC 99.95%: This is only shown when using PTP 800 in either of the
FCC regulations and adaptive modulation. It shows the modulation
mode for the minimum payload capacity required by the FCC and the
two-way availability at that mode. In order to meet FCC Part 101
regulations the link must be planned to have an availability better than
99.95% at the minimum payload when operating in adaptive mode.
System Gain Margin (dB): This is the margin in dB above which the
ratio of (mean wanted receive level) to (mean interference plus thermal
noise), or “C to (I + N)”, for the worst link direction is above the level
required for basic link operation for the most robust modulation.
Free Space Path Loss (dB): The amount that the signal would be
attenuated if travelling through a vaccuum.
Mean Atmospheric Loss (dB): The amount of attenuation due to
oxygen and water in the atmosphere.
Excess Path Loss (dB): The amount of attenuation due to obstructions
in the path. If the path is completely line-of-sight, this will be zero.
Total Path Loss (dB): The sum of Free Space, Mean Atmospheric and
Excess Path Loss.
If the equipment is PTP 300, 500 or 600 and one or more E1 or T1 channels have
been selected, then additional fields appear in the Performance Summary section
(Performance Summary with E1/T1):
E1/T1 Availability Predicted
E1/T1 Availability Required
E1/T1 Availability
E1/T1 1-way latency
For more information, see Optimizing E1 or T1 Latency.
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If the equipment is PTP 800, additional information is available via the icon.
Select the icon to view a new window showing the detailed breakdown of the
availability calculations, see Detailed Availability Information (ITU Model). This
allows the information to be viewed during planning without having to produce a
proposal report.
This window shows detailed information for Link Availability when in fixed
modulation mode or for Lowest Mode Availability when Adaptive Modulation has
been selected. When the ITU prediction model has been selected, see Availability,
the parameters are as displayed in Detailed Availability Information (ITU Model)
and described below:
dN/dH not exceeded for 1% of time: Point refractivity gradient in the lowest
65m of the atmosphere not exceeded for 1% of an average year. This data is
provided in 1.5 deg grid form by the ITU and the value is a bilinear interpolation
for the mid point of the path.
Area roughness 110 x 110 km: the standard deviation of terrain heights (m)
within a 110 x 110 km area.
Geoclimatic Factor: Calculated from the point refractivity gradient and area
roughness according to ITU-R P530-12.
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Fade Occurrence Factor (P0): The intercept of the deep-fading distribution with
the percentage of time-axis for multipath fading. This parameter is dependent on
the Geoclimatic Factor, path length, path inclination, frequency and altitude of
lower antenna, calculated as given in ITU-R P530-12.
Path Inclination: Absolute difference in antenna height above mean sea level
(m) divided by path length (km), given in mrad.
SD Improvement Factor: Only visible if Spatial Diversity has been selected. The
improvement factor is based on the diversity spacing and calculated in
accordance with ITU-R P530-13. This factor is limited at 200, as the conditions
required to achieve a better improvement factor will already achieve 100%
availability.
0.01% Rain rate: Calculated using ITU-R P837-5, which uses a matrix of rain
values for the globe with a 1.25 degree resolution. These values are bi-linearly
interpolated for the Latitude and Longitude of the centre of the path.
Rain Availability: The availability of the given rain rate with the system gain
margin calculated using ITU-R P530-12.
Rain Unavailability: The amount of time the link is predicted to be unavailable
due to rain.
Annual 1-way Availability: The annual availability due to clear air multipath
effects in a single direction, shown for each end of the link. This also accounts for
any obstructions on the path.
Annual 2-way Availability: The sum of both 1-way unavailabilities, expressed
as availability.
Annual 2-way Unavailability: The amount of time the link is predicted to be
unavailable due to multipath effects.
Annual 2-way Availability Including Rain: The sum of the Rain Unavailability
and the Annual 2-way Unavailability, expressed as availability.
Annual 2-way Unavailability Including Rain: The total time the link is
predicted to be unavailable.
When using the Vigants - Barnett prediction model the first five parameters are
replaced by the following terms, for further information on the Vigants - Barnett
model see Availability :
Terrain Roughness: Standard deviation of terrain height along the path profile,
excluding the ends of the path.
Climatic Factor: Derived from the atmospheric conditions maps for the mid point
of the path.
C Factor: Calculated from the Terrain Roughness and the Climatic Factor.
Temperature: The temperature is taken from the ESATEMP data. This data is
provided in 1.5 deg grid form by the ITU and the value is a bilinear interpolation
for the mid point of the path.
Performance Details
This section contains more detail about the predicted performance of the link. The
data can either be displayed in chart or tabular form.
Charts
The following charts show the variability in percentage of time availability with
capacity, for each direction in the link. When the cursor is moved over the chart
the area is highlighted in blue and the chart is annotated with throughput,
availability (given as a percentage) and unavailability (given as a unit of time).
The throughput given is the maximum throughput at that availability.
When Dual Payload is enabled the availability shown is the sum of Receive
time in Mode for all single and dual payloads with a Max IP Throughput
greater than or equal to the given capacity level.
If PTP 250 is selected the capacity shown in both the charts and the table is for
the given frame size selected.
If PTP 250 or Adaptive Symmetry is selected the capacity achieved in each
direction of the link is variable, depending on the load presented. The charts
cannot predict the load for each direction of the link and therefore present data
for two conditions, see Performance Charts for Adaptive Symmetry.
When traffic is only being sent in one direction the other direction has no
load on it and a peak throughput can be achieved in a single direction at a
given time.
When one direction of the link is saturated the maximum throughput in the
other direction balances that load and provides a symmetrical throughput in
each direction, for identical link conditions. In this case the values shown in
the chart correlate with the values shown in the Performance Summary
section.
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- high capacity, which can only be achieved in this direction assuming there
is no load in the other direction.
Table
Common Details
LINKPlanner automatically calculates the Bill of Materials (BOM) for the required
components of the planned link. The link BOM contains the list of part numbers
and associated quantities for the link. Optional items can be added to the list. The
link BOM can be saved as a text file and imported into the Motorola ordering
system or saved as a CSV or Excel file by selecting View in Spreadsheet . The
text file for the Motorola ordering system will only contain items with a Motorola
part number, all items will be displayed in the spreadsheet.
To view the link BOM, open the Link page and scroll down to the ” Bill of Materials
for Link” section.
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P/N: The Motorola part number. If the component is not supplied by Motorola, this
is set to ‘(no part number)’.
Description: Description of the components.
Qty: Quantity required.
Notes: By default this displays information about certain items, such as whether
they are obsolete, or to prompt for additional required information, such as
frequencies for the IRFU. This field can be edited to allow additional information to
be added to the item. The default text is returned if the edited text is deleted.
When information is displayed in the Notes field, items will only be aggregated at
the Project Level BOM if the Notes field contains identical information as well as
being the same part number.
A warning triangle is displayed on the far left of a line if additional information is
required in the Notes field or in the configuration. A star denotes optional extras
which have been added to the automatic BOM items and a star with a warning
triangle is an optional extra which requires additional information to be included in
the note.
The individual items at the top of the list give quick access to the most popular
optional extras. To access more options, expand the list topics.
Cable, Accessories & Spares: This allows items such as additional cable,
optical splitters, PTP Sync, E1/T1 splitters etc. to be added to the order.
Comsearch: Allows FCC Frequency Coordination or Protection Services to be
added to the order
Installation & Mounting: Optional installation, grounding and mounting kits can
be included with the order.
IRFU: This option is only available for the PTP 800 series and allows upgrade kits
and field replaceable items to be specified for IRFU links.
Link Protection: This option is only available for the PTP 800 series and allows
the Optical-Y or Out-of-Band Splitter options to be specified for a 1+1 Protected
Link.
Long Waveguide: This option is only available for the PTP 800 series and allows
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additional options for the mounting components when using long feeder runs
either for the Long Waveguide option or for IRFU.
Power: This allows AC/DC power supplies and country specific mains leads and
PIDU to be included with the order
Security: There is a range of different encryption options available, depending
upon the product selected.
Warranty & Support: Additional warranty options are available to extend the
warranty by 1, 2 or 4 years. Also annual PTP software support contracts are
available, depending upon the number of links required.
To filter the list of optional extras, enter a part number or description in the Filter
field.
For instructions on how to view and save the BOM for the entire project,
see Bill of Materials for Project.
To view the link BOM in Excel, select View in Spreadsheet while viewing the link
BOM. Once in the spreadsheet the file can be saved as normal. Use this option to
save links which contain IRFU products.
To view the link BOM in Excel, select View in Spreadsheet while viewing the link
BOM. Once in the spreadsheet the file can be saved as normal. Use this option to
save links which contain IRFU products.
To save the link BOM as a .txt file, in order to create a Motorola equipment order,
display the link in the Link page and select the menu options File, Bill Of Materials,
Link BOM.
The saved file consists of one or more records, each record appearing on a
different line. Each record contains three parameters, “Link Name”, “Part
Number” and “Quantity”, each parameter being separated by a pipe character. An
example is:
Items which do not have a Motorola Part Number will not be included in
the saved file. IRFU links cannot be saved as a Motorola equipment
order, as the frequency information in the notes field is essential to the
order and this field is not one of the parameters included.
The saved link BOM .txt file can be imported into the Motorola Onine (MOL)
system. MOL is a secure web based ordering tool for customers. Before
attempting this, ensure that MOL is configured to import a simple pipe delimited
file.
Speak to your local customer services contact for information on accessing and
using MOL.
Flags
Use this section to add one or more flags to indicate the status of the link. For
example, enter “Backbone”, “Spur” or “Unused”. Each Flag value is displayed as a
column in the Links report.
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Project Configuration
The Project Configuration node of the navigation tree contains the following:
Antennas: Create, edit and delete custom antennas. See Available
Antennas.
TDD Sync: Manage the global parameters for TDD synchronisation.and
assess the number of interferers. See TDD Synchronization List.
Custom Fields: Insert, delete and view custom fields for a project, site, link
or end. Custom fields are a way of adding functionality to LINKPlanner.
Link Formatting: Insert, delete and edit link formatting rules for the project.
The rules can be used to control the style and visibility of links when
exporting to different formats or when viewing the project in the map. See
Link Formatting Rules.
Available Antennas
This page enables the user to view, create, edit and delete custom antennas. To
display this page, select the “Antennas” node in the navigation tree. The Available
Antennas page is displayed in the right hand panel.
If the required antenna is not in the list, select and enter the details
in the User Defined Antenna page. New antennas can only be added in the
unlicensed band, at present the licensed band only supports Motorola antennas.
To edit antenna details, select and change the details in the Edit
Antenna page. This feature only applies to unlicensed band antennas.
When TDD Syncnronization is enabled for one or more links in the project (as
described in Link Description and Equipment), they appear in the TDD
Synchronization List. To display this list, select the “TDD Sync” node in the
navigation tree.
The list is displayed in the right hand panel. If the TDD Sync node is selected
when none of the links in the project are Sync enabled, the following message is
displayed:
This project has no synchronized links
Use the TDD Sync list to adjust the Maximum Burst Duration and Frame Duration.
Before a data rate can be considered accurate it needs to be valid. If the TDD
synchronization settings are invalid, the link is displayed with a pink background
and Aggregate Throughput is set to zero.
In order to observe both the individual link and the TDD synchronization
parameters together, try opening the TDD Synchronization List in a new
window.
The Maximum Burst Duration and Frame Duration possibilities are affected by the
Bandwidth selected for each link. The number in the brackets for each of the drop
down lists is the number of links NOT satisfied by the value selected:
Maximum Burst Duration: Adjusting this value while reviewing the Burst
Duration in the table will help to give a view on the RF efficiency of the link. If the
Burst Duration in the table is not the same as the Maximum Burst Duration
(indicating poor RF Efficiency) either change the Maximum Burst Duration or
change the bandwidth of the link on the Link page (as described in Link
Description and Equipment).
Frame Duration: Adjusting the frame duration to a large enough value to ensure
that there are no same phase interfering paths is the most probable requirement.
The number of interfering paths may take a few moments to calculate for large
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networks and thus the number is obscured by a progress bar during this
recalculation. A larger value for Frame Duration reduces the number of interfering
paths. These interfering paths only refer to the timing considerations and do not
take into account any propagation factors of path length or obstructions.
The TDD Synchronization list can be saved as a CSV or Excel file by selecting View
in Spreadsheet , see TDD Synchronization List.
Link formatting rules are used to control the colour, style and visability of links in
the project. They can also be used to exclude links from reports and project
exports e.g. Google Earth (kmz/kml) files. Each rule is tested against the links in
the project. If the rule evaluates to “true” for the link, then the rule actions are
applied.
The rules are applied in the order that they are defined in the Link Formatting List.
To change the order of the items, drag and drop them at the new location.
Creating a Rule
To create a new rule select the Link Formatting node in the Navigation Tree and
then click on the button. The Rule Editor will appear.
Option Description
Name The rule name
Description A description of the rule behaviour (optional)
Stop executing If checked, then any rules that come after this rule in the
when true? formatting rules list will not be tested against the link
Disable rule? If checked then the rule is not tested against any links in the
project
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The property list contains many of the link and site attributes that can be viewed
in the Links panel (see Displaying Links). Where possible, the test value is
converted to a number before the rule is evaluated. All text-based comparisons
are case-sensitive.
When the rule expressions are modified, the rule is tested against the links in the
project. Any links that match the rule conditions are displayed in the Links
affected by the rule list.
Several different actions can be set for links that match the rule.
Rule Actions
Option Description
Format link? Apply additional formatting to the link
Colour The colour of the link. If the colour is set to white then
the default colour will be used.
Line thickness The thickness of the link line on the offline map. If left
blank then the default line thickness will be used.
Line style The line style used when displaying the link in the offline
map. If left blank then the default line style is used.
Exclude link from Links will not appear in the reports or in any export
reports and formats (e.g. Google Earth kml/kmz)
exports?
Hide link on maps? Links will not appear in any of the maps
One or more formatting rules can be copied from the Link Formatting list. Select
one or more rules that you wish to copy:
On Windows, hold the Ctrl key when selecting.
On OSX, hold the Command key when selecting (on some Apple keyboards,
this key also has an Apple logo).
Once you have selected the rules, right-click in the Link Formatting list and choose
Copy from the Formatting Rules Pop-up Menu.
If the clipboard contains any link formatting rules then the paste commands will
be enabled. Click or Edit - Paste to paste the formatting rules into the current
project.
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LINKPlanner automatically calculates the Bill of Materials (BOM) from the project
configuration data. Optional items, for example the power supply unit and rack
mount kit for PTP 800, can be added to the BOM at the individual link level, see
Bill of Materials Optional Extras. The project BOM contains the list of part numbers
and associated quantities for the complete project (Bill of Materials for Project). It
includes all the main components required to install the project as configured in
LINKPlanner, including antennas, ODUs, modems (PTP 800 only), upgrade keys,
cabling, lightning protection and GPS sync boxes (if required). It also includes all
optional extras, which have been specified at the link level, cables, accessories
and spares, comsearch, installation & mounting, link protection, long waveguide,
power, security and warranty & support contract.
When designing two links to run in parallel with a single dual polar
antenna at each end, please use the 2+0 Cross-Polar option, otherwise
the BOM lists two dual polar antennas, two waveguides, two RMKs and
two ODUs for each link end. This results in the dual polar antennas
being duplicated in the BOM; only one is required at each end.
The project BOM can be saved as a text file and imported into the Motorola
ordering system.
To view the project BOM, select “Bill of Materials” from the navigation tree:
P/N: The Motorola part number. If the component is not supplied by Motorola, this
is set to ‘(no part number)’.
Description: Description of the components.
Qty: Quantity required.
Notes: Displays information about certain items, such as whether they are
obsolete. This information can be edited at the individual link level.
For instructions on how to view and save the BOM for an individual link,
see Bill of Materials for Link.
To save the project BOM as a .txt file, select the menu options File, Bill Of
Materials, Project BOM.
The saved file consists of one or more records, each record appearing on a
different line. Each record contains three parameters, “Project Name”, “Part
Number” and “Quantity”, each parameter being separated by a pipe character. An
example is:
Items which do not have a Motorola Part Number will not be included in
this saved file. Links which contain IRFU products will not be included in
this file. To save the complete BOM see Viewing & saving the project
BOM file in MS Excel
The saved project BOM .txt file can be imported into the Motorola Onine (MOL)
system. MOL is a secure web based ordering tool for customers. Before
attempting this, ensure that MOL is configured to import a simple pipe delimited
file.
Speak to your local customer services contact for information on accessing and
using MOL.
To view the project BOM in Excel, select View in Spreadsheet while viewing the
project BOM. Once in the spreadsheet the file can be saved as normal.
Pages may be detached from the main window to allow multiple pages to be
opened concurrently. To detach the currently open page, select the tool bar icon
Open in New Window .
Click or Edit - Paste to paste the contents of the clipboard. When links and
sites are pasted into LINKPlanner they are compared against the items that
already exist in the active project. If the items are similar then the Smart Paste
Dialog will appear.
The Smart Paste Dialog is used to merge the items that are in the clipboard with
the existing project. Items in the left-hand lists will not be created in the project. If
items are in the right-hand list then new links or sites will be created, even if they
duplicate a site or link in the current project.
If you choose to create a new link, but use the existing sites, then the new link will
be attached to the sites that already exist in the project.
Custom antenna that are used by the link will be automatically added
to the destination project if they do not already exist.
Advanced Features
Optimizing E1 or T1 Latency
In this example, 16QAM 0.63 Sngl is the first modulation mode capable of
carrying the 2 T1 channels - the lower modes can only carry timing information.
However, by selecting a higher modulation mode, the latency may be reduced
(potentially at the expense of the E1/T1 Availability, if the selected modulation
mode does not have a high enough availability)
When E1/T1 is selected, the Performance Details display will also gain an extra
row which indicates whether the mode will be carrying E1/T1 payloads, or timing
data only.
Phase 1 End: In a hub and spoke arrangement there are several links
emanating from one tower. Each link on that tower normally needs to be set
to the same phase. In a simple network this will be setting each Phase 1 End
to the hub end. If there is more than one hub in a network then it may be
necessary to have some towers set for all of the links to be Phase 2 at the
hub or Phase 1 at the outstations. This is achieved by setting the Phase 1
end to the opposite ends of the links from the hub end.
2. Set the Maximum Burst Duration and Frame Duration, as described in TDD
Synchronization List.
Hot Standby is available on PTP 800 links and involves configuring two units at
each end of the link to operate as primary and secondary (standby) units. For a
more detailed understanding of 1+1 Hot Standby, see PTP 800 Licensed Ethernet
Microwave User Guide.
Hot Standby can be enabled as described in Link Description and Equipment.
Once enabled, the Project Navigation Tree shows the link node and then the four
paths as sub-headings to the main link, as shown in Navigation Tree for Protected
(1+1) link.
The link node gives access only to the Link Description, Equipment Selection and
Bill of Materials aspects of the link configuration, see Link Node Information for
Protected (1+1) link. To access all other sections of the Link Page select one of the
four paths, e.g. Primary to Primary.
Select the required path for the protected link. In addition to the normal
parameters as described in Link Description and Equipment, links operating Hot
Standby have the following additional attribute displayed:
Antenna Configuration: There are 4 options which can be selected to
match the possible configurations for Hot Standby when using an ODU
Product
Common Antenna - 1+1 Symmetric Coupling
Common Antenna - 1+1 Asymmetric Coupling - default setting
Redundant Antennas
Spatial Diversity
There are 5 options which can be selected to match the possible
configurations for Hot Standby when using an IRFU product.
Equal Splitter - default setting
The IRFU only transmits through the Primary Antenna and Feeder
System, therefore for Spatial Diversity using an IRFU, the EIRP is
calculated using the Primary Antenna Gain and Feeder Losses. The
Secondary Maximum EIRP and Maximum Power will be the same as for
the Primary and there are no separate User Limits for the Secondary.
The receive path uses the Secondary Antenna Gain and Feeder Losses.
Maximum Power: This field can be set independently for primary and
secondary, unless using IRFU Spatial Diversity.
Tx Frequency: This value will always be the same for primary and
secondary.
Tx Capacity Limit: This field can be set independently for primary and
secondary.
Interference: This value will always be the same for primary and
secondary.
The Bill of Materials is displayed at the link node level and shows the full set of
equipment required for both the primary and secondary units. Hot Standby can be
operated with either in-band or out-of-band management. If out-of-band
management is required then additional items may be required to make up a full
set of equipment, which can be selected via the New Extras icon,
see Bill of Materials Optional Extras.
The performance summary information is shown separately for each path and can
be accessed by selecting the appropriate path, for example Primary to
Secondary, from the navigation tree. The required performance parameters can
be set independently for each path and are defined in the usual way, see
Performance Summary.
If the predicted performance of the primary to primay path is below requirements,
then the main link node will be displayed in red. If the performance of any of the
other paths is below requirements then the associated sub-path in the navigation
tree will be shown in red, but will not affect the annotation of the link node, the
map display or the link table . If a particular path is not considered relevant to the
performance of the link, it can be “switched off” by setting the following:
There are two levels of report available in Hot Standby. By default a standard
report is produced, which concentrates on the performance of the primary to
primary link or a detailed report can be produced which details all four paths.
When the protected link option is selected for the first time by a user the following
message is displayed allowing the user to choose the type of report.
The type of reports can be changed at any time by selecting Tools, Options,
Reports and then selecting or deselecting the Generate detailed reports
option.
The proposal and installation reports are created for a given link, not path, in the
usual way, see Creating Reports. The level of detail presented will depend upon
the detailed reports selection. The standard reports only show performance
information for the primary to primary path. If a common antenna has been
selected only one set of installation notes will be produced for each end of the
link, any parameters which might be different between the primary and secondary
units will be clearly specified. This includes the predicted receive power at both
the primary and secondary units at one end from the primary unit at the other
end. If redundant antennas or spatial diversity have been selected separate
installation notes will be produced for the primary and secondary units, as several
parameters are likely to be different.
The detailed reports contain both installation and performance information for
each of the path combinations, with the significant changes outlined in the
following sections.
The throughput information for each end of the link and the link summary
information is shown for each of the paths.
Figure 3.65: Proposal Report Performance Information for Protected (1+1) Link
For both sets of performance information the primary to primary notation refers to
the left end to right end of the link, in this example Wood Farm to West Tower.
For the Performance to West Tower the information is shown for the perfomance
received at West Tower when:
Primary to Primary - both Wood Farm and West Tower are set to primary.
Primary to Secondary - Wood Farm is set to primary and West Tower is
receiving a signal on its secondary unit.
Secondary to Primary - Wood Farm is transmitting on its secondary unit,
whilst West Tower is still receiving on its primary unit.
Secondary to Secondary - both Wood Farm and West Tower are using their
secondary units
The initial sections of the report (link summary, path profile and link configuration)
are shown for the primary to primary path. The site installation notes are given for
both the primary and secondary units at each end of the link. The BNC Target
Voltage and Predicted Receive Power are given for both the primary and
secondary units with the other end of the link operating on primary.
If the values are required to verify the secondary to secondary path, then the
Predicted Receive Power can be estimated quite closely for the common
antenna configuration. The BNC Target Voltage can be derived from the
received signal level using the RSSI voltage table given in PTP 800 Licensed
Ethernet Microwave User Guide. Assuming that the same power level is used for
both primary and secondary then the impact will be as follows:
Symmetric Couplers - no change in predicted receiver power
Asymmetric Couplers - the predicted receive power will drop by 5.4 dB
compared with the secondary receive power level.
If the transmit powers are different for primary and secondary then the offset will
have to be adjusted according to the difference. Equally if different antennas are
used for primary and secondary the predicted receive power for the secondary to
secondary path will be changed (with respect to the primary to primary path) by
the sum of the difference in antenna gains at each end of the link.
2+0 antenna sharing is available on PTP 800 links and involves configuring two
units at each end of the link to operate either through a common coupler to a
single antenna or a dual polar antenna to provide two parallel links between two
sites. The IRFU combines the two paths through an additional circulator to a single
antenna, removing the additional loss of the coupler. For a more detailed
understanding of 2+0 Antenna Sharing, see PTP 800 Licensed Ethernet Microwave
User Guide.
2+0 Antenna Sharing can be enabled as described in Link Description and
Equipment, for either 2+0 Co-Polar or 2+0 Cross-Polar. For the IRFU product the
only option is 2+0 Co-Polar. Once enabled, the Project Navigation Tree expands to
show a link node and its two associated links Link A and Link B. The 2+0
Cross-Polar is shown in Navigation Tree for 2+0 Cross-Polar link.
It is differentiated from the 2+0 Co-Polar, which is shown in Navigation Tree for
2+0 Co-Polar link, by the ‘x’ between the parallel lines in the link icon.
The link node gives access only to the Link Description, Region and Equipment
Selection and Bill of Materials aspects of the link configuration, see Link Node
Information for 2+0. To access all other sections of the Link Page select either
Link A or Link B.
Select either Link A or Link B to set up the product section of the equipment
configuration. The Region and Equipment Selection information is repeated from
the link node configuration. The Link Type cannot be changed at this level,
however the other parameters can be changed and any changes will be reflected
in the other link. The product configuration settings can all be changed
independently for Link A and Link B with the exception of the Polarisation, which is
shared for the 2+0 Co_Polar option and is reversed from Link A to Link B when
2+0 Cross-Polar is selected.
The Configuration at Each End panel includes the following additional attribute for
the ODU products:
Antenna Configuration: There are 2 options which can be selected to match the
possible configurations for 2+0 Cross-Polar
Common Dual Polar Antenna (Direct Mount) - Preliminary -
default setting
Common Dual Polar Antenna (Remote Mount)
The parameters at each end for each link can be configured as described in
Configuration at Each End. Although the parameters can be configured through
either Link A or Link B, some parameters are common to both links. Any changes
made to either link configuration will automatically be reflected in the other
configuration.
Antenna Type: The antenna type will always be the same for
both links.
Antenna Height: The antenna height will always be the same
for both links.
Feeder Loss: This field will always be the same for both links.
In the case of 2+0 Co-Polar this field will incorporate the
coupler loss in addition to any waveguide loss, for an ODU. The
symmetric coupler will have the same loss for both links
(maximum 4 dB), whereas the asymmetric coupler has a lower
loss for Link A (maximum 2 dB) and higher loss for Link B
(maximum 7.4 dB). For an IRFU, Link B will only incorporate
additional circulator losses of up to 0.7 dB compared to Link A.
Maximum EIRP: This field can be set independently for the
two links.
Maximum Power: This field can be set independently for the
two links.
Tx Frequency: This field must be different for Link A and Link
B. When using 2+0 Cross-Polar adjacent channels may be used.
When using 2+0 Co-Polar adjacent channels may be selected
but are not preferred and a warning will appear, see Select
Transmit Frequency 2+0 Co-Polar Adjacent Channel Error.
Figure 3.72: Select Transmit Frequency 2+0 Co-Polar Adjacent Channel Error
Tx Capacity Limit: This field can be set independently for the two links.
Interference: This field can be set independently for the two links.
The Bill of Materials is displayed at the link node level and shows the full set of
equipment required for both Link A and Link B.
The performance summary information for each link is shown on the link page for
Link A and Link B. The required performance parameters can be set independently
for each link and are defined in the usual way, see Performance Summary. If the
predicted performance of either link is below requirements, then the main link will
be displayed in red.
2+0 Reports
The reports for 2+0 configurations are created at the link node level in the usual
way, see Creating Reports and contain the performance and installation
information for both links. In the installation report, where the equipment is
common to both Link A and Link B, the information in the installation notes is only
given for Link A.
Long Waveguide
In a PTP 800 system the ODUs are normally installed either directly to the back of
the antenna or via a short length of flexible waveguide, however in some
instances it is required to install the ODUs either indoors or at the base of the
tower. Alternatively a purpose built indoor RF unit (IRFU) may be used. These
types of installation require the use of long lengths of elliptical waveguide, which
incurs additional loss.
When using long waveguides performance degradations can occur due to
mismatched components. LINKPlanner does not take into account such errors and
care should be taken when planning this type of link. Please consult your
Cambium Regional Technical Manager or Sales Representative for further guidance
on planning and deploying these types of links. The performance impacts are
more severe when using the ODU’s and hence there are also constraints on the
modes of operation when using an ODU, which are not relevant to the IRFU.
When selecting an IRFU product the use of long waveguide is automatically
included for all product types and only restricts the antenna selection and
provides the detailed losses form.
When selecting an ODU product there is a specific long waveguide feature, which
is enabled by selecting either 6 or 11 GHz bands, ODU-A and the FCC regulation,
see Link Equipment for Long Waveguide. It is only available for 1+0 and 1+1 Link
Types. The long waveguide option can be configured at either end individually or
at both ends of a link, by selecting either the appropriate end or “both” in the
Long Waveguide drop down menu.
The use of adaptive modulation is not supported when using the long waveguide
feature. The 10 MHz bandwidth supports fixed modulation modes up to 128 QAM
and the 30 or 40 MHz bandwidths support fixed modulation modes up to 64 QAM.
The long waveguide feature can only be used with remote high performance
antennas which have a VSWR of 1.06 or lower. The list of available antennas is
therefore reduced from that used in a normal installation.
To adjust the amount of Feeder Loss click on Edit, see End Equipment for Long
Waveguide.
The Losses (Long Waveguide) dialog is displayed. Select the appropriate length of
Flexible Waveguide from the drop down list. Enter lengths for each of the
distances involved and LINKPlanner will calculate the total loss or set all the
lengths to zero and enter the total loss of the waveguide run, or use a
combination of the two calculations to account for the total loss in the feeder run.
The installation excess is a value used to account for the required length of
elliptical waveguide to be ordered, but is not used in the installed loss calculation.
When using an IRFU a similar dialog is displayed Losses (Long Waveguide for
IRFU). The user definable parameters are all the same as for the ODU version,
however there are internal losses in the branching unit which are different for
transmit and receive and vary depending upon the product type. This results in
different amounts of loss in the transmit and receive directions which are shown
separately at the bottom of the dialog box.
The Bill of Materials for this type of installation contains a number of additional
items to support a long run of elliptical waveguide, including a distribution
manifold and dehydrator. A 2-port distribution manifold is included by default, to
Project Templates
Overview
A project template can contain all of the items that exist in a regular LINKPlanner
project file, such as default equipment settings, sites, links and custom antennas.
This means that when a new project is created from a template, all of these items
already exist in the new file. This can be particularly useful when there are custom
antennas that are required across multiple projects.
Create the project in the normal manner and then click File, Save As.... The
“Save As” dialog will appear. Change the ‘Save as type’ to ‘PTP LINKPlanner
Project Template’ (Choosing the template file type) (see and choose the
destination and file name for the template.
Link planners need to verify and adjust link profiles for the following reasons:
To enter accurate estimates of antenna heights.
To correct the average terrain heights provided by PTP Path Profiler.
To allow for obstructions in the link path (usually trees).
To allow for the effect of reflection when the link path is over water.
The process for each link is:
1. View the link in the Google Earth(TM) aerial photograph (if it is available), as
described in Using Google Earth(TM).
2. Obtain the most accurate possible data at the two ends of the link, as
described in Verifying Link Ends.
3. Obtain the most accurate possible data at the high points, as described in
Verifying High Points.
4. Update the profiles as described in Updating Link Profiles.
For examples of how Cambium link planners use a map, Google Earth and surveys
to adjust link profiles, see Link Profile Adjustment Examples.
The link profile can be viewed as a Google Earth(TM) aerial photograph (if it is
available). Air photographs help the planner to identify potential obstructions and
estimate their heights and positions.
To view a link, select the link in the PTP LINKPlanner navigation tree, then select
Google Earth .
The aerial photograph is displayed, zoomed into and centered on that link, as
shown in the following example (Google Earth(TM) Aerial Photograph with
Distances Shown):
To view a site, select the site in the PTP LINKPlanner navigation tree, then select
Google Earth .
The aerial photograph is displayed, zoomed into and centered on that site, with
links displayed.
Zoom into areas of the photograph where obstructions may be present, as shown
here (Google Earth(TM) Aerial Photograph (Zoomed)):
The distance along the line is displayed, negating the need for the ruler to be
used. On long links the distance resolution increases or decreases with the zoom.
The maximum resolution presented is 0.1 km or 0.1 miles depending upon the
LINKPlanner Length preference/options set.
Magenta lines - LoS links: The magenta lines represent LoS links between sites.
White lines - links with no profiles: The white lines represent LoS links for
which PTP LINKPlanner has no profiles.
Magenta transparent area - ground Fresnel zone: The magenta transparent
area represents the projection of the Fresnel cigar shaped tube on the ground.
Obstructions can be easily compared with this Ground Fresnel zone to establish
their significance. The zoomed example photograph shows a tree at 0.26 miles
(0.42 km) that is wider than the Fresnel zone and thus, if it is high enough, is of
significance. The shadows and general size suggest that it may be 30 ft (9.2 m)
high.
Blue translucent area - vertical Fresnel zone: The blue translucent shaded
area represents the Vertical Fresnel zone as seen from the air (Fresnel zone
representation in Google Earth). It has no thickness and so may not be seen when
the observer is immediately above the link.
Hp1-3 identify points which have the greatest significance to the excess path loss
of the link. Hp1 has the greatest significance while Hp2 is the largest effect on the
left hand side of the link and Hp3 is the largest effect on the right hand side of the
link.
When an obstruction is identified, with practice, the height of the obstruction can
be estimated and quickly added to the profile using the range markers and the
profile editor.
As the Fresnel zone is smaller near the transceivers, obstructions near the ends of
the link have a greater impact on performance than obstructions near the centre
of the link. It is therefore vital to obtain the most accurate possible survey data at
the two ends of the link. The planner needs to answer the following questions:
Does the path profile (from PTP Path Profiler) show the correct ground height
near the ends of the link path?
Are there any obstructions near the ends of the link path?
How high is the antenna?
To obtain approximate answers, use a map and Google Earth(TM): an example is
described in Verifying a Link End Using a Map and Google Earth.
To obtain more reliable answers, visit the site and survey the end of the link: an
example is described in Verifying a Link End Using a Survey.
The Google Earth photograph displays high points on the link path as “Hp1”,
“Hp2” and so on. These are points at which the link path is very close to the
ground and so prone to obstruction. It is therefore vital to obtain the most
accurate possible survey data at these high points. The planner needs to answer
the following questions:
Does the path profile (from PTP Path Profiler) show the correct ground height
near the high points?
Are there any obstructions near the high points?
To obtain approximate answers, use a map and Google Earth(TM): an example is
described in Verifying a High Point Using a Map.
To obtain more reliable answers, visit and survey the high point: an example is
described in Verifying a High Point Using a Survey.
When link profiles have been verified, they must be updated. To update a profile,
select the link in the navigation tree to view the Link Page. The Profile
Vizualization Chart must be updated to include obstructions and, if the path is
over water, to allow for reflection.
Obstructions
Double-click on the Profile visualization chart. The Profile Editor page is displayed.
Enter or update the Range or Obstruction height as required. For example, enter a
4 metre high Obstruction at Range 0.501 km and a 3.5 metre high Obstruction at
Range 0.678 km.
If necessary, make allowances for forests and tall buildings:
An obstruction of roughly constant height (for example a forest) may extend
over two or more points. To enter such an obstruction, select all the affected
Obstruction Height cells, type a value and press Enter. For example, if a
forest with 12 m high trees extends from Range 1 km to 1.2 km, select the
Obstruction Height cells for this range, type 12 and press Enter.
If a tall building partially obstructs the Fresnel zone by cutting vertically into
one side, treat it as though it cuts horizontally into the bottom of the Fresnel
zone. For example, if it extends 3 metres into the right hand side of the zone,
enter it as a 3 m high obstruction.
The Profile is updated to represent the trees as green points above the terrain.
If you would like to add an obstruction in between two of the existing profile
points, you can add a new point using the Add Point button.
You need to specify the range along the path, the terrain height at that point, and
the obstruction height. For either of the heights, you can press the Estimate
height button to enter a height based on the points either side of the new one.
Deleting points
You can remove points from the profile by selecting them and pressing the Delete
Points button. Any points except the first and last may be deleted.
Some types of obstruction, for example forests, may extend for some distance
along the path. These can be represented in the profile by editing multiple points.
To set the same height for multiple points, select those points and type the new
height. When you press Return, that height will be entered for all those points.
To adjust the heights for multiple points so that there is a constant gradient, set
the heights at either end of the range, then select the range and click the Straight
Line button .
Reflections
LINKPlanner does not adjust the reliability of the link based upon the
possible reflection, but a link that suffers reflection can have very bad
performance if the mitigation has not been applied.
The optimum spacing may be different for each end of the link, and a Multiplier
may be chosen from the pull down list to give a suitable spacing to use in the last
line of the editor. In the example above, the Multiplier is set to 5 to give a spacing
of 4.17 meters, which is easily achievable without much cable loss.
For unlicensed products set the Multiplier, then transfer the resulting Spacing
value to the Configuration Diversity Spacing, as described in Configuration at
Each End. Unlicensed products use both Tx and Rx diversity and therefore
diversity should only be applied at one end of the link. If diversity is to be applied
at both ends of the link, the Diversity Spacing at each end of the link should be
entered as half the value given for each end by the Reflection Editor.
Licensed band products only use Rx diversity and therefore diversity must be
applied at both ends of the link using the full diversity spacing values given. If a
Multiplier is to be used it should be calculated for each end of the link. The
diversity spacing should be subtracted from the Primary antenna height to give
the height required for the Secondary antenna.
In this example, an alternative solution is to lower the Brixham antenna. This
makes diversity spacing unnecessary for reflection mitigation, because the
reflection path is obscured by the Brixham cliff edge (Profile with Reflection
Obscured).
For more information about reflections, see Paths Over Sea or Very Flat Ground.
LINKPlanner will use the units that are defined in the header row of the
path profile data when a profile is pasted. If the header row is missing or
if the units are not recognised then the preferred units will be used.
Open the Profile Editor and click . Once you have made the appropriate
changes to the profile, copy the information and paste it back into LINKPlanner
(see Pasting a Path Profile).
These examples show how Cambium link planners use a map, Google Earth and
surveys to adjust link profiles.
The original path profile for the point-to-point link from Addislade Farm to Yelland
Cross Farm is built using the PTP Path Profiler data:
We verify the link ends and the high points as described in the following examples:
Verifying a Link End Using a Map and Google Earth
Verifying a Link End Using a Survey
Verifying a High Point Using a Map
Verifying a High Point Using a Survey
These methods are applied to both link ends and to all high points in the link path.
The resulting path profile is shown here:
This is an example to show how Cambium link planners use a map and Google
Earth(TM) to estimate the height of the terrain and obstructions near one end of a
test link. We use the following aids:
The antenna site is just below the 160 m contour, so the path profile height
156.9 m at range 0 km is probably correct. However, the 160 m contour
curves around and crosses the link path at two points in the first 0.1 km of
the link. This means that the path profile height of 157.4 m at range 0.089
km is too low. We estimate that the terrain height at this point is 162 m.
3. We examine the Google Earth air photograph of the link end. This reveals
some potential obstructions:
Just in front of the antenna - a building and some bushes, estimated
height 6 m.
At 0.1 km from the antenna - a row of trees, estimated height 8 m.
These obstructions and the higher ground are annotated in this Google
Earth photograph:
4. We enter estimates for these obstructions and the higher ground in the
Profile Editor:
Figure 3.95: Profile Updated with Map and Google Earth Results
Our conclusion is that the Fresnel zone may be severely obstructed at this site.
This must be confirmed by conducting a survey, as described in Verifying a Link
End Using a Survey.
This is an example to show how Cambium link planners use a site survey to refine
their estimates of the terrain and obstructions near one end of a test link. This
builds on the previous example Verifying a Link End Using a Map and Google
Earth.
We use the following survey aids:
Map, path profile, Google Earth(TM) aerial photo
Barometric GPS receiver
Clear plastic ruler
Surveyor’s tape measure
Pocket calculator
Binoculars
We follow these steps:
1. We use the barometric GPS receiver to verify terrain height.
Because air pressure may change frequently, the GPS receiver must be
recalibrated near every survey site, at a point with a known altitude. The
map shows a suitable point for calibration, where the road crosses the 160m
contour near the site, as annotated on this Google Earth photograph:
This method can also be used to estimate the height of trees and
other potential obstructions. If it is not possible to measure the
distance d2, use the map to estimate it.
4. We examine the potential obstructions and high points that were found on
the air photograph:
A building and some bushes immediately in front of the antenna: The
building proves to be just clear of the link path and is not recorded as an
obstruction. The bushes are on the link path, so we use the ruler method to
estimate and record their height: 5 m.
Higher ground at 0.089 km from the antenna: We go as near to this higher
ground as we can and take the GPS reading: 161.4 m.
A row of trees at 0.1 km from the antenna: This row of trees cuts through the
link path. We identify the tree that is on the path and use the ruler method to
estimate and record its height: 7 m.
These obstructions and the higher ground are annotated in this Google Earth
photograph:
Link planners must allow for the possibility that tree growth or new
buildings may cause new obstructions in the future. If the potential
obstructions are deciduous trees, allow for seasonal changes in
foliage.
5. When we return to the office, we update the profile with these results:
We now have a more accurate profile of the link end. This will help us to optimize
the link and achieve acceptable data throughput.
This is an example to show how Cambium link planners use a map and Google
Earth(TM) to estimate the height of the terrain and obstructions near one high
point of a test link. We use the following aids:
PTP Path Profiler data imported into PTP LINKPlanner.
PTP LINKPlanner, open at the Link Profile and Profile Editor.
An accurate topographic map with contours at 10m intervals.
The Google Earth aerial photograph zoomed in on the high point.
We follow these steps:
1. PTP Path Profiler returned the following profile for the high point at range
1.071 km:
2. We examine the map of the high point. This reveals that the link path is
between the 150 m and 160 m contours:
Our conclusion is that the Fresnel zone may be severely obstructed at this high
point. This must be confirmed by conducting a high point survey, as described in
Verifying a High Point Using a Survey.
This is an example to show how Cambium link planners use a high point survey to
refine their estimates of the terrain and obstructions near high points. This builds
on the previous example Verifying a High Point Using a Map.
We use the following survey aids:
Map, path profile, Google Earth(TM) aerial photo
Barometric GPS receiver
Clear plastic ruler
Surveyor’s tape measure
Pocket calculator
Binoculars
We follow these steps:
1. We use the barometric GPS receiver to verify terrain height.
Because air pressure may change frequently, the GPS receiver must be
recalibrated near every high point, at a point with a known altitude. The map
shows a suitable point for calibration, where the road crosses the 150 m
contour near the high point, as annotated on this Google Earth photograph:
We now have a more accurate profile of the high point. This will help us to
Site and Link data can be exported in CSV or KML format, as described in
Exporting Data.
Reports can be created in PDF format for the currently open and selected project,
as described in Creating Reports.
Exporting Data
Data can be exported in CSV or KML format for the currently open and selected
project.
Links (CSV)
To view the link details in Excel, select the “Links” node in the navigation tree and
select View in Spreadsheet .
To export the link details to a CSV file, select File, Export, Links (csv). The CSV
file can then be incorporated into a spreadsheet to enable further analysis and
costing of the project.
Sites (CSV)
To export details of all sites to a CSV file, select File, Export, Sites (csv).
To export details of all links from a single site to a CSV file, select File, Export,
Links from this site (csv).
To export details of a single site to a KMZ/KML file, select File, Export, Google
Earth (kmz/kml). The KMZ/KML file can then be used to view the project sites in
Google Earth(TM).
To export the data behind the performance charts to a csv file, select File,
Export, Performance Chart Data (csv). This generates a four column table of
Link Name, Site Name, Availability and Throughput, which can then be post
processed as required.
Creating Reports
Reports can be created in PDF format for the currently open and selected project.
There are two categories of report:
Proposal reports offer a general overview. Options are Project or Link.
Installation reports contain detailed configuration and performance
parameters. Options are Project, Links Table, Link or Site.
Installation reports contain ordered lists of field settings. These are very
useful when completing the Installation Wizard of the ODU web
interface.
Proposal Reports
To obtain a Proposal report, open the required page from the navigation tree
(Project, or Link), then choose to preview or create the report:
Installation Reports
To obtain an Installation report, open the required page from the navigation tree
(Project, Links list, Link or Site), then choose to preview or create the report:
Background Information
145
PTP LINKPlanner User Guide, Release 3.1.2
Availability
ITU-R P530-12
P530 is an international standard from the ITU and is continuously being reviewed
and updated. Version 12 was last updated in 2007 and is the method currently
used in LINKPlanner. The ITU model is fully defined and has no ambiguity in its
implementation, hence all implementations should return the same results for a
given configuration of a link.
Vigants - Barnett
The Vigants - Barnett model is widely used in the United States of America. This
model was defined in the 1970’s and the algorithms used are described in the
following two references:
Multipath Propagation at 4, 6 and 11 GHz, by W.T. Barnett, Bell System
Technical Journal, Vol 51 Feb 1972 Number 2
Space-Diversity Engineering, by A. Vigants, Bell System Technical Journal, Vol
54 Jan 1975 Number 1
These papers define the algorithms, but the implementation is open to
interpretation. The following describes the implementation used within
LINKPlanner:
The Climatic Factor is automatically read from a database of the atmospheric
conditions maps and is taken at the mid-point of the path.
The terrain roughness is calculated for 50 evenly spaced points in the central
80% of the path, using terrain height above mean sea level plus obstruction
height as the reference height.
The temperature used to convert from worst month to annual availability is
taken for the mid-point of the path using the standard ESATEMP data file
available from the ITU.
Path Loss
Path loss is the amount of attenuation a radio signal undergoes between the two
ends of a link. Path loss comprises the sum of the attenuation of the path if there
were no obstacles in the way (Free Space Path Loss) and the attenuation caused
by obstacles (Excess Path Loss). It is also necessary to consider a margin to allow
for possible fading of the radio signal (Fade Margin), and an allowance for the
seasonal effects of foliage growth, to achieve a reliable link. This path loss must
be lower than the equipment capability for the data rate required.
PTP LINKPlanner uses the following equation to judge whether a particular link can
be installed:
Path Loss Equation:
Free Space Path Loss is the loss incurred along a line-of-sight path between the
two end points of the radio link. The following graph shows the value in dB by
range, at the frequency used by PTP 500 bridges:
Excess Path Loss is the loss incurred due to obstacles between the two end points
of the radio link. This loss is calculated by PTP LINKPlanner. Trees and foliage
create a number of problems:
They are often not marked on the path profiles, leading to optimistic results.
They are not completely solid, leading to pessimistic results.
They are responsible for seasonal variation.
Identify trees and foliage as obstructions in PTP LINKPlanner, thus giving worst
case results. When the link is installed, make an allowance for seasonal variations
in the estimated mean path loss.
Fade Margin
A Fade Margin needs to be applied to the link budget to take into account changes
in the radio path caused by changes in objects surrounding or in the path, for
example moving objects such as traffic or the changes in foliage brought on by
seasonal change. The Fade Margin for NLoS links used in the calculation is a
function of excess path loss, and is taken from the following graph:
Figure 4.2: Fade Margin vs Excess Path Loss for 99.99% Link Availability
The Fade Margin for LoS links is a function of location, path length, antenna
heights, and spatial diversity, and it is computed using ITU-R P.530-12. The
estimation tool adds together the probabilities for the NLoS fading and the LoS
fading.
Fresnel Zone
Where Is
d1 distance from one end in meters
d2 distance from the other end in meters
f frequency in MHz
The Maximum Path Loss is the total path attenuation that the system can
withstand and still maintain 99.99% availability. Due to different spectrum
licensing conditions in different countries, the Maximum Path Loss varies from
country to country due to allowable output power differences. Deployment
considerations may limit the maximum power which is used. Also, there may be
local interference sources from other users of the 5.8 GHz band.
Paths over the sea are subject to a special problem due to the very strong
reflection from the water. This reflection can add an anti-phase signal to the direct
wave and cancel it out completely. This may not happen all of the time because
the effective curvature of the earth changes depending upon the temperature
gradient in the atmosphere. This gradient can change and in certain
circumstances causes the signal to travel a long way in ducts. The following figure
illustrates the problem and the solution, using a PTP 500 bridge:
The background of the diagram is shaded to illustrate the changing density and
therefore refractive index. The upper antennas are in a signal inversion.
The signals pass from one antenna to the other through two paths. One path is
the direct path and the other is reflected from the sea. The mean path loss of the
two components is almost identical. The graph adjacent to the mast illustrates the
signal level that will occur as an antenna is moved vertically on the mast. In this
case the x-axis illustrates the amplitude received while the y-axis illustrates the
height.
The polarization selected for the antennas are single V and H polarization on the
left and a dual polarized antenna on the right. The two graphs on the right
illustrate the signal received on each polarization while on the left the individual
antennas will receive the same signal level independent of polarization but
instead will only depend upon the height.
There is an optimum vertical spacing of the two antennas on the left which is
found from the geometry of the two paths. The important parameters are the
length of the path, the height of the right single antenna and to a lesser extent
the height of the pair of antennas on the left. An allowance is made for the
apparent height of the middle of the path due to the mean radio curvature of the
earth (4/3).
The procedure for updating link profiles to allow for reflection is described in
Updating Link Profiles.
Path Profiles
The accuracy of the PTP LINKPlanner results depends upon obtaining accurate
path data. In the US this data is readily available from recent 1 arc second data
(20m) obtained by NASA. In the rest of the world 30 arc second data (500m) is
freely available but NASA has provided 3 arc second data (50m) for the world
between Latitudes 60 north and 60 south. (See SRTM Technical Guide). PTP
LINKPlanner can also import from a number of other data sources.
PTP LINKPlanner uses the following data sources:
SRTM V2.1 (See SRTM Technical Guide)
ASTER Version 1 (For more information, visit
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/jpl/missions/aster.html)
GeoBase (For more information, visit
http://www.geobase.ca/geobase/en/index.html)
Note that the SRTM and ASTER data collection methods generally map the top of
the landscape including its land cover, which means that significant areas of land
cover such as forest and urban areas may be incorporated into the terrain height.
The SRTM data collection happened in February, a period of minimum leaf cover
for northern latitude deciduous forests.
Even with accurate path data, the losses over certain objects depend upon the
curvature of the top of those objects. Nevertheless the tool gives a good idea of
the performance to be expected, and by doing a what/if analysis, helps the user to
understand the concept of non-line-of-sight.
To obtain an accurate link estimate where the path impinges on the Fresnel zone,
an accurate height profile of the path is required. Cambium provides the PTP Path
Profiler web based utility for this purpose, as described in PTP Path Profiler. In
some parts of the world this path profile can be obtained from other propagation
prediction packages such as MicroPath, PathLoss, ATDI ICS Telecom, Softwright
TAP and Radio Mobile.
Cambium has produced the web based utility PTP Path Profiler to create path
profiles, which can be directly imported into PTP LINKPlanner:
The file output by PTP Path Profiler is complete in the sense that it
includes the Latitude and Longitude. Most of the imports from other
software do not address this problem and thus it is important to correct
the Latitude and Longitude in the PTP LINKPlanner for translated files.
PTP LINKPlanner automatically generates requests and sends them to PTP Path
Profiler (from the menu options Project, Get Profiles). PTP Path Profiler sends the
path profiles to the email address specified in the Options/Preferences Page. See
Obtaining Link Profiles.
If the automatic request generation does not work, the profile can be obtained
manually by visiting the PTP Path Profiler site and entering the following
information:
The latitude and longitude of the both ends of the wireless link in decimal
format to WGS 84.
The heights above ground level of the antennas at both ends of the link.
Selection of the required height and range units.
A filename that is used to name the path profile files that are returned via
email.
Contact information including name, company and telephone number.
An email address to which an email containing the path profile files can be
delivered.
Location can be entered in a number of formats, for example:
ddd:mm:ss.sP eg. 50:33:20.6N,
ddd:mm.mmmP eg. 50:33.33.9N, and
ddd.dddddP eg 50.55345N.
The Antenna Heights are referenced to ground level, and they are adjustable in
the PTP LINKPlanner. The number of points divided by the range of the link gives
the resolution along the path of the link. The link name is displayed on the
graphical display of the PTP LINKPlanner. The Filename has ‘.ptpdat’ appended to
it. The Contact Name enables Cambium to know who is requesting path profiles.
The Company Name and Phone are for similar purposes. The Email address is the
site where the path profile is delivered, usually in a few minutes after pressing
Send Form.
When path profiles are loaded into PTP LINKPlanner, verify them as described in
Adjusting Link Profiles. The following questions must be answered:
Has PTP Path Profiler given the correct ground height at each end of the link?
Has PTP Path Profiler given accurate data for any sections of the path that
pass over water? The method of survey, which is radar on board a satellite,
may cause inaccuracies over water. The ground return is dispersive in angle,
ensuring that some power goes back to the satellite. A water return in calm
conditions can be reflected in one direction away from the satellite,
introducing potentially large errors.
There are three data sources used in these profiles. The lowest resolution is global
and is in 30 arc second steps (900 meters) using 1 meter vertical resolution. The
middle resolution covers most of the land area between 61 degrees North and 61
degrees South, it has 3 arc second resolution steps (90 meters) using 1 meter
vertical resolution. The highest resolution is for the United States only, it has 1 arc
second resolution steps and also has 1 meter vertical resolution.
The vertical accuracy is claimed by NASA to be 10 meters RMS. It is noticeable
that the middle resolution has less noise than the highest resolution and yet it
comes from the same radar scans (February 2000 Shuttle Radar Topography
Mission SRTM). This is because each data point is an average of 9 points from the
highest resolution. The low resolution data was obtained from many different
sources.
See SRTM Technical Guide for links to SRTM sites.
After submitting the link parameters to the path profiler server, the server
generates detailed path profile data. The data is returned via an email. The email
has one file attached:
PTPDAT file: The PTPDAT file is a Cambium proprietary format file suitable for
loading into the PTP LINKPlanner.
TDD Overview
Cambium PTP unlicensed band links consist of a Master unit and a Slave unit. The
links use a duplexing scheme known as Time Division Duplex (TDD). To activate
TDD Synchronization, see Setting TDD Synchronization.
TDD operates by only allowing one end of the link to transmit at any one time.
This allows both link directions to operate on the same radio frequency. This
differs from Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), where each end can transmit and
receive simultaneously but this requires the two directions to operate on different
frequencies, thereby increasing the spectral requirements.
TDD operates in a cyclic fashion, with the transmissions alternating between the
two ends. The cycle of events is as follows:
1. Master transmits a burst
2. A delay occurs as the Master burst travels over the air
3. Slave receives the burst
4. A delay as the Slave processes the burst
5. The slave transmits a burst
6. A delay as the slave burst travels over the air
7. Master receives the burst
8. A delay as the Master processes the burst
9. Master transmits a burst
One cycle is called a Frame. The cycle period is called the Frame Duration. This is
shown in Basic TDD Frame. For purposes of illustration, the delays in this diagram
have been exaggerated.
The size of the burst depends on the configuration of TDM mode, IP mode and link
symmetry.
TDM Mode
If the PTP link is carrying TDM traffic (E1s or T1s), it is desirable to keep the burst
as short as possible in order to minimize latency. However, with shorter bursts, a
greater proportion of the frame is taken up by the radio propagation delay and the
burst processing delay thus reducing throughput. So, in TDM mode, the PTP link
reduces the burst size as far as possible whilst still maintaining the throughput
required for the configured number of E1s and T1s. The result is that burst sizes
are greater for longer links.
IP Mode
If the PTP link is carrying IP traffic only, it is often desirable to increase throughput
at the expense of latency. In IP mode therefore, the PTP 600 link maximizes burst
size. This makes the propagation delay and processing delay proportionately
smaller making the frame more efficient.
Symmetry
The system can be configured to give more or less of the frame to a particular
direction. Possible values are:
Symmetric: Equal burst size for both link directions. Each link direction has
the same maximum throughput.
Adaptive: This mode is only available in IP mode. The size of the burst
effectively adapts to the traffic being offered from the network and is
independent of the size of the burst in the other link direction. As the offered
traffic level increases in a given direction, the size of the burst increases in
that direction in order to increase frame efficiency and therefore throughput.
As the offered traffic level decreases in a given direction, so the size of the
burst in that direction decreases. This allows the other link direction to take a
greater proportion of the frame if required.
2:1 (PTP 600 only): Master Tx Burst is twice the size of Slave Tx Burst.
Maximum throughput in the direction towards the Slave is twice the
Maximum throughput in the direction towards the Master.
3:1 (PTP 500 only): Master Tx Burst is three times the size of Slave Tx
Burst. Maximum throughput in the direction towards the Slave is three times
the Maximum throughput in the direction towards the Master.
1:2 (PTP 600 only): Slave Tx Burst is twice the size of Master Tx Burst.
Maximum throughput in the direction towards the Master is twice the
Maximum throughput in the direction towards the Slave.
1:3 (PTP 500 only): Slave Tx Burst is three times the size of Master Tx
Burst. Maximum throughput in the direction towards the Master is three
times the Maximum throughput in the direction towards the Slave.
Summary
Burst size.
Propagation delay (link length).
System processing delays.
The burst size is dependent on configuration:
In TDM mode, the burst sizes are minimized as far as possible in order to
reduce latency.
In IP mode, the burst sizes are maximized in order to increase throughput. As
processing delay and propagation delay are fixed (for a given link length),
larger bursts are more efficient as a greater proportion of the frame is being
used to carry data.
Interference between units on the same mast is the most problematic due to their
close proximity. The problem becomes worse when the angular separation
between links (see Separation of PTP 600 Units on a Mast) is small. This can be
alleviated by using the following techniques:
Increasing the separation between the victim’s receive frequency and the
interferer’s transmit frequency. With limited spectrum, this becomes more
difficult with increasing numbers of links.
Increasing the physical separation between the interferer and the victim.
Separation of PTP 600 Units on a Mast vertically separated on a mast.
Reducing the transmit power of the interfering radio. However, this may
affect the performance of the interferers own link in the direction away from
the common mast.
Unsynchronized Links
When the frames of two links are unsynchronized, the transmission from one ODU
may overlap the receive frame of any another ODU. Unsynchronized Frames
shows the frames of the two links “A to B” and “C to D”. The diagram focuses on
ODU A as the interferer. It can be seen that the transmission from ODU A is
overlapping the receive period of both ODU C and ODU D. As well as the frames
not being aligned, the frame duration of link “C to D” is longer than that of link “A
to B”. This is because the propagation delay of this link is longer. This means that
the size of the overlap will vary from frame to frame. This is illustrated by the
overlap period with ODU D Rx being longer in the first frame than in the second
frame.
Synchronized Links
burst from remote ODU D - and vice versa. However, the receive period of the
remote ODU D still overlaps with the transmission from ODU A. In fact, they are
now perfectly aligned. This highlights the key result of TDD synchronization which
is that half of the network interference mechanisms are eliminated, or more
precisely, the interference between units operating on the same phase of the TDD
cycle is eliminated.
In order to eliminate interference between units which are on the same phase but
which are NOT collocated, the propagation delay of the victim link and the
interference path needs to be considered. This leads to the optimization of three
parameters:
Burst Duration
Frame Duration
slaveTxRxGap
Burst Duration and Frame Duration are self explanatory and are shown in
Synchronized Frames. The parameter slaveRxTxGap is also shown in
Synchronized Frames and allows the frames of shorter links to stretch to that of
the longest link in order to keep a common network frame duration. This
highlights a key disadvantage of TDD synchronization in that the efficiency of
shorter links reduce to those of the longer links. Also note that adaptive frame
structures are no longer possible. In fact, only symmetrical frame structures are
supported when TDD synchronization is enabled.
Optimization of these parameters as well as the configuration of phase using Link
Planner is discussed in Setting TDD Synchronization.
Format of the path file exported by Motorola Hydra (without site names):
40.047845833333334 -75.175095277777771
40.042207222222224 -75.168060277777784
50 TxHt(Meters)
8 RxHt(Meters)
5734 Freq(Mhz)
0
0 95 0 0
0.76553904027639119 95 0 15
1.5310780805527824 95 0 15
2.2966171208291732 95 0 150.60,1712.7,,0.00
Format of the path file exported by Motorola Hydra (with site names):
SiteNames
Big House
Garage
40.047845833333334 -75.175095277777771
40.042207222222224 -75.168060277777784
50 TxHt(Meters)
8 RxHt(Meters)
5734 Freq(Mhz)
0
0 95 0 0
0.76553904027639119 95 0 15
1.5310780805527824 95 0 15
2.2966171208291732 95 0 15
Sites can be defined in a CSV (comma separated variable) file, created using Excel
or a text editor. The first row contains titles. For example:
Name, Latitude, Longitude, Maximum Height, Descripion
Place1, 50.371N, 3.523W, 200, Desc of place 1
Place2, 50.384N, 3.525W, 100, Desc of place 2
Paths can be defined in a CSV (comma separated variable) file, created using
Excel or a text editor. The first row contains the headings. To ensure that the path
is imported correctly the units should be defined in the header. Range can take
the units (km) or (mi.) and the height values can be in (m) or (ft). If the units are
missing or not recognised then the preferred units will be used. The range value
increments from zero at the local (left hand) end of the path to the maximum path
length. For an example, see Path Profile Units.
Paths can be imported from Pathloss text reports either just as the profile, using
the Terrain profile listing which will give the name and co-ordinates of each site
and the path profile including obstructions between the sites. If tower heights and
antenna heights at each site are also required then the Transmission details
also need to be exported.
In Pathloss 5 the text report is built by selecting Operations, PL5 reports. In the
Composite reports window either just select Terrain profile listing or select both
Terrain profile listing and Transmission details, then select Print selected
links. Save the resulting output as Text Format (*.TXT). Multiple sites can be
included in the same file.
LINKPlanner can only support path profiles from Pathloss with a Datum of World
Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 1984) or North American 1983.
Legal Notices
Users of the PTP LINKPlanner application should read the following legal notices:
Cambium Networks End User License Agreement
Third Party Software
Limit of Liability
165
PTP LINKPlanner User Guide, Release 3.1.2
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This is a list of the main changes that have been made to the PTP LINKPlanner
application since version 1.0.
179
PTP LINKPlanner User Guide, Release 3.1.2
Bug Fixes
Fix bug which prevents a project from being saved if the username contains
non-ASCII characters
Correct switch descriptions
Added optional capability for users to define a watermark for path profile
images
Included FCC 99.95% minimum payload requirement to link error status
FCC License Coordination report now reports Cambium Antenna part number,
receive end signal level and fade margin
Added Switch selection option as an Extras tab for licensed products in the
BOM
Bug Fixes
Paste sites wasn’t importing tower heights correctly in all cases
Ensure link error status updates automatically when prediction model is
switched between ITU and Vigants - Barnett
Ensure default equipment settings are used for new links when generated
through the link icon on the map
Fixed a bug in the 1+1 Redundant Antenna BOM creation which wasn’t
generating correct feeder components for remote mount antennas.
Fixed unpredictable behaviour when displaying a site or panning the view.
Bug Fixes
Paste sites from Google Earth has been fixed
The map “PDF Export” functionality works when the project has not been
saved
Fixed the export error that occurred if the link name contained a ‘.’
Select the correct file extension when saving in OSX
Remove the embedded web browser that displays the Google Map on OSX
– This is a temporary measure until there is a suitable fix for a critical bug
that causes LINKPlanner to crash on OSX
Flexible waveguide selections for long waveguide links are now stored
correctly in the project file
Removed Preliminary Status from 2+0 Cross-Polar Common Dual Polar Direct
Mount Antenna
New interactive map and embedded Google Maps/Google Earth
– Interactive map features:
* Movable labels
* Create links from hub (right-click on site)
* Customisable colours and styles for links and sites
* Export to full-page PDF
– Embedded Google Map/Google Earth features:
* Google Maps work on Microsoft Windows and OSX
* Google Earth is only available on Microsoft Windows
* Create and edit sites and links in Google Maps
Copy and paste link path profiles
– View and edit path profiles in a spreadsheet
Multiple editing of links in the Links panel
– Edit attributes for one or more links at once
Link formatting rules
– Create custom rules to control the visualisation properties of links
– Use rules to control which links are included in the map, reports or in
project export data
Copy and paste links, sites and link formatting rules
– Smart merge for when existing sites or links are similar to the data that
is being pasted
– Quickly duplicate links in the Links panel
Project summary when you hover your mouse over the project name in the
tree
– Displays the number of sites and links in the project
Display the reason for failure of a link in the map and on mouse-over the link
in the tree
Added detailed Feeder Loss fields to Links View
Bug Fixes
Corrected 11 GHz Flex Waveguide Loss value for IRFU
Add warning to link BOM panel reminding users not to order ODUs until the
license has been granted
New optional extras for PTP 600 UC-APL
Bug Fixes
Add BNC Target Voltage to PTP 300/500 installation reports
Correct emission designator for FCC 80 MHz bandwidth
Bug Fixes
Update the part numbers for the 28 GHz ODU Coupler Mounting Kits
Fix a bug that caused an error when generating a project level report if any of
the links had a long waveguide
Changed project navigation tree for 1+1 to support a link node and four
separate paths
Improved icons in project navigation tree to distinguish different types of
links
Bug Fixes
Updated Installation report to provide maximum value for Max EIRP rather
than left end value
Fix a bug that prevented certain KML files from being imported
Restrict existing FCC regulation to meet FCC modulation mode capacity limits
for PTP 800
Bug Fixes
Version 2.3.10 fixes 2 issues that were introduced in version 2.3.9
Fix 3 antenna part numbers
Fix an issue with using PTP 59600 in the 5.8GHz India regulation (region 19)
Bug Fixes
Fix a bug which caused antenna gain on some links using PTP
300/400/500/600 with integrated antennas to be calculated incorrectly
(possibly as much as 5 dB low at each end)
– Add regulation definition for Mexico at 15 GHz with 315 MHz and 644
MHz T/R spacings
– 8 GHz FCC and 8 GHz ETSI are now officially supported regulations (they
are no longer preliminary)
Bug Fixes
38 GHz ETSI QPSK max power increased by 1 dB
38 GHz/700 MHz (FCC) max power and sensitivity each reduced by 1 dB
PTP 800 Bandwidths are now restricted based on T/R spacing, some
previously available combinations were actually not supported and have now
been removed
All PTP 800 T/R spacings other than 252.04 MHz and 311.32 MHz must use
frequencies that are multiples of 250 kHz. This was not always enforced in
previous releases
Removed the ability to select PTP 800 transmit frequencies that are not
separated by the selected T/R spacing.
Bug Fixes
Fix a bug that prevented creation of custom antennas introduced in version
2.3.2
Bug Fixes
Fix a bug that could cause PTP-600 not to display any dual-payload
modulation modes
Glossary
192
PTP LINKPlanner User Guide, Release 3.1.2
193
CHAPTER 8
Credits
194
Index
195
PTP LINKPlanner User Guide, Release 3.1.2
Custom Field, 34 F
Custom field, 34 Fade Margin, 148
Custom Fields, 89 Fade Occurrence Factor, 80
Customer Information, 44 FCC, 192
Customizing the Links list, 63 FCC License Coordination, 143
Customizing the Sites list, 58 Feature changes, 178
Features of PTP LINKPlanner, 5
D
FEC, 192
DAT files, 51, 64, 152 Feedback, 7
Data, 143 File Formats, 162
Default region, 38 Flags, 89
Default Settings, 50 Formatting rules, 92
Delete Points, 126 FormEncode, 172
Deleting Links, 64 Free Space Path Loss, 147
Deleting Sites, 58 Fresnel Zone, 71, 149
Details, 59, 82
DFS, 192 G
Displaying the Links List, 62 General Information, 6
Displaying the Sites List, 57 Genshi, 172
Duplicating Links, 63 Geoclimatic Factor, 80
E Getting Link Profiles, 64
Getting Started, 14, 24
E1/T1, 68, 101
Getting started, 5, 10
Edit multiple links, 64
Glossary, 191
Edit Path Profile as a Spreadsheet, 130
Google Earth, 52, 53, 71, 121, 131, 143
Editing Link details, 64
Google Earth (embedded), 48
Editing Profiles, 124
Google Maps (embedded), 47
Editing Projects, 43
GPS, 52, 134
Editing Site details, 58
Graphics Settings, 40
EIRP, 192
GUI, 35
Email, 154
Enable Reflection Mitigation, 124 H
Ends of Link, 72 Height, 56
Equal Spliiters, 103 Help, 7
Equipment (licensed bands), 70 High Points, 123, 131, 134
Equipment (unlicensed bands), 69 Hot Standby, 70, 103
Errors fixed, 178 Hot Standby Configuration at Each End,
Ethernet bridges, 11 105
ETSI, 192 Hot Standby Performance Summary,
Evaluating Performance, 67 107
Examples, 130 HTML Reports, 143
Excess Path Loss, 148 HTTP Proxies, 38
Exporting, 143 Hydra, 163
Exporting a site (Google Earth(TM) KML Hydra Files, 51
file), 143
Exporting Data, 143 I
Exporting links (CSV file), 143 Import File Formats, 162
Exporting links from a site (CSV file), Import Sites from CSV files, 163
143 Importing, 53
Exporting Performance Chart Data, 143 Importing Path Data, 51
Exporting sites (CSV file), 143 Importing Sites, 53
Expression Groups, 93
196 Index
PTP LINKPlanner User Guide, Release 3.1.2
Index 197
PTP LINKPlanner User Guide, Release 3.1.2
Performance of Links, 67 S
Personal Information, 37 Saving Projects, 43
Points in Link Profiles, 124 SD, 192
Prediction Model, 38 Sea, 150
Preferences, 36 Settings, 36
Previewing Link Profiles, 52, 121 Setup EXE file, 13
Problems, 7 Site, 56
Profile Images in Google Earth(TM), 174 Site Icon, 46
Profiles, 64, 71, 124, 130, 152 Site Marker Shape, 46
Project Configuration, 42 Site Page, 59
Project Map, 44 Site Properties, 46
Project Navigation Tree, 40 Sites, 15, 25, 41, 52
Project Page, 44 Sites List, 57
Project Templates, 120 Software changes, 178
Projects, 15, 25, 41, 42 Software Updates, 165
Propagation Over the Sea, 150 Spatial Diversity, 70, 103
Protection, 103 Spreadsheets, 54
Proxies, 38 SRTM, 192
PTH files, 51, 162 SRTM links, 154
PTP, 192 Starting, 35
PTP 500, 5 Starting the Application, 35
PTP Files, 51 Straight Line, 124
PTP LINKPlanner, 35 Summary, 76
PTP Path Profiler, 64, 152 Summary of Link Performance, 76
PTPPRJ files, 42 Summary of Performance, 76
py2app, 174 Supporting information, 5
py2exe, 175 Survey, 134
Python, 171 Survey Data, 154
PyYAML, 175 Symmetric Coupling, 103
Symmetry, 156
Q
QAM, 192 T
QPSK, 192 TDD, 193
Quick Tutorial, 14, 24 TDD Overview, 154
TDD Sync, 89
R TDD Synchronization, 68, 90, 102, 157
Radius of Fresnel Zone, 149 TDM, 193
Rain, 80 TDM mode, 155
Reflections, 71, 120, 127, 150 Technical Support, 7
Refractivity Gradient, 80 Templates, 38, 120
Region, 38 Terms, 191
Report Settings, 39 Terrain, 71
Reporting, 143 Terrain height, 123, 131, 134
Reportlab, 176 Terrain Roughness, 80
Reports, 143 Third Party Software, 170
Requesting Path Profiles, 152 Throughput, 77
Reverse Link, 71 Throughput to Sites, 77
Rule Actions, 94 Tutorial, 14, 15, 19, 20, 24, 25, 29, 30
Rule Expressions, 93
Ruler, 134 U
Unequal Splitters, 103
198 Index
PTP LINKPlanner User Guide, Release 3.1.2
Units, 38
Universal encoding Detector, 174
University of Maryland, 154
Updates, 165
Updating Link Profiles, 124
Updating Profile, 19, 29
Updating Profile with Obstructions, 19,
29
Updating Projects, 43
User Interface, 34
USGS, 154
Using PTP LINKPlanner, 34
V
Verifying, 121, 123
Verifying High Points, 123
Verifying Link Ends, 123
Verifying Link Profiles, 60
Viewing and Updating Links, 60
Viewing and Updating Projects, 43
Viewing and Updating Sites, 52
Viewing in Google Earth, 121
Vigants - Barnett, 80, 145
Visualisation Chart, 124
VSWR, 193
W
Warnings, 9
Water, 124, 150
Welcome, 5
WGS84, 52, 57
Windows, 13
Windows Extensions, 172
Windows Installation, 14
wxWidgets, 171
Index 199