On start-up, the network display will be in one of the following states:
- If the default GIS default file contains backdrop imagery or vectors, the extents of the display will be set to the backdrop imagery or vector extents and these will be drawn.
- If the default GIS file does not contain backdrop imagery or vectors, the display extents are undefined and the the screen is blank.
- Once sites / links have been added, the network display extents will be set to the extents of the sites / links and these will be drawn.
To illustrate the basic operation, the example network file - "lagos.gr5" will be used. A network file contains the following information:
- A list of all sites (names, coordinates, elevation, tower height and display attributes).
- A list of all links (end site ids, link type - point to point or point to mulitpoint, display attributes and the full path name of the link data file (file suffix pl5). A pl5 file contains all of the data for a single radio link and includes the terrain path profile and all equipment parameters.
- The full path name of the GIS definition file (file suffix p5g). This file defines the digital elevation and clutter databases, the backdrop imagery and vector files.
- Local and area study files. These will be covered in a later section.
The example file is located in the directory "Pathloss 5\examples\gis\lagos". Select Files - Open and load the "lagos.gr5" file.
If the Pathloss program was installed in the default program directory "c:\program files\pathloss 5", then all of the full path name references will be correct and the network display will show the backdrop imagery and vectors as shown on the right. In this is not the case, it will be necessary to reset the directory names for the GIS files. Proceed as follows:
- Select Configure - Set GIS configuration. Note that the Configure GIS dialog contains a file menu. Select Files - Open and load the file "lagos.p5g" in the directory "Pathloss 5\examples\gis\lagos".
- Click the Primary DEM tab and then click the Setup button. Note that the main directory is specified as "C:\Program Files\Pathloss 5\examples\gis\lagos\height". This must be changed to match the directory that the program is actually installed in. Click OK on completion.
- Click the Clutter 1 tab and then click the Setup button. Rest the main directory to correspond to the program location.
- Click the Backdrop imagery 1 tab and then click the Setup button. Rest the main directory to correspond to the program location.
- Click the Vector data tab and then click the Setup button. Rest the main directory to correspond to the program location.
- Save the GIS setup. Select Files - Save and save the file in the original location. Click OK to close the dialog. The Network display will be reformatted to show the backdrop and vectors.
In the following descriptions of the basic operation, the example file can be used to illustrate the concepts.
DRAFT
Navigating the network display
The first five buttons on the tool bar set the cursor mode which controls the network display
Pan cursor Press the left mouse button and move the mouse to pan the network display. If the Ctrl key is down then the operation changes to zoom as described below
Zoom cursor
Click the left or right mouse button to zoom or shrink the network display by 10%. The display will be centered on the mouse cursor location. Alternately, left click and drag to zoom to the focus rectangle extents. If the Ctrl key is held down, the operation changes to pan as described above.
Two additional buttons are used to zoom the network display. The 1:1 magnifying glass button is only active when a backdrop image is present. The zoom level is set so that the screen resolution is equal to the image resolution which is the optimum zoom for the image resolution.
The extents button sets the zoom level to display the total drawing extents. This is determined by the maximum of the site extents, image and vector extents.
Mouse wheel action
Rotate the mouse wheel forward or backwards to zoom in or out, This operates in any cursor mode and has exactly the same effect as a left or right mouse button click in the zoom cursor mode.
Click the mouse wheel to enter the auto panning mode. The display panning direction and speed is controlled by the mouse position, Left click to exit the auto panning mode
Link cursors
Link cursors are used to create links between sites and to access the link design sections. Separate cursors are provided for point to point and point to multipoint links. These cursors are shown as an arrow with sites attached to it - two sites for point to point and three sites for point to multipoint. The only difference between these two cursors occurs when a link is created by a left click and drag between two sites. The point to point cursor creates a point to point link. With the point to multipoint cursor, the first site must be a base station to create a point to multipoint link
In the link cursor mode, hold down the shift key to temporarily switch to the pan cursor. Hole down the Ctrl key to temporarily switch to the zoom cursor. With these features and the mouse wheel operation, there should no need to change to the pan or zoom cursors with the toolbar buttons.
In the link cursor mode, a left click on a site legend is used only to create new links by a click and drag operation.
Right click on a site legend to access the site operations menu. These are described in Operations section to follow
Left click on a link to access the design sections for that link. Note that only the transmission analysis and terrain data selections will be active if the design does not exist or a terrain profile is not available in the design
Right click on a link to access the link operations menu
Selection cursor
Network operations can be restricted to named groups of sites / links. These groups are saved in the gr5 file. A selection is a temporary group and only one selection can exist at a time. The selection cursor uses the standard windows arrow cursor. The operation is described below:
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