Pathloss 5.0 : Network Basic Operation Navigating the network display

Basic operation

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:

· Left click on a site to select it. Left click on a link to select the link and the sites at the ends of the link.

· Hold down the Ctrl key and left click on a site or link to add it to the selection or remove it from an existing selection.

· Click and drag to select the sites and links inside the focus rectangle

· Hold down the Ctrl key and click and drag to add the sites and links

· To clear a selection, click anywhere on the network display other than on a site or link

Nemo Analyze: Exporting Workbooks as PDF Reports

Exporting Workbooks as PDF Reports

To export an open workbook as a PDF report, select File | Export | Workbook to PDF.

The Save As dialog opens.

To save the report as a PDF file, type in a file name in the File name field and click Save.

Example Workbook - Page 1

The example workbook, GSM, contains four pages, each of them displaying different GSM-related KPIs. The first page displays three different RF Parameters in line graphs stacked on top of each other in separate graphs. The Numerical Data table on the right displays information in numerical form.

Example Workbook - Page 2

Page two contains Serving and Neighbor cell data in line and bar graphs.

Example Workbook - Page 3

Page three contains L3 signaling data in a grid, and the decoded data in an info view.

Example Workbook - Page 4

The fourth page contains a map with the measurement route. The route is colored with the RX level color set.

Nemo Outdoor 5 : Script Editor

Script Editor

The field in the middle shows a list of all the functions and parameters that will be executed during a measurement.

You can choose any of the items in the list that opens when you click the Add button. The selected item will be added to the script.

Modify can be used to edit an existing script.

Delete deletes the selected entry row.

Move Up moves the selected entry row up by one row in the script.

Move Down moves the selected entry row down by one row in the script.

Insert Script can be used to insert the contents of another script file into the current script.

Repeat Script value defines how many times the script will be repeated during the measurements. The range of repeat script values is from 1 to 10,000.

Use device settings for script commands option

New clears the entry fields for inserting new script values.

Open opens a dialog box for selecting an existing script file to be modified or reviewed.

Save saves the file with the existing name or if the script is a new one, opens a dialog box for inserting the file name.

Save As opens a dialog box for inserting a new file name.

Close exits the dialog box.

Nemo Outdoor: During Measurements

During Measurements

When Nemo Outdoor is performing the user defined test measurement, you can view the process in a number of graphs, grids, and maps. The graph and grid windows are fully user configurable. In the following chapters, the most common tasks are presented in more detail and some examples are given to illustrate their use.

The Status field in the upper right corner of the main window provides information on the measurement process. During the measurement, you see Rec, and when you stop the measurement, the remark Idle appears in the field.

During the measurement process, you may want to mark various measurement circumstances/problems. If you wish to mark these points in the measurement file(s), you may insert markers in the files. You can view the inserted marker in the Markers grid window.

You may insert as many markers as you wish. Each marker will be assigned a marker sequence number and a marker number. The sequence number is a running number assigned automatically by Nemo Outdoor. The marker number is assigned by the user by pressing a number between 0 and 9 on the keyboard. This is useful when measuring in various locations during one measurement session. You can assign a marker number (between 0 and 9) for each suburb or street. If you are performing measurements in one location, use the spacebar to insert markers without the marker number.

Note: If you have selected manual file name generation in the Measurement Properties dialog box and you are starting a measurement later on without changing the output file name, you may see a prompt asking to overwrite the output file. You can choose to overwrite the existing output file by clicking the Yes button. Clicking the No button will open up the Measurement Properties dialog box where you can change the output file name.

Nemo Outdoor: Customizing Menus and Toolbars

Customizing Menus and Toolbars

Nemo Outdoor menus and toolbars are fully customizable. To edit the contents of menus, to add new menus, or edit the toolbars, right-click on the menu bar or toolbar at the top of the main window and select Customize.

In the Toolbars page hide and display the default toolbars by clearing and selecting the corresponding check boxes. Click the New button to create a new toolbar. In the New Toolbar dialog, type a name for the new toolbar and click OK.

The new toolbar is added to the Customize dialog. Delete the toolbar by selecting it and clicking the Delete button.

In the Commands page you will find all available commands sorted under categories. Drag commands from the list to a toolbar or menu.

To remove commands from a toolbar or menu, drag and drop the command outside the toolbar or menu. If you want to restore the original toolbar and menu content, open the Customize dialog (right-click on main toolbar and select Customize) and in the Toolbars page, select the toolbar or menu bar you want to restore and click the Reset button.

In the Options page you can further personalize the appearance of toolbars and menus. For example, you can activate large icons for toolbars for easier viewing or change the menu animations.

You can also change the icon for each toolbar button. Open the Customize dialog, right-click on a button, and select Change Button Image.

Nemo Outdoor: User Interface

Nemo Outdoor User Interface

This section presents the Nemo Outdoor user interface. You will find general descriptions on all the commands and windows. The functions and dialog boxes related to the commands are described in detail in the following sections.

The Nemo Outdoor user interface is compatible with common Windows® standards. If you are not familiar with these standards, refer to your Microsoft® Windows® Documentation.

View Groups

Menu Bar

The menu bar contains all Nemo Outdoor commands. The commands are arranged in menus. Some commands execute their respective operations immediately, while others will first display a dialog box with options for you to select from. A command ending in three dots (…) will open a dialog box.

• You can use shortcut keys to carry out some of the commands. The shortcut keys are presented on the menus next to the menu commands.

Toolbar

You can use the toolbar with the mouse for quick access to frequently used commands. In the View menu, you can choose to hide the toolbar; this will bring more space to the other objects in the main window.

The Nemo Outdoor toolbar comprises of a set of buttons that allow you to perform common tasks quickly. For example, to start the measurement, just click the Start Recording button on the toolbar.

Status Bar

The status bar at the bottom of the Nemo Outdoor window gives you variable information depending on the operations you are performing. For example, when you are pointing to a toolbar button with the mouse (without clicking), the status bar will show a description of the corresponding function. You can also see a brief description of the same function in a help box that appears next to the button when you hold the mouse over the button long enough. There is also a time slider which you can use to jump into certain points in the measurement.

In the View menu, you can select to hide the status bar; this will bring more space to the other objects in the main window.

View Groups

View Groups is a function that allows you to organize measurement windows into different tabs for easier viewing. This is especially useful if you have several graphs and maps open at the same time and you have to overlap them to fit them all in the Nemo Outdoor main window. Now you can create view groups and organize the measurement windows into several groups. Each view group appears at the bottom of the main window as a tab that you can view by clicking the tab.

When you start Nemo Outdoor for the first time, you will have one default view group. To rename the default view group, right-click on the tab and select Rename.

Enter a name for the view group and click OK.

To create a new view group, right-click on the empty area next to the existing view groups and select Create New. Enter a name for the view group and click OK. The new view group appears as another tab.

To organize measurement windows into the view groups, open a view group, for example, Maps and open the windows that you would like to have in this particular view group. Then go to another view group by clicking on the respective tab, for example, Graphs and open measurement windows there. The windows are automatically saved in the view groups and will be opened the next time you start Nemo Outdoor.

File Menu

The File menu allows you to open and save workspace files and device configurations. Measurement files for playback are also opened through the File menu.

By selecting the Save Workspace on Exit option, the current configuration is saved in a file and opened automatically the next time the program is started. The Work Offline item activates and deactivates the offline mode. With the Send Measurement to FTP Server item you can send measurement files to an FTP server. With the Export and Import Settings items you can export and import settings into an .aex file. The following items are stored in the .aex file:

• Scripts

• Color sets

• Custom views

• Device configurations

• Notification settings

• Route plans

• Workspaces

The Recent Workspaces, Recent Device Configurations, and Recent Measurements items display the recently used workspaces and device configurations and recently viewed playback files, respectively. With the Exit command you can close the program.

Edit Menu

In the Edit menu, you can copy and save as images selected items from the Nemo Outdoor program. The Find command allows you to search through the measurement file opened in the grid.

View Menu

In the View menu, you can select, hide and display items in the main window, such as the standard toolbar, custom window toolbar, status indicator Output, Device Info. Through quick windows you have easy access to custom windows after defining them. You can also access the Configuration Manager, Color Set Editor and User Interface Properties dialogs. Through the View Groups item you can create new view groups or switch between existing view groups. Active View Properties will open a properties dialog for the currently active window.

Measurement Menu

Through the Measurement menu, you can control the measurement process and add, autodetect and remove devices.

The Start Script command initiates a user-defined script file while the Stop Script command terminates the script. These same commands can be executed by clicking the Start/Stop Scripts button in the toolbar. In the Script Editor you can edit script files. You can also add markers and textual notes in the measurement file. The Clear Buffers command will empty the event history buffer. This does not affect the measurement file.

Through the All Devices item you can control several devices at once. For example, you can make a voice call or send an SMS with all test mobiles connected to Nemo Outdoor. Below All Devices are listed individually all measurement devices connected to the system. Through these items you can control and configure the individual test terminals.

Controling Devices

Device Properties, General Properties, Measurement Properties, Notification Properties, and Script Properties items open the respective dialogs. By selecting the Reset command, you can reset the Devices window, for example, if you want to reconnect and activate a device after disconnecting it.

The menu also offers access to various actions that can be performed during manual measurements. If you are using scripts to run measurements, you will not need these commands.

The following functions are available in this menu:

• Band Lock

• Cell Barring

• Channel Locking

• Handover Control

• Missing Neighbor Detection

• Timeslot Testing