Planet Integration

Guide

Version 3.12

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Documentation Version: Software Version:

R-Planet-v3.12, June 2009 Actix Radioplan Planet Integration Module v3.12 Actix Radioplan v3.12

The content of this manual is provided for information only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by Actix. Actix assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that appear in this documentation. Copyright 20012009 by Actix GmbH. All rights reserved. Trademark Notice Radioplan is a registered trademark of Actix GmbH in the European Union. Actix and the Actix logo are trademarks of Actix Ltd. All other product or brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Contact: Actix GmbH Altmarkt 10 D-01067 Dresden Germany tel.: +49 (0) 351 404 29 0 fax: +49 (0) 351 404 29 50 e-mail: sales@actix.com www.actix.com Actix Ltd 200 Hammersmith Road Hammersmith London, W6 7DL United Kingdom www.actix.com

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Contents
1 INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................5 2 PROJECT IMPORT ........................................................................................7 3 PROJECT UPDATE ........................................................................................9 4 FILE FORMAT SPECIFICATIONS ...................................................................... 11
4.1 SPREADSHEET FILE .......................................................................................... 11 4.2 ANTENNA FILE ............................................................................................... 12 4.3 PATHLOSS FILE .............................................................................................. 12 4.4 CLUTTER AND DTM MATRICES ............................................................................ 12 4.5 TRAFFIC MATRIX............................................................................................. 12 4.6 FILTER POLYGON (OPTIONAL) ............................................................................. 12

5 CONFIGURATION AND CUSTOMIZATION ............................................................ 15

5.1 CONFIGURATION FILE PLANETIMPORTMODULE.INI ....................................................... 15 5.2 CONFIGURATION FILE ANTENNAFAMILY.TXT (OPTIONAL) ............................................... 16

6 REFERENCES ........................................................................................... 17

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Actix Radioplan Planet Integration Guide

Introduction 4

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Actix Radioplan Planet Integration Guide

Introduction 5

1 Introduction
This document describes the file-based Planet Integration Module, which has been implemented as a plugin DLL for the Actix Radioplan software [R-UG]. The module supports importing projects from Planet, described in chapter 2, and updating such projects as described in chapter 3. It makes use of two DLLs, which are not included in the standard installation of Actix Radioplan: NWGridApi.dll and AntennaAPI.dll.

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Actix Radioplan Planet Integration Guide

Introduction 6

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Actix Radioplan Planet Integration Guide

Project Import 7

2 Project Import
This Planet Integration Module version imports a project in one step from several files and directories as described in the following. The site and cell data can be exported to an Excel file by using the Planet export function Data Export Project Data. After the Actix Radioplan application has been started, the Planet project import can be started by using the menu entry File Import Planet Project. The import dialog is shown in the figure below:

Fig. 1 Planet Project Import Dialog

The following files and directories shall be selected: Spreadsheet : The Excel file exported from Planet has to be selected here. Antennas : Select the directory where the .dpa files of the antennas are located. Pathloss : Select the directory of the raster pathloss matrices (GRD files). Clutter (optional): Select the raster clutter data file (GRC file). DTM : Select the raster file for the digital terrain (or elevation) model [DTM] (GRD file). Traffic file (optional): Select the traffic raster file (GRD file).
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Actix Radioplan Planet Integration Guide

Project Import 8

Filter Polygon (optional): By selecting a filter polygon, it is possible to restrict the data import to a subset of the area and the sites. All raster matrices will be truncated at the boundaries of the surrounding rectangle defined by the filter polygon. Only sites are imported that are located within the filter polygon. If the user does not select a file, all sites as defined in the Excel file are imported and the raster matrices are truncated at a boundary of 10km measured from a rectangle that covers all sites. After confirming the settings with OK, a Coordinate Systems dialog appears:

Fig. 2 Projection and Display Coordinate Systems Dialog

The Projection Coordinate System is the one used for the internal representation of the Actix Radioplan project. All raster data loaded during the import process (e.g. DTM matrices) are assumed to be in these Projection Coordinates. The Display Coordinate System is used in the Actix Radioplan user interface only. It is not relevant for the import process and can be changed later in Actix Radioplan in the View Projection dialog.

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Actix Radioplan Planet Integration Guide

Project Update 9

3 Project Update
After optimization, the changes can be exported to the original Planet project, which can then be re-imported into Planet. The Planet project update can be started by using the menu entry File Export Update Planet Project The export dialog is shown in the figure below:

Fig. 3 Planet Project Import Dialog

As for the import, the Excel file exported from Planet has to be selected here. The following table describes the parameters that are considered when updating the Planet spreadsheet.
Table 1 Parameters considered on project update

Network Element Sectors

Updated Parameters Antenna Azimuth (degrees) Tilt (degrees) PA Power (dBm) Fixed CPICH Power (dBm) Fixed Pilot Power (dBm) Service Antenna Service Azimuth (degrees) Service Tilt (degrees) PA Power (dBm)

GSM/iDEN Sectors WCDMA Sectors CDMA2000 Sectors Repeaters

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Actix Radioplan Planet Integration Guide

Project Update 10

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Actix Radioplan Planet Integration Guide

File Format Specifications 11

4 File Format Specifications

4.1 Spreadsheet File
The Excel file is loaded as created with a Planet export (Data Export Project Data) by the user.

Fig. 4 . Planet 4 Export Menu

Content-type : xls Format : table Summary Sites Sectors WCDMA_Sector_Settings CDMA2000_Sector_Settings EVDO_Sector_Settings CDMA2000 Repeaters Carrier_Assignments Color_Codes Link_Budget

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File Format Specifications 12

Note that: The import to Radioplan ACP supports multiple technologies (CDMA, GSM, UMTS and iDEN). If the user decides not to select this file, the network elements and cells cannot be imported.

4.2 Antenna File

The <antenna>.dpa file is loaded as used and provided by Planet. Content-type: binary The file contains the antenna beam patterns, information about gain, gain type, frequency, electrical tilt, tilt type and beamwidth.

4.3 Pathloss File

The pathloss files in the pathloss directory are loaded as delivered by Planet. The pathloss files are grd files. They have to be calculated with the option Pathloss Set in the options menu of Generate Predictions in Planet EV. The association between cell and pathloss file is coded in the pathloss file of the cell by the related cell name and will be read during import. Note: Currently, pathloss matrices of (CDMA) repeaters are not imported.

4.4 Clutter and DTM Matrices

All Clutter and DTM data files are loaded as used by Planet. The Clutter and DTM files are binary. Each file contains a row major matrix with the orientation West to East and North to South. Each matrix value is a 2-byte big endian integer (short). In the DTM matrix the values describe height over NN.

4.5 Traffic Matrix

The Traffic file is loaded as delivered and used by Planet. The Traffic data file is binary in GRD file format.

4.6 Filter Polygon (optional)

The filter polygon file is not delivered by Planet but can be used if exported.

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Actix Radioplan Planet Integration Guide

File Format Specifications 13

The format is either of the following: shp ESRI Shapefile, mif MapInfo file or an Arc/Info binary coverage file. Only the first polygon in the file (if there is more than one) is used.

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Actix Radioplan Planet Integration Guide

File Format Specifications 14

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Configuration and Customization 15

5 Configuration and Customization

5.1 Configuration File PlanetImportModule.ini
The Planet Import Module can be pre-configured and customized by means of the configuration file PlanetImportModule.ini . This configuration file is located in the plugins\rnpintegration\ sub-folder of the active configuration folder. It is automatically loaded by the module for each data import process. Refer to [R-Admin] for more information about the configuration folder. When editing this configuration file, comment lines starting with a semicolon may be added at any place. In the following table, the sections and parameters of the PlanetImportModule.ini configuration file are listed and described.

Table 2 Sections and parameters in PlanetImportModule.ini

Parameter [General] Customer PathlossMaxRadius

Description

Identifier for a customized version of the planetimportmodule.ini file. Default is generic. Defines the size of the pathloss matrixes which is considered during import. The unit is meter, the default is 100000. Antenna family definitions will be considered during import if a file is given. See section 5.2. Pre-defined path to a *.winesclutterclasses file for the definition of Radioplan clutter classes parameters.

AntennaFamilyFile WiNeSClutterDefDir [CoordinateSystems]

The available EPSG coordinate systems are defined in the wkt.ini in the \configuration\coordinatesystems subdirectory of the Radioplan configuration folder DefaultProjection_EPSG The EPSG identifier for the default projection coordinate system. If not defined or set to 0, the user must select the appropriate coordinate system in the Coordinate System dialog of the Planet import process. DefaultDisplay_EPSG The EPSG identifier for the default display coordinate system. If not defined or set to 0, the user may select the appropriate coordinate system in the Coordinate System dialog of the Planet import process.

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Configuration and Customization 16

Parameter ShowCoordinateSystemDialog

Description The Coordinate Systems dialog is only shown after confirming the Planet Project Import dialog if: this parameter is set to 1; or either DefaultProjection_EPSG or DefaultDisplay_EPSG is not defined or set to zero.

Otherwise, the Coordinate Systems dialog is suppressed. [MapHclPriorityToHcsLayer] <Planet HCL Priority> = <Radioplan HCS Name> Maps Planet HCL priorities to Radioplan network layers. The name e.g."Macrocells" appears as HCS string. The special value others for the Planet HCL priority matches all unspecified priority values.

[MapHcsLayerToNetworkLayerPriority] <Radioplan HCS Name> = <Priority> Maps the Radioplan HCS Name to a numerical priority. There should be one such entry for every HCS Name used in the [MapHclPriorityToHcsLayer] section. The special value others for a HCS Name matches all unspecified HCS Names.

5.2 Configuration File AntennaFamily.txt (optional)

For considering Antenna families during the import, this file can be used to define Antenna family information. Antenna name and antenna family name are separated by a white space or a tab character. The format of AntennaFamily.txt is very similar to that of Planet antenna definition files. Hence, existing Planet antenna definition files can (and should) be used with Radioplan.

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References 17

6 References
[R-Admin] Actix Radioplan. Administration Guide. Version 3.12. Actix GmbH, Dresden, Germany, June 2009. [R-UG] Actix Radioplan. User Guide. Version 3.12. Actix GmbH, Dresden, Germany, June 2009.

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Actix Radioplan Planet Integration Guide

References 18

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