I noticed in the ePMP Portfolio Overview / Chart (http://community.cambiumnetworks.com/t5/ePMP-2000-and-1000/ePMP-Portfolio-Chart/m-p/81709#M12514), that they have listed under antenna, "3rd Party Horn" as an option. Additionally, I have read in other posts in the Cambium forums, from Cambium moderators, the use of Horns as an option. It has also been suggested in the forums that the ePMP Sector antennas were produced by RF Elements. I am thinking that if RF Elements did produce/make antenna for Cambium's ePMP line, it would mean that Cambium has / had some form of partnership and access to the antenna data necessary to use in LINKPlanner. LINKPlanner does allow you to select a limited amount of 3rd Party antennas when choosing an antenna to use for connectorized units, such as the Mars antenna.
Will Cambium be supporting the RF Elements Horns directly in LINKPlanner in the future? Since they are mentioning "3rd Party Horns" in the ePMP documentation/flyer.
Can we import and/or use the antenna files from RF Elements in LINKPlanner, that is, the ".ant" files?
If so, how would we go about using it?
The reason why I'm hoping for and optimistic that RF Elements may work, is that Cambium says that they need a 3D antenna pattern. RF Elements seems to show/demonstrate all of their Horns in 3D. So I figure we should be close to (and optimistically hopeful) of being able to using the RF Elements antenna files in LINKPlanner.
If you can provide us with data that gives the antenna gain at a range of frequencies, for each azimuth and elevation then we may be able to use it. A 2D pattern doesn't provide enough information to give accurate predictions in LINKPlanner at this time.
Thank you for such a quick response. I was still editing this when you replied. Didn't expect a response back until much later.
Sorry, I figured it was two different questions. Since, the other was more generic. So I wanted to keep the threads different. Whereas I wanted to focus on RF Elements itself (in this thread). So if a search is done (review/research), it can easily be followed.
The reason why I'm hoping for and optimistic that RF Elements may work, is that Cambium says that they need a 3D antenna pattern. RF Elements seems to show/demonstrate all of their Horns in 3D. So I figure we should be close to (and optimistically hopeful) of being able to using the RF Elements antenna files in LINKPlanner.
The data in the .ant file is just a flat list of numbers. This seems to indicate that it is just 2D data. I'm not familiar with the format so I could be wrong.
Unfortunately there isn't enough information in the file to create a meaningful 3D pattern in LINKPlanner.
At some point in the future we would like to add the ability to create custom AP antennas, but since this feature is not on the current plan then I cannot say when we would be able to support these antennas.
Kudos to you all, as you worked with RF Elements to allow for their horn antennas (antennae) to now be a selection within LINKPlanner. I got the good news from Tasos Alexiou #TasosRFE. (RF Elements). Can finally plan the new sector deployment and the ePMP 2000 series.
Regards.
Note, Tasos said to tag him so he could follow-up. Hopefully this works below
@Lincs_Chel - Thanks for updating the community of this recent update to LINKplanner and thanks to Cambium for working with us to accomplish this! Using Horns to fill in specific gaps in coverage and in conjunction with Cambium sectors is a great combo. If anyone has questions, please feel free to ask.
Any chance we could get horns enabled for use with 450/450i AP's? I've been pairing RFE's carrier-class horns with 450i's lately. (N-type connectors instead of twistport, IIRC beam pattern is very close to standard models)
We will add them to the 450 family as well. Unfortunately we already have a full list for our next release, but we will introduce them later this quarter.
Will you eventually allow for planning or selecting the horns using the US as the country? Currently only works when using any other country besides the US / Canada.
hello...as per my knowledge If you can provide us with data that gives the antenna gain at a range of frequencies, for each azimuth and elevation then we may be able to use it. A 2D pattern doesn't provide enough information to give accurate predictions in LINKPlanner at this time.