A new release of the LINKPlanner is available from https://support.cambiumnetworks.com/files/linkplanner
The key features of V4.5.2 are:
New or changed features
- PTP 670
- Added PTP 670 ATEX/HAZLOC as Preliminary
This product is available in the 4.9, 5.1, 5.2, 5.4 and 5.8 GHz bands for preliminary planning purposes. It has the same functionality as the PTP 650/700 products, however it does not support PTP Sync, as that product is not ATEX/HAZLOC qualified.
- ePMP
- Added ePMP 2000 in PTP Mode
- PTP 820
- Added 24 GHz in ETSI and Other for PTP 820C and PTP 820S
Note that ETSI regulations have a 20 dBm EIRP limit in this frequency band, which restricts the range and antennas that can be used. There are two different sets of radios available in this band.
- A direct mount radio that supports the full band and can take any T/R spacing. This radio is restricted on power to comply with the 20 dBm EIRP limit and is selected by setting the regulation to ETSI and the Remote Mount option to None
- A set of radios that by default support a 194 MHz T/R spacing, but can be used with other T/R spacings in the range. This set of radios are available as a remote mount option in ETSI (select ETSI and set Remote Mount to Both) or as either direct or remote mount with the regulation set to Other. These radios only have a 56 MHz bandwidth and therefore have limited channel options in the wider bandwidths for single frequency use and cannot support above 28 MHz in 2+x configurations that require two channel pairs.
- Added 59.3 MHz bandwidth to Lower 6 GHz ETSI
- cnReach
- Improved capacity calculation to take account of Max Payload Bytes setting.
The capacity calculations have been updated to take into account the range of the link and the Max Payload Bytes setting, resulting in the ability to have different data rates from the Master and Slave. Please note that the previous nominal rates for the modulation modes are aggregate rates for the link, rather than 1-way data rates as previously shown. This means that the data rates will now be significantly lower than in earlier versions.
- PMP 450m
- Added SFP parts to Optional Extras
- General
- Added ability to duplicate an AP and split the SMs between the original and new AP
If an AP is overloaded, either from live performance metrics or if the Best Server analysis has been used to create the subscriber links and there are too many subscribers on a sector, then one option to improve the performance is to add a second AP in the same direction.
To access this feature from a single AP, select the AP in either the navigation tree or the Offline Map and right click to get the pop-up menu. To split several APs, got to the PMP Links view and Access Points, select the APs required and then right click to get the pop-up menu.
The new AP will have an identical configuration to the existing AP, including azimuth and elevation angles for the antenna. The subscribers from the original AP are ordered with respect to the azimuth angle to the AP and then alternate subscribers are moved to the new AP, so that the angular distribution of subscribers is very similar for both the original and new APs
- Improved the ability to add multiple APs to each hub
To quickly layout a network of evenly distributed Access Points you can now add multiple Access Points to each network site at the same time as creating the hub sites.
To ensure that the Access Points have the correct configuration it is highly recommended that you first set up a PMP Equipment Template, see http://linkplanner.cambiumnetworks.com/doc/equipment_templates.html?highlight=template for more details on how to do this.
Select the New Hub option or Create Hub from the Offline Map, where you will see a new version of the Add new Hub page.
Select the sitesrequired as usual and then select the number of Access Points required on each hub and the azimuth required for the first Access Point. LINKPlanner will default the separation angle between the Access Points to (360° divided by the number of Access Points). Set the SM Range for each AP by selecting the correct Range Units and the distance. Then select OK.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed two issues with Calc Tilt function to ensure that the number of connected subscribers are taken into account and improve the throughput calculations in DL MU-MIMO mode for PMP 450m
In previous versions if a subscriber had a marginal link, then as the elevation angle changed it may be excluded from the performance analysis, which can result in a higher AP throughput, but with fewer subscribers. This has been corrected by including the SM quantity into the results table and automatically selecting the highest throughput for the highest number of subscribers.
- Corrected antenna polarization for Japan 29 dBi antenna
- Corrected BOM for 5.1/5.2 GHz in United States for PMP 450i
The BOM was showing DES Only parts instead of the US parts
- Corrected issue with PTP 820 performance calculations for 7 and 14 MHz with MC-ABC
The Maximum Power and Performance Details were limiting to the lowest of the Maximum Mod Mode options instead of the configured Minimum Mod Mode, which was reducing the availability and limiting the modulation modes included in the throughput calculation. This only affected PTP 820C 2+x configurations set to an Ethernet Configuration of Single Ethernet (MC-ABC)
- Improved frequency channel handling when changing link types in licensed band
Removed the inconsistencies in channel handling when changing between 2+x Co-Polar and Cross-Polar for licensed band products
- Removed Tx Frequencies from licensed band PTP Equipment template to prevent configured frequencies from being overwritten.
- Improved Best Server function to allow support for multiple subscriber places at the same location.
If the Subscriber Sites list contains multiple Subscriber sites at the same location these will all now be treated independently in the Best Server analysis and PMP links will be created for each Subscriber Site. Previously the Best Server analysis only created PMP links to unique locations.
- Corrected PTP 820C 2+2 MC-ABC throughput limits for wide bandwidths
PTP 820C 2+2 configurations using the Ethernet Configuration of Single Ethernet (MC-ABC) was not applying the 1 Gbps throughput limit required for this configuration.