Hi,
Can we please have an option to apply SM antenna gain across all sites or the ability to select which towers to apply it.
Or better yet, when you place your pin on a location to be SQ’s it gives you an option to input the SM Antenna gain.
Currently each antenna requires SM gain input, and if you use a lower or higher gain antenna than you need to change it on all AP’s and sites that maybe in range to get a decent calculation.
So keep in mind that most of our users that are prequalifying locations are CSRs (customer service representatives) and not engineers.
The way it is setup now, the engineer configures the site and runs the prediction(s). The CSR then uses those predictions to evaluate the signal strength to determine if it a pass or fail.
In a very simple network where only one manufacturer is being used in one band, it would be very easy to adjust the SM gain network-wide to see a signal change. (i.e. “What does our network look like with a mid-gain SM?” or “What does our network look like with a high-gain SM?”)
But most networks are not simple. They use multiple bands and multiple gain antennas per band.
So changing the SM gain across the board may allow correction for a single AP type, but it would then break almost every other prediction.
Adding an option like this also gives an enormous opportunity for mistakes in interpreting coverage (i.e. if a user has forgotten that they have configured 44dBi for a 60 GHz SM and have now dropped to 2.4 GHz where an 20dBi gain SM would be impressive.)
I guess it would be possible to lock the user out to only show one prediction at a time and give the engineer the ability to predefine SMs that the CSR could select from, but that would largely be a re-write of our UI. And we aren’t prepared to take that on at the moment.
Another idea could be to add an input defined distance that then determines what antenna model to use from a selected pool. Say you set it to use a F-180 for under 2km connections, then 2-10km you have defined the F-300-25. Would be even better for a companies $$ by not using more expensive radios where not required, and stops the use of high gain antenna where not suitable.
And a Technical person not required and provides the CSR with the answer still.
So at the moment we don’t let users define SMs. We only ask for the gain.
If I understand correctly your recommendation is to add a way to allow users to add all the various SMs that are possible in your network, and then allow a way for the user to map them to the various APs in the network…along with a distance limitation. And then when the CSR goes to check a location they have a limited list of SMs to choose from. Is that correct?