LinkPlanner 4.8.x cnReach antenna and modulation mode issues

Products LINKPlanner
1

Good afternoon,

I was looking at the version 4.8.5 of LinkPlanner so that I could model some of my cnReach N500 radio shots in a PMP mode, and check some shots to potentially displace some old radios with ePMP 2000s and some Force 200/300 units. 

Of the 100+ radio links I have modeled with LinkPlanner, almost 100% are cnReach PTP shots. Imagine my suprise when I went to import my 4.7.4 saved project into the 4.8.5 version, and it threw away the couple of non-Cambium antennas we standardized on that were not on the original materials list, and changed the modulation mode on every cnReach shot. The import generated a 45 page (8.5" x 11") report of all the known errors.

(1) Was there a reason why the ISM/DTS (600 kHz)/BPSK modulation mode was dropped from the cnReach radio line in LinkPlanner, and if so, will the next cnReach firmware release align with LinkPlanner modulation modes? If so, we will have to re-model, verify, and change the 60 or so cnReach units we already have in the field. As and inpoint in an industrial process in an urban setting, we are more interested in endpoint reliability/availability/sensitivity than throughput, but as robust are Cambium radios are, most will probably still work at the minimum 99.9% we are modeling to.

(2) Is there any secret option to import the current 350 site, 103 PTP link project into LinkPlanner 4.8.x, without dropping the non-Cambium-approved "added antennas", and having to add and go back and correct both ends of about 100 PTP links? I cannot think of any way to add the antenna into the "LinkPlanner antenna config master" before I import/open the old project. On a related note, see (3).....

(3) I read through another forum entry where it was noted you can add antennas into a project, using the "other" selection in the dropdown for antennas. Much easier than backing out to the PTP antenna option, new antenna. I tried adding multiple antennas through both methods, and they do not show up as an option for the link. The antennas are listed in "PTP antennas" list as options, flagged at 900 MHz, appear in the master PTP antennal list once I add them, and the link is set for "vertical" polarization, yet no net new antennas show up as options. I can add and delete them at will, but I cannot select them for my N500 radio link, unless I am missing something. I stuck with a large, high-gain omni: PCTel MFB9157NF, 8', 7dB/9.14dBi, if it matters.

(4) Due to LOS and NLOS issues with attempting to convert leased line facilities to cnReach radios, we have a general site GPS location for each of 350 sites. As we "look around" on GoogelEarth and model the shots on LinkPlanner, it becomes obvious that one corner or area will make a better location than another. The only way to currently model this is add another network site with the slightly different GPS coordinates, and once again step through the end elevations, losses, etc. Can I ask for a "feature" where this can be changed, similar to the way the elevation can be changed, and the path is re-caled and modeled on the fly, with updated information?

Tried to paste in some snapshots, but I can't seem to make that work. Let me know if that is confusing.

At least one kudo, also: I appreciate the fact that I can re-install and revert back to an older version of the LinkPlanner software at will, without any issues. Back to 4.7.4, for now.

Thanks for your time,

KRather

1 Like
2

Good afternoon,

Thank you for your post, this has raised several issues which we are now addressing.

The missing BPSK mode and custom antennas are both bugs in LINKPlanner, there is no change in the product. These have appeared at different points since V4.7.4 due to other changes in the cnReach products.

There isn’t a secret option to import your current project, but if you leave it in V4.7.4 mode it should import correctly in V4.8.6. If you would like to and can get it to us today, then we are happy to take a look at your project file and check that it is working properly on the new release (please send it direct to linkplanner@cambiumnetworks.com).

When we fix the issue with the antennas you will be able to add custom antennas and select them. Please note that you will need to check that the polarization is set to Single for cnReach.

We are planning to have the new version of LINKPlanner available tomorrow (25 September 2018).

With regard to your point 4 you can drag unconnected sites around on Google Maps to fix the place, but unfortunately it is not possible to do that with a link attached to it. If you create a new site then in the Offline Map if you select the original link and right click on it there is an option to “Change Sites” where if you change the end points to the new sites the configuration of the link will go with it. You will need to check that the antenna heights are correct for the new link. We have longer term development plans for moving LINKPlanner to a new platform and where you will be able to drag the site locations around as you describe, but this is some time away yet.

1 Like
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Hi Rachel,

Thanks for the quick response. All better news than I had hoped for! It would be a few weeks before I could obtain permission to send the project file over (critical infrastructure), so it sounds like there will be a fix before I could even get the paperwork going.

I'll take a look at the downloads for LinkPlanner tomorrow, and give the new 4.8.6 a shot when it shows up.

Dragging the site around in Google Maps to fix a location to a different building corner, etc.,does not work for me, but maybe I'm just missing something. I would appreciate the ability to just manualy change it in the "network site/Details" site setting, usually one of the last two or three significant digits at the end of the GPS address, and then have LinkPlanner re-adjust the shot. I wouldn't even mind having to close and re-map the path ("view in google earth"), if that is what it would take.

And a positive note: much better package and technology than software I used 20 years ago to model analog and digital microwave shots, and much more user friendly. Keep up the good work! LinkPlanner was one of the top reasons we chose a "Cambium path" for our radio infrastructure.

4

Currently you can only reposition sites in the embedded Google map view if they don’t have a link connecting them to other sites. If they are connected then you can:

- create new network sites at the desired location
- go to the offline map view
- right-click on the link that you want to change and select “Change sites”
- select the new start/end points for the link

The new link will keep all of the previous link settings. This only works for PTP links.

Thanks,

Andy

5

Sorry for the delay in replying. There is an issue with the forum that is preventing me from logging in with my Cambium account (Andrew_Haywood) so I've created a separate account.

You may have already seen that we have released v4.8.6, which fixes these issues.

Thanks,


Andy

1 Like
6

Thank you again for reporting these issues.

We appear to have resolved the Community Forum problem we were having yesterday.

Please download and try v4.8.6 and let us know if it meets your needs!

Dave

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Dave and Rachel,

I was finally able to get a copy of 4.8.6 downloaded. Our firewalls block unknown "AWS" storage sites, so there is no "same day delivery".

I just installed and pulled in the latest version of the project. 350+ sites with 107 links over 94 square miles, and no errors or issues so far. The cnReach modulation issues appear to be resolved, with sites at the correct BPSK setting. The only thing I noticed that seems off is that the Cale Loss "Calcualte" box is turned on for every existing link, by default. I'll go back to my project PDF and randomly verify a few of them for assurance, but it appears that the manually entered value reverts back once the "Calculate" box in unchecked (times 200+ endpoints).

Thanks for the quick response and turn-around. On to compare ePMP versus some of the 450i units, etc.

KRather

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Actually, reflecting back, I believe the hard "calculate" box check was a result of a previous uprade from 4.6.x versio to the 4.7.4 version of LinkPlanner...

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Thank you, again.

We will investigate your latest finding and report back tomorrow.

Dave