LinkPlanner v4.3.7 - ePMP 2.4Ghz sector antenna not rendering at 120degrees

Products LINKPlanner
1

Hi,

The ePMP 2.4GHz sector antenna specifications says it (rated) for both 90° and 120° (degrees), however, in LINKPlanner it is only recognizing and using it as 90° sector.   Therefore, any Subscriber Modules outside of the 90° coverage are coming up as out of bearing and show poor signal results (if you accept the SM).  Additionally, this is also confirmed when the information is sent to Google Earth, as the coverage map is showing a 90° coverage rather than a 120°degree coverage.

So, trying to plan for implementing a 120° degree sector using the ePMP 2.4GHz 90/120 sector antenna is very difficult or not possible.  I have to add more APs and sectors to accomplish complete coverage.  Whereas we wish to just implement as a 120° sector. 

Any ideas on how to get LINKPlanner to be able to use the 120° sector information.  This will help both with SM information but also the BOM.

Regards.

2

Hi,

I am sorry but the 3D data in LINKPlanner at the moment only supports 90° sector coverage. We will look at extending this to include the additional data, which will then be available under the Enhanced Sector Coverage option. Unfortunately we will not be able to change this for our next LINKPlanner release which will be available next week.

There will be no change to the BOM in terms of equipment listed for an individual AP between using it in 90° and 120° modes, but it will affect the number of APs used on a hub site.

Regards,

Rachel

3

Hi Rachel,

Thanks very much for the info / follow-up.  

  1. What will then be the antenna gain at 120 degrees ?  The specifications in the PDF document does not show.
  2. Does LINKPlanner account for the 120-degrees in the calculations?
  3. If deploying the 120 degree sectors, should we use the results of the 90degree sector as our final or should adjustments be made?
  4. We have a few 5-9 mile connections and some nLOS to do and I would like to see if what LINKPlanner is giving us at 90-degrees will be just as good as the 120-degree.

Regards.

4

Unfortunately we won't know the gain until we have the test data for the antenna. The gain will depend on the SM bearing from boresight and the AP antenna elevation to the SM. 

LINKPlanner will take the 120 degrees into account once we have all of the data, but at the moment we only calculate the gain for the 90 deg beamwidth.

I would expect the gain to be different at 120 deg. Based on the other antenna data, I would expect the gain value to be lower, but I cannot give you any hard numbers at the moment.