ProVision tool now models indoor CPE in WiMAX networks

11th February 2008

ES Admin

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ProVision Communications has announced an enhancement to ProPhecy, its ground-breaking wireless network planning tool, to include ‘in-building coverage’ that models indoor Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) in WiMAX networks. Until now ProPhecy has been limited to modelling networks where the WiMAX antennas are out-of-doors – either mobile, or mounted on the external walls of customers’ premises.

This new feature allows ProPhecy to be used for planning WiMAX services where the CPE is located inside buildings, such as offices or homes. The tool takes into account various factors including the type of building construction (concrete, brick, etc.) and the number of storeys – it can deal with buildings of any height. It will be of particular value to broadband wireless service operators who need to plan the appropriate number and location of WiMAX basestations to ensure adequate coverage of a particular neighbourhood. It will also be of great significance to operators seeking to use customer-installable CPE in order to avoid the expense of sending engineers out to install external antennas.

David Sykes, CEO of ProVision Communications, said, “This new feature is significant not only for operators who are installing fixed WiMAX networks, but also for those planning mobile networks. Users of mobile equipment generally want to be able to use it indoors just as much as when they are out and about. Using ProPhecy, mobile WiMAX service operators can now ensure that they provide good levels of service indoors as well as out-of-doors. “

The ProPhecy propagation prediction engine is one of the most advanced and accurate network planning tools currently available, offering full 3D planning with GIS database resolutions better than 5m. It is equally capable of modelling both urban environments and less dense rural environments. Coupled with ProPhecy’s unique network optimiser, which identifies the optimal network configuration using operator-specified commercial and technical constraints, ProPhecy helps wireless network designers to create the most cost effective solutions for the delivery of broadband wireless services. Traditional network planning methods can result in solutions that are expensive and that suffer from low capacity and serious post-build interference because of their inability to model non-line-of-sight signals accurately. Using ProPhecy gives planners of WiMAX and LTE systems a much more effective tool for wireless network planning and optimisation.