System Mapping Solution

[Wile E. Coyote]

Greetings!

We recently moved some (Motorola) base stations around, and we were asked to drive around and take signal readings. I didn't think much of it until we were told to visit 100 sites!

I am curious how you would verify system coverage with your system. Is there software that combines GPS with signal strength data, or something similar? Just curious

-WEC

*EDIT - I forgot to note, that it should be a cost effective solution. However I am open to ideas.

[chpalmer]

http://www.cplus.org/rmw/english1.html

[N4DES]

There are a few communication equipment rental companies out there where you can rent the rf and accumulator equipment. It's been a while since I have looked them up, but I'm sure a quick Google search may give you more information.

[Wile E. Coyote]

Thanks for all of the input. That freeware program looks cool, but I need something that will report more on how a system is working currently instead of in theory.

Hmm. It doesnt look like there is anything out there to make drive testing for business two-way systems simple. Looks like I will have to spend big bucks to have someone else do it.

Or maybe I can write my own program that will take GPS data and RSSI data, combine the two, and dump the data into a file that can be imported into mapping software to reveal the results in a graphical format. piece of cake! That should only take a few years to perfect on my spare time. *sigh*

WEC

[aaknitt]

http://www.bvsystems.com/Products/Drive ... estudy.htm

I have no idea how much their stuff costs, but since it includes hardware, I'm guessing it's going to be pretty pricey.

Andy

[Zaputil]

We have a BVS Panther drive test analyzer. We purchansed it because it does 40 lamba averaging with the addition of M/A-Com Typhon software. I haven't been too impressed with the quality of the hardware, and they aren't cheap. The other vendor that comes to mind is http://www.surveytech.com/.

Do you intend to take automated, continuous measurements, or do you intend to manually take the readings?

Like you, I've been trying to come up with a better way for basic drive testing. It seems simple enough, all you basically need to collect is the RSSI and lat & long. Map programs like Delorme or Streets & Trips have data import features that allow you to map the data. The M/A-Com M7100 will display RSSI in dBm, and the control head data is RS485. This can be converted to RS232 and fed into a laptop. Someday I intend to get our software engineer to throw together a little program to grab the RSSI values out of the string and throw it in a file with a location. In my mythical "spare time"....

Good Luck!

[Wile E. Coyote]

When I get the time, I plan to sit down and knock out a Labview program (http://www.ni.com/labview/) that will grab the lat & long from a Garmin GPS, and at the same time get the RSSI analog voltage from a radio. Import that signal through a USB LabJack DAQ (http://www.labjack.com/labjack_u3.php?prodId=25). It should be easy enough to calibrate it to known uV levels.

Then within the 1 second GPS updates, I can record the average, high, and low RSSI values. Maybe even extend that over a 3 or 5 second period to get a more general reading. Then save that in a format to be used on external mapping software. I have everything I need to write & test the program, except time. I guess thats one drawback to having a life!

Any other thoughts?