Indoor RadioPlanner 1.

0_231221 User Manual

www.wireless-planning.com
e-mail: [email protected]

Indoor RadioPlanner 1.0

Planning tool for Wi-Fi and other indoor wireless networks
User Manual

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Table of Contents
About .............................................................................................................................................................3
Main Features ...............................................................................................................................................3
Installation and Activation ............................................................................................................................3
Software Update ...........................................................................................................................................4
RF Predictive Modeling in Indoor RadioPlanner ...........................................................................................4
User Interface...........................................................................................................................................4
Layers .......................................................................................................................................................6
Floor Plans ................................................................................................................................................7
Creating a Building RF Environment Model .............................................................................................7
RF Environment (RF Zones) ......................................................................................................................8
Walls .........................................................................................................................................................8
Access Points ............................................................................................................................................9
Prediction Types .....................................................................................................................................11
Signal Level ........................................................................................................................................11
Best Server ........................................................................................................................................12
Number of APs ..................................................................................................................................13
Report..........................................................................................................................................................14
Settings ........................................................................................................................................................15
Help .............................................................................................................................................................16

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About

Indoor RadioPlanner is designed for planning indoor wireless networks. Release 1.0 is mainly intended for
planning Wi-Fi networks in the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands, but it can also be used for planning
indoor 5G (NR) / LTE / DECT / GSM / IoT / P25 / DMR / TETRA networks in the frequency range of 150 MHz
– 7.5 GHz.

Main Features

1. Coverage prediction according to the ITU-R P.1238-11 propagation model “Propagation data and
prediction methods for the planning of indoor radiocommunication systems and radio local area
networks in the frequency range of 300 MHz to 450 GHz”.
2. Floor plans:
- CAD files in DWG / DXF formats
- Raster images in popular formats: PNG, JPG, BMP
3. A simple built-in editor that allows you to quickly create a structural model of a building using
various types of walls and RF Zones.
4. The ability to customize attenuation for different types of walls
5. Support for loading multi-story buildings into the project
6. Fast access point configuration
7. Prediction types:
- Signal Level
- Best Server
- Number of APs
8. Increased detail and high speed of calculations due to algorithm optimization and parallel
computations across multiple processor threads.
9. Planning for two Wi-Fi frequency bands
10. Reports available as PDF documents or images

Installation and Activation

Indoor RadioPlanner runs only on 64-bit Windows 7, 8, 8.1, or 10. The minimum computer configuration
required is a Core i3 CPU, 4GB RAM, 200GB HDD, a video card, and a monitor with support for a resolution
of at least 1366x768.

To install Indoor RadioPlanner, run the Setup_Indoor_RadioPlanner.exe file. Select your language and
click Install to launch the installation process. Click Next to continue. To proceed with the installation, read
and accept the License Agreement by checking the box next to “I accept the terms in the License
Agreement” and clicking Next.

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After installing Indoor RadioPlanner, you will see a new entry in the Start menu and a shortcut on your
desktop.

During the 7-day trial period, you can try all of the program’s features without activation (except for the
option to save project files).

After the trial period has expired, you must purchase a license and activate the software to continue using
it.

Note: The activation process requires an internet connection.

To purchase Indoor RadioPlanner, click Help - Purchase in the program menu. This will open the purchase
page in your web browser. After completing your purchase, you will receive an activation ID code via
email. To activate your software, click Help - Enter Activation ID Code in the program menu, enter your
code, and click ACTIVATE.

Software Update
We periodically release free updates that improve the functionality and stability of Indoor RadioPlanner.

The program supports both manual and automatic update checks. It will check for available updates each
time it starts up. To check for updates manually, click Help - Check for Updates in the program menu. If
an update is available, a window will open displaying information about the current and available versions
of Indoor RadioPlanner. You can download the update from the provided link and install it manually (make
sure to close Indoor RadioPlanner before installing an update).

RF Predictive Modeling in Indoor RadioPlanner

User Interface

The program window includes the following elements:

- The main menu and toolbar, located at the top of the window.
- The central work area, which displays the floor plan with access points, RF zones, walls, and
coverage prediction results.
- The layers control panel, located on the left side of the window. This panel allows you to enable
or disable editing of layers, as well as control their visibility.
- The floor selection panel, located below the layers control panel.
- The selected element parameters panel, located at the bottom left of the window. This panel
displays options for the selected access point, RF zone, or wall.
- The status bar, located at the bottom of the window, provides information about coordinates and
power levels for the two access points with the strongest levels for two bands.

To zoom in and out, roll the mouse wheel. To move the floor plan, click on the mouse wheel and drag it.

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Standard tools for working with files:

- New
- Open
- Save
- Save as...

Save

Add floor

Delete selected floor

Import floor plan:

- Import a CAD DWG/DXF file
- Import a image

Ruler/Floor plan scaling

Object selection

Add Access Point

Delete all APs on the floor

Add RF Zones

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Add Walls

Undo. Undo is possible only for the following objects: APs, RF zones, walls. After changing
the floor or deleting all APs using the "Delete all APs on the floor" button, undo is impossible.

Snap to nodes

Display grid (1m grid space)

Setting the view of floor plans imported from a DWG / DXF file

Fit to screen

Calculate Coverage:

- Signal Level
- Best Server
- Number of APs
Band:
- Band 1
- Band 2
- Band 1 & Band 2

Report to PDF or to printer/ Save Coverage as a picture/ AP parameters list

Settings

Help

More information about each tool can be found in the relevant sections of the manual.

The trial package includes two sample Wi-Fi network projects for multi-story buildings. The first project,
“High School,” uses a picture as a floor plan, while the second project, “Office Building,” uses drawings
in CAD format. Both projects are fully prepared for coverage prediction; simply open the project and
press “Calculate Coverage.”

Layers

The layers panel is located on the left side of the screen. Using this panel, you can control the visibility of
layers on the map by enabling or disabling them. You can also lock or unlock layers to enable or disable
editing.

Layers:

Access Points

Floor Plan

RF Zones

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Walls

Coverage

Controlling the visibility and locking of a layer is done by clicking on the icons opposite the corresponding
layer. To edit the elements of a layer, you need to make the layer visible and unlock it by setting the icons
to .

Floor Plans

The program allows you to load floor plans for an entire building into your project. The floor selection
panel is located below the layers panel. You can add or remove floors from your project, import floor
plans, and scale them using the following tools on the main toolbar:

Add empty floor/ Create a floor with this floor plan / Create a floor with this floor plan and
RF zones / Create a floor with this floor plan, RF zones, and APs

Delete selected floor

Import the plan of the selected floor as a DWG / DXF CAD file or an image in PNG, JPG, or
BMP formats

Ruler / Floor plan scaling

To add a floor plan to your project, follow these steps:

1. Add a new empty floor using the “Add Floor” tool.

2. Load a floor plan from a DWG/DXF CAD file or a PNG, JPG, or BMP image.
3. Use the ruler to scale the floor plan. Click on the “Ruler” tool, then mark a known distance on the
plan with a line, specify the line length, and click “Apply Scaling.”

If the CAD drawing is made at a 1:1 scale, it does not need to be scaled.

Floors are aligned with each other using a coordinate grid. Turn on the display of the coordinate grid and
align the floors at point X=0, Y=0 (thick lines indicate zero axes).

Creating a Building RF Environment Model

Create a model of the building’s RF environment that will be used for coverage predictions based on the
floor plans.

The basic propagation model ITU-R P.1238-11 takes into account two parameters related to the
propagation environment:

𝑑𝑑
Ltotal = L(do) + N log10 𝑑𝑑 + Lf (n) dB
𝑜𝑜

N: The distance power loss coefficient (a parameter of RF propagation) indicates how much the signal
level drops in dB when the distance from the signal source changes by a factor of 10. In practice, the RF
Environment coefficient N/10 is usually used, which ranges from 2.5 to 4.5.

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Lf, dB: The floor or wall penetration loss factor (in dB) for floors or walls located between the access
point and the subscriber terminal.
Please note that in release 1.0, calculations only consider access points located on the same floor.

RF Environment (RF Zones)

To create a building RF environment model, you need to draw different RF Zones and walls with
corresponding loss parameters.

You can draw the following RF environment types on the floor plan:

Open Space (large open space with almost no obstacles) - 2.5 dB

Light RF Environment (cubicle office area, low warehouse stock) - 3.0 dB
Medium RF Environment (closed office area, medium warehouse stock) - 3.5 dB
Dense RF Environment (many rooms with light material, high warehouse stock) - 4.0 dB
High-Density RF Environment (many rooms with heavy material, elevator shaft) - 4.5 dB
Atrium (large opening in the floor (hole), excluded from prediction calculations)

To add an RF environment to the floor plan, click on the appropriate tool in the toolbar. Then use the
mouse to draw a polygon for the RF environment (right-click to finish drawing the polygon). Select the RF
environment coefficient from the list that appears. To complete the entry, press Esc or click on the Select
tool on the panel.

You can perform the following operations on RF environment polygons (to do this, you must unlock the
layer):

- Edit the shape of polygons by dragging their nodes with the mouse.
- Drag and drop entire polygons.
- Delete polygons by selecting them and pressing Delete.

Walls

You can draw the following wall types on the floor plan:

Type Thickness Color 900 MHz 2.4 GHz 5 GHz

loss (dB) custom loss (dB) loss (dB)
band
Interior hollow wall 50 mm 1 1 2
100 mm 2 3 5
150 mm 3 4 9
Brick wall 90 mm 5 6 10
120 mm 6 8 13
250 mm 8 10 25
380 mm 13 15 30
510 mm 15 20 37
Concrete wall 100 mm 4 6 10
200 mm 8 10 13
300 mm 12 14 22

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400 mm 15 18 30
500 mm 20 25 37
Aerated concrete wall 100 mm 3 4 7
200 mm 5 7 9
300 mm 8 10 15
400 mm 10 13 21
500 mm 14 18 26
Door hollow wood 3 4 7
solid wood 4 6 10
steel 9 13 25
Window single pane 2 3 6
double pane 4 7 13
triple pane 6 13 20

To add a wall to the floor plan, click on the appropriate tool on the toolbar. Next, draw the wall with the
mouse (press the left mouse button to finish drawing the wall). Then select the wall type from the list that
appears. To complete the entry, press Esc or click on the Selection tool in the toolbar.

You can perform the following operations on walls (to do this, you must unlock the layer):

- Edit the shape of walls by dragging their nodes with the mouse
- Drag and drop entire walls
- Delete the wall (select it and press Delete)

Since the same materials have different attenuation values for different frequencies, the table shows the
attenuation for the standard 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, as well as for the custom band (in this case it's 900
MHz, but you can set any in the frequency range 150 MHz – 7.5 GHz). Attenuation values can be edited in
the Settings menu.

If the calculation uses a frequency range other than the one mentioned above, interpolation or
extrapolation will determine the attenuation value.

Access Points

To add an access point to the floor plan, select the Add Access Point tool and click on the desired location
on the floor plan. If you need to install the same access point in a different place - click on this place and
so on. To exit access point setting mode, press Escape or select the Select Objects tool. You can change
the type of access point by loading an appropriate template.

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Access point parameters

Load AP parameters from the template

Save the AP as a template

Name AP name, the text field
Equipment AP equipment model, text field
Antenna Type Antenna model, text field. Automatically filled with the antenna
pattern file name when selecting a pattern.
Antenna Height, m Height of the antenna radiation center relative to the floor level, m
Antenna Azimuth, degree Antenna azimuth in degrees
Antenna Beam Tilt, degree Tilt the antenna in degrees. Down is negative; up is positive.
Frequency, MHz Frequency, MHz
TX Power, dBm Transmitter power, dBm
Antenna gain, dBi Antenna gain relative to isotropic radiator, dBi
Feeder loss, dB Cable and connectors loss, dB

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Creating a new AP using a template

You can change the antenna azimuth for an access point directly on the floor plan. To do this, double-click
on the corresponding access point and rotate the circle that appears in the desired direction. The antenna
icon will show the direction of maximum antenna radiation.

Prediction Types

Indoor RadioPlanner 1.0 version supports the following types of prediction:

- Signal Level
- Best Server
- Number of APs
Indoor RadioPlanner can perform visualizations for one frequency band or two at once.

Please note that release 1.0 does not support calculations related to frequency planning, interference,
or number of wireless clients.

Signal Level

This visualization shows a signal strength map (also called a coverage map or heatmap) measured in dBm.
Signal strength is one of the most important factors influencing WLAN performance, as areas with low
signal cannot establish a reliable and high-throughput link between an AP and client devices. The signal
level is shown for an AP that has the strongest signal in a given map area.

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A signal level above -60 dBm is considered excellent. Levels between -60 and -85 dBm are mediocre, and
levels below -85 dBm provide only marginal connectivity. Signal strength is affected by distance from an
AP, AP output power, type and direction of an antenna, and most importantly, physical obstructions such
as walls, doors, windows, and their material.

You can change color schemes in Settings menu.

Signal Level

Best Server

The Best Server map shows the identity of the AP supplying the strongest received signal at a location.
The colors that indicate coverage from various access points are assigned automatically from a standard
set.

Only levels above the RSSI level set in the Settings menu are taken into account.

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Best Server

Number of APs

This visualization shows how many APs cover a given area. Only levels above the RSSI level set in the
Settings menu are taken into account.

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Number of APs

Report

Save Coverage as a picture Save coverage for this floor as a picture

Coverage report to PDF or Get the coverage report for each floor of the building. The coverage
printer report can be printed or saved in PDF format using the standard
Microsoft print to the PDF printer.
Access point parameter list Save AP parameter list as CSV file

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Saving a report to a PDF file

Settings
In this menu, you can customize the color scheme for the Signal Level heatmap, set image resolution in
the report, customize wall penetration loss, and set client terminal parameters.

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Help
In this menu, you will find information about the developer, a link to the user manual, and an option to
check for updates. The trial version will also have links to the purchase page and activation menu. After
activating the program, these menu items will disappear.

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