The Multipoint Network Design Feature has components to help you create both CPEs and transmitters in your area if you don’t already have a list of locations. This article is about CPEs. Transmitters will be covered in the Create Hub/Transmitter Group article.

Clicking on Network Design/Analysis>Multipoint/Backhaul Networks>Create CPEs in Service Area brings up the following dialog box:

Open

Create CPE Group

In this section, there are a number of input fields to complete which are explained as follows:

New CPE Group Name

Name for the new CPE group.

Prefix for CPE names

CPE names generated this way are numeric and sequential. You can give the numbering a prefix to help identify the CPEs that are part of this group.

No. of CPEs to create

Enter the number of CPEs you want created in the service area.

Distribution Type

How you want the CPEs to be distributed through the area. 

There are 7 options available:

• random – Creates a random distribution in your service area boundary.

• random with LULC weighting – random locations with the option to place more or less in specific Land Use Land Clutter types. When this type is selected, clicking on the Set CPE weighting distribution button will bring up the following dialog where you can set the percentage of CPEs per LULC type.

Open

• user-defined fixed grid – use the grid spacing entry to set the spacing for each CPE. 30 integer seconds equals approximately 30 meters.

• CPE at every traffic database centroid – places a CPE at each point in a traffic file.

• CPE on every building – requires a building database. See the Building/Floor Plan Data section of Databases Menu. This option will place a CPE at the center of each building location.

• CPE based on streets – Places CPEs along streets. 

  • Point to the directory that contains your “.bna” files defining the streets, adjust the Mean setback from street and the Number of CPEs to create. The Std Deviation of setback affects the size of the setback adjustments. A larger number will create a larger variance of actual location around the specified setback.

• CPE on every tower/utility pole – uses a tower/poles database. See the Tower/Pole Database Files in the Databases Menu. This places a CPE on every tower/pole in the database.

CPE Type/CPE Types

From the CPE Type drop-down list, choose the CPE type for the CPE creation. All the CPEs will be created as the same type chosen from the drop-down list. Clicking the CPE types button brings up the CPE types dialog box from the RF Systems>CPE types menu. You can view/modify your CPE settings from here prior to creation.

Service and Exclusion Area

This section specifies the service area boundary within which the CPEs will be placed. The exclusion boundary is another file that can be within the service area boundary but it defines areas where no CPEs should be placed. For example, your service area boundary is for a city, and the exclusion boundary defines the lake in the middle of the city.

Create New CPE group

Clicking this button creates the CPEs and new CPE group based on the above settings.