Using Mentum Planet

for LTE

for version 5.0

Welcome to the Mentum Planet 5 Core Trainingg Course. Duringg the course of
the class, you will learn how to maximize your use of Mentum Planet and take
advantage of the many features available to you. This class is the first in the
Mentum Planet curriculum and is intended to be follow-up by the MP502
class.

Course
Objective:

Duration:

By the end of the MP5 series of classes, you will be able to use
Mentum Planet 5 to complete LTE network planning and
optimization tasks.
1.5 days

Prerequisite
Knowledge: You should be able to:

Use a computer and a mouse.

Use standard Windows functionality such as browsing, copy and paste
as well as how to access shortcut menus
menus.
Use basic Microsoft Excel functions.
Use basic MapInfo functions (not required, but strongly
recommended).

You should also have an understanding of basic RF concepts and the LTE
technology.
technology

Since some discussions about Mentum Planet can consume class time, your
y
instructor will create a parking lot of discussion topics to address at a later
time. Your questions are important, and your instructor is committed to
addressing them appropriately.
The activities you will complete as part of this class use a sample project and
dataset The dataset is for a fictitious city
dataset.
city, named Glenville Springs
Springs. The
dataset includes:

High-resolution geodata (heights and clutter)

Major and minor street vectors
Sites modeled for best coverage and interference reduction

Your involvement in class is critical for yyou and others to benefit most from
this course. Please maintain the appropriate classroom etiquette.

When yyou obtained your

y
Mentum Planet license, you
y also gained
g
access to
multiple sources of help. You can find help about using Mentum Planet
features from:

Mentum Planet User Guides, Application Notes, and Technical

Notes
Context sensitive online Help with direct access to the Customer
Context-sensitive
Care Knowledge Base
Customer Care Self-Serve Portal
The Customer Care Centers, a staff of experts in Mentum Planet
use.

The MapInfo Professional User Guide and the MapInfo Release Notes are also
available in the User Guides folder. The MapInfo online Help system can be
accessed by choosing Help h Help Topics h MapInfo.
MapInfo functionality, however, is not part of the Mentum Planet online Help
system and must be searched separately.

The workflow yyou follow will depend

p
on yyour requirements
q
and yyour work
practices. The workflow illustrated is intended to be a general high-level
workflow. Steps in the workflow covered in this class are displayed in yellow.

The MP501 class is p

part of the Mentum Planet curriculum and is intended to
be followed by the MP502 class, which covers steps 11 to 20 of the workflow.
Time permitting, the MP502 class will also cover how to customize Mentum
Planet using extensions.

Mentum Planet supports

pp
both WiMAX and LTE includingg advanced LTE
features such as:

LTE frame configurations

FDD duplex operations
LTE flexible bandwidth deployment
LTE interference coordination
LTE cyclic prefixes

It also supports static and Monte-Carlo simulations for both technologies.

Mentum Planet 5 includes a full version of MapInfo 9.5, which provides you
with advanced GIS capabilities.

Mentum Planet 5.0 is a 4G-focused RF planning product, which boasts a new

software architecture and which includes the following high-level enhancements:

Support for WiMAX and LTE networksdetailed modeling of OFDMA

air-interfaces and support for Advanced Antenna Systems (AAS)
Ease of useredesigned user interfaces, easy-to-use tabular editors
and new site management features
Better scalabilityy and stabilityability
y
y to handle larger
g networks
within a single project
Better performanceimproved performance in user interfaces, datarelated actions and import/export functions
Future-proof platformready for on-going evolution of radio access
networks including OFDM technologies and advanced antenna
systems
Improved APIs
APIsopen
open antenna format and API with support for
advanced antennas; improved iecon performance, and new APIs
available
MapInfo Professional 9.5Mentum Planet 5.0 includes a MapInfo
9.5 OEM version with enhanced GIS functionalities.

Furthermore, Mentum Planet 5.0 includes a new multi-threaded prediction engine

th t generates
that
t predictions
di ti
ffaster
t th
than iin previous
i
versions
i
off th
the software.
ft

10

Mentum Planet 5.0 introduces a series of new Editors intended to improve

overall usability and improve the end-user experience. These include:

Antenna Editor contains all the elements necessary to model

advanced antenna systems incl. smart antennas and MIMO
Antenna Algorithm Editor contains the algorithms used to
model complex antenna systems
Sit Editor
Site
Edit contains
t i allll th
the parameters
t related
l t d tto th
the site
it and
d
sector
Link Configuration Editor enables you to define link
configurations for specific environments
Frame Editor enables you to define frame configurations that
meet your requirements
Subscriber Editor enables you to define the characteristics of
network subscribers
Environment Editor contains a list of clutter classes to which you
associate environment parameters
Tabular Editor provides you with the ability to visualize and
globally edit project data in an easy-to-use tabular format
Propagation Model Editor enables you to refine any
propagation model parameters

11

To create a new project, you can use the Project Wizard, which will lead you
through the steps required to create a project. From the File menu, choose
New Project.

12

Using the Network Overlay tool, you can create LTE sites and sectors in a
Mentum Planet 5.0 project using exported project data. The Network Overlay
tool supports all technologies including CDMA/EVDO, GSM, W-CDMA/HSPA.
To create a network overlay
1. In Mentum Planet 4.x, choose Data h Export to export the network to an
E l ((.xls)
Excel
l ) fil
file.
2. In Mentum Planet 5.0, choose Tools h Network Overlay.
3. In the Network Overlay Wizard, specify the location of the data source
and click Next.
4. Follow the prompts and when you have specified all required information,
click Finish.
The Network Overlay Wizard creates an Excel (.xls) file with 3 worksheets:
Site, Sectors, and Antennas.
You can now import this file into a Mentum Planet 5.0 project by choosing
Data h Import h Project Data. This creates a network overlay within the
project.

13

You can customize your Mentum Planet environment by defining the following preferences:

General preferences enable you to determine how a project is displayed

when Mentum Planet is first opened.
Units allow you to define the units to be used across the project including
height, distance, and coordinates. In Mentum Planet 4.x, units were defined
in the Project Settings.
Project Explorer gives you access to performance settings as well as the
ability to apply translucency.
Data Manager permits you to define Data Manager profiles,
profiles which
determine connectivity to the database.
Project Wizard Defaults enable you to define the defaults to use when you
create a new project. This includes the default project folder, the default
global folder (where default antenna and curve files are stored). You can also
specify the default geodata location. Geodata can be stored locally or
remotely but the geodata folder must, at a minimum, contain a Heights
folder and a Clutter folder. The primary heights file and primary clutter file
are those that will be used when you generate analyses.
Miscellaneous allows you to define the pathloss lower limit. Masked
pathloss values stored in prediction view files will be lower or equal to the
defined value.

To define user preferences

1. Choose Edit h Preferences.

14

You can specify project settings in order to configure the project to meet your
requirements.
i
P j settings
Project
i
iinclude:
l d

General settings, which includes the project name and

description as well as workspace settings.
Geodata settings , which includes the geodata folder location as
well as the primary height and clutter files. The geodata folder
can be stored locally or remotely but must contain a Heights
f ld and
folder
d a Cl
Clutter
tt ffolder
ld iin order
d ffor th
the primary
i
h
heights
i ht and
d
clutter file lists to be populated.
Coordinate System settings, which include the units for project
and site data.
Folders settings, which include Bin, Signal Strength, and
Prediction View settings.
Advanced Options settings, which include additional layers,
sharing
h i permissions,
i i
and
d th
the environment
i
t grid.
id

Clutter profiles are now defined using the command from the Edit menu.
To configure project settings
1. Choose Edit h Project Settings.
For more information, see the LTE User Guide.

15

The geodata folder can be local or remote but must contain a subfolder called
Heights, where the elevation grids are saved and another called Clutter,
where the clutter grid is saved. The Heights file is mandatory while the clutter
file is optional (although the Clutter folder must be present even if empty).
Elevation files are numeric grids (*.grd) and clutter files are classified grids
(*.grc).
On the Units tab, units must be defined properly. The Network Coordinate
System setting specifies how site data is displayed and used.
To save a workspace
1.
1
2.
3.
4.

To save a workspace,
workspace choose GIS h Save Workspace.
Workspace
In the Project Settings dialog box, click the General tab.
Click the Browse button and navigate to the .wor file.
If you want Mentum Planet to save the display settings each time to
save the project, enable the Workspace Autosave check box.

For more information, see the Mentum User Guide.

16

In order to improve
p
the appearance
pp
and readabilityy of map
p layers,
y
yyou can
modify the default color schemes that Mentum Planet uses for numeric grids.
Color profiles are grouped by the analysis type:

Common
LTE
WiMAX

WiMAX or LTE color profiles are only available if technology is enabled in the
project.
To choose and assign color profiles
1. Choose Edit h Color Profiles.

17

Network settings
g define the technology
gy type,
yp supported
pp
modulations and the
frame configuration settings that apply to your network as well as the
spectrum definition. All network settings are grouped in the Network Settings
dialog box.
From the Network Settings dialog box, you can access the Frame Editor, where
you can define frame configurations.
configurations
To define network settings
1. Choose Edit h Network Settings.
F more iinformation,
For
f
i
see D
Defining
fi i N
Networkk SSettings
i iin the
h LTE User
U Guide.
G id

18

Using the Site Editor toolbar, you can:

add a new base station

add a new sector to a base station
add a new antenna system
delete a base station, sector, or antenna system
locate a sector in the Map window
open the Tabular Editor, where you can globally modify site settings.

You can have several base stations at one site, each using a specific technology
(e.g., one LTE base station + one WiMAX base station). A base station can have
multiple physical sectors. Each sector should use one antenna system.
You can open the Site Editor:

From the Project Explorer by right-clicking on site name and choosing

Edit or by double-clicking the site name.
From the Map window by right-clicking a site, and selecting Edit.
From the Mentum Planet toolbar by clicking the Edit Site button and
clicking on the site in the Map window.

19

In the Site Editor, when yyou select a sector in the tree view, the antenna
system associated with that sector is highlighted. This visual cue enables you
to quickly determine if the sector is using the most appropriate antenna
system.
On the General tab, you can specify flag conditions and add a sector to a
group You can also associate a display scheme with the sector in order to
group.
create a visually descriptive map of the sectors in your network based on
display criteria you define.
Because sector display schemes are now linked to the general sector
parameters, they are retained and updated based on modifications you make
to the site or sector display scheme. You can share sector display schemes
with other users as they are submitted to Data Manager along with other site
parameters.

20

Before yyou can specify

p y which flags
g and groups
g p to associate with the sector on
the General tab in the Site Editor, you must have defined the flags and groups
you want to use in your network.
A flag is a property that you can use to identify sectors as having certain
characteristics (i.e., conditions). You can create multiple flags, and each flag
can have multiple conditions
conditions, but you can assign only one condition per flag
to a sector. The conditions of a flag should be a set of related but mutually
exclusive values.
A group is a collection of sectors where a common characteristic links all the
sectors in the group. You can create multiple groups in a project to optimize
your network design. This enables you to easily analyze a particular area of
the network or on a particular group of sectors.
For interference matrix generation, it is important to define groups and use
them for all steps in the specific workflow.

21

To define flags
g and conditions
1. In the Project Explorer, in the Project Data category, right-click the
Flags node and choose New.
2. Define a meaningful name for the flag and click OK.
The flag is displayed in the Project Explorer.
3 Right-click
3.
Right click the newly created flag node and choose New Condition.
Condition
4. Specify a name for the condition and click OK.
The condition is displayed beneath the flag node. To apply the
condition, you enable the associated check box.
To define groups
1. In the Project Explorer, in the Project Data category, right-click the
Groups node and do one of the following:

Choose New h Local to create a local group.

Choose New h Shared to create a shared group.

((Shared ggroups
p are stored in Data Manager)
g )

22

On the Link tab, you specify the antenna system you want to associate with
the sector. This includes the antenna pattern and, if you are using advanced
antennas, the antenna algorithm you want to use. You can click the Edit
button to open the Antenna Algorithm Editor where the following standard
algorithms are defined for LTE:

Smart Antenna
LTE Di
Diversity
it
LTE MIMO
Automatic MIMO Switching
Smart Antenna + LTE Diversity
Smart Antenna + LTE MIMO
Smart Antenna + AMS

You also define prediction criteria such as the propagation model, the
distance, and the number of radials. Prediction calculations are performed
along radial lines originating at the site. The more radials you use, the more
accurate but slower the calculation. If you are planning on generating merged
predictions, where survey values are merged with prediction results, you must
have a license for the Measurement Data Package.

23

Antenna algorithms
g
are defined in the Antenna Algorithm
g
Editor. Antenna
algorithm parameters include the antenna polarization, antenna diversity, and
the type of smart antenna (i.e., switched beam or phased array). You can also
specify the number of diversity antennas at the receiver and transmitter and
define uplink and downlink gains.
Antenna algorithms are saved as algorithm ((.algr)
algr) files and are stored in the
Antenna Algorithms folder within an individual project.
For more information, see Working with Antenna Patterns in the Mentum
Planet User Guide.

24

Link configurations
g
track the gains
g
and losses that occur as a signal
g travels. In
other words, a link configuration calculates the radiated power for a sector
based on the power output of the sectors power amplifier (PA) plus or minus
system gains and losses.
You associate a link configuration with each sector. You can do this globally
using the Tabular Editor.
Editor If you want to view the link configuration defined for
a sector, in the Site Editor, on the Link tab, click the View tab. You can view the
link configuration settings but you cannot edit them in the Site Editor.

25

The Link Configuration

g
Editor opens
p
where yyou can specify
p y a common set of
link settings, which can be applied to sites, sector groups, or flags.
To create a new link configuration
1. In the Project Explorer, in the Project Data category, right-click Link
Configurations and choose New.
Configurations,
New
The link configuration includes a Main Feeder in both up and down links
which allows you to set a loss per meter for the main feeder. The feeder
length is defined at the sector level and allows you to use link configurations
multiple times with different feeder lengths.
I Uplink,
In
U li k the
h link
li k configuration
fi
i also
l iincludes
l d BTS noise
i fi
figure.

26

When definingg implementation

p
settings,
g it is important
p
to keep
p in mind that
the settings you specify will determine the quality of the service at the sector.
This includes filters for transmit and receive parts and various quality
thresholds such as the limit best server coverage parameter, the maximum
uplink noise rise, and the maximum number of subscribers.

27

When definingg configuration

g
settings,
g you
y need to specify
p y carrier parameters
p
and status. You also need to specify the status of the carrier.

A green check mark indicates that the carrier is assigned to the

sector.
A red X indicates the carrier is not supported by the sector.
A cleared check box indicates the carrier is defined in the
network settings but is not assigned to the sector

The frame configurations listed in the Configuration section are those you
have defined in the Frame Editor. You can access the Frame Editor from the
Frame Setup tab in the Network Settings dialog box.
The Inner/Outer cell parameters are only available when the Use Interference
Coordination option has been enabled on the Frame Setup tab in the Network
Settings dialog box.

28

How yyou define your

y
power
p
settings
g will determine the quality
q
y achieved
across the network. Power settings include:

PA Power (in dBm)

Reference signal power boost (power boost of reference subcarriers over
nominal data subcarriers in dB)
Reference signal frequency hopping
Average PRACH interference power: Uplink interference created by
random access channels
Other system interference (Downlink and Uplink interference levels in dB)

The total power EiRP is calculated according to base station link budget and includes the PA
power, the antenna gain, and other losses
such as cable and connector losses (which are taken from the link configuration values of
the sector).
For more information, see Configuring and Placing Sites in the LTE User Guide.

29

Mentum Planet now supports

pp
antenna systems,
y
which include not onlyy the
antenna pattern but also the parameters related to advanced antenna
systems. Because the sector is now separate from the antenna system, you
can easily specify the location of the antenna on the sector.
Each antenna system consists of an antenna (.paf) file, an azimuth, a tilt, a
twist a location
twist,
location, a height and an electrical tilt
tilt.
You specify an antenna pattern, which by default becomes the antenna name.
The name is composed of the elements defining the antenna system
separated by colons (i.e., Azimuth:Tilt:Antenna File Name (Antenna ID)). In
the example, 240:0:DPV090X14C200 (3).
You can enter exact coordinates (e.g., Long /Lat) or an offset to the site
location (in meters) or you can directly get the coordinates from the map.
At the bottom of the dialog box, there is a tool strip where warnings are
displayed (e.g., if the antennas are being used outside their operating bands).

30

Mentum Planet supports advanced antenna systems including electrical tilt

antennas,
t
MIMO,
MIMO and
d AAS th
through
h th
the use off a new antenna
t
fformatt ((.paf).
f)
Each sector has an assigned antenna system, which includes the antenna pattern
and advanced antenna modeling parameters. The antenna patterns are displayed
in the Project Data category of the Project Explorer. From the Antennas node, you
can add a new antenna to your project, show unassigned antennas, sort antennas
based on specific features, and view the antenna pattern.
Using advanced antenna systems ensures accurate and reliable predictions and
network analyses.
Depending on the type of antenna system you are working with, you will see
multiple tabs in the Antenna Editor including the:

General tab where you define the characteristics of the antenna

pattern.
pattern
Master Antenna tab where you define the characteristics of the
master antenna, which consists of the horizontal and vertical planes of
a physical antenna. Multiple patterns can be included e.g. when using
different electrical tilts.
Multiple Antenna tab where you define smart antenna and/or MIMO
system capabilities.
Antenna Element tab where yyou define the characteristics of an
antenna array, which is the association of several antenna elements.
This tab is only available for smart antennas.

31

Choosing and configuring the antennas correctly is essential in order to maximize

the coverage and capacity of the network. By default, the Antennas node in the
Project Data category of the Project Explorer shows only antennas that are currently
assigned to at least one sector.
When you have just added a new antenna, that antenna name may not be visible
under the Antennas node because it is unassigned.
In order to see all your antennas, assigned and unassigned, right-click the Antennas
node and select Show Unassigned Antennas. The unassigned antennas will have a
grayed-out icon next to their name. By default, the antennas will be listed in
alphabetical order under the Antennas node in your Project Explorer. However, you
can sort them out differently, based on their electrical features, like frequency,
horizontal beamwidth or gain, amongst others.
To sort antennas
1. In the Project Explorer, in the Antennas category, right-click the Antennas node
and choose Group By h <antenna criteria>.
For example, if the antenna criteria you choose is Frequency, the antennas
will be grouped under different frequency ranges. The filter for unassigned
antennas
t
will
ill also
l b
be applied.
li d

32

You can customize sector symbols

y
byy creatingg and applying
pp y g sector display
p y
schemes based on sector properties. This provides you with a quick visual
summary of the state of the sectors in your network.
You apply sector display schemes on a sector level on the General tab in the
Site Editor. You can use the Tabular Editor to apply a sector display scheme to
many sectors
sectors. You can also create a site template,
template which includes a sector
display scheme. The scheme will be applied when you create a new site.
Because sector display schemes are now linked to the general sector
parameters, they are retained and updated based on modifications you make
to the site or sector display scheme.
You can share sector display schemes with other users as they are submitted
to Data Manager along with other site parameters.

33

Site templates
p
store the settings
g defined in the Site Editor and make it easyy to
add sites with the same configuration at a later time. You can create as many
site templates as required for the purposes of your project. When you export
a site template, you can view all the site and sector parameters in Excel.
To create a site template
1. In the Project Explorer, in the Sites category, right-click the site upon
which you want to base the site template and choose Create Site Template
h Local or Create Site Template h Shared (if you want the template to be
stored in Data Manger and accessible to other users).
2. Type a descriptive name for the new template and click OK.
All site and sector parameters are saved to the site template and the
template is added to the Site Templates node in the Project Explorer. If you
have assigned a sector display scheme, this includes the sector display
formatting.
You can create a new site template (local or shared) from an existing site.
You can then use the site template, to place a new site.

34

The Tabular Editor p

provides a q
quick and easyy wayy to edit and analyze
y project
p j
data. This is useful when you want to visualize all project parameters (e.g.
Site/sectors parameters) and/or make a mass change to project data. For
example, if you want to change a flag associated with a group of sectors
without setting the flag for each individual sector, which could be a time
consuming task.
You can open the Tabular Editor from many nodes in the Project Explorer
including the:

Flags node
Sites node
Link Configurations node

Using the Tabular Editor, you can sort information, modify information, and
export data to Excel

35

There will be scenarios where yyou want to make significant

g
project
p j and site
data changes that touch many elements of your project. Using the Tabular
Editor is one way to do this. However, it does not offer advanced report and
analysis capabilities like in Excel. If these are the type of capabilities you
require, you can use the Export Wizard to export project data to Microsoft
Excel where you can view data in various different ways.

36

A site set is a collection of sites. When you create a project, a default site set is
automatically created and is set as the active site set. A green arrow identifies the
active site set and a plus sign indicates that the site set contains all sites.
Site data is stored in the site set and not in the MapInfo site table, which only
contains the required information to graphically display sites and sectors in the Map
window as well as additional site table columns you can use to query the site data
usingg MapBasic
p
functionality;
y; however,, you
y cannot update
p
site data byy modifying
y g
the .tab file.
You can create a subset of the site set in order to work on what-if scenarios, or
analyze changes you make to site data without changing the active site set. Only
when you are satisfied with the changes, do you merge the new site parameters
back into the active site set. The subset feature enables you to test different
configurations without worrying that your changes will negatively impact coverage
or capacity.
Site sets can be local or shared (i.e., stored in Data Manager).
To create a site subset
1 IIn the
1.
th Project
P j t EExplorer,
l
i th
in
the Project
P j tD
Data
t category,
t
right-click
i ht li k th
the site
it sett ffor
which you want to create a subset, and choose Copy Subset.

37

Propagation
p g
models simulate how radio waves travel through
g the
environment from one point to another. To model the real-world behavior of a
network and account for how radio waves react to elevation changes and
clutter (e.g., reflection, diffraction, and scattering), you must account for
features in the environment such as the surface of the terrain (e.g., hilly or
flat) and the presence of lakes. Ground cover such as buildings and trees must
also be taken into consideration.
consideration
In order to accurately model the network, you must ensure that you choose a
propagation model that is appropriate to the environment you are modeling.
With Mentum Planet, you have the option of selecting one of several different
propagation models:

CRC-Predict
Planet General Model
Universal Model (optional, requires a specific license)

For more information, see the CRC

CRC-Predict
Predict Technical Note, the Planet General
Model Technical Note, and the Universal Model User Guide located in the Help
folder within the Mentum Planet installation folder.

38

Propagation models are organized in the Project Data category of the Project
Explorer. The icons of propagation models that have been assigned to a sector
are displayed in color. The icons of propagation models that have not been
assigned to a sector, but are located in the Model folder of the project, appear
dimmed.
You can refine how a propagation model behaves by modifying the
propagation
ti model
d l settings
tti
using
i th
the P
Propagation
ti M
Model
d l Edit
Editor. O
Once you
have refined the model, you can apply the propagation model to an individual
site or sector.
To create a propagation model
1 In the Project Explorer
1.
Explorer, in the Project Data category,
category expand the
Propagation Models node.
2. Right-click the propagation model upon which you want to base
your refined model and choose New.
3. Type a descriptive name for the new model and click OK
4. The Propagation Model Editor opens. The tabs that are displayed
depend on the model.

39

In Mentum Planet, yyou use imported

p
and filtered surveyy data to improve
p
the
accuracy of your prediction models. Mentum Planet uses the survey data to
fine tune its calculations and display results that more closely emulate the
conditions in the real world. A survey data file must follow a set structure:
longitude, latitude, and signal strength.
Survey data is organized and grouped in the Operational Data category of the
Project Explorer. If the survey data is in *.tab format and already contains
survey points viewable in a Map window, you can open the file directly.
Otherwise, there are three file types that Mentum Planet can import:
Microsoft Excel (.xls), ASCII text (.txt), and Planet DMS. Once a survey is added
to the project, the status of the survey is identified colored icons.
To import or add a survey
1. In the Project Explorer, in the Operational Data category, right-click
Survey Data and choose Import.

40

General guidelines for model tuning

1 Follow the recommended guidelines for collecting survey data
1.
data.
2. Average survey data in order to remove Rayleigh fading.
3. Filter survey data to get rid of inconsistent measurement points
(e.g. Tunnels, bridge, values below receiver sensitivity etc.)
4. Ensure that the frequency of the input model used in model tuning
is accurate and the receiver height corresponds to measured data.
5. Ensure that the clutter maps you use are accurate and up-to-date.
6. Verify that the model uses clutter heights that are recommended or
appropriate for the model.
7. Ensure that ground types, if used, are appropriate. For example,
moist ground should be assigned to farmland.
8. Create one model to cover all surveys with similar characteristics.
For example, for a given metropolitan area, start with one input
propagation model. Tune one model for the sub-urban area. Using
the same input model, tune a second model for very dense urban
and downtown area. The tuned models will provide reasonably
accurate predictions for topologies of similar clutter characteristics
( h as neighboring
(such
i hb i regions).
i ) Thi
This approach
h can b
be fi
fine ttuned
db
by
subdividing the metropolitan area to more than two areas and
generating corresponding models for each area.
41

You can tune the Planet General Model usingg one of the followingg methods:

Smartsimplifies the tuning process and is recommended if you

have little or no knowledge of model tuning. All of the model
parameters are set to Optimize.
Standardenables you to manually tune the model using a
complex multi-step
complex,
multi step procedure.
procedure

To tune a propagation model

1. In the Project Explorer, in the Project Data category, expand the
Propagation Models node.
2. Right-click the propagation model upon which you want to base
your refined model and choose New.
For detailed information on using the Standard option available for the Planet
Automatic Model Tuner, see Tuning the Planet General Model using AMT in
the Planet General Model Technical Note.

42

Predictions use a p
propagation
p g
model, terrain and clutter information, and
general sector settings including the power, antenna, and azimuth to predict
the signal strength and path loss of a sector at any location where the signal
exceeds the defined minimum level. You can generate predictions separately
or as part of an analysis.
Prediction files can take up a lot of disk space
space. You can use the Prediction
Manager to view a list of the predictions that have been generated for a
project, and remove any files that you no longer require.
To open the Prediction Manager
1. Choose Tools h Prediction Manager.
For more information, see Generating Predictions in the Mentum Planet
User Guide.

43

When yyou generate

g
predictions,
p
Mentum Planet performs
p
coverage
g and
propagation calculations using the parameters you configured, and creates
map layers to display the calculation results.
You can view prediction layers for individual sites or sectors from the Project
Explorer. This is a fast and easy way to view predictions in the same Map
window You can display prediction layers for various powers depending on
window.
the technology of the sector.
To view predictions
1. In the Project Explorer, in the Sites category, expand the Sites node.
2. Right-click a sector, choose View Predictions, and choose the type and
power you want to view.

44

Data Manager provides for multi-user collaboration in a secure centralized

data management environment where multiple users are accessing a project
simultaneously. A version control system prevents users from overwriting one
anothers changes. In order for site sets, attachments, groups, and site
templates to be stored in Data Manager they must be located in the Shared
folder in the Project Explorer.
When you update
Wh
d t your project
j t llocally
ll or submit
b it changes
h
tto th
the project
j t stored
t d
on the Data Manager Server, you will be required to resolve any conflicts that
are found. A conflict occurs when a project item stored on your workstation
differs from the same project item stored in Data Manager. You choose
whether the Mentum Planet value (i.e., the local value) is kept or the value
stored on the server is kept.
To connect to Data Manager
1. In Mentum Planet, choose Data h Data Manager.
For more information, see the Data Manager User Guide and the Data
Manager Application Note located in the Help folder within the Mentum
Planet installation folder.

45

Data Management
g
in Mentum Planet is comprised
p
of two distinct ((and
separate) elements:

The Data Manager client, which is installed as part of Mentum

Planet
The Data Manager server, which is installed on a network server
and which is managed by the Data Manager Administrator

Implementing Mentum Planet data management provides the following

advantages:

Any number of users can work on a project simultaneously

You can get up-to-date project data from the server and then
disconnect from the server and continue working.
Project data can be held in a secure central location that is
routinely backed up.

46

The Data Manager

g Server is installed on a corporate
p
server and administer byy
the Data Manager Administrator. It is the Administrator who creates the
project hierarchy, user profiles, and grants permissions to users. The Data
Manager Server consists of the database (either SQL or Oracle) and a file
server folder (where certain types of data are stored). All users must have
read/write permission on the file server folder.
The Administrator works in the Data Manager Server Console. From this
Console, the Administrator can perform a myriad of tasks including backing up
the database and creating custom columns.

47

Data Manager
g is installed as part
p of Mentum Planet. Usingg Data Manager,
g
multiple Mentum Planet users can perform the following tasks:

update their Mentum Planet projects with changes made by

other users
lock or unlock project data (locking prevents other users from
modifying the data in Data Manager)
submit modified project data to Data Manager
filter the data shown in the Data Manager tree view to display
only a subset
view details of individual project items, the lock status of items,
and the date and time of the last update
compare the values in the Mentum Planet project currently open
and the values stored in Data Manager

Data Manager clients work in the Data Manager dialog box.

48