System and method for determining optimal broadcast area of an antenna

• US 20030197642A1
• Filed: 04/07/2003
• Published: 10/23/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Liberty Corporation (Gray Television Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Liberty Corporation (Gray Television Incorporated)
• Inventors: Smith, Steve
• Granted Patent: US 7,006,038 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/360
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/246 specially adapted for base stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/18 Network planning tools

Abstract

This invention is directed to a system and method for determining the broadcast coverage of an antenna without having to go through the steps of actually building the antenna. The antenna characteristics, including mechanical and electrical beam tilt, are received and intercept points representing a predetermined decreasing signal strength are calculated to define a broadcast area representing predetermined decrease in signal strength. Once this area is determined, it can be overlayed on the geographical information associated with the antenna so that the broadcast area of the decreased signal strength can be shown graphically. This information can then be altered to anticipate the broadcast coverage of an antenna without having to physically construct or manipulate the antenna itself. This invention is a considerable improvement over the current state of technology so as to allow the optimal determination of broadcast areas for an antenna without having to physically construct the antenna themselves.

Claims

1. A method for analyzing the broadcast coverage of an antenna'"'"'s transmission energy comprising the steps of:

receiving antenna information having beam tilt information representing broadcast characteristics for a given geography for said antenna;

determining a first intercept point for a predetermined decrease in field strength of said transmission energy according to said antenna information;

determining a second intercept point for said predetermined decrease in field strength according to said antenna information;

determining a broadcast area defined by said first intercept point and said second intercept point; and

,

outputting said broadcast area so that said broadcast area can be provided representing the broadcast coverage of the antenna for said predetermined decrease in field strength.

2. The method of claim 1 including the step of outputting said broadcast area graphically.

3. The method of claim 2 including the step of:

providing a geographic representation of the geography associated with said antenna;

overlaying said graphical output of said broadcast area with said geographic representation so that said broadcast area can be displayed in relation to said geography associated with said antenna.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of determining a first intercept point includes performing a Longley-Rice calculation according to said antenna information.

5. The method of claim 1 including the step of:

providing comparison beam tilt information representing a second beam tilt for said antenna;

determining a comparison first intercept point for said predetermined decrease in field strength according to said antenna information and said comparison beam tilt information;

determining a comparison second intercept point for said predetermined decrease in field strength according to said antenna information and said comparison beam tilt information;

determining a comparison broadcast area defined by said comparison first and said second intercept points; and

,

outputting said broadcast area in relation to said comparison broadcast area so that the broadcast coverage of said beam tilt and said comparison beam tilt can be know.

6. The method of claim 1 including the step of:

determining a third intercept point for a second predetermined decrease in field strength according to said antenna information;

determining a second broadcast area defined by said third intercept point and said first intercept point; and

,

outputting said second broadcast area representing the coverage of the antennae for said second predetermined decrease in field strength.

7. The method of claim 6 including the step of:

determining a fourth intercept point for a second predetermined decrease in field strength according to said antenna information;

determining a third broadcast area defined by said fourth intercept point and said second intercept point; and

outputting said third broadcast area representing the coverage of the antennae for said second predetermined decrease in field strength.

8. A method for analyzing the broadcast coverage of a plurality of antennae comprising the steps of:

receiving antenna information having beam tilt information for each one of said plurality of antennae representing the broadcast characteristics for a given geography for each one of said plurality of antennae;

determining a first intercept point of a predetermined decrease in field strength for each one of said antennae according to said plurality of antenna information;

determining a second intercept point of said predetermined decrease in field strength for each one of said antennae according to said plurality of antenna information;

determining a broadcast area defined by said first intercept point and said second intercept point for each one of said plurality of antennae; and

,

outputting said broadcast areas for each one of said plurality of antennae so that the collective broadcast coverage, including broadcast overlaps, is provided.

9. The method of claim 8 including the steps of:

outputting said broadcast areas graphically;

providing a geographic representation of the geography associated with each of said plurality of antennae; and

,

overlaying said graphical broadcast areas with said geographic representations so that said broadcast areas can be displayed in relation to said geography associated with each of said antennae.

10. A system for analyzing broadcast coverage of at least one antenna comprising a computer readable medium;

a set of computer readable instructions contained within said computer readable medium for receiving antenna information representing the broadcast characteristics of at least one antenna for a given geography, determining a first intercept point of said predetermined decrease in field strength according to said antenna information, determining a second intercept point of a predetermined decrease in field strength according to said antenna information, determining a broadcast area defined by said first intercept point and said second intercept point so that said broadcast area can be provided representing said broadcast coverage of said antennae for said predetermined decrease in field strength.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein said computer readable instructions include instructions for displaying said broadcast area graphically.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein said computer readable instructions include instructions for displaying said graphical broadcast area overlaying a geographical representation of the geography associated with said antenna so that said broadcast area is provided in relation to said geography associated with said antenna.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein said computer readable instructions include instructions for determining a first intercept point according to a Longley-Rice calculation and to said antenna information.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein said computer readable instructions include instructions for determining a third intercept point for a second predetermined decrease in field strength according to said antenna information, determining a second broadcast area defined by said third intercept point and said first intercept point, and outputting said second broadcast area representing the coverage of said antennae for said second predetermined decrease in field strength.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein said computer readable instructions include instructions for determining a fourth intercept point for a second predetermined decrease in field strength according to said antenna information, determining a third broadcast area defined by said fourth intercept point and said second intercept point, and outputting said third broadcast area representing coverage of said antennae for said second predetermined decrease in field strength.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein:

said antennae includes beam tilt information; and

,

said set of computer readable instructions includes instructions for receiving comparison beam tilt information representing a second beam tilt for said antenna, determining a comparison first intercept point for said predetermined decrease in field strength according to said antenna information and said comparison beam tilt information, determining a comparison second intercept point for said predetermined decrease in field strength according to said antenna information and said comparison beam tilt information, determining a comparison broadcast area defined by said comparison first and second intercept points, and outputting said broadcast area in relation to said comparison broadcast area so that the broadcast coverage of said beam tilt and said comparison beam tilt can be known.