TAP6 Demo Quick Tour

TAP6 Demo Quick Tour

Whether you are trying out the TAP Demo, or beginning to learn to operate your licensed copy of TAP6, this Quick Tour can guide you through the basic operation of some of the main functions in the Terrain Analysis Package (TAP)™ software.

This Quick Tour is intended to provide you with step-by-step instructions for some of the main functions in TAP6. Many additional functions and options are available in the software, and this Quick Tour includes references and links to several other articles and FAQs on the SoftWright web site. As you go through the Quick Tour and become more familiar with the basic functions, you can explore these other links to learn the other capabilities of TAP6.

The Quick Tour uses default values for several of the most common TAP functions. All you have to do is start the demo, select the operation you want to execute as described below, and click a few buttons on the screen to accept the default values. This will give you a quick idea of the type of information you can generate with the TAP software. Later, you can run the demo again and make changes to the program parameters, adjust values, etc., to learn more about the powerful flexibility of TAP.

The examples in this Tutorial use hypothetical sites and facilities that are included in the TAP software when it is installed, either in Demo or licensed mode.

Note that all values shown in this article are for illustration purposes only. It is important that you use good engineering judgment to determine the values that are appropriate for your equipment and specific application.

Start the TAP6 software by running the SWTAP6Menu.exe file from the folder where you installed the software. The TAP6 menu is displayed:

The TAP6 Menu enables you to launch HDPath for path studies, HDCoverage for area coverage studies, as well as other TAP functions. This Quick Tour describes the basic functionality for Path Studies and Area Coverage Studies. Additional information on the functions in the TAP6 Menu is in the TAP6 Menu Introduction article.

Path Profile

Path Studies

TAP includes a number of path-oriented functions. This Quick Tour describes one function, drawing a path profile:

□ Drawing Path Profiles

Other functions are described in the TAP6 Tutorial:

□ Antenna Elevation Calculations (to achieve line of sight over a path)

□ VHF/UHF Link Budgets

□ Microwave Link Budgets

This Quick Tour provides an example of drawing a path profile. More detailed information and other available options are described in the HDPath Introduction article.

All of these functions are performed in the HDPath interface. To launch HDPath, click the Path button on the TAP6 Menu toolbar:

The HDPath form will be displayed:

The form contains Fixed Facility information for the end-points of the path. The Transmit facility is located on the left side of the form, and the Receive facility is on the right.

The Path Settings (at the bottom-center of the form) section is used to set various parameters for the path to be displayed, such as the units to use, topographic data selections, etc. These settings are described in detail in the HDPath Introduction article. For this Quick Tour, the default settings will be used, so you don’t need to change the settings for now.

Path Profile

The path for this Quick Tour will be between two of the Demo sites in the TAP Fixed Facility database. You can later add or import your own records for your own sites and facilities.

This Quick Tour uses the sample DEMO sites provided with TAP6 in the Fixed Facility database. For more information on adding your own site and facility information to the database, see the Fixed Facility Interface article.

For the Transmit side of the path, use the pulldown list for the Transmit facility to select the Cheyenne Mountain Test Facility:

When you select that facility, notice that the settings for the Transmit side of the path are updated. The length and azimuth of the path is displayed above the graphic area near the top of the form.

For the Receive side of the path, use the Receive facility to select the Castle Rock Test Facility:

To draw the path profile, click the Draw button (with the pencil icon):

The profile will be drawn in the graphic area of the form:

When the profile is drawn, a form will show information about the mouse location on the path:

For more detailed information about the many other functions of HDPath, see the HDPath Introduction article or the TAP6 Tutorial.

Area Coverage

Area Coverage Studies

TAP includes a number of area-oriented functions. This Quick Tour describes one of the functions, the calculation of an area coverage contour:

□ Contour Coverage Studies

Other functions are described in the TAP6 Tutorial:

□ Field Strength Preview

□ Path Preview

□ Radial Coverage Studies

□ Tile Coverage Studies

To launch HDCoverage from the TAP6 Menu, click the Area button:

The HDCoverage form will be displayed:

The form includes four main sections for setting up area coverage studies:

□ The left side of the form displays information for the Fixed Facility parameters. These values include the location of the base station or repeater under consideration, as well as other pertinent values (power, frequency, antenna pattern, etc.).

□ The right side of the form displays information for the Mobile Facility parameters. These values include the values for the handheld, vehicle, or other mobile unit to be considered for the area coverage study, such as the antenna height and gain, and losses to be considered in the vicinity of the mobile.

□ The center-bottom of the form displays the Coverage Study Settings, such as the propagation model to use, topographic data settings, etc.

□ The top-center of the form displays a map you can use in setting up the coverage area you want to consider for the study.

This Quick Tour provides examples of the operation of the basic HDCoverage functions. More detailed information and other available options are described in the HDCoverage Introduction article.

This Quick Tour uses the sample DEMO sites provided with TAP6 in the Fixed Facility database, and the sample mobile units in the Mobile Facility database. For more information on adding your own site and facility information to the database, see the Fixed Facility Interface article and the Mobile Facility Interface article.

HDCoverage provides four types of coverage studies. This Quick Tour describes one, the Radial study:

□ Radial Coverage studies enable you to compute the field strength along specified radials from the base station. The computed field strength at the specified location can be plotted using different symbols and colors to represent different field strength levels.

Other functions are described in the TAP6 Tutorial:

□ Contour Coverage studies enable you to compute the field strength along radials and to interpolate those values to draw a single, closed contour representing the desired field strength level.

□ Tile Coverage studies enable you to compute the field strength at locations on a uniform grid. The computed field strength at the specified location can be plotted using different symbols and colors to represent different field strength levels.

□ Target Point Coverage studies enable you to compute the field strength at specified locations, such as telemetry points. The computed field strength at the specified location can be plotted using different symbols and colors to represent different field strength levels.

To select the type of coverage area you want to compute, go to the Coverage Study Settings section of the HDCoverage form and click “Coverage Area” to display that item.

Radial Coverage

Radial Coverage Studies

For a Radial Coverage study, first create a new Task for the study. If the Task information is not visible, click the Task header in the Coverage Study Settings section:

Click the New button on the HDCoverage toolbar:

(If another study was already displayed in HDCoverage you will be prompted to save changes

For this Quick Tour, click No.

A new Task ID will be assigned for the study:

The Task ID is used by the program to keep track of various files and parameters used in the study.

The Task Description is your information about the Task. This is the description you will use later to select the Task to plot, etc.

The Task Description should be meaningful to you, and can include things such as project or contract numbers, etc., to help organize the Tasks.

If you want TAP to automatically draw the coverage map with HDMapper after the Radial Study is computed, check the AutoDraw box:

Click the Task section header to collapse the Task section. Click the Coverage Area section to open that section.

To select a Radial study, click the Radial Study button:

The radial specification options will be displayed.

To set up a study of uniformly spaced radials of the same length, click the “Number” button:

You will be prompted for the number of radials to compute. For example, you can compute 36 radials (every 10 degrees).

You will be prompted for the distance you want to compute on the radials.

The radials will be added to the list.

You can also specify a Range of radials and different lengths for radials. You can also enter desired radials manually. More detailed information about these options is available in the HDCoverage Introduction article.

When you are ready to run the study, click the Save button.

To start the study, click the Run button. (If you click the Run button without saving the study you will be prompted to save the study.)

A list of studies that have been created and save in TAP is displayed. The current study is checked to be run. You can select other Tasks to be run as well.

For this Quick Tour, just run the Task you just created for a Radial Study. Click the Continue button.

A form will display the progress of the study.

When the study is complete, if the AutoDraw box was checked, the study will be displayed in HDMapper:

The HDMapper layer with the Radial Coverage study is shown in the Legend to the left side of the map.

For more detailed information about the options and functions in HDMapper, see the HDMapper Introduction article. For more information about HDCoverage, see the HDCoverage Introduction article or the TAP6 Tutorial.

Examples of the other types of coverage studies you can run are shown below:

Contour Study:

Tile Study:

The TAP6 Tutorial describes how you can modify the coverage maps. For example you can set different field strength levels to view.

And there's more…

Now that you have had a brief overview of what you can do with the TAP software, you can learn much more of the details in the TAP6 Tutorial. Recent additions to the software and documentation may be found in the list of Recent FAQs.

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