Wireless Valley enriches 3G design and management

March 30, 2005

Wireless Valley Communications, a developer of innovative software solutions for wireless network design and management, announced that it has enhanced its SitePlanner and EnterprisePlanner products to support broader and more powerful design and analysis of CDMA networks.

SitePlanner enables wireless carriers, system integrators, RF design engineers to design, measure and manage all of their indoor and campus-wide cellular, PCS and 3G networks. EnterprisePlanner provides the capabilities of SitePlanner along with the ability to design wireless LANs.

The new functionality expands upon the already rich feature set of the products to provide advanced CDMA and 3G simulation capabilities for cdmaOne (IS-95) as well as W-CDMA, UMTS and CDMA2000 3G wireless. Key additions include the ability to:

-- Simulate CDMA signal quality, mobile traffic, cell breathing, uplink and downlink connections, power control and pilot pollution;

-- Model pilot, traffic and overhead channels;

-- Perform network performance visualizations such as Ec/Io, Eb/Nt signal quality plots, handoffs and effective BLER; and

-- Model the interaction between indoor and outdoor networks to create optimized handoff regions.

Wireless Valley Chief Product Officer Roger Skidmore commented that the new capabilities will be especially important in planning the data throughput and coverage for in-building wideband CDMA networks. "The increased bandwidth demands of next generation wireless data applications such as streaming video will require the deployment of new in-building and campus infrastructure and the upgrade of existing networks. Two important factors in planning these projects are subscriber mobility and a seamless transition between indoor and outdoor environments without loss of service. Our products enable service providers to analyze and fine tune the interaction between indoor and outdoor CDMA and 3G networks, enabling them to much more effectively plan wireless networks that accommodate user mobility and ensure quality of service."

Wireless Valley was the first company to introduce the concept of a predictive design approach which leverages site specific infrastructure information in the design, implementation and management of wireless networks in and around buildings. The composition and contents of a building such as the wall construction and electronic interferers can have significant impact on wireless signals -- allowing them to spill outside the building, weakening them, causing interference or even blocking them entirely creating dead zones. Adding to the challenge is the invisibility of radio waves. Wireless Valley software enables design engineers and IT professionals to interactively visualize how the wireless signals will propagate. The user is able to fine tune the network design by conducting "what if" analysis of different antenna positioning, cabling, base station and access point placement to determine optimum performance in real-time. Once the network is installed, the user can manage and track the wireless and wired assets and simulate future changes prior to implementation.