Excel sheet to estimate range for Indoor and Outdoor

hi, Richard,

I find an error in this Excel. When I select in 

for 

or 2.5kbps, the dBm value will be a positive one , therefore the range will be 0.

Hi Steven,

Thanks for the feedback. I'll fix this today and update the version.

Regards,

   Richard

Latest version (1.16) has been updated to include:

• Changed guard band to link margin 
• Custom frequency, sensitivity and blocking level can be entered

Hi Richard,

Where shall we get latest excel tool (1.16), can you please provide link for download?

Thanks,

Sudeept

For Non LOS cases, it is difficult to predict the attenuation of the radio signal for a specific object. Cars, trees and shops will not have a constant attenuation since each object is unique and the amount of attenuation will vary depending on the construction. In such scenarios, a range test with known kits such as the CC1310 launchpad will help to determine an expected range.

For example, a wall can have attenuation of a few dBs to 30-50 dBs depending on the construction. 

//Richard

Richard

Thanks..this is really useful.. do you have a similar excel for CC1350 or the new Value line series?

Thanks..Jarel

plugintoiot.com

Hi Jarel,

CC1310 and CC1350 are in the drop down list as "CC13x0"

If there is a chip that is not in the list then select "Custom" and the sensitivity level can be entered.

Regards,

   Richard

Hello,

I want to do some LOS range tests comparing our device with TI development boards.
The fist test is with two SmartRF06 with CC1310EM and the included Kit antenna whip antennas.
Other test will be with the DN038 and DN024 antennas.

I have an old version of the Excel sheet (v1.08) where you can select the Kit antenna with a gain of 2.1dB.
I miss this one in the current version (v1.17).
What setting should I use?

Hi,

For the majority of wireless devices, specific antenna gain is not so interesting since the device will never be in a fixed position. It is more relevant to specify a "Mean Effective Gain" instead. For the earlier versions, the antenna was specified in gain and this is now specified as MEG.

When the antenna was specified as MEG instead of gain, the link margin gain was also reduced with 4 dB compared to previous versions. So basically the range expectation will be the same as before when choosing a 100% efficient antenna (0 dB) and with link margin to "no antenna diversity" (16 dB; previously 20 dB). 

Regards,   Richard

Thank you Richard, sorry for the late reply, I was away for some weeks. Your answer explains it.

I had some trouble with the Devellopment Kit antennas but now I get near the theoretical value from your sheet.

I read some things on this forum about the quality this antenna, do you think it can qualify as 100% effective?

Another question, I measure on a long stretch of tarmac road between a a channel and some meadows. There are also trees next to the road.

What kind of ground surface value would you suggest?

What value should be used for an 80% efficient antenna in your spread sheet?

-1 dB fixed Gain?

2 launchpads, LAUNCHXL-CC2640R2, activated on 2 separate laptops, using Smart RF Studio.Everything at default settings: Tx power at 5dB, CH 17, PDU length 30, One device on continuous Tx, the other on Rx.
At 1mega-symbol/sec, indoor range is about ~12m (both 0.125m/s and 1.0m/s at 9% error rate)
At 0.125mega-symbol/sec, indoor range is about ~14m (70% error rate at 0.125m/s, no reception at all at 1.0m/s).
I might have done something wrong to give such a short range, but even so, the RATIO between the distances should have been 2 (+6dB, meaning 2x range)

Yes.

-1dB corresponds to 80% efficient antenna.

Regards, Richard

Hey TER,

Thank you for assisting:

What do you mean by "50kbps default setting"? The default in most (all?) BLE demo projects is 1mbps. or is it? I didn't even know there was a 50kbps option under the BLE protocol. I thought the lowest is 125kbps, with coded-8 mode.

Is there a specific demo project you suggest I run? Or should I test both LP's using Smart RF Studio? (I haven't seen a 50kbps option under Studio, but maybe I've missed it).