Connectivity in an Indoor Scenario

Calculate propagation and node connectivity inside a petrochemical plant.

Model

The model represents a petrochemical plant. It was created in WallMan as an indoor database. An indoor database is used as it offers the geometrical freedom needed to describe the full structure. The model is opened with CoMan.

Nodes

There are nine stationary transceivers at different positions (nodes). There are eight client nodes and one gateway node.

Tip: Click Project > Parameter to open the System Configuration dialog. Click the Nodes tab to view all nodes of the network.

Air Interface

The multiple access scheme is set to CSMA/CA1 for mesh/sensor networks.
Tip: Click Project > Parameter to open the System Configuration dialog. Click the System tab to specify the parameters defining the air interface.
The available radio channels of the system are listed on the Channels tab.

Computational Method

The prediction method used in this model is the one slope model (modified free space model) with the following settings:
  • Settings for line-of-sight: path loss exponent = 2
  • Settings for non-line-of-sight: path loss exponent = 4
Tip: Click Project > Parameter to open the System Configuration dialog. Click the Prediction tab.

The wave propagation is calculated for all the nodes on two horizontal prediction planes at the heights of 4.5 m and 7.5 m. Wave propagation computation is computed for all the nodes by selecting Computation > Compute All > Wave propagation.

The next step is network analysis by clicking Computation > Compute All > Network.

Finally, connectivity is determined by clicking Computation > Compute All > Connectivity.

Results

Propagation results can be viewed at Connectivity_Petrochemical_Plant\results\propagation.

The network results include maximum received signal power and can be viewed at Connectivity_Petrochemical_Plant\results\network.


Figure 1. Maximum received download power.
Tip: Expand the File Browser to view the results.

The connectivity between nodes can be viewed at Connectivity_Petrochemical_Plant\results\network. To view the connectivity between the nodes, activate Show Paths and click on one of the nodes.



Figure 2. Connectivity between the nodes.
1 carrier sense multiple access/collision avoidance