Antenna Patterns

The correct format for antenna patterns is required to ensure accurate propagation modeling.

Antenna patterns are important for accurate propagation modeling. WinProp is flexible and supports open ASCII formats for antenna patterns. Antenna patterns considered for computations in ProMan are always full 3D patterns.

At least (measured or computed) vertical and horizontal patterns are available from antenna manufacturers (in most cases also a 3D pattern) describing the radiation of the antenna in ideal environments.

AMan software offers a convenient facility to generate and edit antenna patterns and offers several import filters, to convert the most popular file formats to the WinProp antenna pattern format. Popular formats are as follows:

  • Antenna patterns in .msi or .pln format.
    • Many antenna manufacturers (for example, Kathrein) offer digital patterns of their antennas in the .msi and .pln data format. These patterns can directly be used with all WinProp modules.
  • Antenna patterns in an open ASCII pattern format.
    • WinProp also uses an open ASCII data format for antenna patterns that allows you to define your data format for the antenna patterns. Convert the user-defined ASCII pattern format to WinProp ASCII import format using a script.