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1. T RFview Platform Types x Platform Types O From this window custom platform types can be created and used in the scenario Name Example_name Mobility Model Fixed X Model for KTG mobility Air Ground Ground X Map Icon Dismount Rifle png K Preview 8 1 2 Edit platform type 1 Open the platform type editor a Clicking on Tools and selecting Platforms from the menu b Clicking on Platforms button on the main toolbar Platforms 2 Select the platform type to edit from the list Page 17 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 18 63 RFview Platform Types X Platform Types From this window custom platform types can be created and used in the scenario IG Example_platforml Example_platform2 3 Click Edit to bring up the Platform Types window 4 Edit desired fields 5 Click OK to save changes 8 1 3 Delete platform type 1 Open the platform type editor a Clicking on Tools and selecting Platforms from the menu b Clicking on Platforms button on the main toolbar Platforms 2 Select the platform type to delete from the list 3 Click Delete to remove the platform Page 18 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes
2. First to verify the radios operation attempt to transmit a signal from one radio to another Under the Links tab select the two radios Next view the Channel Properties Editor tab The link should be displayed Page 56 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 9 Attaching Verifying Calibrating and Operating Radios in the System Page 57 Verify that the port numbers match those of the two radios being verified Select manual and adjust the gain to 0 dB This action causes the channel between these two radios to be the strongest possible Note that some loss is still occurring caused by the attenuators splitters etc i e a loss equal to the TPO but no digital gain is applied once the gain is below the TPO In other words if the TPO is 50 once the gain is set to a value above 50 dB the digital gain will be set to maximum 0 dB Via the radios display or other means ping wireshark tcpdump etc that the radios are able to communi cate It may be useful to independently check each direction i e radio 1 transmitting to radio 2 followed by radio 2 transmitting to radio 1 to help narrow down any problems that occur If the radios cannot communicate there are two possible causes For the D Series the input power at the ADC may be too high or too low To adjust this refer to Section 9 6 2 Alternatively the losses between the Tx port of the receiving radio and the radio may be
3. 9 6 1 Determining if the radios will be Isolated Continuing with the example in Figure 1 the input power reaching the hardware should be between 10 dBm and 40 dBm with around 20 dBm the preferred value In this example the radio transmits at 0 dBm and thus has a 20 dB attenuator followed by a 3 dB loss due to the splitter making the input power to the system approximately 23 dBm If the radio s transmit power setting is too strong leakage may occur preventing links in the scenario from being broken Assuming the radio s sensitivity is 100 dBm and the system leakage is 60 dB this leaked signal will be 0 dBm minus 20 dB for the attenuator at the radio minus 3 dB for the splitter at the radio minus 60 dB system leakage minus 20 dB for the attenuator at the receiving radio minus 3 dB more for the receiving radio s splitter and the combined cable loses making the leaked power through the system 106 dBm below the receiving radio s sensitivity Similarly assuming the radios cables and attenuators are isolated by more than 100 dB the over the air leakage will not exceed the 100 dBm sensitivity of the receiving radio These measurements and calculations serve to confirm that isolation is achievable which will be verified in the next sub section and are not input into RFview 9 6 2 Ensuring the input signal is at the correct level D Series Only At the same time the ADC which digitizes the RF signal as it
4. SER_theory x is a random sequence of integers from 0 to Modulation_order 1 x randint length Tss 1 Modulation_order y is QAM of x y modulate modem gammod Modulation_order x I real y Q imag y Upsampling upsamp zeros 1 fs fss upsamp 1 1 kron I upsamp Q kron 0 upsamp Root raised cosine pulse shaping conv rrcos_pulse_shaping 1 O conv rrcos_pulse_shaping 0 SEN SON Signal I sqrt 1 0 Signal Signal exp sqrt 1 2 pixf_c Ts real Signal Q imag Signal x 1 Q csvwrite rrcosine QAM csv X 11 10 Import Scenario Script This menu allows the user to define platforms and radios The file format allows assignment of radios to ports to be specified Most importantly time varying positions and or channel parameters can be specified e Use RFview to define the necessary platform types and radio types used in the scenario script file to be imported e Select Import then Scenario Script from the Scenario menu Page 89 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 90 e Browse to the location of the scenario script file Scenario script files have an sscpt extension e Click Import to load scenario script or Cancel to cancel Scenario script files are comma separated value text files consisting of one or more lines
5. o o o ooo ooo o 83 11729 Swimlane Event D SeriesOnly 2 2 62 5 seuss bee eee sos 84 11 72 10 Set Radio Parameters Event os 4 042440804 0 eho eo eee eee ade 85 ALT Manual Channel ERE ooe e ok A ok ee R eR RRR a 85 17212 GeomettyChangehequest ses 46s a ee ee ee e 86 117 213 Signal ToolberipiEvent Deere Only e eene ee ew a EE 87 11 7 2 14 DelayProfileScriptEvent D Series Only o ooo ooo e e 87 11 8 Delay Profile Pormat D Series Only R e ee a R RE reos a eRe eee ee 88 11 9 Signal Recording Format D Serles Only oc soceri oaiae rake osos R 88 EL IEMport renta SETE suo oy la PRE E a RE e a Se 89 1110 1 Create Platibri coosoronosccararar resorts aaa 90 11 102 Create Radio eoc 0815 dass eae paa bade 2a da bea Pa bas 90 di ep a A SE es gor ee OR RE Ne ee ea Eee 91 LLIDA Update LME aa o e ee Re ee Re ed ea eh E 91 Pen ease canines ah on ae eo ee a er eae eae ete ee 92 UA imiport AWM CESA seco dodo Rw ta ew ee ERS ede eed ee Pa Ce ees 93 LLi2Rinematic Trajectory Generator KIG ope cu a A a A ER 93 IR command Line IMC gt boa a a dee A a ed ee we 94 12 Built in test Self test and RF Chain Calibration D Series Only 94 121 Usine Mhe Bulltan Test Dialogs o ee hae he REGS ESO EWE tae eo 94 12 2 Roaming Mhe DDD Syne Tesi oscuro e a ee A eo 95 1221 Handhog Pals c e ecese A a e a e ba e 96 1237 Runge EY Doppler Test o ce el ek pe ee bee ee ee eee ko 96 1221 Handling Falu a his ed Bowe eee ee bee dees oe ees 97
6. from the menu b Clicking on Radios button on the main toolbar e Radios 2 Select the radio type to edit from the list 5 RFview Radio Types Radio Types From this window custom platform types can be created and used in the scenario l Example_radiol Example_radio2 New Edit Delete Cancel OK 3 Click Edit to bring up the Radio Types window 4 Edit desired fields 5 Click OK to save changes Page 21 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 22 8 2 3 Delete radio 1 Open the radio type editor a Clicking on Tools and selecting Radios from the menu b Clicking on Radios button on the main toolbar Radios 2 Select the radio type to delete from the list 3 Click Delete to remove the radio type 8 2 4 Radio Coordinate System The coordinate system used for placing radios on platforms is north east down with the exception that height offset is reversed Assuming the platform s roll pitch and heading are all 0 a positive forward offset means toward north a positive lateral offset means toward east and a positive height offset means up toward the sky In other words if the platform were a car a positive forward offset is toward the hood a positive lateral offset is toward the passenger side and a p
7. 11 12 Kinematic Trajectory Generator KTG The Kinematic Trajectory Generator KTG creates airborne routes based on aircraft attributes configured platform speed and configured platform waypoints KTG allows additional aircraft types to be supplied via Base of Aircraft DAta BADA formatted files an international standard for this type of information These files must be placed in the config BADAdata directory The default BADA files are for generic aircraft not representative of any particular aircraft BADA files for various existing aircraft are available athttps www eurocontrol int services bada Page 93 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 12 Built in test Self test and RF Chain Calibration D Series Only Page 94 11 13 Command Line Interface REview supports a command line interface for automatically starting scenarios stopping scenarios and capturing output which can be useful for running batch scenarios For a complete list of supported command line operations type rfview sh helplverb usage rinest help Print this message initialize Initialize the event engine openscenario lt file gt Open the scenario resourceprofile lt id gt Set the resource profile setplaymode lt mode gt Set the play mode values Sandbox Record Playback shutdown Shutdown the workbench after the scenario completes or is stopped Start Start the scenario 12 Buil
8. 12 13 14 15 Radio Type Editor RFview Radio Type Editor O From this window custom platform types can be created and used in the scenario Name wifi2 Tx Power 0 010 Center Frequency 2400 MHz Bandwidth 10 0 MHz Gain 0 0 dB Forward Offset 0 0 m Lateral Offset 0 03125 m Height Offset 0 0 m Roll 0 0 deg Pitch 0 0 deg Yaw Azimuth 0 0 deg _ Virtual Cancel OK Input transmission power in dBm in the Tx Power field This field acts as an offset for the Link Quality Overlay see Section 8 9 Input center frequency in the Center Frequency field This is the center frequency at which the RFnest hardware will sample the incoming RF signal and does not necessarily have to be the cen ter frequency of the radio Ensure that the band used by the radio is inside the center frequency configured here For the A series RFnest this field is not used Input bandwidth in the Bandwidth field This bandwidth is for visual reference The RF bandwidth sampled is defined by the group in each resource profile and is not configurable The radio s operat ing frequency plus radio s bandwidth must be within the RF center frequency and group bandwidth Input gain in dB in the Gain field This field is for visual reference The next six fields allow the user to input any offset information relat
9. 124 Running the CV Tap Delay Test o coronas Oh ee ae eR E a 97 1241 Handling Fame o eoero kk de e e Re Ra ee R 97 125 Running the Dynamic Range Test 2 ce ke RR a ER eR EER ewe e 97 125 1 Handling FANIE e se bo ee Be Be Ree ee ee A 98 120 Kinnine te T les or kie pia EE CE RS ee ee 98 1201 Handing Fae os a a Ee ee bo eee EA aaie 98 127 nin MADE Noe Test oc acne re Ee ES YS RE e a ee 98 TETA Candia BOL cia ra oe E RE O E da re de es a 98 12 8 Manually Testing the System Noise Floor Using a Spectrum Analyzer 99 Page iv RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 129 Running the 200 MHz 4 node Test 52 2506 s04 8 28924 seb eee a Se eee dd 99 1281 Handle PATINES 00 cy Sa eae Sh ead A ok Ro SO a ee ee a de 99 12 10Running the Rx Chain Test in Verify Mode lt e soso eaa e ee 100 14101 Handing Bafa be a RENN G EERE ea ee ee Ew Se eS 100 12 11Running the RFDB Loopback Test in Verify Mode 2 ooo 100 T2010 Handing Failure lt er ee a i e ee fi eT e ee 100 12 12Reanning the Rx Chain Testin Calibrate Mod a R R R ee R R E 101 12121 Handing Faluns so cocco medrai EAD Ee EERE Se Ea EL Eee de 101 12 13Running the RFDB Loopback Test in Calibrate Mode 000020000 101 12 131 Handling Pare cate ta RH eee eee eee EO bed eee Peds 102 TASK Chain Calibration socorrer eek aS 102 12 141 How theealibrationis used lt oc e ccsa bee mera targa ee ras 103 13 Externally Controlling the RF
10. RFnest User Manual Intelligent Automation Inc Version 2 11 6 RFview 2 11 D5 series rev1 and A208 Www 1 a 1 com rfnest 2014 Intelligent Automa 15400 Calhoun Drive Suite 190 Rockvi 7A ae a a Pho ne od 294 5200 Fax 301 294 5201 Revision History Version Date Author Sections Description 2 1 10 20 14 jyackoski 6 3 Clarified Doppler shift calculation Added section for command line inter 2 2 10 28 14 nlenzi 11 11 6 3 face Added per tap Doppler Boolean to resource profile 7 Updated delay profile file format based 2 2 1 11 20 14 Nlenzi jyackoskj 11 7 on API rev 2 2 2 2 2 1 28 15 jyackoski 11 9 13 Added scenario script feature l 6 3 8 2 2 8 2 4 Updated resource profiles updated radio cid L pps 8 3 5 type to explain offsets and orientations l 11 6 2 11 9 3 Update scenario script commands up gan s mene 11 9 5 dated event exporter examples 2 2 5 4 1 15 nlenzi 11 9 3 Update scenario script commands i 8 4 9 3 4 11 4 Add Automatic Gain Control cleanup 2 2 6 3 31 15 jyackoski 11727 formatting 22 7 4 11 15 jyackoski 2 1 Add supporting equipment list 2116 5 4 15 jyackoski all Cleanup setup instructions revise all di agrams and descriptions to 2 11 6 Page i RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Introduction 1 2 Prerequisites 1 2d Supporino TTT e a 6 ck ra a A AA a ae ee 1 2 2 Linux OS set up
11. 0 dB Group Groupo v Frequencies Frequency Selected 2 400GHz Select All Deselect All Cancel OK Page 48 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 9 Attaching Verifying Calibrating and Operating Radios in the System Page 49 3 Set desired timeout length in the Timeout Length field The timeout for this alert is the amount of time to wait after the previous alert until potentially generating a new alert for the same frequency group 4 Set the desired tolerance The default is 0 dB indicating the alert will fire only if the minimum or maximum values are reached or exceeded If for example a value of 2 dB is entered the alert will be generated if the AGC is within 2 dB of the minimum or maximum 5 Select the Group for the alerts Typically this can be left as Group0 6 Select the Frequency Group s for the alert Note that if AGC is not enabled for a frequency group the alert will not be triggered 7 Click OK to save the alert or Cancel to cancel 9 4 Recording and Replaying Signals Using the Signal Tool D Series Only This menu allows the user to capture or playback RF snippets or display RF signal in real time Signals can be recorded and replayed in two directions The port direction records signals transmitted by the radio into the Rx port of the hardware and replays signals into the scenario as if transmitted into that Rx p
12. Save to save the new platform 8 3 2 Delete platform 1 Select a platform from the Platforms tab Page 23 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 24 2 Click the red x icon 3 Click the Confirm Delete button to confirm removal of the platform a pa Platform Configuration tx Platform ID PLATFORM 000001 46baaae2d1 Platform type properties Platform Type Mobility Model Icon name Example platform ype lt Dismount Rifle png Platform Type Category Radios assigned to this Platform Radio ID Radio Type Group ID Physical Port Example_radio_type unassigned Confirm Delete 8 3 3 Edit platform 1 Select a platform from the Platforms tab 2 Click the green check icon or double click the selected platform 3 Edit platform 4 Click Save to save changes Page 24 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 25 8 3 4 Add radio to platform 1 Select a platform from the Platforms tab 2 Click the green check icon or double click the selected platform Groups X Vi e 3 Click Add Radio in the Platform Configuration window S Platform Configuration Platform ID PLATFORM 000001 46ba74ae18 Platform type prope
13. and Radio 2 drop down menus 5 Set channel gain dB by using the Gain slider or by typing it in the field and pressing Enter on the keyboard Note this field is only present if supported by the current RFnest hardware 6 Set channel doppler shift in kHz effect by using the Doppler Shift slider or by typing it in the field and pressing Enter on the keyboard Note this field is only present if supported by the current RFnest hardware 7 Set channel doppler spread in Hz effect by using the Doppler Spread slider or by typing it in the field and pressing Enter on the keyboard Note this field is only present if supported by the current RFnest hardware 8 Set channel delay effect in miliseconds by using the Delay slider or by typing it in the field and pressing Enter on the keyboard Note this field is only present if supported by the current RFnest hardware 9 Set statistical multi ray profile by selecting it from the Statistical multi ray profile drop down menu Note this field is only present if supported by the current RFnest hardware 10 Click OK to save or Cancel to cancel the event 11 2 5 Edit Event 1 Open the Event Scheduling Wizard by going to the Tools menu and selecting Events or clicking on the Events icon on the toolbar Select an event from the list Click Edit to bring up event editor Edit desired
14. and pressing the Record new signal button It may be useful to maximize the Signal Tool widget or zoom in on the plots to view the signal more clearly NOTE Due to variations in radio behavior losses in various RF cables and splitters and other factors this step must be done for each radio connected to the system 9 6 3 Adjusting the Transmit Power Offset The Transmit Power Offset TPO tells the system how much of the gain applied to a channel is done digi tally versus has already been applied via the radio transmitting at a different power level than used oper ationally external attenuators a non ideal input power level and the output gain There are two ways to approach the calculation of the TPO using the radio s sensitivity and desired maximum SNR or by simply adding up these factors In theory both approaches reach the same result Note that the TPO can only be adjusted per frequency group NOTE The TPO is only applied to the system on initialization of the system Each time a setting is changed which affects the TPO stop and re initialize the system To determine the TPO using the desired dynamic range the radio sensitivity and desired maximum SNR must be considered Again in this example assume the radio s sensitivity is 100 dBm The radio must then be able to experience signals weaker than 100 dBm for example 110 dBm in order to break links used by the channel Similarly the link must als
15. is operating in a given configuration The plugin works for Wireshark as well as tshark You can copy the d11 windows or so linux into the wireshark plugins directory manually This works if you have a previous version of the plugin or just a plain version of wireshark you want to add the plugin with Wireshark version 1 10 X or higher is suggested The d11 will work on 32 or 64 bit depending on the file used Windows systems The so will work on Ubuntu and Fedora and possibly similar Linux operating systems To determine the version of the plugin you are currently running or if the plugin is loaded in Wireshark go to Help About Plugins Once the RFnest plugin is loaded RFnest messages will be automatically decoded To only show RFnest messages enter rfnest in the filter box in Wireshark To only show messages of a given type enter rfnest type where is the type code e g 150 One useful filter is r nest type 128 which shows all RFnest messages except for those sent continuously by the hardware 15 Acronyms V AC Voltage Alternating Current V DC Voltage Direct Current A2D Analog to Digital ATCA Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture BIT Built In Tests BNC Barrel Nut Connector BW Bandwidth CCA Circuit Card Assembly CD Compact Disc CDL Common Data Link CEB Channel Emulation Board CEC Channel Emulation Controller CORE Common Open Research Emulator COTS Commercial Off the Shelf D2A
16. it is not sufficient to only specify the main fields at least 1 tap must always be specified 11 10 5 Set Route The set route command is used to specify the waypoint traveled by the platform over time The format for this command is lt time gt set route lt platform name gt lt waypoint count gt lt waypointl lat gt lt waypointl lon gt lt waypointl alt gt lt waypointl spd gt lt waypointl delay gt lt waypointn lat gt lt waypointn lon gt lt waypointn alt gt lt waypointn spd gt lt waypointn delay gt lt cruise speed gt lt loops gt Page 92 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 93 lt time gt the time in seconds greater than or equal to zero A decimal number may be provided however the precision is dependent on network and processing delays within the software e lt name gt is the name of the already existing platform e lt waypoint lat gt is the decimal latitude of the waypoint e lt waypoint lon gt is the decimal longitude of the waypoint e lt waypoint alt gt is the decimal altitude of the waypoint relative to MSL e lt waypoint spd gt is the speed of the platform in m s for that waypoint e lt waypoint delay gt is the time to wait in seconds at that waypoint lt cruise speed gt indicates the desired cruise speed for the route This property is only used by KTG m
17. supporting software configuration instructions 2 des WindOWS OS SEIU e era eA ee eee RA a A Chae 2 24 lava installation insifuciOms ociosa RRR RY ON RE Re Re em OS MoE 2 26 CORE installation OPTIONAL 0 04 4 544 546445648 HA eed ee tre krasu 3 2G EI 1 0 Dada a Mag ek wee ere eng be Se oe oh 3 ar Be K I oe oe wee eS EERE EES A See EE EOS EERE YES DEY w Ds 3 3 RFnest Software Installation 4 31 KPview Installation 0420204 02 bb dae aS Rae a RASA a ia K 4 32 CEC installation 246004 h86 bbe chee Bee a ee Dee a wee eee eae 4 4 CEC Configuration 4 5 Starting the System 5 Sol Basic Cabling A Series si lt 9 ne ee ee ries ee aragi eG N inap ee 5 5 2 Basic Cabling D Series ao cocos NR tg paR Ee RE Ee ee 5 oo Resource Protiles D eres Only coo ce ke a eee ea e de es 6 DA Network Garap is cue a Oe ea PR oh Ee ee ew ee 6 Do Rinor a mann etre oa als Sek Soe a eer eo BR eae 6 He of ate fe 7 Be Review User Interiage Stary e 0000 bak ae ee ee eae Ee Ee Se ees 7 57 Selecting a Resource Profile D Series Only e lt ee a ee 8 me Yering System Operation sore o de ay CR Ee ee ee bh es 8 6 Optional Configuration 8 Di pe sa a Bas RASS L ade se Boe ae ias 8 62 Impactand Driver Installation co ek ee e hee Sem es 9 e A a eee oe eed Bee Be ee eS oa Hie 9 64 RPview Map CONSUELO o ka Ca eR PR wR Re we OR 9 65 Pre caching KPview Map Data 2 00064 cada ba debe ee be a be ee 10 6 6 Generating Tactical Graphics for use i
18. to cancel 9 3 2 Create Rx Stopped alert D Series Only This is an alert that will trigger if a specific port will stops receiving a signal 1 Select Rx Stopped from the Rules drop down menu 2 Click New to create new alert Page 46 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 9 Attaching Verifying Calibrating and Operating Radios in the System Page 47 f RFview Alerts Alert Notification for loss of Rx This alert indicates that the assigned port or ports have stopped receiving packets This can potentially indicate problems in the local network configuration Group Groupo X Ports Selected M Deselect All 3 Set the length of time without an Rx signal that will trigger the alert in the Timeout Length field 4 Select the group of ports from the Group drop down menu 5 Select desired ports by checking the checkboxes in the Selected column of the Ports table 6 Click OK to save the alert or Cancel to cancel 9 3 3 Create DCU Notification Stopped alert This is an alert that will trigger if RFview stops receiving DCU notifications from the CEC This can poten tially indicate problems in the local network configuration or that the CEC has stopped or crashed 1 Select DCU Notification Stopped from the Rules drop down menu 2 Click New to create new aler
19. typically around 0 dBm although some radios may transmit at 26 dBm 500 mW on their lowest setting After the transmit power of the radio is lowered one or more attenuators must be placed on the radio to attenuate the signal before receipt by the hardware e Appropriate over the air isolation shielding The radios will leak a signal over the air between each Page 52 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 9 Attaching Verifying Calibrating and Operating Radios in the System Page 53 other effectively bypassing the emulated channel created by the system Typically a consumer grade radio is not designed with shielding in mind and may only provide 80 90 dB of isolation if radios are adjacent to each other requiring additional shielding to be used A commercial or tactical radio may or may not have much better shielding Apart from the radios leaking directly the cables or especially the attenuators used may create leakage if not shielded or spaced properly In general try to avoid placing the attenuators and cables of different radios next to each other for example by placing the attenuator as close to the radio as possible e Appropriate power and attenuation for dynamic range and system leakage The hardware itself provides between 60 and 95 dB of isolation depending on the frequency and port pair in question This isolation is measured from the Rx and Tx connector on one port to the Tx connec
20. 1 Gain 56 0 Doppler 0 0 Delay 8000 0 K 11 2 2 Create Signal Tool Event D Series Only 1 Select Signal Tool Event from the Event drop down menu and click New Page 65 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 66 5 RFnest Event Editor Event Editor for the Signal Tool A _ Create and schedule new Signal Tool Event This event will issue Signal A Record or Signal Replay message to the hardware based on the input provided in the fields below Time 10 s Mode 2 Record gt Replay Action gt Start Stop Sub Type Port Noise Capture Path Radio 1 Radio R Length C max 256 Trigger Condition Immediate O Transmit Radiol O Receive Radiol Replay Delay ns Filename jui_dev workbench rfnest workbench signal_0001 csv 2 Set the time when of the event execution during the scenario in the Time field If 0 is set for the Time field the event will fire when the scenario starts i e at 0 0 time 3 Select the radio port which will record or replay a signal from the Radio drop down menu e Note that the selected port will replay a recorded signal only and if there is a radio connected to the port its signals will not be going through the system why replay is active 4 Select Record to trigger recording of a signal or Repl
21. 2 390 2 395 2 400 2 405 2 410 2 415 ns MHz 9 5 Attaching Radios The radios must be attached to the system in a way which allows the RF signals to be digitally sampled from the transmitting radios at the desired power level sent to the receiving radios at the desired power levels and that leaking signals do not interfere with the system Figure 1 shows the normal configuration for connecting two radios to the system in the case where the radios each have a single RF connector Because each port on the hardware has a separate Rx and Tx connector for receiving RF signals from the radio and transmitting signals to the radio respectively a power splitter must be used When using a splitter ensure that the S or input connector on the splitter is attached to the radio If the radio has separate Rx and Tx connectors connect the Tx connector on the radio to the Rx connector on the hardware and the Rx connector on the radio to the Tx connector on the hardware Note also that the top connector on each port is the Rx connector and the bottom connector is the Tx connector When attaching radios there are several concerns that must be addressed simultaneously and properly configured into the system NOTE Prior to following the instructions in this section to verify the radios are attached correctly the system must first be successfully initialized e Appropriate transmit power The transmit power of the radio should be as low as possible
22. 2 CEC Internal model test The CEC has a built in test mode to be used if the CEC does not appear to be functioning correctly e g not receiving sending positions updates model calculations are not being received etc or to determine whether the fading model parameters achieve the desired result To activate this mode set testmode to on and processpositionevents to on in cec xml Then invoke the CEC via the run sh script After a few seconds the CEC will print out a table of the calculated pathloss and gain values for various distances 20 entries by default This validates that the CEC is able to send receive EMANE position events send receive CCR messages and in general is operating correctly Note that for those modes to work correctly event servicedevice in eventdeamon xml must be set to 1o the loopback device or the network stack must be configured to receive multicast packets from itself a platform dependent setting since EMANE position events are being sent from the CEC to itself Page 104 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 15 Acronyms Page 105 14 3 Wireshark Plugin A RFnest plugin for Wireshark is available for 64 bit Windows and 64 bit Linux as an installer package or as a standalone dll so file This plugin is useful to determine the API messages send received by various system components debug third party tools interacting with them and understand exactly how the system
23. 9 Attaching Verifying Calibrating and Operating Radios in the System Page 50 far x Scenario Hardware Tools Execution Help JA al HS y M BSO Sndo O ol mhix 00 60 lt New Open Save Ports Radio Types Platform Types Charts Alerts Events 3 ing O Record Replay O Auto Level Sub Type 8 Port O Noise Capture Path 8 Radio Tx _ Radio Rx Length gina 256 Trigger Condition 8 Immediate O Transmit B OReceive 3 G Users Justin Desktop work rfnest workbench rfnest workbench signal_0001 csv _ U U o 500 1 000 1 500 2 000 2 500 3 000 3 500 4 000 4 500 5 000 2 385 2 390 2 395 2 400 2 405 2 410 2 415 ns MHz Y Update Charts in Real time Continuous record and display ceso ps0 DDR oos2 noez DDB4 DDBS PAUSED s The Record Replay option allows the user to initiate a signal recording or to stop start a signal replay Use the appropriate buttons on the bottom of the tab to Record New Signal Start Injecting Stop Replay and Stop Recording Note that for each sub type only one action may be active at a time and the previous action must be stopped before the next action is attempted Le the user may replay a signal in the noise direction while also recording in the port direction ar x Scenario Hardware Tools Execution El bR a gt A mae San
24. Digital to Analog DDB Digital Daughter Board DoD Department of Defense EMANE Extendable Mobile Ad hoc Network Emulator Page 105 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 15 Acronyms Page 106 ESD Electostatic Discharge FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array GB GigaByte GUI Graphical User Interface IF Intermediate Frequency IP Internet Protocol LED Light Emitting Diode LO Local Oscillator PC Personal Computer RF Radio Frequency RUT Radio s Under Test SMA Sub Miniature A Page 106 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Intelligent Automation Inc 2014 Intelligent Automation Inc www i a i com 15400 Calhoun Drive Suite 190 Rockville MD 20855 Phone 301 294 5200 Fax 301 294 5201
25. DopplerSpread Contains the doppler spread of the link Required Delay Contains the delay of the link Required Contains the control mode of the given link 0 indicates that the CEC ControlMode is maintaining control of the link and 1 indicates that the operator is Required maintaining control of the link Example Output 000046 750 Type DCUANotificationEvent SourceRadio 6 DestinationRadio 7 AverageLoss 117 11293753524603 DopplerShift 128 DopplerSpread 12281 Delay 100000 ControlMode 0 000046 765 Type DCUANotificationEvent SourceRadio 0 DestinationRadio 7 AverageLoss 124 64969294572688 DopplerShift 128 DopplerSpread 12281 Delay 100000 ControlMode 0 000046 780 Type DCUANotificationEvent SourceRadio 1 DestinationRadio 7 AverageLoss 123 93183216558154 DopplerShift 128 DopplerSpread 12281 Delay 100000 ControlMode 0 Page 82 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 83 Perf Data or Performance Data events are logged to the event deck each time the RFview workbench receives a graph request Contents Name Description Type Always PerfDataEvent Required Port Contains the local UDP port the data point was received on The workbench Required uses this field to determine which graph to update q DataPoint Contains the data point Required Example Output 000046 740 Type Per
26. ER PE ee Boo Edit PANO 4 400406 eRe ee Ee eee eh eae ee E Boe Addradigio platilor o e un ee er oe eR Se ee eR ea R Se 8 3 5 Placing Multiple Radios at Different Locations ona PlatforM Oe Group CONMUTADOR a e ES Sa OOO OPH ee Coone s taa E AA A A is SE eras TA 0 0 A si A ee es AT Br Platos Cerler caca das a hte eee eee debe a Be Gala Dislinos Wey nue a ee ee ki He EES CEO Ree He es Roe ET 6 OEA o ek eS ke wR ee we Re dee ea oe E a aie S10 Waypoint Overlay cd ie oe ew a oe ee ee ew SN Plationo Rovter yerlay bn oie ek A 8 12 Links Channel Properties AWG os eA K R ee ee OA eae Se da K Sd FOG EOS o e eo a Re ed Ba heeded te Poe Ga E a ad oa ee ti eA ee 6 14 Savingy Loading SCOR ANOS lt eos Se we RO eee a Ew 8 15 Scenario Record Kepler cojos bale Ra ERS DE REO ee Eee ols OS 9 Attaching Verifying Calibrating and Operating Radios in the System 91 Port Contigoration Summary ecese s deaa eye ee Eee ee eee es G2 Port Status D Seres Only 26 eh RR ae a Oe a SY D A eh eee tetas edn Ge an ee vee as NS we nie te an ae E 931 Create Tx Stopped alert D Series Only cocos ee Ee bee ede 93 2 Create Kx Stopped alert D peries Only cs coe ee ee ee RE 93 0 Create DCU Notification Stopped alert s o cmo ce 46a ee Cae ees 9 3 4 Create Automatic Gain Control Out of Range alert 2 2 2 eee eee 9 4 Recording and Replaying Signals Using the Signal Tool D Series Only 941 Examplesof Recorded Sig
27. Gain vs Distance Overlay is typically used when setting up a scenario to see if radios may or may not be able to communicate with each other This menu allows the user to turn on off the Gain vs Distance Page 32 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 33 overlay on RFview In addition this menu enables the user to configure the various signal strength rings based on the radio characteristics The Gain vs Distance overlay configuration is done on a per frequency group and per link type basis 1 Select Gain vs Distance from the Overlays tab 2 Check or uncheck the Gain vs Distance checkbox to show or hide the signal range indicator Platforms Overlay E Gain and Distance Waypoint Overlay Platform Routes Overlay Gain and Distance Platform 12 Group Group0 12 2 400GHz Link AirToAir Pathloss dB 10 100 1000 Distance Meters 3 Select a platform in the Map tab or in the Platform tab If no platform is selected the configuration will not be enabled 4 Select the Frequency Group from the Group drop down menu Only valid frequency groups for the selected platform are shown i e those which its radios are members of 5 Select the link type from the Link drop down menu Only valid link types for the selected platform are shown e g an air platform will not have ground to grou
28. Replace the signals tests insertion_gain_bit csv file with the signals tests insertion_gains_blank csv file The test can now be selected from the Self Test dialog The port range entered should cover the ports being tested Note that not all gain frequency combinations are tested since some combinations create a signal which is too weak for the system to correctly receive from itself 12 13 1 Handling Failure This test will always report as failed as verification of the results can only be done after the output is processed and the test is re run in Verify Mode Another BIT should be run prior to this test to verify the system is otherwise operational and REview can communicate with the CEC and hardware 12 14 RF Chain Calibration The system supports the calibration of the input and output RF chains of each port to adjust for variations among ports as well as the frequency response of the RE components The calibration is stored in two files signals tests insertion_gain csv for normal system use and signals tests insertion_gain_bit csv for automated verification of the calibration The calibration process operates by calibrating the loopback gain of each port at each frequency as well as the receive RE chain only of each port using port 0 as a reference The gain of the transmit RE chain can then be calculated by subtracting the two A new calibration file can be created as needed e g because the system is being used in a si
29. Second the per node variation in the Tx Chain gain is used to apply a port specific automatic adjustment to the Output Gain applied in response to the Output Attenuation requested in the Group Configuration dialog The Rx chain calibration is only used to assist in the calculation of the Tx chain based on the difference between the loopback gain and Rx gain The Auto level feature of the Signal Tool automatically adjusts the Input Gain to compensate for the combined per port variation in the Rx chain and the attached radio s transmit power many radios transmit consistently at a slightly different power than indicated in their configuration specifications 13 Externally Controlling the RF environment RFnest has several ways to control and specify the RF environment In the typical case the RFview generates Position Update messages when nodes move either due to their configured behavior waypoints or the user moving the nodes on the map The CEC listens for these messages and generates a CCR request for all channels of each node which has moved The channel calculation thread within the CEC receives these requests and sends CCR responses with the recalculated channel values These updated values are then sent from the CEC to the RFnest hardware in the form of a channel matrix update If fading is configured updates may be sent to the hardware periodically even if nodes are stationary To temporarily over ride the values calculated by th
30. ability to vary different aspects of the model independently to observe the network effects 1 Select Channel Event from the Event drop down menu and click New a Channel Event Editor Time 10 0 Mode Auto Manual Radio 1 0 y Radio 2 1 X Channel Conditions Basic ee Gain 0 dB 100 75 50 25 0 OO AAA Doppler Shift 0 kHz 200 100 0 100 200 g Doppler Spread O Hz 0 50 100 150 200 E Delay 0 ms 0 25 50 75 100 Statistical multi ray profile Sample Profile Cancel OK 2 Set the time when of the event execution during the scenario in the Time field If 0 is set for the Time field the event will fire when the scenario starts i e at 0 0 time 3 Select Auto or Manual mode from the Mode radio buttons s In Auto mode the event will trigger at selected time but will not preserve its state if the nodes are in motion or moved by the user s In Manual mode the event will trigger at selected time and the channel settings will stay unless the user creates another event to set it to Auto mode or sets the mode to Auto in the Channel Properties Editor Page 69 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 70 4 Select the two radios whose channel will be modified by this event from the Radio 1
31. all ports simultaneously up down by the same amount Otherwise the AGC would violate the integrity of the channels configured in the scenario 5 The AGC re evaluates the gains approximately every 3 to 5 seconds This delay means that a radio which quickly changes transmit power by a significant amount will briefly have an input signal level that is too high or too low until the next decision point occurs If the radios change their transmit power by only a few dB ata time this will not pose a problem For radios which change their transmit powers by 5 10 or more dB at a very fast rate some transmissions may always be sub optimally digitized 6 The AGC assumes each transmitting radio transmits at least once every 3 seconds If the radio with the highest current input signal level does not transmit for more than 3 seconds the next highest input signal level will be used to control the AGC until the radio begins transmitting again This may cause the intermittently transmitting radio s signal to be temporarily too high when it first resumes transmitting until the next decision point occurs and the AGC begins considering it again 7 The AGC will not violate the Max AGC value If the input signal levels are still too weak and the Max AGC is reached the signals will be digitized sub optimally 8 The AGC will violate the Min AGC value If the input signal levels are too high the AGC will not hesitate to decrease the input signal levels as low a
32. calculated pathloss between nodes The delay profile is a comma separated value CSV format with up to 20 entries per line 1 per tap supported by your resource profile see Section 5 3 where the lines contain Line 1 the distribution to use for Doppler spread if available 0 disabled 1 4 use distribution X Line 2 the gain multiplier from 0 to 32767 Line 3 the phase from 0 to 65535 2 PI Line 4 the Doppler shift from 200000 to 200000 Hz Line 5 the delay in nanoseconds maximum is resource profile specific see Section 5 3 Subsequent lines are ignored The gain multiplier can be calculated based on the formula where gain is the intended gain i e a negative value since a loss is being applied in dB For example a gain of 3 dB gives a binary gain of 23197 binary gain min 32767 32767 1092 20 The delay of the first tap must be at least four times the time per sample defined in the resource profile The number of taps available is dependent on the resource profile Below is an example file with Doppler spread disabled no Doppler shift and no phase shift gain and delay only O 32767 16384 8192 4096 OO We 1 Or Or le 138 1000 1000 1000 11 9 Signal Recording Format D Series Only The Signal Tool records and saves signals in a CSV format Each line of the file contains values in i q format The number of i q sample pairs must be a multiple of 256 The maximum number of samples is defined
33. channel gain that was calculated by the CEC specified manually by the user via the Channel Properties Editor or fed into the system via a DCU Request or CCR message Estimated Link Quality s The estimated link quality improves upon the correctness of the expected link quality by also considering the actual power at which the Rx port for each link s radios are transmitting 8 10 Waypoint Overlay This menu allows the user to configure the size of waypoints for when the waypoints are displayed on RFview 1 Select the Waypoint Overlay field from the Overlays tab 2 Check or uncheck the Waypoint Overlay checkbox to show or hide waypoints on the map 3 Drag the Waypoint Icon Size slider to change the size of the waypoints that appear on the map Overlays Route Editor K Packet Routing Overlay K Platforms Overlay KI Gain and Distance lt aypoint Overlay KI Platform Routes Overlay K Link Quality Overlay Waypoint Overlay Waypoint Icon Size 8 11 Platform Routes Overlay This menu allows the user to select which platform routes if any should be displayed on RFview Typically routes will be displayed during initial scenario set up and editing but hidden afterward 1 Select the Platform Routes Overlay field from the Overlays tab 2 Check or uncheck the Platform Routes Overlay checkbox to show or hide routes on the map 3 Select one of
34. commands appear after all create radio com mands in the file If a radio of the same name already exists the existing radio will be updated to the type platform and port number specified 11 10 3 Update Platform The update platform command is used to move a platform over time The format for this command is lt time gt update platform lt name gt lt lat gt lt lon gt lt alt gt lt roll gt lt pitch gt lt yaw gt e lt time gt the time in seconds greater than or equal to zero A decimal number may be provided however the precision is dependent on network and processing delays within the software e lt name gt is the name of the already existing platform to be moved e lt lat gt is the decimal latitude of the platform e lt lon gt is the decimal longitude of the platform e lt alt gt is the decimal altitude of the platform relative to MSL e lt roll gt is the decimal roll of the platform in degrees 180 to 180 e lt pitch gt is the decimal pitch of the platform in degrees 180 to 180 e lt yaw gt is the decimal yaw of the platform in degrees 180 to 180 When a platform is moved via an update platform command the platform will visually move on the map within RFview A Position Update message will also be generated per the RFnest API The platform is instantaneously moved to the specified position at the specified time The parameters for the links between the radios containe
35. enters the hardware may also become sat urated or may receive too weak a signal preventing the radio from communicating successfully in the scenario The Rx port has a controllable gain stage to address this In this example the Rx port receives an input signal at 23 dBm and also experiences 7 dB of losses in the hardware Rx chain at this frequency making the signal at the ADC 30 dBm while the desired level is 0 dBm With this in mind go to the Port Status widget and select the port that Radio 1 is attached to If unsure of the port refer to the Port Configuration Summary dialog Under the Properties tab enter 30 dB as the Input Gain The new gain will be applied to the system within 1 2 seconds To verify the input signal is at the correct level the radio must be transmitting at least once per second It does not matter if the waveform is such the radio continuously transmits e g OFDM or only transmits randomly e g TDMA or CSMA as long as the radio transmits at least once per second Now go to the Signal Tool for the DDB containing the port in question DDBO contains ports 0 3 etc The Signal Tool can be found by right clicking on the radio s group in the group list or in the menu under Tools Views Signal Tool Select the radio and select Auto Level under mode Press the Auto Level button at the bottom of the Signal Tool The radio s transmission will be repeatedly captured and displayed The Signal Tool will attem
36. foam etc 9 8 Configuring Thresholds for Scenario Layout Display Now that the radios are successfully connected to the system the scenario can be fully laid out and tested RFview provides several features that facilitate the design of scenarios the analysis of network perfor mance behavior and create more impactful demonstrations These features are the Gain vs Distance Overlay and the Link Quality Overlay When properly tuned they allow the user to clearly visualize the state of the links and the underlying cause behind various behaviors The Gain vs Distance overlay shows circular regions in which a selected radio s links are in a good fair poor or bad state The Link Quality Overlay allows the quality of each link in the entire scenario to be visualized using either the link s configured gain and or the radio s transmit power or the RSSI reported directly by the radio itself The benefit if these tools is only realized when the thresholds are tuned properly First decide whether the expected based on the link s configured gain or observed based on reported RSSI see Section 10 1 The observed gain offers superior accuracy but may not be readily available from the radio and can be subject to fluctuations misreporting unavailability due to radio quirks and EW aspects of the scenario The expected gain is always available since the values are obtained from the CEC In theory the observed and expected gains are equal If they
37. in fact the attributes of channels between radios in different groups are not even calculated or definable in any way Groups can be either real or virtual A real group represents a set of physical ports on the system hard ware to which real RF devices can be connected A virtual group represents a set of radios whose channel Page 14 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 15 attributes will be calculated and send via the system s APIs for example to drive an EMANE based virtual node model Typically REview is used with only the real groups defined by the current resource pro file however RFview may be used with both real and virtual groups simultaneously or only with virtual groups Groups can also be arbitrarily subdivided into frequency groups A frequency group is a subset of a group s radios which share a common frequency This allows flexibility in the use of radios operating at heterogeneous frequencies Frequency groups are defined simply by assigning radios which are defined with different center frequencies in RFview to the same group Note that frequency groups are logically treated as being in different groups the channels between radios in different frequency groups while tech nically present are always set to infinite loss even if the frequency only differs by 1 MHz This prevents otherwise erroneous mixing of signals at different fre
38. is used to setup any system parameters as well as setting the preferred base map hardware_props xml is used to determine the acceptable RFnest hardware unit this software is configured to communicate with Information stored within this file contains which hardware series Analog or Digital the number of ports the number of physical ports the number of virtual ports the port con figuration per group and numerous other parameters The RFnest team is responsible for maintain and packaging the Hardware Properties file for RFnest users All supported hardware properties are stored in the hardware_properties folder 6 4 RFview Map Configuration RFview supports a configurable base map powered by IAI s QuickMaps library The base map is the background map for all RFview scenarios for a given software installation To change the base map for RFnest modify the rfview properties at the root directory of the RFview installation The com iai rfview baseMap source property indicates the QuickMaps map source Map sources indicate where the map data comes from Valid values are openstreet and virtualearth The com iai rfview baseMap type property indicates the QuickMaps map type Map types indicate what type of map data to get from the map source Not all map sources support all map types Valid values are street terrain and satellite The following rfview properties configuration file contains various valid base map configurations Uncom ment t
39. of up to 1400 sample points Contents Name Description Type Always SwimlaneEvent Required Ceb Contains the identifier of the CEB for the sample point Required Port Indicates the port of the CEB the sample point corresponds to Required SignalPower Contains the signal power Required Status Indicates that status Idle 0 Rx 1 or Tx 2 Required Duration Contains the duration of the event in nanoseconds Required Example Output 2198287 000 Type SwimlaneEvent Ceb 0 Port 23 SignalPower 78 Status 1 Duration 1280 0 2199567 000 Type SwimlaneEvent Ceb 0 Port 23 SignalPower 77 Status 1 Duration 128 0 2199695 000 Type SwimlaneEvent Ceb 0 Port 23 SignalPower 78 Status 1 Duration 1792 0 Page 84 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 2201487 22038535 22041 75 22053275 2206351 000 000 000 000 000 Type Type Type Type Type Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 85 SwimlaneEvent Ceb 0 Port 23 SignalPower 78 Status 1 Duration SwimlaneEvent Ceb 0 Port 23 SignalPower 78 Status 1 Duration SwimlaneEvent Ceb 0 Port 23 SignalPower 78 Status 1 Duration SwimlaneEvent Ceb 0 Port 23 SignalPower 78 Status 1 Duration SwimlaneEvent Ceb 0 Port 23 SignalPower 78 Status 1 Duration 2048 0 640 0 T1520 1024 0 2048 0 Set Radio Parameters is a request issued by RFview during in
40. options a Pp WwW N Click OK to save or Cancel to dismiss changes 11 2 6 Delete Event 1 Open the Event Scheduling Wizard by going to the Tools menu and selecting Events or clicking on the Events icon on the toolbar 2 Select an event from the list 3 Click Delete to remove event 11 3 Swimlane D Series Only Swimlane tab provides the user with information about the time duration power and status of the signal on hardware ports 1 Select the Swimlane tab 2 Click on the blue play button Page 70 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 71 Channel Properties Editor This tab displays the Swimlane data coming from the RFnest hardware Due to the high rate of incoming messages this data cannot be displayed in real time Please press the record button in the toolbar above to begin recording the Swimlane data 65 RFview Swimlane Record Swimlane Data Q Input Error No ports are currently selected Please select at least one port in the table below CEB 1 Ports 0 In the Swimlane options editor select desired ports to capture output Click OK to start capturing or Cancel to cancel capture Click on the blue stop button to stop capture YS 7 Pe NN The information about the previously selected ports will appear
41. otherwise this entire exercise would be pointless behavior of links will be under this mobility The status of links can be further verified by running the scenario at 1 10X speed and or pausing the scenario at key points to verify whether radios link statuses match those expected If the radios or other parts of the system under test can measure their RSSI this can be reported and displayed in RFview in real time to further streamline this process using this higher confidence information These steps are described in Sections 9 8 8 15 and 10 1 Once the scenario is created additional monitoring should be added These include defining alerts col lecting and reporting routing paths if available and collecting and reporting various metrics of interest Page 13 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 7 Basic Concepts Page 14 The entire system under test can now be verified in the scenario This includes verifying multi hop rout ing interactions between multiple links application layer performance etc These steps are described in Sections 9 3 10 2 and 10 3 Next advanced concepts can be added including events recording and replaying signals injecting noise EW signals either digitally or by attaching a physical emitter device adding EMANE based soft ware simulated emulated radios or defining custom antenna patterns and delay profiles These steps are described in Sections 11 1 through
42. the latter approach is almost always much more efficient and practical while also allowing the user to get a subset of the desired scenario up and running almost immediately To build a scenario in this way the best bet is to start with an example scenario or a previously created scenario Ata high level the process is to start by deciding what the overall evaluation scenario will be and planning how many radios will be connected and which radios communicate within the same band After that is complete define a few platforms and their radios in RFview and verifying the operation of a single link If importing from a supported third party application e g AWSIM do so now Don t worry about positions routes or more complex scenario attributes yet simply decide which radios belong at which platforms as you add radios Next connect and verify the operation of more radios of the same type Now add two radios of the next type of radio followed by the rest of that type and so on until all radios are present in the scenario Now adjust the Gain vs Distance Overlay to match the radios behaviors These steps are described in great detail in Sections 8 1 through 8 4 and especially Section 9 Once that step is complete use the Gain vs Distance Overlay and the Link Quality Overlay with Expected gain enabled to position nodes and form routes The scenario can then be played at 10 100x normal speed to visualize what the expected but not guaranteed
43. the radio buttons to either show all routes or show only selected platform s route Page 37 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 38 Route Editor K Packet Routing Overlay K Platforms Overlay K Gain and Distance K Waypoint Overlay Platform Routes Overlay S K Link Quality Overlay Platform Routes Overlay 2 Show all routes Show selected platform s route 8 12 Links Channel Properties Editor The channel properties editor enables the user to set custom values for channel properties that would over write any properties set by the model 1 Select the Link tab Page 38 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 39 Platforms Links Source Radio Destination Radio al 2 Channel 1 2 Destination Port 1 Link Type Air to Air Channel Model Freespace Center Frequency 2 4 GHz Distance 3 963 7 km Last Update Time no msgs Observed Signal Strength no msgs Expected Signal Strength 68 000 dBm 2 Select two radios whose channel is to be set to custom values 3 Select the Channel Properties Editor tab Page 39 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 40 Console ME lil Swimlane Mo
44. this port is set to match that of the second signal generator s port to prevent a low input gain from unnecessarily restricting the AGC s minimum value When AGC must decrease due to one signal 10 YAGC hits max signal 3 a an ports are decreased as a result_ level still below 0 io 35 j First signal generator 0 dBm O A raices o e OOOO IRE eee pl aid pe de E E EA A A Sear Second signal generator A Eater ee oe 3 7 Signal way too high even at min AGC violates Min as needed a eee pera ad ate oe eel eae ste signal level decr ases AGC increases Highest Input Gain dB Spectrum analyzer receive only input is only very weak noise A H H ounou b o 10 20 30 40 so so 70 so 90 100 110 120 130 140 Time 2 400GHz CEB 0 Initially when the scenario starts the first signal generator s input level is already at 0 dBm and the first signal generator s transmit power is unchanged Thus the AGC remains constant Note that it is only a coincidence that the highest input signal level at 0 dBm according to the right hand Y axis and the AGC value 28 dB according to the left hand Y axis appear at the same level in the graph for the first 10 seconds It is important to observe that for the first 10 seconds the AGC does not and can not act in a way that would increase the input signal level of the second signal generator or the very low noise measured from the signal
45. to change any links back to manual if they are no longer being manually controlled over ridden Otherwise the mobility of platforms will NOT cause the link s parameters to be updated as nodes move in the scenario 8 13 Route Editor The Route Editor enables the user to manually enter the node waypoints over time for the scenario The starting position is specified along with the starting velocity and orientation Multiple waypoints and the final position can be added as well Note that the platform will stop suddenly when the end of the route is reached and so the user should be sure to specify sufficient waypoints for the entire scenario duration 1 Select a node from the Platforms tab Page 40 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 41 2 Click on the Route Editor tab Overlays MAMA A Platform n4 Simple Mobility Starting Location Longitude 76 6851852834 deg Latitude 35 4789847361 deg Altitude 3 000 m Starting Orientation Yaw 0 deg Pitch 0 deg Roll 0 deg Waypoints 1 lon lat alt m speed delay s AZ 35 136 3 000 75 0 add Delete Continuously loop over route Color 3 Drag the node by clicking and holding the left mouse button to set the starting node position on the map or set the starting locat
46. to set this to be on for the software to function properly with A series RFnest hardware and off for the software to function properly with D series RFnest hardware frequency_calib value is path to calibration file Applicable for analog mode only It is important to set this file correctly relative to the frequency used by the radios to achieve the best performance publishpathlossevents if value on EMANE pathloss events are published publishlocationevents if value on EMANE location events are published processpathlossevents if value on EMANE location events are processed processlocationevents if value on EMANE location events are processed basicmodel if value on use built in models If value off the user must supply their own software to repond to CCR Request API messages 6 8 CEC Test mode parameters The following are test mode model settings In normal operation these settings are ignored and cec uses the models and settings configured in REview testmode if value on sets the CEC to run debugging tests for pathloss calculations testcount the number of distances to test if testmode is on testincrement the test distance increment in degrees longitude 0 0001 is approximately 10m emanetestmode if value on sets CEC to save debugging info from EMANE updates freespacemodel if value on free space model is used to calculate pathloss tworaymodel if value on two ray model is used to calculate pathloss logdistpathlossmodel i
47. using analog RFnest and analog off when using digital version Also in analog mode the calibration file should be set based on the frequency being used ex frequency_calib calib 2400 calib for 2 4GHz otherwise the system will not be calibrated Sample cec xml lt xml version 1 0 encoding UTF 8 gt lt DOCTYPE eventagent SYSTEM file usr share emane dtd eventagent dtd gt lt eventagent name Channel Emulator Controller library cec gt lt param name publishpathlossevents value off gt lt param name publishlocationevents value off gt Page 4 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 5 Starting the System Page 5 lt param name processpathlossevents value off gt lt param name processlocationevents value on gt lt param name basicmodel value on gt lt param name analog value off gt lt param name emanetestmode value off gt lt param name testmode value on gt lt param name testcount value 20 gt lt param name testincrement value 0 0001 gt lt param name freespacemodel value on gt lt param name freespacewavelength value 0 125 gt lt param name tworaymodel value off gt lt param name longdistpathlossmodel value off gt lt param name longdistpathlossexponent value 2 0 gt lt param name hatamodelurban value off gt lt param name hatamodelsuburban value
48. 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 92 e lt radiol name gt and lt radio2 name gt are the names of the already existing radios comprising the link lt tap count gt is the number of taps in the channel must be at least 1 e lt main gain gt is the overall LOS gain of the channel decimal from 0 perfect channel to infinity no channel e lt main doppler gt is the overall common Doppler shift of the channel in Hz decimal 200 000 May be 0 e lt main doppler spread gt is a reserved field for future use 0 should be used e lt main delay gt is the overall LOS delay of the channel Positive decimal in ns e lt tapX control gt is a reserved field for future use 0 should be used e lt tapX gain gt is the gain of tap X decimal from 0 to infinity e lt tapX phase gt is the phase of tap X decimal from 0 to 2 PI lt tapX doppler gt is the Doppler of tap X in Hz decimal 200 000 May be 0 lt tapX delay gt is the delay between tap X and the previous tap Positive decimal in ns Note that the number of taps delay maximums and Doppler functionality is resource profile specific Refer to Section 5 3 for the details of your system If fewer taps are specified than the system is capable of the gains for any additional taps will be set to zero When a link is updated via an update platform command the updated parameters are sent to the RFnest hardware Specifi
49. 11 7 Finally analysis can be performed using the record replay functionality Section 8 15 swimlanes which capture each radio s transmit receive idle state and power level vs time Section 11 3 and exporting the recorded results called the Event Deck to external tools Section 11 7 7 3 Platform Types and Radio Types REview allows scenarios to be defined around the concept of platforms and radios A platform is a physical entity that moves as a single unit Typical platforms include a person a vehicle an aircraft etc Radios are real devices or virtual devices in EMANE such as RF transceivers e g a cell phone a WiFi radio a tactical radio etc emitters listening devices or anything else which will should transmit or receive RE signals as part of the scenario Each platform can have one or more radios associated to it Be aware of the following caveats when assigning radios to platforms e Platforms are only for defining mobility and aiding the user by synchronously and logically moving multiple radios together Platforms are not otherwise modeled A platform with no radios serves only as a visual marker on the map and has no modeling channel or evaluation related impact Platforms are modeled as a center of mass point in space The radios attached to a platform may have different heights or antenna patterns but are otherwise in the exact same position and so have very strong channels between each other assuming they
50. 82912 2 4 Java installation instructions Oracle s Java is recommended and can be downloaded from http www java com Version 1 7 is re quired On Linux OpenJDK can be used if normal Java is not available OpenJDK may introduce problems espe cially for older systems or very complex scenarios If any problems are observed with RFview and OpenJDK is in use it is recommended to switch to Oracle s Java implementation Installing OpenJDK on Red Hat Fedora yum install java 1 7 0 openjdk devel Installing OpenJDK on Ubuntu Debian apt get install openjdk 7 3dk Page 2 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 2 Prerequisites Page 3 2 5 CORE installation OPTIONAL CORE is only required only for using virtual nodes in CORE which is not the standard use case of RFnest Most users can skip this step Get the Fedora rpm or Ubuntu deb package for your architecture 64 bit or 32 bit from the following URL Be sure to pick all downloads from the drop down https code google com p coreemu downloads list Use your package manager to automatically install dependencies Red Hat Fedora yum localinstall core daemon 4 6 1 fc19 x86_64 rpm yum localinstall core gui 4 6 1 fc19 noarch rpm Ubuntu Debian software center core daemon_4 6 Oubuntul_precise_amd64 deb software center core gui_4 6 0ubuntul_precise_all deb More information on COR
51. CEB and all DDBs present A D512 system for example will have 3 DDBs present and 1 CEB 3 A scenario can be defined loaded and the Initialize button completes enabling the play button 4 D Series Only A basic digital built in test passes on the first or second try for example the Dynamic Range test The Tap Delay test can also be used however it is more prone to false negatives 5 Use the Channel Properties Editor see Section 8 12 to control a channel and observe the expected signal change via a radio spectrum analyzer or other device that reports the power level 6 Optional Configuration The following instructions are optional and do not apply to all systems or situations For the first use of the system it is recommended to skip to Section 7 6 1 Compiling RFview Compiling RFview is optional A cross platform Java archive is already provided and ready for imme diate use RFview source code is typically not provided RFview uses ANT scripts for compilation These scripts are executed 1 Compiling RFview To compile all the RFview modules and generate the distribution for all platforms execute the fol lowing commands cd utilities ant clean build all 2 Individual modules All RFview modules contain a series of ANT scripts that compile the project run the unit tests gen erate the Javadocs and generate the code quality reports To build a module type the following command ant build Pa
52. E installation or how to install from source can be found at https code google com p coreemu wiki Quickstart 2 6 EMANE Installation If using Red Hat Fedora dependencies are automatically resolved if you use yum localinstall In Ubuntu dependencies all packages need to be specifically installed Red Hat Fedora install dependencies sudo yum y install openssl devel perl XML Simple perl XML LibXML download and install EMANE 0 8 1 release 2 wget http downloads pf itd nrl navy mil emane archive 0 8 1 r2 emane 0 8 1 release 2 f19 x86_64 tgz tar xzf emane 0 8 1 release 2 f19 x86_64 tgz sudo yum localinstall emane 0 8 1 release 2 RPMS F19 x86_64 x rpm Ubuntu Debian install dependencies sudo apt get install libssl dev libxml libxml perl libxml simple perl download and install EMANE 0 8 1 release 2 wget http downloads pf itd nrl navy mil emane archive 0 8 1 r2 emane 0 8 1 release 2 ubuntu 12_04 amd64 tgz tar xzf emane 0 8 1 release 2 ubuntu 12_04 amd64 tgz sudo dpkg i emane 0 8 1 release 2 deb ubuntu 12_04 amd64 x deb More information on EMANE installation or how to install from source can be found at https code google com p coreemu wiki EMANE 2 7 Libxml2 install Red Hat Fedora sudo yum install libxml2 devel Ubuntu Debian RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 4 CEC Configuration Page 4 sudo a
53. MHz 4 Node Test lt v DDB Sync Test v CV Doppler Test v CV Tap Delay Test v Dynamic Range Test v Rx Chain Test calibrate mode A K RFDB Loopback Test calibrate mode Start Port 6 EndPort s Progress Detailed Results gt gt 3 Check the appropriate checkboxes for the desired tests The all tests checkbox can be used to toggle all tests 4 Set the range of ports to run the tests on in the Start Port and End Port fields The default is to run the test for all ports which is often the desired action 5 Click Begin Test to run the test s 6 The high level progress and pass fail status will be displayed for each test selected Note that the progress bar may not move for several seconds at the start of each test and for several minutes dur ing certain tests The progress bar may move backward as the number of items to be tested is re calculated periodically 7 Click on Detailed Results to see results 8 In the event of any failures the first step is to re run the test to confirm the failure 9 The results of the tests are continuously appended to the file logs test_results txt This data can be used for further troubleshooting and is also used as part of the RE chain calibration process This file can become quite large and can be removed after the test and or calibration is complete This file can also be monitored e g using the tail command under Lin
54. PI The Doppler increment is a constant that is used when formatting the API messages sent to the RFnest hardware Profile 4 uses a hardware configuration with 16 ports however ports 3 7 11 and 15 are disabled making 12 active ports 3 Planned capability not currently available 5 4 Network Startup The software requires a correctly configured Ethernet interface and multicast route prior to the CEC and RFview being run Note that if RFview is being used in replay mode only this step is not necessary Page 6 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 5 Starting the System Page 7 Configure the Ethernet interface assuming eth0 is the PC s Ethernet interface Under Ubuntu this may instead be p5p1 and under RHEL7 this may be enp14s0 ifconfig eth0 10 5 10 200 24 up Configure the multicast route ip route add 224 0 0 0 4 dev etho NOTE The hardware always sends packets from the 10 5 10 0 24 subnet If the PC lacks a valid route for this subnet that is directed to the PC s Ethernet port the OS s anti spoofing logic may drop all packets from the hardware This can be easily accomplished by giving the PC an IP in this subnet e g 10 5 10 200 as described above or by adding a secondary IP to the PC that is in that subnet as follows if the user does not want to change the PC s primary IP ip route add 10 5 10 200 24 dev eth0 The system firewall must be config
55. Page 19 8 2 Radio Type Editor The Radio Type Editor allows the user to enter various radio types that will eventually be assigned to different nodes The Radio Type Editor provides a single entry for radio settings that can be applied to multiple nodes This is also the time when similar radios with different settings frequency should be set up as well Note Ifusing the A Series radios could be set to any frequency within the specifications The standard version is 1 8GHz to 2 8GHz with best performance achieved from 1 8GHz to 2 5GHz The frequency in this dialog is not applicable to the A Series 8 2 1 Create Radio Type 1 Open the radio type editor a Clicking on Tools and selecting Radios from the menu b Clicking on Radios button on the main toolbar gt Radios 2 If no radio types exist the widget will automatically pop up a Radio Types window 3 If previously created radio type s exist the user must click on New or use the CTRL N keyboard shortcut to bring up the Radio Types window 63 RFview Radio Types Radio Types From this window custom platform types can be created and used in the scenario Example_radio New Edit Delete Page 19 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 20 4 Input radio type name in the Name field 10 11
56. When making a scenario script file ensure the file s extension is sscpt Each line contains a timestamp a command and the parameters for that command Valid commands their parameters and their meaning are explained below For more example scenario script files see the RFview Validation report Note that the scenario script file must be sorted by time i e each line s lt t ime gt parameter must be greater than or equal to the previous line s Note also that when a scenario script file is imported any previous update platform and update link commands are automatically purged 11 10 1 Create Platform The create platform command is used to instantiate a platform within RFview The format for this command is lt time gt create platform lt name gt lt platform type gt lt lat gt lt lon gt lt alt gt lt roll gt lt pitch gt lt yaw gt e lt time gt must be 0 e lt name gt is arbitrary text which will be displayed as the platform s name e lt platform type gt is the text name of the already created platform type within the scenario e lt lat gt is the decimal latitude of the platform e lt lon gt is the decimal longitude of the platform e lt alt gt is the decimal altitude of the platform relative to MSL e lt roll gt is the decimal roll of the platform in degrees 180 to 180 e lt pitch gt is the decimal pitch of the platform in degrees 180 to 180 e lt yaw gt is the dec
57. a Event This menu enables the user to configure changes to the position and orientation of the platform and antenna orientation at a specific time in the scenario for example if a directional antenna is going to be repositioned in an attempt to find an alternate platform to communicate with This event will take effect at the time specified and the platform will remain in the position orientation or have the antenna orientation set in the event thus the route and waypoints will not affect the location of the platform anymore 1 Select Position Antenna Event from the Event drop down menu and click New Page 67 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 68 65 RFnest Event Editor Event Editor for Position Antenna Time Dis Platform Example_platforml X Position Altitude 0 0 0 m Platform Orientation Yaw 0 0 deg Pitch 0 0 C deg Roll 0 011 deg Radio Antenna Orientation Track Manual Auto Track Platform Yaw 0 0 deg Pitch 0 0 L deg Roll 0 0 L deg Platform Example_platform2 X Set the time when of the event execution during the scenario in the Time field If 0 is set for the Time field the event will fire when the scenario starts i e at 0 0 time N Select the platform from the Platf
58. accurate In some cases especially when a platform is near the boundary of a Gain vs Distance circle the link color may not correspond with the circle a platform is within In all cases trust the link color and the gain shown in the Channel Properties Editor Tab over the Gain vs Distance circles NOTE 3 Only the Gain vs Distance circles for the selected platform s frequency group and nodes it communicates directly with via the selected link type are shown However all links are shown when enabled 8 9 Link Quality Overlay This menu allows the user to configure the link quality lines setting the color and thresholds and also allows the user to configure if the link quality lines should be on or off The settings are done per radio 1 Select the Link Quality Overlay field from the Overlays tab 2 Check or uncheck the Link Quality Overlay checkbox to show or hide link quality indicators on the map Page 35 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 36 g g lo 5 a ice A S IS S Es Packet Routing Overlay lt Link Quality Overlay Link Quality Overlay Platform 12 Group Group0 12 2 400GHz Link AirToAir Good Color IGE range 80 to 0 dBm Fair Color al range 90 to 80 dBm Poor Color hea range 100 to 90 dBm Show Observed RSSI Lines _ Show Expected RSSI Lines C Sho
59. affected by the output gain for each port i e the output attenuation set in the Group Configuration The Events Editor can be used to trigger the start stop and changing of the background noise signal gen erated by each DDB automatically at specific times in the scenario Note that the noise gains cannot be configured to be changed via the Events Editor 11 2 Events Editor Events are used in scenarios to either Record snippets of radio inputs or Play recorded snippets of radio inputs The standard use for events are for either making recordings at a specified time for later comparison between runs radios or recording and then replaying signals to emulate EW Alternatively this tool can also trigger a manual record or manual replay event in the scenario as well Page 64 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 65 11 2 1 Create event 1 Open the Event Scheduling Wizard by going to the Tools menu and selecting Events or clicking on the Events icon on the toolbar Events 2 Select the type of event from the Event drop down menu and click on New button to create a new event Event Scheduling Wizard x Time Node Radio Comment Type Parameters 10 0 rl Signal Tool rl Record 10 0 nl Position Antenna Position lat 45 958 Position Lon 35 958 Position Alt 500 0 10 0 0 Channel Event
60. al were being received by the RFnest hardware from an RF source attached to that port The Events Editor can be used to trigger the start stop and changing of the signal generated by the emitter automatically at specific times in the scenario 11 1 2 Background Noise To add background noise go to the Signal Tool of the DDB for the port s where the noise is to be generated Note that if noise is to be generated on all ports these steps must be repeated for each DDB Select Record Replay mode Select the noise sub type Itis not necessary to select a radio as the signal will be replayed on ALL of that DDB s ports radios Click on the load button to load a previously saved or custom generated e g in Matlab signal file Press the Start Injecting button The loaded signal will now be received by all radios attached to that DDB To adjust the gain with which each radio attached to that DDB receives the signal go to the Port Status Tab under the Properties section for each of the ports of the DDB To make the port receive the background noise signal exactly as loaded set the noise gain field to 0 dB To make the port receive NO noise gain signal i e selectively disable the noise for individual ports set the noise gain field to 100 dB Intermediate values can be used to various gain levels Note that the noise signal gain is NOT affected by the TPO setting for the frequency group or the channel properties in any way but is
61. analyzer Repeat until the output gain is set to 60 and the noise gain is set to 60 or the desired level If an attenuator is planned to be added on the output port this can be added to the cable attached to the spectrum analyzer as well Ensure that the spectrum analyzer is using the lowest possible sampling bandwidth usually 1 Hz allowing the spectrum analyzer to measure the weakest possible signal Measure the amplitude of the signal as well as the amplitude of the noise at the edge of the spectrum analyzer s bandwidth being displayed The difference in amplitudes determines the SNR of the signals output at this level A clean signal should be visible on the spectrum analyzer down to approximately 140 dBm or the limit of the spectrum analyzer whichever is greater 12 9 Running the 200 MHz 4 node Test This is a combined RF and digital test which verifies that a 200 MHz signal is supported by the system A signal is generated at the source port send through the system output at the destination port looped back into the destination port and then measured to verify a 200 MHz signal does not experience more than 6 dB of non flatness This test takes about 1 minute to execute This test must be run using resource profiles 1 or 3 Resource profile 2 is not supported To run the test disconnect all radios from the Rx and Tx connectors on all ports on each DDB Connect a loopback RF cable onto ports 0 through 3 Next load the test24_rf xm
62. are in the same frequency group If a single physical radio has multiple transceivers meaning the radio can transmit receive at multi ple frequencies simultaneously is full duplex simultaneous transmit receive or operates in a large discontinuous band greater than the resource profile s bandwidth this single physical radio must be defined in RFview as multiple radios For example a single physical radio with a uplink and downlink frequency which differ by approximately 500 MHz and or are used simultaneously must be defined as two separate radios one at each frequency Since a relatively small number of distinct types of platforms are commonly used RFview allows the con cept of platform type and radio type to create templates which are then easily instantiated multiple times within a scenario and simultaneously edited Platform types and radio types can also be imported from an existing scenario when a new scenario is first created Platform types and radio types must be defined prior to defining platforms and radios themselves as all platforms and radios must be assigned a type This definition is described further in Sections 8 1 and 8 2 7 4 Groups and Frequency Groups The sets of radios which may transmit receive RF to from each other are termed a group All radios must be members of exactly one group Radios which are not part of the same group do not experience each other s RF via the system s hardware ports and
63. ating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 27 Platforms Groups 3 In the Group Configuration window double click on a field in the Radio column to assign radio to port Only select the radios that should be a part of this particular group The frequency can be edited in this dialog to use a different RE frequency than that configured for the radio type Changes in this dialog will automatically populate the tree on the left side under Channel Models with one or more frequency groups Repeat the following steps for each frequency group General Radios Radios Channel Models a 2 Add remove or change the frequency of a radio within this group Radios can be added by Calibration double clicking the radio column of the desired port 2 462GHz Port Radio Frequency Calibration 5 210GHz 0 2 462GHz Calibration l 1 2 462GHz 2 462GHz 2 462GHz 2 462GHz 5 210GHz 5 210GHz 8 8 9 9 10 10 1 19 12 12 13 13 14 14 Note Ifusing the A Series radios could be set to any frequency within the specifications The standard version is 1 8GHz to 2 8GHz with best performance achieved from 1 8GHz to 2 5GHz The frequency in this dialog is not applicable to the A Series 4 For each link sub type air to air air to ground ground to ground a Set the model from the Channel Model Name drop down menu for each type of communica tions b D Series Only Clic
64. ay to trigger replaying of a signal by selecting the appropriate Mode radio button 5 Select Start or Stop radio button from the Action field to start or stop the record or replay event 6 Select type of signal to record from the Sub Type radio buttons Port and Noise e When Port is selected the signal incoming on that port will be recorded e When Noise is selected only the background noise and not the incoming signal on the port will be recorded 7 Set record or replay length in the Length field or check the max checkbox to set the record replay time to maximum 8 Select the condition to trigger record replay by selecting one of the Trigger Conditions Immediate Transmit or Receive Page 66 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 67 e If Transmit or Receive trigger condition is chosen select the radio that would trigger record replay from the appropriate drop down menu 9 Set replay delay in seconds from in the Replay Delay field 10 Set the path and filename to save the recording in the Filename field e Warning Certain RF signals may be considered sensitive information and should not be stored on the RFnest GUI platform 11 Click OK to save or Cancel to cancel the event 11 2 3 Create Position Antenn
65. ble otherwise the test will take approximately 20 minutes PER PORT Before or after running the test use a signal generator and spectrum analyzer to measure the gain of each port of the 8 port splitter and the attached cables for each frequency 120 MHz 300 MHz 500 Mhz 5900 MHz These gains should be placed into the signals tests rx_chain_offsets csv file where the first column is the frequency the second is the gain for port 1 on the splitter the third for port 2 etc Ensure that the gain difference between the signal generator s configured power and the measured port on the spectrum analyzer and not the output power is entered The gains should all be negative To run the test disconnect all radios from the Rx and Tx connectors on all ports on each DDB Connect the Tx connector on port 0 to the S port on the splitter and the Rx connectors on ports 0 to 7 to the output ports of the splitter Delete or rename the file logs test_results txt so only the current results will be in this file at the end of the test Replace the signals tests insertion_gain_bit csv file with the signals tests insertion_gains_blank csv file Next load the test24_rf xml scenario and press the Initialize button in RFview The test can now be selected from the Self Test dialog The port range entered should cover the ports being tested Entering start port 0 and end port 7 After the test completes move the output cables on the splitter to the Rx c
66. by the resource profile The i and q values are from 0 to 1 Example file note file length must be a multiple of 256 i e this example is too short and is only to demon strate the per line format Page 88 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 89 1 000000 0 000000 0 809015 0 587786 0 309030 0 951048 0 309030 0 951048 0 60901570 537 786 1 000000 0 000000 U 6090150537 1816 0 309030 0 951048 0 309030 0 951048 0809015 0 587786 Below is an example of Matlab code to generate a recording file of a 16QAM signal for replay in RFnest This file generates 16QAM samples with sampling rate of 250 Ms s and symbol rate of 10Ms s clear Here we set the sampling frequency fs 250e6 Here we set the symbol rate Forexample if the modulation order is 2 and symbol rate is 10Ms s then the bit rate is 10 Mb s fss 10e6 Center frequency after of the QAM signal in RFnest baseband BW of 100 to 100 MHz fc 50e6 N is the total number of samples generated N 256000 Here we set the sample time and the number of symbols for QAM symbols Please note that this is before upsampling done after rcosine filtering Ts 0 1 fs 1 fs N 1 Modulation_order 16 Here we set the modulation order to be QAM rrcos_pulse_shaping rcosine fss fs sqrt 5 pulse_shape_length length rrcos_pulse_shaping SER
67. cache project page To cache map data for Melbourne FL Windows users should run rfnest mapcache bat 80 739288 28 231339 80 540848 27 976346 To cache map data for Melbourne FL Linux users should run r nest mapcache sh 80 739288 28 231339 80 540848 27 976346 6 6 Generating Tactical Graphics for use in RFview RFview comes prepackaged with a small set of MIL STD 2525 tactical graphics Users can generate their own tactical graphics via the shell script rfnest milstd2525 update bat on Windows and rf nest milstd2525 update sh on Linux and Mac OS X It simply requires an active Internet connec tion a valid SIDC Code and an output file name Consult the MIL STD 2525C specification for individual SIDC codes Under the hood this process is powered by NASA WorldWind To create MIL STD 2525 tactical graphic using the SIDC Code SFAPMEF xx x xx Windows users should rfnest milstd2525 update bat SFAPMEF x Fighter To create MIL STD 2525 tactical graphic using the SIDC Code SFAPMFF x x xxx Linux users should Page 10 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 6 Optional Configuration Page 11 rfnest milstda2525 update sh SFAPMEF xxx xx Fighter 6 7 Additional CEC Standard Mode Parameters The following parameters control the CEC in normal operation analog if value on CEC is operating in analog mode Itis important
68. cally a Set Delay Profile API message is sent directly to the hardware A DCU Notification is also sent to the CEC which in turn sends a Matrix API message to the RFnest hardware to complete the channel update The link s properties are also updated on the map if the link quality overlay is enabled The parameters for the currently selected link in the Channel Properties Editor and Channel Impulse Response widget are also updated Note that it is recommended to specify an update link command no more than once per second per plat form although for small scenarios this can generally be increased if the software is running on a capable system When an update link command is imported for a given link that link is placed into external mode In this mode the link can only be modified by the imported update link commands Editing by the user and calculation by the CEC and any models including antenna patterns is disabled Itis assumed the complete modeling of that link has been taken over by the scenario script file This behavior applies on a per link basis To remove a link from external mode re import a scenario script file with no update link commands for that link or re create the scenario The main fields apply the specified gain delay and Doppler to all taps in addition to the tap s own values The user may choose to not specify the main fields by setting them to 0 Note that if the user prefers to specify a single tap reflector
69. ceeds 0 dBm and exceeds that of the second signal generator The AGC reacts to this by adjusting down to keep all input signals at or below 0 dBm As the first signal generator s transmit power continues to be increased the AGC continues to decrease until at time 65 when the first signal generator s transmit power stays fixed at the current level From times 65 to time 80 the AGC maintains the first signal generator s input signal level at 0 dBm Observe that during this time period the relative difference between the input signal levels of the two signal generators is higher than it was originally from time 0 to 10 Again the AGC cannot take any action to improve the relative different in signal levels the relative difference is dictated by the user s initial input gain settings and by the relative changes in the transmit power during the scenario From time 80 to 90 the first signal generator s input signal level increases further to the point that even at the minimum correct value the AGC cannot maintain the signal below 3 dBm the safety threshold and also a point where noise due to saturation is occurring The AGC therefore moves below the minimum value and continues to stay below even when the input signal level becomes zero since a move back to the minimum would cause the input signal level to exceed 3 dBm 11 4 4 AGC Alerts and Logging The AGC behavior is logged and has the ability to alert the user when the AGC goes out o
70. d on the moved platform and the radios of all other platforms will be recalculated au tomatically unless the link is in external mode due to the presence of an update link command for that link When the update platform command is used to move a platform during execution of the scenario the platform will no longer attempt to traverse any predefined route that may have been specified Note that it is recommended to specify an update platform command no more than once per second per platform although for small scenarios this can generally be increased if the software is running on a capable system 11 10 4 Update Link The update link command is used to change a link s parameters over time The format for this command is lt time gt update link lt radiol name gt lt radio2 name gt lt tap count gt lt main amplitude gt lt main doppler shift gt lt main doppler spread gt lt main delay gt lt tapl control gt lt tapl amplitude gt lt tapl phase gt lt tapl doppler gt lt tapl delay gt oe lt tapn control gt lt tapn amplitude gt lt tapn phase gt lt tapn doppler gt lt tapn delay gt Note that command must appear as a single line in the file e lt time gt the time in seconds greater than or equal to zero A decimal number may be provided however the precision is dependent on network and processing delays within software Page 91 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2
71. dbox Y b oM mhix v 00 600 s New Open Save Ports Radio Types Platform Types Charts Signal Tool Group0 0 O Live Monitoring 8 Record Replay O Auto Level Sub Type Port O Noise Capture Path 8 Radio Tx Radio Rx Length Y max 256 Trigger Condition 8 Immediate Transmit O Receive C Users Justin Desktop work rfnest workbench rfnest workbench signal_0001 csv U o 500 1 000 1 500 2 000 2 500 3 000 3 500 4 000 4 500 5 000 2 385 2 390 2 395 2 400 2 405 2 410 2 415 MHz Y Update Charts in Real time al Startinjecting StopReplay Stop Recording ceso DDR DDR Dez noez DDB4 DDBS PAUSED Page 50 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 9 Attaching Verifying Calibrating and Operating Radios in the System Page 51 e The Auto Level option assists the user in automatically determining and calibrating the best input gain setting for each port Before starting select an estimated starting Input Gain for the current port via the Port Status tab Next ensure the radio is transmitting at least once per second Finally press the Auto Level button The success or failure of auto leveling will be displayed If the initial starting Input Gain is significantly off the signal is too weak or too strong to effectively sample or the
72. de O Auto Manual Radio 1 0 1 Radio 2 1 2 Channel Condition basic NS Gain 68 dB 100 75 50 25 0 q Doppler Shift 0 kHz 200 100 0 100 200 E Doppler Spre 0 Hz 0 50 100 150 200 q Delay 100 ms 0 25 50 79 100 Statistical multi ray profile Sample Profile v 4 Set the mode radio button to Manual e In Auto mode the tab will show the channel conditions calculated by the software model e In Manual mode the user can set custom values for channel properties and the model calcula tions will be ignored 5 Set desired gain by moving the Gain slider or typing a number in the provided field 6 Set desired doppler shift by moving the Doppler Shift slider or typing a number in the provided field Note this field is only present if supported by the current RFnest hardware 7 Set desired doppler spread by moving the Doppler Spread slider or typing a number in the provided field Note this field is only present if supported by the current RFnest hardware 8 Set desired delay by moving the Delay slider or typing a number in the provided field Note this field is only present if supported by the current RFnest hardware 9 Set statistical multi ray profile by selecting one from the Statistical multi ray profile drop down menu Note this field is only present if supported by the current RFnest hardware NOTE Be sure
73. differ significantly the TPO may be incorrectly set or the radio may be misreporting the RSSI NOTE The gain to use for drawing the links on the map must be chosen and enabled by the user This is done in the Link Quality Overlay If in doubt enable the display of the Expected gains Tuning these tools is done via the Gain vs Distance Overlay s configuration widget Select the Gain vs Distance Overlay in the overlay list select a platform select a radio within the platform and then click on the Edit button Pressing Edit allows all sub types to be edited so selecting one in advance is not needed Now enter the signal levels above which the link is considered to be good green fair yellow and poor red Note that the colors in parenthesis are used by default and can be changed via the Link Quality Overlay s configuration widget Any link below the poor threshold is considered broken and is not drawn on the map Page 58 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 10 Basic Monitoring and Data Collection Page 59 If the signal level thresholds at which the link becomes good fair and poor are not known they must be selected by the user The definition of good fair and poor are themselves up to the interpretation of the user based on the scenario For example a link may be considered good if it allows the maximum data rate with no loss Alternatively good may be considered to be the threshold at
74. e CEC the user can use the channel properties view to manually set the values of one or more channels Unused channels by default are set to full attenuation by RFview There could be unexpected behavior if all channels are set to zero attenuation when using the A Series as leakage might occur across the internal RF splitters For best performance unused channels should be set to a minimum of 15 to 20 dB attenuation in the A Series To control the scenario in a more flexible way the following approaches can be used 1 Use RFview s import function to import a time varying scenario described in a file This function is flexible and allows creation of detailed scenarios with no user code development or manual packet creation required RFview defines a scenario script file format which allows for initial import of the platforms and radios as well as time varying definition of platform positions and or channel parameters See Section 11 10 for more details RFview also allows time varying platform positions to be imported in AWSIM format See Section 11 11 for more details 2 Send RFnest Position Updates or EMANE Position Updates via another tool such as CORE Common Open Research Emulator or various other EMANE compatible tools The chan nel values are then updated via the CEC as the nodes move 3 The CEC s default channel calculation thread can be disabled by setting basicmodel to off in cec xml and an alternate implementation that
75. e to receive location information sent from EMANE and calculate pathloss based on EMANE locations 11 7 Event Deck EventDeckExporter is a command line utility provided by RFview that converts the contents of the event logs and prints them to the standard out This is a useful tool for exporting data for other tools e g to graph data detailed manual analysis and for debugging scenarios that contain a large number Platforms and Radios 11 7 1 EventDeckExporter Usage To start the EventDeckExporter execute the companion script rfview eventexporter This application takes one command line argument pointing to the directory containing the recorded events The application is specifically looking for two files within this directory event_deck idx and event_deck records which contain the event index of the recording and the events of the recording respectively Page 79 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 80 The RFview workbench automatically maintains a registry of scenario recordings in the scenario s output directory The name of the directory is based on the name of the scenario For example if the scenario is named testScenario the scenario s XML file name will be test Scenario xml and the scenario s output directory is test Scenario_output Under the output directory there will be a subdirectory for each scenario recording starti
76. ected if radios are connected to the system or a high degree of ambient RF noise is present in the environment 12 7 Running the ADC Noise Test This is a RF only test which verifies the RE signal received on each Rx port does not have excessive noise This may occur if the port is defective the system clocks have not synchronized correctly or the ambient temperature is too high If the noise at the ADC of a port is too high then the SNR of the signal may be too low to allow the signal to be correctly received by other radios connected to the system This test takes about 5 minutes to execute All ports within the specified range are tested To run the test disconnect all radios from the Rx and Tx connectors on all ports on each DDB Connect a loopback RF cable to each port or place a 50 Ohm terminator on the Rx connector of each port Next load the test24_rf xml scenario and press the Initialize button in RFview The test can now be selected from the Self Test dialog The port range entered should cover the ports being tested Entering start port 0 and end port 23 will test 24 channels in a 24 node module and is the normal case 12 7 1 Handling Failure This test will fail for the same reasons as the CV Doppler test if RE cables are incorrectly connected if radios are connected to the system or a high degree of ambient RE noise is present in the environment or the port which failed is defective Page 98 RFnest User Gu
77. ected primarily by the output attenuation setting and the system s automatic calibration adjustments A higher less negative output attenuation setting will increase the Max AGC while a lower output attenuation will decrease the Max AGC The frequency the system is operating at also has a small impact on limiting this value e Min AGC is the minimum value that the Current AGC value can be increased to while main taining correct operation The Min AGC is affected by the output attenuation the variation in the input gains and to a lesser extent the system calibration for the operating frequency The output attenuation setting has the same impact on Min AGC as on Max AGC A higher output attenuation setting increases the Min AGC while a lower setting decreases the Min AGC Page 73 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 74 10 If an error or warning icon is shown in the dialog the AGC settings are not suitable for the AGC to operate correctly Generally this occurs because the Max is lower than the Min 11 If the Current Max or Min AGC values are unsatisfactory take steps to change them e Generally the output attenuation slider should be set to 10 dB when AGC is in use This change will allow the Max AGC value to increase and usually resolve most problems This setting pro vides the system with some room to handle slightly higher input signals than are c
78. eing not optimally digitized there is a risk of thermal damage to the hardware 3 The AGC assumes the user has set the initial input gains correctly for all ports If no port is set such that the input signal level is at or near the Desired Auto Level Power typically 0 dBm the AGC will trigger a sudden jump in the input gains at the start of the scenario While 0 dBm is strongly preferred since it indicated optimal digitization of the RF signal if 0 dBm is not achievable for some reason decrease the Desired Auto Level Power to prevent AGC misbehavior 4 If some ports generate an input signal near the Desired Auto Level Power but others generate a much lower signal the AGC cannot improve this situation In cases where the transmit power of the radios on these ports is fixed this is a configuration error i e the input gain or external attenuation should be adjusted prior to the start of the scenario such that all ports achieve an input signal level close to the Desired Auto Level Power In other cases one radio may change its transmit power to be higher while another may change its power to be lower In this case the AGC must act on the higher transmit power causing the more weakly transmitting radio s RF to be sub optimally digitized Essentially the AGC will never act in a way that will make the input signal levels of the ports within a frequency group closer to each other The AGC only adjusts all levels up and down and moves the levels of
79. entifier of the CEB for the event Required Ddb Contains the identifier of the DDB of the CEB for the event Required Port Indicates the port of the CEB for the event Required LastTx The last transmit time Required LastRx The last receive time Required SignalStrength oo pe oo reported by the hardware add 26 to get the value Required Frequency The frequency Required Example Output 000001 000 Type SSUEvent Ceb 0 Ddb 0 Port 0 LastTx 0 LastRx 0 SignalStrength 20 Frequency 2400 000001 000 Type SSUEvent Ceb 0 Ddb 0 Port 1 LastTx 100 LastRx 499 SignalStrength 19 Frequency 2401 000001 000 Type SSUEvent Ceb 0 Ddb 0 Port 2 LastTx 200 LastEx 998 SignalStrength 18 Frequency 2402 000001 000 Type SSUEvent Ceb 0 Ddb 0 Port 3 LastTx 300 LastRx 1497 SignalStrength 17 Frequency 2403 000002 000 Type SSUEvent Ceb 0 Ddb 1 Port 4 LastTx 0 LastRx 0 SignalStrength 20 Frequency 2400 000002 000 Type SSUEvent Ceb 0 Ddb 1 Port 5 LastTx 100 LastRx 499 SignalStrength 19 Frequency 2401 000002 000 Type SSUEvent Ceb 0 Ddb 1 Port 6 LastTx 200 LastRx 998 SignalStrength 18 Frequency 2402 000002 000 Type SSUEvent Ceb 0 Ddb 1 Port 7 LastTx 300 LastRx 1497 SignalStrength 17 Frequency 2403 Swimlane events are logged to the event deck for each Swimlane sample point received by the RFview workbench A single Swimlane message received by the workbench consists
80. environment 103 14 Troubleshooting FAQ 104 14 1 Select Resource Profile prompt appears or RFview does not communicate with the hardware 104 14 2 CEC intermeal model test o no reaa nrk a Behe a a a eaa k 104 LES Wieser Pluen our a A eh ee bod A A 105 15 Acronyms 105 Page v RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 2 Prerequisites Page 1 1 Introduction This manual describes the setup and operation of the RFnest hardware and software The primary user interface RFview Software the Channel Emulation Controller CEC the RFnest hardware and their as sociated capabilities are detailed in this document Note Throughout this document the convention used is to describe meaning and options of the widgets and software components that pertain to a particular section of the manual if they have not already been described under the first sub section of that section followed by more detailed recommendations and uses in subsequent sub sections Since RFnest is a complex system the user should read and understand the majority of this document before expecting to use the system successfully For detailed information on RFnest APIs please refer to the RFnest API document The documentation of CORE and EMANE can also be found from NRL s website currently at EMANE User s Guide http downloads pf itd nrl navy mil docs emane emane pdf CORE User s Guide http downloads pf itd nrl navy mil docs core core_man
81. est User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 64 background noise The difference between the two is that a point source emitter is a signal generated from a particular location and travels through the channels defined by a radio platform s location in the scenario while the level of a background noise signal bypasses the channels and instead uses only a configurable on a per port basis 11 1 1 Point Source Emitters To add a point source emitter configure a platform and radio exactly as if a real radio at the desired fre quency was being attached Assign the new radio to a port via the Group Configuration dialog Note that the new radio must be configured in this dialog to have a RF frequency equal to that of at least one other existing radio otherwise the new radio will be a member of its own frequency group and thus no signal will go through the channels Position the emitter s platform in the environment and if desired define the mobility of the platform The emitter s channels to other radios in the same frequency group will be calculated automatically Use the Signal Tool to select the emitter s radio Select Record Replay mode Select the port sub type Click on the load button to load a previously saved or custom generated e g in Matlab signal file Press the Start Injecting button The loaded signal will now be played exactly as if the sign
82. et jack on the front of the unit on the lowest board CEB Ethernet must also be connected to the rear connector for each DDB A D512 system should have a total of 4 Ethernet connections one to the front connector of the CEB and 3 to the rear connector of the DDBs Note that if firmware revision 1 is being used i e RFview 2 11 the rear Ethernet connector on the CEB is no longer functional and the Ethernet cable must be switched to the front left CEB connector The PC s running the CEC and RFview must be directly connected to this switch as well The PC s running CORE EMANE and any other data collection tools must be connected to this switch or have appropriate unicast and multicast routing setup to enable them to get data Power The system must be connected to a 110v outlet capable of supplying 5A per 24 node module present in the system in addition to any power load caused by other components PCs radios frequency convert ers etc RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 5 Starting the System Page 6 USB optional If a firmware upgrade is provided connect a micro USB connector to the JTAG port on the boards receiving the new firmware The JTAG port is on the front for the CEB and the rear for each DDB Be EXTREMELY careful to orient the micro USB plug correctly Forcing it in while oriented incorrectly will damage the board In general the USB connector should NOT be used except while an up
83. ever a loopback cable can be present on each port and will not affect the test Next load the test24 xml scenario and press the Initialize button in REview The test can now be selected from the Self Test dialog The port range entered should cover the channels being tested Entering start port 0 and end port 23 will test all 552 channels in a 24 node module and is the normal case The test verifies the channels in both directions 12 4 1 Handling Failure This test will fail for the same reasons as the CV Doppler test The test may also fail in rare cases if a RF port is not attached to a loopback cable or terminated i e is left open to the air and an ambient RF signal is picked up by that port In general since this test is extremely sensitive if the test fails it is recommended to re run the test 12 5 Running the Dynamic Range Test This is a digital only test which verifies the ability of the system to apply a gain i e pathloss to each channel This test takes about 5 minutes to execute in a 24 node system This test verifies that a 60 dB digital dynamic range is present in the system A subset of channels are verified specifically the channel from each port within the defined range to the next port in the defined range For the last port the channel to the previous port is used To run the test disconnect all radios from the Rx and Tx connectors on all ports on each DDB No RF cables need to be connected as this test
84. f bounds At each decision point an Automatic Gain Control Event 11 7 2 7 is logged to the event deck containing the Current Min and Max AGC values for each frequency group where AGC is enabled This data can be used combined with Signal Status Update Events 11 7 2 8 to analyze system behavior in more detail If configured the system generates an Automatic Gain Control Out of Range alert for each offending port causing the AGC to be within a tolerance of the Min and Max AGC See Section 9 3 4 for details 11 4 5 AGC Caveats The following caveats may be encountered in certain situations when using the AGC 1 The AGC does not fix the situation where too strong or too weak of an input signal level is input into the system The input signal strength per the specifications should be between 20 dBm and 40 dBm The AGC can adjust signals at or near this strength butis designed to handle radios that change their transmit power dynamically within this range not that operate outside this range If the signal levels are too high or too low external attenuation must be added or removed 2 The AGC does not protect the system from strong input levels If a very strong signal level is input Page 76 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 77 to the system i e 0 dBm or higher the AGC can only reduce the signal level by 10 dB In addition to the signal b
85. f value on log distance model is used to calculate pathloss hatamodelurban if value on hata model for urban communication is used to calculate pathloss hatamodelsuburban if value on hata model for suburban communication is used to calculate pathloss hatamodelrural if value on hata model for rural communication is used to calculate pathloss hatapcsurban if value on hata PCS model for urban communication is used to calculate pathloss hatapcssuburban if value on hata PCS model for suburban communication is used to calculate pathloss fadingmodel if value on fading is applied to gain pathloss values freespacewaveelength wavelength used by free space model in test mode only e g 0 125 for 2 4 GHz logdistpathlossexponent exponent used by log distance model in test mode Page 11 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 6 Basic Concepts Page 12 hatafrequency frequency used by hata models in test mode dopplerincrement this is a doppler correction factor used during normal operation antennapattern if value on sets CEC to use antenna pattern profile for radios antennaprofile value is path to an antenna pattern file used for testing manual_control if value on the CEC uses the number_of_nodes parameter rather than RFview provided messages number_of_nodes the number of nodes in the RFnest hardware only applies if manual_control on 6 9 CEC Eventdaemon xml Configuration The eventdaemo
86. fDataEvent Port 20862 DataPoint 875 0 000046 740 Type PerfDataEvent Port 20863 DataPoint 975 0 000046 792 Type PerfDataEvent Port 20862 DataPoint 876 0 000046 792 Type PerfDataEvent Port 20863 DataPoint 976 0 An Automatic Gain Control Event is logged to the event deck each time an AGC decision point is reached even if the AGC remains the same after the decision Contents Name Description Type Always AutomaticGainControlEvent Required Ceb Id Contains the identifier of the CEB for the event Required Frequency Contains the frequency in MHz of the frequency group Required Adjustment Indicates the current AGC value Required Min The minimum value the AGC may choose without impacting correctness Required Max The maximum value the AGC may choose without impacting correctness Required Example Output 0007 0 Type AutomaticGainControlEvent Ceb Id 0 Frequency 2400 Adjustment 17 Min 13 Max 38 0010 0 Type AutomaticGainControlEvent Ceb Id 0 Frequency 2400 Adjustment 16 Min 13 Max gt 38 4 signal status update events are logged to the event deck for each signal status update message received from the hardware Contents Page 83 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 84 Name Description Type Always SSUEvent Required Ceb Contains the id
87. for 1 second and then disappear unless another update is sent before then 11 Ifa route update is sent for the same source node and protocol number but a different destination the existing arrow will be immediately replaced with a new arrow pointing to the new destination 10 2 2 Usage in a Scenario As an example arrows can be drawn in real time to show the path that packets are taking between two nodes To configure click on the routing legend in the upper right corner of the map This menu allows the name color and other properties for each protocol to be defined and for protocols to be added deleted The format for these updates is described in the RFnest API document where the protocol specified in the updates corresponds to the index e g 0 1 2 3 etc and their properties as configured by the user Note that the arrows are automatically removed after a period of time unless additional updates are sent to prevent them from expiring This expiration prevents the process generating the messages sent to RFview from having to maintain complicated state Page 61 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 10 Basic Monitoring and Data Collection Page 62 sOy e E Timbenale e Danville 360 1 rala A e qe L Yanceyville Leasburg 10 3 Real time Graphs Real time metrics such as the throughput between two nodes can be recorded and displayed by RF
88. ge 8 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 6 Optional Configuration Page 9 To build run the unit tests generate the Javadocs and generate the code quality reports type the following command ant all 3 Generate Sources The RFnest Core Module contains an auto generated XML parser which needs to be manually gener ated whenever the object model is modified To generate source files type the following command ant generdee sournces 6 2 Optional Impact and Driver Installation if needed If the RFnest hardware does not automatically display a green light at each board in the system approx imately 30 seconds after being powered on this section applies For nearly all systems the green lights come on automatically and this section can be skipped If a firmware upgrade was provided Lab Tools must be installed in order to perform the upgrade For RFnest hardware which must be loaded via USB Xilinx Lab Tools must be installed to allow program ming of the FPGAs via USB These tools along with installation for Windows and Linux are available from Xilinx 6 3 RFview Configuration RFview has several configuration files Sensible defaults are provided for most situations rfview properties is used to define the Java System properties of the RFview application The contents of this file are loaded into the System Properties as the first line of the Main Program This file
89. generator s port This is because the AGC moves all input signal levels up down in unison to preserve channel correctness Increasing the AGC to improve these input signal levels would raise the first signal generator s input signal level above 0 dBm At approximately time 14 the first signal generator s transmit power is decreased The AGC detects this after approximately time 17 and increases the gains of all 3 ports by approximately 5 dB This causes the input signal levels to jump up by approximately 5 dB At this point the input signal level of the first signal generator is approximately 0 dBm and the second signal generator s input signal level has increased to approximately 5 dBm This increase in the second signal generator s input signal level is an indirect result of the AGC attempting to keep the highest input signal Page 75 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 76 level of all ports at 0 dBm which caused the input signal levels of all ports to be increased The direct cause for the two input signal levels becoming closer together is that the first signal generator s input signal level became lower closer to the second s not because of the AGC From time 17 to time 30 the AGC continues to increase as the first signal generator s transmit power is decreased further It is somewhat counterintuitive that the input signal level continues t
90. gnal is too high the input gain is decreased and the output gain is increased The parameters of individual channels are unchanged In fact the end result of a properly configured AGC is that no AGC related behavior is observable in the output RF signals It is important to understand that the user will not observe significant changes in the output power level as a result of AGC The changes to the input gain serve only to improve the digitization of the signal and the changes to the output gain offset any power level impacts The net result of the AGC is a less noisy but otherwise identical output signal AGC adjusts all ports within a given frequency group simultaneously Every second the AGC receives measurements of the input signal level Using the data collected during 3 to 5 seconds the AGC compares these values against the Desired Auto Level Power typically 0 dBm for the frequency group and makes a decision whether to make any adjustments If the any port s input power level exceeds the Desired Auto Level Power the input gains of all ports in the frequency group are decreased If no port s input power level reaches this level the input gains of all ports in the frequency group are increased Again offsetting changes to the output gains are simultaneously applied Essentially the goal of the AGC is to attempt to maintain the highest input level of any port in the frequency group at the Desired Auto Level Power When the scenario starts
91. gnificantly different temperature than factory calibration is performed 70F after a significant amount of time has passed or the calibration is found to be incorrect To recalibrate the system 1 Run the Rx Chain Test in calibrate mode Run the RFDB Loopback Test in calibrate mode The log file can now be processed to create the calibration file pr PA Create the BIT calibration file as follows assuming the command is run from the signals tests directory path to update_insertion_gain awk insertion_gain_bit csv logs test_results txt gt insertion_gain_bit csv new mv insertion_gain_bit csv new insertion_gain_bit csv 5 Create the calibration file for normal use as follows again assuming the command is run from signals tests insertion_gain csv path to remove_splitter_from_rx_chain_calib awk insertion_gain_bit csv rx_chain_offsets csv gt The Rx Chain Test and RFDB Loopback Test should now be re run in Verify Mode It is not necessary to re start RFview Page 102 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 13 Externally Controlling the RF environment Page 103 12 14 1 How the calibration is used The calibration is used in two places First the frequency response of the Tx chain gain is compensated for in the Transmit Power Offset calculation in the Calibration section of the Group Configuration dialog on a per frequency group basis
92. grade is taking place and should be disconnected after the upgrade process completes 5 3 Resource Profiles D Series Only The following resource profiles are available by default Others are possible The resource profile must be selected and loaded before a scenario is created and the hardware is used A scenario created using one resource profile is incompatible with another resource profile ID Chassis Bore m R das sid a Doppler Hz Doppler 9 Hz Hz I amp Q ps oppler Leng esolution cremen 1 Large 12 250 4 No 256000 0 465661287 0 058207661 2 Large 24 31 25 20 No 256000 0 465661287 0 007275958 3 Large 8 250 No 256000 0 465661287 0 058207661 4 Smal 12 312 5 4 Yes 64000 0 291038305 0 072759576 5 Small 12 250 Yes 256000 0 465661287 0 058207661 6 Smal 12 125 Yes 256000 0 465661287 0 02910383 7 Small 12 62 5 13 Yes 256000 0 465661287 0 014551915 Time Per Sais Maximum ID Resolution es Meigen Lens channel EE Per tap ns elay Delay ns Delay es Delay ns elay ns 1 4 No n a No n a 4 000 2 32 Yes 2 000 000 000 No n a 32 000 3 No n a No n a 4 000 4 132 No n a Yes 25 600 3 200 5 No n a Yes 32 000 4 000 6 No n a Yes 360 000 8 000 7 16 No n a Yes 720 000 16 000 1 The Doppler resolution is the precision with which the value is controllable whether via RFview or via the A
93. h component of the desired orientation for the Optional platform P PlatformYaw Indicates the yaw component of the desired orientation for the Optional platform P RadioRoll s the roll component of the desired orientation for the Optional RadioPitch de the pitch component of the desired orientation for the Optional RadioYaw he ai the yaw component of the desired orientation for the Optional AutoTrackPlatformName If auto track is enabled it indicates the name of the platform Optional that the event is auto tracking to Example Output 000001 000 Type GeometryChangeRequest PlatformId PLATFORM 000001448e73b72a PlatformName AirVehiclel PlatformLatitude 1 0 PlatformLongitude 1 0 000002 000 Type GeometryChangeRequest PlatformId PLATFORM 000001448e73b72a PlatformName AirVehiclel PlatformLatitude 1 0 PlatformLongitude 1 0 PlatformAltitude 100 0 000003 000 Type GeometryChangeRequest PlatformId PLATFORM 000001448e73b72a PlatformName AirVehiclel PlatformRoll 1 0 PlatformPitch 1 0 PlatformYaw 1 0 000003 000 Type GeometryChangeRequest PlatformId PLATFORM 000001448e73b72a PlatformName AirVehicle 000004 000 Type GeometryChangeRequest Radiold Radiol RadioName Radiol RadioRoll 0 0 RadioPitch 0 0 RadioYaw 0 0 AutoTrackPlatformName AirVehicle2 Page 86 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 87 000004 000 T
94. he desired setting Page 9 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 6 Optional Configuration Page 10 This file contains the system properties for the RFview application The default map configuration is com iai rfview baseMap source openstreet com iai rfview baseMap type street For Bing Street maps com iai rfview baseMap source virtualearth com iai rfview baseMap type street For Bing Satellite com iai rfview baseMap source virtualearth com iai rfview baseMap type satellite For Bing Terrain com iai rfview baseMap source virtualearth com iai rfview baseMap type terrain This line is required to correctly configure Java on dual IPv4 IPv6 stack PCs java net preferIPv4Stack true The default base map property can also be assigned at compile time This is useful for generating distribu tions that are automatically configured to use specific alternate map sources cd utilities ant clean build all DbaseMap source lt source gt DbaseMap type lt type gt 6 5 Pre caching RFview Map Data The shell script rfnest mapcache bat on Windows and rfnest mapcache sh on Linux and Mac OS X are used to precache map data for the base map of the RFview workbench It requires four command line arguments specifying the geographic region where data should be acquired The script is powered by QuickMaps Cache Downloader For more details consult the com iai quickmaps tiles
95. he gain specified in the scenario e g based on node positions 70 50 20 dB will be used as the channel gain to be digitally applied The result will be that the receiving radio will receive a signal that is 70 dB weaker than the radio s operational transmit power 0 dBm ADC input power 20 dB digital channel gain 5 dB frequency calibration 20 dB external attenuator 45 dBm while the radio operationally transmits at 25 dBm In other words 50 dB of the desired loss has already been applied when the scenario was created and radios were attached leaving only 20 dB left for the system to digitally apply to reach the 70 dB gain dictated by the scenario This method is more correct from a scenario standpoint but may create a dynamic range which never breaks the links between radios If this occurs increase the output gain setting until isolation is achieved as described in the next sub section 9 7 Verifying Radio Operation and Isolation Once the radios are attached and the system is configured via the instructions in the previous sub sections the operation and isolation of the radios must be verified This step verifies that when two radios have a very strong link they can communicate while when they have a very weak link they cannot This step requires two radios to be present since the step involves verifying that one radio can and can t transmit to another via the system 9 7 1 Verifying Radio Operation
96. he user to configure how or if certain data is displayed on RFview The user can use this menu to select and deselect platform information for display while the scenario is running 1 Select Platforms Overlay from the Overlays tab Page 31 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 32 Overlays Route Editor K Packet Routing Overlay s Platforms Overlay K Gain and Distance K Waypoint Overlay K Platform Routes Overlay K Link Quality Overlay Platforms Overlay Display platform names Display antenna direction indicators Display platform heading _ Display virtual radio indicator Display team colors 2 Checking or unchecking Display platform names checkbox will show or hide platform names on the map 3 Checking or unchecking Display antenna direction indicators will show or hide radio antenna direc tion arrows on the map 4 Checking or unchecking Display platform heading will show or hide platform orientation on the map 5 Checking or unchecking Display virtual radio indicator will show or hide the virtual radio icon on the map 6 Checking or unchecking Display team colors will show or hide the fill color around the platforms Note that the team color for each platform is configured in the Route Editor tab 8 8 Gain vs Distance Overlay The
97. ics Page 82 Remove Packet Route Events are logged to the event deck each time the user deletes a packet route during execution of the scenario This is an internal event used for book keeping Contents Name Description Type Always RemovePacketRouteEvent Required Contains the identifier of the packet route This is an internally property id of the REview workbench used for book keeping Requires Example Output 000046 208 Type RemovePacketRouteEvent PacketRouteld 308 000046 209 Type RemovePacketRouteEvent PacketRouteld 309 000046 209 Type RemovePacketRouteEvent PacketRouteld 310 000046 210 Type RemovePacketRouteEvent PacketRouteld 311 000046 211 Type RemovePacketRouteEvent PacketRouteld 312 000046 211 Type RemovePacketRouteEvent PacketRouteld 314 000046 211 Type RemovePacketRouteEvent PacketRouteld 313 000046 213 Type RemovePacketRouteEvent PacketRouteld 315 DCU Notification Type A events are logged to the event deck each time the CEC issues a channel updated for a particular link Contents Name Description Type Always DCUANotificationEvent Required SourceRadio Contains the port number of the source radio of the link Required DestinationRadio Contains the port number of the destination radio of the link Required AverageLoss Contains the average loss of the link Required DopplerShift Contains the doppler shift of the link Required
98. ide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 12 Built in test Self test and RF Chain Calibration D Series Only Page 99 12 8 Manually Testing the System Noise Floor Using a Spectrum Analyzer This is a RF only test which verifies the system can generate a very weak output signal In other words that the system can cleanly weaken a signal starting from a good SNR to a signal which is well below the receive sensitivity of the radio This test takes about 5 minutes to execute is completely manual and requires a spectrum analyzer with the desired sensitivity To run the test disconnect all radios from the system Connect the Tx connector of one port to a spectrum analyzer via an RF cable Create a scenario where the port being tested is assigned a radio at the desired frequency The test24 xml scenario is pre setup for testing any port at 2 4 GHz Initialize the scenario Using the Port Status widget set the output gain of the port to 20 and the noise gain to 0 Using the Signal Tool replay a very narrow tone e g the provided 3MHz tone file on the noise path with an immediate trigger condition for the DDB in which the port under test resides Locate the signal in the spectrum analyzer Lower the span and amplitude of the spectrum analyzer as much as possible while keeping the signal centered Using the Port Status widget lower the output gain or noise gain in 10 dB increments then lower the span amplitude of the spectrum
99. ill re calculate all of the AGC values for display to the user The AGC will automatically recalculate these values for its own use even if this is dialog is not opened 12 Re initialize the system This will apply any settings changed in the Group Configuration dialog The system can now be run with AGC 11 4 2 AGC Monitor Under the Tools View menu select the Automatic Gain Control Monitor This will create a graph view showing the state of the AGC This view is only enabled when at least one frequency group has AGC enabled and the scenario is running Each frequency group is shown by a different color in the graph The Min and Max AGC values are shown as a thin dashed line The Current AGC value is shown as a thick solid line These values are plotted using the left hand Y axis scale As the AGC adjusts up or down these lines show the AGC s current position relative to the minimum and maximum Ideally the solid line Current AGC value is never at either dashed line the Min and Max AGC value but is instead always somewhere between the two These Current AGC is updated whenever it is recalculated every 3 to 5 seconds The Min and Max AGC are always constant for the duration of the scenario 3 B 3 5 E nm 3 ii 2 400GHz CEB O On the same graph the input signal levels are shown for all ports in the frequency group as a small dot using the right hand side Y axis scale This is the
100. imal yaw of the platform in degrees 180 to 180 A platform type matching the text entered for any lt plat form type gt parameter must already exist prior to importing the scenario script file If the platform of the same name already exists the existing platform will be updated to the type specified 11 10 2 Create Radio The create radio command is used to instantiate a radio within RFview The format for this command is lt time gt create radio lt name gt lt radio type gt lt platform name gt lt port num gt e lt time gt must be 0 e lt name gt is arbitrary text which will be displayed as the radio s name e lt radio type gt is the text name of the already created radio type within the scenario e lt platform name gt is the name of the already existing platform to which the radio will be attached e lt port num gt is the numerical port number where this radio is attached Page 90 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 91 A radio type matching the text entered for any lt radio type gt parameter must already exist prior to im porting the scenario script file Similarly the platform given in the lt plat form name gt parameter must already exist but can be created within the same scenario script file More than one radio may be attached to the same platform It is recommended that all create radio
101. in the Swimlane tab Console Channel Properties Editor ESTE 7 Hover over a desired point to see more information about the port time duration power and status of the signal 8 Click on or icons to zoom in and out Page 71 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 72 11 4 Automatic Gain Control D Series Only To better operate with devices which vary their transmit power and to improve the effective dynamic range of the system an automatic gain control AGC function is provided This function is not a replacement for properly setting the input gains at each port Section 9 6 2 or for understanding the proper input and output levels of the system Sections 9 5 and 9 6 Please ensure these sections have been carefully followed and that the sytem and scenario is functioning normally prior to attempting to use AGC AGC operates in the analog domain by automatically adjusting the input and output gains to optimize the signal level being digitized and counteract this adjustment so the signal is less noisy but the effective output power is unchanged AGC is configured and performed on a per frequency group basis If the AGC determines that all input signals are too low the input gain is increased and the output gain is decreased Similarly if any input si
102. io file is saved and load the scenario Kl Open 8 15 Scenario Record Replay Typically a user will generate or play a canned scenario by using this scenario Record Replay button Generating a canned scenario captures all of the channel models and events for later analysis visualiza tion and or demonstration This section details how the user records and then replays these scenarios 1 Click on the Sandbox button and select Record When the Sanbox Record Playback option is set to Record RFview will capture all data and events during any given scenario Sandbox 0 p s 600 00 600 s 2 Initialize the scenario and run 3 The scenario recording will stop when the scenario has ended otherwise user can stop the recording and the scenario when needed by pressing the stop button I 4 The recording is automatically saved If a recording was already saved for the current scenario the previous recording will not be over written 5 Click on the Sandbox button and select Playback 6 If more than one recording was saved for this scenario select the desired recording to play N Click the Play button to replay the recorded scenario data and all events 9 Attaching Verifying Calibrating and Operating Radios in the System Successfully attaching radios to the sy
103. ion and orientation in the Route Editor tab by editing the Longitude Latitude Altitude Yaw and Pitch fields 4 Click Add to add a waypoint On the map the selected Way Point will be temporarily enlarged and the user can then drag and drop it 5 Left click and hold to drag the waypoint on the map to position it or modify the lon lat alt speed m s and delay seconds to wait at a waypoint before continuing route columns in the Waypoints editor window 6 To have the platform continuously loop over the set waypoints set the Continuously loop over route option By default the platform will go from the start to the finish point and then stop 7 To change waypoint and route color use the slider at the bottom of the Route Editor tab 8 To delete a waypont select a row from the Waypoints editor and click Delete 8 14 Saving Loading scenarios 1 To save a scenario go to the Scenario menu and select Save or click on the Save icon on the toolbar Browse to the destination folder where you want to save the scenario k Save Page 41 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 9 Attaching Verifying Calibrating and Operating Radios in the System Page 42 2 To load a scenario go to the Scenario menu and select Open Browse to the destination where the xml scenar
104. is and providing maxi mum impact and understanding during demos A scenario can be run multiple times and each run can be independently recorded The recordings also be exported into a human readable text form for more detailed analysis and importing into other tools 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes This section describes how to define basic elements of the scenario including defining platforms radios building a dynamic scenario and using the load save and record replay functions of RFview NOTE After defining the platfoms radios and group configuration prior to fine tuning the scenario and creating detailed routes it is likely useful to skip forward to Section 9 and in particular Sections 9 5 through 9 7 which cover properly attaching radios followed especially by Section 9 8 which provides key tools that greatly simplify the creation and understanding of the relative positions and mobility of platforms in the scenario 8 1 Platform Type Editor Page 15 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 16 The Platform Type Editor allows the user to add and edit the type of nodes that will be placed into the scenarios Platforms establish the icon and the mobility model for each physical node type Typically users generate both air and ground platforms e g Dismounted Soldiers Vehicles Fast Moving Aircraft Slow Moving Aircraft Static Locations e
105. is digital only however a loopback cable can be present on each port and will not affect the test Next load the test24 xml scenario and press the Initialize button in RFview The test can now be selected from the Self Test dialog The port range entered should cover the channels being tested Entering start port 0 and end port 23 will test 24 channels in a 24 node module and is the Page 97 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 12 Built in test Self test and RF Chain Calibration D Series Only Page 98 normal case 12 5 1 Handling Failure This test will fail for the same reasons as the CV Doppler test 12 6 Running the RF Leakage Test This is a RF only test which verifies the RE signal generated by one Tx port does not excessively leak into a neighboring Rx port This test takes about 5 minutes to execute The port range entered by the user is unused only the leakage into an arbitrary port is considered since each DDB s design is identical To run the test disconnect all radios from the Rx and Tx connectors on all ports on each DDB Connect a loopback RF cable to each port Next load the test24_full_rate xml scenario and press the Initialize button in RFview The test can now be selected from the Self Test dialog The port range is ignored 12 6 1 Handling Failure This test will fail for the same reasons as the CV Doppler test if RE cables are incorrectly conn
106. itialization It contains the raw contents of a message to be transmitted to the CEC Contents Name Description Type Always SetRadioParametersEvent Required M Contains the raw bytes of the message Byte values are displayed in hexadec Required essa e imal in the following format 0 gt 00 10 gt 0A 255 gt FF q Example Output 2205327 000 Type 2206351 000 Type SetRadioParametersEvent Message SetRadioParametersEvent Message 01 02 03 04 SFF 01 02 03 04 S FF Manual Channel events are logged to the event deck each time the operator modifies the channel properties for a link in the RFview workbench The workbench will transmit a Dcu Type A message to the CEC If the control mode of the channel state is set to manual the CEC will no longer issue DcuNotificationTypeA messages This event is also generated for all Channel Properties related script events Contents Name Description Type Always ManualChannelEvent Required SourceRadio Contains the port number of the source radio of the link Required DestinationRadio Contains the port number of the destination radio of the link Required AverageLoss Contains the average loss of the link Required DopplerShift Contains the doppler shift of the link Required DopplerSpread Contains the doppler spread of the link Required Delay Contains the delay of the link Required C
107. ive to the center point of the platform and relative to the platform s orientation leave the values as 0 if the antenna is effectively in the middle of the platform and pointed toward the nose of the platform as defined by the antenna pattern Input forward offset in meters in the Forward Offset field See section 8 2 4 for details Input lateral offset in meters in the Lateral Offset field See section 8 2 4 for details Input height offset in meters in the Height Offset field See section 8 2 4 for details Input antenna roll in degrees in the Roll field See section 8 2 4 for details Input antenna pitch in degrees in the Pitch field See section 8 2 4 for details Input antenna yaw in degrees in the Yaw Azimuth field See section 8 2 4 for details Page 20 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 21 16 Set antenna pattern from the Antenna Pattern drop down menu By default the first Antenna pattern Antennal pat is used and is Omni Directional If there is a different 3D antenna pattern the file should be selected 17 Check the Virtual checkbox if this radio type is virtual if this is a real radio type leave the checkbox unchecked 18 Click OK to save radio type 8 2 2 Edit radio 1 Open the radio type editor a Clicking on Tools and selecting Radios
108. k Browse to select and set a delay profile saved on RFview PC in the Delay File Name field Page 27 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 28 c Set the Channel Model Frequency field to the frequency to be used to model the channels This frequency can be different from the RE frequency for example if frequency converters are used to provide lower frequency signals into the RFnest hardware whereas the radios under test would normally transmit over the air via a higher frequency General 2 462GHz Radios Channel Models 2 400GHz Modify the Channel Model parameters for all radios with the frequency 2 462GHz within Calibration this group Air to Air parameters Calibration Channel Model Name Freespace v 5 210GHz Delay Filename EY unknown Browse Calibration Channel Model Frequency 200 MHz Air to Ground parameters Channel Model Name Freespace v Delay Filename EY unknown Browse Channel Model Frequency 200 MHz Ground to Ground parameters Channel Model Name Freespace v Delay Filename G unknown Browse Channel Model Frequency 200 MHz 5 Click on the calibration sub item below the frequency group Configuration is explained in more detail in Section 9 6 6 Set the User Transit Power Offset to indicate the additional loss or reduced transmit power present at the radios in this frequency group If thi
109. l ports have input signal levels that are too high or too low To determine which ports are reporting a given value the Port Status widget can be used to view the radio s Tx power levels under the Rx Tx tab by selecting each port one by one 11 4 3 AGC Behavior Example To illustrate the AGC behavior consider the example below In this case 2 signal generators and 1 spectrum analyzer are all attached to RFnest forming a frequency group with 3 radios AGC is enabled for this frequency group and the Desired Auto Level Power is set to 0 dBm At the start of the scenario the first signal generator is transmitting at 20 dBm and the input gain has been adjusted so that port achieves 0 dBm input signal level The second signal generator is also set to transmit at 20 dBm This port is intentionally incorrectly adjusted to achieve only 10 dBm to illustrate the AGC behavior when multiple devices with different input signal levels are present In normal usage the input gain should be adjusted such that a 0 dBm input signal level is achieved for all ports attached to devices with a fixed transmit power Finally a spectrum analyzer is attached to the third port in the frequency group Since the spectrum analyzer does not transmit any signal the system reports a very low input signal level from this port which is a measurement of only the noise floor in the RF front end with an unterminated input RF connection The input gain for
110. l scenario and press the Initialize button in RFview The test can now be selected from the Self Test dialog Only ports 0 to 3 are tested 12 9 1 Handling Failure This test will fail for the same reasons as the CV Doppler test if RF cables are incorrectly connected if radios are connected to the system or the port which failed is defective Page 99 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 12 Built in test Self test and RF Chain Calibration D Series Only Page 100 12 10 Running the Rx Chain Test in Verify Mode This is a RF only test which verifies the calibration of the Rx chain on each port This test takes about 15 minutes to execute for a 24 node module All ports within the specified range are tested This test requires an 8 port splitter is available otherwise the test will take approximately 5 minutes PER PORT NOTE If the system has not been previously calibrated using the same 8 port splitter and RE cables the Rx Chain Test must first be run in Calibrate Mode To run the test disconnect all radios from the Rx and Tx connectors on all ports on each DDB Connect the Tx connector on port 0 to the S port on the splitter and the Rx connectors on ports 0 to 7 to the output ports of the splitter Next load the test24_rf xml scenario and press the Initialize button in RFview The test can now be selected from the Self Test dialog The port range entered should cover the por
111. lStrength 10 000046 200 Type RssiEvent SourceRadio 3 DestinationRadio 4 SignalStrength 50 000046 200 Type RssiEvent SourceRadio 5 DestinationRadio 6 SignalStrength 100 Packet Route Events are logged to the event deck each time an incoming Packet Route message is received by the RFview workbench Contents Name Description Type Always PacketRouteEvent Required PacketRouteld Contains the identifier of the packet route This is an internally property Required of the REview workbench used for book keeping Protocol Contains the protocol for the given link Required SourceRadio Contains the port number of the source radio of the link Required Example Output 046 213 Type PacketRouteEvent PacketRouteld 316 Protocol 0 SourceRadio 1 DestinationRadio eee Type PacketRouteEvent PacketRouteld 317 Protocol 1 SourceRadio 2 DestinationRadio lt dl 046 215 Type PacketRouteEvent PacketRouteld 318 Protocol 2 SourceRadio 3 DestinationRadio 4 046 216 Type PacketRouteEvent PacketRouteld 319 Protocol 3 SourceRadio 4 DestinationRadio a Type PacketRouteEvent PacketRouteld 320 Protocol 4 SourceRadio 5 Dest 1nat 1onbadi 045 de Type PacketRouteEvent PacketRouteld 321 Protocol 5 SourceRadio 6 DestinationRadio lt 5 Page 81 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Top
112. lculated at 20 30 2 55 Since that TPO will achieve a dynamic range of 55 to 115 this may be acceptable If not either adjust the output attenuation value or change the external attenuation and adjust the user transmit power offset accordingly Note that the user transmit power offset should not be updated without changing the external attenuation The alternate way to view the the TPO is a values which tells the system how much of the gain on a given link to be applied digitally versus has already been applied via other means The TPO is then simply based on the difference between the operational transmit power of the radio and the input power at the ADC plus the internal and or external attenuation that the receiving radio has between the radio and the hardware s Tx connector for that radio This attenuator is essentially equivalent to further lowering the radio s transmit power In this example if the radio normally transmits at 25 dBm and the receiving radio has 20 dB attenuation the user transmit power offset should be entered as 25 dBm the operational transmit power 0 dBm the ADC input power achieved 20 dB external attenuation 45 dB As with the previous method the 5 dB frequency calibration is added giving a final TPO of 50 When the scenario dictates a gain to be applied to the channel between these radios the system will then add this TPO from the channel gain that is digitally applied For example if 70 dB is t
113. listens for CCR requests and responds with CCR the desired responses can be provided by the user Each time a node moves the CEC will generate the necessary CCR requests and maintain necessary state for storing node po sitions and interacting with the hardware requiring only the implementation of the desired channel model 4 CCR responses with request_id 1 can be sent unsolicited to the CEC when a channel value should be changed As with option 2 basicmodel should be set to off in cec xml Page 103 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 14 Troubleshooting FAO Page 104 5 RFview can be used to manually set the value of one or more channels via the channel prop erties view Any channel for which manual control is checked will use the GUI provided value and the CEC will ignore any values calculated received via CCR requests or otherwise calculated by the CEC 6 DCU notifications typically generated by the channel properties view can be sent to the CEC by software other than RFview DCU notifications provide a higher level description of the channel properties and the CEC handles necessary translation into the format required by the RFnest hardware The manual control should be set to true to prevent the CEC from calculating values for channels controlled via this method 7 Channel matrix updates can be sent directly to the RFnest hardware completely bypassing the CEC and RFview This al
114. lows complete control of the channel values but the CEC and RFview will not be aware of these updates and 1 will not display the current channel state correctly and 2 the CEC should be disabled for example by setting basicmodel to off and not running any software that generates CCR responses 14 Troubleshooting FAQ 14 1 Select Resource Profile prompt appears or RFview does not communicate with the hardware When RF view is started a prompt may appear indicating the hardware was not detected and asking the user to select a resource profile If RFview is being run without the hardware e g to define a scenario analyze recorded data from a prior run demonstrate a recorded run etc the user should select the resource profile that was or will be used to create the scenario RFview will then operate as if the hardware is configured with the chosen resource profile If the user is intending to run RFview with the hardware the presence of this prompt is an indication that RFview did not receive a response when the hardware was queried Check that all boards have only their green LED lit on the front panel If this is the case then the network connectivity between the hardware and the PC or the multicast route on the PC is not correct If the A Series hardware is being used and this dialog appears the system is incorrectly configured Replace the hardware_props xml with the original file provided in the A Series RFview distribution 14
115. me consuming initially this step saves considerable time during scenario layout results analysis and improves the understandability of demos Note If the link never works or never breaks or only works breaks at the extreme edges of the Gain vs Distance graph the Transmit Power Offset and or Output Attenuation should be adjusted as described previously in this section 10 Basic Monitoring and Data Collection 10 1 RSSI Link Quality RFnest provides the ability to visualize the RSSI value or other link quality metrics in real time for links between nodes in the scenario The format is described in the RFnest API document This capability allows the user to see the links between radios nodes to help see the scenario and understand the result ing network behaviors The link quality is collected by the user or system under test and specified via the RFnest API on a per link basis When the observed link quality is selected via the Link Quality Over lay the links between nodes are then colored based on the colors configured in the Link Quality Overlay configuration and the thresholds configured in the Gain vs Distance Overlay configuration Page 59 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 10 Basic Monitoring and Data Collection Page 60 10 2 Routing Communication Events Routing or other communication information events can also be visualized by RFnest using arrows dis played betwee
116. n RFview so ss lt ee 10 6 7 Additional CEC Standard Mode Parameters r cosd E R N ooto NR T 11 0e A R odo TTT 11 6 9 CEC Eventdaemenmml Configuration co ocoooc osados a 12 6 10 Loading the Hardware D Senies Only 0656 ciar eras a es 12 7 Basic Concepts 13 Pal ar ROT Componente da e ee eR RCA ee 13 72 Typical WOSKIOW salon hee bow td Ew EEO eee eee eRe eee ae 4 13 Zo Platican Types and Radio Types o so ck ma a A RR ee R R 14 74 Groupe and Biequency GEQUPS nc aia a dc ee a e ee ee 14 ES Dope ai AGA RR Fok cee Oke OR ee a ee Re ATR e SS R 15 7 6 Scenario Analysis Recording and Demonstration 6 0 ee ee 15 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes 15 SL latory a aaie outs ts Ree a OA oe Ra Bae Ee OS eee a Rakes 15 AM al pE x dnt ose AE R e ee ee 9 16 612 Edit plattormmitype lt lt odo ios bet t HE ERDAS Eee eS 17 Blo Delete plion GPE cce ER nd e RR OE EO eee PE eS 18 62 Radio Type Editors isr tg eee a ek we eae oR Swe whe ee ie ta 19 2 Leste aoe Wee eea Ge Aina se ok he eee eee oe ee ee Ee eS eS 19 Bal EUITIO aora ORME ORR EDR OREO ee E 21 Page ii RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 S20 Deleletadi o 2222 ce caera aaa Se ee edd 8 24 Radio Coordinate System 4 2 miia aon a ek ES e ER HR RR A aG Go Platforms Bdifot 424 c0050 640 ones rra na ee be nace a A cal Creaenew platon oo en cireni gi SSG YEE baa eee Eh Se ee eS Boe Delete pla Bd vo a ee ek ee OK Re Be EE Ree
117. n nodes 10 2 1 Packet Routing Overlay This configuration allows the user to specify the color for routing overlay per node 1 In the Overlays tab check or uncheck the Packet Routing Overlay checkbox to show or hide the routing arrows 2 Click on the Packet Routing Overlay field to show the routing overlay editor 3 Click Add to add new protocol Page 60 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 10 Basic Monitoring and Data Collection Page 61 Route Editor Packet Routing Overlay Platforms Overlay Gain and Distance Waypoint Overlay Platform Routes Overlay Link Quality Overlay Packet Routing Overlay Show legend Protocol Name 1 MA Example_routing_overlay L Add new protocol TR Protocol 2 Color MN V Dashed Name Type 2 Cancel J OK d Add Edit Delete Set the Protocol number Set the color by dragging the Color slider Set the routing arrow to be dashed or solid by checking or unchecking the Dashed checkbox Set the name Click OK to save changes or Cancel to cancel o NDT p To show routing arrows in RFview the user can send periodic updates to RFview s multicast address 224 1 2 208 on port 20861 using the format specified in the API 10 The routes will stay on the map
118. n value 200 gt lt bearing gt lt elevation gt lt antennapattern gt lt antennaprofile gt 11 6 Virtual node configuration To set up virtual nodes in CORE EMANE please follow the tutorials provided at CORE http downloads pf itd nrl navy mil docs core core html index html EMANE http downloads pf itd nrl navy mil docs emane emane pdf Note that CEC will process all messages sent by EMANE thus EMANE scenarios should be populated using nodes with numbers that correspond to the virtual nodes set in RFview GUI Ex if real nodes in scenario are nodes 0 through 23 than EMANE simulated nodes should be number 24 25 etc To configure processing of information from CORE EMANE virtual nodes please set the following cec xml parameters as needed lt param name publishpathlossevents value on gt lt param name publishlocationevents value on gt lt param name processpathlossevents value on gt lt param name processlocationevents value on gt publishpathlossevents With this parameter set to on cec will send pathloss values for all channels to EMANE publishlocationevents With this parameter set to on cec will send location information for all nodes to EMANE processpathlossevents With this parameter set to on cec will be able to receive and apply pathloss values for channels sent from EMANE processlocationevents With this parameter set to on cec will be abl
119. n xml file is used to configure the EMANE infrastructure to match the network settings and the settings of other EMANE scenarios being integrated with RFnest eventservicegroup the group address for EMANE events eventservicedevice the device that should be listening to EMANE events This parameter is optional if not supplied the route to the multicast IP specified in eventservicegroup is used to determine the interface Sample eventdaemon xml lt xml version 1 0 encoding UTF 8 gt lt DOCTYPE eventdaemon SYSTEM file usr share emane dtd eventdaemon dtd gt lt eventdaemon name EMANE Event Service Daemon nemid 1 gt lt param name eventservicegroup value 224 1 2 8 45703 gt lt param name eventservicedevice value eth0 gt lt eventdaemon gt 6 10 Loading the Hardware D Series Only This step applies only to hardware which is not automatically configured If the green light on each hardware board becomes illunimated within 30 seconds of powering on the hardware ignore this entire section All DDBs must be connected to the PC via the micro USB connectors on their rear panels The CEB must be connected to a PC via the micro USB connector on the CEB s front panel This is a total of 7 USB connections for each 24 node module It is recommended that a USB hub be used to connect all USB connectors simultaneously Note that the USB connectors are not required after the hardware has been powered on and the fi
120. nality to adjust the gains anyway Note that AGC will operate even if the Signal Tool s auto leveling function fails this failure indicates only that the observe power level fluctuated during measurement The AGC performs additional smoothing to address this and is not affected by small fluctuations In the image below the port status indicates that the input signal level for the selected port is 0 dBm This should be achieved for all ports if possible prior to activating AGC D Port Status AJI La B alerts Selected Port 5 Configuration Scenario RxTx Properties Last Tx Time 0 0 ms Power 0 Freq 0 0 Last Rx Time 65535 0 6 Verify that the system is operating correctly i e that the radios can communicate when the channels between them are manually set to 0 dB gain in the Channel Properties Editor and cannot communi cate when the channel is set to a high loss e g 200 dB gain 7 Stop the scenario 8 Enable AGC in the frequency group s calibration section See Section 8 4 9 Observe the Current Min and Max AGC values These values indicate the amount of room the AGC has to compensate if the input power increases or decreases e Current AGC is the highest current input gain of any port in the frequency group e Max AGC is the maximum value that the Current AGC value can be increased to while main taining correct operation The Max AGC is aff
121. nals cac se S ganan eee ee ESS Cee es Oa ROCHA ERGO e XR R E N NR ee ee ES ee eee a BR ee 9 6 Choosing External Attenuation Setting Gains and Calibrating Radios 9 6 1 Determining if the radios will be Isolated 2 0 0 0 0 000000000 9 6 2 Ensuring the input signal is at the correct level D Series Only 9 6 3 Adjusting the Transmit Power Offset o core o ooo o 9631 Dante ranee method seso a as debil E Whe cl AA Fee eH Re era ce EE a 9 7 Verifying Radio Operation and Isolation lt s so sisaresta ee es TAL yonne Radiot peruano es kM eae eee E ee eRe Ce ee ee O72 Verllyme Radio Isolation cecilia ba Vee eee 9 8 Configuring Thresholds for Scenario Layout Display 2 2 0 ooo a 10 Basic Monitoring and Data Collection JUE VOLPE a th eR EER eR ORE AOS Ee HEEL RR SS 10 2 Reuting Comimunication Events lt s c 24640 4 Soe hee a ee ds ew WA Packet Routine vera nck ek oo ee Pew ee he eae te ae phe 142 2 UBAGO e a e eee SEER ae e ead CoP Eee es BO Mea ete ar a AA eae 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics 11 1 Adding Point Source Emitters and Background Noise D Series Only ILII TT ome T esc eccere e Veh oe ER Se ads 18d Dona Da io Foe ed Se Oe Pie a ne d TLA Events EO e p Gd Sk eg ewe a ee da a Go ee ae ew ee E TELI T ods Gnd ee o dace pen We a ate a ee a 11 2 2 Create Signal Tool Event P Series Only ie a hoe be eb eee eS Page iii RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 fo
122. nd as an option air to air will not be an option if no other air platforms exist in the frequency group etc 6 View the graph of gain vs distance and the circular thresholds in the map Note that the channel model does not necessarily create perfectly circular gain patterns These circles ignore any terrain effects platform orientations and assume optimal antenna patterns 7 Use edit the guides to help layout the scenario as needed See Section 9 8 for more details Click Edit to set the signal strength thresholds for the currently selected Frequency Group Page 33 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 34 REview Gain and Distance x Air to Air Air to Ground Ground to Ground z Tm D 2 wo o 2 t a 100 Distance Meters Good L 80 0 Fair 90 0 Poor 95 0 Cancel OK j 8 Set the Good Fair and Poor threshold of Pathloss dB to desired values based on user observa tions knowledge Note that these thresholds do NOT control radio behavior in ANY WAY These thresholds serve ONLY as an estimated visual reference to assist the user in planning and understand ing the scenario 9 Click OK to save settings or Cancel to cancel The setting will reflect the display of signal strength indicators on the map showing where to
123. nd to avoiding struggles which may otherwise occur Note that many features are provided to automate and simplify common issues faced when setting up complex scenarios connecting radios debugging waveforms doing analysis and demonstrating your findings 7 1 Major System Components The system consists of four major components 1 the REview GUI which allows scenario definition model ing record replay and analysis 2 the Channel Emulation Controller CEC which coordinates the changes to the scenario over time 3 the channel models a default version of which are built into and enabled by default within the CEC and 4 the RFnest hardware which digitizes RF signals applies channel effects digitally creates RF signals and converts the resulting combined channel environment back to an analog RF signal for all connected radios in real time Each of these components work together during the initial ization and running of the scenario 7 2 Typical Workflow There are two approaches to creating and running a scenario One tempting method is to build the scenario all at once and fine tune things over many iterations of running the scenario The other is to verify indi vidual radios operate correctly in the system and gradually build more complex scenarios while preserving the correctness and the desired scenario attributes Due to the complexity and the subtleties in which var ious aspects of the scenarios radios and network protocols interact
124. ne direction Page 96 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 12 Built in test Self test and RF Chain Calibration D Series Only Page 97 The test operates by requesting the three Doppler shifts be applied among all channels between ports within the selected range The test then verifies that the total shift does not deviate from the expected shift by more than the resolution of the FFT used by the test approximately 125 Hz 12 3 1 Handling Failure This test will fail for the same reasons as the DDB Sync test It will also fail if any of the ports have an active radio attached to them which will interfere with the automated process of generating and recording signals through each channel If a particular channel fails verify that the receiving port for that channel has no radio attached 12 4 Running the CV Tap Delay Test This is a digital only test which verifies the ability of the system to apply a delay profile ie a channel impulse response to each channel This test takes about 5 minutes to execute in a 24 node system This test verifies that each tap within each channel is functioning This test also verifies on a bit by bit basis that each channel exactly matches the expected value and does not contain any digital noise To run the test disconnect all radios from the Rx and Tx connectors on all ports on each DDB No RF cables need to be connected as this test is digital only how
125. ng with 000 Linux users should use the shell script rfnest eventexporter sh rfnest eventexporter sh path to scenario testScenario_output 000 Windows users should use the batch script rfnest eventexporter bat rfnest eventexporter bat path to scenario testScenario_output 000 The EventDeckExporter can also be launching using a manual classpath using the following command java cp path to rfview jar com iai rfnest core util EventDeckExporter path to scenario testScenario_output 000 11 7 2 Event Formats Each line outputted by the EventDeckExporter starts with the scenario time in seconds All events have their own custom formatting For specific details about the contents of each event see the section below Position Updates are logged to the event deck each time the position of a platform changes within the scenario For each occurrence on the Event Deck a position update message will also be transmitted to the CEC Content Name Description Type Always PositionUpdateEvent Required Platformld Contains the internal identifier of the Platform Required Contains the name of the Platform This property is not located within the PlatformName contents of the event but the EventDeckExporter will attempt to determine Optional the name of the platform based on the scenario file If it cannot be deter P mined Unknown will be used Latitude Contains the Latit
126. nsmit drop down box Note that if the radio s transmitted signal is too weak the recording may never trigger iii When Receive condition is selected the Record Replay will start on reception of the signal by the port set in the Receive drop down box d Set the delay with which the signal will be replayed in the Replay Delay field e Set the path to save or load a signal in the Filename field 7 The Update Charts in Real time toggles whether the graphs are updated when new samples are received from the hardware Note that if this checkbox is unchecked the graphs will NEVER update 9 4 1 Examples of Recorded Signals The signal below is a very clean signal indicating the input power and input gains are correctly set Note that both the time and frequency domain Note that the time domain signal has a smooth shape with little no noise and the peaks of the signal are not clipped The signal is typically not a perfect sine wave but the time domain plot should typically be smooth and without significant randomness or jagged edges although some waveforms may always look noisy The frequency domain shows a well defined spectral shape which matches the expected shape of the waveform s transmissions The frequency peak is signifi cantly above the noise level of surrounding frequencies A clean signal may not have as sharp of a peak The more well formed and less ragged the frequency domain plot l
127. o 4 has type wifi and radio 6 has type wifi2 Platform Configuration x Platform ID PLATFORM 00000147b1b92d21 Display name al Starting yaw 179 deg Starting pitch 0 deg Platform type properties Platform Type Mobility Model Icon name Fixed Wing Drone png Platform Type Category Radios assigned to this Platform Radio ID Radio Type Group ID Physical Port 4 wifi Groupo 4 wifi2 Groupo Add Radio J Remove radio 8 4 Group Configuration The RFnest system needs to know a priori if radios should be able to talk to each other when the channel models allow Only radios in the same group will have the channels between them calculated and applied to the transmitted signals Groups can be further divided into Frequency Groups by assigning radios configured to be sampled at different center frequencies into the same group The channels between radios in different frequency groups as well as in different groups are always set to maximum loss In addition to assigning radios to groups the group configuration also allows the user to specify the channel models and the calibration on a per frequency group basis 1 Click on the Groups tab 2 Double click on a group or select a group and click the green check icon Page 26 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Cre
128. o be able to be very strong i e have a high SNR Assuming the noise floor is 95 dBm and the waveform operates at maximum performance under a 30 dB SNR a strong link must also be able to exceed 65 dBm for example 60 dBm The desired power range at the receiving radio is then 60 dBm to 110 dBm Note that in this example Radio 2 is treated as the receiver for Page 55 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 9 Attaching Verifying Calibrating and Operating Radios in the System Page 56 simplicity however the situation is symmetric Radio 2 must also be able to transmit to Radio 1 Since a 0 dBm power level at the ADC was achieved the system can digitally output a power level between 0 dBm and 60 dBm The TPO is then selected to shift this range into the desired dynamic range For example if 50 is the TPO the system will generate output between 50 and 110 dBm The TPO cannot be directly entered instead it is calculated based on several parameters The User Transmit Power Offset should equal the attenuation applied between the Tx port Radio 2 is attached to and Radio 2 in this case 20 dB Next the hardware s output attenuation can be controlled in 10 dB increments For example select 30 dB The frequency calibration is automatically determined based on the system calibra tion For example 5 dB may appear based on the current frequency and output attenuation As a result the TPO will be ca
129. o be low since the AGC should be moving to offset it However the transmit power is being decreased so rapidly that although the AGC has moved so that the input signal level at the time the decision was made has become zero by the time the decision is made the signal has decreased further This is typically not an issue as sub optimally digitizing the signal a few dB below 0 dBm has minimal impact on performance Around time 25 the second signal generator s input signal level becomes the highest which dots correspond to which ports input signal levels can only be inferred from the graph or can be observed directly by examining each port s current value in the Port Status widget The AGC now switches to attempting to make the input signal level of the second signal generator rather than the first s at 0 dBm At time 30 the AGC hits the maximum value If the AGC increases further there is no room in the output gains to decrease further meaning the input gain would not be fully offset by the output gains The AGC settles for sub optimal digitization of the signals rather than incorrect output signal levels Due to this restriction during this time no input signal levels are at 0 dBm Note also that the input signal level of the first signal generator continues to decrease as the first signal generator continues to decrease its transmit power At time 50 the first signal generator s transmit power increases such that the input signal level ex
130. obility e lt loops gt indicates if the route loops back to the first waypoint This value is true or false When a platform route is set via this command the platform will attempt to travel along the route based on the mobility model specified in the platform type As the platform moves along the specified route A Position Update message will also be generated per the RFnest API The parameters for the links between the radios contained on the moved platform and the radios of all other platforms will be recalculated au tomatically unless the link is in external mode due to the presence of an update link command for that link The set route command may only be used for platforms with Simple or KTG mobility types This command may only be used at time 0 and after the initial location of the platform has been specified 11 11 Import AWSIM Scenario This menu allows the user to import platforms and routes from an external file that uses the Air Warfare Simulator AWSIM output format The nodes are created automatically however the routes can NOT be edited once input into RFview 1 Select Import then AWSIM Scenario from the Scenario menu 2 Browse to the location of the AWSIM scenario log file 3 Click Import to load AWSIM scenario or Cancel to cancel s The imported scenario will instantiate platforms and routes from the AWSIM log the user will need to assign radios to platform to run
131. off gt lt param name hatamodelrural value off gt lt param name hatapcsmodelurban value off gt lt param name hatapcsmodelsuburban value off gt lt param name hatafrequency value 2400 gt lt param name fadingmodel value off gt lt param name frequency calib value home username cec calib 2400 calib gt lt param name antennapattern value off gt lt param name antennaprofile value home username cec antenna antenna2 xml gt lt param name dopplerincrement value 7 45058097 gt lt param name manual_control value off gt lt param name number_of_nodes value 12 gt lt eventagent gt 5 Starting the System 5 1 Basic Cabling A Series The A Series hardware must be connected to via 10 100 Ethernet NOT Gigabit Ethernet Failure to use a 10 100 only non Gigabit switch between the control PC and the hardware will prevent the hardware from being controlled properly No USB connections are required for A Series Connect the system s supplied 5V power adapter and turn on the power switch in the rear of the unit The front green light will illuminate when the A Series unit is receiving power 5 2 Basic Cabling D Series Before powering on the system the power and Ethernet cables need to be connected properly Ethernet All hardware boards the CEB and all DDBs must be connected to a Gigabit Ethernet switch Ethernet should be connected to the front left Ethern
132. onnectors on ports 8 to 15 and re run with those ports specified as the start and end ports Repeat the same process for ports 16 to 23 The logs test_results txt file will now contain the results for all ports 12 12 1 Handling Failure This test will always report as failed as verification of the results can only be done after the output is processed and the test is re run in Verify Mode Another BIT should be run prior to this test to verify the system is otherwise operational and RFview can communicate with the CEC and hardware 12 13 Running the RFDB Loopback Test in Calibrate Mode This is a RF only test which creates the calibration of the Tx chain on each port This test takes about 90 minutes to execute for a 24 node module All ports within the specified range are tested To run the test disconnect all radios from the Rx and Tx connectors on all ports on each DDB Connect a loopback cable from the Rx connector to the Tx connector on each port Next load the test24_rf xml scenario and press the Initialize button in RFview Page 101 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 12 Built in test Self test and RF Chain Calibration D Series Only Page 102 Delete or rename the file logs test_results txt so only the current results will be in this file at the end of the test If this file only contains the results from running the Rx Chain Test in Calibrate Mode this is unnecessary
133. ontains the control mode of the given link 0 indicates that the CEC ControlMode is maintaining control of the link and 1 indicates that the operator is Required maintaining control of the link Example Output 000001 000 Type ManualChannelEvent SourceRadio 1 DestinationRadio 2 AverageLoss 0 0 DopplerShift 0 DopplerSpread 0 Delay 0 ControlMode 1 Page 85 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 86 Geometry Change Request events are generated for Position Antenna related script events Contents Name Description Type Always GeometryChangeRequest Required Platformld Indicates the identifier of the platform for platform position Optional and platform orientation events Indicates the name of the platform for platform position and l eens platform orientation events Space Radiold pe aig the identifier of the platform for antenna orientation Optional RadioName Ps the nam eof the platform for antenna orientation Optional Platforml atitude K the latitude component of the desired position for the Optional PlatformLongitude Indicates the longitude component of the desired position for Optional the platform PlatformAltitude Ks the altitude component of the desired position for the Optional PlatformRoll K the roll component of the desired orientation for the Optional PlatformPitch Indicates the pitc
134. ooks the cleaner the signal generally is although some waveforms may always look noisy Page 51 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 9 Attaching Verifying Calibrating and Operating Radios in the System Page 52 I l DOWN 500 1 000 1 500 2 000 2 500 3 000 3 500 4 000 4 500 5 000 2 385 2 390 2 395 2 400 2 405 2 410 2 415 ns MHz II l ANUN NI U H The signal below is a very poor quality signal resembling noise Note that the time domain plot shows no definable shape and just a series of very jagged edges alternating between positive and negative amplitudes with little no intermediate values If zoomed in the signal does not follow a typical sine wave show typical modulation or pulse shaping characteristics and is essentially indistinguishable from random noise In the frequency domain multiple small peaks are present and the noise is relatively high Note that such a signal may result from the ADC being over saturated even if the power level is low If such a signal is observed either reduce the input gain or radio transmit power in 10 dB increments until the signal is no longer visible proving the ADC is not over saturated or check for noise in the radio cables etc 0 015 0 0 010 25 0 005 50 0 000 dBm d ul 0 005 100 0 010 0 015 2 500 000 5 000 000 7 500 000 2 385
135. or testing verification e Signal generator optional for testing verification e RF devices radios or other RF equipment being evaluated by the system Page 1 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 2 Prerequisites Page 2 2 2 Linux OS set up supporting software configuration instructions The following software is required to run RFview and CEC on the same PC e Linux OS Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Fedora 19 Ubuntu 12 04 or higher e Java 1 7 0 note Java 1 6 and 1 8 are not currently supported e CORE 4 6 EMANE 0 8 1 x s Libxml2 The UDP receive and send socket buffer sizes need to be increased In linux add this to etc sysctl conf 12582912 12582912 net core wmem_max net core rmem_max Then run sysctl p as root to immediately apply these settings to the running system without rebooting This config file is automatically read and applied on future boots Under Linux Java needs to be run using the option to prefer IPv4 This is handled by the rfview sh script provided with RFview 2 3 Windows OS Setup RFview can be run under Windows The CEC however requires EMANE which is only available for Linux Java 1 7 is the only requirement for RFview The following registry key should be set to adjust UDP buffer sizes in Windows HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Services Afd Parameters DefaultReceiveWindow 12582912 DefaultSendWindow 125
136. orm drop down menu Check Position checkbox to create a position event Set the latitude and longitude coordinates in the Latitude and Longitude fields Check the Altitude filed checkbox and set altitude for position event N DBD a A Q Check the Platform Orientation checkbox and the desired Yaw Pitch and or Roll checkbox to set platform orientation Page 68 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 69 8 Check the Radio Antenna Orientation checkbox to create add a radio orientation event 9 Select the radio from the previously selected platform in the Radio drop down box 10 Select the tracking type to be Manual or to Auto Track Platform using the Track radio buttons e Auto Track Platform option will make the antenna orientation follow a platform selected from the Platform drop down box e Manual mode will require checking Yaw Pitch Roll checkboxes and setting the values In this case the antenna will always be pointing in this direction relative to the platform 11 Click OK to save or Cancel to cancel the event 11 2 4 Create Channel Event This menu allows the user to manually specify a model between two channels at any given time over writing the nominal channel model Additionally the user has the
137. ort The noise direction records signals about to be received via the radio attached to the Tx port of that port and replays signals on the outgoing or noise path to inject signals directly to the radio via the Tx port Note A signal replayed in the noise direction bypasses the configured channels only the noise gain pa rameter for each port affects such signals A signal being replayed in the noise direction exits the Tx port with the configured noise gains for each port on the relevant DDB A signal replayed in the port direction passes through the channels potentially being received by all ports in the frequency group To use the Signal Tool 1 Right click on Group 0 from the Groups tab 2 Select DDB which will be performing Record Replay function DDB 0 has ports 0 3 DDB 1 has ports 4 7 DDB 5 has ports 20 23 3 A Signal Record Group0 DDB tab will appear next to the Map and Port Status tabs Select the radio port to monitor or record replay from using the Radio drop down menu 4 Select Live Monitoring Record Replay or Auto Level using the Mode radio buttons s The Live Monitoring option will continuously update the graphs with the signal is received from the hardware User the Continuous record and replay checkbox to start stop this be havior Page 49 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section
138. ositive height offset is toward the roof To determine the sign for orientation the simplest method is to use your right hand as a reference For roll place your right hand so your right thumb is pointing forward A positive roll rotates in the same way your wrist rotates if you bend your hand toward your arm i e close your wrist going back to the car the passenger side of the car is raised in this case Similarly a positive pitch is when your thumb is pointing to the right and your hand is bent toward your arm the car s hood is raised Finally a positive yaw is when your thumb is pointing down not up and your hand is bent toward your arm the car rotates clockwise Note that radio offset and orientation is relative to the platform ie radio orientations are not absolute When both the radio and platform have non trivial roll pitch and yaw determining and applying the actual absolute orientation of the radio is done correctly by RFview but is not readily represented for the user Radio positions are maintained throughout the system in double precision latitude longitude and altitude values giving sub centimeter precision for phase calculations Note that delay is controllable with less precision as specified in the resource profile specific delay resolution provided in Section 5 3 but generally with sub meter precision 8 3 Platforms Editor In this section the user now can start to add elements to the scenario The first step i
139. oss between the Rx or Tx connector and the receiving radio is greater than the receive sensitivity of the radio the system leakage will pose a problem Note that the system leakage may occur via either the Rx or Tx connector of the port the receiving radio is attached to Note also that the system leakage is not affected by the input gain or output attenuation gain settings on the system If the radios are communicating via over the air leakage either 1 the radios transmit power must be lowered 2 better shielding must be placed around the radios and their attenuations splliters etc 3 better shielded ie double shielded cables must be used or 4 the radios and these other sources of leakage must be moved farther apart from each other Assuming well shielded cables are used and all external attenuators are placed near the radios use 10 or longer cables and move the radios in opposite directions until they are 20 feet apart and separated by as many RF blocking absorbing objects as possible Thick walls filing cabinets other metallic objects etc may serve this purpose If the radios stop communicating when the radios attenuators etc are moved far apart over the air leakage is confirmed Since large distances may not be practical lowering the transmit power of the radio and or reducing the RF power by attenuating as soon as possible is key Commercially available RF shielding boxes can also be used as can copper mesh RF absorbing
140. position the nodes on the map in order to get desired channel values In the screenshot below two platforms are within each other s good green range indicated by their being within each other s green circle and the link being colored green In the following screenshot the thresholds differ more significantly both in dB and in meters some platforms are within each other s good green range while others are just outside Page 34 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 35 NOTE 1 The Gain vs Distance circular overlay and the link colors are intended as a guide and visual reference ONLY Configuring these thresholds correctly or choosing not to configure at all is purely for the benefit of the user and has no bearing on the channel properties or the performance of the system under test Nodes being within green circles or having a green link does not guarantee in any way the link is actually good These tools are simply a more visual way to represent the user s knowledge that for example a link with a gain above 100 creates a good link Ifthe thresholds are not configured it is recommended to disable these overlays to reduce clutter NOTE 2 The Gain vs Distance circles are a very rough approximation ignoring terrain and antenna The link coloring however is based on the actual gain being applied to a link and is much more
141. press the Initialize button in RFview The test can now be selected from the Self Test dialog The port range entered should cover the ports being tested Note that not all gain frequency combinations are tested since some combinations create a signal which is too weak for the system to correctly receive from itself 12 11 1 Handling Failure This test will fail for the same reasons as the CV Doppler test if RF cables are incorrectly connected if the or if the system is out of calibration If a few failures occur manually update the calibration files signal s tests insertion_gain csv and signals tests insertion_gain_bit csv to adjust each failed port frequency in Page 100 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 12 Built in test Self test and RF Chain Calibration D Series Only Page 101 question by the observed error Be sure to update both files as the former is used during system op eration and the latter is used to re verify the calibration using this test If the failures do not occur in the frequencies ports in which the system is being used they can be ignored If a significant amount of failures occur the system should be re calibrated 12 12 Running the Rx Chain Test in Calibrate Mode This is a RF only test which creates the calibration of the Rx chain on each port This test takes about one hour to execute for a 24 node module This test requires an 8 port splitter is availa
142. pt get install libxml2 dev 3 RFnest Software Installation 3 1 RFview Installation Unzip windows or un tar Linux the RFview archive In Mac OS copy to the Applications folder A rfview sh command is provided for Linux users and a rfview exe is provided for Windows users It is important to use these commands when running RFview so that the proper Java virtual machine settings are used 3 2 CEC installation Note that the CEC requires EMANE 0 8 1 to be installed To install CEC go to the cec directory and run make to compile the CEC Next run make install as root This copies the resulting libcec so file to the appropriate library path typically usr local 1ib so it can be used by EMANE It may also be necessary to run ldconfig as root if the library cannot be found by EMANE Sensible default settings for the CEC are provided in the cec xml and eventdaemon xml configuration files g is required to compile CEC To install g Red Hat Fedora sudo yum install gee et Ubuntu Debian sudo apt get install g 4 CEC Configuration The CEC acts as an intermediary between the RFnest hardware and other components e g RFview performing basic channel modeling translating APIs and interacting with low level hardware behaviors The CEC is configured via an EMANE based XML Ensure that the analog parameter in cec xml is set correctly or the system will not work correctly Use analog on when
143. pt to automatically fine tune the Input Gain so that a 0 dBm input power at the ADC is achieved For most signals 0 dBm is achieved when the amplitude of the peaks in the time domain left plot are at approximately 0 17 V In some cases auto leveling will take up to 1 minute and or may report failure even though the signal amplitude appears to be at 0 17 V This may occur if the signal power fluctuates since the auto level function requires three consecutive measurements at or near 0 dBm before success is reported See Section 9 4 1 for examples of good and bad signals If no signal appears or the signal is well below 0 17 V and failure is reported in most cases where this occurs the input signal should be made stronger In the Port Status widget confirm that the input gain is set to 38 the maximum value This indicates that the signal is too weak even with the maximum input gain applied Page 54 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 9 Attaching Verifying Calibrating and Operating Radios in the System Page 55 Similarly in some cases the input gain entered by the user may be too strong or the input signal may be too strong or both If auto leveling fails and signal amplitude is significantly above 0 17 V check the input gain in the Port Status widget If the value is 9 the minimum value then the input signal is too strong for the system to accommodate and should be reduced In other ca
144. quencies within the hardware 7 5 Maps and Overlays RFview provides a geospatial view of the scenario and associated data A variety of map sources can be used including pre cached maps for offline use On top of these maps platform positions routes links and various collected and analysis oriented metrics can be displayed The Overlays tab provides methods for enabling disabling each layer of this data configuring the order of the layers and editing the configuration for each layer 7 6 Scenario Analysis Recording and Demonstration REview consists of not only tools to define and execute scenarios but to analyze and demonstrate the op eration of the system under test either in real time or by recording the results of the scenario and then re visualizing the recorded results RFview provides time synchronized geospatial and graph based dis plays of both the scenario state e g channel conditions platform positions etc and the behavior and outcome of the scenario observed link states arbitrary numeric metrics and indicators of the paths taken by packets or other data through the scenario To make maximum use of these capabilities the user must configure the system under test or supporting test software and scripts to monitor the system under test and report this information This allows the recorded scenarios to contain as much of the relevant data as possible reducing the need to re setup and re run scenarios for debugging analys
145. quired Radio2Name Indicates the name of the destination radio of the link Required TapCount Indicates the number of subsequent taps within the event Required TapNControl Value provided per tap that indicates the control mode Required TapNGain Value provided per tap that indicates the gain Required TapNPhase Value provided per tap that indicates the phase Required TapNDoppler Value provided per tap that indicates the doppler Required TapNDelay Value provided per tap that indicates the delay Required Page 87 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 88 Example Output 000010 000 Type DelayProfileScriptEvent RadiolName 0 Radio2Name 1 TapCount 7 Tap0Control 0 0 TapOGain 10 0 TapOPhase 0 0 Tap0Doppler 0 0 TapUODelay 32 2 TaplControl 0 0 TaplGain 20 0 TaplPhase 0 0 TaplDoppler 0 0 TaplDelay 4 0 Tap2Control 0 0 Tap2Gain 30 0 Tap2Phase 0 0 Tap2Doppler 0 0 Tap2Delay 8 0 Tap3Control 0 0 Tap3Gain 0 0 Tap3Phase 0 0 Tap3Doppler 0 0 Tap3Delay 8 0 Tap4Control 0 0 Tap4Gain 0 0 Tap4Phase 0 0 Tap4Doppler 0 0 Tap4Delay 0 0 11 8 Delay Profile Format D Series Only The delay profile for each frequency group and link type is specified in the Group Configuration dialog This defines the channel impulse response CIR and is applied to the channels once at the start of the scenario As platforms move this CIR is scaled based on the
146. r RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 11 23 Create Position Antenna Event 6 e e ea eS eee a 67 1124 Create Channel Event lt eo eek RES a 69 Do E a joe eon dh bad eh de da eon de bad ty eeweee oa de 70 126 Delete Esencia e di Oe ee ee a de eee ee Set Be 70 TL3 aman erie e ee ol ek ae A a ee es 70 11 4 Automatic Gain Control D Series Only S s e crc ee ee 72 TAL IE lec bcc ete ete a ences gn BER Sy a ese a Eres Ok Bee 72 LIAS AGC A eG ERS eee DO eee LES ee wae o 74 EAD AGC Behavior Example oo a e o Hie ee e E E 75 1144 AGCAlerisand Loge iao se eona a scouts a ee 76 LIAS AGC Caveats acs ea ok eee A ai Rea a A A 76 115 Antenna Pattern Piles ned diad ada eee ee eed ede beeen eee ea ds 78 ILo EES al mode coni curaio aan ee Mee Re Ee REO hee hae eee ee 79 117 Event Deck o ere ca ek ee ek Gk ee ea Oe ee ee ee eae a aE 79 1121 EventDedckExporier Usages ok Ghai ee ee a ee a ee E 79 TY oe EGE BONA hii On te eee aie ANN 80 TZAI Position Update Evel 6844 eb 4 4nd ORS Gee ee Ea Hee ee 80 MUA TOL EWEN ote Gee pe RE Bk GE Eee RE sa 81 1 729 Packet Route Brent e as cepe ic Se hw Oe ee ee aS 2 81 11 7 24 Remove Packet Route Event e 254 6 ce Se eee ee eee eee a 82 11 7 25 DCU Notification Type A Event o cco nedeca ara euo eee ae 82 11 226 Pett Data Event 4446 62i ss bane sae gid dee he edad euee 83 11 7 2 7 Automatic Gain Control Event D Series Only 83 11 7 2 8 Signal Status Update Event D Series Only
147. radio is not transmitting at a consistent power level auto level may fail See Section 9 6 2 for more details l N AMN MNN WN MM SI MN l I Ih pi HAL dd CONV NA AIAN TAY FHI NU ii MY NN IN UTA MIN UI WANA IN TUN NN AUN ba UN AA pi NN NU Mi AN SN dBm U I WN i WW WW A d 0 500 1 000 1 500 2 000 2 500 3 000 3 500 4 000 4 500 5 000 2 385 2 390 2 395 2 400 2 405 2 410 2 415 ns MHz 5 The relevant loaded or recorded signal is displayed in separate time and frequency domain plots The user can zoom in on the area of particular interest in the graph by clicking and dragging over a selected area on the graphs and can zoom out by dragging toward the top left corner of the screen or by right clicking on the graph and selecting Zoom Out and desired axis from the menu 6 The following options are available for Live Monitoring or Record Replay Mode a Select the Sub Type to record either the signal or noise on the port using the radio buttons b Set the recording length in the Length field or set it to maximum length using the max check box c Set the Trigger Condition to start recording using the radio buttons i When Immediate condition is selected Record Replay will trigger immediately ii When Transmit condition is selected the Record Replay will start on transmission from the radio selected from the Tra
148. reting the AGC values and resolving errors indicated in this dialog if AGC is enabled 12 D Series Only Current AGC Value the highest current input gain of any port in the frequency group 13 D Series Only Max AGC Value the maximum value that the Current AGC value can be increased to while maintaining correct operation 14 D Series Only Min AGC Value the minimum value that the Current AGC value can be increased to while maintaining correct operation Group Configuration x General Calibration Radios Channel Models E 2 400GHz Adjust the position of the sliders to change the output attenuation for this S x group This property is used to compute the actual transmit power offset Calibration TPO of the group using the formula TPO User TPO Output Attenuation Frequency Calibration User Transmit Power Offset 0 dB Output Attenuation 10 dB Transmit Power Offset TPO 14 dB Desired Auto Level Power 0 dBm v Automatic Gain Control Current AGC Value 28 dB Max AGC Value 38 dB Min AGC Value 15 dB 15 Click OK to save group configuration Note that changes to this dialog are not applied in any way until RFview is re initialized 8 5 Map controls options Map control and options are located on the top right corner of the map Page 29 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Ba
149. ring gt lt bearing min 6 max 10 gt lt gain value 3 gt lt bearing gt lt bearing min 11 max 15 gt lt gain value 6 gt lt bearing gt lt bearing min 16 max 344 gt lt gain value 200 gt lt bearing gt lt bearing min 345 max 349 gt lt gain value 6 gt lt bearing gt lt bearing min 350 max 354 gt lt gain value 3 gt lt bearing gt lt bearing min 355 max 359 gt lt gain value 0 gt lt bearing gt lt elevation gt lt elevation min 10 max 10 gt lt bearing min 0 max 5 gt lt gain value 3 gt lt bearing gt lt bearing min 6 max 10 gt lt gain value 0 gt lt bearing gt lt bearing min 11 max 15 gt lt gain value 3 gt lt bearing gt lt bearing min 16 max 344 gt lt gain value 200 gt lt bearing gt lt bearing min 345 max 349 gt lt gain value 3 gt lt bearing gt lt bearing min 350 max 354 gt lt gain value 0 gt lt bearing gt lt bearing min 355 max 359 gt lt gain val RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Lue 3 gt Page 78 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 79 lt bearing gt lt elevation gt lt elevation min 11 max 90 gt lt bearing min 0 max 359 gt lt gai
150. rmware has been loaded To load the firmware into the hardware via USB the impact utility is used In the oga directory run the script load_ceb_XXX sh for the desired CEB resource profile For the DDBs the same load_all_ddbs sh script is always used Note that other scripts may be provided for upgrading your system or other purposes please refer to the specific instructions given with the firmware being loaded These scripts each take a few minutes to run The orange LED will light on each board as it is being pro grammed or when it is not programmed When the board is correctly programmed only the green LED will be active When the CEB has been loaded it is ready to use and will be detected by RFview The DDBs however require the Set Resource Profile message to be sent to correctly configure their sampling rates and DDB IDs This message is automatically sent when the Initialize button in RFview is pressed Page 12 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 7 Basic Concepts Page 13 7 Basic Concepts This section provides an overview of the system components typical workflow high level concept used through RFview best practices and a single reference for where major functions features can be found Again RFnest is a complex system which requires careful planning and verification to use successfully Understanding this section and the features used by your scenario is critical to success a
151. rt in the frequency group The system cannot determine which ports should shouldn t be transmitting etc and so flags all of them with an alert status Page 77 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 78 11 5 Antenna Pattern Files To set antenna pattern for a node refer to section 2 on how to create edit a radio Antenna type 1 An tennal pat is the default omnidirectional antenna other patterns apply to directional antennas and should have a corresponding antenna pattern file in the cec antenna folder These patter files should follow EMANE antenna pattern file format and have to be named antenna xml where X is the number starting with 2 i e antenna2 xml corresponding to the desired pattern number selected in RFview Below is an example of the EMANE antenna pattern file format For more information please refer to the EMANE manual at http downloads pf itd nrl navy mil docs emane emane pdf lt xml version 1 0 encoding UTF 8 gt lt DOCTYPE antennaprofile SYSTEM file usr share emane dtd universalphyantennaprofile dtd gt lt antennaprofile gt lt antennapattern gt lt elevation min 90 max 16 gt lt bearing min 0 max 359 gt lt gain value 200 gt lt bearing gt lt elevation gt lt elevation min 15 max 11 gt lt bearing min 0 max 5 gt lt gain value 0 gt lt bea
152. rties Platform Type Mobiity Model Fiel A Platform Type Category Radios assigned to this Platform Radio ID Radio Type Group ID Physical Port Example_radio_type unassigned A new radio will be added to the Radios assigned to this Platform list Too add additional radios click Add Radio button again Double click on the lt New Radio gt field in the Radio ID column to change the name of the radio N DBD OF pH Double click on the field under the Radio Type column to set the radio type from the drop down menu 8 Click Save to same platform Page 25 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 26 8 3 5 Placing Multiple Radios at Different Locations on a Platform It is often desirable to place radios on a platform at different locations for example to allow REnest to accu rately represent the relative phases of the signal each radio receives in this case To accomplish this multiple radio types must be created one per unique offset orientation relative to the platform For example if one WiFi radio is attached on each wing of a certain type of remote controlled airplane two radio types must be created with identical settings except for their lateral offsets The platform must then have two radios attached each with the respective types as shown in the Figure below where radi
153. ry pressing the Record new signal button several times eventually a signal may be captured Once captured observe the power level in the plots The plots should show the same signal as that captured when the transmitting radio s input signal was being verified to be at the correct power level at the ADC In the frequency domain right plot the spectral shape should be clean and match that expected Assuming cables are attached correctly the cables haven t failed this is not unheard of and the internal and external attenuation don t cause the signal to have a SNR below that required by the radio communication should work The path starting from the DAC cannot in general be verified by the system alone In cases where the signal is strong enough and or the transmitting radio is transmitting continuously the cable entering the receiving radio can instead be attached to another Rx port on the system allowing the final signal level to be measured by the system itself Note that the input gain of the system needs to be considered if this technique is used 9 7 2 Verifying Radio Isolation After the radios are able to communicate it must be confirmed that the radios are actually communicating via the system and not via the leakage paths shown in Figure 1 In other words the radios may not be communicating via the system at all they may only be communicating via leakage meaning that the radio operation has not been verified Al
154. s necessary to prevent the input signal from being too high The Min AGC is shown as a reference only and is not a constraint If the AGC goes below this value the output signals for some or all ports will be somewhat weaker than they should be because the output gains cannot be increased enough to compensate for the low input gains The AGC will remain below the maximum value until the system calculates that returning to the valid range will not cause the input signal levels to significantly exceed 2 dBm Note that the ability of the AGC to violate the Min AGC value is not intended to be used as a safety mechanism where the user causes signal levels to be too high and is only to prevent AGC induced high signal levels 9 The AGC alerts or lack thereof refer to the AGC state not the input signal levels of all ports In other words the alerts are generated when the AGC is at or near the Min and Max AGC The alerts are not generated when the input signal levels of some ports are satisfactory and other ports are far too low It is up to the user to monitor the AGC behavior to ensure that the input gains are set correctly at the start of the scenario and to understand the implications of using the AGC 10 When the AGC is too low i e a port has too high of a transmit power the generated alert will indicate the offending ports s 11 When the AGC is too high i e all ports transmit powers are too low the alert will be generated for each po
155. s to create Platforms Platform Types need to already be established and now instances of platform types can be created as nodes in the scenario Once the platforms air vehicles ground vehicles dismounted persons are added to the scenario as platforms then they can be configured with radios 8 3 1 Create new platform Page 22 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 23 1 Click on the Create new platform button on the Platforms tab Groups 2 The Platform Configuration window will pop up Platform Configuration x Platform ID PLATFORM 000001 4bf0ae42d0 Display name Starting yaw pl deg Starting pitch Po o deg Starting roll pol deg Platform type properties Platform Type Mobility Model Icon name default Platform lt Fixed Wing Drone png Radios assigned to this Platform Radio ID Radio Type Group ID Physical Port Platform Type Category Remove radio Input platform name in the Display Name field Input starting yaw in degrees in the Starting Yaw field Input starting pitch in degrees in the Starting Pitch field Input starting roll in degrees in the Starting Roll field Set platform type from the Platform Type drop down menu Add radios to the platform see Section 8 3 4 VOD 0 N HD oO EF Q Click
156. s value is set to N the first N dB of loss will be assumed to have already been applied by the user and subtracted from the channel applied digitally 7 D Series Only Set the Output Attenuation to the desired output analog attenuation This serves to lower the power level sent to the radio in 10 dB increments effectively shifting the dynamic range of the system The specified output attenuation will be automatically adjusted based on per port system calibration data before being applied to the hardware Adjusting this value over writes any manual settings of the output gain field via the Port Status tab 8 D Series Only The Frequency Calibration is automatically calculated based on the system calibra tion data to compensate for the RF frequency response of the system 9 The Transmit Power Offset TPO used in the scenario is then calculated automatically 10 D Series Only The Desired Auto Level Power should be set to the target value used by the Signal Tool s auto level function and Automatic Gain Control if enabled Typically the value should be Page 28 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 29 left at 0 dBm 11 D Series Only If Automatic Gain Control is desired check the box to enable it This function is for radios or other devices where their transmit power varies See Section 11 4 for instructions before enabling this feature interp
157. same value displayed in the Port Status widget for the ports If the highest input signal level deviates from the Desired Auto Level Power typically 0 dBm the Page 74 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 75 AGC will adjust accordingly Ideally the highest value among all input signal levels reported is always within 1 2 dB of the Desired Auto Level Power The other values may be lower For ports with a lower input signal level the digitization of the RF signal will be less optimal Since the input signal levels are on a separate Y axis scale they should not be expected to coincide with the absolute values of the AGC lines with the exception that a relative change in one will trigger a corresponding relative change in the other By looking at this graph it can be observed that the AGC decreases when the input signal level exceeds 0 dBm The Desired Auto Level Power in this example and increases when all input signal levels are below 0 dBm Note that the input signal level measurements at approximately 40 dBm are those of a spectrum analyzer which was acting as a receiver only A signal level at or below 40 dBm typically indicates that only ambient noise and not an actual signal is being received on a given port The input signal levels can be used by the user to determine what the behavior of the radios is and identify whether some or al
158. scenario has been configured to use in the scenario In order for the scenario to work correctly the radios must actually be connected to the matching port in this list and the radio must be operating at the frequency configured While viewing this dialog double check that this is the case NOTE If a given radio is not behaving as expected return to the Port Configuration Summary and re verify the radio is on the right port and is at the right frequency as this is a common source of errors Port Configuration These parameters will be sent to the hardware during initialization Port Num Radio Id Platform Virtual RadioType Center Freg Bandwidth ORadio 0 Platform A wifi 2 462GHz 2 46GHz 1 Radio 1 Platform B wifi 2 462GHz 2 46GHz 2 Radio 2 Platform C ifi 2 462GHz 2 46GHz 33 3 i 2 462GHz 2 46GHz 44 T 2 462GHz 2 46GHz 55 ifi 2 462GHz 2 46GHz 66 ifi 2 462GHz 2 46GHz 77 T 2 462GHz 2 46GHz 88 i 2 462GHz 2 46GHz 99 ifi 2 462GHz 2 462GHz 2 462GHz 3 361 9 2 Port Status D Series Only The Port Status panel helps the user configure and view port specific parameters as well as to monitor and troubleshoot the system by identifying which ports are currently active and are seeing RF signals The user also has the ability to set alerts for specific conditions 1 Select the Port Status tab Page 43 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 9 Attaching Verifying Calibrating and Opera
159. ses the auto leveling may incorrectly succeed For example if the radio is generating a very strong input signal and the input gain is set very high the ADC will saturate and essentially random values will be sampled This will confuse the auto leveling To ensure this did not occur look at the frequency domain right plot If the shape of the spectrum does not match that expected and or is very flat and hairy in appearance the ADC may be saturated Enter an input gain that is 10 20 dB lower and re run the auto leveling NOTE At times a 0 dBm input power may be unachievable If this is the case the desired power used by the auto level function can be adjusted This value is found in the Group Configuration dialog under the Calibration tab for that radio s frequency group Once adjusted auto level can be run and will instead try to achieve the new power level In general the user should attempt to achieve a 0 dBm input power at the ADC Ultimately it is up to the user to decide whether the input gain is set correctly and fine tune the value manually using the Port Status widget as appropriate Note that the success failure of the auto leveling is only for the user s benefit the system may still function normally if auto leveling reports failure but the signal s input power and the configured input gain are observed to be correct The signal can be manually recorded and viewed by changing the mode in the signal tool to Record Replay
160. sic Scenario Attributes Page 30 1 To lock the map view and follow a platform select a platform and click on the blue Platform button on the map toolbar esa ma 2 To have the map zoom in and out to show all platforms throughout the scenario click on the Lock button on the map toolbar 8 6 Overlay Tab The Overlay tab allows the map overlay layers to be enabled disabled reordered and configured 1 To enable disable an overlay layer click on the checkbox next to the overlay layer s name in the list This is useful if a particular overlay is not relevant or creates too much visual clutter 2 To re order the overlay drawing order simply click on and drag the overlay name to a new position in the list Overlays are drawn in order from top to bottom and some overlays may partially obscure others The order configuration provides a means to address conflicts clutter without completely disabling an overlay layer 3 To view edit the settings for an overlay select the overlay and size the overlay tab such that the settings below the list pane are visible Page 30 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 31 a Overlays Gain and Distance Platform 12 Group Group0 12 2 400GHz Link AirToAir Pathloss dB 10 100 1000 Distance Meters 8 7 Platforms Overlay This menu allows t
161. so be launching using a manual classpath using the following command java cp lt classpath gt com iai rfnest workbench AppMain Page 7 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 6 Optional Configuration Page 8 5 7 Selecting a Resource Profile D Series Only When RFview is started a prompt may appear indicating the hardware was not detected and asking the user to select a resource profile If RFview is being run without the hardware e g to define a scenario analyze recorded data from a prior run demonstrate a recorded run etc the user should select the resource profile that was or will be used to create the scenario RFview will then operate as if the hardware is configured with the chosen resource profile If the user is intending to run RFview with the hardware the presence of this prompt is an indication that RFview did not receive a response when the hardware was queried Check that all boards have only their green LED lit on the front panel If this is the case then the network connectivity between the hardware and the PC or the multicast route on the PC is not correct 5 8 Verifying System Operation Once RF view has started the following demonstrate the system is fully operational 1 RFview does NOT prompt the user to select a resource profile unless the hardware is not intended to be used 2 D Series Only The bottom status bar in RFview indicates a blue circle for the
162. stem requires associating physical hardware ports with radios in the scenario cabling the radios to the system setting the transmit power of the radios verifying input power levels verifying connectivity verifying isolation setting the calibration monitoring power levels tuning gain thresholds and creating alerts to monitor radio behavior RFview contains a number of features to facilitate this process however this step requires patience and careful planning NOTE Radio transmit powers may fluctuate over time for example due to overheating unpredictable behavior or other radio quirks The same is true for a radio s receive chain If the radio appears to be suddenly not transmitting or receiving as expected and the steps in this section do not resolve the problem or produce results which do not seem to make sense the radio itself should be verified by connecting it to a spectrum analyzer to verify transmit power or to another radio via an RF cable and appropriate attenuators to verify the radio is sending and receiving correctly Page 42 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 9 Attaching Verifying Calibrating and Operating Radios in the System Page 43 9 1 Port Configuration Summary The Port Configuration Summary dialog can be viewed by clicking on the Ports icon or going to Hard ware Ports in the menu This dialog provides a quick reference to the port and frequency each radio in the
163. t Page 47 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 9 Attaching Verifying Calibrating and Operating Radios in the System Page 48 gt RFview Alerts Alert Notification for loss of DCU Updates This alert indicates that the no DCU notifications have been P received for the assigned port or ports This can potentially indicate problems in the local network configuration or that the CEC has crashed 3 Set desired timeout length for the DCU notifications in the Timeout Length field 4 Click OK to save the alert or Cancel to cancel 9 3 4 Create Automatic Gain Control Out of Range alert This is an alert that will trigger if RFview s AGC logic if enabled approaches the minimum or maximum value These values are automatically determined see Section 11 4 If the AGC approaches the minimum value an alert is generated for the offending port s If the AGC approaches the maximum value an alert is generated for all ports in the frequency group 1 Select Automatic Gain Control Out of Range from the Rules drop down menu 2 Click New to create new alert Alert Notification for input or output power out of range for A _ This alert indicates that the transmit power of a port or ports is is exceed the acceptable bounds This can indicate an initial configuration problem for a particular port Timeout Length 10 0 s Tolerance
164. t a given transmit power or a way to significantly reduce the input signal level The input gain stage can only decrease the input level by 9 dB while it can increase the input level by 39 dB Thus the radio s transmit power should fluctuate such that the signal level is either at the desired input strength i e 20 dBm in which case the system will set the input gain to approximately 0 dB or below the desired input strength Page 72 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 73 e g 40 dBm in which case the system will apply a significant input gain The AGC cannot successfully attenuate a signal that is significantly too strong When a radio or other device capable of transmitting above 1 mW is attached this includes almost any radio attenuators rated for the radio s maximum transmit power must be used prior to the signal entering the system If the radio has a single transmit receive connector and a splitter is used be sure a very strong signal is not unintentionally entering the system through the output RF cable 5 With the radios transmitting continuously or at least once per second at the safe highest power de scribed in the previous step set the input gains as described in Section 9 6 2 Note that it is best to use the Signal Tool s auto leveling function when AGC is going to be used since the system will con tinuously invoke this functio
165. t in test Self test and RF Chain Calibration D Series Only The Built in Test BIT enables the user to check the current functionality of the hardware as well as generate a calibration file Note that each test requires a specific hardware configuration and RF cabling In most cases test should be run individually for this reason The first four tests are digital only and should be used with resource profile 2 loaded The remaining tests are RF based and should be run with resource profile 1 or 3 loaded and the standard hardware_props xml must be replaced with the contents of the hardware_props xml for_bits file and RF view restarted The dialog itself is described below followed by the meanings and proper setup and execution of each BIT 12 1 Using the Built in Test Dialogs 1 Initialize the current scenario If a scenario is already playing stop the scenario and then re initialize the scenario The BIT menu entry will now be available 2 Select the built in self test utility by clicking on Hardware menu and selecting Self Test The fol lowing dialog will appear Page 94 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 12 Built in test Self test and RF Chain Calibration D Series Only Page 95 Begin Test stop current scenario first if running v All Tests V Rx Chain Test verify mode v RFDB Loopback Test verify mode v RF Leakage Test v ADC Noise Test 4 200
166. tc Each node in the system needs an assigned platform type 8 1 1 Create platform type 1 Open the platform type editor a Clicking on Tools and selecting Platforms from the menu b Clicking on Platforms button on the main toolbar Platforms 2 If no platform types exist the widget will automatically pop up a Platform Types window 3 If previously created platform type s exist the user must click on New or use the CTRL MN keyboard shortcut to bring up the Platform Types window a RFview Platform Types Platform Types From this window custom platform types can be created and used in the scenario PA Example_name 4 Input platform type name in the Name field 5 Set mobility model from the Mobility Model drop down menu Page 16 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 17 e If KTG mobility is chosen user will also need to select a model for KTG mobility from the Model for KTG mobility drop down menu See Section 11 12 for more details on KTG 6 Set the platform to be Air or Ground node using the Air Ground drop down menu e If KTG mobility model is selected the platform will automatically be set as an aerial node 7 Set the icon for the platform type from the Map Icon drop down menu 8 Click OK to save platform type
167. ternatively the radios may be communicating via the system when the channel gain is high but when the channel gain is low the radios may still be able to communicate via the leakage and thus preventing the link from being broken correctly by the scenario To verify isolation simply return to the Channel Properties Editor with the link between the two radios still selected Now adjust the gain to 200 Unless the TPO is set to an extremely high value i e above 104 this will cause the system to digitally break the channel Absolutely no signal will reach the receiving Page 57 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 9 Attaching Verifying Calibrating and Operating Radios in the System Page 58 radio via the channel After setting the gain to 200 attempt to get the two radios to communicate If the radios can still communicate then they are communicating via leakage To eliminate system leakage as a possibility disconnect the RF cables for one or both of the radios from the system but leave the cables in approximately the same position as if they were connected If the radios can still communicate the communication is happening via over the air leakage Otherwise they are communicating via system leakage In this case verify the input power at the Rx connector on the transmitting radio s port If this power level minus the system isolation worst case is 60 dB minus the lesser of the attenuation l
168. th a timeout threshold of 10 05 Rx Alert on port s 1 2 3 4 with a timeout threshold of 10 0s DCU Notifications Stopped Alert on 10 0s channel update timeout j 7 Ta rules 1 Click on the Rules drop down menu to select a type of alert to set 2 Click New to create a new alert Edit to modify an existing alert and Delete to remove an existing alert 9 3 1 Create Tx Stopped alert D Series Only This is an alert that will trigger if a specific port will stop sensing a transmit signal 1 Select Tx Stopped from the Rules drop down menu 2 Click New to create a new alert Page 45 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 9 Attaching Verifying Calibrating and Operating Radios in the System Page 46 a RFview Alerts Alert Notification for loss of Tx _ This alert indicates that the assigned port or ports have stopped O transmitting packets This can potentially indicate problems in the local network configuration Group Groupo X Ports Selected K M K O El O TE A 3 Set the length of time without a Tx signal that will trigger the alert in the Timeout Length field 4 Select the group of ports from the Group drop down menu 5 Select desired ports by checking the checkboxes in the Selected column of the Ports table 6 Click OK to save the alert or Cancel
169. the system calculates the minimum and maximum AGC values that can be used without violating the ability for the system to offset the AGC The AGC only operates when the scenario is running When the scenario is started by pushing the play button the AGC automatically examines the current gain settings and re calculcates the Min Max and Current AGC values for each frequency group where AGC is enabled The AGC then begins adjusting the gains When the scenario is stopped all gains revert back to the original values set prior to the scenario being played If the scenario is paused the AGC stops collecting or analyzing input signal levels until the scenario is resumed 11 4 1 Using AGC To use AGC follow the following steps 1 Configure the scenario as usual and use the Group Configuration dialog Section 8 4 to add several radios to create a frequency group 2 Run the scenario without using AGC verify everything is correct It is not recommended to use AGC until the normal operation of the radios in the system without AGC has been successful 3 Initialize the system 4 Carefully configure the radios to operate at the highest transmit power they will use during the scenario Note that the ideal safe input signal level at the SMA connector is approximately 20 dBm Prolonged input levels above 10 dBm may damage the system especially if the input gains are set incorrectly The AGC is not a substitute for correctly operating a
170. ting Radios in the System Page 44 DEDA Selected Port D 9 co ca A 090 a 090 Configuration Scenario RxTx Properties Radio o H o Ka co Platform Bandwidth NENE L d L gt L a L 5 L 3 a BH d L gt L ee de de de Frequency 2 On the right half the activity status for all ports is shown at a high level 3 Click on the desired port to see the port s status 4 Click on the Scenario tab to see scenario parameters and settings which radio is assigned to this port the platform that this radio port I assigned to and the bandwidth and frequency settings 5 Click on the Rx Tx tab to see the time of time since the last signal was sent and received and the power and frequency of the last transmitted signal 6 gains and configure the long delay if applicable to that port 9 3 Alerts To set alerts click on Alerts button or use Alt A keyboard shortcut Page 44 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 9 Attaching Verifying Calibrating and Operating Radios in the System Page 45 O RFview Alerts nox Alert Notifications From this window custom alert notifications can be assigned to the scenario M notifying the operator when loss of connectivity is detected To create a new Alert select the Alert Rule from the combo box below and press New Tx Alert on port s 1 2 3 4 wi
171. too high Reduce the output gain decrease the external attenuation present or choose cables with less loss To verify the output signal is reaching the receiving radio and determine its power a spectrum analyzer can be used Attach the spectrum analyzer in place of the receiving radio or split off the signal using an additional splitter Tune the spectrum analyzer to the frequency used by the radios and observe the power level If the radios do not transmit continuously it may be useful to use the Max Hold function of the spectrum analyzer to assist in measuring the power when the radios are transmitting This function is usually available under the Trace menu on the spectrum analyzer If a spectrum analyzer is not available in the D Series the signal can also be viewed digitally within the system prior to passing through the DAC and the internal attenuator on its way out the Tx connector To do this use the Signal Tool and select the receiving radio Select Record Replay for the mode and Noise for the sub type Under Trigger Condition select Receive There is no need to choose a radio in the drop down next to receive as this is ignored for recordings Now press Record new signal This instructs the system to record the digital signal about to leave the Tx port and to start recording only when a signal is present If the signal is blank or only a straight line is shown the transmitting radio may not be transmitting T
172. tor on another port This issue is explained in more detail in the following sub sections e Appropriate gain and transmit power offset configuration The system must be configured with appropriate input and output gains for the radios and scenario to function The system must also be aware of the difference between the radio s current transmit power and the power the radio uses in the field as well as the amount of attenuation applied externally to signals generated by the hardware This configuration is also explained in more detail in the following sub sections 3dBm Transmit 3dB Approx 23 Power splitter dBminput 1 loss power i 20 dB attenuators a m m m m e 90 to 120 dB depending on frequenqy shielding ee heed pa va r Figure 1 Understanding cabling gains and leakage in the D Series Hardware NOTE For the A Series a splitter is not required if the radio attached has a single combined Tx Rx connector Page 53 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 9 Attaching Verifying Calibrating and Operating Radios in the System Page 54 9 6 Choosing External Attenuation Setting Gains and Calibrating Radios The next step in correctly operating radios with the system is to achieve the needed input power on the Rx ports and to determine the desired dynamic range of the system based on the receive sensitivity of the radios under test and the intended scenario
173. ts being tested Entering start port 0 and end port 7 After the test completes move the output cables on the splitter to the Rx connectors on ports 8 to 15 and re run with those ports specified as the start and end ports Repeat the same process for ports 16 to 23 12 10 1 Handling Failure This test will fail for the same reasons as the CV Doppler test if RF cables are incorrectly connected or if the system is out of calibration If a few failures occur manually update the calibration files signals tests in sertion_gain csv and signals tests insertion_gain_bit csv to adjust each failed port frequency in question by the observed error Be sure to update both files as the former is used during system operation and the latter is used to re verify the calibration using this test If the failures do not occur in the frequen cies ports in which the system is being used they can be ignored If a significant amount of failures occur the system should be re calibrated 12 11 Running the RFDB Loopback Test in Verify Mode This is a RF only test which verifies the calibration of the Tx chain on each port This test takes about 15 minutes to execute for a 24 node module All ports within the specified range are tested To run the test disconnect all radios from the Rx and Tx connectors on all ports on each DDB Connect a loopback cable from the Rx connector to the Tx connector on each port Next load the test24_rf xml scenario and
174. ual pdf Note that the above links are subject to change 2 Prerequisites 2 1 Supporting Equipment The following equipment is required e A modern PC laptop running a supported Linux OS and software dependencies see Section 2 2 Intel Core i7 8 GB RAM 10 GB disk space and a 1920x1080 display are recommended The system will operate with a less capable computer but may be sluggish crowded in more complex scenarios s D Series a Gigabit Ethernet switch a 10 100 Mbit only switch is not acceptable e A Series a 10 100 Mbit Ethernet switch a Gigabit switch is not acceptable e Ethernet cables at least 2 for A series 6 for D Series s D Series a 15A outlet s D Series a climate controlled room typical office temperatures are acceptable but the unit should not be used outdoors or in a room where temperatures exceed 75 degrees Fahrenheit e SMA male RF cables 1 per radio for A Series for D series at least 2 per radio 3 if using splitters RF splitters required if using radios with a single tx rx port with the D Series or radios with separate tx rx ports with the A Series Attenuators misc sizes typically 10 20 dB increments as needed to bring the input signal level to within spec and to lower the output power further if needed Shielding as needed to prevent radios from talking over the air may not be needed depending on radio type Various RF enclosures are commercially available e Spectrum analyzer optional f
175. ude Component of the Platform s location Required Longitude Contains the Longitude Component of the Platform s location Required Altitude Contains the Altitude Component of the Platform s location Required Example Output 000046 800 Type PositionUpdateEvent PlatformId PLATFORM 000001448e73b72a PlatformName AirVehiclel Latitude 36 526689764434366 Longitude 78 29770027512058 Altitude 2869 6838362611684 000046 900 Type PositionUpdateEvent PlatformId PLATFORM 000001448e73b72a PlatformName AirVehiclel Latitude 36 5267315051491 Longitude 78 29776604748575 Altitude 2869 405382919846 Page 80 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 81 RSSI Events are logged to the event deck each time an incoming RSSI message is received by the REview workbench Contents Name Description Type Always RssiEvent Required SourceRadio Contains the port number of the source radio of the link Required DestinationRadio Contains the port number of the destination radio of the link Required SignalStrength Contains the signal strength value of the given link Required Example Output 000046 198 Type RssiEvent SourceRadio 4 DestinationRadio 5 SignalStrength 110 000046 198 Type RssiEvent SourceRadio 6 DestinationRadio 7 SignalStrength 110 000046 199 Type RssiEvent SourceRadio 1 DestinationRadio 2 Signa
176. ured to allow data to be sent into the PC These ports are 45703 the default EMANE port 20010 and the range 20850 20870 The following commands can be run in RHEL7 to accomplish this and must be run at each boot of the system The firewall_setup sh script in the cec directory contains these commands and can be run in their place firewall cmd direct add rule ipv4 filter IN public allow 0 m udp pP udp dport 45703 J ACCEPT firewall cmd direct add rule ipv4 filter IN public allow 0 m udp p A udp dport 20010 J ACCEPT firewall cmd direct add rule ipv4 filter IN public allow 0 m udp p udp aport 20850 20870 ACCEPT 5 5 Running the CEC To start the CEC run the script run sh in the rfnest_cec directory This invokes the emaneeventd process with the appropriate settings The CEC should be run prior to RFview or other third party software otherwise the initial positions for stationary nodes in the scenario might not be received by the CEC when the scenario is started 5 6 RFview User Interface Startup To start the RFview user interface on Windows double click the rfview exe file Mac OS X users should drag the RFview bundle to their Applications folder Windows users should use the rfview exe executable Linux users should use the shell script rfview sh rfview sh To manually launch the RFview application type the following command java jar rfview jar REview can al
177. urrently in use and typically 15 20 dB of room to handle weaker input signals If more output attenuation is desired the user should add fixed attenuators external to the system on the output RF ca bles connected to the radios At 10 dB output attenuation a Max AGC of 38 dB the maximum achievable value is generally attained e To decrease the Min AGC setting the output attenuation to 10 dB is the first step as well If a lower value is still needed change the input gains so they are closer together To do this without negatively affecting performance add or remove attenuators to the input RF cable attached to the radios to adjust the levels If the radio attached to a port is acting only as a receiver set that port s input gain to the same as the transmitters input gains The Min AGC is constrained by the fact that all input gains are increased decreased in unison Thus whichever port has the lowest input gain at the start of the scenario is the limiting factor preventing a lower Min AGC from being possible since that gain can be decreased by the smallest amount before hitting the lowest possible input gain setting To change the Current AGC i e to move it away from the Min or Max to create more room simply adjust the input gain of the port in this frequency group with the highest input gain Note that after adjusting the input gains via the Port Status widget or auto leveling re entering the Group Configuration dialog w
178. ux to verify that the test is executing in cases where the progress bar is not moving for an extended period of time 12 2 Running the DDB Sync Test This is a combined digital and RF test which demonstrates the frequency synchronization among all DDBs in the system This test takes about 1 minute to execute While frequency synchronization would only not Page 95 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 12 Built in test Self test and RF Chain Calibration D Series Only Page 96 occur if the shared clock used by all DDBs failed unlikely this test is particularly useful as a quick test of the system in that it requires minimal setup and verifies the ability of the CEB all DDBs and the software to communicate correctly To run the test disconnect all radios from the Rx and Tx connectors on the top port on each DDB i e port 0 port 4 etc In their place connect a short RF cable which loops the signal back at each port in other words port 0 s Rx port is now connected to port 0 s Tx port port 4 s Rx port is now connected to port 4 s Tx port and so on No attenuators should be used Next load the test24 xml scenario and press the Initialize button in REview The test can now be selected from the Self Test dialog The port range entered should cover one or more DDB pairs Entering start port 0 and end port 23 will test all DDB pairs in a 24 node module and is the normal case The test operates b
179. view To send data points to the graph updates can be sent to the specified port as described in the RFnest API document As points are added old points are automatically removed Note that the automatic scaling of the X axis to allow data points to be sent at arbitrary intervals can cause the graph to be temporarily stretched compressed if data points are sent at highly irregular intervals Page 62 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics Page 63 Performance Graph Title Throughput Show Legend O Yes Neg Only if 2 Data Series Graph Properties for the Time axis X Time Axis Label time s Gridlines 8 None Auto X Axis Data Visible AIE Only 200 points Graph Properties for the Data axis Y Axis Type Linear Log100 Ln Log2 Gridlines 8 None Auto Data Series 1 Select Socket for data label A to B Tput bps Line Color MN Range 8 Autor Fixed from Olto Asis label B to C Tput bps 0 lto o sJa1yBi4 a dind 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 time Blue Fighters Purple Fighters 11 Advanced Analysis Tools and Topics 11 1 Adding Point Source Emitters and Background Noise D Series Only RFview supports the digital addition of additional RF sources via two methods point source emitters and Page 63 RFn
180. w Estimated RSSI Lines 3 Set the Group from the Group drop down menu 4 Set the link to AirtoAir GroundToGround or GroundToAir from the Link drop down menu 5 Select the color for the Good Fair and Poor link quality indicator by using the sliders Only the colors can be edited in this dialog The thresholds for determining when to color a link are configured in the Gain vs Distance Overlay 6 Check or uncheck the desired checkboxes to show or hide the Observed Expected and Estimated RSSI If unsure use the Expected option These options are described below Observed Link Quality e This value must be reported by the radios or other portions of the system under test e To show RSSI in RFview the user can send periodic updates to RFview s multicast address 224 1 2 208 on port 20860 using the format specified in the API e The RSSI indicator will be displayed until a new update is sent Expected Link Quality e Enable this link quality if unsure nothing else is available radios are not yet connected or the hardware is not present Page 36 RFnest User Guide v2 11 6 for RFview 2 11 D5 series and A208 Section 8 Creating the Basic Scenario Attributes Page 37 s The expected link quality is the quality that is expected to be present on the link based on the configured transmit power offset for the corresponding frequency group and the
181. which a given video stream can be played over the link with good quality To determine the thresholds if unknown first start the measuring technique to be used This may be a video application iperf etc Now use the Channel Property Editor to adjust the link between two radios to various levels Write down the values when the link quality changes based on the user s judgment Now enter these values into the Edit dialog in the Gain vs Distance Overlay for that radio s frequency group and sub type select the platform containing the radio then the radio s frequency group then the sub type After saving the new values change the Channel Property Editor back to automatic mode for that link allowing the system to automatically calculate these values based on distance Now move the two radios various distances apart The perceived link quality should change in conjunction with the radios moving outside each other s good fair poor circles and the link changing color If not re adjust the thresholds To precisely adjust the gain of a particular channel during this process the Channel Properties Editor tab can be used in manual mode Using the Channel Properties Editor the link color will update however the circles drawn will not correspond any longer since manual setting rather than distance based models are being used to calculate that link Repeat this process for each frequency group and sub type in use by the scenario While somewhat ti
182. y analog mode is enabled the basic models are disabled and no replacement model is responding to CCR messages etc Finally the test may also fail if the ambient temperature in which the system is operating is too high Itis almost certain that one of those problems is present if the test fails No other causes are known to be possible 12 3 Running the CV Doppler Test This is a digital only test which verifies the ability of the system to apply a Dopper shift to each channel This test takes about 15 minutes to execute in a 24 node system This test verifies that various Doppler shifts 4 kHz 60 kHz and 200 kHz are applied correctly Note that other Doppler shift values both positive and negative can be generated by the system but only these three values are tested by this test To run the test disconnect all radios from the Rx and Tx connectors on all ports on each DDB No RF cables need to be connected as this test is digital only however a loopback cable can be present on each port and will not affect the test Next load the test24 xml scenario and press the Initialize button in RFview The test can now be selected from the Self Test dialog The port range entered should cover the channels being tested Entering start port 0 and end port 23 will test all 276 channels in a 24 node module and is the normal case Note that since the channels are symmetric and the FFT used by this test is time consuming the channels are only tested in o
183. y requesting a 200 kHz Doppler shift be applied from the top ports among the DDBs within the selected range A signal is then automatically digitally injected similar to the functionality of the Signal Tool at the top port of one DDB and recorded at the top port of another DDB At the receiving DDB the signal loops through the RF chain of the port exiting the Tx bottom connector and entering the Rx top connector The test then verifies that the total shift does not deviate from the expected 200 kHz by more than the resolution of the FFT used by the test approximately 125 Hz 12 2 1 Handling Failure This test will fail if RFview and the CEC are not both running and cannot both communicate to the hardware or the hardware is not running Note that while the REview initialization button will not succeed unless the CEB has been successfully communicated with DDB communication errors may still be present If certain DDBs fail due to no response the user should use the Signal Tool to attempt to record a signal from one port on each DDB If the DDB does not respond at all communication to from that DDB is not occuring This test will also fail if the user does not attach a loopback RF cable to each top port of the DDBs being tested The test will also fail if a scenario besides the test24 xml scenario is loaded The test may also fail if the CEC s configuration is incorrect for example if the dopplerincrement parameter is not set correctl
184. ype GeometryChangeRequest Radiold Radiol RadioName Radiol Signal Tool Script events are generated for Signal Tool related script events Name Description Type Always SignalToolScriptEvent Required Mode Indicates the mode of the event Record or Replay Required Action Indicates the action of the event Start or Stop Required SubType Indicates the subtype of the event Port or Noise Required Triggerlmmediate Indicates if the event should triggered immediately Required TriggerRx If not null indicates the receive port of the event Required TriggerTx If not null indicates the transmit port of the event Required Length bes pase Ls Ra of the signal This field is only used Required Delay Contains the delay of the event Required Contains the filename for the signal When Mode is set to Record SignalFile the results will be saved here When Mode is set to Replay the signal Required will be loaded from here Example Output 000001 000 Type SignalToolScriptEvent Mode Record Action Stop SubType Noise Port null TriggerImmediate false TriggerRx null TriggerTx null Length 0 Delay 0 SignalFile null Delay Profile Script events will set the delay profile for a particular channel at the specified time Name Description Type Always DelayProfileScriptEvent Required RadiolName Indicates the name of the source radio of the link Re

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