About the Model Assignment Calculator

The quality of the network analysis within ASSET is inherently related to the quality
of the pathloss predictions, which depends mainly on the propagation models used.
In most cases, a specific model will be tuned for a specific environment (urban,
suburban, rural and so on). Where this is the case, it is important that the model used
for a cell matches the environmental characteristics surrounding the cell antenna, as
illustrated here:

The Model Assignment Calculator can assign propagation models based on customised Environment Type rules
The Model Assignment Calculator enables you to:
 Define different Environment Types (based mainly on the composition of clutter
surrounding each cell antenna), and which propagation model should relate to
each type
 Calculate which Environment Type (and therefore propagation model) is most
appropriate to each cell antenna
 Generate a report and, optionally, choose to Apply the model assignments to the
Site Database
Defining the Environment Types
Before using the Model Assignment Calculator for the first time, you should first
decide how many Environment Types should be defined for your network region.
Ideally, there should be one Environment Type per propagation model. When you
subsequently run the calculation, the defined rules will be used to determine which
Environment Type surrounds each cell antenna, and therefore which propagation
model is the most suitable.

If you intend to Apply the resulting model assignments to the Site Database, it is
wise to perform a Commit All on the Site Database beforehand. This would enable
you to perform a Restore All to return to the previous situation, if necessary.

Before creating Environment Types, it may be useful to look at the examples in

the following section.
To create Environment Types:
1 From the Tools menu, click Model Assignment Calculator.
2 In the dialog box that appears, click New:

3 Click on the Environment Type name:

4 Name the Environment Type (for example, FLAT URBAN, FLAT RURAL, OPEN
FIELD, HILLY RURAL, RURAL WITH FOREST and so on).
5 Click on the Unknown name in the Propagation Model column, and choose one of
the models from the drop-down list.
6 Click in the Clutter Names pane.
7 In the Clutter Types dialog box that appears, either:
 Select a single clutter type, and click OK.
- or -
 Select more than one clutter type, and click OK. Only do this if you want the
rule for this row to be based on the cumulative results of multiple selected
clutter types. For example, you may want the qualifying proportion of a cell's
'area of pixels' to derive from a combination of clutter types (similar to the
'GENERAL URBAN' example in the following section).
8 In the row containing the selected clutter type(s), you must now specify the rule,
consisting of an Operator, Percentage and Logical Operator:

When a rule is to be followed by another rule, the Logical Operator must be 'AND'
or 'OR', but when it the only rule or final rule, the Logical Operator must be 'END'.
9 If you want to add other rules (if appropriate), click again in the Clutter Names
pane, and continue until you have set up all the required rules that contribute to
the Environment Type definition.
10 Optionally, you can also incorporate height statistics into the rules (these have an
'AND' relationship with the clutter definitions).
11 Repeat the above steps for every Environment Type definition you require.
12 When you have finished, use the red Up/Down arrows to prioritise the
Environment Type definitions:

This becomes important in situations where, after the calculations have been
run, a cell antenna has more than one valid Environment Type. In this case, the
propagation model relating to the highest priority Environment Type will be
assigned if you subsequently intend to Apply the results to the Database.
You are now ready to run the calculation in the Model Assignment Calculator. See
Calculating the Environment Types for Cells on page 83.
Alternatively, you can close the dialog box, and run the calculation later. When you
click Close, you have the opportunity to save any changes to the Environment Type
definitions.
Example of Environment Type Definitions
As a simple illustration of setting up the Model Assignment Calculator, you may
want to define four Environment Types: “GENERAL URBAN”, “GENERAL
SUBURBAN”, “FLAT RURAL” and “HILLY RURAL”.
(These definitions may, for example, correspond with four different propagation
models available to the project.)
In this example, these four Environment Types could be defined as follows:
1. GENERAL URBAN = TRUE if (urban + open_in_urban) >= 70%
2. GENERAL SUBURBAN = TRUE if suburban_residential >= 70%
3. FLAT RURAL = TRUE if open_rural_land >= 60% AND average height < 100m
4. HILLY RURAL = TRUE if open_rural_land >= 60% AND average height >= 100m
The following two examples show how the first and last of the above definitions can
be specified in the Model Assignment Calculator:

Example of Rule Definition: GENERAL URBAN = TRUE if (urban + open_in_urban) >= 70%
In the above example, the "GENERAL URBAN" Environment Type would be
assigned for a cell if the calculated proportion of its 'area of pixels' attained by the
cumulative results of urban + open_in_urban clutter types amounts to 70% or more.

Example of Rule Definition: HILLY RURAL = TRUE if open_rural_land >= 60% AND average height >= 100m
In the above example, the "HILLY RURAL" Environment Type would be assigned for
a cell if the calculated proportion of its 'area of pixels' attained by the open_rural_land
clutter type amounts to 60% or more, AND the average height of those pixels is 100m
or more.

Calculating the Environment Types for Cells

After you have set up the Environment Types, you can use the Model Assignment
Calculator to calculate the most 'appropriate' Environment Type for each cell antenna
within the selected filter, using the defined rules.

If you want to use cells from a Map View, ensure you have the appropriate view
open.
To run the calculation:
1 From the Tools menu, click Model Assignment Calculator (unless you already
have the dialog box open).
2 In the bottom pane of the dialog box:

Select which cells you want to include by choosing either:

 'Cells in view'. Then click the Select View button, and then click on the Map
View that you want to use.
- or -
 'Cells in filter'. Then select the required filter from the drop-down list.
3 Select whether you want to use cell-specific values or generic values by choosing
either:
 'Use radius and resolution as specified in the Site Database'.
- or -
 'Specify radius and resolution'. Then type the required values.
4 Click Calculate.
When the calculations have finished, you can generate and view a report with all the
results. See Generating the Model Assignment Report on page 84.
 When you close the Model Assignment Calculator dialog box, you can save any
changes made to the Environment Type definitions, therefore the definitions are
retained when you reopen the dialog box. However, the calculation results are not
saved, so each time you reopen the dialog box, you would need to reselect which cells
to include, and then click Calculate. (The Report and Apply to Database buttons are
always inactive when you reopen the dialog box, and only become active after you
run a calculation.)

Generating the Model Assignment Report

After you have run the calculation in the Model Assignment Calculator, you can
generate a report to review the results.
To do this:
1 In the bottom pane of the Model Assignment Calculator dialog box, click Report.
2 Specify the required report format.
3 Click OK.
A report is generated, detailing the calculated relationships between cell antennas and
Environment Types (and the associated propagation models).
Here is a simplified example of the report:

Example of Model Assignment Calculator Report

In situations where a cell antenna has more than one valid Environment Type, the
report would display more than one row for that cell antenna. In cases where a cell
antenna has no valid Environment Types, the report displays the Environment Type
as 'No Match'.
If you are satisfied with the results in the report, you can Apply the results to the Site
Database. See Applying the Model Assignments to the Site Database on page 84.

Applying the Model Assignments to the Site Database

Optionally, after calculating the Environment Types and reviewing the report, you
can choose to Apply the results to the Site Database. This will assign the propagation
models (that were associated with the Environment types) to the cells.

It is wise to perform a Commit All on the Site Database before you Apply Results.
This would enable you to perform a Restore All to return to the previous situation, if
necessary.
To Apply the results from the Model Assignment calculations:
1 In the bottom pane of the Model Assignment Calculator dialog box, click Apply to
Database.
2 In the dialog box that appears, confirm that you want to update the Site Database
with the propagation model assignments.
This will update the propagation model for each cell antenna on the Antennas tab in
the Site Database. Here is an example:

Example of propagation model assigned in Site Database by the Model Assignment Calculator

In situations where a cell antenna has more than one valid Environment Type, the
propagation model relating to the highest priority Environment Type will be
assigned. The prioritisation arrows are mentioned in Defining the Environment Types
on page 80.