FASPRO: fast computer tool for the analysis of propagation in mobile communications

FASPRO is an accurate and extremely efficient tool to perform deterministic analysis of propagation in urban picocells and microcells. A fully 3D propagation model is considered. The topographical input data are based on a 3D plane-facets model of the urban environment, which is given in terms of DXF or IGES files. FASPRO is able to read DXF files from most of the CAGD and topographical tools. In addition, FASPRO has its own facility to create new urban scenes. FASPRO visualizes the geometry on the screen as a 2D map of the urban scene or a 3D isoparametric view. The electromagnetic analysis is performed using uniform theory of diffraction (UTD) techniques. First order coupling mechanisms (direct, reflected and edge-diffracted rays), second order coupling mechanisms (double reflected, reflected-diffracted, diffracted-reflected, double diffracted) and third order mechanisms (e.g. reflected-diffracted-reflected) are included. It is important to highlight that, thanks to the incorporation of the diffraction in all the edges of the 3D model, coverage in areas of the deep shadow of the transmitter antenna can be predicted well. A new ray-tracing algorithm is used to speed-up the computations. This ray-tracing algorithm, called Angular Z-Buffer (AZB), is based on a modification of the Z-Buffer and the bounding volumes schemes, in which the elements are arranged in an angular map.