RF propagation tool for range estimation

[Christian22]

Hello,

I wanted to do a rough estimation of max. range between two nRF52840 with ZigBee and BLE with and without coded Phy, for various environments (indoor, outdoor, indoor to outdoor) and with different antennas. And in future I want to do the same for NB-IoT. It is only to get an impression of the range for different use cases.

Are there RF simulation tools or calculators you can recommend for NLOS application?

In the tool it should be possible to place obstructions with different materials and different dimensions in different distances between the transmitter and the receiver (such as brick walls or trees). Furthermore, of course, it would be nice if the tool is possible simulate different interferences like diffraction, reflection, shading, ...

I would be grateful if you can recommend an easy to use NLOS calculator with less features and a more complex tool which uses for example a numerical approach.

Thanks in advance.

Best regards,

Christian

[ketiljo]

Other than online calculators to find the path loss and the transmission budget, I'm not aware of any simulation tools that will give you a more accurate result. Make sure you have at least 10 dB margin outdoors and another 10 dB indoors, depending on the material used in the walls etc. 

[Christian22]

Thanks for your answer. That's a pity. I thought with the right tool I have to do real measurements only for a few environments and can simulate the majority.

Are all the online calculators based the Friis transmission formula only or do some calculators use a different approach?

Could you please share some links to the online calculators you prefer?

Thanks in advance

[Jimmy Wong]

HI, 

I used the two nrF52840 DK with difference coded for showing the RSSI and Packet error rate.

You can find at https://github.com/jimmywong2003/nrf52-ble-range-estimator.

Meanwhile, you can find the online calculator from Bluetooth SIG.

https://www.bluetooth.com/bluetooth-technology/range/#estimator

[Christian22]

Hi Jimmy,

Thank you very much for the links. In fact, I have already planned to use your application for some PER based range measurements but the online calculator from the Bluetooth SIG is new to me. It at least takes into account different environments whereby the environment models of course are only a very rough estimation.

Do you also know similar calculators for ZigBee and NB-IoT as I mentioned in the original post?

[Jimmy Wong]

Hi,

Nordic did some blog to describe about the Zigbee, NBIOT.

You can use it for your reference.  

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/nordic/nordic-blog/b/blog/posts/nrf52840-dk-range-testing-with-ble-zigbee-and-thread-protocols-at-0-4-and-8dbm-transmit-power-settings

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/nordic/nordic-blog/b/blog/posts/field-testing-how-distance-affects-the-behavior-of-lte-m-and-nb-iot

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/nordic/nordic-blog/b/blog/posts/summer-challenge-the-1000m-long-zigbee-link