G-NetLook Pro is an Android app for mobile network optimization.
It can be used for visualization of mobile network, G-NetTrack Pro
logfiles postprocessing, neighbor cells planning and antenna tilt
adjustment.
Here is a video demonstration of G-NetLook Pro
Here is a video showing planning of multi technology wireless network using G-NetLook Pro
Using application you can:
- view basestations locations and sector azimuths
- visualize neighbor relations and spot missing or unnecessary neighbor relations
- open and analyze G-NetTrack logfiles
- see charts for different measurements
- see measurement statistics
- see height profile between serving cell and measurement point
- automatically plan neighbor cells and detect missing neighbor cells
- automatically calculate antenna tilts
There are five tabs with different information - MAP, CELL, LOG, CHART and
Height Profile. The information displayed on each tab is
MAP tab shows the network basestations and logfile measurement points. The controls on this tab are:
- Tab selector - for changing tabs. Tabs can also be changed via horizontally sliding
- Thematic map drop down menu - when logfile is loaded, the thematic maps can be changed via this menu. You have to wait till the thematic map is redrawn.
- Cell Search - when cell data is loaded a specific cell can be find typing the cellname in search area
- Move Forward button - for moving in forward direction through logfile measurements
- Move Backwards button - for moving backwards through logfile measurements
- Play/Pause - for automatically moving forward through logfile measurements
- Legend - changes automatically based on the selected themeatic map
- Floorplan selector - available only when floorplans are loaded
CELL tab shows following information:
- first row - information about number of cells and neighbor relations in cellfile and neifile
- selected cell information - shows information about currently selected cell. Cell can be selected in two ways - from map (when click on cellname or middle of cell line) or when search for cell through Cell Search control.
- neighbor cell information - shows neighbor relations, technology of neighbor cells and layer of neighbor cells
On CELL tab there are also buttons for starting features like:
- CELL COVERAGE - export of antenna beamwidth planes in kml format for
visualization in Google Earth. See demo video -
here
The kml file contains three planes:
- central (max power) - angle=tilt
- upper (-3dB) - angle = tilt-verticalbeamwidth/2
- lower (-3dB) - angle = tilt+verticalbeamwidth/2
- NEIGHBORS ANALYZER - this feature can be used in two ways:
- for automatic neighbor cells planning - if neighbors cells
are not defined
- for missing neighbor cells detection - if there are already
defined neighbor cells
See video demo -
here
- TILT OPTIMIZER - for antenna tilt automatic calculation
See video demo -
here
LOG tab shows information about currently selected measurement point.
Additionally the following values are calculated (when cell data is available and loaded before the logfile is loaded):
- serving distance - the distance between serving cell and measurement point
- serving bearing - the absolute value of the angle between serving cell azimuth and line between serving cell and measurement point - usually this angle is 0-90 degrees. Bigger values usually indicate swapped feeders on a site.
- serving antenna height - the height of the antenna on the serving cell
Here chart representation of different measurement entities are visible.
In this tab the height profile between serving cell and measurement point is visible.
In this tab the measurement statistics presented as histogram charts are
visible.
- Map type
- Show Traffic
- Show Buildings
- SHow Inddor
- Load only sites in view - adjust the map view before loading site data in order to filter the loaded cells. Use this when you have a big number of cells in your cellfile
- Show Cell Names
- Cell Size
- Cells Font Size
- Cell Thickness
- Neighbor Cell Line thickness
- Point Size
- Serving Cell Line thickness
- Serving Cell Font Size
- Log Reduction Factor m- USe this to reduce the number of measurement points. If it is set to 10, every 10th measurement point will be loaded.
Check or uncheck different technologies and layers cells to show or hide them on the map.
- Include missing neighbors in export - check it if you want missing neighbors to be exported in text and kml export files.
- Use custom online data URL - check it if you want to use external database for log data and site data. If it is not checked then G-NetReport online database will be used.
- Online Log Data URL - input the URL of php script for log data reading from external database
- Online site data URL - input the URL of php script for site data reading from external database.
- Auto refresh time interval - interval for auto refresh when online log data is loaded.
- Screen orientation - select screen orientation
- API key for height profile - for unlimited and better elevation service you can use your own key from Google. Get your key here -
https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/elevation/get-api-key
- Keep the api in background - check this to allow app to work in background. Also check in your phone settings that it is allowed for the app to work in background.
- Keep screen on - keeps the screen on while the app is working.
Settings are activated via Menu - Settings. There are several group of settings, which are related to different app features:
Changes the tabs. Tabs can be changed also by sliding.
When logfile is opened it changes measurement points in backward direction
When logfile is opened it changes measurement points in forward direction
When logfile is opened it plays/pauses measurements
When online log data is opened it reloads the online data. The button is visible only when online data is loaded.
When online log data is opened it activates/deactivates auto refresh of the online data. The button is visible only when online data is loaded.
Set the auto refresh interval in Settings - Online Data.
Loads the data from cellfile and neifile containing cell information and neighbor cells list. The files are in folder G-NetLook/celldata
Loads the selected logfile. There is a sample logfile in folder G-NetLook/celldata. Several logfiles can be added if they are opened one after another.
Closes the opened logfiles.
Loads site data from G-NetReport online database. This is an experimental feature.
Loads the measurements from G-NetReport online database. You can use G-NetReport to send automatically measurement data to database.
Load floorplan from image files located in \floorplan folder. Index file index.txt describing edge locations also should be present in the folder
How to load floorplans:
1. In folder G_NetLook/floorplan put the floorplan images and create
text index file (index.txt) with rows for each image and following content (tab
delimited)
imagename longitudeSW latitudeSW longitudeNE latitudeNE
where SW and NE are South - West corner and North - East corner.
example:
1-floor.png 23.378626 42.660569 23.381324 42.662407
2. Go to Menu - Load Floorplan. The floorplans will be shown on map and for each
floorplan a kml file will be created to be used with Google Earth. Notice that
you have to change the image location tag <href> if you copy kml file and intend
to use it on your computer.
Here you can download floorplan sample.
Multi Cell Coverage - Creates kml export for several cells whic are in current map view - the kml is organized in technology and cell layer.
The kml file contains three planes:
- central (max power) - angle=tilt
- upper (-3dB) - angle = tilt-verticalbeamwidth/2
- lower (-3dB) - angle = tilt+verticalbeamwidth/2
See demo video -
here
Export the visible cells in map view and neighbor relations as a kml file, which can be opened in Google Earth.
Here is a sample kml export and
here is a video demo.
Adjust the tilts for all cells in visible area of the map. You can view recommended tilt for each cell in Cell tab when you select a cell.
Opens the settings page.
Opens G-NetLook Pro manual.
Opens G-NetLook Web app page.
Exits the app.
If you have cell information you can create a cellfile and view the sites on the
map. In order to do this create cellfile and put it into folder G_NetLook/celldata.
Two types of cellfiles can be used:
The cellfile format is tab delimited text file with following columns:
- tab delimited text cellfile
- clf file
Recommended format is tab delimited text cellfile since it suppports more features (azimuth, layers, height etc...)
The cellfile should be named cellfile.txt
CELLNAME - name of the cell - you can put anything here
LAT - latitude in decimal format
LONG - longitude in decimal format
LAC - LAC of the cell - number
CELLID - CELLID of the cell - number
AZIMUTH - azimuth of the antenna - number.
If you put 360, the cell will be shown as circle. If you want to change the size
of the circle put values > 360. Then the circle radius will be value-360.
TECH - technology - 2G, 3G or 4G
NODE - for GSM is empty, for 3G is RNC and for 4G is eNodeB ID - this column is
mandatory only for 4G. For 3G you can skip it if "LAC-CELLID" is unique
Optionally you can add the following columns. If you add them you can use this
cellfile also with other tools on the site like G-NetTrack and G-NetEarth:
- HEIGHT - antenna height in meters
- TILT - antenna tilt in degrees - positive values are for downtilt and
negative for uptilt
- HORIZBEAM - horizontal beamwidth of the antenna. Here it is better to put angle between sectors - usually 120 degrees. Then multicell coverage will be seen better.
- VERTBEAM - vertical beamwidth of the antenna
- PSC - primary scrambling code - for 3G only
- LAYER - up to 4 (1,2,3,4 ) layers per technology (2G/3G/4G) - with layer
information you can make your map view show different cell layers with different
colors. Use 1 for lower layer and 4 for higher layer. For example for operator
with GSM900/1800, 4 UMTS frequencies and 2 LTE frequencies it will be: GSM900 -
1, GSM1800 - 2, UMTS F1 - 1, UMTS F2 - 2, UMTS F3 - 3, UMTS F4 - 4, LTE F1 - 1,
LTE F2 - 2
- INFO - Whatever is written there will be displayed in NEI tab when the cell is serving cell. Use
semicolon ";" for new row.
Here is a sample
cellfile.
CLF cellfile is a format used with some network monitoring tools. It is a
semicolon (;) delimited text file. The cellfile should be named cellfile.clf or [MCC][MNC].clf like 28401.clf.
If you want to use clf format for cellfile make sure that there is no cellfile.txt in the cellfile folder, cause then it will be used as cellfile.
The current supported format is clf 3.3.0.
| MCCMNC |
Network code MCC and MNC 5 or 6
digits decimal. Field is used for query. |
| CID |
Cell ID 5 decimal digits with
leading zeros for GSM, CDMA and UMTS. For LTE the ECI
(E-UTRAN Cell ID) is used in decimal. Field is used for query. |
| LAC |
Location Area Code decimal 5
digits with leading zeros. TAC for LTE, but is not used for query,
but for 2G and 3G. |
| RNC |
Not really used. Use 0 or -1 if
unkown |
| LAT |
Latitude coordinate in decimal
WGS 84. Use point as decimal delimiter! |
| LON |
Longitude coordinate in decimal
WGS 84. Use point as decimal delimiter! |
| POS-RAT |
Accuracy of the site
coordinates. Use -1 for the exact position. |
| DESC |
Cell description. Put any text
for describing the cell here, but avoid characters like ; or " or ' |
| SYS |
Radio system:
0: unknown
1: GSM
2: CDMA
3: 3G / UMTS
4: LTE |
| LABEL |
Short label with up to 8
characters to identify the cell in the map or log file |
| AZI |
Azimuth of the cell in
degrees. Only integer values are used.
-1: unknown
0-359: azimuth in degrees
360: omni directional |
| HEIGHT |
Antenna height above ground
level of the cell in metres.
-1: unknown
0-999: use point as decimal delimiter |
| BW |
Beamwidth of the antenna.
-1: unknown
0-360: beamwidth in degrees. Only integer values are used. |
Here is a sample clf cellfile
You can use your own database using G-NetReport Pro for Android for measurments or public G-NetReport database.
How to create your database and set the app to use it:
1. Download scripts -
http://www.gyokovsolutions.com/downloads/scripts/gnetlook_scripts.rar
2. Measurements logdata
- for measurements use
G-NetReport Pro. Read in app instruction how to create your measurements
database.
- for reading logdata from database the script logdata.php is used. Copy it to
your server and change connection parameters (server, database, user, password).
Put the URL of the script in Settings - Online Data - Online Log Data URL. Make
sure Settings - Online Data - Use custom online data URL is checked.
3. Cells database
- for cell data use create_celltable.txt script to create table called 'cells'
in your database.
- for reading celldata from database the script sitedata.php is used. Copy it to
your server and change connection parameters (server, database, user, password).
Put the URL of the script in Settings - Online Data - Online Site Data URL. Make
sure Settings - Online Data - Use custom online data URL is checked.
email: info@gyokovsolutions.com
G-NetLook facebook page