TA Services - Overview July 1997 The purpose of the Telecommunications Analysis Services (TAS) is to provide analysis techniques in the form of easy-to-use time- sharing computer programs to interested agencies and organizations on a cost-reimbursable basis. It is expected that the results obtained from these services will provide needed technical assistance to groups with problems involving sighting, design, and analysis of all types of radio telecommunication systems. The service is not intended to provide any form of general computing capability. The time-sharing computer utilized is only a means of providing these analysis techniques to a wide community of users in an efficient manner. Our system offers: **3-second data for all of the United States and its protectorates and anywhere the Defense Mapping Agency has the information. **5-minute data for the world. **1990 Census for the United States **A FAX utility whereby you can receive your results in 5 to 10 minutes The TA Services system is an HP9000 Series 732 computer. This computer is a UNIX based multi-user system with both network and modem access. The system can handle up to 28.8 Kbaud modem communications. Dial in users are recommended to use vt100 emulations with EVEN parity, 7 data bits, 1 stop bit. The internet address is flattop.its.bldrdoc.gov. The computer system also has 4 plotters capable of producing paper or transparencies up to 3 feet by 4 feet in size. All users are placed within a bulletin board after logging onto the system. From within the bulletin board, you may access mail, files such as this one, report abstracts, user's guides and analysis programs. In order to run an analysis program, you must be a subscribed user of TA Services and have an active account number and password. Analysis programs produce output in several forms; 1 - Output of results in table form to your screen. 2 - Output of graphics plots in; a. Color, produced on our plotters, b. FAX form, automatically FAXed to you c. HPGL file which can be down loaded to your sight and plotted by you. Output results produced by us are mailed to you via Overnight express and should be received the next business day. TA Services does not charge user's for general access to the Bulletin Board System unless you wish to run analyses programs. If you are a TA Services user, you may access the Applications portion of the Bulletin Board. The charge for running applications is $3 per minute of connect time to the application and in some cases an additional charge for the desired application which varies for each application. The current charges are; Below is the current price list for all TA Services Programs FMFIND - Search through FCC FM data base $3 per minute AMFIND - Search through FCC AM data base $3 per minute TVFIND - Search through FCC TV data base, $3 per minute TOWERFIND - Search tower data base $3 per minute INMOD - Frequency intermodulations calculations $3 per minute PATH - Path parameters $3 per minute RAPIT - Radio propagation over irregular terrain - $3 per minute The software programs offered below are at the $3 per minute rate (which is the "connect charges" section on your account listing) added to the price which is on the right of the program you choose (which is the "programs charges" section on your account listing). COVERAGE-Communication System Coverage Model $30.00 CSPM - Communication System Performance Model AM_CSPM - AM Communication System Performance Model MM_CSPM - Millimeter/Microwave Communication System Performance Model Calculations $50.00 FAX $ 5.00 8.5" X 11" Color plot $ 50.00 (High Quality) PaintJet $ 20.00 (Medium Quality) Size 24" X 36" $150.00 Size 36" X 48" $175.00 CSPM_print Character based plot of CSPM plot $15.00 Additional charge for TA Service staff entering data $1.00 per minute with a minimum charge of $20.00 $20.00+ CSPM_PLOT - Replot/Composite CSPM plots(FAX only) $10.00 HORIZON - Radio Horizon determination $30.00 PROFILE - Path profile ETSEM - EHF Telecommunications Systems Engineering Model First Plot $ 10.00 Plots 2 through 5 $ 5.00 each Plots 6 and above $ 2.00 each SHADOW - Line of sight/Shadow $20.00 HFBC - High Frequency Broadcast Conference Fax $ 5.00 Black & White $ 10.00 Color Copy $ 20.00 Bulletin Board System The Bulletin Board System (BBS) provides rapid, user friendly means of accessing the TA Services system and it's resources. Each area of the BBS is accessed by placing the highlighted cursor over the BBS selection and pressing enter or by typing the first letter of the BBS selection. Each selection has a pull down menu which will allow further choices. To retrace your steps, press the ESC key. This will back you up through the path that you have been following. If your screen appears distorted or corrupted by phone line noise, you may type a CTRL V to refresh your screen at any time. Press and hold the CTRL key(Control key) and then press the V key. If the BBS does not appear to respond to your requests, press CTRL Q. Those areas of the BBS that are available to users is described below. HELP This BBS selection will describe the BBS and it's menus. Please start by reading the help for both TERMS and MENUS. This will greatly facilitate your use of the BBS. DIRECTORIES This BBS selection allows you to LIST or SELECT a directory from which you wish to access or down load files. When you choose SELECT, you will see a tree of available directories. Current directories include; 1 - Guides This is the directory which contains the users guides for TA Services programs. You may view them or download them to your computer for printing. If you wish to download users guides, you need to SELECT the Guides directory and then proceed to the FILES portion of the BBS to down load the files you want. 2 - Abstracts This will contain report abstracts of reports that you may find useful in your work. 3 - Down_load This directory will contain any files that you wish to down load via the DOWN_LOAD program on the BBS. It includes *.hpgl files from CSPM, and any other down loadable files that you generate while running programs. To SELECT a directory, move your cursor to the directory desired and press ENTER. You will notice that the top system line of your display now shows that directory name as your current directory. Press the ESC key to return to the BBS main menu. FILES This BBS selection allows you to list, view or transfer(down load) files within the current directory. To select a file for view, move the highlighted cursor to the VIEW selection and press ENTER. A list of files will appear. Move the cursor to the desired file and press the space bar to "Tag" that file. Then press the ENTER key. The file will now appear on your screen for viewing. To select a file for TRANSFER, move the highlighted cursor to TRANSFER and press ENTER. A window will appear requesting the type of transfer you wish (i.e. KERMIT, XMODEM, YMODEM,etc). If the transfer protocol shown is not what you wish to use, press the space bar to see other choices. You may then move your cursor to the desired choice and press ENTER. Leave the next choice as XCHANGE=>local machine so that you may transfer to your machine. The last choice allows you to change the directory if the current one is not the one you want. Press ENTER. You will now be shown a list of all files available. You may move the cursor to the desired file and "Tag" it by pressing the space bar. After selecting the desired files, press ENTER. A window will appear asking if you wish to transfer all associated files. Press ENTER. You may transfer the file in Binary or ASCII format. We suggest leaving the file in Binary form. Press ENTER. The packet length and Parity options should conform to your machine. If they don't, call us and we will try to assist you in determining the necessary option choices. APPLICATIONS This BBS selection allows you to list or execute all TA Services application programs. You must be a TAS customer to access this portion of the BBS. To EXECUTE an application, place your cursor over the EXECUTE option on the pull down menu for the APPLICATIONS choice and press ENTER. You will be given a list of application programs to chose. Place your cursor over the choice you wish and press ENTER. Control will transfer to that program and you may begin running the program as desired. A brief description of the program is shown on the bottom system line for the program that is currently highlighted. You may wish to down load and read the user's guide for the program before you run it in order to minimize problems and connect charges. Each program is briefly described below and in greater detail in it's user's guide. TA Services Users The TA Services Computer phone number is 303-497-5832. The Internet address is flattop.its.bldrdoc.gov or 132.163.64.25 (IP address) The World Wide Web Home page is: http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/tas Also check World Wide Web page http://elbert.its.bldrdoc.gov/greghand.html TA Services users can log onto the system with a modem at up to 28,800 baud. Use even parity, 7 data bits and 1 stop bit and VT100 emulation if possible. ANSI emulations will also work as will VT220 and many other types which have not been tested by us. Your account number is a seven digit number beginning with 1768. For example, 1768065. When you have connected to the system, you will see the following type of message; Welcome to the TA Services HP735 system. Login: Enter your login id as "tasnnn" where nnn are the last three digits of your account number and tas are in small letters. For account number 1768065, the user types; Login: tas065 Password: Mypasswd (Enter your password then hit enter) Your password is also context sensitive and must be entered without using backspace or delete keys. When you have logged onto the system correctly, you will be placed into the bulletin board described above. You may access all of those portions that the general public can access as well as the Applications portion of the BBS. Each selection available in the applications portion of the BBS is described below. Please consult the user's guide for each program for a more detailed description. BBS Application Section (TA Services Users only) PRICE LIST This selection shows the current price list for application programs and services. ACCOUNT This selection shows you your account statement. The billing is done each night at midnight. This statement will reflect your account activity for the past 30 days up to midnight the previous day. DOWN_LOAD This selection allows you to down load files, tables and HPGL plot files for CSPM, HORIZON, PROFILE, and SHADOW. The program will ask you which program you wish to download files from and what type of file you wish(i.e. Input data file, output table, HPGL file). The program will require that you have KERMIT on your end to receive this data. CSPM - Communication System Performance Model The Communication System Performance Model program creates detailed shaded or contour plots of basic transmission loss, field strength, power density, or signal-to-interference ratios from a transmitter in a given geographical area. It uses the ITS irregular terrain model(ITM) in the point-to-point mode for determining path loss along radials of about one degree azimuthal intervals around the transmitter. The ITM propagation model is applicable to analyze mobile, broadcast, or radar coverage and interference problems in the 20 MHz to 20 GHz band. ITM is the same propagation model that is used in the RAPIT program. CSPM calculates path losses in a user-defined geographic area. This area is divided into a grid of up to 200 x 200 points for a maximum number of calculated values of 40,000. These path losses are used in the generation of a plot and are converted to the desired output type (field strength, power,etc) at plot time. This is important for the user to know because if you wish to change an input data item and see the effect of that change on your analysis, you may be able to perform this change without re- running the cspm calculations. Instead of running CSPM, you can run CSPM_PLOT and chose item 4 (replot - edit input data). This program will allow you to edit your input data and will warn you for those items that will require a rerun of the calculations. If you do not change any critical items, the replot will be much less costly than rerunning the calculations. See CSPM_PLOT for a description of it's capabilities. There are four basic output plot types available from CSPM. One plot is a text based line printer plot, the second is a pen plot on paper, the third is a FAXed plot and the fourth is an HPGL graphics file. The line printer output gives the signal level at each of the up to 200 x 200 points rounded to the nearest 4db. The pen plot is a color plot and can show up to five contours of signal level within the plot area along with other optional information such as landmarks and political boundaries. Since we store the basic input and output data, you may retrieve the input data at a later time and modify this data for a new analysis or you may replot the data. Replots may include plots on transparency material that can overlay maps or charts of the area of interest, plots of different sizes or contours than those originally chosen and plots zooming in or expanding some portion of the plot area. Some of these options will require intervention by the TAS staff and incur a separate charge. Large plots are arranged for by telephone contact. FM_CSPM,AM_CSPM,MM_CSPM,TV_CSPM These programs allow the user to import data from the FCC data base into the CSPM program described above. This allows the user to more rapidly enter and verify input data. CSPM_PLOT This program allows you to list or view your previous input data files, replot previous data files with or without changes to input data, combine plots and do interference studies. Each option is briefly discussed below. List - This will show you all input data files that currently reside on the system. If an input file is not present, it may have been placed on backup tape to make room for new files. This may occur after one year. We can retrieve the data for you if needed. View - This will allow you to view the contents of a previous input data file. Replot/no changes - This will allow you to FAX a duplicate of the original plot to any FAX number desired. Replot/edit input data - This will allow you to edit input data and create a new plot based on these changes. The program will warn you if the data item shown will require a recalculation if changed. Input data items that you can change without requiring a recalculation include; Output Option(Basic transmission loss, Field Intensity, Power density, Available power, signal to noise) Units(English or Metric) FAX phone numbers Transmitter Power Line losses Transmitter and plot names Antenna gain Receiver gain and line losses Contours Landmarks Input data items that will require a recalculation if changed include; Service Option (Mobile or Broadcast) Frequency Polarization Conductivity Dielectric constant Climate type Antenna pattern Antenna height Transmitter location Location elevation receiver height Analysis boundaries If you change an input item that requires a recalculation, then the program resubmits the data as a completely new run with a new name rather than using the old name. CREATE COMPOSITE/INTERFERENCE - This option allows you to specify the list of input filenames for the creation of a composite or interference plot. In the interference case, the first file is the primary station, the remaining files are summed for interference. These plots can only be FAXed. PROFILE Profile is a TA Services program which plots and lists the terrain profile between user-selected locations. The profile elevations can either be listed to your terminal or a plot can be generated and FAXed to or mailed to you. Other options include: 1 - Calculation of the average terrain height from 2 to 10 miles along selected paths. 2 - Plots of microwave link paths for flat, true, 4/3 and 2/3 earth's radius. SHADOW Shadow is a TA Services program which creates a shaded plot showing areas directly in line-of-sight of a given reference observer/antenna. The user supplies the reference/observer antenna latitude and longitude, the elevation above mean sea level, and the height above ground. The output plot is broken into three regions; 1 - The reference sight is LOS to the terminal and to the terrain below the terminal. 2 - The reference sight is LOS to the terminal but the terrain below the terminal is in shade. 3 - The terminal and the terrain below the terminal are both in shade. The input is similar to CSPM as is the output plot. HORIZON Horizon is a TA Services program which plots the elevation angle to the radio horizon for a user specified degree increment surrounding the reference location supplied by the user. An output file lists both the angle and distance to the horizon. AM_FIND FM_FIND TV_FIND MM_FIND TOWER_FIND - These programs allow the user to search the FCC engineering data base for all AM, FM, Land mobile, TV stations and towers within a user specified radius of a reference sight. You have the option to search by state, call sign and within specified channels or frequencies. HFBC - HF Broadcast Model This program provides area coverage contours of HF skywave propagation parameters (Field Strength, Reliability, S/N Ratio, MUF) plotted with world political boundaries. HF or High Frequency is propagation in the range of 1 to 30 MHz. Any of the following five HF propagation prediction models may be used: HFBC84 - developed for HFBC WARC 84 CCIR91 - CCIR modification to HFBC84 IONCAP - model developed at ITS VOACAP - VOA modification to IONCAP REC533 - current CCIR recommendation Results may be sent by FAX or mail (Black/White LaserJet or Color PaintJet). ***************************************************************************** For further information, please read the individual user's guides for each program or call TA Services at (303) 497-5301 or FAX (303) 497-3602. Thank you for using TA Services __________________________________________________________________________