Site Planner User Guide

Operator Registration

Airwaive requires operators to be organizations, not individuals, as legal contracts are established between an operator and host.  If your organization is considering or actively deploying wireless networks and does not have an Airwaive account, click here to request a registration code.

When you receive a registration code from Airwaive, proceed to the registration page and complete the information.  The registration code can only be used once.  To register other users for your organization, follow the steps below to Add New Users.

Adding New Users

After creating an operator account, the first user is by default an admin user.  You may create other user accounts for your organization.  Anyone with the admin role will be able to create user accounts.

To add a new user:

1. Select Admin in the left-hand menu (only admins can see this option).
2. Select the Add User button in the top-right.
3. Complete the required fields, including roles.

About the roles: 

• Admin role has access to all features
• Operation role has access to all features except for the admin functions
• Finance role has access to contracts and payments
• Support role receives notifications of messages from all hosts

Login and Passwords

After a user account has been created, users can log into Airwaive by going to the direct link here, or by going to www.airwaive.com and selecting the Login link in the top-right (and then selecting the Operator app).

• Change Password – To change a password, once logged in, go to the direct link here, or by choosing your icon in the top right menu and select Change Password.
• Forgot Password – If you have forgotten your password, reset your password by going to the direct link here, or you will also find it at the bottom of the login page labelled Reset Password.

Dashboard 

When you log into Airwaive, you’ll first land on the Dashboard.  If your operator account is set for Site Planner, you’ll see a Dashboard similar to the one below.  If your operator account is set for Site Manager, you’ll see a different Dashboard. 

With Site Planner, you’ll be able to use some of the Airwaive planning features, including maps, calculators and more.  However, you will not be able to send offers to hosts unless you complete a few tasks to upgrade to Site Manager.  To send offers to hosts, you’ll need to upload your equipment, your contract and review your settings.  The Dashboard guides you through these tasks. 

Navigation 

Between the Dashboard and the left-hand menu navigation, all pages are designed to be conveniently one or two clicks away.  The menu navigation is also designed based on the life cycle of a host, as explained here in Airwaive terminology.

Airwaive Terminology:

• Cell – A geography defining wireless coverage, which may include one or more host sites. In Airwaive, you present offers to hosts by creating cells.
• Host – A property owner hosting a wireless access point. In Airwaive, hosts are organized by phase (offers, installations, live sites).
• Contracts – A contract between you and a host is signed and stored in Airwaive.
• Payments – A summary of payments between you and hosts, managed by Airwaive.
• Equipment – The equipment configuration that you present to hosts to install at their properties.
• Settings – Various configuration and default settings for cells, equipment and contracts.

Search 

Search bars appear on many pages in Airwaive and are contextual to the page.  For example:

Business Case Calculator

Airwaive provides tools to help plan networks.  One of the first steps in planning a network is the financial case.  Is there a profitable return on investment in a given area?  To answer this question, Airwaive provides a business case calculator to determine an investment and return.  The direct link to the calculator is here, but you’ll also find the link within Airwaive maps, where it pulls demographic data about cities and populates this information into the calculator.

To find the calculator within Airwaive, go to Cells -> Create Cell.  Then, enter a city on the map and change the map type to Structures.  You’ll see the demographics for the city and a link to the calculator below the map.  It will use default assumptions and city information to create a 10-year plan such as this:

The calculator estimates net profit and summarizes each year in a 10-year plan.  All of the assumptions for the model can be adjusted, including income and revenue estimations.

Maps are at the heart of Airwaive, with visuals to help you understand where to deploy wireless access points, available host sites and much more.  You will find that Airwaive provides maps in both 2D and 3D modes, depending on desired functionality.

Potential hosts

Creating a cell and sending offers to hosts is one of the most important features of Airwaive. The default map under cell creation (Cells -> Create Cell) is a map that describes the location for wireless coverage and the potential Airwaive hosts within the boundary. It can also be selected by choosing Map Type: Hosts.

Airwaive estimates the number of potential hosts that will receive offers based on the geography of the cell and any filters. Hosts that have properties within the blue boundary on the map are eligible for the offer.  The geographic boundary can be set by:

• Cover Radius – Enter an address and a radius from the center point. 
• Cover Entire Area – Entire a city, county, state or country.

Cover Entire Area

Structures

In cell creation (Cells -> Create Cell) is a 3D view and information about structures, including buildings and towers.  On this page, select Map Type: Structures.  Demographic information is also provided, under the map, about the city.  You can filter based on property type and height.  Structures matching this criteria will be highlighted blue.  Clicking a structure provides the following information or views:

Right Click – Street View

Coverage Area

In cell creation (Cells -> Create Cell) is a 3D view for planning networks based on various wireless frequencies.  By default, this map is shown on the second page of the cell creation process, or you can manually select Map Type: Coverage Area.  If you already know the number of hosts and the minimum separation distance between hosts, you do not need to use the map. Otherwise, the map can be helpful for planning your network to understand these parameters.  It will complete the number of hosts and separation distance automatically when you put pins on the map of your desired host locations.

About the building colors:

• Green – within range of access point
• Yellow – may be within range but coverage is not be ideal
• Red – coverage will be impacted
• Black – out of range of access point

About the circle colors:

• Yellow –  radius from each access point to coverage limit
• White – radius from the center point of the cell

Line of Sight

In cell creation (Cells -> Create Cell) is a 3D view of structures and terrain to perform line of sight analysis.  On this page, select Map Type: Line of Sight. Two pins are required for line of sight analysis.  The first pin is the transmitter and the second is the receiver.  These pins can be entered manually or chosen by selecting buildings.  The analysis determines obstruction from buildings and terrain. It does not currently have the ability to analyze trees and bushes.

Click to Set Location

Click on two buildings to measure the line of sight from rooftop to rooftop, or measure a ground distance. Rooftop placement can be adjusted with +/- buttons (10 meter adjustments).

Radio waves penetrate some materials better than others.  For this reason, glass is painted transparent and shows partial coverage of the sight line. Airwaive does not receive building material information for all buildings, however, when it is known the following are the colors that represent material type:

• Sky Blue – glass
• Indian Red – brick
• Wheat – stone
• Grey – metal
• Tan – concrete
• White – unknown building material
• Black – outside of coverage area

Map View

There are many pages in Airwaive that use maps, but the remaining pages apply to Site Manager and are not discussed in detail here. From cells, to potential hosts to active hosts, Airwaive presents data in both table (list) view and map view. Features shown in the map differ based on page. Toggle between List and Map view when you see the icon. The following are pages that have a map view:

Hosts in Airwaive

Airwaive is an end-to-end host management platform. In Site Planner, you have the ability to plan your network and determine potential host locations. Other features for presenting offers, communicating with hosts, leasing and payments require Site Manager.

Airwaive includes a waitlist of property owners (hosts) that may be contacted with an offer to host your proposed equipment. Airwaive manages the offer process and communication to potential hosts.  To understand how many potential hosts may receive an offer, follow these steps:

1. In cell creation (Cells -> Create Cell), enter an address or geopoint in the search field.
2. Determine the boundary by selecting Cover by Radius or Cover Entire Area. Only hosts within the boundary are counted.
3. Filter hosts based on your criteria using the filters for property type, structure height and connectivity type.
4. The potential host count is displayed below the map.

About the icon colors:

• Green dot – highest priority waitlist address*
• Yellow dot – second priority waitlist address*
• Red dot – third priority waitlist address*

Dots represent buildings. Triangles represent towers. These icons are only shown at close zoom levels (select the “+” icon to zoom into the map).

* Waitlist addresses are scored using an algorithm in Airwaive that is based on various properties (such as commercial vs residential, access to fiber, structure height, etc). Using Site Manager, highest priority waitlist addresses are sent notifications of offers and have first right of refusal before the second priority waitlist addresses are notified. Likewise, second priority are notified before third priority. It may take up to one month before all notifications are sent to all hosts. In some cases, notifications are presented to hosts through Airwaive partners.

Site Manager (free upgrade)

This user guide covers Airwaive’s Site Planner, which is designed to help network operators build business cases and plan their networks. Airwaive’s Site Manager is the extension of this process, designed for network operators that are deploying and managing their networks. To send offers to hosts, execute contracts and payments, you will need to upgrade your account.  A list of features can be found here. There is no cost to upgrade to Site Manager.

If you are ready to upgrade from Site Planner to Site Manager…

 Equipment

From the Dashboard, choose Add Equipment and follow the steps to add your equipment. See our detailed instructions for the equipment process.

At least one equipment package needs to be loaded into Airwaive before you can upgrade to Site Manager.

 Settings

From the Dashboard, choose Configure Settings. All the settings should be reviewed, and as necessary modified, but the most important setting to proceed is the review of the Site Manager agreement.  Under the Terms tab in Settings, check the box after you have reviewed the agreement.

You must agree to the terms and responsibilities of sending offers to hosts before upgrading to Site Manager.

That’s it.  Once you have completed these steps you are upgraded to Site Manager and you should see a different Dashboard.