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2016
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CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT - Virtual Rotators
Virtual Rotators are Antenna Selections, which consist of groups of Antenna Paths. Each Antenna Path in the
Virtual Rotator has assigned an azimuth span. During operation, a Virtual Rotator is controlled in the same way
as an antenna with rotator - i.e. using the rotary encoder on SMD, or a suitable program in PC (like a logger)
through Router; but instead of physically rotating, antennas are instantaneously switched according to the
chosen azimuth.
Adding Virtual Rotators
If there is no Virtual Rotator defined yet, simply press
Add
button on bottom of the tab to add a new Virtual
Rotator. Otherwise, highlight one of the existing Virtual Rotators and press the Add button. A new Virtual
Rotator will be added above the highlighted one.
To move Virtual Rotators in the list using the Up and Down buttons, as well as to remove an unneeded Virtual
Rotator using the Remove button, the line with name of Virtual Rotator has to be highlighted. Otherwise, these
buttons apply to individual Antenna Paths within the Virtual Rotator. Ordering of Virtual Rotators in the list is not
important and is for better readability only.
Naming Virtual Rotators
Highlight the name of the virtual rotator, then
after a brief pause single-click on the name in
Name
column to change the name. This name
will be used to identify the Virtual Rotator as one
of the Antenna Selections on Bands tab and on
SMD's display.
Single-click on the
Label
column to enter a short
label (max. 5 characters). This label will identify
the Virtual Rotator in the space-constrained list
of accessible Antenna Selections in the bottom
row of SMD's display.
Adding Antenna Paths to Virtual Rotators
Highlight one of the Antenna Paths within the Virtual Rotator and press the Add button. A new Antenna Path will
be added above the highlighted one. Single-click on the Antenna Path name, select one of the existing Antenna
Paths from the pull-down list then press the Up/Down buttons to move the Antenna Path within the Virtual
Rotator's list. Note: the order of Antenna Paths is important.
Assigning Azimuth sector to Antenna Path
Each Antenna Path is assigned as an Azimuth Sector. Single-click on the azimuth range in the Azimuth sector
column to change the minimum (inclusive) and maximum (exclusive) azimuth. Note, the minimum azimuth can
be set higher than the maximum azimuth, which implies the part of circle including 0. Azimuth sectors may
overlap.
When this Virtual Rotator is selected as the current Antenna Selection during operation and an azimuth is
selected by the rotary encoder or from PC, the list of Antenna Paths of this Virtual Rotator is scanned from top to
bottom. The first Antenna Path which includes the given azimuth will be selected.
No azimuth range should be left unassigned. If an unassigned range is encountered during operation, a NO
ANTENNA alarm is issued, the last Antenna path remains connected and transmission is disabled.
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