| Platform & Licensing |
Free in browser on Mac, Windows, Linux, and iPad (no hardware dongle or installer) |
Windows desktop installer + USB dongle / license key |
Free cloud planner; the product page describes links from any vendor |
Cambium product planner |
Pathloss 5 .pl5, .gr5 & ant_rad Files |
Native single & batch multi-hop .pl5 Round-Trip Import & Export + binary .gr5 (PL50_GR5FILE01) network group import (30 m site deduplication, Tower Type 0..7) + bidirectional .raf & .rsd radio export/import + .ant/.asd import |
Native .pl5, .gr5, .raf, .rsd, .ant on Windows |
The current Aviat Design page does not list Pathloss .pl5 round-trip. |
The published LINKPlanner help does not list Pathloss .pl5 round-trip. |
| Equipment Catalog, Multi-Power & ACU |
501-item multi-vendor catalog (324 radios 5–2000 MHz incl. Aviat A2C/A2C+ & Nokia XP, 121 antennas with RPE viewer, 56 txlines/branching) + frequency/bandwidth filters, bidirectional .raf/.rsd export/import, 5 TX power options, 10-mode ACM, ATPC, and ACU losses |
External radio/antenna files loaded on Windows |
The current page describes planning links from Aviat and other vendors (Nokia, Ceragon, and SIAE are named). |
Cambium PTP and PMP products, as documented in LINKPlanner help. |
| ITU-R P.526-15 Diffraction |
Full Delta-Bullington, Deygout (up to 3 edges), Bullington, and Single Knife-Edge integrated into Profile, Link Budget, and Reports |
ITU-R P.526 Deygout, Bullington, Spherical Earth |
Portal diffraction check |
Simplified obstacle loss |
| Auto Terrain Roughness & Availability |
1-click Pathloss 5 intervisible sea-level roughness across all 3 path geometries (central 80%, plateau drop-off, valley floor) + auto Climate Factor C, Vigants–Barnett, Crane, and ITU-R P.530-17/18 |
Vigants–Barnett, Crane, and ITU-R P.530 on Windows |
Aviat link availability |
Cambium link availability |
| Reflective Plane K-Sweep & Diversity Optimizer |
Least-squares Reflective Plane (K = 0.70 → 100 on arctan(K) axis, 4 traces) + 1-click K = 4/3 constructive-peak Main & 180° opposite-phase Null @ K = 4/3 Space Diversity optimizer |
Manual/assisted reflection & space-diversity worksheets |
Basic reflection check |
Basic reflection check |
| Terrain, Clutter, LiDAR & FCC ASR |
1-click cloud USGS 3DEP Seamless 1 m (S1M) and 1/3 arc-second DEM, 3DEP LiDAR HAG, NAIP-CHM / Meta CHMv2 measured canopy height, LANDFIRE, OSM 3D buildings, Annual NLCD 2025, automatic ±2′ hop bounding box in Fetch Data, Copernicus GLO-90 worldwide, integrated FCC ASR search, and Customer / ASR / Measured coordinate deltas with the FCC ±1″ note |
Manual local GIS/DEM tile downloads & external ASR lookup |
Portal terrain profile |
Portal terrain profile |
| 1-Click Auto-Size Dish & Radio Power to Availability Target |
Vendor-neutral 1–12 ft dish (symmetric/asymmetric, FCC Cat A filter), TX power, and TRD-TRD Space Diversity optimizer for 99.95%, 99.99%, 99.999%, or Simultaneous Dual Target with Multipath vs. Rain bottleneck diagnosis |
Manual dish & radio trial selection |
Aviat radio/dish rules |
Cambium link sizing |
| FCC Part 101 Channel Plan, Hi/Lo Audit & Multi-Hop C/I Interference |
Built-in 503-pair FCC 47 CFR § 101.147 channel table, Shared-Site Hi/Lo Node Audit, Pairwise Directed C/I & TIA TSB-10-F Threshold Degradation (TD dB) matrix with actual .ant/.asd RPE & NFD, and 1-Click Conflict-Free Auto-Assign |
Desktop network interference & coordination module |
Portal frequency selection |
Portal channel selection |
| Reports & Exports |
2-page Pathloss-style Reports, Full Reports & Multi-Hop Network Report Books, Word .rtf with native vector EMF profile + crest logo, PDF print, Google Earth .kml, and Multi-Hop BOM .csv; hop and network report maps |
Pathloss reports & RTF on Windows |
Aviat PDF/portal output |
Cambium PDF/portal output |
| Undo & Version History |
Multi-step undo and redo with labeled steps, plus server-side project versions (last 50 plus one per day for 30 days) with preview and restore as a new version |
Manual .pl5 file copies |
Portal project saves |
Project file saves |
| Passive repeaters |
One passive site per hop: billboard far-field gain or back-to-back catalog antennas, a profile and Fresnel check on each leg, and a near-field warning. |
Pathloss 5 documents passive repeater design on Windows, including interference through passive repeaters. |
Not described on the current Aviat Design feature page. |
Cambium product planner. This row does not cite a LINKPlanner help version. |
| Preliminary FCC ULS screen |
Imported weekly public file, active MW, MG, and CF only. Production holds the 1 Nov 2026 file: 399,422 path rows, partial 0, capped 0. The list is capped at 2,000 rows read and 150 listed and is not a nearest set. Not frequency coordination, not a clearance, and not a prior-coordination certification. A missing import is not a clear result. |
Pathloss 5 calculates interference between network groups and a site database on Windows. That study is separate from a weekly public FCC file screen. |
Aviat Design’s current page names frequency planning, FCC download, and A2C. |
Cambium product planner. This row does not cite a LINKPlanner help version. |
| Tower-crew alignment and controlling points |
Alignment sheet with true azimuth, WMM-2025 magnetic azimuth, expected unfaded receive level ±2 dB, a sidelobe band or a labeled 20–30 dB fallback, and a QR card. Controlling points resolve clearance and diffraction stations to latitude and longitude, per leg on a passive hop. Summary lists them last. |
Pathloss 5 reports include path azimuths and passive segment profiles. A WMM-2025 crew card is not named in the public program description. |
Not described on the current Aviat Design feature page. |
This row does not cite a LINKPlanner help version. |
| Antenna height editing |
Full-screen Pathloss-style Antenna Heights mode with steppers, Auto/Manual, Main/Divr/User antcomb, F2/F9 hotkeys, critical-point arrow, and steel/spacing limit banners, in a browser |
Antenna Heights module on Windows desktop |
Height entry on the portal profile |
Per-end height entry on the profile |
| Reflection accuracy |
K sweep with antenna discrimination, reflected-ray shielding, Rayleigh roughness σ, NLCD auto surface, climate-based K range, −6 dB destructive-null rule, and a Pathloss-identical toggle |
Smooth-plane reflection analysis |
Reflection point check |
Reflection analysis with height suggestions |
| XPIC / dual-pol availability |
ITU-R P.530 §4 cross-pol C/I, clear-air and rain XPD outage, and H/V/link availability with editable XPIF and XPD on any vendor's XPIC radio, in a browser |
XPD outage analysis on Windows desktop |
A2C is named on the current Aviat Design page. An XPIC outage worksheet is not named there. |
XPIC configurations for Cambium radios |
| Design alternatives |
Up to 3 saved setups per hop compared side by side (clearance, fade, availability, rain, multipath, reflection, parts) with one-click activate and Undo |
Separate .pl5 file copies |
Separate portal projects |
Separate project files |