BROWSER-BASED MICROWAVE PATH & LINK DESIGN

Point-to-Point Microwave Path Design & RF Link Modeling

Spanline is a free browser-based microwave path design and link budget application. Import and export native Pathloss 5 (.pl5) files, run ITU-R and North American availability and diffraction studies over automated USGS 3DEP terrain, LiDAR, and clutter profiles, and generate path survey reports and design exports directly in the browser.

Launch Spanline → Documentation / Overview

Platform: Mac, Windows, Linux, iPad File Format: Native .pl5, .raf, .rsd & .ant License: Free in Browser

spanline.tcstx.com/app/ — Path Profile & Fresnel Clearance

Pathloss 5 (.pl5)

Round-Trip .pl5 + .raf / .rsd Export & Import

501-Item Catalog + ACM

324 Radios (5–2000 MHz), A2C/A2C+, 121 Antennas

ITU-R & North American

P.526-15 Diffraction, Auto Roughness & K-Sweep

USGS 3DEP + LiDAR

Automated DEM, Canopy/Building HAG & FCC ASR

Key Capabilities

Complete Microwave Path & Link Design in One Workspace

Built for point-to-point microwave link designers and network planners who need fast, reproducible link budgets, terrain/LiDAR obstruction clearance, and native Pathloss 5 interoperability without a Windows desktop dongle.

FILE INTEROPERABILITY

Pathloss 5 (`.pl5`) & Bidirectional `.raf` / `.rsd`

Open and export native Pathloss 5 .pl5 link files, import and export Pathloss 5 .raf (PL50_ASCII_RADIO_SPEC_04 ASCII) and .rsd (PL50_RADIO_SPEC_03 binary) radio specification files, and import .ant/.asd antenna files directly in the browser—preserving site coordinates, ASR tower heights, TX power options, ACU losses, ACM tables, terrain profiles, and the 840-byte terrain-roughness trailer.

EQUIPMENT, MULTI-POWER & ACU

501-Item Catalog, A2C/A2C+, RPE Viewer & Filters

Built-in 501-item catalog (324 radios, 121 antennas, and 56 transmission lines and branching defaults) spanning 5 MHz to 2000 MHz channels across Nokia/Wavence (including XP cross-polar XPIC), Aviat Networks (including 26 A2C/A2C+ Adaptive Dual Carrier models), Ceragon, Cambium, CommScope/Andrew, Radio Waves, RFS, Gabriel, and Times Microwave—with selectable path-frequency and channel-bandwidth filters, interactive Antenna RPE pattern viewer, up to 5 TX power options, 10-mode ACM, ATPC, and ACU branching losses.

DIFFRACTION & ROUGHNESS

ITU-R P.526-15 Diffraction & Auto Terrain Roughness

Full ITU-R P.526-15 Delta-Bullington, Deygout (up to 3 edges), Bullington, and Single Knife-Edge diffraction integrated into the profile, link budget, and reports, plus 1-click Pathloss 5 intervisible sea-level terrain roughness across all 3 path geometries (central 80%, plateau drop-off, and valley floor) with Vigants–Barnett, Crane, and ITU-R P.530-17/18.

REFLECTIVE PLANE & DIVERSITY

Reflective Plane K-Sweep & K = 4/3 Phase Optimizer

Fits a least-squares Reflective Plane and sweeps K = 0.70 → 100 on a non-linear arctan(K)° axis across 4 Main/Diversity traces. Optimize main heights steps onto a constructive reflection peak (n + 0.5λ, ~ +5 dB) at K = 4/3, and Optimize diversity heights places space-diversity antennas at exact 180° opposite phase (null @ K = 4/3 inside the 25–60 ft waveguide sweet spot).

TERRAIN, CLUTTER, LIDAR & ASR

1-Click Cloud GIS Fetch & FCC ASR Lookup

Fetch bare-earth elevation from USGS 3DEP (with global Open-Meteo DEM fallback), overlay USGS 3DEP LiDAR Height Above Ground (HAG), LANDFIRE canopy height, OpenStreetMap 3D buildings, and Annual NLCD clutter classes, auto-populate ±2′ (±120″) hop bounding boxes in Fetch Data, and search the integrated US FCC ASR tower database by registration number or coordinate radius.

DELIVERABLES & EXPORTS

2-Page Pathloss & Full Reports, Vector RTF, PDF & KML

Generate classic 2-page Pathloss 5-style Reports and comprehensive Full Reports, Microsoft Word .rtf files with native vector EMF path profiles and optional Spanline crest logo, printable landscape/portrait Path Survey PDFs, multi-hop 3D Google Earth .kml files, and Project Summary & BOM .csv spreadsheets.

Workspace Overview

Map, Path Profile, and Complete Link Budget

Explore a multi-hop project on the interactive map, inspect sample-by-sample terrain and LiDAR clearance, and audit every decibel of the transmission and availability worksheet.

Spanline Equipment and Path view after importing a Pathloss 5 .pl5 file

1. Pathloss 5 (`.pl5`) & Site Worksheet

Round-trip .pl5 import/export, WGS84 coordinates, FCC ASR tower lookup, antenna/waveguide selection, and 1-click USGS 3DEP + LiDAR fetch.

Spanline Clearance view with dual-K Fresnel envelopes and 1-click K = 4/3 main and space diversity height optimizer

2. Dual-K Clearance & 1-Click K = 4/3 Optimizer

Dual K = 1.33 / 0.66 Fresnel envelopes with 1-click Optimize main heights, Optimize diversity heights, and safety margin controls.

Spanline Reflection Analysis using Reflective Plane K-Factor Sweep with 4 Main and Diversity traces

3. Reflective Plane (K-Factor Sweep)

Sweeps K = 0.70 → 100 on an arctan(K)° axis, placing Main on the +5.4 dB constructive peak at K = 4/3 and Diversity in the 180° opposite-phase null.

Spanline Adaptive Modulation and Radio dialog with .raf/.rsd import, ACU configuration, TX power options, and 10-mode ACM table

4. Bidirectional `.raf` / `.rsd`, ACM & Bandwidth Filter

Imports and exports Pathloss 5 .raf/.rsd radio specs with frequency/bandwidth filters, up to 5 TX power options, ACU losses, and 10-mode ACM tables.

$Spanline Performance link budget with ITU-R P.526-15 diffraction, automatic terrain roughness, and availability$

5. Link Budget, P.526 Diffraction & Roughness

Full EIRP, ITU-R P.526-15 diffraction loss, automatic Pathloss 5 intervisible terrain roughness, and Vigants–Barnett / Crane / P.530 availability.

6. Classic 2-Page Pathloss & Vector EMF Reports

2-page Pathloss-style and Full Reports with Spanline crest logo, cross-hatched terrain/clutter, dual-K rays, Word .rtf vector EMF, PDF, and KML.

Competitive Comparison

Spanline vs. Pathloss 5, Aviat Design, and Cambium LINKPlanner

How Spanline compares head-to-head against legacy Windows desktop microwave path software and single-vendor cloud portals.

VS. PATHLOSS 5

Instant Browser Workflow + Full .pl5 Math Parity

Pathloss 5 requires a legacy Windows desktop installer, a USB hardware dongle or per-seat license key, manual SRTM/NED/NLCD GIS tile downloads, and manual trial-and-error reflection height tuning. Spanline delivers an instant browser workflow with 1-click USGS 3DEP + LiDAR + NLCD + OSM + FCC ASR cloud fetch, 1-click K = 4/3 constructive-peak Main (n + 0.5λ) and 180° opposite-phase Null @ K = 4/3 Space Diversity height optimization, full ITU-R P.526-15 diffraction in the link budget and reports, automatic Pathloss-compatible intervisible terrain roughness across all 3 path geometries, a 501-item multi-vendor catalog with frequency and bandwidth filtering, bidirectional .pl5 / .raf / .rsd export & import, and native vector EMF .rtf + PDF reports.

VS. AVIAT DESIGN

Vendor-Neutral Catalog & Reflective Plane K-Sweep

Aviat Design is a vendor-centric cloud tool focused primarily on Aviat radio families, with a slower form-driven step workflow and limited raw .pl5 / multi-vendor .raf/.rsd file interoperability and custom reflective-plane K-sweep diagnostics. Spanline provides a vendor-neutral 501-item radio, antenna, and waveguide catalog (including 26 Aviat A2C/A2C+ Adaptive Dual Carrier models alongside Nokia Wavence, Ceragon, and Cambium), bidirectional .pl5, .raf, and .rsd export & import, and interactive Pathloss-grade K-factor reflective plane sweeps and phase alignment.

VS. CAMBIUM LINKPLANNER

Full Licensed Microwave Physics & .pl5 Interoperability

Cambium LINKPlanner is vendor-locked to Cambium PTP/PMP hardware with simplified propagation and reflection controls compared to full Pathloss 5 workflows. Spanline supports vendor-neutral licensed and unlicensed microwave link design with full ITU-R P.530-17/18 and Vigants–Barnett multipath, ITU-R P.526-15 multi-edge diffraction, reflective-plane K-sweeps, 1-click K = 4/3 phase-aligned main and diversity height optimization, and native Pathloss 5 .pl5 compatibility.

Capability	Spanline	Pathloss 5	Aviat Design	Cambium LINKPlanner
Platform & Licensing	Free in browser on Mac, Windows, Linux, and iPad (no hardware dongle or installer)	Windows desktop installer + USB dongle / license key	Aviat cloud portal	Cambium cloud/desktop portal
Pathloss 5 `.pl5` & `ant_rad` Files	Native `.pl5` Round-Trip Import & Export + bidirectional `.raf` (ASCII) & `.rsd` (binary) radio export/import + `.ant`/`.asd` import (including 840-byte roughness trailer)	Native `.pl5`, `.raf`, `.rsd`, `.ant` on Windows	Limited / Aviat-focused	Cambium project formats
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	Aviat radio families	Cambium PTP/PMP hardware
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 DEM, 3DEP LiDAR HAG, LANDFIRE, OSM 3D buildings, Annual NLCD, automatic `±2′` hop bounding box in Fetch Data, global Open-Meteo DEM, and integrated FCC ASR search	Manual local GIS/DEM tile downloads & external ASR lookup	Portal terrain profile	Portal terrain profile
Reports & Exports	2-page Pathloss-style & Full Reports, Word `.rtf` with native vector EMF profile + crest logo, PDF print, Google Earth `.kml`, and Multi-Hop BOM `.csv`	Pathloss reports & RTF on Windows	Aviat PDF/portal output	Cambium PDF/portal output

WHERE SPANLINE EXCELS (PROS)

Strengths for Point-to-Point & Multi-Hop Link Design

Instant cross-platform browser execution with zero installation or dongle; 1-click cloud USGS 3DEP DEM, LiDAR HAG, NLCD/OSM clutter, and FCC ASR lookup; complete Pathloss 5 point-to-point fidelity (.pl5 round-trip, bidirectional .raf/.rsd radio export/import, 501-item catalog with Aviat A2C/A2C+ & Nokia XP, 5 TX power options, 10-mode ACM, ACU losses, ITU-R P.526-15 diffraction, and 3-geometry intervisible terrain roughness); 1-click K = 4/3 constructive-peak Main and 180° opposite-phase Space Diversity optimization; and 2-page Pathloss-style + Full Reports with vector EMF Word .rtf export.

SCOPE & TRADE-OFFS (CONS)

Where Pathloss 5 or Vendor Portals Fit

Pathloss 5 includes regional multi-link carrier-to-interference matrix coordination (TIA TSB-10 / PCN), VHF/UHF land-mobile area coverage contour modules, and air-gapped offline multi-gigabyte DEM tile archives—whereas Spanline is purpose-built for point-to-point and multi-hop microwave path design, clearance, reflection/diversity, and availability using cloud GIS fetch (while retaining embedded .pl5 profiles offline). Aviat Design and Cambium LINKPlanner connect directly into single-vendor factory quoting systems, whereas Spanline is vendor-neutral.

Technical Specifications

Models, Datasets & File Formats

Full documentation of the mathematical models and binary file structures is available on the Spanline Documentation & Overview pages.

Subsystem	Supported Standards, Datasets & Capabilities	Reference
Pathloss 5 & `ant_rad` Files	Native binary `.pl5` import and round-trip export (preserving the 840-byte roughness trailer), bidirectional Pathloss 5 `.raf` (`PL50_ASCII_RADIO_SPEC_04` ASCII) and `.rsd` (`PL50_RADIO_SPEC_03` binary) radio specification export and import, `.ant`/`.asd` antenna import, and JSON project archives.	.pl5 Import Docs →
Propagation, Roughness & Availability	Vigants–Barnett with 1-click Pathloss 5 intervisible sea-level terrain roughness across all 3 path geometries (central 80%, plateau drop-off, valley floor) and auto Climate Factor C; ITU-R P.530-17/18 multipath; Crane (200+ US city rain curves) and ITU-R P.837 / P.838 rain; ITU-R P.1510-0 annual surface temperature; ITU-R P.676 gaseous absorption (O₂ + H₂O).	Link Budget Docs →
Diffraction Models	Full ITU-R P.526-15 Delta-Bullington (spherical earth + Bullington), Deygout multi-edge (up to 3 edges), classical Bullington, and Single Knife-Edge diffraction loss with continuous profile trace and direct integration into RSL, fade margin, and reports.	Link Budget Docs →
Reflection & Space Diversity Optimization	Least-squares Reflective Plane (K = 0.70 → 100 sweep on non-linear arctan(K)° axis across 4 Main/Diversity traces) + 1-click K = 4/3 constructive-peak Main (n + 0.5λ) and 180° opposite-phase Null @ K = 4/3 Space Diversity height optimizer (25–60 ft sweet spot).	Feature Matrix →
Terrain, Clutter & LiDAR	USGS 3DEP bare-earth DEM, USGS 3DEP LiDAR Height Above Ground (HAG), LANDFIRE canopy height, OpenStreetMap 3D buildings, Annual NLCD land-cover clutter, automatic `±2′` (`±120″`) hop bounding-box calculation in Fetch Data, FCC ASR lookup, and global Open-Meteo 90 m DEM fallback.	Feature Matrix →
Equipment, Multi-Power, ACM & ACU	501-item catalog (324 radios across `5–2000 MHz` channels, 121 antennas with interactive RPE pattern viewer, 56 transmission lines and branching defaults) across Nokia/Wavence (incl. `XP` XPIC), Aviat Networks (incl. 26 `A2C`/`A2C+` Adaptive Dual Carrier models), Ceragon, Cambium, CommScope/Andrew, Radio Waves, RFS, Gabriel, and Times Microwave, with path-frequency and channel-bandwidth filtering, bidirectional `.raf`/`.rsd` export/import, up to 5 TX power options, 10-mode ACM, ATPC, and ACU branching losses.	Feature Matrix →
Reports & Deliverables	Classic 2-page Pathloss-style Reports and Full Reports, Microsoft Word `.rtf` (with native vector EMF profile and selectable Spanline crest logo), Path Survey PDF print layout, Google Earth 3D `.kml`, and Multi-Hop Summary & BOM `.csv`.	Launch App →