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.
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.
.pl5) Round-Trip & ant_rad Libraries
Open and export native Pathloss 5 .pl5 link files and import Pathloss .raf (v4/v5 ASCII), .rsd/.rds (binary), and .ant/.asd radio and antenna specification 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.
Built-in 77-item catalog (8 radios, 29 antennas, and 40 transmission lines) spanning Nokia/Wavence, Aviat Networks, Ceragon, Cambium, CommScope/Andrew, RFS, and Times Microwave—plus any vendor via .raf/.rsd import, supporting up to 5 discrete transmit power options (TXmax / TXmin / ATPC_top), 10-mode ACM, ATPC, and ACU branching losses (1+0, 1+1 HSB, 2+0, Space Diversity, Hybrid).
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.
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).
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, and search the integrated US FCC ASR tower database by registration number or coordinate radius.
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.
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.
.pl5) & Site WorksheetRound-trip .pl5 import/export, WGS84 coordinates, FCC ASR tower lookup, antenna/waveguide selection, and 1-click USGS 3DEP + LiDAR fetch.
Dual K = 1.33 / 0.66 Fresnel envelopes with 1-click Optimize main heights, Optimize diversity heights, and safety margin controls.
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.
.raf / .rsd Multi-Power, ACM & ACUImports Pathloss .raf/.rsd radio specs with up to 5 transmit power options, ACU branching losses (1+1 HSB SD), and 10-mode ACM tables.
Full EIRP, ITU-R P.526-15 diffraction loss, automatic Pathloss 5 intervisible terrain roughness, and Vigants–Barnett / Crane / P.530 availability.
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.
How Spanline compares head-to-head against legacy Windows desktop microwave path software and single-vendor cloud portals.
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, full .pl5 / .raf / .rsd multi-power & ACU support, and native vector EMF .rtf + PDF reports.
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 77-item radio, antenna, and waveguide catalog, full .pl5/.raf/.rsd/.ant import and round-trip .pl5 export, and interactive Pathloss-grade K-factor reflective plane sweeps and phase alignment.
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 + .raf (v4/v5 ASCII), .rsd/.rds, and .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 | 77-item multi-vendor catalog + custom/.raf/.rsd import, up to 5 TX power options, 10-mode ACM, ATPC, and ACU branching losses (1+0, 1+1 HSB, 2+0, Space Diversity, Hybrid) |
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, 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 |
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, .raf/.rsd/.ant, 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.
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.
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), plus Pathloss .raf (v4/v5 ASCII), .rsd/.rds (binary), and .ant/.asd equipment 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, FCC ASR lookup, and global Open-Meteo 90 m DEM fallback. | Feature Matrix → |
| Equipment, Multi-Power, ACM & ACU | 77-item catalog (8 radios, 29 antennas, 40 transmission lines) across Nokia/Wavence, Aviat Networks, Ceragon, Cambium, CommScope/Andrew, RFS, and Times Microwave, plus custom/.raf/.rsd entries, up to 5 TX power options, 10-mode ACM, ATPC, and ACU branching losses (1+0, 1+1 HSB, 2+0, Space Diversity, Hybrid). |
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 → |