Build 1017 is Available -- Patch to Build 1017 (Updated 15 January 2014)
Purchase Proplab-Pro for Immediate Download or on CDROM:
Immediate Download
After you download AND install the software, please apply the patch for Build 1017 (above).
Proplab-Pro Version 3: $240 USD
Proplab-Pro Version 3 and SWIM:
$340 USD
On CDROM
Proplab-Pro Version 3: $260 USD
Proplab-Pro Version 3 and SWIM:
$360 USD
Animation assembled from numerous 3D frames of the Proplab-Pro Version 3 output, showig ordinary (red) and extraordinary (green) ducted signal components.
Proplab-Pro Version 3 is a sophisticated ionospheric radio communications tool, capable of handling and diagnosing some of the most complex radio propagation problems that nature can provide.
At the heart of it are two fully independent ray-tracing engines: a two-dimensional engine and a three-dimensional engine. Each one has advantages over the other. For example, the 2D engine is much faster than the 3D engine, but is not capable of handling ionospheric tilts that can lead to non-uniform ionospheric refraction and non-great-circle signal propagation. The 2D engine is capable of handling three-dimensional tilted ground-hops (i.e. off-direction ground reflection in mountain ranges, etc.) using a high-resolution global topographical database.
All of the engines use the new 2007 International Reference Ionosphere, which provides the most realistic simulation of the Earth's ionosphere, even during geomagnetically disturbed intervals. It even includes effects for such things as Winter Anomalies and Stratospheric Warming events.
Proplab-Pro Version 3 is easy enough for the novice to use, yet powerful enough to provide research-grade results for professional or scientific purposes.
Minimum System Requirements
Recommended System Requirements
This is a plot showing the electron density profile across the entire great-circle radio path from Seattle to Sydney, together wth the location of the overhead Sun, and the grayline. It identifies a tilted ionosphere, which leads to non-great-circle propagation and other unexpected effects that can only be resolved through ray-tracing.
Proplab-Pro Version 3 will produce a plethora of global maps like this one, which represents the maximum useable frequency over 3,000 km paths.
You can even zoom in (any number of times) and you have full control over the map resolution.
Unlike other radio propagation programs that use blurry empirical algorithm's, Proplab-Pro Version 3 uses pure ray-tracing techniques to compute important parameters such as the Maximum Useable Frequency and the OptimumWorking Frequency (FOT). It also calculates the angle of elevation required for broadcast signals to reach the MUF (right-scale).
This example shows the effect of including ground-tilts in ray-traced results. The example at the left is without ground-tilt calculations, while the example at the right is with ground tilt calculations. During the first two hops, ground tilts caused the ray's to be reflected at higher elevation angles, more than doubling the number of hops required to reach the receiver and increasing signal absorption 26 dB over and above what the calculations that excluded ground tilts showed. That is a significant amount of signal loss due solely to the inclusion of ground tilts.
Proplab-Pro let's you choose between many different types of pre-built antenna radiation patterns for both the transmitter and the receiver. Or you can use third-party software to generate your own antenna radiation patterns and import them into Proplab-Pro using a supplied conversion utility.
This example shows a broadcast coverage map (signal strength over area) computed during a ray-tracing session from a Transmitter in southwestern Canada. A receiver in central Asia is trying to determine if it is possible to receive the Canadian-based signal transmission. This map is considerably different than the broadcast coverage maps produced by conventional radio propagation programs, which blur the details through the use of empirical algorithms. For example, all of the conventional programs we tried failed to produce the horizontal striations in signal strength and (in particular) failed to show the more strongly enhanced line of signal strength from just north of New Zealand and northwestward into China. Only ray-tracing was able to resolve this feature.
This is a zoomed-in analysis of where individual ray's hit the ground and reveals the effects of signal focusing (higher densities of signals reaching the ground) around the skip-zone of the transmitter. It also helps identify specific oddities that would be impossible to resolve any other way than through ray-tracing. For example, notice the small island cluster of ray's that reach the ground a short distance from the main band of signals in south-central Montana. Proplab lets you zoom in to any level of detail on almost all of its displayed maps.
These are a few of the many types of screens that Proplab-Pro Version 3 can produce.
The older Proplab-Pro Version 2 (now resting in peace) had not been updated in over 13 years, yet is still (even today) respected as one of the most useful tools available to the radio communications specialist.
We are proud to continue this tradition of high quality software for science with the release of Version 3.
Support for owners of Proplab-Pro Version 3 can be found at: http://www.spacew.com/forum. Click on the Software Discussion link, followed by the Proplab link.
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