Eric Cobb

Eric Cobb

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Visual Studio GUI Radio Tower Locator/ Signal Strength Computer

Feb 10 2011 10:22 PM
Hello

I am a newbie who is trying to program a GUI that allows the user to locate two transmitters at arbitrary locations in a rectangular area, and which allows specification of the wavelength at which the transmitters are operating. After entering these data, the program computes the signal strength everywhere in the rectangular area.  I am looking for any preexisting code on this that I could work with, or any pieces which I could put together.  The GUI layout was obviously the easiest part.  Getting the program to locate individual towers and compute signal strength is something I am unsure of how to begin.

Requirements

  • Program needs to accommodate only two transmitters.
  • Assume that the signals from the transmitters do not attenuate; i.e., signal strength does not diminish with distance.
  • For the rectangular area, assume an isotropic, featureless plane across which the signals propagate. Ignore any signal blockage or reflection by the transmitters (assume that both the transmitters are points; i.e., they have no size).
  • Program must have a graphical, forms-based interface for specifying the locations of the transmitters and the broadcasting wavelength and must indicate the dimensions of the rectangular area.
  • Program MUST be object-oriented. MUST include a transmitter class. Transmitter objects, of which program creates two, privately(!!) store their X and Y coordinates.
  • Each 'point' in the surrounding, rectangular area MUST be modeled as an object of the class antenna. Like a transmitter, an antenna has private(!!) positional information. Based on this information and the positional information of the transmitter, the antenna can compute its signal strength (this computation must be done by the antenna object itself!!).
  • To compute signal strength S at a specific point (antenna) the following (or equivalent) computation can be used:
  • S = 1 + sin((p/2) + (abs(d1 - d2)/W * 2p))

    where:

    • W = wavelength.
    • d1 = distance from the antenna to the first transmitter.
    • d2 = distance from the antenna to the second transmitter.

  • Scale the signal strength (between 0 (no signal) and 2.0 (double signal strength)) to the associated gray color ranging from RGB=0;0;0 (black) for signal strength 0 to RGB=255;255;255 (white) for signal strength 2.0.
  • Program must be robust so that it catches and handles input errors; e.g., it should not accept negative wavelengths or non-numeric positional information.
What it needs to look like.
http://img228.imageshack.us/i/guiradiotower.png




Thank you so much for any help!