Professional Documents
Culture Documents
By
MARK MWANGI NDONGA
F19/1919/2007
April 2013
Abstract
This project deals with the use of Very High Resolution stereo satellite imagery to
generate a digital elevation model of Nairobi CBD and its environs for use in radio
network planning. Photogrammetric methods are employed in creating the 3D grid
that represents the surface of the earth. Extraction of land use patterns and obstacle
analysis is also covered as well as the accuracy assessment from secondary higher
quality data. This is followed by the use of RF planning software in a GIS
environment to model expected propagation characteristics of the Radio waves and
the subsequent adjustments of the siting of the base transceiver stations.
The result is a high quality DSM, DEM, Ortho-photo, Clutter data classes and an
obstacle heights grid, which are used to create prediction maps for the hypothetical
radio network. Propagation prediction maps are produced and show the best sites to
place base transceiver stations for the widest and most reliable coverage.
Radio network planners demand high accuracy Geodata to help in their planning and
optimization operations in order to deliver high quality service to their clients. Said
data needs to be timely, accurate and of sufficient resolution.
Dedication
I dedicate this report to my family for their enormous support throughout my
education and all my endeavors.
I could not have done this without you.
ii
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the immense help accorded to me by Mr. Eric Nyadimo
the CEO and staff of Oakar services Ltd in the assistance with data, software and
expertise.
I would also like to thank Mary Gwena, Fred Onyango, and Dr. Siriba for guidance
and sound advice.
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Table of Contents
Dedication .................................................................................................................... ii
Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... iii
Table of Contents ........................................................................................................ iv
List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................. vi
List of Figures ............................................................................................................ vii
1: CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION...................................................................... 1
1.1: Background ....................................................................................................... 1
1.2: Problem statement ............................................................................................ 6
1.3: Objectives ......................................................................................................... 6
1.4: Justification ....................................................................................................... 6
1.5: Organization ..................................................................................................... 7
2: CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................... 8
2.1: History of Radio communications .................................................................... 8
2.2: Radio planning .................................................................................................. 9
2.2.1 Atoll & Cellular Expert............................................................................. 11
2.3: Data requirements/acquisition ........................................................................ 12
2.3.1: Satellite Imagery ...................................................................................... 12
2.3.2: GCP collection ......................................................................................... 13
3: CHAPTER THREE: TECHNIQUES AND METHODS USED........................... 16
3.1: Study Area ...................................................................................................... 16
3.2: Equipment and data used. ............................................................................... 18
3.3: Methodology ................................................................................................... 19
3.4: GCP Collection ............................................................................................... 20
3.5: Imagery ........................................................................................................... 23
3.6: Leica Photogrammetry Suite .......................................................................... 25
3.7: RF Coverage Prediction .................................................................................. 32
4: CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS & ANALYSIS ..................................................... 37
4.1: Orthophoto ...................................................................................................... 37
4.2: Digital Surface Model (DSM) ........................................................................ 37
4.3: Digital Elevation Model (DEM) ..................................................................... 39
4.4: Point cloud ...................................................................................................... 40
4.5: Building heights .............................................................................................. 40
iv
List of Abbreviations
DEM-Digital Elevation Model
DSM-Digital Surface Model
UMTS-Universal Mobile telecommunication system
LIDAR- Light Detection and Ranging
GCP-Ground control point
WIMAX-Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
BTS- Base Transceiver Station
vi
List of Figures
Fig 7 Processing steps for the DEM generation from stereo Ikonos images
and evaluation with Lidar elevation data.
viii
In the past, before the advent of mobile telephony, the nature of the frequencies and
technology used in the broadcast sector allowed for minimal planning in the siting of
the transmitter.
The propagation characteristics of lower frequency radio waves (See Fig. 1) and the
uni-directional nature of the communication by broadcast companies allowed the use
of a few transmitters to cover a large part of the population and require less
bandwidth to do so. The transmitters were usually constructed atop vantage points
such as hills or ridges for the farthest reach.
The advent of mobile telephony and its subsequent popularity rendered the old model
of establishing the radio networks obsolete due to the demands of the new networks.
More bandwidth, reuse of frequency, bi-directional communication, low latency and
high availability require a more robust network that considers the topography of the
region.
Currently, the mobile phone industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the
world. All over the world growing numbers of mobile phones require more extensive
coverage areas. In coverage area planning locations and number of network sites are
optimized. Coverage area planning requires special format of geographical data.
Topography and morphography are the most important geographical data required.
Topography contains information about elevations in the planning area. Different
land cover types according to their wave propagation abilities define morphography.
Topography data is usually in the form of Digital Terrain Models and Digital
Elevation Models, which may be derived from Digital Surface Models.
DSM refers to Digital Surface Model. It is a representation of a portion of the earths
surface on a 2 dimensional grid. This is an elevation model that takes the surface
height inclusive of everything on it. It takes the tops of trees, buildings etc. and
includes them in the model. This is usually a remote sensing product from either
aerial photos or satellite imaging. It is not very useful in RF planning since the
surface doesnt accurately predict the effects on the radio propagation and
interference.
take into consideration the objects affixed on the surface of the ground e.g.
Buildings, trees, power lines etc. It is also sometimes called a bare earth model.
We can thus see that DEMs and DTMs are similar and are sometimes used
interchangeably depending on the data provider or user. DTMs are however more
inclined to the emphasis of distinct features on the earths surface while DEMs are a
more generic term.
planners to allocate appropriate resources to high demand areas and less in say
croplands.
DEM data is vital in the planning of Radio networks over a large geographical area
in order to predict the interference and propagation patterns of the RF signals.
Various obstacles above the ground surface including buildings, trees affect the
signals, and the land use and land cover characteristics patterns e.g. water bodies,
open grassland affect the signal propagation.
Specialized software (For example Cellular Expert, Atoll, Mentum Planet and
various internet and web based tools) are used for this purpose in a GIS environment
to model the behavior of the very specific equipment that is used by the RF operators
and is thus able to accurately model the expected propagation characteristics and
interference of the of the said radio waves.
This greatly aids in planning prior to even visiting the region and allows for the
determination of the optimum locations of the Base transmitter stations and
receivers. Prior knowledge of the optimum locations prepares the installers before
commencement of negotiations with the property owners as to the rates of rent
particularly in the cases of urban deployment where there is no free space for
allocation.
Acquisition of the geodata used in RF planning has been prohibitively expensive due
to the methods used to acquire the raw data. Ground surveys have been the most
predominantly used methods of obtaining elevation data. Traverse networks,
differential GPS networks and leveling are the methods employed and they are
laborious and expensive. Digitization from existing topographic maps is also used
especially for rural areas but the age of the maps renders the morphological data on
the maps unusable for urban or recently urbanized areas.
With the large areas covered by RF the cost involved in covering expansive areas
using traditional ground survey methods can be overwhelming. There has been a
trend towards the use of remote sensed imagery for the generation of clutter data and
DEM datasets of large areas. Aerial photographs, stereo satellite images, Shuttle
Radar Topography Mission and Light Detection and Ranging data are the most
widely used in this regard.
LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging, also LADAR) is an optical remote sensing
technology that can measure the distance to, or other properties of, targets by
illuminating the target with laser light and analyzing the backscattered light.
The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) obtained elevation data on a nearglobal scale to generate the most complete high-resolution digital topographic
database of Earth. SRTM consisted of a specially modified radar system that flew
onboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour during an 11-day mission in February of 2000.
SRTM is an international project spearheaded by the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA). (California Institute of Technology, 2013)
IKONOS is a commercial earth observation satellite, and was the first to collect
publicly available high-resolution imagery at 1- and 4-meter resolution. It
offers multispectral (MS) and panchromatic (PAN) imagery. The IKONOS launch
was called by John E. Pike one of the most significant developments in the history
of the space age. IKONOS imagery began being sold on January 1, 2000. (Digital
Globe, 2013)
(METI), and Japan Space Systems (J-space systems). (Jet propulsion Laboratory,
2013)
Freely or cheaply available global DEM (Mostly from SRTM and ASTER) is of low
resolution (90 m 20m) and thus not suitable for dense urban areas or areas that
have had significant changes in morphological features in the recent past for
example, new buildings coming up. It is also usually outdated and does not offer
strategic advantage to RF planners.
1.2: Problem statement
Given the shortcomings of the freely available DEM data, it is important to find a
way of deriving accurate up-to-date DEM data and fast enough to facilitate RF
planning.
I intend to show it is possible to generate a sufficiently accurate DEM for the use of
radio network planning and model a hypothetical radio network using Stereo
Satellite images. Clutter data (in my case building height profiles and land cover
classes) will also be extracted from the same image pair.
1.3: Objectives
The objective of this project is to generate the following:
DSM and DTM of Nairobi city center and its environs from a stereo pair of
high resolution IKONOS Satellite images
Clutter data sets (Building heights and Land cover classes) for the same
region covered by the DTM
1.4: Justification
Increased proliferation of mobile phone technology has precipitated intensive
demand for wireless networks that are robust and scalable. Advancing radio network
There is also a need to review network performance due to changes in the landscape
especially in urban areas where the rate of new constructions is staggering.
1.5: Organization
The report is organized into 5 chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the reader to the
background and objectives of the project. Chapter 2 gives a thorough review of
existing research and work done in the field of remote sensed terrain extraction and
RF planning. Chapter 3 looks at the methods employed in the project to achieve the
objectives. Chapter 4 gives the results and the analysis including quality of the
results. Chapter 5 gives the conclusion and recommendations. Chapter 6 outlines the
literature cited.
Scottish Physicist James Clerk Maxwell first proposed their existence in 1860s but it
was German physicist Heinrich Rudolph Hertz in 1886 who demonstrated that rapid
variations of electric current could be projected into space in the form of radio waves
similar to how light and heat were transmitted. (Buchwald , 1994)
Gugliemo Marconi is credited as being the first to establish feasible radio
communication when in 1899 he flashed a wireless signal across the English
Channel. This led to the development of the radiotelegraph and later the TV and
radio were built to massive public appeal.
Numerous advancements have been realized since then and radio communications
has become ubiquitous in the modern world. Examples of modern technologies that
employ wireless communications today are;
Bluetooth
Wi-Fi
GPS
TV/FM radio
The planning and optimization of the said networks is increasingly moving towards
becoming automated.
Radio frequency planners have very specific requirements for their data and consider
it a vital part of the planning process. Little processing is done in house and they rely
on GIS/Geospatial firms to supply the data. The requirements are heavily skewed
towards temporal resolution as opposed to spatial resolution. The need for spatially
accurate data (DEM, clutter, and attribute data) remains however (Makali, 2012).
The image above shows an example of a prediction map that is generated from the
RF planning tools using the underlying Geodata to model the interaction of the
transmitted radio waves and the terrain.
10
The software is used for the extensive planning and cataloguing of equipment,
orientation, settings and the subsequent updating and optimization of the various
sites of an extensive radio network. It is a comprehensive, standalone software and
supports most geospatial file formats including and not limited to .img, .tif, .png etc.
It is also the most popular amongst commercial telecommunication companies
(Makali, 2012).
It is easy to use and friendly to amateur radio planners.
Cellular expert is a similar tool with almost identical functionality but a much more
robust toolset. It is less automated than Atoll but with adequate knowledge it is just
as powerful if not superior. It works as an extension of the ArcGIS and requires at
least a licensed ArcGIS 10 installation to work. This integration with ArcGIS is
advantageous to those already working in an ArcGIS Environment but is however
limiting for those who work in other GIS environments. The integration however
makes it easier for the software to support many more formats and allow for
manipulation of larger datasets. An example of the coverage prediction produced by
Cellular Expert is shown in Fig. 6
11
The use of satellite imagery for the generation of data is a recent development with
the widespread availability of Very High Resolution satellite imagery and other
satellite based methods such as Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar
(InSAR), which can be used to generate DEMs with a few meters vertical
12
13
the field thus reducing or eliminating the need of having a GPS base for your
measurements.
The case is different in Kenya with only 1 CORS within Nairobi County housed at
the Regional center for Mapping and Resource Development (www.rcmrd.org). A
base therefore needs to be used to make any meaningfully accurate readings.
The general procedure of extracting 3D information (in my case a DSM and DEM) is
as follows:
Create and post processes the DSM to extract the DEM and possibly clutter
data (Eckert, 2008).
14
Figure 7: Processing steps for the DEM generation from stereo Ikonos images and its evaluation with
Lidar elevation data (Toutin, 2005).
15
My study area is a section of Nairobi city and its environs within the greater Nairobi
County encompassing an area of 8km by 13km as shown in Fig.8.
Single and multi-story buildings, open ground and a small percentage occupied by
vegetation mostly low-lying, occupy a large percentage of the area under study. The
built up areas vary from industrial, commercial and residential buildings most of
which do not surpass a height of 20m.
16
17
ERDAS IMAGINE 2013 software with the LPS module which has block
adjustment, ortho photo creation and DEM extraction capabilities
18
3.3: Methodology
Figure 9 presents an outline of the methodology used in the workflow of the project.
LPS
Accurate GCPs
eATE
Block Adjustment
Unsupervised
Classification
Ortho-Photo, DEM
RF Planning
software (Cellular
expert/Atoll)
RF Prediction maps
The primary inputs in the workflow are accurately measured ground control points
and a pair of satellite images in stereo. The satellite images came with their Rational
19
Due to changes in the terrain since the acquisition of the images (due to building
construction and road infrastructure changes), finding suitable spots on the ground
that were accurately identifiable on the image was a challenge but was eventually
surmounted.
A set of differential GPS units was used to collect the information. These were a
Promark 800 unit manufactured by Spectra International used as a rover while the
base was a Promark 500 unit manufactured by the same company.
Constellation: GPS/GLONASS/GALILEO/SBAS
Frequency: L1/L2/L5
20
Channels: 120
Initialization range: Up to 40 km
Display: OLED
Waterproof: Yes
21
22
An averaged accuracy of 0.071m for each point was achieved for the overall
operation. The least accurate observations were for positions farthest from the base
station and this was due to the limited observation times that we afforded to occupy
the positions. Recommended occupation time is about 30 minutes at each station but
due to time constrains, we only occupied for about 10 minutes to 5 minutes at each
station.
The error margin is however well within the requirements for photo control due to
the resolution of the image that I used. GCPs of an accuracy of at least 0.5m are
required to correct the model for block adjustment when using Ikonos Satellite
imagery. (Eckert, 2008)
23
The IKONOS images used had the following characteristics at the time of
acquisition.
Image 1
Sensor: IKONOS-2
Acquired Nominal GSD
Pan Cross Scan: 0.9112195969 meters
Pan Along Scan: 0.8647795916 meters
MS Cross Scan: 3.6448783875 meters
MS Along Scan: 3.4591183662 meters
Scan Azimuth: 179.9988028957 degrees
Scan Direction: Reverse
Panchromatic TDI Mode: 13
Nominal Collection Azimuth: 256.0363 degrees
Nominal Collection Elevation: 70.47781 degrees
Sun Angle Azimuth: 44.9368 degrees
Sun Angle Elevation: 59.66842 degrees
Acquisition Date/Time: 2009-07-24 08:10 GMT
Percent Cloud Cover: 3
Image 2
Sensor: IKONOS-2
Acquired Nominal GSD
Pan Cross Scan: 0.9336703420 meters
Pan Along Scan: 1.0087776184 meters
MS Cross Scan: 3.7346813679 meters
MS Along Scan: 4.0351104736 meters
Scan Azimuth: 179.9988028957 degrees
Scan Direction: Reverse
Panchromatic TDI Mode: 13
24
The images were acquired at around 11:10 AM local time. This is close to noon,
which is the best time to collect imagery due to the reduced effect of shadows on
image interpretation. There is only 3% cloud cover in image 1 and none in image 2.
This presents good image interpretation conditions.
The two images overlap is above 95% and thus suitable for use in block adjustment
using aero triangulation in the block adjustment tool of the Leica Photogrammetry
Suite of software.
Within this suite the block tool, point measurement tool and the eATE (Enhanced
Automatic Terrain Extraction tool) were used.
The GCPs that were collected using GPS were identified on each image in the pointmeasuring tool as shown in Figure 12.
25
The GCPs collected were accurately placed on the adjacent images using the pointmeasuring tool and additional tie points were generated by use of automatic image
matching methods image matching methods.
In the Aerial triangulation the number of iterations was set to 10 and the rational
function was refined with a 1st order polynomial. The rational function relates ground
point coordinates (X, Y, and Z) to image pixel coordinates (x, y) in the form of ratios
of two polynomials:
x = P1(X, Y, Z) / P2(X, Y, Z);
y = P3(X, Y, Z) / P4(X, Y, Z);
The polynomial order determines which function to use to compute dx and dy as:
Order 0: dx = a0; dy = b0;
Order 1: dx = a0 + a1x + a2y; dy = b0 + b1x + b2y;
The 0th order results in a simple shift to both image x and y coordinates. The 1st order
is an affine transformation
26
Aerial triangulation was performed with theses settings and the resultant unit-weight
standard error = 1.1594 pixels. The total Image RMSE was 1.1594 pixels. These are
acceptable results and the stereo pair can be considered to be successfully oriented.
The next step was extracting the terrain and the features on the terrain.
Two methods were used to extract the terrain after block triangulation.
The first method involved using the block tool that resides in the classic ATE
module. This method uses traditional photogrammetric techniques to draw the relief
of an area by use of parallax. It is useful in extracting bare earth profiles but
performs poorly for building and feature extraction.
The strategy employed involved smoothing out the ground and filtering out the
objects and structures based on object heights and widths.
27
Figure 14 shows the strategy parameters used. The high smoothing and the object
filter are aimed at removing all the trees, buildings and related objects from the
terrain and thus leave the bare ground profile.
The other method used involved the Enhanced Automatic Terrain Extraction (eATE)
module of the LPS suite. This module uses per pixel comparison to generate RGBencoded, dense point clouds by correlating points from stereo image pairs. These
point clouds are then used to build a high quality DSM of the area covered. Using the
point clouds in their native formats would be more desirable due to the manipulation
options they afford but with the resolution of the images and limited parallax offered
due to distance of the sensor platform, the point clouds were thin and not suitable for
analysis.
Figure 15 shows the strategy parameters used to generate the most accurate DSM
from the IKONOS image set.
28
The parameters in figure 15 were arrived at after a lot of trial and error with varying
results. The correlator used was the NCC correlator, which is a statistical measure of
the similarity of two points in two images. The window size is the size in pixels, of
the area used for computing the correlation coefficient between the left and right
images. This must be an odd number so that there is a center pixel in the window.
The interpolation method caters for points that have not been interpolated. These
interpolated points are written to a file and then used to seed the next-pyramid-layer
correlation which increases accuracy and point density. Interpolated terrain points
are not written to the output DTM.
29
The coefficient start and end defines the correlation coefficient to use for each
pyramid level (Pyramid levels is a type of multi-scale signal representation
developed by the computer vision, image processing and signal processing
communities, in which a signal or an image is subject to repeated smoothing and
subsampling ).
LSQ refinement is an algorithm that uses least squares to refine the correlation to
provide improved sub-pixel results. When employed at the last pyramid levels, it
provides accurate intersections of the matched rays
The best edge constraint value was 4 as this enhanced the buildings edges and thus
made identification easier. The objective was to acquire a DSM that most accurately
delineated buildings and associated objects from the rest of the terrain.
Smoothing looks for spikes in elevation and removes those points deemed to be too
extreme a change compared to surrounding points to be a valid elevation point. In
general, this removed outliers. This was not selected as it would have resulted in
removal of the clutter heights as erroneous. Low contrast lowers the feature threshold
in low-contrast areas
Next, a Surface Differencing operation was carried out on the two DSMs to obtain
the difference between the two surfaces, which would constitute the objects on top of
the bare earth.
30
This differencing was then reclassified using the reclassify tool in the 3D Analyst
toolbox of ArcGIS 10.1. In the reclassification, the pixels with a value below 100
were eliminated as they represented the ground and the remainder represented
buildings and a few other objects on the ground. These were saved as a separate layer
and are an acceptable representation of the buildings in the study area (Figure 17)
31
A classification of the land cover types was also conducted using unsupervised
classification within the ERDAS Imagine Raster toolset. This used pixel values to
classify the land cover types into Buildings, Open grassland and vegetation (see
Figure 18).
We thus have the major datasets required by the RF planning software to generate
prediction maps and possible locations of siting BTS.
Coverage predictions are raster images that show the relative strength of the radio
signal as it travels across the landscape. They are very useful in predicting the
32
distance the signal is likely to propagate and places that may get excluded from
service due to shadowing or obstruction from buildings and the like.
The environment of the Atoll workflow involves having a workspace that holds the
geodata and the Base transceiver stations that will be distributed in the area (See
figure 19). We are only concerned with the best sites theoretically to allow the best
coverage of the area.
A default database is generated and populated for use and the DTM and building
raster are imported. The database is where all the settings for the proposed network
will be saved including options of the antenna type, radio type, what kind of network
33
(UMTS, Cellular, Wimax or Microwave) and the orientation of the coverage and
how many sectors per site.
Comprehensive settings and data are entered into the prediction model so as to
accurately predict the coverage area according to the data on the ground. Most of
these settings are however input into templates that significantly reduce the deep
technical knowledge required. The template chosen was that of UMTS networks
operating at 2100 MHz this is due to the growing trend of telecom companies
building out new 3G networks as they transition from the older lower capacity 2G
cellular networks. The template is suitable for urban areas with lots of buildings. The
template is shown in Figure 20.
34
Once this is done, the sites can be located in a manner that will cover the largest
population and afford the most economical investment in site construction. The site
locations chosen are shown in figure 21.
35
Once the parameters for the antennas, sectors, orientation of the sectors and the
prediction model has been set, the predictions are created.
36
The results of the procedures detailed in the previous chapter are detailed below and
several products were realized.
4.1: Orthophoto
An ortho-photo of the study area was realized after the block triangulation aided by
GPS collected GCPs. This can be used to create maps or be used as a map itself due
to its planimetry corrections. The planimetric accuracy of the Orthophoto was found
to be 1m in both x and y when point coordinates was compared to the GCPs
collected.
4.2: Digital Surface Model (DSM)
High quality DSM of the study area was generated using the eATE module and was
used to extract the building profiles from the ground surface. The resolution is 1m
per pixel. Due to the resolution of the image and the pixel size,
Small objects of area of about 20 square meters are undetectable. Most buildings can
however be distinguished from the rest of the landscape and extraction is possible as
shown in Figure 22.
The accuracy of this DSM was checked by comparing to a reference DEM that
covers part of the area that was acquired by use of LIDAR data. (See Figure 23)
37
38
Visual comparisons of height values registered on the reference DEM and the created
DSM showed the highest difference in heights measured at the same points was 2m.
4.3: Digital Elevation Model (DEM)
A DEM was generated using the classic ATE block tool of LPS and a quality
assessment conducted by having a look at the quality raster produced in the process.
Figure 24 is a DTM point status image that correlates the observed point heights with
the interpolated height and generates a quality rating for the point.
Green pixels means perfect while red would mean suspicious. As we can see the
above DEM passed the internal quality test.
39
Using Manual classification of the point cloud would take too much time and effort
to be useful and thus that line of pursuit was abandoned.
It is however usable within the study area as it shows the general layout of the
buildings in the area and the height profiles.
Within the Atoll software the combination of the building heights and the DEM are
used as a surface layer and the original DSM is usable here.
The building heights are used as an obstacle height layer separate from the terrain.
Radio transceivers are routinely mounted on buildings and thus they are used as a
surface for the coverage predictions whose characteristics are different from those of
the ground. The transceivers mounted on the ground are raised from the surface to a
height of about 30m or higher. Those mounted on buildings are not raised and thus
would need different representation on the raster and hence the demarcation between
buildings and ground level.
40
The effective service area (See figure 26) refers to the region that has acceptable
levels of service as defined by the internal quality management standards within the
41
organization or as mandated by the regulator. The red regions indicate the areas that
fall under effective service for the individual BTSs. Note that there is no overlap of
the coverage areas from different transceiver stations. This is because of the
canceling out and interference of the signals from the neighboring BTSs that all
operate at the same frequency. For simplicity, I set all the antennas to operate at 2100
MHz In the real world, antennas in neighboring cells are set to different frequencies
to avoid the interference effect.
Fig. 27 shows the signal strength of the individual transmitter antennas. The highest
strength is shown in yellow while weakest is in light blue. This graphic illustrates the
coverage distance that a given antenna can serve. The no. Of concurrent users that a
given cell can support are between 50 and 60.
42
Figure 28 shows the zones with the most overlap with the green regions showing the
highest overlap areas and the purple showing the least overlap with only one antenna
serving the area.
Due to the high population of the city and its environs, the no. of BTS and cell sites
that are required to adequately provide reliable service are considerably higher than
indicated in my models.
Due to lack of expertise, I avoided going too deeply into the telecommunication
engineering aspect of the radio planning and the associated considerations and chose
to focus on the Geographic data considerations.
43
The extraction of geodata for the use in radio network planning has been achieved by
application of photogrammetric methods on satellite images. The geographic base is
thus usable in the generation of prediction patterns.
All the objectives of the project were met with the extraction of a high quality DSM
and DEM. Clutter data sets were also extracted from the stereo satellite images. It is
thus possible to use affordable and accessible satellite imagery products to extract
geodata of sufficient quality for use in terrestrial radio frequency planning.
The use of satellite images has the potential of replacing traditional survey
techniques with the exception of collecting GCPs in areas where the control network
is not dense enough. With the improvement in satellite based sensor technology,
resolutions and ground sample distances of up to 0.51m are commercially available
today. With time this will definitely go higher and will reduce the necessity of
requiring aerial photography missions to collect imagery for engineering, planning
and judicial use.
Using Satellite imagery can however be limiting in the cases of bad weather where
cloud cover is high or if the work is urgent. The revisit time of 3-5 days makes
urgent work difficult to carry out especially in fast changing landscape.
Use of aerial photography in parallel with LIDAR systems with GNSS and INS will
yield far more accurate and timely data sets for radio network planning amongst
other uses. These datasets are however likely to be very expensive due to the cost of
producing them. Using satellite imagery and photogrammetric methods has the
potential of replacing aerial photography at the macro scale and in good weather.
44
5.2 Recommendations
Higher resolution imagery is desired seeing as this would allow better feature
extraction and higher detail observed in finished product.
It is also recommended to establish more CORS around the city in order to reduce
the necessity of using a base and rover units in the field, as this is more costly in
terms of personnel and time spent. The collection of GCPs is important in providing
photo control and faster and more efficient processes of getting photo control reduce
the project time of extracting 3D information from stereo satellite imagery.
45
46
Makali, L., 2012. Optimization Engineer Orange Kenya [Interview] (5th December
2012).
Makela, J. & Turkka, T., 2000. Geographical databases for the use of radio network
planning. International archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, pp. 82-87.
Nawrocki, M. J., Dohler, M. & Ahgvami, A. H. eds., 2006. Understanding UMTS
Radio network Modelling, Planning and Automated Optimization. s.l.:John Wiley &
Sons Ltd.
Saldana, M., Aguilar, F., Aguilar, I. & Fernandez, I., 2012. DSM extraction and
evaluation from Geoeye-1 Stereo Imagery. Melbourne, s.n., pp. 113-116.
Shan, J., Lee, D. S. & Bethel, J. S., 2003. Class-Guided Building extraction from
Ikonos Imagery*. Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing, February, pp.
143-150.
Spectra Precision, 2013. Promark 800 Spectra Precision Surveying. [Online]
Available at: http://www.spectraprecision.com/products/gnss-surveying/promark800-13724.kjsp
Techcentral, 2013. TechCentral : How Africa can reap the dividend. [Online]
Available at: http://www.techcentral.co.za/how-africa-can-reap-the-dividend/38056/
Toutin, T., 2005. DTM Generation from Ikonos In-Track Stereo Images Using a 3D
physical Model. Photogrammetric Engineering & remote sensing , June, 70(6), pp.
695-702.
Wikipedia, 2013. Wikipedia: Digital Elevation Model. [Online]
Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DTM_DSM.png
Appendix 1.
Land Survey Overview
GNSS Solutions
(C) 2012 Trimble Navigation Limited. All rights reserved. Spectra Precision is a
Division of Trimble Navigation Limited.
4/4/2013 11:08:06 AM
www.spectraprecision.com
Project Name : Mwangi Project Final
Spatial Reference System : UTM/WGS 84/UTM zone 37S
Time Zone : (UTC+03:00) Nairobi
Linear Units : Meters
47
Control Points
95%
Name
Components Error
BM1
East
260541.281 0.000
North
9853584.290 0.000
Ellips height
1649.395 0.000
Description CP
Logged Points
Name
P1
East
North
Ellips height
Description
95%
Components
Error
256494.212
0.005
9858940.979
0.009
1672.701
0.015
GCP
Status
Adjusted
Adjusted
Adjusted
48
P10
East
North
Ellips height
Description
263655.582
9860360.163
1615.205
GCP
0.128
0.080
0.111
Adjusted
Adjusted
Adjusted
P11
East
North
Ellips height
Description
264457.500
9858600.812
1617.034
GCP
0.096
0.068
0.107
Adjusted
Adjusted
Adjusted
P2
East
North
Ellips height
Description
256763.068
9854424.875
1679.403
GCP
0.006
0.007
0.011
Adjusted
Adjusted
Adjusted
P3
East
North
Ellips height
Description
266468.391
9853736.164
1630.183
GCP
0.004
0.008
0.011
Adjusted
Adjusted
Adjusted
P4
East
North
Ellips height
Description
267651.992
9860690.330
1593.655
GCP
0.110
0.079
0.144
Adjusted
Adjusted
Adjusted
P5
East
North
Ellips height
Description
259540.994
9860460.512
1654.531
GCP
0.141
0.073
0.136
Adjusted
Adjusted
Adjusted
P6
East
North
Ellips height
Description
261272.063
9856745.953
1640.207
GCP
0.006
0.009
0.014
Adjusted
Adjusted
Adjusted
P7
East
North
Ellips height
Description
261351.614
9854766.475
1637.405
GCP
0.006
0.005
0.012
Adjusted
Adjusted
Adjusted
P9
East
North
Ellips height
Description
264740.852
9856732.524
1626.993
GCP
0.005
0.007
0.011
Adjusted
Adjusted
Adjusted
49
Files
Name
Start Time Sampling Epochs Size (Kb)
Type
GBM1XC13.082
13/03/23 14:17:40
10 1838
2155
L1/L2
GPS/WAAS
GP1XXA13.082
13/03/23 18:52:00
10
32
58L1/L2
GPS/GLONASS/WAAS
GP2XXB13.082
13/03/23 19:18:10
10
32
66L1/L2
GPS/GLONASS/WAAS
GP3XXB13.082
13/03/23 15:32:50
10
83
142L1/L2
GPS/GLONASS/WAAS
GP4XXB13.082
13/03/23 17:41:40
10
38
67L1/L2
GPS/GLONASS/WAAS
GP5XXC13.082
13/03/23 18:35:10
10
34
60L1/L2
GPS/GLONASS/WAAS
GP6XXA13.082
13/03/23 16:30:48
6
56
105L1/L2
GPS/GLONASS/WAAS
GP7XXC13.082
13/03/23 16:12:06
6
58
113L1/L2
GPS/GLONASS/WAAS
GP9XXB13.082
13/03/23 17:01:54
6
53
97L1/L2
GPS/GLONASS/WAAS
GP10XB13.082
13/03/23 18:09:30
10
31
54L1/L2
GPS/GLONASS/WAAS
GP11XA13.082
13/03/23 17:21:40
10
43
81L1/L2
GPS/GLONASS/WAAS
Occupations
Site
BM1
GBM1XC13.082
P1
GP1XXA13.082
P2
GP2XXB13.082
P3
GP3XXB13.082
P4
GP4XXB13.082
P5
GP5XXC13.082
P6
GP6XXA13.082
P7
GP7XXC13.082
P9
GP9XXB13.082
Start Time
Time span Type
March 23 2013 14:17:40.00 05:06:10.00 Static
March 23 2013 18:52:00.00
00:04:50.00 Static
00:04:50.00 Static
00:13:20.00 Static
00:04:50.00 Static
00:04:50.00 Static
00:05:00.00 Static
00:05:00.00 Static
00:04:54.00 Static
File
50
P10
GP10XB13.082
P11
GP11XA13.082
Processes
Reference
BM1
1
BM1
BM1
BM1
BM1
5
BM1
BM1
BM1
BM1
BM1
10
00:04:50.00 Static
00:05:50.00 Static
Reference File
GBM1XC13.082
GBM1XC13.082
GBM1XC13.082
GBM1XC13.082
GBM1XC13.082
P10
P9
P7
P6
GP10XB13.082
GP9XXB13.082
GP7XXC13.082
GP6XXA13.082
Static
Static
Static
Static
2
3
4
GBM1XC13.082
GBM1XC13.082
GBM1XC13.082
GBM1XC13.082
GBM1XC13.082
P5
P4
P3
P2
P11
GP5XXC13.082
GP4XXB13.082
GP3XXB13.082
GP2XXB13.082
GP11XA13.082
Static
Static
Static
Static
Static
6
7
8
9
Processed vectors
Vector
95%
Vector
95%
Vector Identifier
Length Error Components Error SV PDOP QA
Solution
BM1 - P11
6363.959
0.227 X -2286.762 0.104 7 2.2 No Float
13/03/23 17:21:40.00
Y 3185.292 0.100
+00:05:50.00
Z 5012.445 0.068
BM1 - P2
3870.475
13/03/23 19:18:10.00
+00:04:50.00
Fixed
BM1 - P3
5928.877
13/03/23 15:32:50.00
+00:13:20.00
Fixed
BM1 - P4
10052.574
13/03/23 17:41:40.00
+00:04:50.00
BM1 - P5
6948.237
13/03/23 18:35:10.00
+00:04:50.00
Float
Float
51
BM1 - P6
3244.877
13/03/23 16:30:48.00
+00:05:00.00
Fixed
BM1 - P7
1433.229
13/03/23 16:12:06.00
+00:05:00.00
Fixed
BM1 - P9
5248.435
13/03/23 17:01:54.00
+00:04:54.00
Fixed
BM1 - P10
7457.055
13/03/23 18:09:30.00
+00:04:50.00
BM1 - P1
6713.269
13/03/23 18:52:00.00
+00:04:50.00
Float
Fixed
Adjusted vectors
Vector Length
Vector
Tau
Vector Identifier
Length Resid.
Components Resid.
BM1 - P11
6363.959 0.000 X -2286.762 0.000
13/03/23 17:21:40.00
Y
3185.292 0.000
Z 5012.445 0.000
BM1 - P2
3870.475
13/03/23 19:18:10.00
Z
0.000 X
2303.870 0.000
Y -2993.702 0.000
842.916 0.000
BM1 - P3
5928.877
13/03/23 15:32:50.00
Z
BM1 - P4
10052.574
13/03/23 17:41:40.00
Z
BM1 - P5
6948.237
13/03/23 18:35:10.00
Z
0.000 X
724.525 0.000
Y
-699.688 0.000
6874.845 0.000
BM1 - P6
3244.877
13/03/23 16:30:48.00
Z
0.000 X
-389.433 0.000
Y
624.719 0.000
3160.268 0.000
Test QA
No
No
No
52
BM1 - P7
1433.229
13/03/23 16:12:06.00
Z
0.000 X
-474.421 0.000
Y
658.318 0.000
1181.391 0.000
BM1 - P9
5248.435
13/03/23 17:01:54.00
Z
BM1 - P10
7457.055
13/03/23 18:09:30.00
Z
BM1 - P1
6713.269
13/03/23 18:52:00.00
Z
0.000 X
2539.010 0.000
Y -3148.637 0.000
5357.938 0.000
No
53