WO2023132030A1

WO2023132030A1 - Communication feasibility determination method, communication feasibility determination device, and communication area setting assistance system

Info

Publication number: WO2023132030A1
Application number: PCT/JP2022/000216
Authority: WO
Inventors: 秀幸坪井; 和人後藤; 秀紀俊長; 直樹北; 武鬼沢
Original assignee: 日本電信電話株式会社
Priority date: 2022-01-06
Filing date: 2022-01-06
Publication date: 2023-07-13

Abstract

This communication feasibility determination method includes: an acquisition step for acquiring information indicating a base station position indicating an installation candidate position for a wireless base station and a mobile station position indicating a position at which a mobile station that communicates with the wireless base station could be present, and for acquiring point group data measured between the base station position and the mobile station position; a distance determination step for performing a distance determination which determines the feasibility of communication between the base station position and the mobile station position, such determination being performed according to the distance between the base station position and the mobile station position; and a shielding rate determination step for, if it was determined according to the distance determination that communication is possible, performing a shielding rate determination which makes a determination on the basis of a radio wave propagation loss estimated on the basis of a shielding rate, calculated from the point group data, indicating the ratio of the space between the base station position and the mobile station position accounted for by the point group data.

Description

COMMUNICATION POSSIBLE DETERMINATION METHOD, COMMUNICATION POSSIBLE DETERMINATION DEVICE, AND COMMUNICATION AREA DESIGN SUPPORT SYSTEM

The present invention relates to a communication availability determination method, a communication availability determination device, and a communication area design support system.

Recently, mobile terminals such as smartphones and tablet terminals that can be used outdoors have become widespread. In realizing wireless communication by such mobile terminals, it is very important to appropriately design station locations and communication areas in terms of service convenience and communication efficiency. The station placement design here refers to determining the installation positions of base stations that accommodate mobile terminals (hereinafter referred to as "terminal stations"), and the communication area design refers to the areas covered by the installed base stations. designing and managing the communicable areas of terminal stations. Hereinafter, station placement design and communication area design are collectively referred to as "communication area design".

Especially in designing communication areas in high-frequency band wireless communication, the evaluation target range (hereinafter referred to as the "evaluation target area") in which terminal stations can exist with respect to fixed installation candidate positions of base stations is For example, it is divided into squares on the map. Therefore, the evaluation target area includes at least candidate installation positions of base stations and positions where terminal stations may exist. In addition, each square becomes an evaluation unit in determining whether or not communication is possible. Then, for example, for each position representing each square (hereinafter referred to as "representative point"), the base station when positioned at the installation candidate position and the terminal station when positioned at the representative point. Communication area design is performed by determining whether or not communication is possible between the terminals. This makes it possible to visually indicate on the map the range in which communication between the base station and the terminal station is possible.

In the following explanation, it is assumed that communication is possible between the base station and the terminal station when the base station is installed at the candidate installation position of the base station and the terminal station is located at the representative point. The case is called "line-of-sight", and the case where it is assumed that communication is not possible is called "no line-of-sight". Further, in the following description, determining whether or not there is a line of sight is referred to as "line of sight determination".

　There are multiple methods for determining visibility used in communication area design. For example, the easiest line-of-sight determination method is a line-of-sight determination method based on communication distance. In the line-of-sight determination method based on the communication distance, when the distance between the candidate installation position of the base station and the representative point is within a predetermined distance at which communication is possible, it is determined that there is line-of-sight, and communication is possible. It is determined that there is no line of sight if the distance is greater than

In addition, the visibility determination method based on map information is also a relatively easy method. The map information includes information indicating outlines such as outer walls of buildings existing in the evaluation target area. In the method of determining visibility based on map information, it is determined that there is visibility on a two-dimensional map when a line segment connecting a candidate installation position of a base station and a representative point does not intersect the outline of a building. It is determined that there is no line of sight when the line of sight intersects with the outline of the line (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

In addition, as a method for determining visibility with higher accuracy, there is a visibility determination method that uses three-dimensional point cloud data obtained by imaging the space. This visibility determination method first acquires three-dimensional point cloud data by driving a mobile object such as a vehicle equipped with MMS (Mobile Mapping System) along a road in an evaluation target area such as a residential area. do. In this line-of-sight determination method, line-of-sight determination is performed based on the presence or absence of point cloud data in the space between the candidate installation position of the base station and the representative point.

Hereinafter, an object that exists in the space between the candidate installation position of the base station and the representative point and blocks the traffic of radio waves is called a "blocking object". For example, this line-of-sight determination method assumes a Fresnel zone formed when a base station located at an installation candidate position and a terminal station located at a representative point communicate with each other. Then, this line-of-sight determination method determines the presence or absence of line-of-sight according to the amount of point cloud data indicating shielding objects included in the spatial range of the Fresnel zone (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

In addition, there is a visibility determination method that considers the shielding rate as a method of determining visibility with higher accuracy using 3D point cloud data. The "shielding rate" here is an index indicating how much a shielding object affects wireless communication between a base station and a terminal station. Shielding objects include not only objects that strongly affect wireless communication, such as buildings, but also objects that affect wireless communication relatively weakly, such as trees. This is because, for example, in a tree, point cloud data does not exist between leaves. For example, this line-of-sight determination method calculates the amount of propagation loss of radio waves based on the shielding rate calculated from the point cloud data, and based on the calculated amount of loss, wireless communication between the base station and the terminal station. The line of sight is determined by designing the line. (For example, see Non-Patent Document 1).

In this way, in order to perform more accurate line-of-sight determination based on 3D point cloud data, it is necessary to obtain sufficient point cloud data indicating the positions of obstructions existing in the evaluation target area in advance. be.

JP 2020-113933 A JP 2020-107955 A

For example, the visibility determination method based on the communication distance and the visibility determination method based on the map information described above can relatively easily determine the visibility, but there is a problem that the determination accuracy is not very high. On the other hand, for example, the outlook determination method using three-dimensional point cloud data described above has high determination accuracy, but the calculation process is complicated and the amount of data used is large. There is a problem that the As described above, conventionally, there is a trade-off relationship between determination accuracy and computational load in determining visibility, and there has been the problem that it is difficult to perform highly accurate determination of visibility while suppressing an increase in computational load.

In view of the above circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide a technology that can determine visibility with higher accuracy while suppressing an increase in computational load.

According to one aspect of the present invention, information indicating a base station position indicating a candidate installation position of a radio base station and a mobile station position indicating a position where a mobile station communicating with the radio base station may exist; and the base station. an obtaining step of obtaining point cloud data measured between a position and the position of the mobile station; a distance determination step of performing a distance determination according to a distance between the base station and the mobile station; and if the distance determination determines that communication is possible, the base station position and the mobile station position calculated from the point cloud data. A communication propriety determination method comprising: be.

In one aspect of the present invention, information indicating a base station position indicating a candidate installation position of a radio base station and a mobile station position indicating a position where a mobile station communicating with the radio base station may exist; an acquisition unit that acquires point cloud data measured between a base station position and the mobile station position; a distance determination unit that determines a distance based on a distance to a mobile station; a communication feasibility determination unit that performs a shielding rate determination based on a radio wave propagation loss estimated based on a shielding rate indicating a ratio of the point cloud data in a space between the station position and the position of the station. It is a device.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a base station candidate position acquisition unit acquires information indicating candidate installation positions of a wireless base station in a target area; a division unit that divides the area into a shape and determines a representative point that represents a position where a mobile station can exist in each square; a point cloud data acquisition unit that acquires point cloud data measured in the target area; a communication feasibility determination control unit that determines feasibility of communication between the candidate position of the base station and each of the representative points for each of the squares by selectively using a plurality of communication feasibility determination methods according to a predetermined rule; an output unit for outputting information indicating a result of determination by the determination control unit, wherein the communication availability determination control unit outputs communication availability between the installation candidate position and the representative point to the installation candidate position. a distance determination unit that determines a distance based on the distance to the representative point; and the installation candidate position calculated from the point cloud data and the representative point when communication is determined to be possible by the distance determination. A communication area design support comprising: a shielding rate determination unit that determines a shielding rate based on a radio wave propagation loss estimated based on a shielding rate indicating a ratio of the point cloud data in a space between the points. System.

With the present invention, it is possible to determine visibility with higher accuracy while suppressing an increase in computational load.

1 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a communication area design support system 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process by the conventional line-of-sight detection apparatus. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing how communication availability is determined in consideration of the Fresnel zone; FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing how the visibility is determined by regarding the Fresnel zone as a cylinder. FIG. 4 is a diagram of a cylindrical Fresnel zone superimposed on a Fresnel zone; FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a line-of-sight determination process by the communication area design support system 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention; 4 is a flow chart showing the operation of the visibility determination control unit 40 according to the first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining a line-of-sight determination process by the communication area design support system 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention; 9 is a flow chart showing the operation of a visibility determination control unit 40 according to the second embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining a line-of-sight determination process by the communication area design support system 1 in a modified example of the second embodiment of the present invention; It is a flowchart which shows operation|movement of the visibility determination control part 40 in the modification of the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

A communication availability determination method, a communication availability determination device, and a communication area design support system according to the embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<First embodiment>
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below. The communication area design support system 1 of the present embodiment, which will be described below, allows a user of the communication area design support system 1 (hereinafter referred to as "user") to set the installation position of a base station that accommodates a terminal station existing within an evaluation target area. ) is a system that supports decision making. In addition, the communication area design support system 1, when a base station is installed at a base station installation candidate position derived by communication area design (hereinafter referred to as "base station installation candidate position"), This is a system that assists a user in designing a communicable area that indicates the range of positions of terminal stations that can be connected to each other.

In this embodiment, a base station is a wireless base station installed in outdoor equipment such as a high-rise building or a utility pole, and a terminal station is a mobile wireless terminal such as a smart phone or a tablet terminal. For example, unlicensed band millimeter wave radio is used for communication between the base station and the terminal station.

The communication area design support system 1 first acquires map information indicating a two-dimensional map. The communication area design support system 1 divides the map into squares based on the acquired map information. The communication area design support system 1 performs determination (line-of-sight determination) regarding whether or not communication is possible between a base station and a terminal station when a terminal station exists in each square of a map divided into squares. . The communication area design support system 1 outputs communication area design result information indicating at least one base station installation candidate position and a communicable area when the base station is installed at the base station installation candidate position. As described above, the communication area design support system 1 of the present embodiment uses at least one base station installation candidate position in an evaluation target area and a communicable area based on the base station installation candidate position as a candidate for communication area design. It is a system presented as

The communication area design result information output from the communication area design support system 1 is used in the subsequent communication area design. For example, in a communication area designing device (not shown) that designs a communication area, among candidates for base station installation candidate positions and communicable areas indicated by the communication area design result information output from the communication area design support system 1, The actual installation position of the base station is selected (determined) manually or automatically.

[Functional configuration of communication area design support system]
The functional configuration of the communication area design support system 1 will be described below. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a communication area design support system 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the communication area design support system 1 includes a facility information acquisition unit 11, a base station installation candidate position extraction unit 12, a map information acquisition unit 13, an area division unit 14, and a point cloud data acquisition unit. It includes a unit 15 , a data matching unit 16 , a communication parameter information acquisition unit 17 , an operation input unit 20 , a storage unit 30 , a visibility determination control unit 40 and an output unit 50 . The communication area design support system 1 includes an information processing device such as a general-purpose computer.

It should be noted that each functional unit of the communication area design support system 1 shown in FIG. 1 may be distributed among a plurality of devices. For example, the visibility determination control unit 40 and other functional units may be provided in separate devices. Note that the storage unit 30 may be provided in an external device of the communication area design support system 1 .

The facility information acquisition unit 11 acquires facility information from, for example, an external device. The equipment information here is information that includes at least information indicating the planar position of the outdoor equipment on which the base station can be installed, for example. Outdoor facilities where base stations can be installed are, for example, high-rise buildings and utility poles. Note that the plane position here refers to two-dimensional coordinates that do not include coordinates in the height direction (vertical direction). Also, in the following description, the planar position may be simply referred to as "position".

The facility information may further include information or coordinates indicating the height of the outdoor facility or the height of the portion of the outdoor facility where the base station can be installed. The facility information acquisition unit 11 outputs the acquired facility information to the base station installation candidate position extraction unit 12 .

The facility information acquisition unit 11 may acquire facility information from a storage medium such as a recording medium, or from an external device via a communication network. Alternatively, the facility information may be stored in the storage section 30 in advance, and the facility information acquisition section 11 may acquire the facility information from the storage section 30 .

Note that if it is possible to specify the planar position of an outdoor facility such as a high-rise building in which a base station can be installed from the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit 13, which will be described later, the above facility information Acquisition of equipment information by the acquisition unit 11 may be omitted.

The base station installation candidate position extraction unit 12 acquires the facility information output from the facility information acquisition unit 11 . The base station installation candidate position extraction unit 12 extracts base station installation candidate positions based on the acquired equipment information. For example, the base station installation candidate position extracting unit 12 extracts information indicating the position of a utility pole or the position of a wall surface of a building above a predetermined height from the acquired equipment information, and extracts the position of the utility pole or the predetermined height. The position of the wall surface of a building with a height of at least 10 mm is set as the base station installation candidate position. The base station installation candidate position extraction unit 12 stores information indicating the extracted base station installation candidate positions in the storage unit 30 as the base station installation candidate position information 301 .

The map information acquisition unit 13 acquires map information from, for example, an external device. The map information here is, for example, information indicating a two-dimensional map. The map information includes at least information indicating the planar position of the outline of the building. Note that the building is, for example, a house, a building, etc., and the planar position of the outer shell is, for example, the planar position of an outer wall, a fence, or the like. Note that the map information may include information about the position in the height direction, such as the altitude and the height of objects existing in the map. The map information acquisition section 13 outputs the acquired map information to the area dividing section 14 and the data matching section 16 .

Note that the map information acquisition unit 13 may acquire map information from a storage medium such as a recording medium, or from an external device via a communication network. Alternatively, the map information may be stored in the storage unit 30 in advance, and the map information acquisition unit 13 may acquire the map information from the storage unit 30 .

Note that the map information in the present embodiment is not a map generated based on point cloud data obtained by MMS, for example, but a general map such as a residential map created by a map creator (for example, by surveying). information based on a typical two-dimensional map. Therefore, the map information in this embodiment includes, for example, information indicating outlines of buildings, but may not include information regarding the positions of objects other than buildings. Objects other than buildings include, for example, plants such as roadside trees and garden trees, structures such as road signs and billboards, structures such as elevated roads, and raised ground.

Note that the map information in this embodiment may be a map generated based on point cloud data obtained by MMS or the like. The data should have a smaller amount of information than the three-dimensional point cloud data obtained by . In this case, the calculation amount of the visibility determination process between a certain base station installation candidate position and the representative point, which is performed using the map information, is the same as the visibility determination process performed using the three-dimensional point cloud data. The amount of calculation must be small compared to the calculation amount of the rate determination process.

It should be noted that the base station installation candidate positions may be extracted based on the positions of, for example, building outlines included in the map information. In this case, the user of the communication area design support system 1 may visually set the base station installation candidate positions while referring to a map based on the map information.

The area division unit 14 acquires the map information output from the map information acquisition unit 13. The area division unit 14 divides the map based on the acquired map information into squares of a predetermined size. The area dividing unit 14 associates the acquired map information with the size and position of the divided squares, and stores them in the storage unit 30 . Each of these squares is an evaluation unit, and processing for determining whether communication between the base station and the terminal station is possible is performed for each square.

Note that when the area dividing unit 14 acquires the map information output from the map information acquiring unit 13, the acquired map information may be stored in the storage unit 30 as it is for the time being. Then, the area dividing unit 14 selects (by the evaluation target area designating unit 201 described later) a specific range to be the evaluation target area from the entire range of the map based on the map information stored in the storage unit 30. After that, the map of only the range of the evaluation target area may be divided into squares of a predetermined size.

The point cloud data acquisition unit 15 acquires point cloud data, for example, from an external device or the like. The point cloud data referred to here is three-dimensional point cloud data obtained by imaging a space. For example, the point cloud data is obtained by driving a mobile object such as a vehicle equipped with an MMS along a road around a residential area to be evaluated. The point cloud data acquisition unit 15 outputs the acquired point cloud data to the data matching unit 16 .

Note that the point cloud data acquisition unit 15 may acquire the point cloud data from a large-capacity storage medium or from an external device via a communication network. Alternatively, point cloud data may be stored in the storage unit 30 in advance, and the point cloud data acquisition unit 15 may acquire the point cloud data from the storage unit 30 .

Note that the point cloud data is data with a relatively large amount of information, and in the present embodiment, as described above, it is three-dimensional point cloud data obtained, for example, by MMS or the like. The point cloud data includes not only buildings but also objects other than buildings that are not included in the above-mentioned map information (for example, objects such as road signs and billboards, plants such as roadside trees and garden trees). It contains information indicating the 3D positions of all objects that can be occluders. Therefore, the point cloud data is data with a much larger amount of information than the above map information. Determination of whether or not communication is possible using point cloud data has relatively high determination accuracy, but the amount of calculation required for determination processing per case is relatively large.

The data matching unit 16 acquires the map information output from the map information acquisition unit 13. Also, the data matching unit 16 acquires the point cloud data output from the point cloud data acquiring unit 15 . The data matching unit 16 attempts to match the coordinate system of the map information and the coordinate system of the point cloud data, and if necessary, changes the positions (coordinates) included in the point cloud data to the positions (coordinates) included in the map information. coordinates). The data matching unit 16 causes the storage unit 30 to store the point cloud data matched with the map information as the point cloud data 303 .

In addition, the data matching unit 16, if necessary, matches the base station installation candidate positions included in the base station installation candidate position information 301 stored in the storage unit 30 and the map information included in the map/area information 302 to Correction may be made so that the position is based on the coordinate system of the point cloud data. Note that, in general, a common coordinate system such as the world geodetic system is often used for the coordinate system of the map information and the coordinate system of the point cloud data. It is considered that there are many cases in which no treatment is required.

The communication parameter information acquisition unit 17 acquires information indicating communication parameters, for example, from an external device. The information indicating the communication parameter here is information used in calculation of the shielding rate, which will be described later. The communication parameter information acquisition unit 17 causes the storage unit 30 to store information indicating the acquired communication parameters as communication parameter information 304 .

The operation input unit 20 accepts input operations by the user. The operation input unit 20 includes input interfaces such as input buttons, a keyboard, a mouse, and a touch panel. As shown in FIG. 1, the operation input unit 20 includes an evaluation target area designation unit 201 and a base station installation candidate position selection unit 202 .

The evaluation target area designation unit 201 accepts an input operation by the user for designating an evaluation target area for which communication area design is to be performed, from among the entire range of the map based on the map information. The evaluation target area specifying unit 201 causes the storage unit 30 to store information indicating the evaluation target area indicated by the received input operation. Note that the evaluation target area designation unit 201 adds information designating the evaluation target area to the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit 13 and stored in the storage unit 30 as the map/area information 302. may

When specifying the evaluation target area, the user specifies the evaluation target area while looking at a map displayed on a display device (not shown) such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or an organic EL (Electroluminescence) display. . It should be noted that the display device referred to here may be one of the members constituting the output unit 50, which will be described later.

The base station installation candidate position selection unit 202 selects at least one specific base station to be evaluated from the base station installation candidate positions (extracted by the base station installation candidate position extraction unit 12) included in the evaluation target area. An input operation by a user for selecting station installation candidate positions is accepted. Base station installation candidate position selection section 202 causes storage section 30 to store information indicating the base station installation candidate position indicated by the accepted input operation.

Base station installation candidate position selection section 202 selects base station installation candidate position information 301 which is information indicating a plurality of base station installation candidate positions extracted by base station installation candidate position extraction section 12 and stored in storage section 30 . may be updated. Specifically, base station installation candidate position selection section 202 identifies a base station installation candidate position selected by the user in information indicating a plurality of base station installation candidate positions included in base station installation candidate position information 301. A flag may be added so that the

When selecting a candidate base station installation position, the user selects a plurality of base station installation candidates included in the map of the evaluation target area displayed on a display device (not shown) such as a liquid crystal display or an organic EL display. While looking at the positions, at least one specific base station installation candidate position is selected. It should be noted that the display device referred to here may be one of the members constituting the output unit 50, which will be described later.

The storage unit 30 stores base station installation candidate position information 301 , map/area information 302 , point cloud data 303 , communication parameter information 304 , judgment availability list 305 , and communication area design result information 306 . The storage unit 30 includes, for example, a HDD (Hard Disk Drive), flash memory, EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), RAM (Random Access read/write Memory), ROM (Read Only Memory). memory), or any combination of these storage media.

The base station installation candidate position information 301 is information indicating at least one base station installation candidate position extracted by the base station installation candidate position extraction unit 12 and stored in the storage unit 30 . Of the base station candidate positions included in the base station candidate position information 301, the base station candidate positions selected by the user by the base station candidate position selector 202 are flagged. Alternatively, among the base station candidate positions included in the base station candidate position information 301, the information indicating the base station candidate positions not selected by the user by the base station candidate position selector 202 is deleted. may

The map/area information 302 includes the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit 13, and the size and position of each square (for example, the position of the representative point) when the map information is divided into squares by the area division unit 14. ) is the associated information.

The point cloud data 303 is information based on the three-dimensional point cloud data acquired by the point cloud data acquiring unit 15. The range on the map indicated by the point cloud data 303 overlaps with the range on the map based on the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit 13 . The point cloud data 303 is matched between the coordinate system of the map information and the coordinate system of the point cloud data by the data matching unit 16, and is matched with the position (coordinates) included in the map information as necessary. It is corrected point cloud data.

Note that the storage unit 30 does not need to store all the base station installation candidate position information 301 and all the point cloud data 303 in the evaluation target area. It is only necessary to store the base station installation candidate position information 301 and the point cloud data 303 including at least the range required for the communication area design process within the range on the map that can be selected as the .

The communication parameter information 304 is information indicating communication parameters acquired by the communication parameter information acquisition unit 17 . The communication parameter information 304 is, as described above, information used in calculation of the shielding rate, which will be described later. Details of information included in the communication parameter information 304 will be described later.

The judgment availability list 305 is a list of combinations of base station installation candidate positions and terminal station candidate positions (that is, representative points). Each of the combinations of base station installation candidate positions and terminal station candidate positions included in the determination availability list 305 contains the results of the (for example, two-dimensional) outlook determination based on the map information determined by the map information outlook determination unit 402. and information indicating the result of view determination or the result of shielding rate determination based on the three-dimensional point cloud data determined by the point cloud data view determination unit 403 are associated.

The communication area design result information 306 is information indicating the result of communication area design processing generated by the visibility determination control by the visibility determination control unit 40, which will be described later.

The line-of-sight determination control unit 40 performs line-of-sight determination processing for each combination of the installation candidate position of the base station and the representative point. As shown in FIG. 1 , the outlook determination control unit 40 includes a communication distance outlook determination unit 401 , a map information outlook determination unit 402 , and a point cloud data outlook determination unit 403 . Further, as shown in FIG. 1 , the point cloud data outlook determination unit 403 includes a shielding rate outlook determination unit 404 .

The visibility determination control unit 40 performs visibility determination processing by the communication distance outlook determination unit 401, the map information outlook determination unit 402, the point cloud data outlook determination unit 403, and the shielding rate outlook determination unit 404 based on predetermined visibility determination rules. Line-of-sight determination is performed by controlling execution. The details of the predetermined line-of-sight determination rule will be described later.

The communication distance outlook determination unit 401 performs outlook determination based on the communication distance for each square in the evaluation target area range of the map divided into squares based on the map/area information 302 stored in the storage unit 30 . The communication distance outlook determination unit 401 extracts by the base station installation candidate position extraction unit 12, and when the base station is installed in the base station installation candidate position selected by the base station installation candidate position selection unit 202, each base station A line-of-sight decision is made based on the communication distance between the station and the terminal station when the terminal station is located at a representative point, which is a representative position of each square. The communication distance and outlook determination unit 401 causes the storage unit 30 to store information indicating the results of the outlook determination processing based on the communication distance as the communication area design result information 306 .

Specifically, when the distance between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point is within a predetermined distance, the communication distance outlook determining unit 401 determines that there is a line of sight. determines that there is no visibility. The predetermined distance referred to here is the distance at which communication is possible. The distance is set based on, for example, values of received power at both stations, which are estimated by simulation or the like in advance.

The communication distance outlook determination unit 401 identifies the distance between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point based on the map/area information 302 stored in the storage unit 30, for example. However, the method is not limited to this method, and communication distance outlook determining section 401 may specify the distance between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point by other methods. For example, information indicating the distance between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point is stored in advance in the storage unit 30, and the communication distance outlook determination unit 401 acquires the information indicating the distance from the storage unit 30. can be

As described above, in this embodiment, the representative point is, for example, the center of the grid. That is, the communication distance outlook determination unit 401 performs the outlook determination on the assumption that the terminal station is located at the center of each square when determining the visibility for each square. In other words, when the communication distance/visibility determination unit 401 performs line-of-sight determination for each square, it is assumed that the presence/absence of visibility at an arbitrary position in the square is the same as the presence/absence of visibility at the center position of the square. and determine the line of sight.

It should be noted that the position of the representative point is not limited to the position in the center of the grid, but may be another position such as the position of the corner of the grid. However, when the position of the corner of the grid is the representative point, there is a position far away from the representative point within the grid, such as another corner position on the diagonal line of the grid, so the error in determining whether or not communication is possible increases. It is expected that. Therefore, it is desirable that the representative point be the central position of the grid.

The map information outlook determination unit 402 performs outlook determination based on the map information for each square with respect to the evaluation target area range of the map divided into squares based on the map/area information 302 stored in the storage unit 30 . A map information outlook determination unit 402 determines whether or not communication is possible between a base station when installed at a base station installation candidate position and a terminal station located at a representative point based on map information. Perform judgment processing. The map information outlook determination unit 402 causes the storage unit 30 to store information indicating the result of the outlook determination process based on the map information as the communication area design result information 306 .

Specifically, when a base station is installed at a base station installation candidate position extracted by the base station installation candidate position extraction unit 12 and selected by the base station installation candidate position selection unit 202, the map information outlook determination unit 402 and the terminal station located at the representative point representing the position of each square, the line-of-sight judgment is performed based on the map information.

Specifically, the map information outlook determination unit 402 determines the outlook between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point based on the position of the outline of an object such as a building included in the map information. For example, if the line segment connecting the base station installation candidate position and the representative point on the two-dimensional map does not intersect any building outline in the evaluation target area, the map information outlook determining unit 402 If it intersects with the outline of any building, it is determined that there is no line of sight.

The presence or absence of visibility in the visibility judgment based on the map information by the map information visibility judging section 402 means that the base station and the terminal station are located at the base station installation candidate position and the representative point of each square, respectively. In this case, it can also be said that it indicates whether or not there is a shield that blocks the propagation of the radio wave on the propagation path of the radio wave transmitted and received between the base station and the terminal station. In other words, if there is no shielding object that shields the radio wave in the propagation path of the radio wave that is transmitted and received between the base station and the terminal station, there is a line of sight, and there is a shielding object that shields the radio wave. It can also be said that there is no prospect in some cases.

As mentioned above, the determination of line of sight and the determination of whether or not communication is possible are synonymous here. That is, determining that there is line of sight means determining that communication is possible, and determining that there is no line of sight means determining that communication is impossible.

　The shielding object here is an object that may block the propagation of radio waves transmitted and received between the base station and the terminal station. Examples of shields include buildings (buildings) such as dwelling units and buildings, structures such as residential walls and elevated roads, structures such as road signs and signboards, plants such as roadside trees and garden trees, and raised ground. All objects that can block the propagation of radio waves are included. However, as described above, in the present embodiment, the map information does not include information about some obstructions, such as road signs and billboards, street trees, garden trees, and the like.

For the outlook determination processing based on the map information by the map information outlook determination unit 402, for example, the outlook detection method described in Patent Document 1 below may be used (details of the outlook detection method are described in Patent Document 1). See reference 1). FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the flow of processing by the line-of-sight detection device described in Patent Literature 1. As shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, processing by the line-of-sight detection device includes four processing stages. The four processing stages are respectively a detection range specification and preparation stage (step S11), a line-of-sight detection line processing stage (step S12), a line-of-sight range detection processing stage (step S13), and a processing result output stage (step S14). is. The detection range specification and preparatory stage processing in step S11 are performed by the target range selection unit and the connection provision unit. The line-of-sight detection line processing stage of step S12 is performed by the line-of-sight detection line rotating section. The line-of-sight range detection processing stage of step S13 is performed by the line-of-sight intersection detection unit and the line-of-sight range detection unit. The process result output stage of step S14 is performed by the result output unit.

The target range selection part takes in the map information. The target range selection unit selects a detection target area in the map information area in response to an operation by the user of the outlook detection device (step S11-1). The connection providing unit detects a narrow area between buildings in which the interval between adjacent buildings is less than a predetermined length in the detection target area of the map information output by the target range selection unit. The connection giving unit gives, for example, a mark to the open portion of the detected narrow area, and gives a connection connecting the buildings to the position of the given mark (step S11-2). By attaching a wire connection to the location of the mark, it is indicated that the location is regarded as the wall of the building and that radio waves do not propagate any further.

The line-of-sight detection line rotation unit selects one of the utility poles that will be the starting point of the line-of-sight detection line in response to a utility pole designation operation by the user of the line-of-sight detection device. The line-of-sight detection line rotating unit sets a straight line, starting from the selected utility pole, along the road, for example, along the traveling direction of the vehicle on the road in the detection target area (step S12-1). The line-of-sight intersection detection unit determines whether or not there is an intersection point where the line-of-sight detection line intersects with the outline of the building or the connecting line (step S13-1).

When the line-of-sight intersection detection unit determines that there is no intersection point where the line-of-sight detection line and the contour line of the building or the connection line intersects (step S13-1, NO), the line-of-sight detection line rotation unit rotates around the utility pole. Then, the line-of-sight detection line is rotated counterclockwise by a predetermined rotation angle (step S12-2). The line-of-sight detection line rotating unit determines whether the line-of-sight detection line has returned to its original direction. (Step S12-3). When the line-of-sight detection line rotation unit determines that the direction of the line-of-sight detection line has not returned to the original direction (step S12-3, YES), steps S13-1, S12-2, and steps S13-2 and after Step S13-4 is repeatedly performed, and the line-of-sight detection line rotating section rotates the line-of-sight detection line to the position of the line-of-sight detection line.

If the line-of-sight intersection detection unit determines that there is an intersection point where the line-of-sight detection line and the outline of the building intersect (step S13-1, YES), the line-of-sight detection line is at the shortest distance from the utility pole and the outline or connection line of the building. Intersecting intersections are detected as line-of-sight intersections (step S13-2). When the line-of-sight intersection detection unit detects a line-of-sight intersection on a building, the line-of-sight range detection unit determines whether the building to which the line-of-sight intersection belongs and the building to which the line-of-sight intersection detected by the previous line of sight detection line belongs are the same building. Determine (step S13-3).

If the line-of-sight range detection unit determines that the building to which the line-of-sight intersection belongs and the building to which the line-of-sight intersection detected by the previous line of sight detection line belongs are not the same building (step S13-3, NO), step S12 is performed again. -2, Step S12-3 is performed, and the line-of-sight detection line rotating unit rotates the line-of-sight detection line to the position of the line-of-sight detection line. If the line-of-sight range detection unit determines that the building to which the line-of-sight intersection belongs and the building to which the line-of-sight intersection detected by the previous line-of-sight detection line belongs are the same building (step S13-3, YES), the line-of-sight intersection and the immediately preceding Between the line of sight intersections obtained by the line of sight detection lines, a line of sight range line is given to the map information along the outline of the building (step S13-4).

After that, steps S12-2, S12-3, and the above-described steps S13-1 to S13-3 are repeated. When the line-of-sight detection line is rotated to the position of the first line-of-sight detection line by the processing of step S12-2, the line-of-sight detection line rotation unit determines that the line-of-sight detection line has returned to the original direction (step S12 −3, NO), and outputs information indicating the end to the result output unit. When the result output unit receives the information indicating the end from the line-of-sight detection line rotating unit, it outputs all line-of-sight range lines added by the line-of-sight range detection unit as lines indicating walls with line of sight (step S14-1). Thus, the processing by the line-of-sight detection device shown in the flowchart of FIG. 2 ends.

Let's go back to Figure 1 and explain. The point cloud data outlook determination unit 403 performs the outlook determination based on the point cloud data 303 for each grid in the range of the evaluation target area divided into squares based on the map/area information 302 stored in the storage unit 30 . .

Specifically, the point cloud data prospect determination unit 403 determines whether the base station is installed at the base station installation candidate position extracted by the base station installation candidate position extraction unit 12 and selected by the base station installation candidate position selection unit 202. The line of sight is determined based on the three-dimensional point cloud data between the base station in each case and the terminal station in the case where the terminal station is located at a representative point that is a representative position of each square. . The point cloud data outlook determination unit 403 causes the storage unit 30 to store information indicating the result of the outlook determination process based on the three-dimensional point cloud data as the communication area design result information 306 .

In addition, in the line-of-sight judgment by the point cloud data line-of-sight judging unit 403 based on the point cloud data, the presence or absence of the line-of-sight is determined by the base station installation candidate position and the representative point of each square, respectively. It can also be said that it indicates whether or not there is an obstruction blocking the propagation of the radio waves on the propagation path of the radio waves transmitted and received between the base station and the terminal station when the is located. A shielding object is an object that exists between a base station and a terminal station and may block the propagation of radio waves transmitted and received between the base station and the terminal station.

For example, the point cloud data outlook determination unit 403 determines whether the number of obtained three-dimensional point cloud data between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point, which is the object of the visibility determination, is greater than a predetermined threshold. determine whether or not The point cloud data visibility determination unit 403 determines that there is visibility when the number of acquired three-dimensional point cloud data is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold.

For example, the point cloud data prospect determination unit 403 determines a Fresnel zone formed when a base station located at a base station installation candidate position and a terminal station located at a representative point communicate with each other. Suppose. Then, the point cloud data outlook determining unit 403 may determine the outlook according to the amount of point cloud data included in the range of the Fresnel zone.

An example of the line-of-sight determination method assuming the Fresnel zone will be described below. Based on the point cloud data 303, the point cloud data outlook determination unit 403 determines the Fresnel zone formed between the base station and the terminal station (that is, between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point of each square). Make a line-of-sight judgment (if a Fresnel zone is formed). For example, if the number of point cloud data included in the range of the Fresnel zone is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, the point cloud data visibility determination unit 403 determines that there is visibility (communication is possible), and determines that there is visibility (communication is possible). If the number is greater than the threshold, it is determined that there is no line of sight (communication is impossible).

It should be noted that actual electromagnetic waves do not propagate only along a straight path connecting two opposing radio stations, but propagate within an elliptical path area called the Fresnel zone. Therefore, in order to more accurately determine the line-of-sight between two radio stations facing each other, it is necessary to determine the line-of-sight after taking into consideration the influence of obstacles existing in the Fresnel zone. The radius of the Fresnel zone in the millimeter wave band is, for example, about 25 [cm] at maximum when transmitting a distance of 50 [m] using electromagnetic waves in the 60 [GHz] band.

Even if there is no direct line of sight connecting the base station installation candidate position and the representative point, the line of sight is judged more accurately by further considering the shielding rate in the Fresnel zone. be able to. Thereby, the communication area design support system 1 can present a wider communicable area.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing how communication availability is determined in consideration of the Fresnel zone fz. FIG. 3 shows a base station bs installed on a utility pole p and a terminal station ts. FIG. 3 also shows a Fresnel zone fz formed between the base station bs and the terminal station ts. FIG. 3 also shows three cross-sections (cross-section cs1, cross-section cs2, and cross-section cs3) of the Fresnel zone fz. The cross section cs1, the cross section cs2, and the cross section cs3 are planes orthogonal to the straight line connecting the base station bs and the terminal station ts. In this case, as shown in FIG. 3, the cross section cs1, the cross section cs2, and the cross section cs3 are circular. The radii of cross-section cs1, cs2 and cs3 are r ₁ , r ₂ and r ₃ respectively.

When a shield exists within the Fresnel zone fz, point cloud data exists in the cross section of the Fresnel zone fz. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the cross section cs1 has an area sh1-1, which is an area where point cloud data exists. Also, in the cross section cs2, there are an area sh1-2 where the above-mentioned area sh1-1 is projected and an area sh2-2 where point cloud data exists. In addition, on the cross section cs3, an area sh1-3 in which the above-described area sh1-2 is further projected, an area sh2-3 in which the above-described area sh2-2 is further projected, and an area where point cloud data exists There is a region sh3-3.

In this way, for example, buildings (buildings) such as dwelling units and buildings, structures such as residential walls and elevated roads, road signs and signboards, etc., existing within the range of the Fresnel zone fz shown in FIG. It becomes possible to recognize obstacles that can block the propagation of radio waves, such as objects, plants such as roadside trees and garden trees, and raised ground, and the shielding rate in the entire range of the Fresnel zone fz is calculated. In addition, although the terminal station ts is installed in a building in FIG. 3, the same applies even if the terminal station is a mobile terminal as in the present embodiment.

The point cloud data outlook determining unit 403 counts, for example, the total number of point cloud data included in a plurality of cross sections of the Fresnel zone fz. That is, the point cloud data outlook determining unit 403 counts, for example, the total number of point cloud data of the cross section closest to the terminal station ts (cross section cs3 in the figure) projected as described above. Then, the point cloud data prospect determination unit 403 determines whether communication between the base station bs and the terminal station ts is possible by comparing the calculated number of pieces of point cloud data with a predetermined threshold value.

Although only three cross sections are illustrated in FIG. 3, any number of cross sections may be used to count the number of point cloud data. As the number of cross-sections used to calculate these shielding rates increases, more accurate visibility determination becomes possible, but the calculation load increases.

Note that the point cloud data outlook determining unit 403 determines the distance between the base station bs and the terminal station ts based on the occupancy rate of the area where the point cloud data exists in the cross section of the Fresnel zone instead of the number of the point cloud data. You may make it determine whether communication is possible. For example, the point cloud data visibility determining unit 403 determines that there is visibility (communication is possible) if the occupancy rate is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, and that there is no visibility (communication is possible) if the occupancy rate is higher than the predetermined threshold value. is impossible).

Specifically, the point cloud data outlook determination unit 403, for example, superimposes a plurality of cross sections of the Fresnel zone fz. Then, the point cloud data outlook determination unit 403 calculates the ratio of the area of the point cloud data to the area of the superimposed cross sections as the occupancy rate. The point cloud data prospect determination unit 403 may determine whether communication between the base station bs and the terminal station ts is possible by comparing the calculated occupancy rate with a predetermined threshold.

Let's go back to Figure 1 and explain. As shown in FIG. 1 , the point cloud data outlook determination unit 403 includes a shielding rate outlook determination unit 404 . If the number of pieces of point cloud data counted by the point cloud data outlook determination unit 403 is greater than a predetermined threshold, the shielding rate outlook determination unit 404 determines the outlook based on the three-dimensional point cloud data in consideration of the shielding rate. conduct.

In other words, the shielding rate outlook determination unit 404 determines that even if the number of pieces of point cloud data exceeding the threshold exists between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point (that is, when there are a large number of shielding Even if the object is large), instead of simply determining that there is no line of sight, the line of sight is determined by further considering the shielding rate. As a result, the shielding rate outlook determination unit 404 can obtain a more accurate result of the visibility determination. This is because shields include not only objects that strongly affect wireless communication, such as buildings, but also trees with sparsely grown leaves, which interfere with wireless communication. This is because some objects have a relatively weak effect.

Specifically, the shielding rate outlook determining unit 404 calculates, for example, the amount of propagation loss of radio waves based on the shielding rate, and based on the calculated loss amount, wireless communication between the base station and the terminal station is performed. The presence or absence of the line of sight is determined by designing the line. As a calculation formula used in the visibility determination by the shielding rate outlook determination unit 404, for example, the following formula (1) can be used.

P _R =P _r +G _T −L−S+G _R ≧P _RS (1)

The meaning of each parameter in the above equation (1) is as follows.
P _R : received power at the terminal station (unit [dBm])
P _r : Transmission power at the base station (unit [dBm])
G _T : Maximum transmit antenna gain at the base station (unit [dBi])
L: Propagation loss amount (unit [dB])
S: Amount of loss due to shielding rate (unit [dB])
G _R : Receiving antenna gain at the terminal station (unit [dBi])
P _RS : Required reception sensitivity at the terminal station (unit [dBm])

When the above formula (1) is satisfied, that is, when the received power P _R at the terminal station is equal to or greater than the required reception sensitivity P _RS , the shielding rate outlook determination unit 404 determines whether the base station installation candidate position and the representative point Determine that there is a line of sight between them. On the other hand, when the above formula (1) is not satisfied, that is, when the received power P _R at the terminal station is lower than the required reception sensitivity P _RS , the shielding rate outlook determination unit 404 determines the base station installation candidate position and the representative point. Determine that there is no line of sight between

The value of the above propagation loss amount L can be obtained by the following formula (2).

L=20log ₁₀ (4πd/λ) (2)

The meaning of each parameter in the above equation (2) is as follows.
d: distance between transmission and reception (unit [m])
λ: Wavelength of radio wave used for wireless communication (unit [m])

The value of the wavelength λ above can be obtained by the following formula (3).

λ=c/(f×10 ⁹ ) (3)

The meaning of each parameter in the above equation (3) is as follows.
c: speed of light (that is, c≈299,792,458 [m/s])
f: Frequency of radio wave used for wireless communication (unit [GHz]

The value of the amount of loss S due to the above shielding rate can be obtained by the following formula (4).

　S=α×Sh･･･(4)

The meaning of each parameter in the above equation (4) is as follows.
Sh: Shielding rate (value range: 0.0000 to 1.0000)
α: Coefficient (can be set to any value depending on frequency f and shielding rate Sh)

In this way, the shielding rate outlook determination unit 404 performs the visibility determination based on whether or not formula (1) is satisfied by the above parameters and the numerical values given by formulas (2) to (4). be able to. The point cloud data outlook determination unit 403 causes the storage unit 30 to store information indicating the result of the visibility determination process based on the shielding rate as the communication area design result information 306 .

In addition, in order to reduce the amount of calculation related to the visibility determination process, the visibility determination may be performed more easily by regarding the Fresnel zone, which is a spheroid, as a simpler cylindrical shape. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing how the visibility determination is performed by regarding the Fresnel zone as a cylinder. FIG. 4 shows a base station bs, a terminal station ts (corresponding to a representative point), and a cylindrical Fresnel zone (hereinafter referred to as “cylindrical Fresnel zone Cz”).

As shown in FIG. 4, the length of the cylindrical Fresnel zone Cz (i.e. the distance between the base station bs and the terminal station ts) is d and the circular cross section which is the vertical cross section of the cylindrical Fresnel zone Cz is r. The radius r may be a predetermined value, or may be the maximum radius of the circular cross section of the Fresnel zone of the spheroid originally formed between the base station bs and the terminal station ts. There may be.

FIG. 5 is a diagram in which the cylindrical Fresnel zone Cz is superimposed on the Fresnel zone fz. Assuming that the distance from the base station bs and the distance from the terminal station ts to the circular cross section with the Fresnel zone fz are _d1 and _d2 , respectively, d= _d1 + _d2 can be expressed. Also, the n-th Fresnel zone radius r(n) is a function of the wavelength λ of radio waves used for wireless communication, and is expressed by the following equation (5).

Here, the cross section corresponding to the center (d ₁ =d ₂ ) in the first Fresnel zone, that is, the radius r of the largest circular cross section can be expressed by a simpler formula, such as the following formula (6). .

Then, the wavelength λ is expressed as a function related to the speed of light c and the frequency f of radio waves used for wireless communication, as in the following equation (7). Therefore, it can be said that it makes sense to change the radius of the cylindrical Fresnel zone Cz according to the frequency f, such as in the millimeter wave band.

It should be noted that the user using the communication area design support system 1 in this embodiment may set the radius r of the circular cross section in the cylindrical Fresnel zone Cz according to the wavelength λ.

In this way, by regarding the Fresnel zone fz, which is a spheroid, as a cylindrical Fresnel zone Cz as shown in FIG. 4, the Fresnel zone This greatly simplifies the process of extracting point cloud data that exists inside (that is, becomes a factor that blocks the line of sight).

In addition, as shown in FIG. 5, in the Fresnel zone fz, which is a spheroid, the size of the circular cross section differs depending on the location. ) The overlapping process is complicated. On the other hand, by regarding the Fresnel zone fz as a cylindrical Fresnel zone Cz, the above complicated processing can be replaced with a simple processing of simply counting the number of point cloud data existing within the cylinder. That is, rather than using a method of determining whether the area of the shielded portion of the superimposed circular cross section exceeds a predetermined threshold, the number of point cloud data in the cylinder exceeds the threshold. The use of the method of determining whether or not there is a line of sight determination process is far simpler.

Note that the above-described outlook determination processing based on the communication distance by the communication distance outlook determination unit 401, the outlook determination processing based on map information by the map information outlook determination unit 402, and the presence or absence of point cloud data by the point cloud data outlook determination unit 403 Advantages and disadvantages in executing each of the four types of outlook determination processing, that is, the outlook determination processing based on the shading rate and the visibility determination processing based on the shielding rate by the shielding rate outlook determination unit, are summarized as follows.

- Line-of-sight determination processing based on communication distance Merit: Among the four line-of-sight determination processing described above, the processing is the simplest. Therefore, the system load related to processing is low, and processing can be executed at high speed. For example, when designing a communication area in a wide evaluation target area or designing a communication area when there are many base station installation candidate positions, narrowing down the representative points to be subjected to more detailed visibility determination processing as preprocessing. etc. can be utilized.
Disadvantages: Since the visibility determination process is performed based only on the communication distance regardless of the presence of obstructions between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point, the determination accuracy is the lowest among the above four visibility determination processes.

- Outlook judgment processing based on map information Merit: Among the above-mentioned four kinds of outlook judgment processing, the processing is simple next to the outlook judgment processing based on the communication distance.
Disadvantages: In general, map information does not include information on the location of trees, road signs, etc., so even if there are obstructions other than buildings such as this, it is assumed that there is a line of sight. It may be misjudged.

・Prospect judgment processing based on the presence or absence of point cloud data Advantage: In the prospect judgment processing based on point cloud data, which has higher judgment accuracy than the prospect judgment processing based on communication distance and the prospect judgment processing based on map information, the processing is Relatively easy.
Disadvantages: The visibility is determined based on the number of point cloud data counted within the range to be evaluated (for example, within the range of the cylindrical pseudo-Fresnel zone as described above). Therefore, for example, even if there is an object that does not serve as a shield because radio waves pass between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point, it may be erroneously determined that there is no line of sight. An object through which radio waves pass is, for example, a tree with sparse leaves.

・Prospect judgment processing based on shielding rate Merit: Among the above four prospect judgment processes, the judgment accuracy is the highest, and the prospect judgment is closer to the actual communication availability.
Disadvantage: This is the most complicated processing among the above four visibility determination processing. Therefore, the system load on the processing is high, and it is difficult to execute the processing at high speed.

In this way, each of the above four line-of-sight determination processes has advantages and disadvantages. In addition, there is a trade-off relationship between the visibility determination system and the system load for processing. Therefore, it is desirable to selectively use these multiple types of outlook determination processing as needed, and to use them in combination. The visibility determination control unit 40 in the present embodiment performs visibility determination using a combination of these plurality of visibility determination processes according to a predetermined visibility determination rule.

Let's go back to Figure 1 and explain. The output unit 50 acquires the communication area design result information 306 from the storage unit 30 . The output unit 50 outputs the communication area design result information 306 to an external device (for example, a communication area design device or a display device (not shown)) that performs subsequent processing.

The output unit 50 includes, for example, a communication interface for outputting the communication area design result information 306 to an external device. Note that the output unit 50 may be a functional unit that functions as a display unit that displays the communication area design result information 306 . In this case, the output unit 50 includes a display device such as a liquid crystal display or an organic EL display. Note that the output unit 50 may display various types of information to be presented to the user.

Note that, for example, the base station installation candidate position extraction unit 12, the area division unit 14, the data matching unit 16, and the line-of-sight determination control unit 40 may be configured as components of one control unit (not shown). In this case, the controller is implemented by a hardware processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) executing a program (software). Alternatively, the control unit may have a configuration realized by cooperation of software and hardware. The program read by the CPU may be stored in advance in a storage medium such as the storage unit 30 provided in the communication area design support system 1, for example.

[Line-of-sight judgment processing]
The details of the outlook determination process in this embodiment will be described below. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the line-of-sight determination processing by the communication area design support system 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As described above, the visibility determination control unit 40 in this embodiment performs visibility determination control by selectively using a plurality of visibility determination processes according to a predetermined visibility determination rule.

FIG. 6 shows predetermined visibility determination rules that the visibility determination control unit 40 uses when controlling visibility determination processing. As shown in FIG. 6 , the outlook determination control unit 40 appropriately performs outlook determination processing based on the communication distance by the communication distance outlook determination unit 401 and point cloud data forecast determination by the point cloud data outlook determination unit 403 based on predetermined visibility determination rules. The visibility determination processing based on the presence or absence of the group data and the visibility determination processing based on the shielding rate by the shielding rate outlook determining unit 404 are executed.

As shown in FIG. 6, in the present embodiment, since the outlook determination control unit 40 controls execution of the above three outlook determination processes, the map information outlook determination process based on the map information by the map information outlook determination unit 402 is not performed. do not have. Note that the outlook determination processing based on the map information by the map information outlook determination unit 402 is used in a second embodiment described later.

As shown in FIG. 6, the visibility determination control unit 40 in the present embodiment first performs A line-of-sight determination process based on the communication distance is executed.

When it is determined that there is no line of sight by the line of sight determination processing based on the communication distance, the line of sight determination control unit 40 outputs a determination result indicating that there is no line of sight as the final determination result. This is because if the distance between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point is longer than the communicable distance, communication between the base station and the terminal station is almost impossible regardless of the presence or absence of obstructions. It is from.

On the other hand, when it is determined that there is a line of sight by the line of sight determination processing based on the communication distance, the line of sight determination control unit 40 uses the determination result of the line of sight as a provisional determination result. This is because even if the distance between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point is within the communicable distance, the presence of a shielding object between them may cause the distance between the base station and the terminal station. This is because communication may not be possible. When it is determined that there is a line of sight by the line-of-sight determination processing based on the communication distance, the line-of-sight determination control unit 40 generates point cloud data by the point cloud data line-of-sight determination unit 403 for a combination of the same base station installation candidate position and a representative point. The visibility determination process based on the presence or absence of is executed.

When it is determined that there is a line of sight by the line of sight determination processing based on the presence or absence of point cloud data, the line of sight determination control unit 40 outputs a determination result indicating that there is a line of sight as the final determination result. This is because there is a high possibility that there is no obstruction between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point.

On the other hand, when it is determined that there is no visibility by the visibility determination processing based on the presence or absence of point cloud data, the visibility determination control unit 40 uses the determination result of no visibility as the provisional determination result. This is because even if an object exists between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point, it is an object such as a tree with sparse leaves that does not become a shield because radio waves pass through it. Because it is possible. When it is determined that there is no line of sight by the line of sight determination processing based on the presence or absence of point cloud data, the line of sight determination control unit 40 blocks the combination of the same base station installation candidate position and the representative point by the blocking rate line of sight determination unit 404. Execute the visibility determination process based on the rate.

When it is determined that there is visibility by the visibility determination processing based on the shielding rate, the visibility determination control unit 40 outputs a determination result indicating that there is visibility as the final determination result. This is a pattern in which the line of sight determination processing based on the presence or absence of point cloud data determines that there is no line of sight, but the line of sight determination processing based on the shielding rate overrules the determination that line of sight exists. On the other hand, when it is determined that there is no visibility by the visibility determination processing based on the shielding rate, the visibility determination control unit 40 outputs a determination result indicating that there is no visibility as the final determination result.

[Operation of line-of-sight determination control unit]
The operation of the visibility determination control unit 40 in this embodiment will be described below. FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the operation of the visibility determination control unit 40 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The operation of the visibility determination control section 40 shown in the flowchart of FIG.

First, the visibility determination control unit 40 controls the communication distance visibility determination unit 401 to execute the visibility determination process based on the communication distance for the combination of the base station installation candidate position and the representative point based on the input information (step S101). When it is determined that there is no visibility by the visibility determination processing based on the communication distance (step S102, NO), the visibility determination control unit 40 outputs a determination result indicating that there is no visibility as a final determination result (step S108). ). Thus, the operation of the visibility determination control unit 40 shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7 is completed.

On the other hand, if it is determined that there is a line of sight by the line-of-sight determination processing based on the communication distance (step S102: YES), the line-of-sight determination control unit 40 generates point cloud data for the same combination of the base station installation candidate position and the representative point. The visibility determination processing based on the presence or absence of point cloud data is executed by the visibility determination unit 403 (step S103).

When it is determined that there is a line of sight by the line of sight determination processing based on the presence or absence of point cloud data (step S104, YES), the line of sight determination control unit 40 outputs a determination result indicating that line of sight exists as a final determination result. (Step S107). Thus, the operation of the visibility determination control unit 40 shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7 is completed.

On the other hand, if it is determined that there is no line of sight by the line of sight determination processing based on the presence or absence of point cloud data (step S104, NO), the shielding rate line of sight determination unit 404 determines the combination of the same base station installation candidate position and representative point. A visibility determination process based on the shielding rate is executed (step S105).

When it is determined that there is a line of sight by the line of sight determination processing based on the shielding rate (step S106, YES), the line of sight determination control unit 40 outputs a determination result indicating that line of sight is present as a final determination result (step S107). ). Thus, the operation of the visibility determination control unit 40 shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7 is completed.

On the other hand, if it is determined that there is no visibility by the visibility determination processing based on the shielding rate (step S106, NO), the visibility determination control unit 40 outputs a determination result indicating that there is no visibility as the final determination result ( step S108). Thus, the operation of the visibility determination control unit 40 shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7 is completed.

As described above, the communication area design support system 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention first performs the line-of-sight determination process based on the communication distance, which is the line-of-sight determination process with a relatively small amount of calculation. It is determined that there is no line of sight for a combination of a base station installation candidate position and a representative point whose distance exceeds the distance at which communication is possible. Next, the communication area design support system 1 according to the present embodiment considers the presence of a shield for a combination of a base station installation candidate position and a representative point where the distance between both stations is within the distance at which communication is possible. Through the line-of-sight determination processing, it is determined that there is line-of-sight for combinations of base station installation candidate positions and representative points for which the number of point cloud data between both stations is equal to or less than a threshold. Next, the communication area design support system 1 according to the present embodiment performs outlook determination processing considering the shielding rate for combinations of base station installation candidate positions and representative points where the number of point cloud data between both stations is larger than the threshold. By designing a wireless communication line between the base station and the terminal station based on the amount of propagation loss of radio waves calculated based on the shielding rate, the presence or absence of line of sight can be determined with higher accuracy.

With such a configuration, the communication area design support system 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention is able to perform more accurate line-of-sight determination while suppressing an increase in computational load.

In addition, as described above, the communication area design support system 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention performs line-of-sight determination processing in consideration of the shielding rate as necessary. As a result, the communication area design support system 1 according to the present embodiment, even if there is an object between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point, and the number of point cloud data that is equal to or greater than the threshold exists, for example, leaves In the case of an object such as a sparsely grown tree that transmits radio waves and does not become a shielding object, it can be correctly determined that there is a line of sight.

<Second embodiment>
As described above, the communication area design support system 1 according to the first embodiment performs outlook determination processing based on the communication distance by the communication distance outlook determination unit 401, and outlook determination based on the presence or absence of point cloud data by the point cloud data outlook determination unit 403. processing, and the visibility determination processing based on the shielding rate by the shielding rate outlook determining unit 404, the outlook between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point is determined. That is, the communication area design support system 1 according to the first embodiment is configured so that the map information outlook determination unit 402 does not perform the outlook determination process based on the map information.

On the other hand, in the communication area design support system 1 according to the second embodiment described below, the communication distance outlook determination unit 401 performs outlook determination processing based on the communication distance, and the map information outlook determination unit 402 performs outlook determination based on map information. processing, and the point cloud data outlook determination unit 403 based on the presence or absence of point cloud data is performed as necessary. That is, in the second embodiment, the visibility determination processing based on the shielding rate by the shielding rate outlook determining unit 404 is not performed.

The functional configuration of the communication area design support system 1 according to the second embodiment is the same as the functional configuration of the communication area design support system 1 according to the first embodiment described with reference to FIG. 1, so description thereof will be omitted. .

[Line-of-sight judgment processing]
The details of the outlook determination process in this embodiment will be described below. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the line-of-sight determination processing by the communication area design support system 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. As in the first embodiment, the visibility determination control unit 40 in this embodiment performs visibility determination control by selectively using a plurality of visibility determination processes according to a predetermined visibility determination rule.

FIG. 8 shows predetermined visibility determination rules used by the visibility determination control unit 40 when controlling the visibility determination process. As shown in FIG. 8, the outlook determination control unit 40 appropriately performs outlook determination processing based on the communication distance by the communication distance outlook determination unit 401, map information by the map information outlook determination unit 402, and and the point cloud data outlook determination unit 403 based on the presence or absence of point cloud data are executed.

As shown in FIG. 8, in the present embodiment, since the visibility determination control unit 40 controls the execution of the above three visibility determination processes, the visibility determination process based on the shielding rate by the shielding rate outlook determining unit 404 is not performed. do not have. Note that the visibility determination processing based on the shielding rate by the shielding rate outlook determining unit 404 is used in a modified example of the second embodiment described later.

As shown in FIG. 8, when information indicating a combination of base station installation candidate positions and representative points is given, the visibility determination control unit 40 in this embodiment first performs A line-of-sight determination process based on the communication distance is executed.

On the other hand, when it is determined that there is a line of sight by the line of sight determination processing based on the communication distance, the line of sight determination control unit 40 uses the determination result of the line of sight as a provisional determination result. This is because even if the distance between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point is within the communicable distance, communication between the base station and the terminal station is impossible due to the presence of obstructions. This is because there is a possibility that When it is determined that there is a line of sight by the line-of-sight determination processing based on the communication distance, the line-of-sight determination control unit 40 determines the combination of the same base station installation candidate position and representative point based on the map information by the map information line-of-sight determination unit 402. Execute the line of sight determination process.

When it is determined that there is no visibility by the visibility determination process based on the map information, the visibility determination control unit 40 outputs a determination result indicating that there is no visibility as the final determination result. This is because the line of sight connecting the base station installation candidate position and the representative point intersects with the outline of the building, etc. indicated in the map information, so there is a high possibility that the line of sight is blocked by the building, etc. .

On the other hand, when it is determined that there is visibility by the visibility determination processing based on the map information, the visibility determination control unit 40 uses the determination result that there is visibility as a provisional determination result. This is because even if there is an object between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point, there is a possibility that there is an obstacle that is not included in the map information, such as a tree or a traffic sign. be. When it is determined that there is a line of sight by the line-of-sight determination processing based on the map information, the line-of-sight determination control unit 40 generates point cloud data by the point cloud data line-of-sight determination unit 403 for a combination of the same base station installation candidate position and a representative point. The visibility determination process based on the presence or absence of is executed.

When it is determined that there is a line of sight by the line of sight determination processing based on the presence or absence of point cloud data, the line of sight determination control unit 40 outputs a determination result indicating that there is a line of sight as the final determination result. On the other hand, when it is determined that there is no visibility by the visibility determination processing based on the presence or absence of point cloud data, the visibility determination control unit 40 outputs a determination result indicating that there is no visibility as a final determination result.

[Operation of line-of-sight determination control unit]
The operation of the visibility determination control unit 40 in this embodiment will be described below. FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing the operation of the visibility determination control section 40 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The operation of the visibility judgment control unit 40 shown in the flowchart of FIG.

First, the visibility determination control unit 40 controls the communication distance visibility determination unit 401 to execute the visibility determination process based on the communication distance for the combination of the base station installation candidate position and the representative point based on the input information (step S201). When it is determined that there is no visibility by the visibility determination processing based on the communication distance (step S202, NO), the visibility determination control unit 40 outputs a determination result indicating that there is no visibility as the final determination result (step S208). ). With this, the operation of the visibility determination control unit 40 shown in the flowchart of FIG. 9 is completed.

On the other hand, if it is determined that there is a line of sight by the line of sight determination processing based on the communication distance (step S202: YES), the line of sight determination control unit 40 determines the map information line of sight for the same combination of the base station installation candidate position and the representative point. The determination unit 402 executes the outlook determination process based on the map information (step S203).

When it is determined that there is no visibility by the visibility determination processing based on the map information (step S204, NO), the visibility determination control unit 40 outputs the determination result indicating that there is no visibility as the final determination result (step S208). ). With this, the operation of the visibility determination control unit 40 shown in the flowchart of FIG. 9 is completed.

On the other hand, if it is determined that there is a line of sight by the line of sight determination processing based on the map information (step S204: YES), the point cloud data line of sight determination unit 403 determines the combination of the same base station installation candidate position and the representative point. The outlook determination process based on the presence or absence of data is executed (step S205).

When it is determined that there is a line of sight by the line of sight determination processing based on the presence or absence of point cloud data (step S206, YES), the line of sight determination control unit 40 outputs a determination result indicating that line of sight exists as a final determination result. (Step S207). With this, the operation of the visibility determination control unit 40 shown in the flowchart of FIG. 9 is completed.

On the other hand, when it is determined that there is no visibility by the visibility determination processing based on the presence or absence of point cloud data (step S206, NO), the visibility determination control unit 40 uses the determination result indicating that there is no visibility as the final determination result. Output (step S208). With this, the operation of the visibility determination control unit 40 shown in the flowchart of FIG. 9 is completed.

As described above, the communication area design support system 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention first performs the line-of-sight determination process based on the communication distance, which is the line-of-sight determination process with a relatively small amount of calculation. It is determined that there is no line of sight for a combination of a base station installation candidate position and a representative point whose distance exceeds the distance at which communication is possible. Next, the communication area design support system 1 according to the present embodiment performs outlook determination processing based on map information for combinations of base station installation candidate positions and representative points where the distance between the two stations is within the communicable distance. As a result, it is determined that there is no line of sight for the combination of the base station installation candidate position and the representative point where the line of sight intersects the outline of a building or the like included in the map information. Next, the communication area design support system 1 according to the present embodiment generates three-dimensional point cloud data for combinations of base station installation candidate positions and representative points that do not intersect the line of sight with the outline of a building or the like included in the map information. By the line-of-sight determination processing based on the presence/absence of , it is determined that there is line-of-sight for combinations of base station installation candidate positions and representative points for which the number of point cloud data between both stations is equal to or less than a threshold. In this manner, the communication area design support system 1 of the present embodiment more accurately determines whether or not there is line of sight according to the number of point cloud data between both stations.

With such a configuration, the communication area design support system 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention is able to perform more accurate line-of-sight determination while suppressing an increase in computational load.

It should be noted that in the second embodiment, the result of visibility determination based on map information is N.M. G. Even if it becomes (no line of sight), there may actually be a line of sight. For example, this is the case when the outlook is determined based on old map information. In such a case, for example, even if the building does not actually exist due to being demolished, etc., if the building still remains on the map, it is erroneously determined as having no line of sight (NG). be.

However, if line-of-sight determination based on the presence or absence of point cloud data is further performed, this erroneous determination may be corrected to the line-of-sight (OK) determination. For example, in such a case, even if the result of the visibility determination based on the map information is no visibility (NG) in a partial range (an area that is somewhat old and has not been updated for a while), , and then further determination of visibility based on the presence or absence of point cloud data may be performed.

However, according to the communication area design support system 1 in the second embodiment, an object existing between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point, such as a tree with sparse leaves, If the object is transparent to radio waves and does not act as a shield, it may be erroneously determined that there is no line of sight. A modified example of the second embodiment described below is an embodiment that solves such problems.

<Modification of Second Embodiment>
As described above, the communication area design support system 1 according to the second embodiment performs outlook determination processing based on the communication distance by the communication distance outlook determination unit 401, outlook determination processing based on map information by the map information outlook determination unit 402, and point determination processing based on the map information. The line-of-sight between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point is determined by performing line-of-sight determination processing based on the presence or absence of point cloud data by the group data line-of-sight determination unit 403 . In other words, the communication area design support system 1 according to the second embodiment is configured so that the shielding rate prospect determination unit 404 does not perform the visibility determination process based on the shielding rate.

On the other hand, the communication area design support system 1 according to the modification of the second embodiment described below, in addition to the above three line-of-sight determination processes performed by the communication area design support system 1 according to the second embodiment, This is a configuration in which the visibility determination processing based on the shielding rate by the shielding rate outlook determining unit 404 is performed as necessary. Note that the functional configuration of the communication area design support system 1 in the modified example of the second embodiment is the same as the functional configuration of the communication area design support system 1 in the first embodiment described with reference to FIG. , the description is omitted.

[Line-of-sight judgment processing]
The details of the outlook determination process in this modified example will be described below. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the line-of-sight determination processing by the communication area design support system 1 in the modified example of the second embodiment of the present invention. As in the first embodiment and the second embodiment, the visibility determination control unit 40 in this modification performs visibility determination control by selectively using a plurality of visibility determination processes according to a predetermined visibility determination rule.

FIG. 10 shows a predetermined visibility determination rule used by the visibility determination control unit 40 when controlling the visibility determination process. As shown in FIG. 10 , the outlook determination control unit 40 appropriately performs outlook determination processing based on the communication distance by the communication distance outlook determination unit 401 and map information by the map information outlook determination unit 402 based on predetermined visibility determination rules. , the point cloud data outlook determination unit 403 based on the presence or absence of point cloud data, and the shielding rate outlook determination unit 404 based on the shielding rate are executed.

As shown in FIG. 10, the line-of-sight determination process by the communication area design support system 1 in the modification of the second embodiment and the line-of-sight determination by the communication area design support system 1 in the second embodiment shown in FIG. The difference from the determination process is the process when it is determined that there is no line of sight by the line of sight determination process based on the presence or absence of the point cloud data by the point cloud data line of sight determination unit 403 . Hereinafter, the description of the processing until it is determined that there is no visibility by the visibility determination processing based on the presence or absence of point cloud data will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 10, when it is determined that there is no visibility by the visibility determination processing based on the presence or absence of point cloud data, the visibility determination control unit 40 treats the determination result that there is no visibility as a provisional determination result. do. This is because even if an object exists between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point, it is an object such as a tree with sparse leaves that does not become a shield because radio waves pass through it. Because it is possible. When it is determined that there is no line of sight by the line of sight determination processing based on the presence or absence of point cloud data, the line of sight determination control unit 40 blocks the combination of the same base station installation candidate position and the representative point by the blocking rate line of sight determination unit 404. Execute the visibility determination process based on the rate.

[Operation of line-of-sight determination control unit]
The operation of the visibility determination control unit 40 in this modified example will be described below. FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing the operation of the visibility determination control section 40 in the modified example of the second embodiment of the present invention.

The difference between the operation of the visibility determination control unit 40 in the modification of the second embodiment shown in FIG. 11 and the operation of the visibility determination control unit 40 in the second embodiment shown in FIG. This is the process when the data outlook determination unit 403 determines that there is no visibility by the outlook determination process based on the presence or absence of the point cloud data (the process when the determination process in step S306 is NO).

That is, the operation from step S301 to step S305 shown in FIG. 11 and the operation when the determination process at step S306 is YES are the operations from step S201 to step S205 shown in FIG. 9 and the determination process at step S206. Since the operations are the same as those in the case of YES, description thereof is omitted.

As shown in FIG. 11, when it is determined that there is no line of sight by the line of sight determination processing based on the presence or absence of point cloud data (step S306, NO), the combination of the same base station installation candidate position and representative point is blocked. The visibility determination processing based on the shielding rate is executed by the visibility determination unit 404 (step S307).

When it is determined that there is visibility by the visibility determination processing based on the shielding rate (step S308, YES), the visibility determination control unit 40 outputs a determination result indicating that there is visibility as a final determination result (step S309). ). Thus, the operation of the visibility determination control unit 40 shown in the flowchart of FIG. 11 is completed.

On the other hand, if it is determined that there is no visibility by the visibility determination processing based on the shielding rate (step S308, NO), the visibility determination control unit 40 outputs a determination result indicating that there is no visibility as the final determination result ( step S310). Thus, the operation of the visibility determination control unit 40 shown in the flowchart of FIG. 11 is completed.

As described above, the communication area design support system 1 in the modified example of the second embodiment of the present invention first performs the outlook determination process based on the communication distance, which is the outlook determination process with a relatively small amount of calculation. It is determined that there is no line of sight for combinations of base station installation candidate positions and representative points where the distance between stations exceeds the distance at which communication is possible. Next, the communication area design support system 1 in this modification performs prospect determination processing based on map information for combinations of base station installation candidate positions and representative points where the distance between the two stations is within the distance at which communication is possible. As a result, it is determined that there is no line of sight for the combination of the base station installation candidate position and the representative point where the line of sight intersects the outline of a building or the like included in the map information. Next, the communication area design support system 1 in this modified example considers the presence of a shield for the combination of the base station installation candidate position and the representative point where the line of sight does not intersect with the outline of a building or the like included in the map information. By the line-of-sight determination processing, it is determined that there is line-of-sight for combinations of base station installation candidate positions and representative points for which the number of point cloud data between both stations is equal to or less than the threshold. In this manner, the communication area design support system 1 in this modified example more accurately determines whether or not there is a line of sight according to the number of point cloud data between both stations. Next, the communication area design support system 1 in this modified example performs outlook determination processing considering the shielding rate for combinations of base station installation candidate positions and representative points where the number of point cloud data between both stations is larger than the threshold. Then, based on the amount of propagation loss of radio waves calculated based on the shielding rate, the circuit design for wireless communication between the base station and the terminal station is performed. In this manner, the communication area design support system 1 in this modified example determines the presence or absence of line of sight with higher accuracy.

With such a configuration, the communication area design support system 1 according to the modified example of the second embodiment of the present invention can perform visibility determination with higher accuracy while suppressing an increase in calculation load.

Also, as described above, the communication area design support system 1 according to the modified example of the second embodiment of the present invention performs line-of-sight determination processing that takes into account the shielding rate as necessary. As a result, the communication area design support system 1 according to the present modification, even if there is an object between the base station installation candidate position and the representative point, and the number of point cloud data equal to or greater than the threshold exists, for example, leaves In the case of an object such as a sparsely grown tree that transmits radio waves and does not become a shielding object, it can be correctly determined that there is a line of sight.

It should be noted that, as described in the above-described second embodiment, even in the modified example of the second embodiment, the result of visibility determination based on map information is N.M. G. Even if it becomes (no line of sight), there may actually be a line of sight. For example, this is the case when the outlook is determined based on old map information. In such a case, for example, even if the building does not actually exist due to being demolished, etc., if the building still remains on the map, it is erroneously determined as having no line of sight (NG). be.

For example, such a case can be dealt with by the configuration of the first embodiment described above (the configuration in which the visibility is determined based on the point cloud data without performing the visibility determination based on the map information). good. Alternatively, as described in the second embodiment, the result of the visibility determination based on the map information is N.M. G. In the case of (no line of sight), if the line of sight judgment based on the presence or absence of point cloud data is further performed, this erroneous judgment will be corrected to the judgment that there is line of sight (OK). There is Therefore, even if the result of visibility determination based on the map information is no visibility (NG) in a partial range (an area that has not been updated for a while with somewhat old map information), the presence or absence of point cloud data will continue to be determined. It is good also as a structure which further implements the line-of-sight determination based on.

According to the above-described embodiment, the communication availability determination device includes an acquisition unit, a distance determination unit, and a shielding rate determination unit. For example, the communication availability determination device and the acquisition unit are the visibility determination control unit 40 in the embodiment, the distance determination unit is the communication distance outlook determination unit 401 in the embodiment, and the shielding rate determination unit is the shielding rate in the embodiment. It is the line of sight determination unit 404 .

The acquisition unit obtains information indicating a base station position indicating a candidate installation position of a radio base station, a mobile station position indicating a position where a mobile station communicating with the radio base station may exist, and a base station position. Acquire point cloud data measured between the mobile station position. For example, the radio base station is the base station in the embodiment, the base station location is the base station installation candidate location in the embodiment, the mobile station is the terminal station in the embodiment, and the mobile station location is the , and the point cloud data is the point cloud data 303 in the embodiment.

The above distance determination unit performs distance determination to determine whether or not communication is possible between the base station position and the mobile station position according to the distance between the base station position and the mobile station position. For example, the distance determination is visibility determination based on the communication distance by the communication distance visibility determination unit 401 in the embodiment.

When it is determined that communication is possible by the distance determination, the above shielding rate determination unit determines the shielding rate indicating the ratio of the point cloud data in the space between the base station position and the mobile station position calculated from the point cloud data. Shielding rate determination is performed based on the radio wave propagation loss estimated based on. For example, the shielding rate determination is visibility determination based on the shielding rate by the shielding rate outlook determining unit 404 in the embodiment.

The above communication availability determination device may further include a point cloud data determination unit. For example, the point cloud data determination unit is the point cloud data outlook determination unit 403 in the embodiment. The point cloud data determination unit determines whether or not communication is possible between the base station position and the mobile station position according to the number of point cloud data existing in the above space when it is determined that communication is possible by distance determination. Perform point cloud data judgment. For example, point cloud data determination is visibility determination based on three-dimensional point cloud data by the point cloud data visibility determining unit 403 in the embodiment. In this case, the shielding rate determination unit performs the shielding rate determination when the point cloud data determination determines that communication is impossible.

It should be noted that the above communication availability determination device may further include a map determination unit. For example, the map determination unit is the map information outlook determination unit 402 in the embodiment. The map determination unit, when it is determined that communication is possible by distance determination, stores whether or not communication between the base station position and the mobile station position is possible in map information indicating a map between the base station position and the mobile station position. Map determination is performed based on the map. For example, the map information is the map/area information 302 in the embodiment, and the map determination is the outlook determination based on the map information by the map information outlook determination unit 402 in the embodiment. In this case, the acquisition unit further acquires the map information, and the point cloud data determination is performed when the map determination determines that communication is possible.

In the above communication availability determination device, the shielding rate determination unit designs the wireless communication channel between the wireless base station and the mobile station based on the loss amount of the propagation loss, and the received power at the mobile station is set to the required reception power. It may be determined that communication is possible when the sensitivity is equal to or higher than the sensitivity.

It should be noted that in the above communication possibility determination device, the above space may be a Fresnel zone formed between the radio base station and the mobile station. For example, the Fresnel zone here is the Fresnel zone fz in the embodiment.

It should be noted that, in the above communication possibility determination device, the above space may be a cylindrical space approximated to a Fresnel zone formed between the radio base station and the mobile station. For example, the cylindrical space approximated to the Fresnel zone here is the cylindrical Fresnel zone Cz in the embodiment.

According to the above-described embodiment, the communication area design support system includes a base station candidate position acquisition unit, a division unit, a point cloud data acquisition unit, a communication availability determination control unit, and an output unit. For example, the communication area design support system is the communication area design support system 1 in the embodiment, the base station candidate position acquisition unit is the base station installation candidate position extraction unit 12 in the embodiment, and the dividing unit is The area division unit 14, the point cloud data acquisition unit is the point cloud data acquisition unit 15 in the embodiment, the communication availability determination control unit is the visibility determination control unit 40 in the embodiment, and the output unit is the is the output unit 50 in .

The above-mentioned base station candidate position acquisition unit acquires information indicating candidate installation positions of wireless base stations in the target area. For example, the target area is the evaluation target area in the embodiment. The division unit acquires map information indicating a map of a target area, divides the map into squares, and determines representative points representing possible positions of mobile stations in each square. The point cloud data acquisition unit acquires point cloud data measured within the target area.

The above-mentioned communication feasibility determination control unit determines the feasibility of communication between the candidate position of the wireless base station and each of the representative points for each square using a plurality of communication feasibility determination methods according to a predetermined rule. For example, the plurality of judgment methods are the outlook judgment based on the communication distance by the communication distance outlook judgment unit 401, the outlook judgment based on the map information by the map information outlook judgment unit 402, and the point cloud data outlook judgment unit 403. One is visibility determination based on dimensional point cloud data, and the other is visibility determination based on the shielding rate by the shielding rate outlook determining unit 404 . The output unit outputs information indicating the result of determination by the communication availability determination control unit. For example, the information indicating the determination result is the communication area design result information 306 in the embodiment.

In addition, the communication availability determination control unit includes a distance determination unit and a shielding rate determination unit. The distance determination unit performs distance determination to determine whether or not communication between the candidate installation position and the representative point is possible according to the distance between the candidate installation position and the representative point. If it is determined that communication is possible based on the distance determination, the shielding rate determination unit is based on the shielding rate that indicates the ratio of the point cloud data in the space between the installation candidate position calculated from the point cloud data and the representative point. Shielding rate determination is performed based on the estimated propagation loss of radio waves.

A part of the communication area design support system 1 in each of the above-described embodiments may be realized by a computer. In that case, a program for realizing this function may be recorded in a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded in this recording medium may be read into a computer system and executed. It should be noted that the "computer system" referred to here includes hardware such as an OS and peripheral devices. The term "computer-readable recording medium" refers to portable media such as flexible discs, magneto-optical discs, ROMs and CD-ROMs, and storage devices such as hard discs incorporated in computer systems. Furthermore, "computer-readable recording medium" refers to a program that dynamically retains programs for a short period of time, like a communication line when transmitting a program via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. It may also include something that holds the program for a certain period of time, such as a volatile memory inside a computer system that serves as a server or client in that case. Further, the program may be for realizing a part of the functions described above, or may be capable of realizing the functions described above in combination with a program already recorded in the computer system. It may be implemented using a programmable logic device such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array).

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and includes design within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Communication area design support system 11... Equipment information acquisition part 12... Base station installation candidate position extraction part 13... Map information acquisition part 14... Area division part 15... Point cloud data acquisition part 16... Data matching Unit 17 Communication parameter information acquisition unit 20 Operation input unit 30 Storage unit 40 Line-of-sight determination control unit 50 Output unit 201 Evaluation target area designation unit 202 Base station installation candidate position selection unit , 301... Base station installation candidate position information, 302... Map/area information, 303... Point cloud data, 304... Communication parameter information, 305... Judgment availability list, 306... Communication area design result information, 401... Communication distance prospect determination unit , 402 ... Map information outlook determination unit 403 ... Point cloud data outlook determination unit 404 ... Shielding rate outlook determination unit

Claims

Information indicating a base station position indicating a candidate installation position of a radio base station and a mobile station position indicating a position where a mobile station communicating with the radio base station may exist; and the base station position and the mobile station position. an acquisition step of acquiring point cloud data measured between
a distance determination step of determining whether communication between the base station position and the mobile station position is possible according to the distance between the base station position and the mobile station position;
When it is determined that communication is possible by the distance determination, based on the shielding rate indicating the ratio of the point cloud data in the space between the base station position and the mobile station position calculated from the point cloud data a shielding rate determination step of performing a shielding rate determination based on an estimated propagation loss of radio waves;
A communication propriety determination method having
Point cloud data for determining whether or not communication is possible between the base station position and the mobile station position according to the number of the point cloud data existing in the space when the distance determination determines that communication is possible. It further has a point cloud data judgment step for making a judgment,
2. The method of determining whether communication is possible or not according to claim 1, wherein in said shielding rate determination step, said shielding rate determination is performed when said point cloud data determination determines that communication is impossible.
If the distance determination determines that communication is possible, whether or not communication is possible between the base station position and the mobile station position is stored in map information indicating a map between the base station position and the mobile station position. further comprising a map determination step of performing map determination based on
The obtaining step further obtains the map information,
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein in said point cloud data determination step, said point cloud data determination is performed when said map determination determines that communication is possible.
In the shielding rate determining step, a circuit for wireless communication between the wireless base station and the mobile station is designed based on the loss amount of the propagation loss, and when the reception power at the mobile station is equal to or higher than the required reception sensitivity. 4. The method of determining whether communication is possible according to any one of claims 1 to 3.
The communication propriety determination method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the space is a Fresnel zone formed between the radio base station and the mobile station.
5. The communication propriety determination method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the space is a cylindrical space that approximates a Fresnel zone formed between the radio base station and the mobile station.
Information indicating a base station position indicating a candidate installation position of a radio base station and a mobile station position indicating a position where a mobile station communicating with the radio base station may exist; and the base station position and the mobile station position. an acquisition unit that acquires point cloud data measured between
a distance determination unit that determines whether communication between the base station position and the mobile station position is possible according to the distance between the base station position and the mobile station position;
When it is determined that communication is possible by the distance determination, based on the shielding rate indicating the ratio of the point cloud data in the space between the base station position and the mobile station position calculated from the point cloud data A shielding rate determination unit that determines a shielding rate based on an estimated propagation loss of radio waves;
A communication availability determination device.
a base station candidate position acquisition unit that acquires information indicating candidate installation positions of wireless base stations in a target area;
a dividing unit that acquires map information indicating a map of the target area, divides the map into squares, and determines representative points that represent possible positions of mobile stations in each square;
a point cloud data acquisition unit that acquires point cloud data measured within the target area;
a communication feasibility determination control unit that determines feasibility of communication between the candidate position of the radio base station and each of the representative points for each of the squares by selectively using a plurality of communication feasibility determination methods according to a predetermined rule;
an output unit that outputs information indicating a result of determination by the communication availability determination control unit;
has
The communication enable/disable determination control unit
a distance determination unit that determines whether or not communication between the candidate installation position and the representative point is possible according to the distance between the candidate installation position and the representative point;
When it is determined that communication is possible by the distance determination, estimation based on the shielding rate indicating the ratio of the point cloud data in the space between the installation candidate position calculated from the point cloud data and the representative point A shielding rate determination unit that determines the shielding rate based on the propagation loss of the radio wave that is received;
Communication area design support system.