Evolution of PATSAC technology

Abstract

PATSAC Technology is one of the main techniques that is not applied today by radio engineers when planning new mobile and/or paging system coverage areas. PATSAC is the acronym for "Predicted Actual Terrain Service Area Calculations". Today most of the Mobile Telecommunications Industry Engineers use either Boise, Carey, or other equivalent methods to calculate contours to be in compliance with Part 21.504 of the FCC Rules and Regulations. They generally use average terrain from 2-10 miles for 45° radials to calculate a predicted service area. These calculating methods fail to consider the impact that specific terrain features will have on a coverage area. Further, the techniques used today must be redefined for calculating 900 MHz type cellular systems. In this session, we will introduce PATSAC Technology for the 150 MHz and 450 MHz bands and illustrate the potential application for the 900 MHz band. We will also show the defiencies that are inherent in today's calculating methodology if applied to 900 MHz band.