Blog
This is where we write about building Waveshed, a browser-based tool for line-of-sight and RF propagation. Some posts trace where the name comes from. Others get into the models, the terrain data, and what it takes to run a coverage engine right in your browser. New here? Start with Getting started.
How accurate is browser terrain, really?
Waveshed reads elevation from a global composite: ~30 m over most of the world, ~2 m in Britain, ~10 m in the US. What that means, and going finer with the QGIS plugin.
Eight megawatts over the Alps to Zürich
In 1979 Roger Schawinski put Radio 24 on a 2,900 m Italian peak aimed at Zürich, 130 km away. A 50 kW transmitter and a directional array turned modest watts into megawatts. A lesson in site, ERP and directionality.
A viewshed for radio: LOS vs RF
Line-of-sight shows what is visible. RF (ITM / Longley-Rice) shows where a signal actually reaches and how strong it is. How they differ, and when to use each.
What can you see from the summit?
Drop a point on a peak and a line-of-sight viewshed shows exactly what is in view: which summits, valleys and huts you can see, and where a trail holds its sight line.
Why we called it Waveshed
Watershed to viewshed to waveshed: where the name comes from, and why a terrain-based RF-coverage tool earned a word of its own.
Coming soon
- Resolution, range, and speed: the three-way trade-off
- ITM on the GPU vs the CPU
- Which earth radius? 6371 km, WGS-84, and the 4/3 radio horizon
- Buildings as obstructions: what the model includes, and what it leaves out
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