Patent ID: 8290499

Claim:
An apparatus for designing or deploying a communications network, comprising: a means for providing (I) a computerized model which represents a physical environment in which a communications network is or will be installed, said computerized model providing a display of at least a portion of said physical environment, and (II) performance attributes for a plurality of system components which may be used in said physical environment, a number of said performance attributes for at least some of the plurality of system components having associated with them frequency dependent characteristics wherein said frequency dependent characteristics define electrical properties of said system components that vary based upon at least two different frequencies at which said system components operate; a means for selecting specific components from said plurality of system components for use in a communications network; a means for representing said selected specific components in said display; and a means for automatically running prediction models using the computerized model and said performance attributes to predict performance characteristics of said communications network comprised of said selected specific components, said prediction models automatically considering said frequency dependent characteristics at said at least two different frequencies in calculations which predict said performance characteristics of said communications network.