Patent ID: 8442552

Claim:
A method for predicting radio frequency (RF) coverage in a multi-level wireless network, the multi-level wireless network including a plurality of wireless devices, each of the wireless devices of the plurality of wireless devices including an RF transmitter, the method comprising: determining, by a network management server, a two-dimensional wireless network configuration model of a vertical level of the multi-level wireless network, wherein determining the two-dimensional wireless network configuration model of the vertical level includes determining a location attribute of one or more RF transmitters in the multi-level wireless network that are physically located at the vertical level; determining a path loss in a propagation path of an RF signal from an RF transmitter of a wireless device of the plurality of wireless devices to a grid point in the vertical level, wherein the path loss is based on a plurality of path loss exponents; determining a signal strength loss at the grid point due to one or more obstacles intersecting the propagation path; and predicting a strength of the RF signal at the grid point based on the path loss and the signal strength loss.