SoftWright is pleased to announce the release of Terrain Analysis Package (TAP™) version 6.2. TAP™ 6.2 features an all-new calculation engine that drastically improves execution speed. Study execution times in benchmark cases were reduced by 80%. Combining TAP™ 6.2 with solid state drive data storage reduced study times by 98%. This is great news for customers interested in reducing the time it takes to complete large, high-resolution coverage studies.
As a terrestrial RF propagation software tool, TAP™ is data- and computation-intensive. It has been common for large area coverage studies using high-resolution data to require hours of execution time. However, TAP™ 6.2 is the first release in the next generation of TAP™ software that uses an all-new calculation engine to dramatically decrease study execution time.
This initial release features our most popular propagation model – Longley Rice (also known as the Irregular Terrain Model – ITM). Simply design your Tile, Raidal, or Target Point area coverage study in HDCoverage as you normally would and select the Longley-Rice Propagation Model. As shown circled in red below, the “6.2” run button adjacent to the familiar TAP™ run button will be enabled. Select the “6.2” run button and the new calculation engine is launched. Study results appear in HDMapper as usual, but in far less time!
![TAP 6.2 Run Button](https://www.softwright.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/6_2Button.png)
Recall from our December 2013 TAPTips that storing data on solid state hard drives (SSDs) also reduces study execution time. Our benchmarking experiments for a large tile study using 1/3 sec FLT data showed the following results:
TAP™ 6.1, Rotating HDD : 43 min
TAP™ 6.2, Rotating HDD : 8.5 min
TAP™ 6.1, SSD : 3.5 min
TAP™ 6.2, SSD : 0.9 min
By upgrading to TAP™ 6.2, Longley-Rice study times may be reduced by 80% and combining TAP™ 6.2 with SSD data storage may reduce study times by 98%.
Future TAP™ releases will accelerate our other propagation models. For more information or to upgrade to TAP™ 6.2, please contact sales@softwright.com.