{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,22]],"date-time":"2026-04-22T19:22:50Z","timestamp":1776885770510,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,31]],"date-time":"2023-01-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1675123200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"FCT\/MCTES through national funds","award":["UIDB\/50008\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UIDB\/50008\/2020"]}]},{"name":"EU funds","award":["UIDB\/50008\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UIDB\/50008\/2020"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Future Internet"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Today, the internet is fundamental to social inclusion. There are many people that live in remote areas, and the only way to supply internet services is through the use of microwave terrestrial and satellite systems. Thus, it is important to have efficient tools to design and optimize these systems. In this paper, a tool with the objective to shorten the time spent in the design process of microwave terrestrial and satellite point-to-point links is presented. This tool can be applied in academia by engineering students, providing an extended analysis of many sections of a link project design, as well as in professional practice by telecommunication engineering departments, presenting a concise step-by-step interactive design process. This tool uses three-dimensional world visualization, with the Cesium Application Programming Interface (API), to display and analyze site-specific characteristics that can disrupt the link\u2019s quality of service (QoS). Using this visualization, two ray-tracing algorithms were developed to analyze signal diffraction and reflection mainly throughout terrestrial links. Using this new algorithm, an innovative process for signal diffraction and reflection calculations was created. Using updated standards provided by the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R), the characteristics of the defined simulated links could be predicted, thus providing the user with the metrics of signal quality and system link budget.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/fi15020058","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,1]],"date-time":"2023-02-01T04:27:02Z","timestamp":1675225622000},"page":"58","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["An Optimized Planning Tool for Microwave Terrestrial and Satellite Link Design"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3538-7017","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eduardo","family":"Ferreira","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Political Science and Public Policy, ISCTE\u2014Instituto Universit\u00e1rio de Lisboa, 1649-026 Lisbon, Portugal"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7729-4033","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pedro","family":"Sebasti\u00e3o","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Political Science and Public Policy, ISCTE\u2014Instituto Universit\u00e1rio de Lisboa, 1649-026 Lisbon, Portugal"},{"name":"Instituto de Telecomunica\u00e7\u00f5es, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0374-4078","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francisco","family":"Cercas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Political Science and Public Policy, ISCTE\u2014Instituto Universit\u00e1rio de Lisboa, 1649-026 Lisbon, Portugal"},{"name":"Instituto de Telecomunica\u00e7\u00f5es, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7416-0512","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carlos","family":"S\u00e1 Costa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Political Science and Public Policy, ISCTE\u2014Instituto Universit\u00e1rio de Lisboa, 1649-026 Lisbon, Portugal"},{"name":"Instituto de Telecomunica\u00e7\u00f5es, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4246-3957","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Am\u00e9rico","family":"Correia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Political Science and Public Policy, ISCTE\u2014Instituto Universit\u00e1rio de Lisboa, 1649-026 Lisbon, Portugal"},{"name":"Instituto de Telecomunica\u00e7\u00f5es, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102209","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scs.2020.102209","article-title":"Low-cost far-field wireless electrical load monitoring system applied in an off-grid rural area of Tanzania","volume":"59","author":"Wang","year":"2020","journal-title":"Sustain. 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