Auto Create Strand
tool. However, if you need to place stranding
for multiple floors, the Auto Create Strand 
tool is a faster way to construct the stranding network.
It quickly places “poles” (an MDU-equivalent to poles
with a default type of Cable Only) that act as eventual tap points
for the RF Network on the floors according to your specifications.
To use this tool:-
First, use the View Footprint
tool to see the inside of the MDU.
- Ensure the MDU contains floors. See the topic Draw Floors for more information.
-
Click the Auto Create Strand tool.
-
Inside the MDU, click once within the lowest (or highest)
floor. Then, move your cursor toward the highest (or lowest) floor.
Notice a rectangle is drawn. Essentially, you are selecting the floors
that the Auto Create Strand tool should use to sketch the stranding.
- Once you have the desired floors selected with the rectangle, click again.
-
After you click, an Auto Create Strand Options dialog appears.
This dialog allows you to set the parameters for the Auto Create Strand
Tool.
Option
Description
Floor Height
The height determines the length of stranding to connect the floors. For example, if there are 4 floors, you could have 4 cable-only “poles,” 1 per floor. The strands connecting the cable-only “poles” are the length of the floor height. If you used 12 feet as your floor height, you would get 3 strands to connect the 4 cable-only “poles,” with each strand being 12 feet long.
RC
This is short for Residential Count. It determines how many residences could potentially be served per eventual tap.
CC
This is short for Commercial Count. It determines how many commercial businesses could potentially be served per eventual tap.
Horizontal Alignment
These options quickly place the stranding either along the left, center, or right of the MDU.
HO
This is short for Horizontal Offset. After choosing an alignment, you can further fine-tune the placement of the stranding with an offset.
Vertical Alignment
This options quickly places the cable-only “poles” either along the top, middle, or bottom of the floors.
VO
This is short for Vertical Offset. After choosing an alignment, you can further fine-tune the placement of the cable-only “poles” with an offset.
Skip
This input allows you to skip a specified number of floors between the cable-only “poles.”
As you change the settings on the options dialog, notice it provides real-time feedback of what the stranding will look like:
-
Click OK to place the stranding.
TIP: If you made a mistake on the strand lengths or house counts, do not worry. To update the house counts, you can multi-select the “poles” using the Ctrl key and your cursor, right click, and then choose House Counts. Similarly for strand length, you can multi-select the strands using the Ctrl key and your cursor, right click, and then choose Length.
-
Use the Place Strand
tool to connect the new MDU stranding
into the larger strand network.
