Skip to content

Pipelines Module Capabilities

This document details the capabilities of the DeepMIMO pipelines module, which provides end-to-end workflows for ray-tracing simulation and scene generation.

Overview

The pipelines module supports: - Sionna RT Pipeline: Execute Sionna ray-tracing simulations - Wireless InSite Pipeline: Execute Wireless InSite ray-tracing simulations - Blender OSM: Generate 3D scenes from OpenStreetMap data - TX/RX Placement: Utilities for positioning transmitters and receivers

Sionna RT Pipeline

Executes Sionna ray-tracing simulations with support for both Sionna 0.19.x and 1.x versions.

Feature Support Notes
Execution
Ray tracing computation ✓ Compute paths from scene
Batch processing ✓ DataLoader for RX batches
GPU acceleration ✓ Leverages TensorFlow/Mitsuba GPU
CPU offload ✓ Move results to CPU after computation
Progress tracking ✓ tqdm progress bars
Version Support
Sionna 0.19.x ✓ Legacy version
Sionna 1.x ✓ Current version (1.0.0-1.0.2)
Automatic version detection ✓ Handles API differences
Version validation ✓ Warns on untested versions
Scene Input
XML scene files ✓ Load from Mitsuba XML
Mitsuba scene objects ✓ Direct scene import
Material assignment ✓ ITU/custom materials
Custom geometries ✓ Any Mitsuba-compatible scene
TX/RX Configuration
Single TX ✓ Single transmitter position
Multiple TXs ✓ List of TX positions
TX grid ✓ Automated TX placement
RX grid ✓ Automated RX placement
Custom positions ✓ User-defined coordinates
Antenna patterns ✓ [a] Via Sionna antenna objects
Array configurations ✓ Multi-element arrays
Ray Tracing Parameters
Max path depth ✓ Total interactions
Reflections ✓ Specular reflections
Diffractions ✓ Edge diffractions
Scattering ✓ Diffuse scattering [b]
Transmissions ✗ [c] Not supported by Sionna
Number of rays ✓ Rays per antenna
Synthetic array ✓ Enable/disable
Output Options
Export to pickle ✓ Via sionna_exporter
Path inspection ✓ Custom callback function
Auto-conversion ✓ [d] Optional direct conversion
Multi-scene export ✓ Time-varying scenarios
Advanced Features
Path solver configuration ✓ Sionna 1.x PathSolver
Scene materialization ✓ Sionna 0.19.x
Custom compute params ✓ Pass-through parameters
TensorFlow GPU config ✓ [e] Sionna 0.19.x only

Wireless InSite Pipeline

Executes Wireless InSite ray-tracing simulations via command-line interface.

Feature Support Notes
Execution
Ray tracing computation ✓ Via calcprop_server
Batch processing ✓ Multiple scenarios
Multi-core support ✓ [f] InSite internal parallelization
Progress monitoring ✗ [g] External process
Version Support
Wireless InSite 3.x ✓ Tested
Wireless InSite 4.x ✓ Tested
Version detection ✓ From config
Scene Input
PLY building files ✓ From Blender OSM
PLY terrain files ✓ From Blender OSM
CITY format ✓ Native InSite format
TER format ✓ Terrain definition
VEG format ✓ Vegetation (foliage)
Custom geometries ✓ Any InSite-compatible
TX/RX Configuration
Single TX ✓ Single transmitter
Multiple TXs ✓ TX grid/list
RX grid ✓ Grid with spacing
Custom TX positions ✓ GPS or Cartesian
Custom RX positions ✓ GPS or Cartesian
Antenna patterns ✓ [h] InSite antenna library
Polarization ✓ V/H/Both
File Generation
Setup file (.setup) ✓ XML format
TXRX file (.txrx) ✓ XML format
Terrain file (.ter) ✓ Text format
City file (.city) ✓ From PLY
Study area XML ✓ For InSite UI
Ray Tracing Parameters
Carrier frequency ✓ In Hz
Reflections ✓ Max count
Diffractions ✓ Max count
Scattering ✓ Enable/disable
Transmissions ✓ Max count
Terrain interactions ✓ Enable/disable
Waveform properties ✓ CW/pulse/OFDM
Material Assignment
Building materials ✓ From config
Road materials ✓ From config
Terrain materials ✓ From config
ITU-R materials ✓ Built-in library
Custom materials ✓ User-defined
Output Options
P2M path files ✓ Path data
Study info files ✓ Simulation metadata
Auto-conversion ✓ [d] Optional direct conversion
Advanced Features
Multiple study areas ✓ Separate simulations
Timestamp naming ✓ Avoid overwrite
License management ✓ License file path
Executable path ✓ Custom InSite location

Blender OSM Pipeline

Generates 3D scenes from OpenStreetMap data using Blender.

Feature Support Notes
Scene Generation
OSM data import ✓ Via blosm addon
Bounding box input ✓ GPS coordinates
Auto-fetch from OSM ✓ Direct download
Output Formats
InSite format (PLY) ✓ Buildings and roads
Sionna format (XML) ✓ Mitsuba scene
Simultaneous export ✓ Both formats at once
Scene Elements
Buildings ✓ 3D extruded
Roads ✓ Ground-level paths
Terrain ✓ Ground plane
Vegetation ✗ [i] Not currently extracted
Processing
Road trimming ✓ To bounding box
Road filtering ✓ Remove invalid
Material assignment ✓ Buildings and roads
Mesh conversion ✓ All to mesh objects
Object organization ✓ By category
Coordinate Systems
GPS coordinates ✓ Input bounding box
Cartesian conversion ✓ For simulation
Origin storage ✓ GPS reference point
Bounds metadata ✓ Saved to file
Visualization
Camera setup ✓ Automatic positioning
Scene rendering ✓ Before/after processing
Image export ✓ PNG format
Lighting setup ✓ World lighting
Blender Integration
Addon installation ✓ Auto-install blosm
Headless operation ✓ Command-line execution
Scene clearing ✓ Clean slate for each run
Error logging ✓ File and console logs
Output Organization
Folder per scenario ✓ Named by bbox
Metadata files ✓ Origin, bbox, logs
Figure output ✓ Separate figs folder
Skip existing ✓ Avoid re-processing

TX/RX Placement Utilities

Helper functions for positioning transmitters and receivers.

Feature Support Notes
TX Placement
GPS coordinates ✓ Lat/lon/height
Multiple TXs ✓ List of positions
GPS to Cartesian ✓ Automatic conversion
Origin reference ✓ Relative positioning
RX Grid Generation
Rectangular grid ✓ 2D plane
Custom spacing ✓ Grid resolution
Height specification ✓ Z-coordinate
GPS bounding box ✓ Grid area from GPS
Cartesian bounds ✓ Direct bounds input
Plane Grid Generation
XY plane (Z-normal) ✓ Horizontal plane
XZ plane (Y-normal) ✓ Vertical plane
YZ plane (X-normal) ✓ Vertical plane
Fixed coordinate ✓ Plane position
Min/max coordinates ✓ Plane extent
Custom spacing ✓ Grid density
Coordinate Conversions
GPS to relative Cartesian ✓ From origin
GPS bbox to Cartesian ✓ Bounding box conversion
Origin tracking ✓ Reference point storage

Usage Examples

Sionna RT Pipeline

from deepmimo.pipelines.sionna_rt import raytrace_sionna

# Run Sionna ray tracing
raytrace_sionna(
    scene_path='./my_scene.xml',
    tx_pos=[[0, 0, 10]],
    rx_pos=rx_grid,
    save_folder='./sionna_output',
    max_depth=6,
    num_samples=1e6
)

Wireless InSite Pipeline

from deepmimo.pipelines.wireless_insite import raytrace_insite

# Run InSite ray tracing
raytrace_insite(
    osm_folder='./my_osm_scene',
    tx_pos=tx_positions,
    rx_pos=rx_grid,
    carrier_freq=28e9,
    max_reflections=5,
    max_diffractions=1,
    wi_exe='/path/to/calcprop_server',
    wi_lic='/path/to/license.lic'
)

Blender OSM

from deepmimo.pipelines.blender_osm import fetch_osm_scene

# Generate scene from OSM
fetch_osm_scene(
    minlat=40.7580,
    minlon=-73.9855,
    maxlat=40.7620,
    maxlon=-73.9800,
    output_folder='./times_square',
    output_formats=['insite', 'sionna']
)

TX/RX Placement

from deepmimo.pipelines.txrx_placement import gen_tx_pos, gen_rx_grid

rt_params = {
    'bs_lats': [40.7589],
    'bs_lons': [-73.9851],
    'bs_heights': [25],
    'origin_lat': 40.7580,
    'origin_lon': -73.9855,
    'min_lat': 40.7580,
    'min_lon': -73.9855,
    'max_lat': 40.7620,
    'max_lon': -73.9800,
    'grid_spacing': 5,
    'ue_height': 1.5
}

tx_pos = gen_tx_pos(rt_params)
rx_pos = gen_rx_grid(rt_params)

Notes

  • [a] Antenna patterns configured via Sionna's Antenna objects; see Sionna documentation.
  • [b] Scattering in Sionna limited to final interaction only (diffuse_final_interaction_only).
  • [c] Transmissions not supported by Sionna RT engine; use AODT or InSite for transmission support.
  • [d] Auto-conversion requires calling converter after pipeline execution.
  • [e] TensorFlow GPU configuration only relevant for Sionna 0.19.x (uses TensorFlow); Sionna 1.x uses dr.jit.
  • [f] Wireless InSite parallelization controlled by InSite settings, not DeepMIMO.
  • [g] Progress monitoring requires external process monitoring; InSite runs as separate process.
  • [h] InSite antenna patterns from InSite library; custom patterns require InSite antenna files.
  • [i] Vegetation extraction from OSM not currently implemented in Blender pipeline.

Common Limitations

These limitations apply across pipeline operations:

  • External dependencies: Each pipeline requires specific software (Sionna, InSite, Blender).
  • Version compatibility: Tested versions documented; others may not work.
  • Sequential execution: Pipelines run sequentially; no built-in parallelization across scenarios.
  • Memory requirements: Large scenes may require significant RAM for geometry processing.
  • Disk space: Ray-tracing outputs can be large (GB per scenario).