distance

Distance between sites

Syntax

d = distance(site1,site2)

d = distance(site1,site2,path)

d = distance(___,Name=Value)

Description

d = distance(site1,site2) calculates the distance, in meters, between the specified sites. By default, the function calculates the Euclidean distance.

d = distance(site1,site2,path) calculates the distance using the specified path type, either the Euclidean path or the great circle path.

d = distance(___,Name=Value) specifies options using name-value arguments.

Examples

Calculate Distance Between Transmitter and Receiver Site

Create a transmitter site and a receiver site. Specify the locations using geographic coordinates.

tx = txsite(Name="MathWorks", ...
    Latitude=42.3001, ...
    Longitude=-71.3504);
rx = rxsite(Name="Fenway Park", ...
    Latitude=42.3467, ...
    Longitude=-71.0972);

Calculate the distance between the sites. The function returns the result in meters. By default, the function calculates the distance using a Euclidean path.

dme = distance(tx,rx)

dme = 2.1504e+04

Convert the distance to kilometers.

dkm = dme / 1000

dkm = 21.5037

Calculate Distance Using Great Circle Path

Create a transmitter site and a receiver site. Specify the locations using geographic coordinates.

tx = txsite(Name="MathWorks", ...
    Latitude=42.3001, ...
    Longitude=-71.3504);
rx = rxsite(Name="Fenway Park", ...
    Latitude=42.3467, ...
    Longitude=-71.0972);

Calculate the distance between the sites using a great circle path. The function returns the result in meters. Convert the distance from meters to kilometers.

dme = distance(tx,rx,"greatcircle");
dkm = dme / 1000

dkm = 21.4515

Input Arguments

site1, site2 — Transmitter or receiver site

txsite object | rxsite object

Transmitter or receiver site, specified as a txsite or rxsite object. Specify multiple sites using array inputs.

path — Measurement path type

"euclidean" (default) | "greatcircle"

Measurement path type, specified as one of the following:

• "euclidean" — Use the shortest path through space that connects the antenna center positions of the sites. The option is the default for both Cartesian and geographic sites.

• "greatcircle" — Use the shortest path on the surface of a spherical Earth that connects the geographic locations of the sites. This option requires the CoordinateSystem properties of the sites to be "geographic".

Data Types: char

Name-Value Arguments

Specify optional pairs of arguments as Name1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN, where Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the pairs does not matter.

Example: d = distance(site1,site2,Map="myfile.stl") specifies the map as an STL file.

Before R2021a, use commas to separate each name and value, and enclose Name in quotes.

Example: d = distance(site1,site2,"Map","myfile.stl") specifies the map as an STL file.

Map — Map for visualization or surface data

siteviewer object | triangulation object | string scalar | character vector

Map for visualization or surface data, specified as a siteviewer object, a triangulation object, a string scalar, or a character vector. Valid and default values depend on the coordinate system.

Coordinate System	Valid map values	Default map value
"geographic"	A siteviewer objecta A terrain name, if the function is called with an output argument. Valid terrain names are "none", "gmted2010", or the name of the custom terrain data added using addCustomTerrain.	The current siteviewer object or a new siteviewer object if none are open "gmted2010", if the function is called with an output
"cartesian"	"none" A siteviewer object The name of a glTF™ file The name of an STL file A triangulation object	"none"
a Alignment of boundaries and region labels are a presentation of the feature provided by the data vendors and do not imply endorsement by MathWorks®.

In most cases, if you specify this argument as a value other than a siteviewer or "none", then you must also specify an output argument.

Data Types: char | string

Output Arguments

d — Distance between sites, in meters

M-by-N numeric array

Distance between the sites, in meters, returned as an M-by-N numeric array, where M is the number of sites in site2 and N is the number of sites in site1.

Version History

Introduced in R2017b