Application Note: Wi-Fi/802.11 Wlans Bi-Directional Amplifier

Application Note
Wi-Fi/802.11 WLANs
Bi-directional amplifier
Fidelity Comtech, Inc
Fidelity Comtech, Inc.

2400 Trade Centre AvenuezLongmont, Colorado 80503
Phone - 303.678.8876 z Fax - 303.362.7545
www.fidelity-comtech.com z email: info@fidelity-comtech.com
40915
Application Note: Wi-Fi /802.11 WLANs Bi-directional amplifier
Introduction
This application note addresses the benefits of a bi-directional amplifier in a Wireless
LAN (WLAN) system. Utilizing the IEEE 802.11 WLAN architecture as a specific
example is appropriate today as interest in WLANs increases based on the low cost of
802.11b (Wi-Fi) equipment.
IEEE 802.11b WLAN equipment is characterized by PCMCIA radio cards, USBModems and PCI cards that are generally optimized for a home or Small Office Home
Office (SOHO) WLAN. In addition many larger LANs that might be more accurately
characterized as Metropolitan Wide Area Networks (MANs) are being constructed using
a cellular architecture with the same basic equipment PCMCIA radio cards integrated
with directional antennas. The adaptation of equipment from a home LAN application to
a commercial MAN application presents some unique questions, such as:
How do you optimize the range of the cells?

How do you plan network capacity and deal with network wide interference?
What might be appropriate cell sizes?
Are there unique equipment characteristics that do not adapt well to the
metropolitan application?
How are system costs and operating profits affected by these considerations?
The answers to these questions are interrelated and quite complex. We will resist the use
of overly complicating detail this application note and will demonstrate how utilization of
a bi-directional amplifier provides appropriate solutions to these questions.
Three main advantages of a bi-directional amplifier architecture are:
Improved range (cell size) through increased transmit power and increased
received Signal-to-Noise ratio (SNR).
Improved range for sparsely populated areas.
Improved system costs through simpler customer premise installations and
improved equipment reliability.
This application note is organized in the following manner. First a bi-directional

amplifier will be defined. Second some distinct equipment characteristics are reviewed
including a brief explanation of how a bi-directional amplifier can mitigate the negative
aspects of the equipment characteristics. Third a presentation of range issues will be
provided along with how a bi-directional amplifier integrated in the system improves
range issues.
Bi-directional Amplifier Definition
Figure 1 shows a typical 802.11, or Wi-Fi, front-end radio architecture. The transmitter
and a receive amplifier are connected to an antenna, through some cable loss with a
September, 2002
transmit/receive switch (T/R Switch). The cable loss may be very small for very short
cables and rather high for longer cables. The transmitter and receiver amplifier and T/R
Switch are part of the 802.11 radio (PCMCIA card).
Figure 1 Typical 802.11 (Wi-Fi) Antenna and Radio Front End

The cable loss shown in Figure 1 is a major detriment to the system performance as it
causes a loss in the range between two radios. The transmit power in a PCMCIA radio is
typically 15 dBm, which is appropriate and is well below the FCC limit. A bi-directional
amplifier architecture is shown in Figure 2. The bi-directional amplifier transmit and
receive gain can overcome most, if not all, of the cable loss detriment.
September, 2002
ANTENNA
TRANSMIT
T/R
SWITCH
CABLE
LOSS
T/R
SWITCH
T/R
SWITCH
RECEIVER
BOOSTER AMP
Figure 2 Bi-directional amplifier Architecture
The bi-directional amplifier architecture is more complex than shown in Figure 2. Output
transmitter power control is available for matching transmitter power to range and
antenna gain. A transmitter Automatic Gain Control (AGC) circuit is required to hold the
transmitter power constant over temperature variations and adjust for cable loss. This is
especially important for outdoor equipment. Additionally, power feed over the cable, a
control scheme for setting the output power, and lightning protection have to be provided.
Wi-Fi and 802.11b Equipment Characteristics
In a Wi-Fi and 802.11b architecture there are three main equipment characteristics that
should be considered. Transmit power at the antenna port, noise figure of the receiver,
and temperature rating of the integrated electronics. Transmit power is not typically
adjustable. The connector is often small and fragile, and the full FCC EIRP limit cannot
be achieved with a low or moderate gain antenna. The noise figure of the receiver is not
usually specified. The IEEE 802.11b specification would allow for a very poor design of
7 dB. A quality receiver would be in the 2 to 3 dB range. Finally, and the focus of this
section, the temperature rating of 802.11b PHY and MAC chips have standard
commercial ratings of 0 to 40 degrees Celsius. Attics and outdoor equipment commonly
experience temperature extremes of 40 to +85 degrees Celsius, a scenario more
appropriate for industrial equipment. These 802.11b equipment installations will
experience high failure rates within a few years. The failures will be from thermal
expansion and contraction cycles. These will stress the solder bonds between integrated
circuits and printed circuit boards plus the solder bonds on very small PCMCIA RF
connector and the printed circuit boards. This stress will cause early failures that in turn
will lead to very large expenses for the WLAN operator or customer.
September, 2002
Including a bi-directional amplifier with an antenna allows the customer premises

installation to place the antenna much further from the 802.11b modem and Ethernet
equipment. The bi-directional amplifier compensates for the increased cable loss in both
the transmit and receive directions. A quality bi-directional amplifier has a transmit
power control circuit to hold output power nearly constant over the industrial temperature
range variations. A typical PCMCIA radio will not hold the transmit power level over
industrial temperature ranges.
Cable Loss
The cable loss between an antenna and the 802.11b radio has significant consequences
for the WISP. This loss has different consequences in the transmit direction compared to
the receive direction. However, the overall affect of the cable loss is a decreased in
range between radios and/or a decreased data rate on the radio link. In a balanced link
(the SNR is the same in both directions), for every dB of cable loss the link range is
decreased by 2 dB. In a follow on section, when the link range is characterized with link
losses, the significance of this will be clearer.
In the transmit direction the cable loss may be mitigated with a narrow beam directional
antenna if the 802.11b modem output power is appropriate for the maximum FCC EIRP
limit of 36 dBm. PCMCIA cards output a power level lower than this limit. Therefore,
extra link range or higher data rates are supported when an appropriate transmit amplifier
is integrated with a high gain directional antenna because the transmit power limit is
achieved. Both ends of the link should have the same transmit power for balance and
maximum data rate.
In the receive direction, the cable loss is more insidious. The noise level metering
software that comes with 802.11b PCMCIA cards will indicate a larger noise level when
a bi-directional amplifier is used in the receive direction. At first, one may think this
means the link is a lower quality when this configuration is compared to the nonbidirectional amplifier configuration. The link quality is more accurately described through
the Signal-to-Noise ratio. With an amplifier present, the SIR indicated at the local
receiver will either remain the same or be improved from the case with no amplifier, even
though the noise floor rises.
Some typical coaxial cable losses are shown in Table 1.
Table 1 Typical Cable Losses
Cable Type
Loss / 100 ft @
2.4 GHz (dB)
3 dB Loss
Length (ft)
25 Foot Loss
(dB)
LMR400
RG-58
RG-142
6.7
35
20.9
44
8.6
14.3
1.6
8.8
5.2
25 Foot Transmit
Power Reduction
(%)
0.31
0.87
0.70
September, 2002
Cable loss is typically measured in dB loss/100 even though a100-foot cable run is quite
long and very uncommon. The 3 dB loss length is shown in Table 1 for reference. Also
the 25-foot cable run loss is shown with the reduction in transmit power caused by a 25
foot cable loss. (The transmit power reduction is given in percentage.)
In order to minimize the impairments caused by high cable loss, LMR400 cable is
commonly used. The tradeoff is better system range with more difficult and more
expensive customer premise equipment installation. LMR400 has a solid outer
conductor, making it very stiff and hard to work. A bi-directional amplifier in
conjunction with more flexible cable provides the same, or better, system range
performance with easier CPE installations.
Figure 3 Example SNR Improvement vs. Cable Loss
Figure 3 shows the SNR improvement a bi-directional amplifier provides versus cable
loss when receiving a signal. The assumptions behind this figure are:
Bi-directional amplifier Noise Figure = 3.5 dB

Bi-directional amplifier Gain = 24 dB
LAN Card Noise Figure = 5 dB
September, 2002
For small cable losses the advantages of the bi-directional amplifier are strictly in
increased output power. However, for installations that require high cable loss the losses
are almost completely overcome.
Link Ranges and Link Losses
The link budgets presented here utilize physical layer system parameters of:
Transmit power
Antenna gain
Effective Receiver Noise Figure
Fixed wireless propagation model [1].
These parameters have the greatest impact on a WLAN network. These parameters
change drastically between commercial off-the-shelf equipment, FCC rules, and a more
optimized radio design. The main goal of this section is to contrast these differences in
preparation for demonstrating the value of bi-directional amplifier architecture.
This section is organized in the following way. First a simple loss limited link budget is
presented. The link budget leads to some conclusions about free space path loss range.
Second the suburban propagation model from Reference 1 is introduced and a more
realistic range is determined under two conditions an omni-directional antenna
configuration and a highly directional antenna configuration. The second configuration is
one where the WLAN is used as back-haul from geographically dispersed subscribers.
Sample Loss Limited Link Budgets
The sample link budgets presented in this section show that the allowed system loss is
approximately 112 dB. (This is based on a maximum transmit power of 30 dBm and a
minimum received level of 82 dBm.) System loss is the cable losses plus the path loss
minus the two antenna gains. This is illustrated in Figure 4. In Point-to-Multipoint
systems when antennas with gains greater than 6 dBi are used, the transmitter power must
be reduced 1 dB for every 3 dB the gain is greater than 6 dBi. This changes the system
loss and is also shown in Figure 4. (Note: This is for illustration purposes only. There
are several details not addressed here for brevity.)
September, 2002
Figure 4 - Loss Limited Link Powers

Fixed Wireless Propagation Model
The path loss estimates presented here are based on Reference 1. There are two scenarios
to apply the sited reference too. The first is a local cell, and the second is more of a
point-to-point path used for back haul.
Local Cell Link Budget
For the local cell model, the following assumptions are used
Base station antenna height equals 5 meters (this is the lower then the model
minimum of 10 meters).
Terrain parameter is A, which is described as hilly and having a high tree density.
(This terrain assumption gives the highest loss parameter).
Following the formulas in the sited reference, the average path loss exponent is 7. Using
an extra 10 dB of path loss for the standard deviation provides a large percentage of cell
coverage - approximately 85 percent. The path loss variability means some percentage of
locations within a cell (about 15 percent in this case) will experience path losses too great
to serve at the full data rate.
The ranges for some different path loss values under these assumptions are shown in
Table 2. Also noted in Table 2 are some typical values of the number of homes served
within the given range at two different home densities.
September, 2002
Table 2 Sample Range Estimates

Mean Path Loss
plus one
standard
deviation
(dB)
90
110
130
Range
(meters)
Area
(Acres)
(44,000 sq. ft.
per Acre))
Potential Number
of Subscribers at 1
Home per Acre
100
193
372
6.4
25.5
95
6 to 7
25 to 26
95
Potential
Number of
Subscribers at 1
Home per
Acre
24 to 28
100
380
There are variations around these mean estimates that the model in the sited reference has
but are not included here for brevity. As a point of reference, the number of acres
covered by the assumed ranges and omni-directional antennas are also shown in Table 2.
Some important issues to understand:
If base stations can be located near the top of a hill, these coverage estimates go
up because the effective base station antenna height goes up and the loss exponent
goes down.
Sectorized and higher gain base station antennas can increase the allowed path
loss by nearly 20 dB.
Point-to-Point Link Budget
The model sited in the [1] was not based on two antennas significantly higher then the
average terrain. For this case I use the COST-231-Walfish-Ikegami model recommended
by the ITU.
After some assumptions about antenna heights above rooftops, a reasonable loss estimate
versus distance (km) is shown in Table 3.
Table 3 Path Loss vs. Distance
Distance (km)
Loss (dB
0.5
1
2
115.0407
126.4799
3
137.919
5
144.6105
153.0407
High gain antennas will be required to cover more than 0.5 km (1500 feet). To go much
beyond 1 km will require antenna heights above the local clutter.
Bi-directional amplifier Range Advantages
This section shows the range extension available for 3 scenarios when a bi-directional
amplifier is added to the architecture to overcome cable loss between the
transmitter/receiver and the antenna as shown in Figure 2. Only one basic assumption is
used many more are possible.
September, 2002
The assumption is that both ends of the link use 18 dBi antennas and both ends of the link
would have 3 dB of cable loss in the system link budget when the bi-directional amplifier
is not used.
Figure 5 shows the range improvement for a system with a bi-directional amplifier in the
architecture when there is free space path loss between the two ends of the radio link (the
path loss exponent is 2). This is a best case scenario because in most cases free space
path loss will not exist.
Figure 6 and Figure 7 show the range improvement for a system with a bi-directional
amplifier when there is not a free space path loss condition on the radio link. For these
two examples path loss exponents of 3.0 and 3.5 were selected respectively. The
increased area provided by the bi-directional amplifier architecture, provides a 59%
increase in range corresponding to a 52% increase in potential subscribers from the base
station.
10
September, 2002
Free Space (Path Loss Exponenet of 2)
Without Booster Amp

Antenna G1 = 18 dBi
Antenna G2 = 18 dBi
text 1 = 3 dB
Cable Loss
Cable Loss 2 = 3 dB
Path Loss = 144 dB Range of 157,000 meters
With Booster Amp
Antenna G1 = 18 dBi
Antenna G2 = 18 dBi
Cable Loss 1 = 0 dB
Cable Loss 2 = 0 dB
Path Loss = 150 dB - range of 315,000meters
Figure 5 Bi-directional amplifier System Range Improvement for Free Space Path
Loss
11
September, 2002
Path Loss Exponent of 3.0 (Not Free Space)
Without Booster Amp

Antenna G1 = 18 dBi
Antenna G2 = 18 dBi
text
Cable Loss 1 = 3 dB
Cable Loss 2 = 3 dB
Path Loss = 144dB - Range of 630 meters
With Booster Amp

Antenna G1 = 18 dBi
Antenna G2 = 18 dBi
Cable Loss 1 = 0 dB
Cable Loss 2 = 0 dB
Path Loss = 150 dB - range of 1000 meters
Figure 6 Range Improvement with Bi-directional amplifier for Non-Free Space

Path Loss
12
September, 2002
Path Loss Exponent of 3.5 (Not Free Space)
Without Booster Amp

Antenna G1 = 18 dBi
Antenna G2 = 18 dBi
text
Cable Loss 1 = 3 dB
Cable Loss 2 = 3 dB
Path Loss = 144dB - Range of 130 meters
With Booster Amp

Antenna G1 = 18 dBi
Antenna G2 = 18 dBi
Cable Loss 1 = 0 dB
Cable Loss 2 = 0 dB
Path Loss = 150 dB - range of 200 meters
Figure 7 Booster Amp Range Increase with a 3.5 Loss exponent
Conclusions and Summary
It has been demonstrated that adding a bi-directional amplifier to a WLAN architecture
has several distinct advantages, most notably:
Increased range
Mitigate the loss and less flexible installation of higher loss cable
Mitigate the temperature limits of Wi-Fi equipment
13
September, 2002
In the Introduction several questions were posed that have now been addressed by this
application note.
How do you optimize the range of the cells? Maximizing transmit EIRP within FCC
limits is the first thing that needs to be done. This may not be achieved with a PCMCIA
radio card and high gain antenna alone a bi-directional amplifier with adjustable output
power may be necessary. Path loss studies show that it is most important to get antennas
above the local clutter in order to get close to a free space propagation condition as
possible. Overcoming the cable loss required to get antenna well positioned requires a
bi-directional amplifier.
How do you plan network capacity and deal with network wide interference? I did not
address this directly. But the way this is achieved is to have transmit powers adjustable
such that everyone transmits at the minimum required power. A bi-directional amplifier
with adjustable output power allows the operator to do this. The operator can also more
easily tune the network performance a as it grows. Adding a bi-directional amplifier
indiscriminately that does not have adjustable output power can reduce overall network
performance. Network interference is often the limiting factor of overall system
performance in a cellular architecture.
What might be appropriate cell sizes? This is a tradeoff depending on subscriber
density. In more highly dense areas a bi-directional amplifier may not be necessary when
good propagation conditions exist. In sparse subscriber density and poor propagation
conditions, maximizing cell size is necessary, and a bi-directional amplifier helps achieve
this.
Are there unique equipment characteristics that do not adapt well to the metropolitian
application? PCMCIA radio cards are not rated for the temperature extremes of outdoor
equipment and they are not designed for adjustable output power levels. Operators that
ignore the temperature extremes will have increasing equipment failures over time that
will significantly add to the cost of their operations. The lack of adjustable output power
will limit the operators ability to grow and optimize his network as at it grows.
How are system costs and operating profits affected by these considerations? Increased
range directly effects the infrastructure cost of the base stations. Increased reliability will
have a significant impact on the long term operating costs. Adjustable output power
allows the operator too easily tune network capacity by reducing overall network
interference. A bi-directional amplifier enables all these functions.
14
September, 2002
References
[1] An Empirically Based Path Loss Model for Wireless Channels in Suburban
Environments IEEE Journal on Selected Areas of Communications, Vol. 17, No. 7, July
1999.
15
September, 2002

Application Note: Wi-Fi/802.11 Wlans Bi-Directional Amplifier

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Application Note: Wi-Fi/802.11 Wlans Bi-Directional Amplifier

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Application Note

Fidelity Comtech, Inc

Fidelity Comtech, Inc.