Planning Tips When Migrating Frequencies

Planning tips when migrating frequencies
from 10 Ghz, 13 GHz, 22 GHz and 25 GHz
Bill Williamson:
Written and prepared by Bill Williamson

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billengineer@btinternet.com
These are the subjects that I have been asked
to address
1. Frequency band Selection
2. Dish size
3. Dish position (height)
4. Polarity
5. TX power
6. Natural clutter
7. Reliability including fade margin.
8. Instability
9. Propagation
Other topics which are continual causes of confusion have also
been included.
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1.1 DISTANCE Vs FREQUENCY
• One of the first items to consider for any microwave path is the actual
distance from antenna to antenna. The further a microwave signal must
travel, the greater the signal loss. This form of attenuation is termed free
space loss (FSPL). Assuming an unobstructed path, only two variables need
to be considered in FSL calculations:
• The frequency of the microwave signal – numerically higher frequencies
require more power to cover a given distance.
• The actual path distance – the greater the distance the greater the signal loss.
• A signal transmitted at a frequency of 6 GHz will have more available power
than a signal transmitted at 11 GHz. For example, a microwave system at 6
GHz can expect to cover about 40 Km between communication points. The
same system using a frequency of 11 GHz will only cover about 16 Km.

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Comparison of frequency Vs Free Space Path
Loss
Frequency (GHz)
Distance FSPL
• 10 •5 • 126.38
• 10 • 10 • 132.40
• 10 • 20 • 138.42
• 13 •5 • 128.66
• 13 • 10 • 134.68
• 13 • 20 • 140.70
• 22 •5 • 133.23
• 22 • 10 • 139.25
• 22 • 20 • 145.27
• 25 •5 • 134.34
• 25 • 10 • 140.36
• 25 • 20 • 146.38

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Frequency Vs Distance with 64 QAM & 20 Db Fade
18
17
16
14
13.5
12
10
9.6
Distance
8
7
6
0
8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26
Frequency

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1.2 FREQUENCY
• The sensitivity of digital radio equipment to
frequency-selective fading can be described by
the signature curve of the equipment
• Use higher frequency bands for shorter hops
and lower frequency bands for longer hops
• Avoid lower frequency bands in urban areas
• In areas with heavy precipitation , if possible,
use frequency bands below 10 GHz.

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2.0 Antennae in general
• Adding a better antenna to a communications system
is the single best way to increase performance in
almost every parameter. Before you increase the
power of your transmitter, you should first make sure
your antenna system is the best it can be.
• A FAQ is Can you go through a window? The answer
is yes but with added losses, a good starting point is
allow 10dB as an initial guess this can be greater for
metallic or tinted glass

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3.1 Antennae height
• Resolve excessive antenna height. Go only as
high as required to give you 0.6 clearance of
the first Fresnel zone above all obstacles.
• Use a larger antenna. Larger antennas have

more gain, narrower beam width, and better
side lobe suppression.

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3.2 ANTENNAE TOO HIGH
• When antennas are placed higher than required, unpredictable
system outages can occur. Excessive height allows more
sources of RF interference from distant sites as well as to
multipath problems. For example, a 2.4 GHz system
operating over a 48 Km flat-terrain path requires the antennas
to be placed 48 m up a tower just to clear the earth’s bulge.
And, using an antenna with beam width of 3.6 degrees,
which, at 48 Km away, is 3.05 Km wide. The receiving
radio’s window for receiving interference is enormous.

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4.1POLARITY
• By not having the same polarity on your network's
antennas, you can receive a 20 -30 dB loss of signal
strength. This is an enormous loss, but can also be very
useful. It is worth considering changing antenna
polarization because you can help eliminate certain types
of radio interference, or allow many antennas in one
location. Horizontal antenna polarization at microwave
frequencies will generally provide less multipath and may
also provide lower path loss in non line-of-sight situations.
• Horizontal polarity: attenuation tends to be a little higher
than vertical because of the shape of falling raindrops
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4.2 Polarization
• Vertical polarization is far less susceptible
to rainfall attenuation (40 to 60%) than are
horizontal polarization frequencies
• On water paths at frequencies above 3 GHz,
it is advantageous to choose vertical
polarization

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5.1 Too much power
• Interference can be caused by energy that is at the
same frequency as the signal that you wish to
receive, or can be at a nearby frequency with enough
energy to leak into the receiver
• Interference can also be caused by energy that is a
completely different frequency from that which you
wish to receive. The reason for this is that high
powered transmitters can radiate harmonics where
they are also inadvertently transmitting energy that is
a multiple of the intended transmitter frequency
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6.0 CLUTTER
• Ground clutter is a term used to describe the amount of microwave
energy scattered to the antennae from stationary objects on the
ground like towers, hills, high tension lines, trees, buildings, etc.
• for example, scattering from the sea may be particularly strong at

frequencies where there is some sort of match between the signal
wavelength and the wavelength of the water waves - either the
main waves which are immediately apparent, or the small waves
that are superimposed on the main waves. These in turn will
depend upon the wind strength and direction and the depth of the
water, so that there will often be correlations between the clutter
characteristics and the meteorological conditions

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7.1 SUMMARY OF LINK RELIABILITY
• A common misunderstanding is that system availability numbers, such as

99.999%, derived from path analysis software, are achievable as long as
the calculated fade margin is met. They do not include the effects of
reflective fading (multipath) or interference from other intentional
radiators.
• The predicted amount of time the system will be operating without error
the usual level is a BER <1 in 1x10 6) For example,
• 3 nines = 99.9% = 525.6 min/yr outage
• 4 nines = 99.99% = 52.56 min/yr outage
• 5 nines = 99.999% = 5.26 minutes per year outage
• 6 nines = 99.9999% = 31.5 sec/yr outage
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7.2 RELIABILITY VARYING RSL
• If the RSL varies periodically look at the
surrounding topology. Is there a factory nearby
which might have large impulses?
• Is there any building work going on in the LOS?
Perhaps a crane is moving in and out of shot.
• Is the shot over water? Perhaps you are the victim
of reflections at high tide.
• Is the dish loose? Look for RSLs which vary with
high winds.
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7.3 RELIABILITY RAIN
• A common question regarding radio waves
used for outdoor communications is in regards
to the effect of rain, snow, fog or any inclement
weather, there is a substantial difference in the
effect of rain on systems operating at or below
6 GHz frequencies
• compared to 11 GHz or higher frequencies. In a
cloudburst condition the attenuation of the
signal level can be substantial.
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EXAMPLE CALCULATION OF FADE MARGIN
• For a vertically polarized 15 km 23 GHz link near London,
calculate the fade experienced for more than 0.01 % of the
time.
• London is in rainfall region E with a rainfall of 22 mm Hr -1
• Dedd= 15/1+15/25.16 = 9.4 Km
• At 23 GHz and vertical polarization a = 0.09544 and b =
1.055
•
• Lr = a x Rb(0.01%)X Deff
• = 22.6 dB. This is the require fade margin
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8. 1 System Instability.
• The three leading causes of system instability,
other than equipment failure, are as follows:
• 1. Excessive path length
• 2. Excessive antenna height
• 3. RF interference


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9.1 PROPAGATION
• A microwave beam can also be reflected by water or relatively smooth terrain, very much in
the same way a light beam can be reflected from a mirror. Again, since the wavelength of a
microwave beam is much longer than that of a visible light beam, the criteria for defining
smooth terrain is quite different between the two. While a light beam may not reflect well
off of an asphalt road, a dirt field, a billboard, or the side of a building, to a microwave
beam these can all be highly reflective surfaces. Even gently rolling country can prove to be
a good reflector.
• A microwave beam arriving at an antenna could effectively be cancelled by its own
reflection, causing signal loss. Long microwave paths can also be affected by atmospheric
refraction, the result of variations in the dielectric constant of the atmosphere.
• For relatively short 2.4GHz microwave paths, only reflection points and obstructions are
usually of real concern. The effects of atmosphere and earth curvature will not usually come
into play, so the engineering of these paths is quite straightforward. For long or unusual
paths, however, all aspects of path engineering must be considered.

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9.2 PROPAGATION TERRAIN
CONSIDERATIONS
• Mountainous terrain is best
• Many multipath reflections will not reach the other end, thus
reducing the potential for out-of-phase reflected signals that may
have degraded the integrity of the direct
signal
• Flat, smooth terrain is worst Many multipath reflections may
reach the other end, thus increasing the potential for out-of-phase
reflected signals.
• Remember that Fresnel zones are three-dimensional. When
designing a link that goes down a street between buildings, or
between groves of trees, these are also potential sources of
reflection points and need to be evaluated in the design.
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9.3 PROPAGATION.REFRACTION AND
SCATTERING
• You’ve probably seen the apparently bent straw or spoon in a
glass of water, or reached into water to touch something, and it is
not exactly where you think it is. This is because the light waves
refract through water compared to air. Again, radio waves
behave in a similar manner.
Scattering is best visualized by considering looking at a light
source when it is foggy versus when it is clear. When it is foggy,
you will see less energy overall because some of it is absorbed
and/or reflected away from you by the water molecules and the
light that you do see will be distorted in comparison. Again,
radio waves behave in a similar manner.

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A SET OF BASIC RULES
1.
Always select the proper frequency band. Long links should use the lower frequency bands
(e.g. 13 or 15 GHz), short links should use as high frequencies as possible (23, 38 or 58
GHz). In several countries there are local regulations forcing all the network operators for
efficient band selection.
2.
Avoid High-Low (H/L) conflict on sites to eliminate the near-field interference. Frequency
Division Duplex (FDD) radios have high transmit/low receive and low transmit/high
receive frequency sub-band variants. As a general rule, it is recommended to use always
the same sub-band of the radio links on a given site. In some cases the near-field
interference may be shadowed by obstacles, e.g. concrete walls on building rooftops and
the H/L conflict rule can be disregarded. The rule is not relevant for TDD radios that
transmit and receive in the same frequency.

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3:
Preferably use high gain and high performance antennae High antenna gain can compensate for
low output power. High performance antennae reduce the transmission of power density into
unwanted directions.
4:
Use proper polarization to increase discrimination between neighbouring links.
5:
Balance RSLat nodal points terminating several MW links. Decreasing the difference between RSL
of different links reduce the probability of harmful interference.
6:
Calculate interference with IQ Link. Use the correct set of interference matrices from real radio
measurements.
Following these basic rules should keep you out of most difficult scenarios

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Planning tips when migrating frequencies

from 10 Ghz, 13 GHz, 22 GHz and 25 GHz

Written and prepared by Bill Williamson

Written and prepared by Bill Williamson

Written and prepared by Bill Williamson

Written and prepared by Bill Williamson

Written and prepared by Bill Williamson

• Use a larger antenna. Larger antennas have

Written and prepared by Bill Williamson

Written and prepared by Bill Williamson

Written and prepared by Bill Williamson

• for example, scattering from the sea may be particularly strong at

Written and prepared by Bill Williamson

• A common misunderstanding is that system availability numbers, such as

Written and prepared by Bill Williamson

Written and prepared by Bill Williamson

Written and prepared by Bill Williamson

Written and prepared by Bill Williamson

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