Analog Parameters

High Fade Margin – Fade margins of most analog systems are within the range of 35 dB. This is due to
the higher power used in analog microwave transmission.

Not affected by low level interference – Since the power received by analog systems is considerably
high, low level interferences does not impact on the signal and can easily be filtered out.

Soft Fading – Should analog systems experience fading, its signal degradation is gradual and the signal
can be made to be barely intelligible.

Additive noise in cascaded links – Any noise that is either generated within or enters the sys tem is
carried from link to link in cascaded networks unless properly filtered out.

Additive Echo Delay Distortion – Signal delays are also additive in cascaded links. Signal delays can be
cause by phase distortions on the carrier wave.

Not generally affected by delayed Multipath fade – Unless the multipath signal comes almost the same
time as the primary signal, any late signals can be filtered out by using parametric equalizers.

High Powered – Analog microwave systems have generally higher power capacities when compared to
their digital equivalent in frequency path length and capacity.

Uses Combiners – Since analog systems use FDM, multiple channels are combined in to a wide band
composite signal. Digital systems use multiplexers.

Warm-up/break-in set-up – Early analog microwave systems use microwave “tubes” that required a
warm-up period before the system could be considered stable. These “tubes” where necessary to
generate the high transmit power output as early microwave semiconductors easily overheated and
degenerated the signal at high power.

Off line performance Testing – System and equipment testing on analog systems requires that the whole
bandwidth be available for a test signal. In digital systems, a small amount of test bits can be inserted
into the system without disrupting the service of the any of the channels

Digital Parameters

Low Fade Margin – Since the transmitted signal in digital systems in lower, fade margins can range only
from 15 to 30 dB on a working microwave link. Susceptible to decrease in T/I ratio – For systems with a
low temperature to interference ratio, signal fading occurs more frequently and for longer periods. This
is due to the face that change in atmospheric temperature does not occur rapidly.

Hard Fade – Unlike analog systems where intelligibility can be still maintained even when signal is
degraded, once the amount of errors in a digital system reaches a unbareable level (usually set 10-3
BER), the information signal is totally lost.
Additive errors in cascaded links – Errors in the bit stream, if not corrected, are carried over from one
link to another. Thus, the overall network BER may be unacceptable even if each individual link may only
contribute a small amount of error.

No feeder echoes of VSWR – Digital microwave equipment do not depend on a specifically tuned system
when carrying baseband or baseband IF signal. It does depend on whether or not the cable may carry
the capacity which it requires. Tuning on digital systems is solely based on the RF stage alone. Cables
carrying baseband or baseband IF signals may be cut to any length necessary to interconnect them with
the RF stage.

Susceptible to Multipah Fading – Since most digital microwave equipment rely on modems which
employ any type of phase modulation, out of phase multipath signals have a tendency to affect digital
links and thus have to be avoided during the planning stage.

Low transmit power – Semiconductor microwave technology has allowed transmission of up to 2 or

more watts of power. Above 2 watts of power for digital links of 2Ghz and below may be considered to
be long haul in nature.

Hitless Switching – In protected configurations, where 2 links operate over the same path (one on active
and another on hot standby), the switch over from a faulty link to a good link may be done “hitless” or
without the introduction of switch-over errors. This is done by means of using logic gates. Thus, from the
point of view of the equipment connected to the link, no switch-over occurred.

1 day installation – Modular designs in current day microwave equipment allows for the simplicity in
installation. Assuming the tower and equipment housing is in place; installation may take only 2 to 3
hours while industry accepted testing before the certification of a useable link, 24 hours.

In-Service performance Testing – Test “bits” of information may be inserted in a overhead channel or
service channel outside of the regular user channels of a microwave system. In addition, most modern
microwave equipment have self diagnostic features which allow system testing even when in operation.