Introduction to Radio Systems

Agenda

 Radio Relay Principles

 Parameters affecting propagations:

– Dispersion
– Humidity/gas absorption
– Multipath/ducting
– Atmospheric conditions (refraction)
– Terrain (flatness, type, Fresnel zone clearance, diffraction)
– Climatic conditions (rain zone, temperature)
– Rain attenuation

 Modulation
 Digital Transmission Systems

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 Radio Relay Principles

f1

RF Signal

f1’

Path Terrain

• A Radio Link requires two end stations

• A line of sight (LOS) or nLOS (near LOS) is
required
• Microwave Radio Link frequencies occupy 1-
80GHz
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 High and Low frequency station

Tx(f1)=11500 MHz Rx(f1)=11500 MHz

Full duplex
Local site Remote site
High station Low station

Rx(f1’)=11000 MHz Tx(f1’)=11000 MHz

High station means: Tx(f1) >Rx(f1’)

Low station means: Tx(f1’) < Rx(f1)

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 Standard frequency plan patterns

Only Low stations can interfere High stations

Frequency reuse:
Low 1,3V High 1,3V Low High
1,3H 1,3H 1,3H
Tx Tx Tx Tx Tx

Reduced risk for overshoot

Frequency shift:
1,3H 1,3V 2,4V 2,4H 1,3H
Tx Tx Tx Tx Tx

Tx Tx in upper part of band

Reduced risk for overshoot Tx Tx in lower part of band

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 Preferred site location structure

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 Radio Principal Block Diagram

Input
signal
Z' E' A' B' C' D'
Digital Branching
Modulator Transmitter RF Tx Filter Feeder
Line interface Network(*)

TRANSMITTER PATH

D C B A E Z
Branching RF Rx Filter Digital
Feeder Receiver Demodulator
Network(*) Line interface Output
signal
RECEIVER PATH

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 RF Principals

– RF - System of communication employing electromagnetic waves (EMW)

propagated through space
– EMW travel at the speed of light (300,000 km/s)
– The wave length is determined by the frequency as follows -

c where c is the propagation velocity of

Wave Length 
f electromagnetic waves in vacuum (3x108 m/s)

– Microwave – refers to very short waves (millimeters) and typically relates to

frequencies above 1GHz:
 300 MHz ~ 1 meter
 10 GHz ~ 3 cm

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 RF Principals
 We can see the relationship between colour, wavelength and amplitude using this
animation

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 Radio Spectrum

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 Parameters Affecting Propagation

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 Parameters Affecting Propagation

– Dispersion
– Humidity/gas absorption
– Multipath/ducting
– Atmospheric conditions (refraction)
– Terrain (flatness, type, Fresnel zone clearance, diffraction)
– Climatic conditions (rain zone, temperature)
– Rain attenuation

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 Parameters Affecting Propagation – Dispersion

– Electromagnetic signal propagating in a physical medium is degraded because

the various wave components (i.e., frequencies, wavelengths) have different
propagation velocities within the physical medium:

– Low frequencies have longer wavelength and refract less

– High frequencies have shorter wavelength and refract more

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 Parameters Affecting Propagation
Atmospheric Refraction

– Deflection of the beam towards the ground due to different electrical

characteristics of the atmosphere’s is called Dielectric Constant.
– The dielectric constant depends on pressure, temperature & humidity in the
atmosphere, parameters that are normally decrease with altitude
– Since waves travel faster through thinner medium, the upper part of the wave
will travel faster than the lower part, causing the beam to bend downwards,
following the curve of earth

With Atmosphere

No Atmosphere
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 Wave in atmosphere

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 Parameters Affecting Propagation – Multipath

– Multipath occurs when there is more then one beam reaching the receiver with
different amplitude or phase
– Multipath transmission is the main cause of fading in low frequencies

Direct beam

Delayed beam

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 Parameters Affecting Propagation – Duct

– Atmospheric duct refers to a horizontal layer in the lower atmosphere with

vertical refractive index gradients causing radio signals:
– Remain within the duct
– Follow the curvature of the Earth
– Experience less attenuation in the ducts than they would if the ducts were not
present

Duct Layer
Duct Layer

Terrain

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Parameters Affecting Propagation - Polarization and Rain

 Raindrops have sizes ranging from 0.1 millimeters to 9 millimeters mean diameter
(above that they tend to break up)

 Smaller drops are called cloud droplets, and their shape is spherical.

 As a raindrop increases in
 size, its shape becomes more
 oblate, with its largest
cross-section facing the
 oncoming airflow.

Large rain drops become

Increasingly flattened on the
Bottom;
very large ones are shaped
like parachutes

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 Parameters Affecting Propagation – Rain Fading

– Refers to scenarios where signal is absorbed by rain, snow, ice

– Absorption becomes significant factor above 11GHz
– Signal quality degrades
– Represented by “dB/km” parameter which is related the rain
density which represented “mm/hr”
– Rain drops falls as flattened droplet

 V better than H (more immune to rain fading)

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 Parameters Affecting Propagation – Rain Fading

Heavier rain >> Heavier Atten.

Higher FQ >> Higher Attenuation

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 Parameters Affecting Propagation – Fresnel Zone

3rd
2nd
1. EMW propagate in beams
1st RX
2. Some beams widen – therefore, their path is longer
TX
3. A phase shift is introduced between the direct and indirect
beam
4. Thus, ring zones around the direct line are created

Duct Layer0

Terrain

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Parameters Affecting Propagation – Fresnel Zone
 Obstacles in the first Fresnel zone will create signals that will be 0 to 90 degrees out of
phase…in the 2nd zone they will be 90 to 270 degrees out of phase…in 3rd zone, they
will be 270 to 450 degrees out of phase and so on…
 Odd numbered zones are constructive and even numbered zones are destructive.
 When building wireless links, we therefore need to be sure that these zones are kept
free of obstructions.
 In wireless networking the area containing about 40-60 percent of the first Fresnel zone
should be kept free.

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 Example: First condition

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RF Link Basic Components – Parabolic Reflector Radiation (antenna)

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 RSSI Curve for NEXG ODU

1,9V

1,6V

1,3V

- -60dbm -90dBm
30dBm

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 Main Parabolic Antenna Types

 Standard performance antennas (SP,LP)

 Used for remote access links with low capacity. Re-using frequencies on adjacent links is not
normally possible due to poor front to back ratio.
 High performance antennas (HP)
 Used for high and low capacity links where only one polarization is used. Re-using frequencies
is possible. Can not be used with co-channel systems.
 High performance dual polarized antennas (HPX)
 Used for high and low capacity links with the possibility to utilize both polarizations. Re-using
frequencies is possible. Can be used for co-channel systems.
 Super high performance dual polarized antennas (HSX)
 Normally used on high capacity links with the possibility to utilize both polarizations. Re-using
frequencies is possible with high interference protection. Ideal for co-channel systems.
 Ultra high performance dual polarized antennas (UHX)
 Normally used on high capacity links with high interference requirements. Re-using frequencies
in many directions is possible. Can be used with co-channel systems.

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 Passive Repeaters

Back-to-back
antennas
Plane
reflector

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 Link Calculation – Basic Example (in vacuum)

Lfs

TSL Ga Lfs Ga Lw
l
RSL - Received Signal Level
Lb
TSL – Transmitted Signal Level
Lfsl - Free-space loss = 92.45 + 20 log x(distance in km x frequency in
GHz)
Lf - Filter loss
Lf
Lb - Branching loss
Lw - Waveguide loss
RSL
Ga – Antenna gain

RSL=TSL+Ga-Lfsl+Ga-Lw-Lb-Lf

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 Atmospheric attenuation

Starts to contribute to the total attenuation above approximately

15GHz
Specific attenuation due to atmospheric
gases P=1013 hPa T=15ºC rho=7.5 g/m3

Specific attenuation [dB/km]

Aa   a  d [dB]
0.1

Parameters in a:
dry air
 Frequency 0.01
 Temperature water vapour

 Air pressure
dry air+water
 Water vapour vapour
0.001
15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Frequency [GHz]

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 Objective examples

 Typical objectives used in real systems

 99.999%
– Month: 25.9 sec
– Year: 5 min 12 sec

 99.995 %
– Month: 2 min 10 sec
– Year: 26 min

 99.99%
– Month: 260 sec
– Year: 51 min

– Performance requirements generally higher than Availability.

– ITU use worst month for Performance Average year for Availability

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 Modulation

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 Modulation
Modulation

Analog Digital
Modulation Modulation

AM - Amplitude modulation ASK – Amplitude Shift Keying

FM - Frequency modulation FSK – Frequency Shift Keying
PM – Phase modulation PSK – Phase Shift Keying
QAM – Quadrature Amplitude modulation

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 Digital modulation

1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0

1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 ASK modulation changes the amplitude to the analog

Modem signale.”1” and “ 0” have different amplitude.

1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0

1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0
PSK modulation changes the phase to the transmitted
Modem
signal. The simplest method uses 0 and 1800 .

1800 phase shift

1 0 1 1 0 1 1

1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 FSK modulation is a method of represent the two

Modem binary states ”1” and ”0” with different
spcific frequencies.

F1 F2 F1 F1 F2 F1 F1

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 QAM Modulation

 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation employs both phase modulation

(PSK) and amplitude modulation (ASK)
 The input stream is divided into groups of bits based on the number of
modulation states used.
 In 8 QAM, each three bits of input, which provides eight values (0-7)
alters the phase and amplitude of the carrier to derive eight unique
modulation states
 In 64 QAM, each six bits generates 64 modulation states; in 128
QAM, each seven bits generate 128 states, and so on

4QAM 2bits/symbol 256QAM 8bits/symbol

8QAM 3bits/symbol 512QAM 9bits/symbol
16QAM 4bits/symbol 1024QAM 10bits/symbol
32QAM 5bits/symbol 2048QAM 11bits/symbol
64QAM 6bits/symbol
128QAM 7bits/symbol

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 Why QAM and not ASK or PSK for higher modulation?

 This is because QAM achieves a greater distance between adjacent points in the I-Q
plane by distributing the points more evenly

 The points on the constellation are more distinct and data errors are reduced

 Higher modulation >> more bits per symbol

 Constellation points are closer >>TX is more susceptible to noise

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 Constellation diagram
 In a more abstract sense, it represents the possible symbols that may be selected by a
given modulation scheme as points in the complex plane. Measured constellation
diagrams can be used to recognize the type of interference and distortion in a signal.

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 8 QAM Modulation Example
We have stream: 001-010-100-011-101-000-011-110

DIGITAL QAM (8QAM)

Bit sequence Amplitude Phase (degrees)

000  1  None
001  2  None
010  1  pi/2 (90°) 
011  2  pi/2 (90°) 
100  1  pi (180°) 
101  2  pi (180°) 
110  1  3pi/2 (270°) 
111  2 3pi/2 (270°) 

How does constellation diagram

look?

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 4QAM VS. 16QAM

4QAM 16QAM

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 2048 QAM

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 Bandwidth vs. Modulation

2-PSK

4-PSK
Modulation Bandwidth
Complixity Decreases
Increases 8-PSK

16-QAM

64-QAM

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 Signal / Noise

• Example: S/N influence at QPSK Demodulator

• Each dot detected in wrong quadrant result in bit errors

BER≈0 BER<10-13 BER=10-6 BER=10-3

Signal

Signal
S/N Signal
Power

Power

Power
Power

S/N Signal
S/N S/N
Noise Noise Noise Noise

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 BER Impact on Transmission Quality

10 -3

10 -4

10 -5
BER change ratio vs. Noise is
dependent on Noise Power distribution
and coding
10 -6

10 -7

10 -8
-75 -72 -69 -66
Receiver inpu t level [dBm ]

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 RSL Vs. Threshold

RSL (dBm) BER>10-6

-20
-30 Nominal Input Level

Fading Margin

-73 Threshold level BER=10-6

BER>10-6 S/N=23dB for 128QAM (37 MHz)

-96 Receiver amplifies thermal
noise
-99 K – Boltzmann constant
T – Temperature in
Thermal Noise=10*log(k*T*B*1000) Kelvin
B – Bandwidth
Time (s)

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 Thank you

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