674 Chapter 14: Introduction to Microwave Systems

Observe in (14.24) that the received power decreases as 1/R 2 as the separation be-
tween transmitter and receiver increases. This dependence is a result of conservation of
energy. While it may seem to be prohibitively large for large distances, in fact the space
decay of 1/R 2 is usually much better than the exponential decrease in power due to losses
in a wired communications link. This is because the attenuation of power on a transmission
line varies as e−2αz (where α is the attenuation constant of the line), and at large distances
the exponential function decreases faster than an algebraic dependence like 1/R 2 . Thus
for long-distance communications, radio links will perform better than wired links. This
conclusion applies to any type of transmission line, including coaxial lines, waveguides,
and even fiber optic lines. (It may not apply, however, if the communications link is land
or sea based, so that repeaters can be inserted along the link to recover lost signal power.)
As can be seen from the Friis formula, received power is proportional to the prod-
uct Pt G t . These two factors—the transmit power and transmit antenna gain—characterize
the transmitter, and in the main beam of the antenna the product Pt G t can be interpreted
equivalently as the power radiated by an isotropic antenna with input power Pt G t . Thus,
this product is defined as the effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP):
EIRP = Pt G t W. (14.25)
For a given frequency, range, and receiver antenna gain, the received power is propor-
tional to the EIRP of the transmitter and can only be increased by increasing the EIRP. This
can be done by increasing the transmit power, or the transmit antenna gain, or both.

Link Budget and Link Margin

The various terms in the Friis formula of (14.24) are often tabulated separately in a link
budget, where each of the factors can be individually considered in terms of its net effect
on the received power. Additional loss factors, such as line losses or impedance mismatch
at the antennas, atmospheric attenuation (see Section 14.5), and polarization mismatch can
also be added to the link budget. One of the terms in a link budget is the path loss, account-
ing for the free-space reduction in signal strength with distance between the transmitter
and receiver. From (14.24), path loss is defined (in dB) as
 
4π R
L 0 (dB) = 20 log > 0. (14.26)
λ
Note that path loss depends on wavelength (frequency), which serves to provide a normal-
ization for the units of distance.
With the above definition of path loss, we can write the remaining terms of the Friis
formula as shown in the following link budget:
Transmit power Pt
Transmit antenna line loss (−)L t
Transmit antenna gain Gt
Path loss (free-space) (−)L 0
Atmospheric attenuation (−)L A
Receive antenna gain Gr
Receive antenna line loss (−)L r

Receive power Pr

We have also included loss terms for atmospheric attenuation and line attenuation. Assum-
ing that all of the above quantities are expressed in dB (or dBm, in the case of Pt ), we can