Analog Communication Systems

Lecture 3: Link Budget

Dr.. Kamel Hassan

Department of Electrical Engineering
Future University in Egypt

Fall 2023
Attenuation in Guided and unguided
channels
• 1) Guided channel

• Where is the attenuation constant and d is the

communication distance.
• depends on the transmission medium and the
signal frequency.
• - 10
• - 10 (0.434)
• =4.34
• Attenuation constant in dB/Km = 4.34
2
 2) Attenuation of signal through unguided channel
(wireless communication) and the link budget.

• Definition
• How far can it go and what will the throughput be?
• A link budget is accounting of all of the gains and losses from the
transmitter, through the medium to the receiver in a
telecommunication system.
― Medium (free space, cable, waveguide, fiber, etc.)

• The link encompasses the entire communication path, from the

information source, through all encoding and modulation steps,
through the transmitter and the channel, up to and including the
receiver with all signal processing steps, and terminating at the
information sink.

] 3
 Definition {continued}.
• In radio communication systems, the carrier wave is
propagated from the transmitter by the use of a
transmitting antenna.
―Antenna is a transducer that converts electronic signals into
EM fields.

• At the receiver, a receiving antenna performs the EM

fields back into electronic signals.

• We begin by the assumption of an omnidirectional RF

source, transmitting uniformly over 4π radians.

Analog Communication Systems 4

 Simple Link Budget

• A simple link budget equation looks like this:

Received Power (dBm) = Transmitted Power (dBm) + Gains (dB) − Losses
(dB)
Communications 1 [COM 411] 5
 The Range Equation- Power Density p(d)

• The power density p(d) on a hypothetical sphere at a

distance d from the source is related to transmitted
power Pt by:

𝑃𝑡 2
𝑝 ( 𝑑 )= 2
𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑡 /𝑚
4𝜋𝑑

𝑃 𝑡 𝐴 𝑒𝑟
𝑃 𝑟 =𝑝 ( 𝑑 ) . 𝐴 𝑒𝑟 = 2
𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑡
4𝜋𝑑

Communications 1 [COM 411] Lecture 3 Link Budget 6

 The Range Equation – Effective Area
• is the effective area of the receiving antenna defined
by:
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑
𝐴𝑒𝑟 =
𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑥 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦

• The antenna parameter that relates the maximum

power output (or input) to that of an isotropic radiator
is called the antenna Gain G.:
G

Communications 1 [COM 411] 7

Antenna Gain G
• Gain is defined as "The ratio of the radiation
•
• intensity in a given direction to the radiation

• intensity that would be produced if the

• power accepted by the antenna were

isotropic ally
Lecture 4: Link Budget 8
 The Range Equation – EIRP
• The effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP), is the
product of the transmitted power Pt, and the
transmitting antenna gain Gt :
𝐸𝐼𝑅𝑃 =𝑃 𝑡 𝐺𝑡

• The relationship between

antenna gain and
antenna effective area is:

Communications 1 [COM 411] 9

 The Range Equation – putting all
together
• For the more general case, we replace with , and with
yielding:
2
𝐸𝐼𝑅𝑃 𝐺𝑟 𝜆
( )
2
𝜆
𝑃𝑟= =𝑃 𝑡 𝐺𝑡 𝐺𝑟
( 4 𝜋 𝑑) 2
4𝜋𝑑

• If it’s convenient to express gain in dB units and power

in dBW or dBm, the equation is slightly modified to:

( )
❑
𝜆
𝑃 𝑟 =𝑃 𝑡 +𝐺𝑡 +𝐺𝑟 +20 log
4 𝜋𝑑
Communications 1 [COM 411] 10
 FSPL
• Free-Space Path Loss (FSPL): is the loss in signal
strength of an electromagnetic wave that would result
from a line-of-sight path through free space (usually
air).

( ) ( )
2 2
4𝜋𝑑 4 𝜋 𝑑𝑓
𝐹𝑆𝑃𝐿= =
𝜆 𝑐

Communications 1 [COM 411] 11

FSPL {continued}
• As the frequency is increased by one decade, the
FSPL increased by 20 dB.

• As the distance is increased by one decade, the

FSPL increased by 20 dB.

12
 FSPL
• FSPL is proportional to the square of the distance
between the transmitter and receiver as well as the
square of the frequency of the radio signal.

Communications 1 [COM 411] 13

 Losses

𝑃 𝑟 =𝐸𝐼𝑃𝑅+ 𝐺𝑟 − 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠(𝐹𝑆𝑃𝐿+ 𝑜𝑡 h 𝑒𝑟𝑠 )

• Where the losses are:

• 1.Receiver Feeder Losses (RFL): feeder between the receiving

antenna and receiver ~ 1.5dB

• 2 .Antenna Misalignment Losses (AML) ~ 0.5dB

• 3. Atmospheric Losses: Gas Absorption Losses (GAL) ~ 0.2dB

4. Polarization Loss (PL): Ionosphere Introduces a Depolarization
Loss ~ may be neglected. Polarization miss matchTA&TR
Communications 1 [COM 411] 14
Losses {continued}
• 5.Radom loss
• Protective cover for shielding against weather
effect{scattering +absorption}.
• 6.Space Loss : All the radiated energy is not focused
on the intended receiving antenna
• 7. Modulation process.
• 8. Filtrations process

15
 References

• Sklar, B. (2001) “Digital Communication Fundamentals and

Applications” 2nd Edition Prentice Hall .Chapter 5

Communications 1 [COM 411] 16