Microwave Communication System Design

Microwave Communication System Components

 Microwave links
• A microwave link is a communications system that uses a beam of
radio waves in the microwave frequency range to
transmit video, audio, or data between two locations, which can be
from just a few feet or meters to several miles or kilometers apart.
• Properties of microwave links:
1. Involve line of sight (LOS) communication technology
2. Affected greatly by environmental constraints, including rain fade
3. Have very limited penetration capabilities through obstacles such as
hills, buildings and trees.
 Applications: FWS
• Fixed Wireless Systems: provide high-capacity and high quality
broadband communication services.
• Features of FWS compared with wired systems are as follows:
a. independence from geographical features such as mountains and
archipelagos;
b. short-term system implementation period at low cost;
c. robustness against disasters and other incidental disruption.
 Applications: FWS
• FWS are use in telecommunication networks in the following
applications:
1. Transport or trunk networks;
2. Mobile backhaul networks;
3. Fixed wireless access (FWA) system;
4. Temporary networks;
 Transport networks
• Traditional transport networks for long-haul or inter-exchange in
telecommunications infrastructure networks typically operate in
frequency bands in the range below 15 GHz.
• With the increase in traffic demand, many service providers are now
deploying fiber optic networks rather than build new very-high-capacity
radio-relay networks. But for geographical or economic reasons or it is
economically convenient to upgrade already existing long-haul trunk
infrastructures with more spectral efficient equipment, in such cases,
radio-relay-networks continue to play an important role.
 Mobile backhaul networks
• The worldwide proliferation of cellular networks introduced a critical
demand for new microwave backhaul infrastructure.
• Microwave backhaul is the use of microwave communications to
aggregate and transmit cellular voice and data to and from the main
network.
• A cell site could only generate revenue if it could move its traffic to and
from the rest of the network.
Fixed Wireless Access systems
• FWA systems are intended to provide connections between a network
station (network access point) and terminal stations (end-user
terminations) whose both locations are fixed.
• Bridging two local/private area networks between separate buildings.
• P-MP backhaul.
• Links for machine-to-machine type communication.
• Home networks.
 Temporary FS
• Disaster recovery and physical diversity links
• One of the advantages of wireless systems is short installation time.
Another is that the systems can be pre-deployed with independent (or
backed-up) power source, as physical-diversity configuration that
supplements or substitute fiber networks. These features make them
suitable for recovery when existing fiber networks are damaged in
disasters.
 Temporary FS
• Electronic news gathering
• Electronic news gathering (ENG) is another example of temporary use
applications of FWS. ENG enables the relay of a live TV broadcast
from various places where a wired network has not been installed.
Existing wireless ENG links transmit digital high-definition (HD) videos
using video signal compression, because the bandwidth of the
wireless link is below 100 Mbit/s while the digital HD video standard
for high definition serial digital interface (HD-SDI) signal has a data
rate of 1.485 Gbit/s.
 Frequency band
• Below 3 GHz
• FWS below 3 GHz can reach links lengths exceeding 50 km and are
used in variety of applications including utilities, public safety and also
for connecting remote areas and far offshore islands.
• The available bands for these applications are very few in number and
often regulated at national level; the total available bandwidth and
channel separations are small; therefore, only small and medium
capacity links are possible, but compatible with the intended use.
 Frequency band
• 3 GHz to 10 GHz
• FWS from 3 GHz to 10 GHz can achieve over 50 km hop distance,
and they are used for a variety of applications, typically for transport
(long-haul), connections (including backhauling) in rural areas or to
provide links to far offshore islands and other applications where
higher bands are not suitable due to propagation characteristics and
associated equipment deployment profile/characteristics.
 Frequency band
• 10 GHz to 57 GHz
• FWS using bands from 10 GHz to 30 GHz permit maximum link
lengths ranging from about 20 km, at the lower edge of this frequency
range, to about 10 km at the upper edge. Those from 30 GHz to 57
GHz can cover about a few km.
• The transport networks and mobile backhaul mainly use the frequency
bands from 10 GHz to 38 GHz
Stages of Microwave Communication
System Design

• Stages of microwave LOS radio link network:

1. Planning
2. System Design
3. Deployment

• Microwave link design is a methodical, systematic, and

sometimes lengthy process.
• Many times, partial design or redesign must be performed
during the planning stage and/or deployment as well.
Planning
• It is usually a high-level decision-making process that
encompasses budget and schedule definition and identifying
team members required for the project.
• It also includes determination of the following:
1. frequency band,
2. system capacity,
3. network configuration, and
4. performance objectives.
System Design
• It is an actual detailed link engineering process.
a. determining whether a proposed path is "'line-of-sight."
b. evaluating path clearances with regards to refractive effects.
c. evaluating path clearances with regards to Fresnel zones.
d. considering path reflections.
e. deriving a power budget, fade margin, and path reliability.
• It may or may not include site visits.
• It includes creation of the detailed bill of materials, ordering
equipment (MW radio, shelters, towers, and other transmission
hardware and software), ordering engineering, installation and
other services.
Deployment
• Also called as the Implementation.
• It includes all the field activities such as
a. site and path surveys,
b. tower erection,
c. equipment installation,
d. creation of an as built documentation, and
e. acceptance testing and commissioning.
System Design Procedures
• Procedures to design LOS microwave links individually, as a
series of links in tandem, whether analog or digital, is a four-
step process with iteration among the steps:
1. Initial planning, site and frequency selection.
2. The drawing of a path profile.
3. Path analysis.
4. Site survey.
System Design Process
Transmission Network Performance
• In today’s networks, with converged voice and data,
performance degradation may be as dangerous and costly as
hardware failures.
• Degraded transmission networks can result in unacceptable
signal transmission quality, loss of information, and dropped
connections.
• It is also important to remember the distinction between terms
like stability, availability, quality.
Quality of a Microwave Link
• The quality of a microwave link can be determined by the following
measurements:
1. Carrier signal to Noise Ratio (C/N)
This ratio is measured by dB and shows the strength of signal vs
the noise level for that frequency channel. The higher the value, the
better but it should be at least 20 dB.

2. Bit Error Rate (BER)

This figure shows the % of bits of data with errors vs the total
number of bits that have been transmitted during a period of time. The
value is usually expressed as 10 to a negative power. The lower this
BER, the better is the link quality. Good BER rates are usually in range
of 10-8 or better.
Quality of a Microwave Link
3. Bandwidth Throughput
This is the actual amount of data that can be transferred per second and
is expressed by bits per second.

4. Latency
Link latency determines how much time it would take to transfer the data.
For a good microwave link, the latency should be fixed and not going over 2-3
ms. The easiest way to check the latency is to ping the destination device.

5. Link Availability/Reliability
This parameter is expressed in % and determines for what % of time the
link has been established over a certain period of time. A reliable microwave
link should have link availability as good as 99.999%.
Availability
Availability
Stability of Microwave Link
• Below are 5 key factors you would need to ensure about for having a
reliable and stable microwave link:
1. Frequency Selection
The higher the frequency, the higher the available capacity but at
the same time, the effective range is lowered and the link would be more
susceptible to rain or high humidity.

2. Calculating Capacity
The required capacity (bandwidth throughput) of a point to point
microwave link is a key design parameter. As the capacity increases,
you would need to design the link for a higher C/N, resulting the need for
stronger equipment and antennas.
Calculating Capacity
Shannon’s Law describes the relationship between capacity and signal
noise in this formula:
Capacity = B x Log2 (1 + C/N)

Capacity = B x Log2 (1 + C/(N + I) )

Where:
B = Channel bandwidth
C = Carrier power, or RSL
N = Signal noise
I = interference
Stability of Microwave Link
3. Calculation of Line of Sight and Path Loss
For point to point microwave links, the antenna on the two sides
should be in line of sight of each other. The line of sight can be limited by
natural or man-made obstacles and also by the earth’s curvature which
limits the practical distance of microwave links to 50-60kms (which would
call for 100m tower heights and large dish antennas to achieve).

4. Interference and Fading

Apart from issues such as Fresnel zone, rain fade, and multipath
fading which require proper consideration during the path loss calculation,
there are also other factors causing interference such as installing the
radios adjacent to other radios which would greatly affect the receiving
sensitivity of the radio (like when you try to hear a weak voice when
standing beside a big speaker that is playing music).
Stability of Microwave Link
5. Redundancy
The reliability of the link can be greatly increased by applying
redundancy.
a. Frequency Diversity
b. Space Diversity
c. Hybrid
Basic Parameters
Important Regulatory Compliance
1. Spectrum Licensing
Microwave spectrum is licensed and leased. In other countries,
microwave spectrum may be auctioned or assigned to commercial or
private enterprises.

2. Prior Coordination Notice

New links require notification of any incumbent entities with operating (or
soon to be operating) paths within a 125 miles (200 km) radius if they
use frequencies in the same band as the proposed link. This process
typically allows them 30 days to review the plan and raise any concerns
and have them addressed prior to the new link’s deployment.
Important Regulatory Compliance
3. Radio Station Permits and Licenses
ex. Permit to Construct; Permit to Purchase
Authority to Install and Operate
4. Environmental Considerations
Radio stations should be free from all environmental issues
5. Near Airports and Heliport Guidelines
For heliports; microwave paths within one-quarter mile of the pad
should be avoided.
For airports; , microwave paths should not cross between the
landing threshold markers because the planes may takeoff from
anywhere on the runway.
Thank you