Introduction to Radio

Agenda

• RF Principals
• Parameters Affecting Propagation
• Atmospheric Refraction
• Multipath
• Duct
• Rain Fading
• Fresnel

• RF Link Basic Components

• Link Calculation
• Modulation

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 RF Principals

• 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

Local Remote
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 Why Radio?

Advantages (compared to alternative cable/fiber infrastructure) :

• Easier installation
• Faster installation
• Cheaper installation
• Easier maintenance

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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/sec)
• The wave length is determined by the frequency as follows -

Wave Length = c where c is the propagation velocity of

electromagnetic f waves in vacuum (3x10^8 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

• 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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 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 –
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.

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 Parameters Affecting Propagation –
Fresnel Zone
Note that there are many possible Fresnel zones, but we are chiefly concerned with
zone 1.

If this area were blocked by an obstruction, e.g. a tree or a building, the signal
arriving at the far end would be diminished.

When building wireless links, we therefore need to be sure that these zones be
kept free of obstructions.

In wireless networking we should check that that the area containing about 40-60
percent of the first Fresnel zone should be kept free.

3rd
2nd

TX 1st RX

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RF Link Basic Components –
Antennas

Antennas are devices used to radiate electromagnetic energy into space.

OMNI-DIRECTIONAL antennas radiate & receive energy from all directions

at once (seldom used)

DIRECTIONAL antennas radiate energy in LOBES (or BEAMS) that extend

.outward from the antenna

The radiation pattern contains small minor lobes (weak with little effect on
the main radiation pattern)

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RF Link Basic Components –
Parabolic Reflector Radiation (antenna)

Microwaves travel in straight lines - it can be focused and reflected just as

light rays.

A feeder receives the microwaves from the WG and then transmits them
towards a parabolic dish (reflecting surface)

The wave-front reaches the reflecting surface of the antenna, and then it
leaves the antenna in parallel paths

Because of the special shape of a parabolic

surface, all paths from source to the reflector and
back to end user are the same length

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Link Calculation – Basic Example
Link Calculation

+Gant1 +Gant2
+Lfs
TX
IDU TX Losses RX Losses IDU RSL

RSL - Received Signal Level

TSL – Transmitted Signal Level
Lfs - Free-space loss = 92.45 + 20 log x(distance in km x frequency in GHz)

RSL = TX – TX + Gain
Losses
- L + Gain
Ant. 1
- RXAnt. 2 Losses
fs
Digital Modulation
Modulation

Modulation is used to transfer a message (voice, image, data, etc.) on to a

carrier wave for transmission.

A low frequency that comprises the message (baseband) is translated to a

higher range of frequencies

Modulation allows higher data rate transmissions

The process of modulation is reversible.

A device that performs modulation is known as a modulator and a device that

performs the inverse operation of modulation is known as a demodulator
Digital Modulation
Modulation

Low fq. Signal (up) +

high fq. Carrier (down) =
QPSK Modulation

Quadrature Phase Shift Keying is a phase modulation algorithm

The phase of the carrier wave is modulated to encode bits of digital

information in each phase change

Because QPSK has 4 possible states, QPSK is able to encode two bits per
symbol

QPSK is more tolerant of link degradation than 8PSK, but does not provide as
much data capacity

Binary 00 45 degrees
Binary 01 135 degrees
Binary 11 225 degrees
Binary 10 315 degrees

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QAM Modulation

Quadrature Amplitude Modulation employs both phase modulation (PM) and

amplitude modulation (AM)

The input stream is divided into groups of bits based on the number of
modulation states used.

In 8QAM, 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 64QAM, each six bits generates 64 modulation states; in 128QAM, each

seven bits generate 128 states, and so on

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QPSK VS. QAM Modulation

The various flavors of QAM offer higher data rates then 8-PSK

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 order >> more bits per symbol

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

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SNR and RSL Constellation
! The higher the SNR, the better the received signal

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4QAM VS. QPSK

The symbols are determined by modulating The symbols are determined by modulating
the Phase, and Amplitude of the carrier .the Phase of the carrier signal
.signal

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 8QAM

Diagram for 8QAM: 3bit represent 8 different states

Phase (degrees) Amplitude Bit sequence

0 (0�) 1/2 000
0 (0�) 1 000
pi/2 (90�) 1/2 010
pi/2 (90�) 1 011
pi (180�) 1/2 100
pi (180�) 1 101
3pi/2 (270�) 1/2 110
3pi/2 (270�) 1 111
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 16QAM

Constellation diagram for 16QAM:

4bit represent 16 different states

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128QAM Modulation

Constellation diagram for 128QAM:

7bit represent 128 different states

Higher QAM order results in a higher

data rate

This is why we modulate…

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 256QAM Modulation

Constellation of 256QAM with noise added Constellation of 256QAM

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 Thank You !
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