Tropo-Scatter Link Budget

Calculations
 Tropospheric Scattering
• The Troposphere is the atmosphere below an upper limit called the tropo-pause, which is in a height of approx 10 km

• Above the tropo-pause the temperature is constant, there is little humidity and no movements in the air => few
irregularities to scatter our radio signals

• Air is not uniform => eddies, thermals, turbulence etc. where the air has slightly different pressure and hence a
different refractive index

• The effect of these irregularities on the wavefront is for the waves to be scattered and defocused
 Tropospheric Scattering
• It is a very slight effect and Energy is scattered by very small angles, but over long paths this
leads to Troposcatter propagation

• Signals may be scattered to receiver beyond the horizon

• For Troposcatter communication, the Common volume formed by the intersection of the
antenna patterns is important
 Tropospheric Scattering
• The common volume needs to be in the troposphere, so there is a limit to the propagation range

• The height of the troposphere differs between summer &

winter and with latitude
• Higher the tropo-pause , higher are the nos. of scatter
cell found and more the scatter can take place, greater
the signal strength
 Link Parameters and factors affecting Link Design

• Three parts of tropo-scatter path loss

• Free space loss from Tx antenna to horizon; d1

• Tropo-scatter loss; (d-d1-d2)

• Free space loss from horizon to Rx antenna

 Link Parameters and Factors affecting Link Design
Transmitter: Tx Power, Tx antenna gain, Tx antenna height, Antenna elevation
Channel: Climate, Carrier frequency, Distance, Relative separation of sites and horizon above sea level, Scatter
angle, Scatter length, Annual mean refractivity, Height of the common volume, Crosspoint height and distance,
Angular length, Symmetry factor, Diurnal , Zone on the earth …

Receiver: Rx Power, Rx antenna gain, Rx antenna height, Antenna elevation, Rx noise floor, Rx Noise
bandwidth, Rx Noise figure, Rx SNR, Diversity
 Path Loss Estimation
Value of transmission loss in dB, is given by
L(dB) = 30 log(f) – 20 log(d) + f(θd) – V(de)
Where,
f = frequency in MHz,
d = earth great circle distance
f(θd) = attenuation function (dB) depending on product of
scatter angle θ (rad) and path length d (km)
V(de) = climate correction factor
Antenna Gain Calculation
Antenna Gain for 2.4m dish = ~39 dBi

Antenna gain = 20 log (Df/127.4)

For parabolic dishes with 55% aperture
efficiency; D meters, f MHz
Calculation of Antenna Gain Degradation Factor
Effective Path antenna gain for 2.4 m dish = 72.5dBi

Multi path coupling loss or ‘aperture to

medium coupling loss’/ gain degradation factor

Lgp = 25.8 – 0.29 (G1+G2) + 0.0036 (G1+G2)^2

 Path geometry

U0

U
U1 h0 U2
h1’
h2’
h1 h2
a
d1 d d2

Ref.: Loss calculations by Approximative formulas from "Troposcatter Radio Links" (G Roda)
 Link Budget
System and path parameters Case-1:
Example
Pt = 500 Watts Case-2:
LNA NF = 3 dB 2.4 m parabolic dish with indoor SSPA and Diplexer
f = 5000 MHz Case-3:
d = 100 km 2.4 m parabolic dish with outdoor RF front end
B = 10 MHz
Case-1 Case-2 Case-3
h1 = 5 m
h2 = 5 m Predicted Path loss for 99.9% availability 225 dB 225dB 225 dB
d1 = 10 km Effective Antenna Gain (GTX + GRX) 77 dBi 72 dBi 72 dBi
d2 = 10 km
h1‘ = 3 m RX Noise Figure 5 dB 4 dB 3 dB
h2‘ = 3 m Rx Noise floor -100 dBm -102 dBm -104 dBm
% of time ‘q’= 99.9 Rx signal strength for 500W TX power at -92 dBm -97 dBm -96 dBm
each channel
Eb/N0 = 8 dB
Data Rate = 10 Mbps SNR after diversity combining 15 dB 12 dB 13 dB
(diversity gain ~7dB)
SNR = 7 dB
SNR Required (dB) for BER 1E-6 for QPSK 7 dB 7 dB 7 dB
10 Mbps
Tropo Comm. Possible ? Yes Yes Yes
 Link Budget Parameters
Required terrain parameters:
1. The path distance, d, in kilometres which is determined from the great-circle calculations
2. The antenna heights (center of antenna feed) above ground, hg1 and hg2 , in kilometres
3. The elevation of the antenna sites in kilometres above mean sea level, eS1 and eS2 from maps or
surveys
=> The heights of the antennas (center of antenna feed) above mean sea level, hS1 and hS2 in
kilometres, are
hS1 = hg1 + eS1 km
hS2 = hg2 + eS2 km
4. The distances from the antenna sites to the radio horizons, dL1 and dL2 in kilometres from the path
profile
5. The elevations of the radio horizons above mean sea level, hL1 and hL2 in kilometres
6. The horizon take-off angles Qe1 and Qe2 in radians
7. The angles a0 and B0 in radians
 Link Budget Parameters
Required terrain parameters:
8. The angular distance, Q , in radians = d/a +Qe1 +Qe2 [ a0 +B0 =Q] where d in km and a eff.
earth radius
9. The distance between radio horizons, Ds, in kilometres
10. The parameter h0
h0 = s*d*Q / (1+ s)^2
11. The parameter s is the ratio of the angles a0 to B0
s = a0/B0 , if a0 < B0
B0/a0 otherwise
12. The effective antenna heights, he1’ and he2' in kilometres. These are estimated from the
terrain profiles relative to a potential reflecting surface between the antenna site and its radio
horizon. The effective antenna heights he1’ and he2’ are used primarily for determining the
variability functions Y(q)
 Link Budget Parameters
Required atmospheric parameters.
1. sea-level surface refractivity N0 (fig 4.4-2)
2. Convert N0 to Ns
Ns = N0 e^ (- 1057 * hs)
hs is the elevation in km of each radio horizon above mean sea level, and the two values of Ns obtained in this
manner are averaged in order to obtain the Ns applicable to a particular link. [exception when antenna is more than
150 meters lower in elevation than its radio horizon]
The surface refractivity Ns is a function of temperature, pressure, and humidity, and decreases therefore with
elevation.
3. The effective earth radius a corresponding to the minimum monthly mean value of ns (fig 4.4-3)
4. The median atmospheric attenuation, Aa, is determined as a function of carrier frequency and path length (fig
4.4-4)
 Link Budget Parameters

The time variability of basic transmission loss is expressed by empirical

functions V(q) in decibels, where q denotes a fraction of all hours of an
average year, such as 0.999, or the corresponding percentage such as 99.9%.
Since there are 8760 hours in year of 365 days, q = O. 999 corresponds to all
but approximately 9 hours of the year, and q = 0.9999 may be taken to
represent all but hour, the function V(q) is a function of climate, path
parameters, and carrier frequency
Thank YOU !