MICROWAVE LINK DESIGN 10th November 2008 10.

00 am BPL MOBILE

Overview
Site Survey Link Budget Frequency Planning

Field Survey
Field Survey comprises of : a) Site Survey b) Path Survey

Field Survey
The following equipment/materials is required to conduct a site survey and must be provided by the site survey team:

Binoculars GPS navigation device Compass Camera Altimeter Laptop If required Material request form 100 tape measure

Mobile Phone Thermometer Mirror Flag or Torch Balloons If Required SOI,City/area map with
desire scale Site survey form

Site Survey
Basic site data Path information Antenna/ODU
Special Condition Special Requirement Site Diagram Site Photograph Special Consideration while gathering critical site information

installation Equipment/IDU installation Customer termination IDU/ODU IF Cable run

Map study and Preparation of Site

Terrain Aspect : *Avoid selecting : a) Flat terrain b) Hilly or mountainous terrain specially with steep slopes. c) Seasonally flooded

Map study
Type Of Map : a) Topographical maps (scale: 1:100k or 1:50k ) b) Stereoscopic photographs c) If either of above is not available use road and tourist maps and navigational charts. Note: Map can be procured from Survey of India

Field Survey
Aim of Field Survey: * Gather the critical site specific data necessary to complete the detailed engineering design and work plans. * Characterize the microwave path to ensure design credibility beyond a purely theoretical approach.

Site Survey

Easy way to determine optical line of site is to visit one proposed antenna location and look to see if the opposite location is free from obstacles.

Site Survey
Determining LOS should be done very early in the survey activity to avoid wasting valuable time. For short distances determining line-of-sight may be easily done with the naked eye, while sighting over longer distances may require the use of binoculars. If locating the opposite site is difficult, you may want to try using a mirror, strobe light, flag, weather balloon or compass (with prior knowledge of site coordinates).

Site Survey
The amount of clearance required for obstacles is expressed in terms of Fresnel zones. Fresnel zones consist of series of concentric ellipsoid surfaces, which surround the straight-line path between two antennas. The Fresnel Zone must be clear of all obstructions.

Site Survey
Radius of the first Fresnel zone

R=17.32(d1*d2/fd)1/2
where d = distance between antennas (in Km) R= first Fresnel zone radius in meters f= frequency in GHz

d2 d1

R d=d1+d2

Site Survey
Typically the first Fresnel zone (N=1) is used to determine obstruction loss The direct path between the transmitter and the receiver needs a clearance above ground of at least 60% of the radius of the first Fresnel zone to achieve free space propagation conditions

Antenna Height
Graphical Method: First draw path profile Determine 1st Fresnel zone radius at various critical points. This radius are added to height of obstacles and then marked on profile. Consider height of antenna at one location and join the point with the marked point . On extending the line we get the height of antenna at other end. In Similar way try different combination.

Path Survey
400

300

200

100

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

Distance (miles)

Typical Path Profile

Microwave Link Design

Microwave Link Design is a methodical, systematic and sometimes lengthy process that includes Loss/attenuation Calculations Fading and fade margins calculations Frequency planning and interference calculations Quality and availability calculations

Microwave Link Design Process

The whole process is iterative and may go through many redesign phases before the required quality and availability are achieved

Interference analysis

Frequency Planning
Rain attenuation Diffractionrefraction losses Multipath propagation

Propagation losses Branching losses

Link Budget Quality and Availability Calculations

Fading Predictions

Other Losses

Loss / Attenuation Calculations

The loss/attenuation calculations are composed of three main contributions Propagation losses (Due to Earths atmosphere and terrain) Branching losses (comes from the hardware used to deliver the transmitter/receiver output to/from the antenna)

Loss / Attenuation Calculations

Miscellaneous (other) losses (unpredictable and sporadic in character like fog, moving objects crossing the path, poor equipment installation and less than perfect antenna alignment etc) This contribution is not calculated but is considered in the planning process as an additional loss

Propagation Losses
Free-space loss - when the transmitter and receiver have a clear, unobstructed line-of-sight Lfsl=92.45+20log(f)+20log(d) [dB] where f = frequency (GHz) d = LOS range between antennas (km)

Vegetation attenuation (provision should be taken for 5 years of vegetation growth) L=0.2f 0.3R0.6(dB) f=frequency (MHz) R=depth of vegetation in meters

Propagation Losses
Obstacle Loss also called Diffraction Loss or Diffraction Attenuation. One method of calculation is based on knife edge approximation. Having an obstacle free 60% of the Fresnel zone gives 0 dB loss

First Fresnel Zone

0 dB

0 dB

6dB

16dB

20dB

Propagation Losses
Gas absorption Primarily due to the water vapor and oxygen in the atmosphere in the radio relay region.The absorption peaks are located around 23GHz for water molecules and 50 to 70 GHz for oxygen molecules.The specific attenuation (dB/Km)is strongly dependent on frequency, temperature and the absolute or relative humidity of the atmosphere.

Gas attenuation versus frequency

Total specific gas attenuation 23GHz 1.0 (dB/Km) T=40oC RH=80%

0.4

T=30o RH=50% Frequency (GHz)

25

50

Propagation Losses

The specific attenuation of rain is dependent on many parameters such as the form and size of distribution of the raindrops, polarization, rain intensity and frequency Horizontal polarization gives more rain attenuation than vertical polarization Rain attenuation increases with frequency and becomes a major contributor in the frequency bands above 10 GHz The contribution due to rain attenuation is not included in the link budget and is used only in the calculation

of rain fading