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RF Microwave Fundamentals
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Basic Microwave Radio System
A communication system that utilizes the radio frequency band spanning 1.5 to 50 GHz.
Small capacity systems generally employ the frequencies less than 3GHz while medium
and large capacity systems utilize frequencies ranging from 3 to 15 GHz. Frequencies
>15GHz are essentially used for short-haul transmission.
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Basic Microwave Radio System
Ways of communication in Telecom industry:
1) Cable
2) Microwave radio
3) Optical fiber
4) Satellite
Advantages of Microwave :
1) Easy and quick installation
2) Medium is free
Disadvantages of Microwave:
Medium is exposed to many uncertainty
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Wave Propagation in the atmosphere
Snell’s law:
Ray bends towards the denser medium of the two media
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Atmosphere Multipath Propagation
Multipath propagation occurs when there are more than one ray
reaching the receiver. Multipath transmission is the main cause of
fading.
Multipath can happen when dN/dh varies with height.
dN= Atmosphere dh= Height.
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Formation of a duct :
During day time the sun heats the ground giving convection and a well
mixed atmosphere. A calm night will give radiation from the warm
ground, giving temperature inversion. This in turn gives a region near
ground where dM/dh<0, resulting in a ground based duct.
Just after sunrise in morning, the ground is heated by sun again, and the
convection starts near ground. The ground based duct rises, resulting in
an elevated duct.
dM/dh>0
This region is
dM/dh<0
Cooled by ground
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Terrain Profiles
1) Line of sight
2) Fresnel Zone
Line of sight between transmitter and receiver is a straight line and ray
bending due to K-value variation is added to the terrain heights.
There must be a clearance for the first Freznel zone to avoid diffraction loss in
addition to free space loss.
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Fresnel Zone
D1 D2
First fresnel zone is defined as the locus of F1
Points having maximum energy lobe from
Trans.antenna to Receiver Antenna d1 d2
d3-(d1+d2)=λ/2
Where d3=D1 + D2 refer to figure.
λ =wavelength
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Survey:
Field work:
Confirmation of LOS (checking critical obstacles)
Verification of position and altitudes of the sites
Checking of site, road access
Availability of power (Exiting shelters and towers)
Propagation condition
Make interference measurements
Finally prepare a report with required optimum tower heights.
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Microwave Antenna
The parabolic Antenna is the most commonly used antenna in Microwave
Radio-relay systems.
Antenna parameters:
1)`Antenna gain :
Gain is approximated by the formulae
Gain = 17.8 + 20 log (D.f) dBi
Where
D = Antenna diameter [m] & F = Frequency in GHz
2) VSWR
Standard type Antenna : 1.06 to 1.15 typically
High performance Antenna : 1.04 to 1.06 typically
VSWR= Reflected power/ incident power
3) Cross polarization:
A good cross-polarization enables full utilization of the frequency band by using
Vertical and Horizontal polarization.
4) Beam width:
The half power beam width of an antenna is defined as the angular width of the
main beam at –3 dB point.
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Free Space Loss and Power Budget
Power received at any point from a radiated antenna is inversely proportional
to square of distance between them and radiating freq.
It can be defined by formula:
Lfs= 92.45 +20 log(f.d)
Where Lfs= Free space loss
Power budget:
Tx Rx
Raindrop shapes
2. Generally, signal level fluctuations are larger during clear and calm weather
conditions than those during foul weather.
3. Fading usually occurs during night time or early morning rather than daytime.
However, there are exceptions to this depending on the geographical location.
4. Propagation conditions are more stable during winter than in other seasons.
6. When ducting exists along the propagation path, deep fading occurs with high
correlation to ducting.
Fading events are mainly caused by multipath fading and fading due to
precipitation.
So larger the fading margin better the system performance.
This can be achieved by higher tx o/p, larger (Gain) antennas,lower threshold level
And reduced path length etc.
Multipath Fading:
Fading due to layering of the atmosphere is the dominating factor of degradation
of radio-relays.
Transmitted waves that receives at the receiver refracted from the troposphere or
reflected from the ground other than wanted signals are added to it.The phase and
amplitude relationship determines the resulting I/p signal at the receiver.
1) Flat fading= complete link length fading 2) Selective fading= selective lengths of link
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Overcoming the effects of multipath
Diversity:
The common forms of diversity in LOS links freq. And space or combination of
both. Lately angle diversity is also introduced.
Space Diversity:
Placing two antennas vertically separated at the receiver tower so only one antenna
Is located in a power minimum range.
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Freq. Diversity:
This protection technique takes advantage of the freq. Selectivity of the multipath
Fading. But the as the freq. Bandwidth is costlier in India this technique is rarely
being used.
Switching sections:
By switching or combining the different channels (in freq. Diversity)/ Rx. signals
(from main antenna and space diversity antenna) carrying the same signal, it
is possible to attain an improvement.
Hot Standby configuration:
Reduces the system outage due to equipment failures.
Hybrid Diversity:
1+1 hot standby system having space diversity at one of the radio sites.
Combined Diversity:
When using space diversity and frequency diversity at the same time.
Angle diversity:
Two antenna feedhorns are slightly off the boresight, giving a duelbeam
parabolic dish antenna.
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