Link Budget

Calculation
Training materials for wireless trainers

Wednesday, March 5, 14
 Goals

‣ To be able to calculate
how far we can go with
the equipment we have
‣ To understand why we
need high masts for long
links
‣ To learn about software
that helps to automate
the process of planning
radio links

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 Free space loss
‣ Signal power is diminished by geometric spreading of the
wavefront, commonly known as Free Space Loss.
‣ The power of the signal is spread over a wave front, the area
of which increases as the distance from the transmitter
increases. Therefore, the power density diminishes.

Figure from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse_square 3

Wednesday, March 5, 14
 Free Space Loss (@2.4 GHz)

‣ Using decibels to express the loss and using 2.4 GHz as the
signal frequency, the equation for the Free Space Loss is:

Lfs = 100 + 20*log10(d)

‣ ...where Lfs is expressed in dB and d is in kilometers.

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 Free Space Loss (any frequency)

‣ Using decibels to express the loss and at a generic frequency

f, the equation for the Free Space Loss is:

Lfs = 92,45 + 20*log(d) + 20*log(f)

‣ ...where Lfs is expressed in dB, d is in kilometers and f is in

GHz.

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381

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 Power in a wireless system
antenna antenna

Tx Rx
cable path loss cable
radio radio
EIRP

Tx power

Rx power
dBm

Margin

Rx sensitivity

distance

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 Link budget
‣ The performance of any communication link depends on the quality
of the equipment being used.
‣ Link budget is a way of quantifying the link performance.
‣ The received power in an wireless link is determined by three
factors: transmit power, transmitting antenna gain, and
receiving antenna gain.
‣ If that power, minus the free space loss of the link path, is greater
than the minimum received signal level of the receiving radio,
then a link is possible.
‣ The difference between the minimum received signal level and the
actual received power is called the link margin.
‣ The link margin must be positive, and should be maximized (should
be at least 10dB or more for reliable links).
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 9
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 Example link budget calculation
Let’s estimate the feasibility of a 5 km link, with one access
point and one client radio.

The access point is connected to an antenna with 10 dBi

gain, with a transmitting power of 20 dBm and a receive
sensitivity of -89 dBm.

The client is connected to an antenna with 14 dBi gain, with

a transmitting power of 15 dBm and a receive sensitivity of
-82 dBm.

The cables in both systems are short, with a loss of 2dB at

each side at the 2.4 GHz frequency of operation.

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 AP to Client link
antenna antenna
+10 dBi +14 dBi
+20 dBm

Tx Rx
cable path loss cable
radio radio
-2 dB EIRP -114 dB @ 5 km -2 dB

Tx power

???
Rx power
dBm

Margin

Rx sensitivity
-82 dBm
distance

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 Link budget: AP to Client link

20 dBm (TX Power AP)

+ 10 dBi (Antenna Gain AP)
- 2 dB (Cable Losses AP)
+ 14 dBi (Antenna Gain Client)
- 2 dB (Cable Losses Client)

40 dB Total Gain
-114 dB (free space loss @5 km)

-74 dBm (expected received signal level)

--82 dBm (sensitivity of Client)

8 dB (link margin)

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 Opposite direction: Client to AP
antenna antenna
+14 dBi +10 dBi
+15 dBm

Tx Rx
cable path loss cable
radio radio
-2 dB EIRP -114 dB @ 5 km -2 dB

Tx power

???
Rx power
dBm

Margin

Rx sensitivity
-89 dBm
distance

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 Link budget: Client to AP link

15 dBm (TX Power Client)

+ 14 dBi (Antenna Gain Client)
- 2 dB (Cable Losses Client)
+ 10 dBi (Antenna Gain AP)
- 2 dB (Cable Losses AP)

35 dB Total Gain
-114 dB (free space loss @5 km)

-79 dBm (expected received signal level)

--89 dBm (sensitivity of AP)

10 dB (link margin)

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 Fresnel Zone

‣ The First Fresnel Zone is an ellipsoid-shaped volume around

the Line-of-Sight path between transmitter and receiver.
‣ The Fresnel Zone clearance is important to the integrity of
the RF link because it defines a volume around the LOS that
must be clear of any obstacle for the the maximum power to
reach the receiving antenna.
‣ Objects in the Fresnel Zone as trees, hilltops and buildings can
considerably attenuate the received signal, even when there is
an unobstructed line between the TX and RX.

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 Optical and Radio LOS

Optical signals also possess a Fresnel zone, but since

the wavelength is so small, we don’t notice it.

Therefore, clearance of optical LOS does not guarantee

the clearance of RADIO LOS.

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 Line of Sight and Fresnel Zones

a free line-of-sight IS NOT EQUAL TO a free Fresnel Zone

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 Fresnel Zone

‣ The radius of the first Fresnel Zone at a given point between

the transmitter and the receiver can be calculated as:

r = sqrt(λ*(d1*d2)/(d))

‣ ...where r is the radius of the zone in meters, d1 and d2 are

distances from the obstacle to the link end points in meters, d is
the total link distance in meters, and λ is the wavelength in m.
‣ Note that this gives you the radius of the zone, not the height
above ground. To calculate the height above ground, you need to
subtract the result from a line drawn directly between the tops
of the two towers.

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 Line of Sight and Fresnel Zones

r rMAX

d1 d2

r = sqrt(λ*d1*d2/d)
rMAX = 1/2* sqrt(λ*d)
where all the dimensions are in meters
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 Clearance of the Fresnel Zone and
earth curvature
This table shows the minimum height above flat ground required to clear
60% of the first Fresnel zone for various link distances at 2.4 GHz.

Notice that earth curvature plays a small role at short distances, but
becomes more important as the distance increases.

Distance 1st zone 60% Earth curvature Required

(km) (m) (m) (m) height (m)

1 5.5 3.3  0.0  3.9

5  12.4 7.44 0.4 7.84
10  17.5 10.5 1.5 12
15  21.4 12.84 3.3 16.13
20  24.7 15.82 5.9 21.72
25  27.7 16.62 9.2 25.82
30  30.3 18.18 13.3 32.5

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 Fresnel Zone

‣ Considering the importance of the Fresnel Zone, it is

important to quantify the degree to which it can be
blocked.

‣ Typically, 20% - 40% Fresnel Zone blockage introduces

little attenuation into the link.

‣ It is better to err to the conservative side allowing no

more than 20% blockage of the Fresnel Zone.

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 Radio Mobile

‣ Radio Mobile is a free tool to aid in the design and

simulation of wireless systems.
‣ It can automatically calculate the power budget of a
radio link, calculating the Fresnel zone clearance. It can
use digital maps, GIS (Geographical Information
Systems), or any other digital map, including maps
provided by yourself.
‣ Runs on every version of Windows and can be used
in Linux and Mac through Windows emulators

http://www.cplus.org/rmw/english1.html

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 Radio Mobile
‣ From the same site, you can use radio mobile on-line
‣ You only need a browser, so it operating system
independent
‣ You need to register in the site, choose a user name
and password and start using the program
‣ There are some limitations in the on-line version,
since you are only allowed to use radio ham
frequencies, but you can choose the one closest to
your real frequency and the result will be close
enough.

http://www.cplus.org/rmw/rmonline.html

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 Radio Mobile
‣ Uses Digital terrain Elevation Model for the calculation of
coverage, indicating received signal strength at various point along
the path.
‣ Radio Mobile automatically builds a profile between two points in
the digital map showing the coverage area and 1st Fresnel zone.
‣ Different antenna heights can be tried to achieve optimum
performance.

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 Radio Mobile

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 Thank you for your attention

For more details about the topics presented in

this lecture, please see the book Wireless
Networking in the Developing World,
available as free download in many languages at:
http://wndw.net/

Wednesday, March 5, 14