Microwave Path Design

Niraj Shah

For many wireless carriers, microwave is becoming a popular choice over

wireline transport. It is an attractive option for many reasons, especially as radio
equipment costs decrease. Low monthly operating costs can undercut those of
typical T1 expenses, proving it more economical over the long term.

Carriers also are attracted to its modular and expandable characteristics.

Network operators like the fact that they can own and control microwave radio
networks instead of relying on other service providers for network components.

Like many carriers, you may be planning to jump on the microwave bandwagon.
But before you move forward, make sure you understand all of the design
considerations that will affect your deployment.

Frequency Options
First, it is important to understand the relationship between capacity, frequency
band, path distance, tower heights, radio equipment and antennas. In the United
States, there are numerous licenses to operate microwave radio, including 2GHz,
6GHz, 7GHz, 8GHz, 10GHz, 11GHz, 13GHz, 15GHz,18GHz, 23GHz and 38GHz
frequency bands.

Wavelengths in the lower frequencies are longer, which is important because the
wavelength determines how the atmosphere affects transmission. The
atmosphere may refract longer waves. Refraction can reduce the length of the
path, or microwave hop. In developed countries, such as the United States, much
of the available frequency spectrum already is in use. Competition for these
frequencies has pushed use into higher bands, such as 38GHz.

Radios in the 2GHz to 6GHz frequencies can transmit over longer distances,
which makes them more suitable for rural areas. High-frequency radios are a
better fit for suburban and urban environments. For example, a low-frequency
radio could carry a signal for more than 12.5 miles, while a high-frequency radio,
such as a 23GHz radio, could cover a path distance of more than three miles.
Terrain & Weather
Because line of sight is a microwave requirement, terrain such as mountains,
hills, trees and buildings can block a microwave signal and limit the distance of a
microwave path. However, a bird or other object moving through the microwave
path will not affect your design because transmission can go around a small,
intermittent object.

Capacity is another important consideration. You can configure radios to carry a

certain amount of traffic in a specific frequency. Capacities range from DS1 to
OC-3, which is equivalent to three DS3s. So you could select a 16DS1-capacity
radio operating at 38GHz to carry a significant amount of traffic over a path
distance of less than five miles.

A microwave system includes an antenna, radio, multiplexers, waveguide (hollow

metal conductor connecting the RF equipment to the antenna) and feed cables.
Based on capacity and radio equipment, antenna size, tower heights and terrain
elevation will play a major role in how you plan and construct the system. These
four factors also will dictate system reliability, multi-path fading, fade margin
calculations, fresnel zone clearance, interference analysis, system diversity and
long-distance specifications.

You will use a large antenna (low frequency) when the path is longer. Large
antennas require large towers and have higher wind and ice load factors. As a
result, you also must consider existing tower loads to ensure that you can
implement the design on existing or planned towers and structures.

You also must take into account attenuation, the reduction in energy as a signal
travels through equipment, transmission lines or air. The term often refers to the
impact of rain, snow or fog as well as normal signal loss in the waveguide and
microwave system itself. Fog, snow, sand and dust have minimal influence in the
frequency bands above 8GHz. Rainfall rates and storm duration can affect the
availability of the path at 23GHz and 38GHz.

In many cases, design engineers can calculate rain effect to ensure customer
requirements are met. However, the rate on the path will vary. Raindrops also
vary in shape. For example, large drops change shape as they fall. As a result, a
radio wave with vertical polarization is less attenuated than a wave that is
horizontally polarized.

Ice and snow have little effect on high-frequency radio links, and antenna
radomes are designed to prevent snow accumulation. In the United States, the
National Weather Service Library provides detailed data on rain rate and drop-
size distribution. Also, do not forget to consider temperature.

In some cases, you will need to locate an antenna indoors. Transmitting through
glass causes attenuation. The attenuation will depend on metallic content, any
exterior coating on the glass and the angle of incidence of the radiated beam.
You will get the best results by placing the antenna at least 12 inches from the
window at a 10-degree angle.

System Design Options

The objective for any microwave system is to provide the best distortion-free and
interference-free service. Overall, reliability or service continuity depends on
equipment failure rates, power failures and propagation performance of the
individual paths. This involves antenna sizes and elevations, frequency or space
separations in diversity systems, path length, and frequency attenuation
relationships. It also includes fade margins, which are affected by noise figure,
transmitter power and waveguide attenuation, and filter arrangements. Distortion
also may occur in the radio path.

Interference experience in the radio system can be classified as external

interference and internal or self-interference. Self-interference in the radio system
can be introduced through antennas, waveguides, cabling and radiation or by
spurious products within radio equipment. External interference depends on
many factors and typically is expressed in one of two ways. It can be expressed
as an absolute value of the interfering signal power not to be exceeded at the
input to the interfered receiver. The signal power ranges from as low as -125dBm
to -100dBm. It also can be expressed as a value of S/I ratio with typical values
ranging from 60dB to 95dB.

Generally, microwave propagation is referred to as line of sight. It often is thought

of as a straight line in space from transmitting to receiving antenna. Actually, the
path is not a line and is not straight. The propagation is like electromagnetic
waves represented as functions of sine and cosine. The propagation also
influences path clearance. When travelling through the atmosphere, it usually
follows a slightly curved path, or refracted path, in the vertical plane because of
height variation, the earth's curvature and dielectric constant of the atmosphere.
In general, refractive index, reflective index, weather fronts, rain attenuation and
various K factors affect propagation.

Although the atmosphere and terrain that a radio beam travels have little affect
on path loss, there is, for a given frequency and distance, a characteristic loss.
This loss increases with both the frequency and distance. It is known as free
space loss and is defined as the loss created between two isotropic antennas in
free space, where there are no ground influences or obstructions. Spreading
energy primarily causes the loss as the wavefront travels through the space. The
free space formula is A= 96.6 + 20 log10F + 20 log10D, where A = free space
attenuation in dB, F = frequency in GHz, and D = path distance in miles.

Terrain also plays a significant role in microwave propagation. To reduce terrain-

related losses, you must satisfy path clearance with 0.6F1, where F1 is the first
Fresnel zone. You can calculate the first Fresnel zone at any point in the path by
using Fn = 72.1*SQRT((n*d1*d2)/fD), where Fn = nth Fresnel zone radius in feet,
d1 = distance from one end of path to reflection point in miles, D = total length of
path in miles, d2 = D - d1, and f = frequency in GHz.

The choice of clearance criteria for a microwave route or path is important

because it can affect the cost and quality of performance profoundly. There are
two basic sets of clearance criteria that are commonly used. Heavy route is used
for systems with the most stringent reliability requirements. Light route is used for
systems with slight relaxation of the requirements.

The radio path, waveguide system or the radio equipment can cause delay
distortion, which creates noise distortion in the received message. In the
propagation path, delay distortion is caused by reflected energy that reaches the
receiving antenna but is delayed by a number of wavelengths as compared to the
direct signal. You can use sweep instrumentation to detect and delay this
distortion.

Waveguide echoes are another source of delay distortion. They result from
impedance mismatches or equipment irregularities.
Multipath fading also affects microwaves. You can implement space and
frequency diversity to either eliminate or to reduce fading. Diversity reception
decreases the chance that a signal will be lost by combining signals from two or
more antennas (space diversity) or by transmitting the same signal on two or
more frequency channels (frequency diversity). Space and frequency diversity
use redundant hardware but also decouple the paths used by microwave
transmissions. Frequency diversity is not allowed in many markets because
spectrum is scarce. By adding path diversity schemes to a radio design, you can
increase path availability, which improves overall system reliability and
availability.

You also must consider reliability when planning your network. For example, data
networks carrying critical information may demand higher reliability than other
applications. Equipment and the radio path itself affect reliability. Reflections in
the atmosphere, interference from other radios and atmospheric conditions can
affect transmission performance.

Microwave network design can take different physical forms, point to point, star
and ring configurations. A ring configuration protects against site failure and
provides alternate transmission paths to maximize network protection.

If you want to follow appropriate design processes, you should visit the planned
transmission sites to conduct a walk-through of existing facilities and obtain
zoning information. Geodetic survey maps and photos are useful for subsequent
planning from an office location.

Equipment Selection
When selecting equipment, determine the amount of power the radio uses to
transmit and receive signals. More power usage equates to higher operating
costs. System planners should perform path calculations to establish fade
margins and system gain, taking into account an estimate of system downtime
for the locale of the planned radio (average rainfall). Fade margin is the
allowance made to accommodate estimated propagation fading without
exceeding a specified signal-to-noise ratio.
To increase equipment reliability, you may want to select hot standby, allowing
for full redundancy. In case of an equipment failure, redundant processors allow
for an automatic cutover to allow transmission to continue.

With careful attention to link gain power, antenna height, receiver sensitivity, free
space loss, attenuation and availability requirements, you can integrate
microwave radio effectively into virtually any wireless system.