FUNDAMENTALS OF MICROWAVE RADIO

COMMUNICATION FOR IP AND TDM

B A S I C I N T R O D U C T I O N I N T O M I C R O WAV E T H E O RY A N D I P
A P P L I C AT I O N S

Presented by: Richard Laine / Ivan Zambrano

Silicon Valley, CA.
1

Agenda
Introduction....A

What is Microwave....B
Spectrum...B.1
A Terrestrial Microwave Link and Applications.......B.2
How Far can Microwave Go..........B.3

How Microwave Radios Communicate.....B.4

How Repeaters Extend the Range....B.5
Microwave Tower Issues.B.6
Causes of Microwave Disconnect Periods...B.7

L2 Radio Technology........C
Why Propagation..............D
Antennas and Feeder Systems...E

RF Protection..F
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A. INTRODUCTION

Introduction
The field of terrestrial microwave communications is constantly experiencing a steady

technological innovation to accommodate the ever-demanding techniques telecom

providers and private microwave users employ when deploying microwave radios in their
cloud networks.
In the beginning of this wireless evolution, the ubiquitous DS1s/E1s and DS3s/E3s

crisscrossed networks transporting mainly voice communications, data, and video.

With the advent of Carrier Ethernet and IP, new techniques had to be developed to

ensure the new Layer 2 radios were up to par with the new wave of traffic requirements
including wideband online-streamed media. These new techniques come in the form of
Quality of Service (QoS), Traffic Prioritization, RF Protection and Design, Spectrum
Utilization, and Capacity Enhancement.
With Carrier Ethernet and IP, network design becomes more demanding and complex in

terms of RF, Traffic Engineering, and QoS. However, the propagation concepts remain
unchanged from TDM link engineering while the links throughput of L2 radios doubles,
triples, or quadruples employing enhanced DSP techniques.
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B. WHAT IS TERRESTRIAL MICROWAVE?

Terrestrial Microwave?..What is it?

A line-of-sight point-to-point wireless technology
for the transmission of Internet, voice, data, and
online-streamed media.
Refracted Beam

Direct Beam

Reflected Beam
Flushing ANSI
values

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Terrestrial Microwave?..What is it? (cont'd)

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Terrestrial Microwave?..What is it? (cont'd)

60% F1

60% F1

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B.1 SPECTRUM

Frequency Spectrum

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Some Standard Frequency Bands for Terrestrial Microwave

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Band

Radio Frequency
(MHz)

Recommendations
FCC, NTIA, and ITU-R)

4 GHz
U4 GHz
5 GHz
5 GHz

3,600 4,200
3,803.5 4,203.5
4,400 5,000
4,400 4,990

FCC Part 101 and Rec F.635-6 (2006)

ITU-R Rec F.382-8 (2006)
ITU-R Rec F.1099-3 Annex-1 (2007)
U.S. Federal (NTIA)

L6 GHz
U6 GHz
U6 GHz
7/8 GHz
L7 GHz
U7 GHz
7W GHz

5,925 6,175
6,525 6,875
6,430 7,110
7,125 8,500
7,125 7,425
7,425 7,725
7,110 7,750

FCC Part 101, Rec F.383-7 (2007)

FCC Part 101
ITU-R Rec F.384-9 (2007)
U.S. Federal (NTIA)
ITU-R Rec F.385-8 Annex-1 (2007)
ITU-R Rec F.385-8 (2007)
ITU-R Rec F.385-8 (2007)

L8 GHz
10 GHz
11 GHz
13 GHz

7,725 8,275
10,550 11,680
10,700 11,700
12,750 13,250

ITU-R Rec F.386-7 Annex-6 (2007)

FCC Part 101, Rec F.747 (1992)
FCC Part 101, Rec F.387-10 (2010)
ITU-R Rec F.497-6 (2007)

RF Atmospheric Attenuation

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B.2 A TERRESTRIAL MICROWAVE LINK

AND APPLICATIONS

One "hop" of Microwave

Outdoor RF/Antenna

Outdoor RF/Antenna

6 to 360 Mbit/s
QPSK to 256 QAM

NxDS1/E1

PABX
Equipment

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Gigabit
Ethernet

Data
Equipment

NxDS1/E1

PABX
Equipment

Gigabit
Ethernet

Data
Equipment

Radio Node Hardware Example - Eclipse

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Cellular Site MSC-BSC-BTS IP/TDM Interconnectivity

Eclipse
18 GHz (DS3/E3)

Eclipse
18 GHz (NxDS1/E1)

MSC (MTSO) - Switching Office (POP)

BTS - Base Station
BSC - Base Station Controller
Eclipse
18/23 GHz (NxDS1/E1)
Eclipse
23/38 GHz (NxDS1/E1)

BTS

BTS

BTS
BSC

BTS
Eclipse IRU 600 Self-Healing STM-1/OC-3/Ethernet /IP Ring

MSC
(MTSO)

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Typical TDM Capacity Requirements

Hops
BTS to BSC

2G
1-2xDS1/E1

3G
2-16xDS1/E1

BSC to MSC

16xDS1/E1 to
OC-3/STM-1

BTS to BTS

1-2xDS1/E1

OC-3/STM-1 to
OC-12/STM-4
2-16xDS1/E1

BSC

Mobile RAN and Backhaul Transport

Carrier Ethernet
IEEE, Oct. 2010
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MPLS-TP

Outdoor Networked Radio (4-QAM through 1024-QAM)

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B.3 HOW FAR CAN TERRESTRIAL

MICROWAVE GO?

Typical Relative Path Lengths with Clear Line of Sight (LOS)

Maximum EIRP (Effective
Isotropic Radiated Power) =
+55 dBW = +85 dBm

Path lengths in the different RF

bands are estimates only
A path analysis is required to
calculate
the
reliability
and
availability criteria.

80 GHz
23/38 GHz
18 GHz
11 GHz
6/7/8 GHz

Path Length, mi (km)

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3(5)

5(8)

10(16)

100(160)

Examples of Very Long IP Microwave Links for Air Traffic Control

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B.4 HOW MICROWAVE RADIOS

COMMUNICATE

Adaptive Coding and Modulation for IP Backhaul

Throughput
[Mbit/s @ 7 MHz Ch BW]

(256QAM) 40
(64QAM) 30
(16QAM) 20
(QPSK) 10

Best Effort Traffic

Example: 99.990%
Fade Margin: 24 dB (20%)

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Fast Multipath or Slow Rain Fade

Less Critical
Traffic
Critical Traffic

Time

99.995%
99.999% Rain Availability or Path Reliability
31 dB (55%) 40 dB (25%)

Coding Gain in AWGN Channels

Coding gain in AWGN (Additive White Gaussian Noise) channels is defined as
the amount that the bit energy or S/N power ratio can be reduced under the coding
technique for a given Pb (bit error probability) or Pbl (block error probability)
Pb
10-2

Coded

Shannon Limit: Threshold, Eb/N0, below which

reliable communication can not be maintained! This
ratio can be considered a metric that characterizes the
Uncoded performance of one system vs. another. The smaller
the ratio, the more efficient is the modulation and
detection process for a given Pb.

10-4

With concatenated coding, the coded curve is steeper

than with Reed-Solomon alone.

10-6

X dB of Coding Gain depending on modulation and BW

-8 dB

-1.6 dB

16 dB

C / N Eb / No 10 log m
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Eb/N
0

Example: The C/N of a p-t-p radio featuring

4DS1/16QAM and Eb/N0 = 11.9 dB @ 10-6
equals: 11.9 dB + 10 log4 = 17.9 dB

MLCM Signal Constellation

d

Level 1

B1

2 d

Level 2

A set of 64 symbols is divided into subsets B0 & B1 with

increased minimum square distance. Error performance
of level 1 is determined by the minimum square distance
of the original partition. Then in order to increase free
Euclidean distance, coding (combination of block or
convolutional) is performed to the lower level. Hence the
total error performance is improved. Example (16QAM):
Code rate, R = (1/2+3/4+23/24+1)/4=3.2/4

1
C2

Level 3
25

B0

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C0

1
2d

C1

C3

B.5 HOW REPEATERS EXTEND THE

RANGE

Passive Repeater Arrangements

Site A
Site A

Double Reflector
Terrain
Obstruction

Single
Reflector

Terrain
Obstruction

Terrain
Obstruction

Double
Reflector

Passive Reflector
"Billboard"
Site B

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Site B

Other Passive Repeater Arrangements

Beam Bender
Beam Bender
(Back-To-Back
Parabolics)

Site A

Terrain
Obstruction

Site B

Back-To-Back Parabolic Antennas

"Beam Bender"
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B.6 MICROWAVE TOWER ISSUES

Twist and Sway

Daytime Tower Twist: 10
425ft/130m

200ft/60m

Antennas: HSX12-77
Beamwidth: 0.35o

425ft/130m

Antennas: HSX12-77
Beamwidth: 0.35o

0.50 deflection angle

at 10 dB point

A
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B.7 CAUSES OF MICROWAVE

DISCONNECT PERIODS

Causes of Traffic Disconnect - Outage

Rain outage (predictable and therefore acceptable) in access links above
about 10 GHz
Equipment failure within the MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) period
Maintenance error or manual intervention (e.g., failure of a locked-on
module or path)
Infrastructure failure (e.g., antenna, batteries, towers, power system)
Low fade margin in non-diversity links
Power fade (long-term loss of fade margin) in paths above about 6 GHz
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C.

SOME EXAMPLES OF L2 RADIO

TECHNOLOGY

Eclipse Intelligent Node Unit

The most compact nodal

solution on the market

Single indoor unit

supporting multiple radio

paths
Hot-swappable radio and

data access modules

Support for all traffic types
Cable-less traffic

connections
Complete solution in one

box
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Networked Radios
Lower Losses than Couplers
More ODUs per Antenna feed

Fewer Antennas

Increased system gain

Reduces antenna sizes
Less Tower Loading

Radios features
5 to 38 GHz licensed operation
Fully transparent to payload
Up to 500 Mbit/s of TDM, Hybrid

TDM/Ethernet/IP, or all-IP throughput

QPSK to 256-QAM

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D. WHY PROPAGATION?

Radio Wave Propagation

GEO, MEO,
and LEO
Satellites

Microwave link propagation is

influenced by REFRACTION,
REFLECTION, and DIFFRACTION
(not shown) wave propagation.

Ionosphere
Sky Wave
(MF, HF only)

Troposphere
REFRACTED WAVE

Transmitting
Antenna

NON-REFRACTED (k=1) WAVE

MULTIPATH RAYS

Ground Wave

(LF/MF only)
True Earths Curvature

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Receiving
Antenna

Ray Tracing Along a Profile

Not unlike outbound ripples from a pebble
tossed into a quiet pond, the outgoing microwave
wave front is circular. However, the only part of
the wave of interest is equal to the diameter
(aperture) of the antenna. Beyond the antennas
near field, and into the far field, the wave front is
flat, as shown. The ray(s), one direct (shown)
plus multipath rays (if any), are always
perpendicular (90o) to the wave front - thus only
one ray is assigned to each direct or multipath
route. All path profiles and engineering are based
upon ray analysis.
Antennas serve only to provide maximum
coupling of the direct ray energy into the
waveguide feeder, to the exclusion of multipath
rays. Thus, optimum dish alignment is crucial
for minimum fading.
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Substandard
Refraction (k<1)
Wavefront

90o

Ray

Superrefraction (k>3)

k = 1 (True Earths Radius)

Possible
Obstruction

Possible
Decoupling,
Defocusing, or
Entrapment

Dry and High Valleys

Humid Wetlands

Carrier Ethernet Link Design Parameters

NETWORK LAYOUT
FIELD VERIFICATION
MICROWAVE EQUIPMENT
Capacity, Link Aggregation,
Diversity)

(Backhaul
RF Band,

LINK ANALYSIS (Google Map Study, Field

Survey, Geometry, Weather Patterns)

Atmospheric
Multipath

ACTIVE NODES and PASSIVE REPEATERS

FREQUENCY
STUDY
Licensing, Antenna Selection)

ANTENNA FEEDER SYSTEM, (Structures,

Aesthetics, Transmission Lines)

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Elliptical
Waveguide, Coax

Diversity
Type, Ant.
Spacing, XPIC

Dust Cloud

(Interference,

INFRASTRUCTURE (Shelter, AC/DC Power,

Site Security, Towers, Ice Shield, Air Con, etc.)

GROUNDING AND SAFETY

Antenna Sizes,
Types, Alignment

Refraction, k-Factor
Variations
Path
Clearance

LINK PERFORMANCE CALCS (ITU, Vigants)

LINK AVAILABILITY CALCS (RF Protection,
Rain Outage)

Millimeter Wave
Rain Attenuation

Towers >200ft (60-m)

Require Lighting,
Painting

Flushing ANSI
values

Sections:
20-ft guyed,
25-ft Self Supp

Shelter

Multipath Propagation

Elevated Super-refractive
Layer

Excessive Path
Clearance

Specular Reflection
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E. ANTENNAS AND FEEDER SYSTEMS

Reflector Antennas
Spillover Effect

Scattering Effect

Diffraction Effect

Standard parabolic

Standard parabolic
(with radome)

Photos courtesy of Andrew Corporation

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Shielded with radome

(high performance)
Higher F/B ratio

43

July 2013

Antennas
Used to efficiently radiate/receive the energy towards/from
the far-end of the link
Important characteristics

44

Gain / directivity / beamwidth

Side lobe level
Front-to-back ratio (F/B)
Polarization (linear V/H, circular, dual V/H)
Cross-polar discrimination
VSWR
Frequency operating range
Mounting, weight, and wind loading
Aesthetics

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Antenna Alignment Issues

Correct antenna alignment

Antenna aligned on a side-lobe

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Antenna Decoupling
Variation in arrival angle
K=-2
K=

K=4/3

Angle of arrival may vary by as much as 1 on long paths

in humid areas at night; therefore larger antennas are
typically slightly uptilted during daytime periods
Such variations may cause power fades and degraded
performance (loss of fade margin, increased outage) if
antennas are very directive
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Transmission Lines
PRESSURIZED (AIR)
COAXIAL CABLE
UNPRESSURIZED (FOAM)
COAXIAL CABLE
ELIPTICAL
WAVEGUIDE
RECTANGULAR (RIGID)
WAVEGUIDE
CIRCULAR (RIGID)
WAVEGUIDE

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Transmission Lines (Feeder Systems)

Coaxial cable
Air dielectric (lower loss)
Foam dielectric (higher loss)
Works from DC, but losses increase very rapidly above 2GHz
Waveguide
Elliptical (very common)
Circular (very low loss)
Rectangular (now rarely used)
Flexible/twistable waveguide
Frequencies below cut-off do not propagate through waveguide
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F.

RF PROTECTION

Definitions
Protection Schemes provide a level of security from longterm (>10 CSES/event Consecutive Severely Errored
Seconds) outages and loss of data throughput, and
therefore improve Availability and reduce traffic
disconnects.

Diversity Arrangements reduce the number and duration

of short-term (<10 CSES/event) outages (no traffic
disconnects) and therefore improve Performance.

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F.1

MONITORED HOT STANDBY

1+1 Monitored Hot Standby Outdoor Node (contd)

ODU 600sp/hp/ep

Protection
Cable

Y-Cables
Tribs 1-20

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1+1 Monitored Hot Standby Outdoor Node

Equal split (3dB)
RF Splitter is also
possible with the
consequence of a
2dB
link
gain
penalty
which
translates into a
58% degradation in
the hops error
performance and
perhaps
larger
antennas!
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Tx A or Tx B is on line
-1.6dB
Tx A

ANTENNA
DATA IN

Rx A

Tx B
DATA
OUT

-1.6dB

-1.6dB

INU/IDU errorless data

selection is frame-by-frame

Rx B

-6.6dB

Asymmetric
RF
Coupler

H.2

MONITORED HOT STANDBY WITH

SPACE DIVERSITY

Space Diversity with Horizontal Offset

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1+1 Monitored Hot Standby Space Diversity - Outdoor Node

Multipath forms essentially
in the vertical plane;
consequently, the antennas
should always be placed
vertically to achieve decorrelated paths !

Main ANTENNA
Tx A

RSLM
DATA IN

Rx A

Diversity ANTENNA

-40 dB fade

Tx B
DATA
OUT

INU errorless data

selection is frame-by-frame

RSLD

Rx B

Vertical antenna spacing from 3 23m

ITU-R P.530-13

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-20 dB fade

300 ms

THANKS YOU AND SUGGESTIONS

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