Key words : Return Loss, Antenna, Connectors, Feeder__________________________________________________________

Site Master Measurements :

Guidelines and Recommendations
October 9th, 2002 Version 1.0 Dr. Hatem MOKHTARI

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Key words : Return Loss, Antenna, Connectors, Feeder__________________________________________________________

1. Background

Site Master has been extensively used within Ben and THE OPERATOR to
accurately deploy their networks and avoid Downlink Power outage/mismatch.
Site Master is used not only for site commissioning but during maintenance and
subsequent checking further to O&M monitoring as well. The document intends to
give common guidelines for what to measure in view of reducing the amount of
parameters to be measured, and keeping a reliable and high quality site production
process.

2. Scope of Work

The scope of work is to provide guidelines using relevant measurements to reach

the required quality in terms of Return Loss and Distance to Fault measurements
using Site Master. Furthermore, we also attempt to get a common agreement with
regards to the values we can tolerate for :

i) Return Loss (e.g. -30 dB)

ii) Feeder Cable Loss (e. g. <= 3 dB)
iii) Cable Length Accuracy (e. g. between 1 and 5 %)

3. Introduction

Site Master measurements have become more and more widespread within the
telecommunications arena. Most Operators use it either for commissioning or
subsequent monitoring. THE OPERATOR/Ben/THE OPERATOR need to have
common tools and procedures, especially when we are dealing with the quality of
the sites being deployed. To fully cope with both THE OPERATOR and Ben
expectations, a number of RF parameters have to be clearly explained. With Site
Master numerous things can be done, but to speed-up the production of UMTS
sites we will attempt to focus on the most relevant and rather important
parameters.

Obviously, the aim is to update the Planning Tool with the accurate feeder loss
values but also to prevent high power outage.

4. Technical Input

4.1. Site Master Measurements

With Site Master the following measurements are possible :

a) Attenuation of Complete Transmission Line

Purpose : Check if the overall loss (bottom-jumper + Feeder + Top-Jumper)

does not exceed, say 3 dB.

How : Short-cut loaded Transmission line (bottom-jumper + Feeder + Top-

Jumper). Return Loss measured and taken at frequency such that the Return
loss is the maximum (absolute value for worst case frequency).

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Importance : High

Reason : Cable Loss will be used for accurate propagation and linkbudget
calculations to reflect the real situation.

b) Length of Complete Transmission Line

Purpose : Check cable length loss (bottom-jumper + Feeder + Top-Jumper)

and compare with the planned one

How : Short-cut loaded Transmission line (bottom-jumper + Feeder + Top-

Jumper) and Site Master set on DTF/Return Loss and connected to jumper 1
(see ANNEX 1). A graph (return Loss vs Distance) is displayed. Only one
Marker is used : Maximum Return loss leads to an accurate length
corresponding to this maximum value.

Importance : Low

Reason : RF Planning does not need this info provided that feeder loss is
supplied. However, for our Mams Database and site tracking this should be
important.

c) Frequency Domain Return Loss for Complete Transmission Line

Purpose : Check if the total return loss of the whole transmission line is
below, say -24 dB (0.4% maximum power reflection).

How : A Matched Load is used with the whole Transmission line. Return Loss
measured in point 1 (see ANNEX 1). A single marker is used corresponding to
the maximum return loss.

Importance : Very High

Reason : If we agree on a maximum overall return loss of -24 dB then we need

to check whether this specification is met using this measurement. Otherwise,
one of the elements is faulty (i.e. connectors and/or jumpers or feeder).

d) Distance Domain Return Loss for Complete Transmission Line

Purpose : Check the return loss of each separate component is below

maximum admissible values.

How : A Matched Load used on connector 4 and two Markers are used. One
for bottom jumper and one for top-jumper. Maximum values are then taken
and compared to the specifications (to be agreed upon !)

THE OPERATOR Specifies the following (Maximum values : -36 dB for

feeders and -32.5 dB for connectors)

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Importance : Very High

Reason : allows to check if a connector or a feeder is faulty, especially during

site maintenance. Initial site design does not require such detail.

e) Frequency Domain Return Loss for Complete Antenna Installation

Purpose : Check if the complete Transmission Line return loss (including

antenna) is within the agreed/required specs. The maximum overall allowable
return loss depends upon the antenna’s maximum allowable return loss.

How : Antenna connected this time, the return loss of the overall system in the
frequency domain is measured using one marker (highest value). This value is
then compared to the maximum RL given by the Antenna manufacturer.

Example : For Thales 2209 T6, the manufacturer specifies –15.56 dB.

Importance : High

Reason : Obviously the most relevant measurement to be performed as this

reflects the ”Live Network” situation.

f) Distance Domain Return Loss for Complete Antenna Installation

Purpose : Check if the complete Transmission Line return loss (including

antenna) is within the agreed/required specs. The maximum overall allowable
return loss depends upon the antenna’s maximum allowable return loss. This
is performed in the Distance Domain.

How : Same as in e) except that there are 3 Markers. One for the bottom
connector, one for the top connector, and one for the antenna.

Importance : Low

Reason : Redundant measurement. The only interesting thing here is that it

enables the check of distances to the “fault” and double-check that the
maximum admissible values (individual Return loss) meet the requirements.

4.2. Reflectometry

Site Master uses the Frequency Domain Reflectometry (FDR), which is a well-
known technique. First, a narrow pulse is sent through the transmission line under
study and the reflected impulse response is then processed and analysed. This
impulse response is in fact converted to an Analogue discrete stream of samples
(according to Shannon Theorem) and then sampled and converted to Digital data
(using a A/D converter), and finally an FFT is applied to get the frequency
response. The frequency-domain data is thus displayed on the Site Master screen
for further analyses.

Figure 1 below illustrates the characteristics of faulty transmission lines :

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Incident Pulse
Load : Antenna,
Short-circuit or
Open End

Using basic Fourier analysis, the impulse response in the frequency domain can be
written as :

n =∞
h(t ) = ∑A
n = −∞
n exp( jnω c t ) (1)

An are the discrete amplitudes given by the sampler and ωc is nothing but the
carrier frequency. Afterwards, an FFT is applied to the above impulse response to
obtain the Spectrum response of the transmission line. The FFT function will have
the oscillating behaviour as the impulse response contains also oscillating
contributions. The presence of sine and cosine in the FFT explain why the
frequency response is oscillating. Site Master always shows such an oscillating
behaviour, which confirms this theoretical analysis. The values of An will
influence the amplitudes of each maximum we see on the Site Master display.

4.3. Velocity in a Coax Cable

In a coax cable the propagation is on a TEM mode basis where the power is
represented by the Poynting Vector. The cut-off frequency is given by the
resolution of the Maxwell’s equation in a cylindrical confined medium filled by a
dielectric material (Ni-Teflon, Polypropylene, etc.). The velocity inside the
waveguide (coax) is given by :

c
vp =
εr (2)

This parameter is very important for Site Master for length computation. In fact
the length is given by :

L = v p .∆t (3)

The accuracy of L is strongly dependent upon the knowledge of Vp, which is a

manufacturer-specific value, and of course the time measurement between the first
DC impulse and the received one, reflected by the “obstacle” or the fault (either a
connector, antenna or any fault due to aging of the cable for example).

4.4. Return Loss in a Coax

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The amount of lost energy (not transmitted to the antenna) is expressed in the
return loss. This can be due to impedance mismatch (aging antenna for example),
or connector or cable problems.

This section is very important because so far Ben and THE OPERATOR were
using different values. THE OPERATOR proposes a value not exceeding (e.g. -30
dB) for the return loss.

The return loss is nothing but the dB value of the Reflection coefficient and is
given by :

RdB = 20 log( ρ ) (4)

e.g. for a reflected power of 0.4% (0.004) the return loss is 24.3 dB ! therefore, a
return loss of 30 dB corresponds to a reflected power of 0.1 %.

As a reminder, the relationship between the Transmitted power (%) and the
reflection coefficient is as follows :

PTransmitte d (%) = 100 × (1 − ρ 2 ) (5)

The reflected power (%) is thus straightforward :

∴
PRe flected (%) =100 − PTransmitte d (%) (6)

THE OPERATOR proposes to tolerate up to 0.4% of reflected

power, which leads to a maximum return loss of -24.3 dB.

Table 1 : Return Loss versus VSWR

% Power
VSWR Reflec. Coef Return Loss Transmitted % Power Reflected
1 0,000 Infinity 100,0% 0,0%
1,01 0,005 46,06 100,0% 0,0%
1,02 0,010 40,09 100,0% 0,0%
1,03 0,015 36,61 100,0% 0,0%
1,04 0,020 34,15 100,0% 0,0%
1,05 0,024 32,26 99,9% 0,1%
1,06 0,029 30,71 99,9% 0,1%
1,07 0,034 29,42 99,9% 0,1%
1,08 0,038 28,30 99,9% 0,1%
1,09 0,043 27,32 99,8% 0,2%
1,1 0,048 26,44 99,8% 0,2%
1,11 0,052 25,66 99,7% 0,3%
1,12 0,057 24,94 99,7% 0,3%

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1,13 0,061 24,29 99,6% 0,4%

1,14 0,065 23,69 99,6% 0,4%
1,15 0,070 23,13 99,5% 0,5%
1,16 0,074 22,61 99,5% 0,5%
1,17 0,078 22,12 99,4% 0,6%
1,18 0,083 21,66 99,3% 0,7%
1,19 0,087 21,23 99,2% 0,8%
1,2 0,091 20,83 99,2% 0,8%
1,21 0,095 20,44 99,1% 0,9%
1,22 0,099 20,08 99,0% 1,0%
1,23 0,103 19,73 98,9% 1,1%
1,24 0,107 19,40 98,9% 1,1%
1,25 0,111 19,08 98,8% 1,2%
1,26 0,115 18,78 98,7% 1,3%
1,27 0,119 18,49 98,6% 1,4%
1,28 0,123 18,22 98,5% 1,5%
1,29 0,127 17,95 98,4% 1,6%
1,3 0,130 17,69 98,3% 1,7%
1,31 0,134 17,45 98,2% 1,8%
1,32 0,138 17,21 98,1% 1,9%
1,33 0,142 16,98 98,0% 2,0%
1,34 0,145 16,75 97,9% 2,1%
1,35 0,149 16,54 97,8% 2,2%
1,36 0,153 16,33 97,7% 2,3%
1,37 0,156 16,13 97,6% 2,4%
1,38 0,160 15,94 97,5% 2,5%
1,39 0,163 15,75 97,3% 2,7%
1,4 0,167 15,56 97,2% 2,8%

Note : A VSWR of 1.13 is an acceptable figure and this will not lead to any
problem in DL transmission.

4.5. Coax and a Matched Load

In theory, a matched load produces no standing waves. In practice this is never

true. According to measurements the response is also oscillating (resonance) and
therefore frequency-dependent. This is due to external noise which leads to this
random behaviour. Only inside anechoic chambers the problem can be solved.

4.6. Coax and an Antenna

The most relevant and important measurement is the Return Loss with an antenna
connected. Within THE OPERATOR the following antennas will be used :

Antenna Type Maximum VSWR Maximum Return Loss

Thales 2209 1.4 : 1 -15.56 dB
Kathrein 742 233 1.5 : 1 -13.98 dB
Kathrein 742 211 1.4 : 1 -15.56 dB
The overall set up is shown on ANNEX 1.

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4.7. Feeder Loss Measurement

Feeder loss measurements are very important. This guarantees that the measured
value SHALL be the value the Planning Tool will be using. Besides, this is a
double-check of the values given by the coax cable manufacturer, for a given
length.

5. Concluding Recommendations

According to the abovementioned measurement sets described in Section 4.1.

THE OPERATOR proposes to keep the following measurements and discard the
remaining ones:

a) Feeder Loss Measurement is of evident importance

c) Frequency Domain Return Loss with a Matched Load to check the overall
Return Loss

d) Distance to Fault Return Loss : Allows to check each connector status (useful
during site maintenance)

e) Frequency domain Return Loss Measurement for the complete set (including
antenna). This is the most important and most relevant one because it
encompasses the whole elements (Connectors, feeders, antenna).

Instead of 6 measurements, THE OPERATOR proposes only 4 most important

Site Master Measurements without jeopardizing the quality of the transmission
line + antenna system to be deployed.

6. Technical References

[1] Site Master User’s Manual, www.anritsu.com

[2] Bill JAUCHLER, “Return Loss Testing in the Field”, EMS Wireless Technical
Support.

[3] Alpha Industries, “Return Loss Table”, www.alphaind.com

[4] Hatem MOKHTARI, Alain NYECK, Catherine and Andre TOSSER-

ROUSSEY, “Finite Difference Method and Pspice Simulation Applied to the
Coaxial Cable in a Linear Temperature Gradient”, IEE Proceedings-A, Vol. 139,
No. 1, pp. 39-41, January, 1992.

[5] Hatem MOKHTARI, Catherine and Andre TOSSER-ROUSSEY, “Thermal

Fault Temperature Measurement Along a Coaxial Cable Using the Finite
Difference Method Applied to the Electromagnetic Wave Propagation Equation”,
8th International Conference on CAD/CAM, August 1992, Metz, France

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Key words : Return Loss, Antenna, Connectors, Feeder__________________________________________________________

ANNEX 1
SITE MASTER
MEASUREMENT SETUP

Antenna

Top-Jumper

Feeder

2
1

To Site
Master Bottom-Jumper
Connector

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