Chapter One

1 Introduction
A Microwave Link Design is a communications system that uses a beam of radio waves in
the microwave frequency range to transmit information between two fixed locations on the
earth. Microwave Links can carry up to 400Mbps in a 56MHz channel using 256QAM
modulation and IP header compression techniques. Operating Distances for microwave links
are determined by antenna size (gain), frequency band, and link capacity. The availability of
clear Line of Sight is crucial for Microwave links for which the Earth’s curvature has to be
allowed Microwave links are commonly used by television broadcasters to transmit programs
across a country, for instance, or from an outside broadcast back to a studio. Mobile units can
be camera mounted, allowing cameras the freedom to move around without trailing cables. A
microwave link fundamentally consists of a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter and
the receiver are each connected to an antenna.
In terrestrial microwave links, a diversity scheme refers to a method for improving the
reliability of a message signal by using two or more communication channels with different
characteristics. Diversity plays an important role in combatting fading and co-channel
interference and avoiding error bursts. It is based on the fact that individual channels
experience different levels of fading and interference. Multiple versions of the same signal
may be transmitted and/or received and combined in the receiver. Alternatively, a redundant
forward error correction code may be added and different parts of the message transmitted
over different channels. Diversity techniques may exploit the multipath propagation, resulting
in a diversity gain, often measured in decibels.
They are crucial to many forms of communication and impact a broad range of industries.
Broadcasters use microwave links to send programs from the studio to the transmitter
location, which might be miles away. Microwave links carry cellular telephone calls between
cell sites.
Wireless Internet service providers use microwave links to provide their clients with high-
speed Internet access without the need for cable connections. Telephone companies
transmit calls between switching centers over microwave links, although fairly recently they
have been largely supplanted by fiber-optic cables. Companies and government agencies
use them to provide communications networks between nearby facilities within an
organization, such as a company with several buildings within a city.
One of the reasons microwave links are so adaptable is that they are broadband. That
means they can move large amounts of information at high speeds. Another important
quality of microwave links is that they require no equipment or facilities between the two
terminal points, so installing a microwave link is often faster and less costly than a cable
connection.
In the succeeding part, They can be used almost anywhere, as long as the distance to be
spanned is within the operating range of the equipment and there is clear path (that is, no
solid obstacles) between the locations. Microwaves are also able to penetrate rain, fog, and
snow, which mean bad weather doesn’t disrupt transmission.
The basic components required for operating a radio link are the transmitter, towers,
antennas, and receiver. These basic components exist in every radio communications
system, including cellular telephones, two-way radios, wireless networks, and commercial
broadcasting. But the technology used in microwave links differs markedly from that used at
the lower frequencies (longer wavelengths) in the radio spectrum. Techniques and
components that work well at low frequencies are not useable at the higher frequencies
(shorter wavelengths) used in microwave links. For example, ordinary wires and cables
function poorly as conductors of microwave signals.
Microwave frequencies allow engineers to take advantage of certain principles that are
impractical to apply at lower frequencies. One example is the use of a parabolic or ―dish‖
antenna to focus a microwave radio beam. Such antennas can be designed to operate at
much lower frequencies, but they would be too large to be economical for most purposes.
In a microwave link the the transmitter produces a microwave signal that carries the
information to be communicated. transmitter functions typically include multiplexing,
encoding, modulation, up-conversion from baseband or intermediate frequency (IF) to radio
frequency (RF), power amplification, and filtering for spectrum control.
The transmitter has two fundamental jobs: generating microwave energy at the required
frequency and power level, and modulating it with the input signal so that it conveys
meaningful information. Modulation is accomplished by varying some characteristic of the
energy in response to the transmitter’s input. Flashing a light to transmit a message in
Morse Code is an example of modulation. The differing lengths of the flashes (the dots and
dashes), and the intervals of darkness between them, convey the information—in this case a
text message.
The second integral part of a microwave link is a transmission line. This line carries the signal
from the transmitter to the antenna and, at the receiving end of the link, from the antenna
to the receiver. In electrical engineering, a transmission line is anything that conducts
current from one point to another. Lamp cord, power lines, telephone wires and speaker
cable are common transmission lines. But at microwave frequencies, those media
excessively weaken the signal. In their place, engineers use coaxial cables and, especially,
hollow pipes called waveguides.
The third part of the microwave system is receiver. The receiver extracts information from
the microwave signal and makes it available in its original form. To accomplish this, the
receiver must demodulate the signal to separate the information from the microwave
energy that carries it. The receiver must be capable of detecting very small amounts of
microwave energy, because the signal loses much of its strength on its journey.
Receiver functions include RF filtering, down-conversion from RF to IF, amplification at IF,
equalization, demodulation, decoding, and demultiplexing. To achieve point-to-point radio
links, antennas are placed on a tower or other tall structure at sufficient height to provide a
direct, unobstructed line-of-sight (LOS) path between the transmitter and receiver sites.
This entire process takes place at close to the speed of light, so transmission is virtually
instantaneous even across long distances. With all of their advantages, microwave links are
certain to be important building blocks of the world’s communications infrastructure for
years to come.

The last part of the microwave system is the antennas. On the transmitting end, the
antenna emits the microwave signal from the transmission line into free space. ―Free
space‖ is the electrical engineer’s term for the emptiness or void between the transmitting
and receiving antennas. It is not the same thing as ―the atmosphere‖ because air is not
necessary for any type of radio transmission (which is why radio works in the vacuum of
outer space). At the receiver site, an antenna pointed toward the transmitting station
collects the signal energy and feeds it into the transmission line for processing by the
receiver.
Antennas used in microwave links are highly directional, which means they tightly focus the
transmitted energy, and receive energy mainly from one specific direction. This contrasts
with antennas used in many other communications systems, such as broadcasting. By
directing the transmitter’s energy where it's needed—toward the receiver—and by
concentrating the received signal, this characteristic of microwave antennas allows
communication over long distances using small amounts of power.
Between the link’s antennas lies another vital element of the microwave link—the path
taken by the signal through the earth’s atmosphere. A clear path is critical to the microwave
link’s success. Since microwaves travel in essentially straight lines, manmade obstacles
(including possible future construction) that might block the signal must either be overcome
by tall antenna structures or avoided altogether. Natural obstacles also exist. Flat terrain can
create undesirable reflections, precipitation can absorb or scatter some of the microwave
energy, and the emergence of foliage in the spring can weaken a marginally strong signal,
which had been adequate when the trees were bare in the winter. Engineers must take all
the existing and potential problems into account when designing a microwave link.
There is little fundamental difference between transmitting antennas and receiving
antennas, since the same antenna is often used for both purposes. While some antennas
can be as simple as a wire thrown out of a window, for the best performance the right type
of antenna needs to be used. The most important properties of an antenna are its radiation
pattern and its gain (the magnitude of the signal), whether it is being used at the transmitter
or receiver. In the case of a transmitting antenna, the radiation pattern is a plot of the
power strength radiated by the antenna in different directions. As a consequence of its
radiation pattern, power radiated by an antenna may be concentrated in a particular
direction, and this directivity is expressed in terms of power gain.
1.1 Motivation
Microwave link design is the very important title that requires to research, as far as I know
there are no more microwave link design articles or reports in Somaliland. So I see that it is
very critical to have at least some research on it in order to use it as a reference it Orders to
use it in the future.
Nevertheless, when I knew and realized that there is the gap of researching and writing
about microwave link design I decided to research it on my thesis project in order to gain
more knowledge about it and cover the gap of it.
The major thing that motives us (microwave link design) to discuss and prepare this thesis
project during my project report I will have general level Understand on this project so I
proud for choosing this title as well as I choose it time I am going to prepare for it the
different aspects it takes for us to follow my best to do hard work for this project and I
believe that I will get more knowledge for preparing this project.
Furthermore, microwave communication is the most common transmission media used by
telecommunication companies in Somaliland.

1.2 Problem definition (Problem of a statement)

In the problem definition section, I will concentrate on the description of the issues that
need to be addressed by a problem -solving team, the top four factors in microwave link
design planning.
Microwave Line-of-Sight propagation system are limited, they cannot pass around hills or
mountains as lower frequency radio waves can.

Redundancy Building resiliency and redundancy into microwave Link Design are critical.
Operators need their networks running reliably to collect revenue and retain positive
relationships with their customers.
"If you lose a base station, that's not a big problem, "If you lose a whole city, it's a big
problem, because all of the revenue is gone."
Ability to re-use spectrum constraints is a major feature that comes into play in microwave
link design. How much spectrum is available for the microwave link, in what bands?
Although the use of microwave for currently much more common in Somaliland and then in
the previous years, the technology is expected to play a larger role in heterogeneous
networks as LTE deployments progress and small cells are used in larger numbers. In small
cell topology, a number of potential topologies can be used, including a Ring structure, hub,
or mesh. "There's no single answer. There's no golden rule here," In certain scenarios,
different topologies are going to fit operators' needs or the limitations of a specific
geographic location, and that factor into the microwave link design.
Capacity planning for future growth of the network also is important in microwave link
design Noted that the expectations for data growth are enormous and that operators want
to future-proof their networks as much as possible.
He also pointed out that in the cellular industry; technology standard releases are becoming
increasingly numerous — which means that base stations and other pieces of network
equipment are expected to be replaced faster than in the past. The technology cycle for 3G
was on the scale of 10 years, but now the life cycle of base station equipment is likely to be
closer to five generation.
The things that we deploy now may be obsolete in five years, And it's not just the network,
they may change out the base stations because there's a new technology that has a lower
cost of ownership, which may have different requirements total cost of ownership (TCO) is
another factor that must be considered in microwave link design, he added. TCO "is not just
about the cost of the equipment, but can we save on the power bill? On the spectrum
license?.
As network technologies' lifespans decrease, operators are ever more interested in gaining
back a return on investment as quickly as possible and looking for the most efficient
network with the lowest total cost of ownership.
Over that five-year lifespan, the operational cost of the equipment can easily be more than
the cost of the equipment itself. In particular, operators are committing to reduce their
environmental footprint by reducing the power consumption of their networks – which also
saves them money. So power usage must be balanced within the design of the microwave
link.
Wireless and microwave point to point links are widely used as a quick-to-deploy and cost-
effective alternative to fiber optic cabling for interconnecting the network of two sites with
distances of few hundred meters and up to 50 km or more.
However like any other solution and probably more than many others, establishing a
reliable and high-quality microwave point to point link can be quite challenging, and if it is
not properly designed and implemented, it can cause major quality issues such as lower
throughputs, link instability, and longer than expected latency.

1.3 Objective of Project

MAIN OBJECTIVE
In this project work, an iterative technique has been presented to explain the Microwave
Communication of signal transmission for long and short distance radio communication
through microwave link with better efficiency.
To design microwave link to connect to a mobile switching center (MSC) and a base station
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
 Discuss the factors that should be considered in the design of the microwave link.

 Select possible receiver, transmitter and if necessary, repeater site locations to

provide a path link with line-of-sight (LOS).

 Visit site locations to check for land availability and for possible obstructions and
their height. controller (BSC) in some distance, in the line of sight (LOS) between the
two MSC and BSC.

1.4 Limitations of Project

There are many barriers toward every Project; the most common limitations are
TIME, MATERIAL & COST. However, this project has extra limitations and they are as
follows:

Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) This ratio is measured by dB and shows the strength of
signal vs. the noise level for that frequency channel. The higher the value, the better but
it should be at least 20 dB .

Bit Error Rate (BER) the bits of data with errors and the total number of bits that have
been transmitted during a period of time. The value is usually expressed as 10 to a
negative power. The lower this number, the better is the link quality. Good BER rates are
usually in a range of 10 -8 or better.

Bandwidth Throughput this is the actual amount of data that can be transferred per
second and is expressed by bits per second – for example, a bandwidth throughput of
100 Mbps means about 100 megabits of data can be transferred by the link in every
second. Obviously the larger this number, the better the link.

Latency Link latency determines how much time it would take to transfer the data – for
a good microwave link, the latency should be fixed and not going over 2-3 ms. The
easiest way to check the latency is to ping the destination device.

Link Availability This parameter is expressed in effiency and determines for what
effiency of the time the link has been established over a certain period of time, usually in
a 12 months period. A reliable microwave link should have link availability as good as
99.999%. As microwave links can be well affected by time of day as well as many other
geographical factors, for critical links it would be important to have a constant test of at
least 48 hours
1.5 Organization of Documentation