Alpha Omega Wireless, Inc.

– Wireless White Paper

Non Line of Sight

Point to Point Wireless Backhaul

4/23/2010

Presented by:

Alpha Omega Wireless

5710 Auburn Blvd, Suite 2
Sacramento, CA 95841
800-997-9250 main
916-244-2626 fax
www.aowireless.com
info@aowireless.com

This document contains strict, proprietary, and confidential information that has been developed and/or obtained by Alpha
Omega Wireless™. The enclosed information in this document is an asset of Alpha Omega Wireless™ which provides a
significant competitive advantage, and requires protection from improper discloser. No part of this document in any manner,
either directly or indirectly, shall be disclosed, divulged, duplicated, or used, in whole or in part for any purpose outside of the
Client mentioned with in this document, its employees, agents, and representatives other than for client evaluation.

Confidential Page 1 4/23/2010

Alpha Omega Wireless, Inc. – Wireless White Paper
5710 Auburn Blvd
Suite 2
Sacramento, CA 95841
800-997-9250 main
916-244-2626 fax
www.aowireless.com
info@aowireless.com

Non Line of Sight

Point to Point Wireless Backhaul
Does an outdoor wireless point to point bridge require Line-of-Sight (“LOS”) or can a quality
wireless Ethernet bridge perform under Non-line-of-Sight (“NLOS”) conditions? LOS is when
both antennas in a outdoor wireless bridge system must have clear visibility with one another and
have no encroachments to the first Fresnel Zone. In a NLOS situation there is either limited
visibility from one wireless antenna to the other (near-line-of-sight or” nLOS”) caused by a
Fresnel Zone encroachment or complete obstruction blocking the visibility between the two
wireless antennas.

The answer depends on the individual path and the throughput requirement. In many cases, if the
wireless design and wireless installation is done properly a quality NLOS microwave link will
provide good quality high bandwidth.

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Alpha Omega Wireless, Inc. – Wireless White Paper

General Overview of Point to Point Wireless Backhaul:

A typical outdoor wireless backhaul is used to pass higher throughput over greater distances.
Outdoor wireless bridges operate in the SHF (Super High Frequency) band in unlicensed wireless
backhaul 5.3GHz, 4.9GHz, 5.4GHz, 5.8GHz, and 24GHz or licensed microwave backhaul 6GHz,
11GHz, 18GHz, and 23GHz. There is also unlicensed 60GHz and registered 80GHz millimeter
wave in the EHF (Extreme High Frequency) band. The unlicensed frequencies wireless Ethernet
bridges typically provide from 10Mbps to 300Mbps aggregate throughput. Unlicensed 24GHz
and licensed microwave links offer up to 360+Mbps Full Duplex. 60GHz and 80GHz wireless
bridge systems can provide up to GigE Full Duplex (gigabit wireless). The higher frequencies
through do not do well with penetrating obstructions.

For an outdoor wireless bridge to work the system gain must be greater that the total Path
Loss. Historically, an outdoor wireless bridge required LOS providing first Fresnel Zone
clearance. By having no obstructions in the first Fresnel Zone the receive signal are
optimized and the out of phase signals are minimized. (note: the microwave
communication Fresnel Zone that is required for the outdoor wireless is calculated based
on the wireless backhaul radio's performance, transmitting frequency, antenna
polarization, transmitting power, receiving gain, environment, etc.).

General Overview of Non-Line-of Sight Wireless Bridges

When considering a point to point wireless backhaul, whether a licensed microwave link or an
unlicensed wireless Ethernet bridge, one of the first questions asked is if there needs to be LOS to
get a microwave link. Many don’t understand the difference between wireless bridge technologies
that they are use to (like cellular and cordless phones or Wi-Fi) compared to an outdoor point to
point wireless Ethernet bridge.

Devices like cellular operate in a range from 800MHz to 1900MHz of the UHF (Ultra High
Frequency) band. These frequencies do well with penetrating obstructions but have limited
throughput capabilities. Most Wi-Fi operates in the 2.4GHz frequency of the UHF band and can
provide higher bandwidth but is very limited in distance. Microwave communication signals
are highly attenuated by an obstructed path. In a NLOS microwave link the RF signals
will get to a destination by: diffraction around an object, reflection off objects, or by
penetration through the obstruction.

For an outdoor wireless bridge, being used for high bandwidth, point to point backhaul to work in
a NLOS application there are several requirements that need to be met. Proper power budget, fade
mitigation, adaptive link characteristics, and proper demodulation in regards to dispersion.
Because of obstructions in a NLOS situation there tends to be a large amount of multipath.
Obstructions like trees add to multipath and add attenuation to the overall Path Loss of the
microwave link. Trees can be tricky because they are not constant due to movement caused by
wind, foliage changes during various seasons, moisture content of the foliage, etc. Constant
obstructions like buildings or hills are easier to model and predict.

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Alpha Omega Wireless, Inc. – Wireless White Paper

General Overview of NLOS Wireless Technology

Current wireless backhaul technologies can help in NLOS cases. MIMO (Multiple Input
Multiple Output) antenna signaling and spatial diversity reduces the amount of fade
margin required by almost 25dB. OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing)
which divides the data into several parallel data streams helping the fading that occurs
with multipath. Adaptive rate modulation also helps by giving the wireless backhaul
radio the ability to manage the modulation scheme and bandwidth according to the RSL
(receive signal level) optimizing the microwave communication link. Outdoor wireless
bridges that can take advantage of these wireless backhaul technologies are the
unlicensed wireless systems. Unlicensed wireless backhaul using these wireless
technologies can provide up to 300Mbps aggregate throughput (depending again on the
characteristics of the microwave link path).

A common question of why a licensed microwave link, which can provide higher, full
duplex connectivity, doesn’t use OFDM wireless or MIMO antenna solutions and why
they can’t be used in NLOS (non line of sight) applications. In a NLOS wireless link
application point to point wireless Ethernet bridge radios that use OFDM or MIMO take
advantage of multipath for their connectivity. Because a licensed microwave link is not to
inject any interference on other licensed microwave backhaul operators in the area they
must have LOS (line of sight) and not cause heavy multipath. If a licensed microwave
radio was to cause a lot of wireless multipath it could potentially reflect into another
existing licensed microwave communication radio belonging to another party.

Prior to considering a NLOS wireless backhaul, a wireless site survey and a proper
wireless path calculation should be performed. Field test may need to be performed in
order to verify if a NLOS microwave link will work or to gather accurate estimates on
throughput performance. As with any point to point wireless backhaul, a certified expert
should perform the wireless installation. When an organization needs a carrier grade
network connection where fiber is not an option or is too expensive, a point to point
wireless bridge is a cost effective solution.

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