Chapter 18: Terrestrial Microwave Communication Systems

TRUE/FALSE 1. Microwave links are still used to carry telephone signals. ANS: T 2. Microwave links carry analog data only. ANS: F 3. Microwave links carry video signals for television. ANS: T 4. Microwave links are point-to-point. ANS: T 5. Microwave links are always "multi-hop". ANS: F 6. Microwave links are line-of-sight. ANS: T 7. Because of reliability, microwave links typically suffer about one hour of "downtime" a month. ANS: F 8. Microwave systems should use as few repeaters as possible. ANS: T 9. In analog microwave systems, additional links add to the noise level. ANS: T 10. In digital microwave systems, additional links have no negative affects. ANS: F 11. Microwave links typically use power levels under 10 watts. ANS: T 12. The "line-of-sight" distance for microwaves is about a third longer than it is for visible light. ANS: T

13. Diffraction is not an issue with microwave links. ANS: F 14. Antenna height for microwave links must be below the "Fresnel zone". ANS: F 15. For analog microwave systems, the carrier-to-noise ratio must exceed a certain minimum. ANS: T 16. For microwave links, it is more convenient to use noise temperature than noise figure. ANS: T 17. For digital microwave links, energy per bit is a key parameter. ANS: T 18. An Eb / N0 ratio of about 3 dB is sufficient for most digital microwave links. ANS: F 19. Above 10 GHz, fading due to rain is not a problem. ANS: F 20. One cause of fading in a microwave system is "ducting". ANS: T 21. Compensation for fading due to multipath reception is usually done using "diversity". ANS: T 22. Diversity can be achieved by mounting two antennas on a tower, one above the other. ANS: T 23. Diversity can be achieved by using two microwave frequencies. ANS: T 24. Repeaters typically receive a signal and retransmit it on the same frequency. ANS: F 25. Analog microwave repeaters can be either "baseband" or "IF" repeaters. ANS: T 26. MMDS systems are bidirectional.

ANS: F 27. LMDS systems are bidirectional. ANS: T MULTIPLE CHOICE 1. Another term for a single microwave link is a: a. section c. skip b. hop d. jump ANS: B 2. Microwave systems use: a. FM b. SSB ANS: D 3. The typical reliability of a microwave system is: a. 90% c. 99.9% b. 99% d. 99.99% ANS: D 4. A typical microwave system uses a transmitted power of about: a. 2 watts c. 200 watts b. 20 watts d. none of the above ANS: A 5. In analog microwave systems, additional repeaters increase the: a. reliability c. jitter b. noise level d. all of the above ANS: B 6. In digital microwave systems, additional repeaters increase the: a. reliability c. jitter b. noise level d. all of the above ANS: C 7. LOS stands for: a. Loss Of Skip b. Loss Of Signal ANS: C 8. Too much antenna gain causes: a. a very narrow microwave beam b. a very wide microwave beam ANS: A c. excessive noise d. jitter c. Line-Of-Sight d. Line-Of-Signal c. QAM d. all of the above

9. The microwave signal path should clear obstacles by at least: a. 60% of the Faraday zone c. 60% of the height of the antenna tower b. 60% of the Fresnel zone d. 60% of the highest obstacle height ANS: B 10. Satisfactory performance of an analog microwave system is defined as: a. a carrier-to-noise ratio that exceeds a given value b. an ERP level that exceeds a given value c. an energy-per-hertz level that exceeds a given value d. none of the above ANS: A 11. Satisfactory performance of a digital microwave system requires a: a. low level of transmitted power b. high level of ERP c. good energy per bit per transmitted Watt ratio d. good energy per bit per noise density ratio ANS: D 12. Fading is caused by: a. multipath reception b. attenuation due to weather ANS: D 13. The effects of fading due to multipath reception are often reduced using: a. diversity c. high-gain antennas b. power d. all of the above ANS: A 14. Repeaters are used in a microwave system: a. always b. when distance exceeds line-of-sight ANS: B 15. Microwave repeaters can be: a. IF type b. baseband type ANS: D 16. An advantage of digital techniques over analog in a microwave system is: a. less bandwidth is required c. it requires less power b. accumulation of noise is reduced d. all of the above ANS: B 17. MMDS stands for: a. Multichannel Microwave Distribution System b. Multipoint Microwave Distribution System c. regenerative type d. all of the above c. above 10 GHz d. below 10 GHz c. ducting d. all of the above

c. Multichannel Multipoint Distribution System d. Multiple Microwave Distribution Systems ANS: C 18. LMDS stands for: a. Local Microwave Distribution System b. Local Multipoint Distribution System c. Local Multichannel Distribution System d. Low-power Microwave Distribution System ANS: B 19. LMDS is: a. bidirectional b. unidirectional ANS: A COMPLETION 1. One microwave link is called a ____________________. ANS: hop 2. STL stands for ____________________-to-transmitter links. ANS: studio 3. A typical microwave system has about one hour per ____________________ or less of downtime. ANS: year 4. Adding more links causes ____________________ in a digital microwave system. ANS: jitter 5. In microwave systems, it is more convenient to use noise ____________________ than noise figure in calculations. ANS: temperature 6. In digital microwave systems, the energy per bit per ____________________ is a key parameter. ANS: noise density 7. Multipath reception can cause 20 dB or more of ____________________. ANS: fading 8. Two antennas stacked one above the other on a tower is an example of ____________________ diversity in a microwave system. c. multidirectional d. none of the above

ANS: space 9. The ability to use two frequencies simultaneously is an example of ____________________. ANS: diversity 10. Microwave systems generally use less than ____________________ watts of power. ANS: ten 11. ____________________ are necessary in a microwave system that extends beyond the line-ofsight distance. ANS: Repeaters 12. Analog microwave systems use both IF and ____________________ repeaters. ANS: baseband 13. Microwave digital radio techniques reduce the accumulation of ____________________ as a signal goes from link to link. ANS: noise 14. MMDS is unidirectional, but ____________________ is bidirectional. ANS: LMDS SHORT ANSWER 1. If the line-of-sight distance for an optical beam is 12 km, what would it be, approximately, for a microwave beam? ANS: 16 km 2. A line-of-sight microwave link operating at 4 GHz has a separation of 40 km between antennas. An obstacle in the path is located midway between the two antennas. By how much must the beam clear the obstacle? ANS: 16.4 meters 3. A transmitter and receiver operating at 1 GHz are separated by 10 km. How many dBm of power gets to the receiver if the transmitter puts out 1 Watt, and both the sending and receiving antennas have a gain of 20 dBi? ANS: 42.4 dBm 4. A microwave system has a feed-line loss of 2 dB and sees a sky temperature of 150 K. Calculate the noise temperature of the antenna/feed-line system referenced to the receiver input.

ANS: 201 K 5. A microwave receiver receives 60 dBm of signal. The noise power is 100 dBm. What is the carrier-to-noise power ratio? ANS: 40 dB