Designing a MW Transmission Network

A Basic Tutorial
Simon Baldwin
Agenda
Digital Systems
Digital Transmission Techniques
SDH
PDH
Architectures
Multiplex Hierarchies
Benefits of each
Planning Objectives
Availability
Error Performance
Components of the System
Deployed Equipment
System Arrangements and Capacities
Preplanning
Location of Equipment
Path Profiles
Fresnel Zones
Signal Propagation
Free Space Propagation
Fading
Diffraction and Reflection
Designing Links
Stages to the design
Introduction
Modern digital MW radio systems make it possible to provide
high capacity transmission links over distances of up to 80km
MW is an economic transmission option in terms of rapid
deployment, network control and ownership
MW radio systems are easy to maintain and offer flexibility in
reconfiguration and growth in transmission capacity
In telecoms networks the range of frequencies ranges from 2
38GHz. Capacities range from low (<4x3Mb), medium (16x2Mb)
and high (n x 155Mb)
MW networks are generally SDH or PDH, depending on the
requirement
Digital Systems
Baseband
The baseband for a digital system consists of a
number of PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) traffic
channels which are TDM (Time Division Multiplexed)
together
A 4kHz telephone traffic channel will be sampled at a
frequency of 8kHz with each sample binary encoded
into an 8 bit word which forms a 64kb/s data stream
30 traffic channels + 2 control channels are
interleaved together to form a standard 32 channel,
2mb/s data stream
In order to synchronise the bits, Line Coding is used
which enables the bit clock information to accompany
the data
Types of Network: PDH
Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (meaning almost synchronous), PDH, is a
transmission technology used in telecoms networks to transport large quantities of
data over digital radio systems (MW and fibre)
PDH allows transmission of data streams that are nominally running at the same rate,
but allowing a variation on the speed of the nominal rate
Globally there are various versions of the hierarchies of bit rates on a PDH system
Level US Japan International
0 56k 56k 64k
1 1.544mb (T1/DS1) 1.544mb (J1) 2.048mb (E1)
2 6.312mb (DS2) 6.312mb (J2) 8.448mb (E2)
3 44.736mb (DS3) 32.064mb (J3) 34.368mb (E3)
4 139.264mb (DS4) 97.728mb (J4) 139.264mb (E4)
In Europe the basic transfer rate is 2mb. For speech transmission this is broken down
into:
30 x 64k TDM timeslots for the conversation
2 x 64k timeslots (TS0 for the synchronisation and TS16 for the signalling)
Alternatively for data transmission the whole 2mb can be used
The exact rate of the 2mb data stream is controlled by a clock in the equipment
generating the data. This rate is allowed to vary slightly (+/- 50ppm) either side of the
2mb. This means that there are probably different 2mb data streams running in the
network (this makes it plesiochronous)
PDH Technology
In order to move multiple 2mb data streams in the system, they are combined
together (multiplexed) in groups of 4
This is done by taking 1 bit from stream 1 followed by 1 bit from stream 2, then 1
from stream 3, then 1 from stream 4
To nearly synchronise the 4 data streams allowing aggregation and combining,
padding bits (known as justification bits) are inserted to the stream
In a synchronous network consecutive instances of slot 25 (for example) would
be 125s apart. However once justification bits are added, the sequence is
disrupted making it impossible to demultiplex slot 25 based upon synchronous
timing.
The only solution is to completely demultiplex the whole structure to determine
whether these justification bits are present. The whole structure then needs to
be remultiplexed ready for the next link. This prevents partial demultiplexing and
allowing lower order rates to be easily extracted
To slow the process up even more the demultiplexing needs to be achieved in
steps. Therefore the process of recovering a 64k channel from a 140mb stream
is:
140mb 34mb
34mb 8mb
8mb 2mb (from where the 64k channel can be recovered)
Types of Network: SDH
Synchronous Digital Hierarchy, SDH (or SONET in the US) has been around since
1990. It was developed because the old system (PDH) was not able to economically
provide higher order bandwidth (+140Mb)
It is vendor independent and feature rich, allowing operators to develop new network
applications and new topologies
SDH can carry PDHs hierarchy of bit rates except 8Mb (2, 34 &140Mb)
The standard SDH transmission rate is 155Mb (STM-1). The maximum is around
10Gb (STM-64)
SDH radio systems are compatible with SDH fibre systems
In a mobile network SDH systems are typically deployed where high capacity,
resilience, protection and restoration are important
In the core network
Trunk transmission
Each SDH payload is transmitted in a container synchronous with the STM-1 frame.
Selected payloads can be inserted or extracted from the STM-n without the need to
fully hierarchically de-multiplex (as in PDH)
All SDH equipment is SW controlled allowing centralised management of the network
configuration
SDH Technology
SDH standards govern frame rates and formats, interface parameters,
multiplexing methods, network operations, administration, maintenance and
provisioning for high-speed transmission.
SDH is more efficiently demultiplexed because there are pointers in the frame
headers which indicate precisely where the sub-multiplex frames begin.
Because of this a single slot can easily be picked out without having to
dismantle the whole structure
In terms of the OSI model SDH is purely a Physical Layer technology
SDH is designed to create an end-to-end connection between various networks.
Communication between the networks is not a problem because SDH encodes
signals from the source network into the SDH format and transmitting to the
destination network. The SDH signal is decoded at the destination into the user
format
SDH payloads consist of Virtual Containers (VCs) which are used to transport
lower speed tributary signals (and the PDH data streams)
VCs consist of:
Payload: The information part of the message (PDH frames, ATM cells etc)
Overhead: The signalling and protocol information (Path overhead, Payload
information etc)
SDH Architectures
ADM ADM
ADM ADM
ADM ADM
ADM
ADMs are the main building blocks of the SDH network
They allow lower order data rates to be dropped and added
to the SDH ring. E.g. drop add an STM-1 into an STM-4
bit-stream without changing the STM-4 structure
ADM
ADM
ADM
ADM
SDH circuits counter rotating
1 working
1 standby
SDH Benefits
Software Control: Allows extensive use of intelligent network
management software for high flexibility, fast and easy re-configuration
and efficient network management
Survivability: With SDH ring networks become more practicable and
their use enables automatic reconfiguration and traffic rerouting when a
link is down
Efficient drop and insert: SDH allows simple and efficient cross-connect
without full hierarchical multiplexing or demultiplexing. A single E1 tail
can be dropped or inserted with ease even on Gbit links
Standardisation: SDH enables the interconnection of equipment from
different suppliers through support of common digital and optical
standards and interfaces
Robustness and Resilience:
Equipment Size and Operating Costs: Reduced by removing the need
for banks of multiplexors and demultiplexors
Backward Compatible: PDH traffic is supported
Future Proof: Will carry other technologies (ATM)
Multiplex Hierarchies
9953.28mb/s
2488.32mb/s
622.08mb/s
155.42mb/s
139.26mb/s
34.37mb/s
2.048mb/s
64kb/s
STM-64
STM-16
STM-4
STM-1
E4
E3
E1
E0
Typical Cellular Backhaul Network
STM-4 Ring
ADM
ADM
ADM
STM-16 Ring
ADM
BSC
ADM
ADM
ADM
MSC
PDH
PDH
PDH
PDH
PDH
PDH
PDH
PDH
PDH
PDH
PDH
Planning Objectives
Planning Objectives
The main aim of radio link planning is to achieve the required transmission
objectives in the most economical way
To do this several factors are taken into account:
Ensuring that fading and disturbances between radio links remain within the
performance objectives by performing interference calculations
Reducing the effects of the terrain on transmission quality by means of adequate
antenna heights and countering against ground reflection
Designing proper fade margins in relation to allowed fading probabilities, including
using diversity methods
There are two basic performance objectives:
Achieving required quality through various error performance parameters
Achieving required availability of the link
A measure of the transmission quality is the quantity of errors that occur.
These errors can arise through noise being introduced to the signal
Thermal noise
External interference which produces impulse noise
Whatever the noise source, there must be an objective which specifies the
number of errors permitted over a period of time for it to be considered to be
working properly
Error Performance
During the available time the error performance is
defined using the following concepts:
Severely Errored Seconds (SES); BER >10
-3
, integration
time = 1 second (this equates to 1 errored second every
thousand)
Degraded Minutes (DM); BER >10
-6
; integration time = 1
minute (equating to 1 errored minute in every million)
Errored Seconds (ES); Intervals of 1 second containing at
least 1 error
Residual Bit Error Ratio (RBER); The BER under non fading
conditions measured over 15 minutes or more
The design of radio hops in practice is usually based
upon the SES if error performance is considered to
be the limiting factor
Availability
Availability objectives are set for a period of 1 year
A system is considered unavailable if one or both of the following conditions
occurs for at least 10 consecutive seconds in at least 1 direction of transmission:
The signal is interrupted
The BER is >10-3
These 10 seconds are counted towards the unavailable time
The unavailable time ends when, for both directions of transmission, both of the
following conditions occur for at least 10 seconds:
The signal is restored
The BER is <10-3
These 10 seconds are considered to be available time
Reasons for unavailability include all unintentional statistically predictable
interruptions of service including:
Equipment failure
Fading due to propagation (weather) effects
Human interference
The estimate of unavailability includes the consideration of MTR, Mean Time to
Restore
Microwave Equipment
Arrangements
Basic Arrangement
A microwave terminal consisting of a transmitter and a receiver is located at each
end of the link
There may be a repeater in the middle
This arrangement is common when it is not necessary to provide duplicate
protection against path outages
When the link is not considered critical
1+0 1+0
Hot Standby
A microwave terminal consisting of a transmitter and a receiver is located at each end of the link
HSB configurations are used when protection is required on paths where propagation conditions are
non critical to system performance
Most operators choose to protect all but the last link in a daisy chain (see the later example)
2 transmitters are on and connected to the same frequencybut only 1 is connected to the antenna
If the operating transmitter fails, the second automatically connects to the antenna while the first is
disconnected (within milliseconds)
2 receivers are used and both are permanently connected to the antenna with both outputs being
combined into 1 resultant signal
HSB provides increased equipment reliability but does not increase propagation reliability
1+1 1+1
Space Diversity
For improvements in propagation reliability, a space diversity arrangement can be used
In this arrangement 1 transmitter and its associated antenna radiates on a transmit frequency
This signal is received by 2 receivers which are tuned to the same frequency but connected to 2
separate antennas located at different positions on the tower
The receiver output signals can be combined to give a composite output, or switching can be done
between the receivers, keeping the receiver with the best BER connected to the line
The spacing between the receivers varies depending on the bandwidth of the signal but is seldom
less than 5 metres
Space diversity provides a substantial increase in reliability, especially over highly reflective surfaces
such as water or desert, however the increase in costs attributed to 2 receiving antennas, 2 receiving
waveguide runs and stronger and taller towers makes it an expensive means of reliability
1+1 configurations can be, but are seldom used
1+0 1+0
Frequency Diversity
Frequency diversity is a cost effective technique that provides equipment protection as well as protection from
multi-path fading
This method increases the total system reliability by providing both path and equipment duplication. There are
two methods of frequency diversity:
2 transmitters are on air simultaneously and both are modulated with the same baseband signal but are
tuned to different frequencies. These two frequencies can be either within the same operating frequency
band, or in two different operating bands. Both transmitters are connected to the same antenna which
radiates the signals to the B end of the path. At the B end of the path there are two receivers, each one
accepting the incoming signal to which it is tuned. These receivers, in turn, provides as an output the
signal which modulated the transmitters. The two outputs are then combined using a combiner to
provide one signal to the multiplexer
Dual polarisation antennas can be used to enable different frequencies and different polarisations to be
transmitted and received across the same link
1+1 1+1 1+1
PDH Capacities
The capacity of the link depends upon;
The traffic that needs to be carried
The capabilities of the vendor equipment
Transmission vendor
Radio vendor
As a rule of thumb most vendors can multiplex 12 trxs onto a single 2mb link
Therefore a 4x4x4 configuration at the base station will require 2mb
A 4x4x5 configuration will require 2 x 2mb
Most operators choose to daisy chain base stations, therefore all the
configurations in the daisy chained link need to be considered
4x4x4 5x5x5 4x4x4 4x6x4 4x4x4
Hub/ADM
1x2mb 2x2mb 1x2mb 2x2mb
3x2mb 1x2mb 4x2mb 6x2mb
Site Requirement
Link Requirement
PDH Capacity Configurations
The basic PDH capacity configurations are:
4 x 2mb (which means that in the link there are 4 x 2mb circuits available for use)
8 x 2mb
16 x 2mb
The initial configuration of a link to a cell site will usually be 4 x 2mb. If the
number of trxs in use at the site totals no more than 12, only 1 of the 2mb
will be used, leaving 3 spare. If more than 12 trxs but less than 24 are
used, then 2 x 2mb will be used leaving 2 spare
The configuration is raised to 8 x 2mb when more than 4 E1s are required
The configuration is raised to 16 x 2mb when more than 8 E1s are required
As a rule of thumb, configurations of 8 x 2mb and 16 x 2mb should always
be in a 1+1 configuration because of the amount of traffic
Example PDH Capacity Config
ADM
Hub
SDH Node
4x4x4
4x4x4
4x4x4
4x4x4
4x4x4 4x4x4
4x4x4
4x4x4
4x4x4 4x4x4
4 x 2 Available
1 x 2 Used
1+0 Config
4 x 2 Available
2 x 2 Used
1+1 Config
4 x 2 Available
1 x 2 Used
1+0 Config
4 x 2 Available
1 x 2 Used
1+0 Config
4 x 2 Available
2 x 2 Used
1+1 Config
4 x 2 Available
1 x 2 Used
1+0 Config
4 x 2 Available
4 x 2 Used
1+1 Config
4 x 2 Available
3 x 2 Used
1+1 Config
4 x 2 Available
2 x 2 Used
1+1 Config
16 x 2 Available
10 x 2 Used
1+1 Config
Each cell site has 12 x TRXs
Each cell site requires 1 x E1
STM-n Ring
Deployed Equipment
Transmitters & Receivers
The basic building blocks of the microwave system which make it possible to
send and receive information at microwave frequencies
The frequencies used depend primarily on those licenced by the licencing
authorities and the distance of the hop
The table below is a rule of thumb guide and suggests the frequencies to be
considered with different hop lengths
Frequency Min Dist Max Dist
6GHz 30km 50km
7GHz 20km 35km
11GHz 12km 30km
13GHz 8km 25km
15GHz 5km 22km
18GHz 3km 15km
23GHz 1km 12km
26GHz 0.5km 10km
38GHz 0km 5km
55GHz 0km 1.5km
Antennas
Parabolic or horn antennas are used to concentrate radiated
energy into a narrow beam for MW transmission through free
space
This results in the most efficient transmission or radiated power
with a minimum of interference
Antennas vary in sizes and are usually dependant on the
distance of the hop
Therefore a 600mm antenna used on a 23GHz hop is likely to
provide similar performance to a 300mm antenna used on a 26GHz
hop
Antennas are often used in conjunction with Radomes which are
protective coverings used to prevent snow, ice, water or debris
accumulating on the antenna.
Radomes can also reduce wind load across the tower
On the down side, using a Radome results in lower antenna gain
across the link
Carrier Multiplex
The MW RF equipment has a wide bandwidth which is capable of
carrying multiple channels of information
The carrier multiplex terminal multiplexes groups of channels into a
higher bit rate digital channel and demultiplexes them back into there
individual channels at the other end of the hop
Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) is the multiplexing technique used in
microwave systems when combining 2 or more continuous channels
over the link
TDM combines data streams by assigning each stream with a different
time slot in a set.
TDM repeatedly transmits a fixed sequence of time slots over a single
transmission channel
Within the carrier system (E1, E3 etc) TDM combines PCM streams
created for each conversation or data stream
Repeaters
Active Repeaters
These are used at one or more intermediate points to regenerate the signal
when:
the distance between the transmitting and receiving equipment is too great to
allow an acceptable receive level
When it is necessary to get around an obstacle
When it is necessary to drop and insert channels at points in between the radio
link
Passive Repeaters
These are used when there is an obstacle (mountain) within the LoS and
the economics of installing an active repeater are prohibitive or there is no
need to regenerate the signal. Two types exist:
Reflective Passive Repeaters, which act as a mirror reflecting the signal to bypass
the obstacle
Back-to-Back Passive Repeaters, which receive the signal from the launch
antenna and feeds it, via a waveguide, to another launch antenna (again
bypassing the obstacle). This method involves a major loss of signal therefore it
needs to be located as close as possible to the A end or B end of the radio link
Transmission Feeders
Feeders exist to provide a means of coupling the
transmitter and receiver to the antenna
Waveguide
A circular, elliptical or rectangular metal tube or pipe through
which electromagnetic waves are propagated in microwave and
RF communications. The wave passing through the medium is
forced to follow the path determined by the physical structure of
the guide
Coaxial Cable
A type of wire that consists of a centre wire surrounded by
insulation and then a grounded shield of braided wire. The
shield minimizes electrical and radio frequency interference
Towers
The towers used in a MW system must be strong enough to
support the necessary equipment to be installed on it and rigid
enough to prevent deflection and rotation during windy
conditions or ice loading
In general two types of towers exist:
Self supporting towers are either monopole or legged towers
Guyed towers cost about a third of price of a supporting tower but
are often restricted in use because of the land required for the
installation of the guys
The height of the tower must be high enough to provide a LOS
between transmitter and receiver sites, therefore it is determined
by the terrain, the MW frequency, the propagation
characteristics of the potential link and the distance
Power and Alarms
Primary Power Sources
Primary power sources are AC or DC as specified by the vendor. In some
cases generators are used in areas where access to power is a problem but
generally at each MW equipment location there is access to a utility power
supply
Standby Power
It is imperative that some type of standby power supply is available to
maintain system operation in the event of power failure. Communication
circuits are very important during times of emergency and in many cases it
is a legal requirement of the operator to maintain communications at all
times
Alarms
Alarms are necessary to report faults on a circuit to an attended office. This
will expedite the maintenance of the system and reduce any circuit outage
times.
Pre Planning
Microwave Pre-Planning
The main objectives of the transmission network are to satisfy the capacity demands
and provide a reliable service
This can be achieved if the following criteria are incorporated into the network design:
All routes are sized to meet service demands
Traffic must be routed in the most economical manner
Survivability must be built into the network
Generally a mobile network grows rapidly within the first 3 years. To accommodate
the expansion a transmission backbone originating from the switch locations must be
built
This backbone is the networks transmission infrastructure, generally high capacity SDH
(STM-4)
The hub sites for the PDH aggregation must also be capable of simplifying growth
The tower design (equipment shelter space, power & antenna type) should all be
chosen with an eye towards expansion
The design packs should be produced using standard symbols and must be
established and maintained as the network evolves
Protection systems need to be agreed
A network management system should be in place
Location of Antenna Sites
In a mobile network the location of antenna sites will normally be
decided upon by the RF designers and planners
In order to get the signal from the nodes to these locations it might be
the task of the Microwave planner to locate repeater sites in between
already defined sites
In general there are certain considerations to follow when positioning a
site:
Sites should be located on high points so that there will be a LOS path with
some clearance over the terrain between the transmitting and receiving
antennas
The sites should be easily accessible in all weathers to allow maintenance
and upgrades to be completed economically and without major problems
Potential sites should be considered with respect to the availability and cost
of the land and should take into account applicable zoning regulations
Potential sites should consider interference from other systems, proposed
and existing, in the area
Path Profiles
If the sites are acceptable under the antenna site considerations, it is
now necessary to look at the profile of the terrain between the
proposed sites
This can be done using graph paper and topographic maps but
nowadays all terrain data is loaded onto a system such as PLANET or
Ellipse which is then used as the tool to plot the characteristics of the
link
The link characteristics such as earth curvature, obstacles and weather
predictions are then used to determine how a signal will react along the
link, for instance by how much will the signal propagate
This is the information that the designer and the design tool will use to
determine equipment types and power requirements to ensure the link
meets the specified performance objectives
Fresnel Zones
The area around the visual LOS that radio waves spread out into after they leave the
antenna is called the Fresnel Zone
The first Fresnel Zone is bounded by points through which the distance between the
transmitter and receiver = wavelength longer than the direct signal
The second Fresnel Zone is bounded by points through which the distance is 1 wavelength
longer than the direct signal
The third is bounded by points through which the distance is 1 wavelengths longer than
the direct signal
The first Fresnel Zone area must be clear or the signal strength will weaken.
There are an infinite number of Fresnel Zones, the areas of all zones are equal
The energy received from each zone decreases with distance from the primary signal and in
the first zone there remains about a quarter of the energy received from an unobstructed
signal
1
st
Fresnel Zone
Polarisation
There are 3 general rules to follow when allocating either vertical or
horizontal polarisation to a link:
Vertical polarisation should be used as much as possible in areas subject to
high rainfall. The attenuation produced by rain is polarisation dependent, a
falling drop of rain is not spherical but flattened in the horizontal plane
resulting in greater attenuation of horizontally polarised links
On longer hop lengths it is wise to use vertical polarisation as greater distances
increases the likelihood of localised rainfall somewhere along the link
Horizontal polarisation in a local area is done to minimise interference with
other links (a good assumption is that other operators usually, by default,
vertically polarise their hops)
Horizontal polarisation is better suited to built up areas (areas with high
rises, masts, flagpoles etc). In these areas there is a greater chance of
getting vertically polarised reflection than horizontally polarised reflection,
therefore when multipath fading is an issue, horizontal works better than
vertical
Signal Propagation
Free Space Propagation
The benchmark by which we measure the loss in a transmission link is the loss
that would be expected in free space that is the loss that would occur in a link
which is free of all objects and phenomena that might absorb or reflect radio
energy. Therefore the strength of the received signal depends only on the
distance and frequency between the transmitter and the receiver
Free Space
The likelihood, however, that the only losses across a link will be due just to free
space is minimal, indeed only ever achieved in a vacuum. The reality is that
atmospheric pressures cause the radio waves to bend as they interact with the
molecules in the atmosphere
Atmospheric Pressures
The Effects of the Weather
Radio energy is absorbed and scattered by the rain especially in a situation
where the wavelength of the signal approaches the diameter of the raindrop
When the drops are large enough and sufficiently concentrated the absorption
and scattering will noticably attenuate the signal of the link especially at
frequencies above 10GHz
The amount of attenuation caused by the rain depends on the intensity of the
storm, therefore it is rate of rainfall which is the determining factor and not total
rainfall. This is especially true in Saudi Arabia where the rainfall is very low
throughout the year, indeed rain is only anticipated in two or three months per
year, therefore it is unwise to average out the rainfall across the year because
the figure achieved would be significantly lower than the actual rate in the
months when it rained
Localised rainfall also needs to be considered especially along long hop lengths
where it can be raining only along a proportion of the link.
Propagation due to snow and fog becomes significant at frequencies above
30MHz and may cause additional path loss in the order of 1dB per km
Multipath Fading
Fading describes rapid changes in the amplitude of a radio signal over
a short period of time or distance travelled
In a typical wireless environment the radio-waves emitted from the
transmitter usually take different paths in getting to the receiver
depending on the obstacles in the environment
As a result the received signal is actually a sum of the various
contributions, each of which differs in both amplitude and phase
In many cases the signals combine in a destructive manner which
severely degrades the signals strength so the receiver faces the difficult
task of properly demodulating and decoding the signal into something
that resembles the original
K Factor
As a radio wave moves forward it will travel in a straight line if air pressure,
temperature and humidity allow all points on the front of the wave to travel at the
same velocity
However since these conditions are almost impossible to achieve, the upper
portion of the wave front travels slightly faster than the lower portion causing the
wave to be refracted towards the earth resulting in the radio horizon being
slightly further away than the optical horizon
This effect is described using the K value, which gives the ratio of the effective
earth radius to the real earth radius when the propagation path is a straight line
A factor of K = 1 would be appropriate where the actual earth curve and the
effective earth curve are equal, however the normal K-value (median) is 4/3 or
1.33 which indicates that the effective earth has less curvature or is flatter than
the true earth
It is possible for abnormal atmospheric conditions to refract the beam away from
the earth, in which case the K factor would be less than 1
Actual K-values will vary along a link due to temperature, air pressure and
humidity differences, therefore they are averaged out along the hop length to
reduce the variations
Diffraction and Reflection
Diffraction
Diffraction may be considered as a modification of the radio waves
as they are deflected or bent by the surface of the earth, hills and
mountains or the edges of any opaque body. Diffraction of a radio
wave concerns an engineer because obstructions which are not
necessarily in the LOS may cause the beam to attenuate
Reflection
If the terrain between the antennas reflects the radio waves
efficiently, it is possible to receive strong reflected waves either in
or out of phase with the direct wave, depending on the difference in
lengths of the direct and reflected wave paths. Reflections are
greatest when the point of reflection is over water, level moist earth,
desert sand and other types of smooth terrain. It is desirable to
adjust the tower heights or reroute the wave path so that the
reflection point will be over rough terrain. Over rough terrain radio
energy will either be absorbed or scattered, therefore the amount of
reflected energy will only be a small percentage of the total energy
The Design
Stages to MW Link Design
Assuming that the site has already been placed by the RF designers and it
has been loaded into PLANET and Ellipse, it is the job of the MW planner to
connect that site to the backbone network
The following steps are appropriate to the initial stages of the PCCW project
where the responsibility of designing the link is within MSI and the
responsibility of the LOS field surveys is that of an outside contractor:
Using Ellipse, locate the new GSM site. This is now referred to as the A end
Determine at least 5 possible B end candidates that have connections to the
network, or will be connected to the network as part of the new project, to
generate a LOS matrix. The following information is required and should be
printed as part of the candidate pack:
Path profile to ensure no natural obstructions
Link distance to begin frequency planning
The candidate pack should be issued to the relevant field survey contractor
The candidate pack will be returned with an evaluation of each potential link.
The design of the link can now begin
Determine which candidate is to be used as the B end of the link
Choose the correct frequency using the table described in the frequency slides
Stages to MW Link Design
Using Ellipse, link the A end to the B end and input the other link
characteristics:
Equipment type and frequency
Antenna size
Antenna height
Feeder types
Half band
Polarisation
Channel number
Rain intensity
Using Ellipse generate a link budget report and ensure that the link
achieves the performance objectives:
Plot the final path profile
Perform the frequency interference calculations
Prepare the FDED or Transmission Proposal including:
Design
CWO
MOP
Frequency request
Issue the pack