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MW RADIO
OVERVIEW

MW Transmission Network Planning & Design Training

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TOPICS IN THIS SECTION

RADIO SYSTEM
TRANSMITTER
RECEIVER
TRANSCEIVER
MW RADIO SYSTEMS
FUNCTIONS & FEATURES
NOISE
RECEIVER NOISE
NOISE FACTOR
NOISE FIGURE
NOISE TEMPERATURE
ATPC
XPIC
DIVERSITY TECHNIQUES
SPACE DIVERSITY
FREQUENCY DIVERSITY

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RADIO SYSTEM
Performance of a whole radio system, such as a cellular network, navigation system, or radar, depends on the characteristics of the
transmitters, receivers, and antennas as well as of propagation of radio waves between the transmitting and receiving antennas. If the
transmitted power and the gains and attenuations in different parts of the system are known, the received power can be calculated.
However, in addition to the received power, there are other factors affecting the signal detection: modulation of the signal,
frequency stability, interference from other radio systems, noise, dispersion due to the radio channel.

TRANSMITTER
A radio transmitter must produce a signal that has
enough power
generally a very accurate frequency
a clean enough spectrum
so that the transmitter does not disturb users of other radio systems. Information to be transmitted, the baseband signal, is attached
to a sinusoidal carrier signal by modulating the carrier amplitude, frequency, or phase either analogically or digitally.

RECEIVER
The receiver must be sensitive and selective. It must be able to detect even a weak signal among many other, possibly stronger
signals. Therefore, a good receiver must have good filters, an accurate local oscillator frequency, and low-noise components. It should
have also a large, spurious-free dynamic range.

TRANSCEIVER
A transceiver is a combination of a transmitter and receiver sharing the same antenna. Now the isolation of the transmitter and
receiver has to be very large, for example, 120 dB. If the transmitter and receiver operate at different frequencies, called frequency
division duplexing (FDD), a duplexing filter separates them from each other. A duplexing filter consists of two bandpass filters. If the
transmitter and receiver operate in different time slots, called time division duplexing (TDD), a switch can be used to isolate the
receiver during transmission. The loss of a switch is usually less than the loss of a duplexing filter.

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WG Loss:
2.90dB/100m

MW RADIO SYSTEMS

DUPLEXER

DUPLEXER
DUPLEXER

DUPLEXER
BRCKT Loss:
2.80dB (5GHz)

Standard microwave radio configuration consists of the entire microwave

and digital modem part being placed indoors, microwave antenna
mounted outside on the tower, and a waveguide connecting the BRCKT(1+1) BRCKT(1+0)

transceiver of the radio with the antenna. This solution is acceptable for TX RX SD
Fa TX RX SD
Fb TX RX SD
Fa
the lower frequencies but quickly becomes unacceptable as frequency
BPF BPF BPF

increases. This is due to the high losses in the transmission lines (coaxial SD SD SD

or waveguide) which become unacceptably high at higher frequencies. TRP TRP TRP
This configuration is still used today for lower-frequency bands below 10 Fa(V)
Working
Fb(V)
Working
Fa(H)
Protection

GHz and for high-capacity (backbone) microwave systems. Whenever

possible, split configuration replaces the standard configuration and this
RACK.01
is particularly true for the cell-site microwave systems in wireless
networks.
STANDARD TYPE RADIO CONFIGURATION
To reduce losses between the transceiver and antenna, the outdoor unit
(ODU) containing all the RF modules can be mounted near the antenna.
The ODU is connected to the indoor unit (IDU), containing baseband
circuitry, modulator, and demodulator, by means of one single coaxial Direct Mount (No Loss) (13GHz)

intermediate frequency (IF) cable. The distance between indoor and 3.5dB Hybrid Loss (13GHz)

outdoor equipment can usually be up to 300m.

Nonprotected systems (1+0) consist of one IDU and one ODU

interconnected with a single coaxial cable. In the case of failure of any ODU
of the electrical or mechanical components, the entire microwave hop HYBRID
would fail. In hot standby (protected) configuration (1+1), the IDU, the
transceiver unit, and the coaxial cable between IDU and ODU are ODU
duplicated. The two transceivers share the same branching unit. A
switch at radio frequency level, included in the branching unit, allows FlexiWG (1dB Loss) (13GHz)

for switching between the two transmitters. For each terminal one
antenna is used. Also, there is a version of the protected system with
two ODUs and only one antenna.
PASOLINK NEO-IDU
Fa(V)

SPLIT TYPE RADIO CONFIGURATION

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FUNCTIONS & FEATURES

NOISE
Random fields and voltages, that is, noise, disturb all radio systems. The antenna receives noise from its surroundings, and all receiver
components, which are either active or lossy, generate noise. We call the former the antenna noise and the latter the receiver noise;
their sum is called the system noise. In a radio system (e.g., a communication link) the system noise power in the receiver bandwidth
may be stronger than the signal to be received. The ratio of the signal power to the noise power at the receiver bandwidth, that is,
the S/N often determines the quality of a radio link.

RECEIVER NOISE
In a receiver, many kinds of noise are generated, for example, thermal noise, shot noise, 1/f noise, and quantum noise.
Thermal noise is generated by the thermal motion of charge carriers. The warmer the material is, the more electrons collide with the
crystal lattice of the material. Each collision causes a change in the kinetic energy state of the electron, and the energy difference is
radiated as an electromagnetic wave. Similarly, collisions are also the reason for resistivity of a material and, therefore, thermal noise
is generated in all materials and circuits absorbing RF power. Thermal noise is directly proportional to the absolute temperature
of the medium, but its power density is independent of frequency—it is so called white noise.
Shot noise is often the most important noise mechanism in semiconductor devices and electron tubes. Shot noise is caused by the fact
that charge is not a continuous quantity but always a multiple of an electron charge. For example, a current going through the
Schottky interface is not continuous but is a sum of the current impulses of single electrons. The power density of shot noise is
directly proportional to the current.
At low frequencies there is 1/f noise (flicker noise) in all semiconductor devices. It is caused, for example, by the fluctuating amount
of electrons in the conduction band. Its power density is inversely proportional to frequency.
Quantum noise is due to the quantized energy of the radio wave. It is important only in cases of submillimeter and shorter waves,
because their energy quantum W = hf is large.

The noise performance of a receiver or amplifier can be defined in three different, but related, ways:
noise factor (FN)
noise figure (NF)
equivalent noise temperature (TE);
these properties are definable as a simple ratio, decibel ratio or Kelvin temperature, respectively.

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FUNCTIONS & FEATURES

NOISE FACTOR:
Noise factor (FN). For components such as resistors, the noise factor is the ratio of the noise produced by a real resistor to the simple
thermal noise of an ideal resistor.
The noise factor of a radio receiver (or any system) is the ratio of output noise power (PNO) to input noise power (PNI):
In order to make comparisons easier the noise factor is usually measured at the standard temperature (TO) of
 PNO  290°K (standardized room temperature); although in some countries 299°K or 300°K are commonly used (the
FN    differences are negligible). It is also possible to define noise factor FN in terms of the output and input signal-
 PNI  T 290K to-noise ratios.

NOISE FIGURE:
The noise figure is the frequency used to measure the receiver’s “goodness”, i.e. its departure from “idealness”. Thus, it is a figure of
merit. The noise figure is the noise factor converted to decibel notation:

NF  10 logFN 

NOISE TEMPERATURE:
Noise temperature (Te). The noise “temperature” is a means for specifying noise in terms of an equivalent temperature. That is, the
noise level that would be produced by a resistor at that temperature (expressed in degrees Kelvin). Evaluating the noise equations
shows that the noise power is directly proportional to temperature in degrees Kelvin, and also that noise power collapses to zero at
the temperature of Absolute Zero (0°K).
Note that the equivalent noise temperature Te is not the physical temperature of the amplifier, but rather a theoretical construct that
is an equivalent temperature that produces that amount of noise power in a resistor. The noise temperature is related to the noise
factor by:

Te  FN  1T0
And to Noise Figure by:
NF
Te  KT0 10 10  1

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FUNCTIONS & FEATURES

ATPC
The automatic transmitter power control (ATPC) function automatically varies the TX output
power according to path conditions. Fading exerts heavy influences on propagation, causing
the receive signal level at the opposite station to vary. The ATPC function operates by
controlling the transmitter output power of the local station according to the variation of the
received signal level at the opposite station. The received signal level variation at the opposite
station is informed to the local station using the ATPC bits in the radio overhead frame.

The provision of this function allows:

Improvement of system gain against rain attenuation.
Improvement in up fading characteristics.
Improvement in residual BER characteristics.
Reduction of interference to neighboring systems.
Reduction of interference to other routes.

ATPC OPERATION

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FUNCTIONS & FEATURES

XPIC
Co-channel transmission doubles the transmission
capacity by allowing two channels to be transmitted
on a single frequency by using the vertical and
horizontal polarizations. Because of interference
between the vertically and horizontally polarized
signals, this method of transmission requires good
antenna XPD characteristics or Cross Polarization
Interference Canceller (XPIC) equipment.

PASOLINK NEO IDU and ODU can be used to transmit

and receive 2xSTM-1 signals in opposite
polarizations using Cross Polarization Interference
Canceller (XPIC) circuit in the demodulator.

H 2940 Modem module is capable of operating in the

XPIC mode without any hardware change in the
PASOLINK NEO IDU, Software key upgrade is
necessary to enable the XPIC feature in the IDU (if
Initial Key does not support XPIC). When 2xSTM-1
configuration is used two IDUs are necessary and the CROSS POLAR IMPROVEMENT
XPIC cable kit is required(one X-control cable, two
X-IF cables in (1+0) configuration.)

The two IDUs operate in Master / Sub-Master mode

instead of Master/Slave mode providing reliable
operation.

NEO ODU can be used for XPIC without any

hardware change, the local oscillator in the ODUs
are locked to the same REF frequency sent from the
IDU (5MHz) through the IF and X-IF cables.

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FUNCTIONS & FEATURES

DIVERSITY TECHNIQUES
After a proposed microwave path has been evaluated with regard to reliability, the calculations may show that it will not meet the
required standards. In such situations, additional techniques known as diversity methods may be employed.

Space Diversity:

One such technique is space

diversity, which involves the
addition of another receive
antenna, separated in distance
from the first, as shown below.
An additional receiver and
associated switching/combining
equipment will also be needed.
Space Diversity Configuration

The additional "diversity" antenna is usually mounted on the same tower structure, yet
vertically separated from the site's original receive antenna. This diversity antenna is
connected to the diversity receiver. This additional equipment essentially creates another
microwave path between the two sites. Receiver switching and combining equipment then
senses which receiver has the troubled signal (if fades occur) and switches that receiver "off-
line."
One drawback of space diversity is increased cost. Tower heights must be greater to
achieve sufficient vertical antenna separation. In some cases, the existing tower structure
might have to be retrofitted to handle the additional wind loading created by the diversity
antenna. The diversity antenna, receiver and combining and switching equipment create
additional cost.

When spacing is adequate between antennas, there should be little correlation between the two paths with regard to propagation
characteristics. Improvement in reliability comes from the reduced probability that both paths will be adversely affected by fading at
the same time.
In general, more vertical spacing between antennas offers less path correlation and better path reliability.

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FUNCTIONS & FEATURES

Frequency Diversity:
Frequency diversity is another method used to increase path reliability.
Microwave transmitters operating on two frequencies (with a typical in-band
diversity spacing of about 2%), and sometimes in two frequency bands (called
crossband diversity), are used to transmit the same information to separate
receivers at the other end of the path.
Reliability improvement comes from the reduced chances of fading occurring
on both frequencies (or frequency bands) at the same time.
Frequency diversity does not require the vertical antenna spacing used in
space diversity, and therefore reduces tower cost. It does, however, require the
use of more spectrum because it uses two sets of frequencies.
Test comparisons between space and frequency diversity indicate that
improvements realized with space diversity are generally greater than those
achieved with frequency diversity.

Neither space diversity nor in-band frequency diversity provide improvement against rain attenuation.

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