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7 (MW LINK) 1

Terminology
Terminal Hop Terminal

Indoor Units

Indoor Units

The mobile transport network

Network evolution
BSC/RNC

The mobile transport network

Network evolution
BSC/RNC

Increase capacity Add sites

The mobile transport network

Network evolution
BSC/RNC

Increase capacity Add sites

Extend SDH rings

The mobile transport network

Network evolution
BSC/RNC

Increase capacity Add sites

Extend SDH rings

Point-to-multipoint

Microwave transmission networks

A microwave transmission network can be considered to consist of four different subnetworks. Traffic network; traffic distribution and traffic related equipment for the transport from BSC/RNC to the last site Syncronization network; transport of synchronization signal from BSC/RNC to transmission equipment and radio base stations. Management network; for the supervision of every node in the transmission network. Radio network; microwave radio communication to carry traffic, synchronization and management.

Microwave systems
Market Products

Capacities per radio hop

MINI-LINK TN R4.0
PDH: 2 - 75xE1, 4 80xDS1 SDH/Sonet: up to 4xSTM-1/OC-3 Ethernet: up to 600Mbit/s Pmp: up to 4 terminals per sector

Point to Point Radio

MINI-LINK E
PDH: 2 17xE1, 4 16xDS1 Ethernet: up to 34Mbit/s (Eth over E3)

Marconi LH 2.5.4:
SDH/Sonet: up to 20xSTM-1/OC-3 Ethernet over SDH via OMS 8xx

Point to Multipoint Radio

The prediction cycle (1)

Frequency planningLoss & attenuation
Free-space loss Gas attenuation Interference

Not always present Have to be predicted

Fading prediction
Rain attenuation Diffraction Refraction loss

+
Obstacle loss Reflection loss Multipath propagation

Threshold Path loss degradation

Fading probability
Quality and Availability
BBER ESR SESR UATR

Link budget

Fade margin Objectives No fulfilled? Yes

The prediction cycle (2)- influence factors

Frequency planningLoss & attenuation
Network topology Frequency reuse Terrain Antenna properties Polarization Modulation ... Hoplength Frequency Terrain Antenna height Climate ...

Fading prediction
Hoplength Frequency Polarization Terrain Climate Atmosphere ...

Threshold Path loss degradation Link budget

Tx power Rx threshold Antenna gain Branching loss

Fading probability
Quality and Availability
Diversity improvement Objectives

Fade margin

Quality & Availability Attenuation Loss

Rain

ITU-R

Obstacle

Atmosph.

Reflection

Rain

Free-space

Refr.-Diffr.

Multip.-Flat

Multip.-Sel.

ITU-T G.826

Recommendations

ITU-T G.828

ITU-T G.827

ITU-T G.821

The ITU-R matrix of recommendations

Frequency arrangement

P.341-5 P.453-9 P.525-2 P.526-10 P.527-3 P.530-12 P.581-2 P.676-7 P.832-2 P.833-6 P.834-6 P.835-4 P.836-3 P.837-5 P.838-3 P.840-3 P.841-4 P.1057-2 P.1407-3 P.1410-4 P.1510-0 F.1093-2 F.556-1 F.557-4 F.594-4 F.634-4 F.695-0 F.696-2 F.697-2 F.751-2 F.752-2 F.1330-2 F.1668-1 F.1703-0 F.1605-0 F.383-8 F.384-10 F.385-9 F.386-8 F.387-10 F.497-7 F.595-9 F.635-6 F.636-3 F.637-3 F.746-9 F.747-0 F.748-4 F.749-2 F.1099-4 F.1399-1

Transmisson project overview

Nominal planning - So far nothing is confirmed.

Planned Links

Transmisson project overview

Site acqusition find the sites
Questions to be answered like: Is there from microwave transmission point of view free line of sight in desiered direction(s) or has the transmission network topology to be redisigned because of no line of sight?
Legal access Site

Main Activities: Find and acquire suitable sites

Site acquisition report Legal Permits granted Signed lease contract

acquisition

Transmisson project overview

Realized transmission planning
Sites are found, the microwave transmission network topology perhaps redisigned. Detailed microwave planning to meet Quality and Availability objectives, losses, antenna height, frequency planning...

Realized transmission plan

Main Activities:
Transmission planning

Realized Transmission Plan Network Management System Plan

Transmisson project overview

Realized transmission planning

Planned Links

Confirmed Links

Transmisson project overview

Civil works

Civil works

Main Activities:
Civil Work Detailed Design Site Constructions

Transmisson project overview

Transmission design and engineering
expected RF input level, transmitter output power, frequency, antenna size(s) and mounting height(s).
Site Installation Document

Transmission design and engineering

Main Activities:
Site Installation Document

Transmisson project overview

Site integration
Are the Q&A objectives met? How to test?
Acceptance Test Document

Site integrati on

Main Activities:
Acceptance acc. to contract


Short Haul MW Link Design

(Transmission Network)


Network Topologies

Chain Star Tree Ring Combinations

Chain topology
Rural area commonly. Noise limited

+ Low concentration of equipment at nodal point - High capacity near nodal point
One link failure affects many sites Extended bandwidth (Time slot grooming, aggregation?)

: BTS Site

: BTS Site connected to BSC (nodal point)

Star topology
Dense area commonly. Interference limited.

+ Independent paths
Link failure is limited

- Line-of-sight - High concentration of equipment at nodal point

Require enough space to install antennas Interference problems
: BTS Site : BTS Site connected to BSC

Tree topolgy
Dense area commonly. Interference and noise limited.

+ Line of sight + Short paths (compared to Star)

Require smaller antennas

+ Frequency reuse - Availability

One link failure affects many sites - High capacity near nodal

point
Difficult to expand (grooming, aggregation?) 1+1 hop for protection

: BTS Site

: BTS Site connected to BSC

Ring topology
+ Availability
There is an alternative path

- Line of sight
Every site to be connected with two other sites

- Equipment cost
MINI-LINK TN, E1 SNCP protection or Digital Cross Connector required

- High traffic capacity

: BTS Site : BTS Site connected to BSC

Require high band width

Network topology
How do I plan the Transmission Network?

: BTS : BSC or intercity transfer point

Network topology
. clusters Cluster Solution Common topology solution, this is a very common and easy solution to use this. A cluster size with less than 25 GSM BTS per cluster is an Ericsson recommended based on required transmission capacity to the cluster.

To minimize the number of cascade hops the hub site in each cluster shall be positioned in the centre of it.

Network topology
Cluster 1 Cluster 2

Cluster Solution
Common topology solution. A cluster size with 10-25 BTS/cluster is common. (GSM)

BSC

Cluster 3 : BTS : BSC or Intercity transfer point Cluster 4

Network topology
Cluster 1 Cluster 2

Connection between Cluster BSC

Protected 1+1 hop is required. Radios operating in lower frequency bands are normally used. Dimension the links with spare capacity for future expansion Each cluster can be connected to a cross-connector node to minimise required link capacity, (grooming) towards BSC.
Cluster 4

BSC

Cluster 3

Radio frequency bands Example

High frequency
Easier to get license Short range Generally used in urban areas Limiting factor: rain

14 frequency bands [GHz]

38 32 28 26 23 18 15 13 11 10 8 7 6U 6L

Low frequency
Long range Good resistance to rain fading Generally used in rural areas Limiting factor: multipath fading

Frequency plan, sub-bands

18GHz band
Subbands CD 11/15 12/16 --Duplex [MHz] 1010 1010 Upper sub-band Lower sub-band Tx frequency [MHz] Tx frequency [MHz] Lower edge 17706.5 17933.5 Upper edge Lower edge Upper edge

18009.5 18716.5 19019.5 18236.5 18943.5 19246.5

17.7 GHz

--31/35 1560 17700 18003 19260 19563

Lower band

Upper band

18/11 Duplex (1010 MHz)

18/15

19.7 GHz

21/25

340

18580

18670

18948

19910

Sub-band pair
RX Low band 18/11 radio TX 17.7 GHz
Lower sub-band 17755.00 MHz Upper sub-band

18765.00 MHz

TX High band radio

18/15

RX 19.7 GHz
Upper edge

Lower edge

Upper edge

Lower edge

18/11 Duplex (1010 MHz)

18/15

Lower and upper frequency edge

Subbands CD 11/15 Duplex [MHz] 1010 Upper sub-band Lower sub-band Tx frequency [MHz] Tx frequency [MHz] Lower edge 17706.5 Upper edge Lower edge Upper edge

18009.5 18716.5 19019.5

Lower edge Channel spacing

14MHz Lowest usable Tx centre frequencies at channel spacing of 28 and 14MHz 28MHz

28MHz
7MHz 17720.50 MHz 14MHz

14MHz
17713.50 MHz

Antennas
The largest antennas are mainly used for long range, low frequency trunk links commonly in rural or semi-rural areas. A single polarized antenna radiats at one polarization at the time. It can be adjusted for either Vertical (default setting) or Horizontal polarization. The use of Horizontal polarization is commonly due to the necessesity to reduce interference between nearby radio hops using the same or an adjacent radio channel. A dual polarized antenna has two feeders and radiates simultaneously on both Vertical and Horizontal polarization.

This gives a possibility to doubble the traffic capacity over the radio hop without employing an extra radio channel.

Antennas
Short-Haul LINK Point to point antennas directional parabolic antennas available in the following diameters: 0.2m (only as single polarized) 0.3m 0.6m 0.9m 1.2m 1.8m 2.4m 3.0m 3.7m Single polarization antennas
Integrated radio mounting up to antenna diameter1.8m

= 0.2m

Dual polarization antennas

Integrated radio mounting to 0.3 and 0.6m antennas.

Antenna performance
HPBW: Half Power Beam Width, the angle where the gain is reduced by 3dB. A standard performance antenna, Std, is without radome and without absorbing material. Its main use is in rural areas with no interference problems. Thereby only the largest antennas at low frequency are available as Std performance. (1.8m is also available as Std perf. at 13GHz).

All diameters of single polarized are available as HP antennas.

Dual polarized antennas are only available as HP antennas.

Standard performance antennas fulfil at least RPE (radiation pattern enveloppe) class 1 defined in ETSI EN 302 217-4-1 V1.1.3 (2004-12).

High performance antennas fulfil at least RPE class 2 defined in ETSI EN 302 217-4-2 V1.2.1 (2006-06). Most even fulfil RPE class 3.

Antenna performance
Standard performance, Std : 1.8m, 2.4m, 3.0m, 3.7m @ 6/7/8GHz 1.8m @ 13GHz Single pol.

High performance, HP All diameters single pol. All diameters dual pol.

Gain and HPBW the same.

Radom
Absorbing material Reduced side-loobs

HP vs Std antenna
Next slide is an axample of Radiation Pattern Envelope diagram, RPE diagram, for two single polarized antennas. In the RPE a Standard antenna is compared to a High Performance antenna. Solid lines represent Co-polarization (the polarization the antenna is set to) gain and dashed lines represent cross-polarization gain. It can be seen that for these antennas the HP antenna is somewhat better, reduced side lobs, from 30 degrees and considerably better from 60 degrees. Co-polarization gain in the main beam for the antennas above is 39.3dBi (at mid-band).

Cross-polar discrimination is minimum 30 dB in azimuth over an angle twice the half power beam width (HPBW ~1.7 degree) of the co-polarized main beam and 32dB within the 1 dB co-polarized contour (=absolute main

HP vs Std antenna
Example 1.8m, 6GHz, RPE diagram.

1.8m 6GHz, Standard and High Performance antennas

Co polarization gain

Gain [dBi]

Std ant.

Cross polarization gain

Angle of azimuth relative to main beam axis [degrees]

Polarization
Single polarized antennas V (Default)

Vertical pol.
V

Horizontal pol.
V
H Polarization is set by turning the antenna feeder

Polarization
Hint: A way to improve the performance would be to use different channels for the two hops. Using an additional channel shall however be the last resort when trying to reduce interference. Frequency channels are costly and always a lack of, so use them with care and try other means first!
Carrier

The interference situation (and thereby the performance) in the above example can be very much improved by letting one of the hops be horizontaly polarized

Dual polarized antenna

Two wave guide interfaces One per polarization Integrated mounting of radios to 0.3 and 0.6m antennas Separate mounting of radios to 1.2 3.7m antennas Cross polarization discrimination in main beam, XPD, typically 32dB

Pol.1

Pol.2

Dual polarized antenna

Dual polarized hop gives the possibility to double the traffic capacity per bandwidth compared to single polarized. Ch. 1, Pol.1 Traffic stream 2 Pol.1 Ch.1

Ch.1 Pol.2 Ch. 1, Pol.2 Traffic stream 2

With or without XPIC

Dual polarized antenna

Dual polarized antennas are available for integrated mounting in the sizes 0.3 and 0.6m.
No flexible waveguide losses, 0.2-1.4 dB gained per terminal depending on frequency Reduced necessary output power Reduced footprint by up to 70%

0.3 m Frequencies from 15 to 38 GHz 0.6 m Frequencies from 13 to 38 GHz

Dual polarized antenna

Mid-band main beam gain

Maximum XPD in main beam

Wind load
Operational Requirement All antennas: 50 m/s Survival Requirement 0.2 - 1.2 m: 70 m/s 1.8 m: 67 m/s 2.4 - 3.7 m: 55 m/s Do not use for calculations!
Wind load force F [N] at 50m/s:
22000 18000 14000 10000 6000 2000 0.3 Antenna size [m] 1.2 1.8 2.4 3.0 3.7

Wind load torque M [Nm] at 50m/s:

11000 9000 7000 5000 3000 1000 0.3 Antenna size [m] 1.2 1.8 2.4 3.0 3.7

Power splitters (coupler)

Symmetrical Power Splitter 1+1 Working stand-by 2+0

Radio 1 ~3dB loss

Radio 2
~3dB loss

Asymmetrical Power Splitter 1+1 Hot stand-by

for RAU1 radios

for RAU2 radios

Radio 1 ~1dB loss

1+1 Hot stand-by (without Space diversity) Radio 2 1+1 Working stand-by with Frequency diversity 2+0 using different channels, same polarization

~6dB loss

Power splitters (coupler)

Introduced loss
Loss in dB per branch

Asymmetrical Power Splitter

Radio 1
Radio 2

Symmetrical Power Splitter

Radio 1
Radio 2

S13

S13

S23

S23

Flexible wave guide

Flexible wave guides are used to interconnect the radio and the antenna at separate mount 2.4m, 3.0m and 3.7m single polarized. All dual polarized. RAU1 power splitter to antenna. Special installations

Configurations
1+1 Hot stand-by
Power Splitter

1 radio channel

2 radios per terminal connected to 1 antenna Improved availability by hardware redundancy 1 radio channel 1 transmitter active per terminal Tx switch on hardware alarm 2 radios receiving per terminal 1 Rx per terminal selected as active Rx switch on hardware alarm

TX

RX

Configurations Diversity
Space diversity is a technique to get long radiohops at low frequencies.

Frequency diversity is a technique to get long radiohops at low frequencies but is rather seldom used due to the need for two radio channels. In most cases Hot stand-by with space diversity is the prefered solution as it gives equal performance improvment with just one channel.
Working standby with frequency diversity can be the better choice if diversity is needed but to mount two antennas would mean great difficulties and/or costs.

Configurations
1+1 Hot stand-by with space diversity

1 radio channel

TX

Radios connected to separate antennas Hardware availability improvement, channel arrangement and Tx switching as 1+1 Hot Stand Improved transmission quality by Space Diversity Rx switching on hardware and radio propagation alarms Multipath fading Reflection RX

Configurations
1+1 Working stand-by with frequency diversity
Power Splitter

2 radio channels

TX

2 radios per terminal connected to 1 antenna Improved availability by hardware redundancy Improved transmission quality by frequency diversity Multipath fading 2 radio channels 2 radios transmitting, 2 radios receiving per terminal 1 receiver per terminal selected as active Receiver switch on alarm Hardware and propagation alarms

RX

Configurations
1+1 Working stand by with frequency and space diversity
For severe propagation conditions.

2 radio channels

TX

Radios connected to separate antennas Hardware availability improvement and channel arrangement as 1+1 Working Standby Improved transmission quality by combination of frequency and Space diversity Rx switching on hardware and radio propagation alarms Multipath fading RX Reflection