Improvements in fixed point-to-point microwave radio path design

Abstract

Fixed point-to-point microwave radio systems continue to be used for a wide range of industrial and governmental data transmission applications. Long distance microwave radios operating in the 6 to 11 GHz bands are limited by obstruction fading. Short distance microwave radios operating at 11 GHz and above are limited by rain fading. This paper provides powerful design procedures not previously available to the design community outside Bell Labs.

Universal Kriging Prediction of Line-of-Sight Microwave Fading

“…Nevertheless, the idea of complementing a multipath fading model with a subrefractive diffraction model [16] has been often adopted as a convenient way to estimate the overall fading of radio paths in regions where the available multipath models alone are insufficient. The necessary data for the Schiavone model [15] has been produced for the contiguous states of USA [19], but not for other regions. A subrefractive model, assuming the main cause to be advection of moist air over a dry nocturnal duct, during the early hours of the morning [14], may in principle be applied world-wide, subject to the availability of suitable (preferably 3-hourly or better) surface weather station data.…”