Radio Link Budget Research Articles

Web Application for Estimating Radio Link Budget Based on Channel Capacity And Bit Error Rate

Abstract Today’s tactical communications system increasingly relies on the use of broadband waveforms and data rates in the Mbps range. The main requirements of a broadband tactical communications system are wide coverage, high data rate and low power consumption. This paper presents a web application designed for automated radio link budget analysis. The application takes into account various parameters that are critical for establishing a reliable link, including the desired data rate, transmit power, channel bandwidth, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), bit error rate (BER), modulation scheme, and more. Using this application, it is possible to determine the feasibility of establishing a radio link with the available equipment and achieving specific performance targets before deploying the equipment in the field. This pre-assessment capability significantly increases the efficiency of the radio link deployment process.

Evaluation of the Use of M2M-Type NB-IoT and LTE Technologies for Maritime Communication Systems

Abstract The development of IoT (the Internet of Things) wireless transmission opens a new era in communication systems. In the next years, the development and implementation of IoT systems will be very dynamic. It can be seen that the solutions of LTE – NB-IoT (Long Term Evolution – Narrowband IoT) transmission devices are implemented in a wide range of terrestrial solutions, e.g. smart grids. This paper aims to analyse the possibility of the use of NB-IoT technology for maritime communication applications and partially, for some maritime safety solutions, based on signal coverage analysis at sea. An interesting approach is the comparison of the results of NB-IoT coverage to the classic cellular LTE-based communication systems. Proposed solutions are based on the practical implementation of a designed specialised data concentrator with implemented gateway and radio modems, for both NB-IoT technology as well as LTE. In the paper, analyses of radio link budget and propagation loss models for sea environment are presented. The coverage analysis is based on real measurements of the efficiency of transmissions using wireless modems implemented in the developed data concentrator.

Nearfield radio link of normal mode helical antenna for wireless capsule endoscopy

Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) is designed to monitor the physical data from inside human stomach and gastro intestine (GI) tract and transfer data to the receiver device. Normal mode helical antenna (NMHA) that has high efficiency at a small size is selected for WCE. To clarify the radio wave communication link budget in the dielectric environment is crucial. In this paper, NMHA for WCE system at 402 MHz along with a link budget analysis is presented. The transmitter uses NMHA embedded in a cylindrical phantom mimicking human stomach tissue, whereas the receiver uses another NMHA located outside the body. The NMHA dimension of height and diameter are 18 mm × 11 and 37 mm × 18 mm respectively. Through this study, a novel method of analytical equations for the radio wave communication link in human body are derived. From the good agreement between simulated and measured S21, the effectiveness of derived equations is ensured.

Cryoegg: development and field trials of a wireless subglacial probe for deep, fast-moving ice

AbstractSubglacial hydrological systems require innovative technological solutions to access and observe. Wireless sensor platforms can be used to collect and return data, but their performance in deep and fast-moving ice requires quantification. We report experimental results from Cryoegg: a spherical probe that can be deployed into a borehole or moulin and transit through the subglacial hydrological system. The probe measures temperature, pressure and electrical conductivity in situ and returns all data wirelessly via a radio link. We demonstrate Cryoegg's utility in studying englacial channels and moulins, including in situ salt dilution gauging. Cryoegg uses VHF radio to transmit data to a surface receiving array. We demonstrate transmission through up to 1.3 km of cold ice – a significant improvement on the previous design. The wireless transmission uses Wireless M-Bus on 169 MHz; we present a simple radio link budget model for its performance in cold ice and experimentally confirm its validity. Cryoegg has also been tested successfully in temperate ice. The battery capacity should allow measurements to be made every 2 h for more than a year. Future iterations of the radio system will enable Cryoegg to transmit data through up to 2.5 km of ice.

LR-FHSS: Overview and Performance Analysis

Long-range frequency hopping spread spectrum (LR-FHSS) is the new physical layer designed to address extremely long-range and large-scale communication scenarios, such as satellite IoT. At its core is a fast frequency hopping technique designed to offer higher network capacity while offering the same radio link budget as LoRa. Additionally, LR-FHSS finely manages packet transmission thanks to its design principles, enabling QoS policies on a per-packet basis. Given the notorious adoption of LoRaWAN in the IoT application landscape, this article is a reference for understanding how exactly LR-FHSS works, the performance it can offer, and its limitations and research opportunities.

Rework the Radio Link Budget for 5G and Beyond

The 5th generation of mobile communication system (5G) enables the use of millimeter wave frequency bands and beamforming with narrow-beam directional antennas for mobile communication. Accurate estimation of radio link budget which enables direct assessment of achievable cell range or maximum throughput and facilitates network parametrization before deployment is one of the most challenging problems in radio network planning. In contrast to traditional cellular systems, where omni-directional or sectoral antennas are deployed with half-power beam-width much larger than angular spread of the radio channel, the beam-width of antenna arrays assumed for 5G in sub-6GHz and millimeter wave bands can be comparable to or smaller than channel angular spread in scattering environment. Since the effective antenna pattern is determined jointly by the nominal antenna pattern and channel angular spread, it is no longer appropriate to use nominal pattern in radio link budget analysis or system level simulations. Simplified approach, where nominal pattern is assumed for all typical propagation conditions, results in overestimation of the signal power in serving links and underestimation of interference, which in consequence gives erroneous estimation of link budget and leads to unsatisfactory network design and deployment. To avoid inaccurate calculation of link budget while maintaining simplicity it is proposed to modify the simplified approach by using effective antenna patterns. On the other hand, effective antenna pattern can be further optimized by matching its half-power beam-width to the angular spread of the radio channel. It is demonstrated via simulations how to rework the radio link budget for accurate estimation of system performance in high bands for 5G and beyond, along with benefits of effective antenna pattern optimization.

28 GHz Wireless Backhaul Transceiver Characterization and Radio Link Budget

Millimeter wave communication is one of the main disruptive technologies in upcoming 5G mobile networks. One of the first candidate applications, which will be commercially ready by 2020, is wireless backhaul links or wireless last mile communication. This paper provides an analysis of this use-case from radio engineering and implementation perspectives. Furthermore, preliminary experimental results are shown for a proof-of-concept wireless backhaul solution developed within the EU-KR 5GCHAMPION project, which will be showcased during the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Korea. In this paper, we verify system level calculations and a theoretical link budget analysis with conductive and radiated over-the-air measurements. The results indicate that the implemented radio solution is able to achieve the target key performance indicator, namely, a 2.5 Gbps data rate on average, over a range of up to 200 m.

Feasibility of a fully autonomous wireless monitoring system for a wind turbine blade

Condition monitoring (CM) of wind turbine blades has significant benefits for wind farm operators and insurers alike. Blades present a particular challenge in terms of operations and maintenance: the wide range of materials used in their construction makes it difficult to predict lifetimes; loading is stochastic and highly variable; and access can be problematic due to the remote locations where turbines are frequently located, particularly for offshore installations. Whilst previous works have indicated that Micro Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) accelerometers are viable devices for measuring the vibrations from which diagnostic information can be derived, thus far there has been no analysis of how such a system would be powered. This paper considers the power requirement of a self-powered blade-tip autonomous system and how those requirements can be met. The radio link budget is derived for the system and the average power requirement assessed. Following this, energy harvesting methods such as photovoltaics, vibration, thermal and radio frequency (RF) are explored. Energy storage techniques and energy regulation for the autonomous system are assessed along with their relative merits. It is concluded that vibration (piezoelectric) energy harvesting combined with lithium-ion batteries are suitable selections for such a system.

A Hybrid Networking Model for the Access Layer of the Communication Network for Distribution in Smart Grid

The access layer in the communication network for distribution is an important link in the automation of smart distribution power grid. In current access layer of communication network for distribution in Chinese power grid systems, several communication methods like optical fiber, mediumvoltage carrier communication, 1.8GHz TD-LTE power private wireless network, 230MHz TD-LTE power private wireless network, public wireless network are constructed concurrently and running simultaneously in an identical power supply area. This traditional networking model will cause repeated construction and operation and maintenance difficulties in the communication network of power grid. On the basis of giving a detailed analysis of the radio link budget of TD-LTE power private wireless network in two frequencies, this paper present a multi-communication methods hybrid networking model, which gives a clear boundary for different communication methods based on the isoline with equal signal strength of the TD-LTE power private wireless network and accomplish the optimization of communication resources for distribution.

Research on RF Tag Performance on Metal Media and Design of Slotting Tag

Passive radio frequency (RF) tags in the UHF and microwave bands have recently drawn considerable attention with their great potential for use in inventory management, parcel and postal tracking. However, much more basic research is needed to increase the range and reliability of a passive RF tag’s radio link, particularly when the RF tag is placed onto a lossy dielectric object or a metallic surface. This paper presents two new useful forms of the radio link budget that describe the power link of an RF tag system when the tag is attached to an object, then the effects of a metal plate to antenna parameters when the antenna is horizontally placed near the plate. Furthermore, according to a series of tests for measuring the performance of an RF tag, relationship between distance from tag to a sheet of copper surface and readability is discovered. Moreover, the magnifying effect of an extra metal layer to readability is found too. Finally, according to the results of experiments, a design method of slotting RF tag which can be used to identify the goods location is proposed. This method can not only eliminate negative effect of metal disturbance, but enhance readability, which considers the convenience for use and manufacture cost as well.

Performance and capacity analysis of 60 GHz WPAN channel

AbstractIn this work, the performance and capacity of both 60 GHz ultrawide‐band (UWB) and multiple‐in multiple‐out (MIMO) channels are analyzed based on experimental channel models and specifications for millimeter‐wave wireless personal area networks (WPANs). In the analysis of 60 GHz UWB channel, the radio link budget is estimated by applying two experimental channel models where blocking effect is considered and fading margin (FM) is modeled as a function of channel bandwidth. Results show that high gain antennas are required in 60 GHz UWB channel. The high gain antenna systems suffer from poor flexibility and the directional signals can be easily blocked in multipath indoor environments. This indicates that gigabit communications is quite difficult in 60 GHz UWB channel. To overcome this problem, adaptive antenna arrays (or MIMO systems) are required as they can search and direct the available signals to improve radio link budget. The 60‐GHz MIMO channel capacity is analyzed by modeling FM as a function of number of antenna elements. The proposed NLOS channel model is employed in rich scattering or multipath environments for achieving high capacity in MIMO channel. Tests were also performed for determining gigabit data rate, operation range and configuration in the 60‐GHz MIMO case. The goal of this study is to provide useful information for the design of future 60 GHz WPAN systems. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 51: 2671–2675, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.24698

RF Tag Antenna Performance on Various Materials Using Radio Link Budgets

Passive radio frequency (RF) tags in the UHF and microwave bands have drawn considerable attention because of their great potential for use in many radio frequency identification (RFID) applications. However, more basic research is needed to increase the range and reliability of a passive RF tag's radio link, particularly when the RF tag is placed onto any lossy dielectric or metallic surface. This paper presents two new useful forms of the radio link budget that describe the power link of an RF tag system when the tag is attached to an object. These radio link budgets are dependent upon the gain penalty, a term which quantifies the reduction in RF tag antenna gain due to material attachment. A series of measurements, or radio assay, was used to measure the far-field gain pattern and gain penalty of several flexible 915 MHz antennas when attached to cardboard, pine plywood, acrylic, deionized water, ethylene glycol, ground beef, and an aluminum slab. It is shown that the gain penalty due to material attachment can result in more than 20 dB of excess loss in the backscatter communication link.

DMET: a computer package for the design of digital microwave line-of-sight communication routes

The computer-aided design software package DMET (Digital Microwave Engineering Tool), which has been developed to meet the needs of the telecommunication engineering community involved in the design of line-of-sight digital microwave communication routes, is described. DMET can be used either by professionals or engineering students in such a way that efforts can be concentrated on the design objectives of the link rather than on cumbersome and tedious computations. This software package is particularly useful as a tool in teaching communication engineering students the basic practical steps involved in the design of line-of-sight radio communication links. Examples of antenna height computation and radio link budget computation using DMET are presented. >