Microwave transmission

Microwave transmission is the transmission of information by microwave radio

waves. Although an experimental 40-mile (64 km) microwave telecommunication
link across the English Channel was demonstrated in 1931, the development of radar
in World War II provided the technology for practical exploitation of microwave
communication. In the 1950s, large transcontinental microwave relay networks,
consisting of chains of repeater stations linked byline-of-sight beams of microwaves
were built in Europe and America to relay long distance telephone traffic and
television programs between cities. Communication satellites which transferred data
between ground stations by microwaves took over much long distance traffic in the
1960s. In recent years, there has been an explosive increase in use of the microwave The atmospheric attenuation of
spectrum by new telecommunication technologies such as wireless networks, and microwaves in dry air with a
direct-broadcast satellites which broadcast television and radio directly into precipitable water vapor level of
0.001 mm. The downward spikes in
consumers' homes.
the graph corresponds to frequencies
at which microwaves are absorbed
more strongly, such as by oxygen

Contents molecules.

Uses
Microwave radio relay
Planning
History
Microwave link
Properties of microwave links
Uses of microwave links

Troposcatter
See also
References
External links

Uses
Microwaves are widely used for point-to-point communications because their small wavelength allows conveniently-sized antennas
to direct them in narrow beams, which can be pointed directly at the receiving antenna. This allows nearby microwave equipment to
use the same frequencies without interfering with each other, as lower frequency radio waves do. Another advantage is that the high
frequency of microwaves gives the microwave band a very large information-carrying capacity; the microwave band has a bandwidth
30 times that of all the rest of the radio spectrum below it. A disadvantage is that microwaves are limited to line of sight propagation;
they cannot pass around hills or mountains as lower frequency radio waves can.

Microwave radio transmission is commonly used in point-to-point communication systems on the surface of the Earth, in satellite
communications, and in deep space radio communications. Other parts of the microwave radio band are used for radars, radio
navigation systems, sensor systems, andradio astronomy.

The next higher part of the radio electromagnetic spectrum, where the frequencies are above 30 GHz and below 100 GHz, are called
"millimeter waves" because their wavelengths are conveniently measured in millimeters, and their wavelengths range from 10 mm
down to 3.0 mm (Higher frequency waves are smaller in wavelength). Radio waves in this band are usually strongly
attenuated by the
Earthly atmosphere and particles contained in it, especially during wet weather.
Also, in a wide band of frequencies around 60 GHz, the radio waves are strongly
attenuated by molecular oxygen in the atmosphere. The electronic technologies
needed in the millimeter wave band are also much more difficult to utilize than those
of the microwave band.

Wireless transmission of information

One-way (e.g. television broadcasting) and two-way telecommunication

using communications satellite
Terrestrial microwave relay links in telecommunications networks
including backbone orbackhaul carriers in cellular networks
A parabolic satellite antenna for
Erdfunkstelle Raisting, based in
Wireless transmission of power
Raisting, Bavaria, Germany
Proposed systems e.g. for connectingsolar power collecting satellitesto
terrestrial power grids

Microwave radio relay

Microwave radio relay is a technology widely used in the 1950s and 1960s for
transmitting signals, such as long-distance telephone calls and television programs
between two terrestrial points on a narrow beam of microwaves. In microwave radio
relay, microwaves are transmitted on aline of sight path between relay stations using
directional antennas, forming a fixed radio connection between the two points. The
requirement of a line of sight limits the separation between stations to the visual
horizon, about 30 to 50 miles. Before the widespread use of communications
satellites, chains of microwave relay stations were used to transmit
telecommunication signals over transcontinental distances.

Beginning in the 1950s, networks of microwave relay links, such as the AT&T Long
Lines system in the U.S., carried long distance telephone calls and television
programs between cities.[1] The first system, dubbed TD-2 and built by AT&T,
connected New York and Boston in 1947 with a series of eight radio relay
stations.[1] These included long daisy-chained series of such links that traversed
mountain ranges and spanned continents. Much of the transcontinental traffic is now C-band horn-reflector antennason
carried by cheaper optical fibers and communication satellites, but microwave relay the roof of a telephone switching
remains important for shorter distances. center in Seattle, Washington, part of
the U.S. AT&T Long Lines microwave
relay network
Planning
Because the radio waves travel in narrow beams confined to a line-of-sight path
from one antenna to the other, they don't interfere with other microwave equipment, so nearby microwave links can use the same
frequencies (see Frequency reuse). Antennas must be highly directional (high gain); these antennas are installed in elevated locations
such as large radio towers in order to be able to transmit across long distances. Typical types of antenna used in radio relay link
installations are parabolic antennas, dielectric lens, and horn-reflector antennas, which have a diameter of up to 4 meters. Highly
directive antennas permit an economical use of the available frequency spectrum, despite long transmission distances.

Because of the high frequencies used, a line-of-sight path between the stations is required. Additionally, in order to avoid attenuation
of the beam, an area around the beam called the first Fresnel zone must be free from obstacles. Obstacles in the signal field cause
unwanted attenuation. High mountain peak or ridge positions are often ideal.
 Obstacles, the curvature of the Earth, the
geography of the area and reception issues
arising from the use of nearby land (such as
in manufacturing and forestry) are important
issues to consider when planning radio links.
In the planning process, it is essential that
"path profiles" are produced, which provide
information about the terrain and Fresnel
zones affecting the transmission path. The
presence of a water surface, such as a lake or
river, along the path also must be taken into
consideration since it can reflect the beam,
and the direct and reflected beam can
interfere at the receiving antenna, causing
multipath fading. Multipath fades are usually
Communications tower onFrazier
deep only in a small spot and a narrow
Mountain, Southern California with
frequency band, so space and/or frequency
microwave relay dishes
diversity schemes can be applied to mitigate
these effects.
Dozens of microwave dishes
The effects of atmospheric stratification
on the Heinrich-Hertz-Turm
cause the radio path to bend downward in a in Germany
typical situation so a major distance is
possible as the earth equivalent curvature
increases from 6370 km to about 8500 km (a 4/3 equivalent radius effect). Rare
events of temperature, humidity and pressure profile versus height, may produce
large deviations and distortion of the propagation and affect transmission quality.
High-intensity rain and snow making rain fade must also be considered as an
Danish military radio relay node
impairment factor, especially at frequencies above 10 GHz. All previous factors,
collectively known as path loss, make it necessary to compute suitable power
margins, in order to maintain the link operative for a high percentage of time, like the standard 99.99% or 99.999% used in 'carrier
class' services of most telecommunication operators.

The longest microwave radio relay known up to date crosses the Red Sea with 360 km (200 mi) hop between Jebel Erba (2170m
a.s.l., 20°44′46.17″N 36°50′24.65″E, Sudan) and Jebel Dakka (2572m a.s.l., 21°5′36.89″N 40°17′29.80″E, Saudi Arabia). The link
was built in 1979 by Telettra to transmit 300 telephone channels and 1 TV signal, in the 2 GHz frequency band. (Hop distance is the
distance between two microwave stations)[2]

Previous considerations represent typical problems characterizing terrestrial radio links using microwaves for the so-called backbone
networks: hop lengths of few tens of kilometers (typically 10 to 60 km) were largely used until the 1990s. Frequency bands below
10 GHz, and above all, the information to be transmitted, were a stream containing a fixed capacity block. The target was to supply
the requested availability for the whole block (Plesiochronous digital hierarchy, PDH, or Synchronous Digital Hierarchy, SDH).
Fading and/or multipath affecting the link for short time period during the day had to be counteracted by the diversity architecture.
During 1990s microwave radio links begun widely to be used for urban links in cellular network. Requirements regarding link
distance changed to shorter hops (less than 10 km, typically 3 to 5 km), and frequency increased to bands between 11 and 43 GHz
and more recently, up to 86 GHz (E-band). Furthermore, link planning deals more with intense rainfall and less with multipath, so
diversity schemes became less used. Another big change that occurred during the last decade was an evolution toward packet radio
transmission. Therefore, new countermeasures, such asadaptive modulation, have been adopted.
 The emitted power is regulated by norms (EIRP) both for cellular system and
microwave. These microwave transmissions use emitted power typically from
30 mW to 0.3 W, radiated by the parabolic antenna on a beam wide round few
degrees (1 to 3-4). The microwave channel arrangement is regulated by International
Telecommunication Union (ITU-R) or local regulations (ETSI, FCC). In the last
decade the dedicated spectrum for each microwave band reaches an extreme
overcrowding, forcing efforts towards techniques for increasing the transmission
capacity (frequency reuse,Polarization-division multiplexing, XPIC, MIMO).

History
The history of radio relay
communication began in 1898 from
the publication by Johann
Mattausch in Austrian journal,
Zeitschrift für Electrotechnik.[3][4]
But his proposal was primitive and
Production truck used for remote not suitable for practical use. The
broadcasts by television news has a first experiments with radio
microwave dish on a retractible Antennas of 1931 experimental 1.7
repeater stations to relay radio GHz microwave relay link across the
telescoping mast to transmit live
signals were done in 1899 by Emile English Channel. The receiving
video back to the studio.
Guarini-Foresio.[3] However the antenna (background, right) was
low frequency and medium located behind the transmitting
antenna to avoid interference.
frequency radio waves used during the first 40 years of radio proved to be able to
travel long distances by ground wave and skywave propagation. The need for radio
relay did not really begin until the 1940s exploitation of microwaves, which traveled
by line of sight and so were limited to a propagation distance of about 40 miles
(64 km) by the visual horizon.

In 1931 an Anglo-French consortium headed by Andre C. Clavier demonstrated an

experimental microwave relay link across the English Channel using 10-foot (3 m)
dishes.[5] Telephony, telegraph, and facsimile data was transmitted over the
bidirectional 1.7 GHz beams 40 miles (64 km) between Dover, UK, and Calais,
US Army Signal Corps portable
France. The radiated power, produced by a miniature Barkhausen-Kurz tube located
microwave relay station, 1945.
at the dish's focus, was one-half watt. A 1933 military microwave link between Microwave relay systems were first
airports at St. Inglevert, France, and Lympne, UK, a distance of 56 km (35 miles), developed in World War II for secure
was followed in 1935 by a 300 MHz telecommunication link, the first commercial military communication.
microwave relay system.[6]

The development of radar during World War II provided much of the microwave technology which made practical microwave
communication links possible, particularly the klystron oscillator and techniques of designing parabolic antennas. Though not
commonly known, the US military used both portable and fixed-station microwave communications in the European Theater during
World War II.

After the war telephone companies used this technology to build large microwave radio relay networks to carry long distance
telephone calls. During the 1950s a unit of the US telephone carrier, AT&T Long Lines, built a transcontinental system of microwave
relay links across the US that grew to carry the majority of US long distance telephone traffic, as well as television network
signals.[7] The main motivation in 1946 to use microwave radio instead of cable was that a large capacity could be installed quickly
and at less cost. It was expected at that time that the annual operating costs for microwave radio would be greater than for cable.
There were two main reasons that a large capacity had to be introduced suddenly: Pent up demand for long distance telephone
service, because of the hiatus during the war years, and the new medium of television, which needed more bandwidth than radio. The
prototype was called TDX and was tested with a connection between New York City and Murray Hill, the location of Bell
Laboratories in 1946. The TDX system was set up between New York and Boston in 1947. The TDX was upgraded to the TD2
system, which used [the Morton tube, 416B and later 416C, manufactured by Western Electric] in the transmitters, and then later to
TD3 that used solid state electronics.

Military microwave relay systems continued to be used into the 1960s, when many of these systems were supplanted with
tropospheric scatter or communication satellite systems. When the NATO military arm was formed, much of this existing equipment
was transferred to communications groups. The typical communications systems used by NATO during that time period consisted of
the technologies which had been developed for use by the telephone carrier entities in host countries. One example from the USA is
the RCA CW-20A 1–2 GHz microwave relay system which utilized flexible UHF cable rather than the rigid waveguide required by
higher frequency systems, making it ideal for tactical applications. The typical microwave relay installation or portable van had two
radio systems (plus backup) connecting two line of sight sites. These radios would often carry 24 telephone channels frequency
division multiplexed on the microwave carrier (i.e. Lenkurt 33C FDM). Any channel could be designated to carry up to 18 teletype
communications instead. Similar systems fromGermany and other member nations were also in use.

Long-distance microwave relay networks were built in many countries until the 1980s, when the technology lost its share of fixed
operation to newer technologies such asfiber-optic cable and communication satellites, which offer a lower cost per bit.

During the Cold War, the US intelligence agencies, such as the National Security
Agency (NSA), were reportedly able to intercept Soviet microwave traffic using
satellites such as Rhyolite.[8] Much of the beam of a microwave link passes the
receiving antenna and radiates toward the horizon, into space. By positioning a
geosynchronous satellite in the path of the beam, the microwave beam can be
received.

At the turn of the century, microwave radio relay systems are being used
increasingly in portable radio applications. The technology is particularly suited to
this application because of lower operating costs, a more efficient infrastructure, and Microwave spying
provision of direct hardware access to the portable radio operator
.

Microwave link
A microwave link is a communications system that uses a beam of radio waves in the microwave frequency range to transmit video,
audio, or data between two locations, which can be from just a few feet or meters to several miles or kilometers apart. Microwave
links are commonly used by television broadcasters to transmit programmes across a country, for instance, or from an outside
broadcast back to a studio.

Mobile units can be camera mounted, allowing cameras the freedom to move around without trailing cables. These are often seen on
the touchlines of sports fields onSteadicam systems.

Properties of microwave links

Involve line of sight (LOS) communication technology

Affected greatly by environmental constraints, including rain fade
Have very limited penetration capabilities through obstacles such as hills, buildings and trees
Sensitive to high pollen count
Signals can be degraded duringSolar proton events[9]

Uses of microwave links

In communications betweensatellites and base stations

As backbone carriers for cellular systems
 In short-range indoor communications
Linking remote and regional telephone exchanges to larger (main) exchanges without the need for copper/optical
fibre lines
Measuring the intensity ofrain between two locations

Troposcatter
Terrestrial microwave relay links are limited in distance to the visual horizon, a few tens of miles or kilometers depending on tower
height. Tropospheric scatter ("troposcatter" or "scatter") was a technology developed in the 1950s to allow microwave
communication links beyond the horizon, to a range of several hundred kilometers. The transmitter radiates a beam of microwaves
into the sky, at a shallow angle above the horizon toward the receiver. As the beam passes through the troposphere a small fraction of
the microwave energy is scattered back toward the ground by water vapor and dust in the air. A sensitive receiver beyond the horizon
picks up this reflected signal. Signal clarity obtained by this method depends on the weather and other factors, and as a result a high
level of technical difficulty is involved in the creation of a reliable over horizon radio relay link. Troposcatter links are therefore only
used in special circumstances where satellites and other long distance communication channels cannot be relied on, such as in
military communications.

See also
Wireless energy transfer
Fresnel zone
Passive repeater
Radio repeater
Transmitter station
Path loss
British Telecom microwave network
Trans-Canada Microwave
Antenna array (electromagnetic)

References
1. Pond, Norman H (2008).The Tube Guys. Russ Cochran. p. 170.ISBN 9-780-9816-9230-2.
2. Umberto Casiraghi (May 21, 2010)."A vintage document: Reference Radio Link e
Tlettra on the Red Sea, 360km and
world record" (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1388572806437&set=o.90736850463&type=1&theater) .
Telettra. Retrieved 2012-10-02 – via Facebook.
3. Slyusar, Vadym. (2015). First Antennas for Relay Stations(http://www.slyusar.kiev.ua/U_080_Slyusar_ICATT_2015.p
df) (PDF). International Conference on Antenna Theory and eTchniques, 21–24 April 2015, Kharkiv, Ukraine.
pp. 254–255.
4. Mattausch, J. (16 January 1898)."Telegraphie ohne Draht. Eine Studie"(http://www.slyusar.kiev.ua/all/zeitschriftfrele
16.pdf) [Telegraph without wire. A study](PDF). Zeitschrift für Elektrotechnik(in German). Elektrotechnischen
Vereines in Wien. XVI (3): 35–36 – via www.slyusar.kiev.ua.
5. Free, E.E. (August 1931)."Searchlight radio with the new 7 inch waves"(http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archi
ve-Radio-News/30s/Radio-News-1931-08-R.pdf)(PDF). Radio News. Vol. 8 no. 2. New York: Radio Science
Publications. pp. 107–109. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
6. "Microwaves span the English Channel"(http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Short-Wave-Television/30s/S
W-TV-1935-09.pdf) (PDF). Short Wave Craft. Vol. 6 no. 5. New York: Popular Book Co. September 1935. pp. 262,
310. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
7. "Sugar Scoop Antennas Capture Microwaves"(https://books.google.com/books?id=390DAAAAMBAJ&pg=P
A87&dq
=true#v=onepage&q=true&f=true). Popular Mechanics. February 1985. p. 87.
8. James Bamford (2008). The Shadow Factory. Doubleday. p. 176. ISBN 0-385-52132-4.
9. Kincaid, Cheryl-Annette (May 2007).Analyzing Microwave Spectra Collected by the Solar Radio Burst Locator (http
s://digital.library.unt.edu/data/etd/2007_1/open/meta-dc-3655.tkl) (MSc). Denton, Texas: University of North Texas.
 Retrieved 2012-10-02 – via UNT Digital Library.

Microwave Radio Transmission Design Guide, Trevor Manning, Artech House, 1999

External links
RF / Microwave Design at Oxford University
AT&T's Microwave Radio-Relay Skyway introduced in 1951
Bell System 1951 magazine ad for Microwave Radio-Relay systems.
RCA vintage magazine ad for Microwave-Radio Relay equipment used for W
estern Union Telegraph Co.
AT&T Long Lines Microwave Towers Remembered
AT&T Long Lines
IEEE Global History NetworkMicrowave Link Networks

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