BRIEF HISTORY OF RF AND MICROWAVE WIRELESS SYSTEMS

The wireless era was started by two European scientists, James Clerk Maxwell and
Heinrich Rudolf Hertz. In1864, Maxwell presented Maxwell's equations by unifying the
works of Lorentz, Faraday, Ampere, and Gauss. He predicted the propagation of
electromagnetic waves in free space at the speed of light. He postulated that light was an
electromagnetic phenomenon of a particular wavelength and predicted that radiation
would occur at other wavelengths as well. His theory was not well accepted until 20 years
later, after Hertz validated the electromagnetic wave (wireless) propagation. Hertz
demonstrated radio frequency (RF) generation, propagation, and reception in the
laboratory. His radio system experiment consisted of an end-loaded dipole transmitter and
are sonant square-loop antenna receiver operating at a wavelength of 4m. For this work,
Hertz is known as the father of radio, and frequency is described in units of hertz (Hz).
Hertz's work remained a laboratory curiosity for almost two decades, until a young
Italian, Guglielmo Marconi, envisioned a method for transmitting and receiving
information. Marconi commercialized the use of electromagnetic wave propagation for
wireless communications and allowed the transfer of information from one continent to
another without a physical connection. The telegraph became the means of fast
communications. Distress signals from the S.S. Titanic made a great impression on the
public regarding the use fullness of wireless communications. Marconi's wireless
communications using the telegraph meant that a ship was no longer isolated in the open
seas and could have continuous contact to report its positions. Marconi's efforts earned
him the Nobel Prize in 1909.
In the early 1900s, most wireless transmission occurred at very long wavelengths.
Transmitters consisted of Alexanderson alternators, Poulsen arcs, and spark gaps.
Receivers used coherers, Fleming valves, and De Forest audions. With the advent of DE
Forests triode vacuum tube in 1907,continuous waves (CW) replaced spark gaps, and
more reliable frequency and power output were obtained for radio broadcasting at
frequencies below 1.5 MHz In the 1920s, the one-way broadcast was made to police cars
in Detroit. Then the use of radio waves for wireless broadcasting, communications
between mobile and land stations, public safety systems, maritime mobile services, and
land transportation systems was drastically increased. During World War II, radio
communications became indispensable for military use in battlefields and troop
maneuvering.
Wireless communications using telegraphs, broadcasting, telephones, and point-to-point
radio links were available before World War II. The wide spread use of these

communication methods was accelerated during and after the war. For long-distance
wireless communications, relay systems or tropospheric scattering were used. In 1959,
J.R.Pierce and R.Kompfner envisioned transoceanic communications by satellites. This
opened an era of global communications using satellites. The satellite uses abroad
bandhigh-frequency system that can simultaneously support thousands of telephone
users, tensor hundreds of TV channels, and many data links. The operating frequencies
are in the gigahertz range. After 1980, cordless phones and cellular phones became
popular and have enjoyed very rapid growth in the past two decades. Today, personal
communication systems (PCSs) operating at higher frequencies with wider bandwidths
are emerging with a combination of various services such as voice mail, email, video,
messaging, data, and computer on-line services. The direct link between satellites and
personal communication systems can provide voice, video, or data communications
anywhere in the world, even in the most remote regions of the globe.
In addition to communication and radar applications, wireless technologies have many
other applications. In the 1990s, the use of wireless RF and microwave technologies for
motor vehicle and highway applications has increased, especially in Europe and Japan.
The direct broadcast satellite (DBS) systems have offered an alternative to cable
television , and the end of the Cold War has made many military technologies available to
civilian applications. The global positioning systems (GPSs), RF identification (RFID)
systems, and remote sensing and surveillance systems have also found many commercial
applications.
Figure1.1 summarizes the history of these wireless systems.

Radio waves and microwaves play an important role in modern life. The RF and
microwave wireless technologies have many commercial and military applications. The
major application areas include communications, radar, navigation, remote sensing, RF
identification, broadcasting, automobiles and highways, sensors, surveillance, medical,
and astronomy and space exploration

Microwaves are electromagnetic waves with wavelengths ranging from as long as

one meter to as short as one millimeter, or , with frequencies between 500 MHz and
100 GHz.[It can be even up to 300 GHz] .
Electromagnetic waves longer than microwaves ((lower frequency) are called "Radio
waves". Electromagnetic radiation with shorter wavelengths may be called "millimeter
waves".
Radio waves and microwaves play an important role in modern life. The RF and
microwave wireless technologies have many commercial and military applications. The
major application areas include communications, radar, navigation, remote sensing, RF
identification, broadcasting, automobiles and highways, sensors, surveillance, medical,
and astronomy and space exploration
Microwave technology is extensively used for point-to-point telecommunications (i.e.
non-broadcast uses). Microwaves are especially suitable for this use since they are more
easily focused into narrower beams than radio waves, allowing frequency reuse; their
comparatively higher frequencies allow broad bandwidth and high data transmission
rates, and antenna sizes are smaller than at lower frequencies because antenna size is
inversely proportional to transmitted frequency. Numerous transmission systems use
microwaves including line-of-sight between buildings and across vast distances, as well
as communications satellites, cellular systems and wireless LANs.
MICROWAVE TRANSMISSION
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, and radio 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. Radio waves in this band are usually strongly attenuated by the
Earthly atmosphere and particles contained in it, especially during wet weather. Also, in
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.
Properties
Suitable over line-of-sight transmission links without obstacles
Provides large useful bandwidth when compared to lower frequencies (HF, VHF, UHF)
Affected by the refractive index (temperature, pressure and humidity) of the
atmosphere, rain (see rain fade), snow and hail, sand storms, clouds, mist and fog,
strongly depending on the frequency
USES
Wireless transmission of information

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

communications satellite


Terrestrial microwave radio broadcasting relay links in telecommunications
networks including e.g. backbone or backhaul carriers in cellular networks linking BTSBSC and BSC-MSC.
Wireless transmission of power

Proposed systems e.g. for connecting solar power collecting satellites to terrestrial
power grids
MICROWAVE RADIO RELAY
Microwave radio relay is a technology for transmitting digital and analog signals, such as
long-distance telephone calls and the relay of television programs to transmitters,
between two locations on a line of sight radio path. In microwave radio relay, radio waves
are transmitted between the two locations with directional antennas, forming a fixed radio
connection between the two points.
Beginning in the 1940s, 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 carried by cheaper optical fibers
and communication satellites, but microwave relay remains important for shorter
distances.
How microwave radio relay links are formed
Because a line of sight radio link is made, the radio frequencies used occupy only a
narrow path between stations (with the exception of a certain radius of each station).
Antennas used must have a high directive effect; 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 reflectors,
shell antennas and horn radiators, 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.
USAGE OF MICROWAVE RADIO RELAY SYSTEMS
During the 1950s the AT&T Communications system of microwave radio grew to carry
the majority of US Long Distance telephone traffic, as well as intercontinental television
network signals. 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 improved
to the TD2, which still used klystrons, and then later to the TD3 that used solid state
electronics. 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.
Similar systems were soon built in many countries, until the 1980s when the technology
lost its share of fixed operation to newer technologies such as fiber-optic cable and
optical radio relay links, both of which offer larger data capacities at lower cost per bit.
Communication satellites, which are also microwave radio relays, better retained their
market share, especially for television.
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 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 meters to several kilometers apart. Microwave links are
commonly used by television broadcasters to transmit programmers across a country, for
instance, or from an outside broadcast back to a studio.
Microwave links have been proven cost-effective in network deployments where traffic
requires are medium to high capacity between sites
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 during Solar proton events [9]

Uses of microwave links

In communications between satellites and base stations

As backbone carriers for cellular systems

In short range indoor communications

Telecommunications, in linking remote and regional telephone exchanges to larger

(main) exchanges without the need for copper/optical fibre lines

Parabolic (microwave) antenna

To direct microwaves in narrow beams for point-topoint communication links or radiolocation (radar,
a parabolic antenna is usually used. This is an
antenna that uses a parabolic reflector to direct the
microwaves. To achieve narrow beamwidths, the
reflector must be much larger than the wavelength
of the radio waves. The relatively short wavelength
of microwaves allows reasonably sized dishes to
exhibit the desired highly directional response for
both receiving and transmitting.