Department of Electrical Engineering

College of Engineering
University of North Texas
ATTENUATION OF MICROWAVE SIGNAL AND ITS IMPACTS
ON
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
By:
Sanjaya Gurung
Jingshu Zhao
ABSTRACT
"Attenuation of Microwave Signal and its Impacts on communication system" is a paper
presented to make light on
the general meaning of attenuation, its impact on communication system and the solutions
to various kinds of
attenuation of microwave signal. In this paper, various real world examples are illustrated
with clear figures and
graphs to better understand the characteristics of microwave signal propagating in a
medium. Various causes of
attenuation such as rain attenuation, attenuation due to trees, long distance attenuation,
other climatic factors such as
snow, wind, fog etc. are also discussed with their solutions. Many technical specifications
related to radio signal
propagation and attenuation incurred is discussed in this paper. Almost all related materials
are included relevant to
attenuation of microwave signal and its impacts on communication system in this paper

1. Introduction:

Attenuation is the reduction of signal strength during transmission. It is just the opposite of
amplification. Its unit is
dB (decibel) or more generally it is measured in dB/km. during the transmission, the signal
gets attenuated
exponentially. Attenuation is an inherent characteristic of RF (radio frequency) signal and
also is very important in
the design aspect. So it should be taken into consideration while designing and calculating
the RSL (Receive Signal
Level) of the RF signal between two stations.
Attenuation is directly proportional to the frequency. That means the RF signal gets
significantly attenuated at
higher frequencies and there is less effect of attenuation at lower frequencies.
where, = attenuation
= frequency
Transmitter Receiver
Tx antenna Rx antenna
Fig. block diagram of a typical communication system
medium
-wave
IF cable IF cable
Voice/data
Voice/data
Input signal
Output signal
Electrical signal Electrical signal
Electromagnetic
wave signal

Of course, there is some loss (signal attenuation) in transmitter as well as in receiver block,
however the major
attenuation occurs in the transmission medium between Tx and Rx antennas of two stations.

Attenuation Vs link distance

{
Fig. Attenuation Vs distance

Attenuation
The radio signal gets attenuated exponentially while propagating. From above figure it is
clear that keeping
transmission distance (d) fixed, the higher frequency signal (f2) gets attenuated significantly
than does the lower
frequency (f1) signal. It is also observed that when the transmission distance is near, then
the selection of frequency
(microwave antenna of certain frequency) is not so important because there is not much
difference(A1) between the
attenuation occurred by higher frequency and lower frequency whereas it is very much
important to choose the
appropriate frequency (microwave antenna) when the transmission distance is far because
there is a significant
difference(A2) between the attenuation occurred due to higher and lower frequencies. One
should choose the lower
frequency microwave antenna to establish the link between the two stations located quite
far away from each other.

Radio Frequency Allocation Table

Frequency Wavelength Radio band

30-300 Hz 10-1 Mm ELF (Extreme Low Frequency)
300-3000 Hz 1000-100 km ULF (Ultra Low Frequency)
3-30 KHz 100-10 km VLF (Very Low Frequency)
30-300 KHz 10-1 km LF (Low Frequency)
300-3000 KHz 1000-100 m MF (Medium Frequency)
3-30 MHz 100-10 m HF (High Frequency)
30-300 MHz 10-1 m VHF (Very High Frequency)
300-3000 MHz 100-10 cm UHF (Ultra High Frequency)
3-30 GHz 10-1 cm SHF (Super High Frequency)
30-300 GHz 10-1 mm EHF (Extreme High Frequency)
The microwave frequency range is . i.e., microwave radio signal propagates in UHF and SHF
radio band. The mostly used common frequencies for microwave propagation are 2, 4, 6, 7,
8, 11, 13, 15, 18, 23, 38
GHz.
Friis Transmission formula for microwave signal propagation
where,
= Receive power
= Transmit Power
= Transmitting antenna gain
= Receiving antenna gain
= Free Space Loss (path loss)
= Transmission line loss between transmitter and transmitting antenna
= Transmission line loss between receiver and receiving antenna
The terms FSL, At and Ar are the one which constitutes the attenuation of microwave signal.
is measured in MHz and is measured in km

2. Causes of Attenuation

2.1 Long distance Attenuation

The signal gets attenuated as it propagates through the medium and longer the distance it
travels the more
it gets attenuated and finally after propagating through a long distance, the signal get
vanished completely.
So, as the signal travels, it gets attenuated exponentially. In general, the maximum
transmission distance
between two stations is 50 km but when the signal propagates through the reflected
surfaces such as rivers,
oceans, lakes, sea etc., then the maximum distance it can propagate is only about 35 km.
Experiment: Transmission between two islands
An experiment was carried out for 5 months to see the propagation characteristics of the
microwave signal
over the seas. The two microwave stations were established on the two islands located at 50
km apart from
each other. After 5 months, it is concluded that it is important to put the antenna of the high
station at a
place much higher than that of the lower station because the signal gets very affected by
the incoming
waves and the reflected waves while propagating over the surface of the sea. So the signal
gets significantly
attenuated if the signal propagates just above the surface of the sea thats why its better to
let the signal
propagates much above the surface of the sea. So for this we have to put the microwave
antenna at a
significant height. Also the large size antennas should be chosen for long distance
communication.
2.2 Atmospheric Attenuation
2.2.1 Rain Attenuation
Another important source of microwave signal attenuation is rain. When the rain rate
intensity is
high, then the microwave signal gets significantly attenuated. For example, it is observed
that at
high rain intensity (150 mm/hr), the fading of RF signal at 2.4 GHz reached the value 0.02
dB/km.
So even if the transmission distance is near and the transmitted power is large enough, the
signal
will be attenuated in a very significant amount due to heavy rain that the link between the
two
stations may break down. The attenuation becomes significant at higher frequencies and
more
precisely saying at frequencies greater than 10 GHz. At higher frequencies, the signal can
get
attenuated up to 1 dBm/km due to heavy rain fall.
2.2.2 Attenuation due to fog, wind, snow, hurricane etc
There are other factors that affect the signal degradation such as dog, wind, hurricane etc.
but
these effects are not that much significant.
2.3 Attenuation due to trees
Another factor that engenders the signal attenuation is the tree. The signal often has to
propagate via dense
forest. The absorption of signal is significant while propagating through the dense forest.
Isolated trees are
not the problem for microwave signal as their individual effect of attenuation is very small.
In one

experiment, it is observed that the trees having wet leaves can cause huge attenuation as
compared to the
trees bearing the dry leaves. It is observed that the signal can get attenuated up to 0.4 dB/m
at 3 GHz. So
there is a huge path loss if the signal passes through several hundreds meters through the
jungle.
2.4 Attenuation due to defective parts of microwave communication system
Attenuation can also be occurred due to the defective parts of microwave communication
system such as
microwave antenna, ODU (Outdoor Unit), IF cable (the cable connecting ODU and the IDU
(Indoor Unit),
connectors etc. If theres something wrong with the above mentioned equipments then
either the signal cant be
transmitted or received or may be the signal propagating will be attenuated and the degree
of attenuation depends
upon the degree of seriousness of the defects. For example, if theres a heavy rain and due
to which the water
goes inside ODU, then the signal may be attenuated in a significant amount, also if theres
something problem in
connectors, IF cables etc, then the signal goes under attenuation. Usually, IF cable used to
connect ODU and
IDU is a coaxial cable which has normally an attenuation of 20 dB at 350 MHz while flowing
through 220m of
distance, but the signal here is electrical instead of radio because only the electrical signal
can pass through the
feeder cable (50 ohm coaxial cable).
The part where the rain drop (water)
can affect
Flange
(Optical medium for transmission)

3. Impacts of Attenuation on communication system

There are several impacts of signal attenuation on communication system. They are
discussed below:
3.1 Possibility of break down of Radio link
The significant amount of signal attenuation can result in break down of the radio link
between the two stations.
If there is a significant attenuation and the RSL (Receive Signal Level) or received power
exceeds the fade
margin, then the radio link will break down and hence the communication system is
completely interrupted.
3.2 Cost of use of numerous repeaters used for signal enhancement
For very long distance communication, the signal has to propagate carrying enough power
level for the receiver
to receive the signal. But as already discussed, the microwave signal can propagate only up
to 50 km. So if one
has to establish the microwave link at a greater distance than 50 km, there comes the need
of power amplifier or
repeater which regenerates the signal and the signal can again propagate 50 km further. So
if the transmission
distance is so far, a number of repeaters will be needed which makes the communication
system costly.
ODU Microwave antenna
Part where water can affect
Regenerated signal traveling
to main destination
Station used especially for

transmitting signal targeted

to Z station
Receiver station
Repeater station

4. Solution to Attenuation
4.1 Selection of appropriate radio frequency
The attenuation of radio signal is directly proportional to the frequency. That is
where A is attenuation and f is the frequency of microwave signal. Also attenuation is
directly proportional to
the distance travelled by the signal
This means that if we use the higher frequency, there will be more attenuation. So if the
transmission distance is
short then the higher frequency can be used as there is not much impact of attenuation at
short distance but if the
transmission distance is long, then the lower frequency must be used instead of higher
frequency because there is
a significant impact of attenuation due to higher frequency at longer distance.
For example, if the link distance is a less than 5 km, then the higher frequency antenna such
as 15 GHz, 18 GHz
or higher than that can be used for the establishment of the microwave link. If the link
distance is 5 km - 15 km,
we can use only up to 18 GHz microwave antenna and not higher than that because 15 km
distance is quite
enough for the signal to go under significant attenuation at higher frequencies than 18 GHz.
And if the
transmission distance is around 15 km - 35 km, then much lower frequencies 8 GHz or &
GHz microwave
antenna can be used to counterbalance the effect of attenuation travelling through the long
distance.
4.2 Use of Repeaters:
A repeater is a network device used in transmission system to regenerate or replicate the
signal distorted by
transmission loss. It acts as a relay between the two stations when it is impossible for radio
signal to reach up to
another station with enough power level. The analog repeater can amplify the signal
whereas the digital repeater
can reconstruct the signal to its original quality.
With the use of repeater, we can have a longer distance communication possible. Also we
can use higher
frequency antenna for transmission instead of using lower frequency microwave antenna.
We can establish the
repeater station in between two far stations and relay microwave radio signal between
theses two stations without
the significant attenuation of signal.
No signal beyond this line
Coz not sufficient power beyond
this line due to attenuation.

Z
X
Y
Also, with the use of the repeater, one can establish the microwave link between the two
sites which would have
not been possible without the use of the repeater due to LOS (Line Of Sight) problem. This is
illustrated in the
figure below:

From figure it is clearly seen that due to LOS problem, there is no chance of establishing the
microwave link
between the stations X and Z because there is a huge obstruction (hill) in between them
which prevents the signal
of X to pass through it to reach up to Z. So by establishing a new station Y at the top of the
hill as shown, it can
set up the link to both stations X and Y with it and equivalently establishing the link in
between these two sites.
The station Y is in LOS of both stations X and Z and hence can easily relay the signal
between them.
4.3 Maximizing transmitted power
Another solution to attenuation is by maximizing transmitted power. We know that the
power transmitted is
directly proportional to the distance it can travel carrying significant amount of power level.
It is useful when we
don't want to use the lower frequency antenna and also we can not reduce the transmission
distance. In this case
we get the solution only by maximizing the transmitted power.
For an example, if we have to transmit the signal over 10 km transmission distance using 18
GHz microwave
antenna, we have to adjust the transmit power of microwave antenna at a maximum value
(19 dBm), only then it
is possible to establish the link, otherwise less transmitted power can not reach up to
another station situated at
10 km apart from the transmitting station.
Of course, there is a drawback of maximizing the transmitted power, there may be
interference to other stations
located near by. But we can transmit the power with its maximum value when there is no
other stations near by or
when it is more important to establish the link and we can do so at the cost of the
interference to another stations
located near by.
4.4 Increasing the fade margin
Generally, in real world communication, fade margin is one of the important things to be
considered while
designing the radio transmission system. Fade margin (here) means the range of receive
power level up to which
the signal can be caught by the station and hence the link does not break down.
For example, From design value, if RSL = - 45 dBm, fade margin = 20 dBm and if due to
heavy rain or some
other factor the signal gets attenuated heavily and the receive power level at receiver is
only -60 dBm, then the
link will still remain up because of the 20 dBm fade margin. Due to the fade margin of 20
dBm, the link will
remain up even if we receive the signal with a power of - ( 45+20 = 65) dBm. So, it is always
better to have a
slightly larger fade margin in microwave communication because there is a frequent
fluctuation of signal power
level due to various factors.

X
Y
Z

Repeater
Fig. Illustration of the use of Repeater in hilly areas

4.5 Using perfect and well installed radio equipments

As already discussed above about the impact of defective parts of communication system,
one should take care
about the proper installation of MW radio equipments and well check up of all the network
elements before
putting the stations on air. May be sometimes, the ODU during heavy rain, can't work
properly if it is not
properly installed and the connectors of ODU are not properly made and wrapped with
weather proof tapes and
insulation tapes etc. The weather proof tapes and the insulation tapes prevent ODU from
being affected by the
weather such as moisture, rain, snow etc, other wise ODU flange is highly prone to be
affected by rain drop. As
discussed earlier, the transmission line (feeder cable) can also be the portion where there is
an attenuation of
signal, confirming well installation of all these cables and connectors, the attenuation of the
cable can be
minimized.

5. Conclusion
Different types of causes of attenuation of microwave signal were understood clearly and
hence various kinds of
techniques to counterbalance the effects of attenuation were proposed clearly in this paper.