RF Propagation, Fading and Link Budget Analysis Training

RF is RF,” is an expression often heard from RF engineers. However, the understanding of RF propagation is far from intuitive, and the lack of this understanding can adversely affect the system performance. How does the RF energy propagate through space? How is it impacted by the presence of buildings,mountains, lakes, vegetation, and other natural and man-made structures? How does one “budget” for the gains and losses that inevitably occur on the way from the transmitter to the receiver? These are the issues at the heart of this RF Propagation, Fading and Link Budget Analysis Training course.

The RF Propagation, Fading and Link Budget Analysis Training course will give you the understanding you need to identify the right propagation model to use in a given situation and apply it correctly. It will help you understand and anticipate the effect of natural and man-made structures ranging from such fixed objects as a mountain to a highly variable one as a truck passing by on an adjacent highway. A solid grasp of these phenomena will help you appropriately “budget” for them which, in turn, will help you design or optimize a network within existing budgetary and KPI constraints.

• RF Training Fundamentals
• RF Optimization Training
• RF Engineering Training
• RF Safety for Workers Training
• RF Systems Analysis and Design Training
• RF For Technicians Training
• RF Signal Processing Training
• RF Systems Principles, Design, and Deployment Training

The Electromagnetic Spectrum

• FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB): Structure and mission
• Types of FCC-licensed radio services
• Spectrum groups and typical applications for each
  • HF
  • VHF
  • UHF/SHF
  • Microwave
  • Millimeter wave

Radio Frequency (RF) Transmission, Reception, and Propagation

• Glossary of common radio propagation terms and acronyms
• Why do we need to study propagation?
• Relationship of propagation phenomenon to wireless network modeling and design
• Theory of radio frequency (RF) propagation
• Examining the basic radio wave components: (E) and (H) fields
• Skywave vs. ground wave propagation
• Line-of-Sight (LOS) and non-Line-of-Sight (non-LOS) propagation
• Free space path loss models
• Frequency and wavelength calculations
• Basic modulation theory
• Bits per second per hertz efficiency
• Bit rate vs. symbol rate
• Digital and analog modulation: Advantages and disadvantages

Wireless Multiple Access Methods, Applications, and Comparisons

•  FDMA
•  TDMA
•  CDMA

Factors Affecting the Behavior of Radio Waves: Path Attenuation

•  Reflection
•  Refraction
•  Scattering
•  Diffraction
•  Earth’s curvature
•  Fresnel Zones

Radio Propagation in a Mobile Environment

•  Multipath fading
  • Rician, Raleigh, and Nakagami fading
  • Threshold crossing rate and average fade duration
  • Delay spread
  • Scatter function, WSSUS model, and SCRM model
  • Doppler shift effects
  • Coherence time and coherence bandwidth
•  Dealing with channel impairments
  • Forward error correction (FEC)
  • Interleaving
  • Channel coding theory and practice
  • Voice coding: Why do we need it?
  • Basics of voice coding and decoding
    •    Waveform coders
    •    Source coders (vocoders)
    •    Hybrid coders

Antenna Configurations and Performance in the Context of RF Propagation Issues

•  Basic antennas: Isotropic and dipole radiators
•  Concept of antenna gain and gain references
•  Calculating and measuring antenna gain
•  Effective Radiated Power (ERP)
•  Antenna patterns and pattern features
•  How antennas achieve gain
•  Reflector techniques, array techniques
•  Families of antennas used in wireless: Architecture and characteristics
•  Collinear vertical antennas
•  Horizontal arrays: Yagis, log-periodic, etc.
•  Implications of propagation driving antenna selection
•  Multipath scattering in mobile clutter environment
•  Beamwidths and tilt considerations for base station antennas
•  Radiation patterns
• Gain antenna types, composition, and operational principles
• Antenna gains, patterns, and selection principles
• Antenna system testing and evaluation

Radio Propagation Models and Their Uses

• Simple analytical models
• General area models
• Point-to-point models
• Local variability models
• The Okumura model
• The Hata model
• The EURO COST-231 model
• Morphological zones
• Walfisch-Betroni/Walfisch-Ikegami models
• Propagation modeling tools
• Indoor and pico-cell prediction models
• Urban model predictions for macro, micro, and pico cells

ITU-R Propagation Models and Prediction Methods

• Terrain effects
• Propagation over smooth earth
• Propagation over smooth earth
• Propagation over irregular terrain
• Diffraction and microwave interference
• Diffraction over irregular terrain
• Diffraction in microwave interference (site shielding)
• Ground and obstacles, effects of buildings, outside
• Short-range outdoor propagation

RF Propagation, Fading, and Link Budget Analysis Training – Link Budgets

• Understanding the link budget equation
• Line-of-sight (LOS) path loss models
• The Fresnel zone
• Path loss and free space path loss
• Antenna gain
• Frequency considerations
• Atmospheric, weather, and rain attenuation
• Terrain factors
• Multipath loss
• Rician and Raleigh’s fading considerations
• Cochannel interference
• Transmission line loss
• A typical link budget calculation for a cellular network

RF Propagation, Fading and Link Budget Analysis Training Course Wrap-Up