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Link budget

Dr S.C Lubobya

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Introduction
‣ The performance of any communication link depends on the quality
of the equipment being used.
‣ Link budget is a way of quantifying the link performance.
‣ The received power in an 802.11 link is determined by three
factors: transmit power, transmitting antenna gain, and receiving
antenna gain.
‣ If that power, minus the free space loss of the link path, is greater
than the minimum received signal level of the receiving radio, then
a link is possible.

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Power in a wireless system

Rx Sensitivity

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Link Margin
‣ The difference between the minimum received signal level and
the actual received power is called the link margin.
‣ The link margin must be positive, and should be maximized
(should be at least 10dB or more for reliable links).

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Example link budget calculation
Let’s estimate the feasibility of a 5 km link, with one access
point and one client radio.

The access point is connected to an antenna with 10 dBi


gain, with a transmitting power of 20 dBm and a receive
sensitivity of -89 dBm.

The client is connected to an antenna with 14 dBi gain, with


a transmitting power of 15 dBm and a receive sensitivity of -
82 dBm.

The cables in both systems are short, with a loss of 2dB at


each side at the 2.4 GHz frequency of operation.
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AP to Client link
+10 dBi +14 dBi

-2 dB -2 dB

+20 dBm

???
-113 dB @ 5 km

-82 dBm
Rx Sensitivity

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Link budget: AP to Client link

20 dBm (TX Power AP)


+ 10 dBi (Antenna Gain AP)
- 2 dB (Cable Losses AP)
+ 14 dBi (Antenna Gain Client)
- 2 dB (Cable Losses Client)

40 dB Total Gain
-113 dB (free space loss @5 km)

-73 dB (expected received signal level)


--82 dBm (sensitivity of Client)

9 dB (link margin)

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Opposite direction: Client to AP
+14 dBi +10 dBi

-2 dB -2 dB

+15 dBm

???
-113 dB @ 5 km

-89 dBm
Rx Sensitivity

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Link budget: Client to AP link

15 dBm (TX Power Client)


+ 14 dBi (Antenna Gain Client)
- 2 dB (Cable Losses Client)
+ 10 dBi (Antenna Gain AP)
- 2 dB (Cable Losses AP)

35 dB Total Gain
-113 dB (free space loss @5 km)

-78 dB (expected received signal level)


--89 dBm (sensitivity of AP)

11 dB (link margin)

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Most Wireless Networks
Free Space Loss (long distance)
‣ Using decibels to express the loss and using 2.45 GHz as
the signal frequency, the equation for the Free Space Loss
is:

Lfsl = 100 + 20*log(D)

‣ ...where Lfsl is expressed in dB and D is in kilometers.

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Wi-Fi networks
Free Space Loss (short distance)
‣ Using decibels to express the loss and using 2.4 GHz as the
signal frequency, the equation for the Free Space Loss is:

Lfsl = 40 + 20*log(d)

‣ ...where Lfsl is expressed in dB and d is in meters.

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Cellular networks
Cell range
• From the link budget, the cell range R can be easily
calculated using a known propagation model, for example the
Okumura-Hata model.

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Cellular networks
Okumura-Hata propagation
• The Okumura-Hata propagation model for an
urban macro-cell with base station antenna
height of 30m, mobile antenna Height of 1.5m
and carrier frequency of 1950 MHz is given
by:
L = 137.4 + 35.2 log 10 ( R )
where L is the path loss in dB and R is the
cell range in Km.
• For suburn areas we assume an additional
area correction factor of 8 dB and therefore
the path loss is: L = 129.4 + 35.2 log 10 ( R )
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