11/11/2015 UnderstandingWirelessRangeCalculations

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UnderstandingWirelessRangeCalculations
ElectronicDesign
ChrisDowney
ChrisDowney,LairdTechnologies
Wed,2013040311:26

Oneofthekeycalculationsinanywirelessdesignisrange,themaximumdistancebetweentransmitter
andreceiverfornormaloperation.Thisarticleidentifiesthefactorsinvolvedincalculatingrangeand
showshowtoestimaterangetoensureareliablecommunicationslink.

TableOfContents

WhyActualRangeMayNotEqualStatedRange

PowerAnddBmCalculations

PathLoss

FadeMargin

InterpretingEmpiricalResults

AntennaHeightAndTheFresnelZone

Summary

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WhyActualRangeMayNotEqualStatedRange

Haveyoueverpurchasedawirelessradioforanembeddedprojectanddiscoveredthatyoudidnt
achievetheradiofrequency(RF)rangestatedinthedatasheet?Whyisthat?Itsprobablydueto
differencesbetweenhowthesuppliermeasuredtherangeandhowyouareusingtheradio.

Suppliersusuallydeterminerangebyderivingitempiricallyfromrealworldtestsorbyusinga
calculation.Eitherapproachisfineaslongasyouaccountforallvariables.Anempiricalsolution,
however,mayrevealrealworldsituationsthatcalculationsdontaddress.

Beforewecomparetheapproaches,letsdefineafewtermstounderstandamanufacturersnumbersor
relevantvariablesforrange.

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PowerAnddBmCalculations

RFpowerismostcommonlyexpressedandmeasuredindecibelswithamilliwattreference,ordBm.A
decibelisalogarithmicunitthatisaratioofthepowerofthesystemtosomereference.Adecibelvalue
of0isequivalenttoaratioof1.Decibelmilliwattistheoutputpowerindecibelsreferencedto1mW.

SincedBmisbasedonalogarithmicscale,itisanabsolutepowermeasurement.Foreveryincreaseof3
dBmthereisroughlytwicetheoutputpower,andeveryincreaseof10dBmrepresentsatenfoldincrease
inpower.10dBm(10mW)is10timesmorepowerfulthan0dBm(1mW),and20dBm(100mW)is10
timesmorepowerfulthan10dBm.

YoucanconvertbetweenmWanddBmusingthefollowingformulas:

P(dBm)=10log10(P(mW))

P(mW)=10(P(dBm)/10)

Forexample,apowerof2.5mWindBmis:

dBm=10log2.5=3.979

orabout4dBm.AdBmvalueof7dBminmWofpoweris:

P=107/10=100.7=5mW

PathLoss

Pathlossisthereductioninpowerdensitythatoccursasaradiowavepropagatesoveradistance.The
primaryfactorinpathlossisthedecreaseinsignalstrengthoverdistanceoftheradiowavesthemselves.
Radiowavesfollowaninversesquarelawforpowerdensity:thepowerdensityisproportionaltothe
inversesquareofthedistance.Everytimeyoudoublethedistance,youreceiveonlyonefourththe
power.Thismeansthatevery6dBmincreaseinoutputpowerdoublesthepossibledistancethatis
achievable.

Besidestransmitterpower,anotherfactoraffectingrangeisreceiversensitivity.Itisusuallyexpressedin
dBm.SincebothoutputpowerandreceiversensitivityarestatedindBm,youcanusesimpleaddition
andsubtractiontocalculatethemaximumpathlossthatasystemcanincur:

Maximumpathloss=transmitpowerreceiversensitivity+gainslosses

Gainsincludeanygainsresultingfromdirectionaltransmitand/orreceiveantennas.Antennagainsare
usuallyexpressedindBireferencedtoanisotropicantenna.Lossesincludeanyfilterorcableattenuation
orknownenvironmentalconditions.Thisrelationshipcanalsobestatedasalinkbudget,whichisthe
accountingofallgainsandlossesofasystemtomeasurethesignalstrengthatthereceiver:

Receivedpower=transmitpower+gainslosses

Thegoalistomakethereceivedpowergreaterthanthereceiversensitivity.

Infreespace(anidealcondition),theinversesquarelawistheonlyfactoraffectingrange.Inthereal
world,however,therangealsocanbedegradedbyotherfactors:

Obstaclessuchaswalls,trees,andhillscancausesignificantsignalloss.

Waterintheair(humidity)canabsorbRFenergy.

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Metalobjectscanreflectradiowaves,creatingnewversionsofthesignal.Thesemultiplewavesreach
thereceiveratdifferenttimesanddestructively(andsometimesconstructively)interferewith
themselves.Thisiscalledmultipath.

FadeMargin

Therearemanyformulasforquantifyingtheseobstacles.Whenpublishingrangenumbers,however,
manufacturersoftenignoreobstaclesandstateonlyalineofsight(LOS)oridealpathrangenumber.In
fairnesstothemanufacturer,itsimpossibletoknowalltheenvironmentswherearadiomaybeused,so
itsimpossibletocalculatethespecificrangeonemightachieve.Manufacturerswillsometimesincludea
fademarginintotheircalculationtoprovideforsuchenvironmentalconditions.Thus,theequationfor
distancecalculationsbecomes:

Maximumpathloss=transmitpowerreceiversensitivity+gainslossesfademargin

Fademarginisanallowanceasystemdesignerincludestoaccountforunknownvariables.Thehigherthe
fademargin,thebettertheoveralllinkqualitywillbe.Withafademarginsettozero,thelinkbudgetis
stillvalid,onlyinLOSconditions,whichisnotverypracticalformostdesigns.Theamountoffade
margintoincludeinacalculationdependsontheenvironmentinwhichthesystemisexpectedtobe
deployed.Afademarginof12dBmisgood,butabetternumberwouldbe20to30dBm.

Asanexample,assumeatransmitpowerof20dBm,areceiversensitivityof100dBm,receiveantenna
gainof6dBi,transmitantennagainof6dBi,andafademarginof12dB.Cablelossisnegligible:

### Maximumpathloss=transmitpowerreceiversensitivity+gainslossesfademargin

Vmaximumpathloss=20(100)+1212=120dB

Oncethemaximumpathlosshasbeenfound,youcanfindtherangefromtheformula:

### Distance(km)=10 (maximumpathloss32.4420log(f))/20

wheref=frequencyinMHz.Forexample,ifthemaximumpathlossis120dBatafrequencyof2.45GHz
or2450MHz,therangewillbe:

Distance(km)=10(12032.4467.78)/20=9.735km

Figure1showstherelationshipbetweenthemaximumpathlossandrangeatafrequencyof2.45GHz.

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1.ThecurveshowstherelationshipbetweenthelinkbudgetormaximumpathlossindBmand
estimatedrangeinkilometers.

InterpretingEmpiricalResults

Whileempiricalmethodsareveryusefulindeterminingtherange,itoftenisdifficulttoachieveideal
LOSforrealworldmeasurementsanddifficulttounderstandhowmuchfademargintobuildintoa
system.MeasuredresultscanhelpidentifyissuesbeyondRFpropagationthatmayaffecttherangeofa
system,suchasmultipathpropagation,interference,andRFabsorption.Butnotallrealworldtestsare
thesame,sorealworldmeasurementsshouldbeusedprimarilytobolsterthelinkbudgetnumbers
calculatedabove.

Factorsthatcaninfluencetherangeachievedinanempiricaltestincludeantennagain,antennaheight,
andinterference.Antennagainisakeysourceofgaininthesystem.Oftenmanufacturerswillcertify
theirradiotoworkwithdifferenttypesofantennasfromhighgainYagiandpatchantennastomore
moderategainomnidirectionalantennas.Itisimportanttoensuretestswereperformedwiththesame
typeofantennawithwhichyouarenowusingtheradio.Changingfroma6dBmantennatoa3dBm
antennaonboththetransmitandreceivesidewillcausea6dBmdifferenceinthelinkbudgetandreduce
therangebyhalf.

AntennaHeightAndTheFresnelZone

Antennaheightisanotherconcernforempiricalmeasurements.Raisingtheheightofanantennadoes
twomainthings.First,itcanhelpgetyouaboveanypossibleobstructionslikecars,people,trees,and
buildings.Second,itcanhelpgetyourtrueRFLOSsignalpathatleast60%clearanceintheFresnelzone.

TheFresnelzoneisanellipsoidvolumebetweenthetransmitterandreceiverwhoseareaisdefinedby
thewavelengthofthesignal.Itisacalculatedareathatstrivestoaccountfortheblockageordiffraction
ofradiowaves.Itsusedtocalculatetheproperclearanceasignalshouldhavearoundobstaclesto
achieveoptimalsignalstrength.AgeneralruleofthumbistohavetheLOSpathclearabovetheobstacles
thatarenomorethan60%oftheantennaheight.

ThecurvatureoftheEarthcanalsoimpactLOSforlongrangewirelesslinks.Thetableprovidessome

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examplesoftheimpact,wheretheEarthsheightatthemidpointofthelinkpathdoesnotaccountfor
hillsorotherterrainfeaturesandtheantennaheightachievesasignalthatisatleast60%intheFresnel
zone.

Inmanypracticalsettings,yourtransceiversmayfunctionwithalowerantennaheight,butitisagood
betthatthemanufacturersplacetheirantennasatanappropriateheight.Foryourapplication,you
shouldstrivetohaveanappropriateantennaheighttoachievethebestrange.Figure2illustrateshow
pathdistance,obstacleheight,andantennaheightarerelatedtotheFresnelzone.

2.Thedesiredantennaheightisdeterminedbytheobstacleheightandfactoringin60%marginto
compensatefortheFresnelzoneconditions.

Finally,noiseandinterferencecanhaveanegativeimpactontherangeofawirelesssystem.Noise
cannotbecontrolledbutshouldbefactoredintotherangeifitisanissue.Intheindustrial,scientific,and
medical(ISM)bandsat902to928MHz(NorthAmerica)and2.4GHz(worldwide),interferencecan
oftenbeexpected,butaccountingforitisdifficult.Manufacturersmayperformempiricaltestsonly
wheninterferenceisnotpresent.Itcertainlyislikelythatyourenvironmenthasgreaterinterference
thanwaspresentduringthemanufacturerstesting.

Summary

Withsomanyvariablesinasystem,howcanyouknowwhethertherangeclaimedbyamanufacturerwill
applytoyoursystem?Oftenitisimpossibletoknowwhethertestswereperformedempiricallyorifthe
rangenumberswerecalculated.Eitherway,byanalyzingthemaximumtransmitpowerandthereceiver
sensitivity,youcangenerateabaselinetocompareoneradiotothenext.Usingthesenumbers,along
withasetfademarginandanygainsduetoantennasorlossesduetoRFcables,youcancalculatea
maximumlinkbudget.Thenusethedistanceequationabovetocalculateyourownrange.Forvarious
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radiodevices,thisshouldprovideagoodbaselinetocomparetwoorthreesystemsthatmeetyour
needs.

Tounderstandiftheradioswillworkinyourapplication,youshouldstriveforaccuraterealworldtests
thatcanaccountforantennaheight,multipath,interference,andobstructions.Delayingrealworldtests
foryourapplicationandonlytakingthemanufacturersnumbersverbatimmayleaveyouasking,Whats
myrange?

ChrisDowneyhasbeenwithLairdTechnologiessince2007.Hehasbeenresponsibleforthenetwork
designandtroubleshootingforaTier1datacommunicationsnetworkandsystemsadministrationina
nationwideenterprisenetwork.Previously,hewasafieldapplicationsengineerforembedded
wirelessmodules.HeiscurrentlyaproductmanagerforwirelessmodulesatthefacilityinLenexa,
Kan.HehasaBSinelectricalengineering.

SourceURL:http://electronicdesign.com/communications/understandingwirelessrange
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