MICROWAVE IS IN YOUR FUTURE
Extending the horizons of microwave communication
N
etwork demands and maturity vary around the
world, and differences can even be seen within indi-
vidual countries. Regardless of the situation, opera-
tors want to achieve the same goal – to provide the
best possible performance and quality of experience
in the most cost-efficient way. Microwave networks are a vital
ingredient for operators to meet this goal, and will continue to
be the dominant backhaul technology in the future.
Present day telecommunication uses microwave links that
can communicate from point to point. They have a reliability
of 99.999% (approximately) and more than half of the global
mobile phone calls are transferred via microwaves. You might
be not familiar, but there are different microwave frequency
bands allocated for different needs, which are either licensed
or unlicensed. There are lower frequencies for longer distances
and higher bands for shorter distances.
THE RANGE AND CAPACITY OF MICROWAVES
Although a “Line of sight” is required for long distances,
distance is only restricted by the curvature of the earth. On the
other hand, over short distances, even despite the obstacles
by means of tall buildings, reflections and diffractions allow
high-frequency microwave signals with maximum reliability.
Microwave technology has a wide range, which allows it to
build up complex networks; combining traffic from different
networks. Usually, a microwave link has a Gigabit capacity,
which is enough to store millions of Facebook updates or let
hundreds of people watch uninterrupted television. What does
this really mean? This will reduce the cost of using microwave
networks as mobile phone networks, nation-wide company
networks or company networks ranging from headquarters to
factories as they could find the best communication solution
through this technology. The huge potential that the micro-
wave technology has to offer will continue to connect remote
and urban parts of the globe even faster and smarter than we
can possibly imagine.
WHY HAS MICROWAVE BECOME THIS POPULAR?
Putting up a link for microwaves is so much faster than digging
up a road, which means it results in reduced cost and it is way
quicker. And it’s just as secure as cable network if not more so.
The upcoming new microwave connections will come along
with both voice and data combined with the same connec-
tion. And both the power consumption and equipment size are
drastically decreasing, giving us extra space to work with. The
new connections will enable the use of new, unexploited and
high-frequency bands which is a huge advantage.
Therefore by 2020, as foreseen by the experts, microwave
technology will be playing a vital role. However, microwave
backhaul is capable of handling 100% of the capacity needs of
the radio access sites (base stations) and will continue to grow
in the many years to come.
New and higher radio access spectrum will be required to
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University of Peradeniya Gauge Magazine
cater for the need of higher capacities and
emerging applications in a 5G context. Some
changes are expected to be made in the cur-
rent backhaul spectrum due to changes in
radio access. It is possible that some spec-
trum bands will be lost or shared with radio
access, new backhaul spectrum will require
to be added and the available spectrum will
need to be used more efficiently. Today, the
total spectrum for microwave backhaul cov-
ers around 40 GHz, but it is not available in
all the countries around the world.
It can be divided into five ranges with distinct
characteristics as given below.