The decibel is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whose levels differ by one decibel have a power ratio of 101/10 or root-power ratio of 101⁄20.
In telecommunication, the free-space path loss (FSPL) is the attenuation of radio energy between the feedpoints of two antennas that results from the combination of the receiving antenna's capture area plus the obstacle-free, line-of-sight path through free space. The "Standard Definitions of Terms for Antennas", IEEE Std 145-1993, defines "free-space loss" as "The loss between two isotropic radiators in free space, expressed as a power ratio." It does not include any power loss in the antennas themselves due to imperfections such as resistance. Free space loss increases with the square of distance between the antennas because the radio waves spread out by the inverse square law and decreases with the square of the wavelength of the radio waves. The FSPL is rarely used standalone, but rather as a part of the Friis transmission formula, which includes the gain of antennas. It is a factor that must be included in the power link budget of a radio communication system, to ensure that sufficient radio power reaches the receiver such that the transmitted signal is received intelligibly.
Noise figure (NF) and noise factor (F) are figures of merit that indicate degradation of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) that is caused by components in a signal chain. These figures of merit are used to evaluate the performance of an amplifier or a radio receiver, with lower values indicating better performance.
In electronics, gain is a measure of the ability of a two-port circuit to increase the power or amplitude of a signal from the input to the output port by adding energy converted from some power supply to the signal. It is usually defined as the mean ratio of the signal amplitude or power at the output port to the amplitude or power at the input port. It is often expressed using the logarithmic decibel (dB) units. A gain greater than one, that is amplification, is the defining property of an active component or circuit, while a passive circuit will have a gain of less than one.
In electromagnetics, an antenna's gain is a key performance parameter which combines the antenna's directivity and radiation efficiency. The term power gain has been deprecated by IEEE. In a transmitting antenna, the gain describes how well the antenna converts input power into radio waves headed in a specified direction. In a receiving antenna, the gain describes how well the antenna converts radio waves arriving from a specified direction into electrical power. When no direction is specified, gain is understood to refer to the peak value of the gain, the gain in the direction of the antenna's main lobe. A plot of the gain as a function of direction is called the antenna pattern or radiation pattern. It is not to be confused with directivity, which does not take an antenna's radiation efficiency into account.
Line-of-sight propagation is a characteristic of electromagnetic radiation or acoustic wave propagation which means waves travel in a direct path from the source to the receiver. Electromagnetic transmission includes light emissions traveling in a straight line. The rays or waves may be diffracted, refracted, reflected, or absorbed by the atmosphere and obstructions with material and generally cannot travel over the horizon or behind obstacles.
Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would have to be radiated by a half-wave dipole antenna to give the same radiation intensity as the actual source antenna at a distant receiver located in the direction of the antenna's strongest beam. ERP measures the combination of the power emitted by the transmitter and the ability of the antenna to direct that power in a given direction. It is equal to the input power to the antenna multiplied by the gain of the antenna. It is used in electronics and telecommunications, particularly in broadcasting to quantify the apparent power of a broadcasting station experienced by listeners in its reception area.
In telecommunications, particularly in radio frequency engineering, signal strength refers to the transmitter power output as received by a reference antenna at a distance from the transmitting antenna. High-powered transmissions, such as those used in broadcasting, are expressed in dB-millivolts per metre (dBmV/m). For very low-power systems, such as mobile phones, signal strength is usually expressed in dB-microvolts per metre (dBμV/m) or in decibels above a reference level of one milliwatt (dBm). In broadcasting terminology, 1 mV/m is 1000 μV/m or 60 dBμ.
A link budget is an accounting of all of the power gains and losses that a communication signal experiences in a telecommunication system; from a transmitter, through a communication medium such as radio waves, cable, waveguide, or optical fiber, to the receiver. It is an equation giving the received power from the transmitter power, after the attenuation of the transmitted signal due to propagation, as well as the antenna gains and feedline and other losses, and amplification of the signal in the receiver or any repeaters it passes through. A link budget is a design aid, calculated during the design of a communication system to determine the received power, to ensure that the information is received intelligibly with an adequate signal-to-noise ratio. Randomly varying channel gains such as fading are taken into account by adding some margin depending on the anticipated severity of its effects. The amount of margin required can be reduced by the use of mitigating techniques such as antenna diversity or frequency hopping.
The Egli model is a terrain model for radio frequency propagation. This model, which was first introduced by John Egli in his 1957 paper, was derived from real-world data on UHF and VHF television transmissions in several large cities. It predicts the total path loss for a point-to-point link. Typically used for outdoor line-of-sight transmission, this model provides the path loss as a single quantity.
The COST Hata model is a radio propagation model that extends the urban Hata model to cover a more elaborated range of frequencies. It is the most often cited of the COST 231 models, also called the Hata Model PCS Extension. This model is the combination of empirical and deterministic models for estimating path loss in an urban area over frequency range of 800 MHz to 2000 MHz.
Young model is a radio propagation model that was built on the data collected on New York City. It typically models the behaviour of cellular communication systems in large cities.
The Lee model for area-to-area mode is a radio propagation model that operates around 900 MHz. Built as two different modes, this model includes an adjustment factor that can be adjusted to make the model more flexible to different regions of propagation.
The ITU Single Vegetative Obstruction Model is a Radio propagation model that quantitatively approximates the attenuation due to the vegetation in the middle of a telecommunication link.
The Okumura model is a radio propagation model that was built using the data collected in the city of Tokyo, Japan. The model is ideal for using in cities with many urban structures but not many tall blocking structures. The model served as a base for the Hata model.
The ITU indoor propagation model, also known as ITU model for indoor attenuation, is a radio propagation model that estimates the path loss inside a room or a closed area inside a building delimited by walls of any form. Suitable for appliances designed for indoor use, this model approximates the total path loss an indoor link may experience.
The log-distance path loss model is a radio propagation model that predicts the path loss a signal encounters inside a building or densely populated areas over distance.
The Hata model is a radio propagation model for predicting the path loss of cellular transmissions in exterior environments, valid for microwave frequencies from 150 to 1500 MHz. It is an empirical formulation based on the data from the Okumura model, and is thus also commonly referred to as the Okumura–Hata model. The model incorporates the graphical information from Okumura model and develops it further to realize the effects of diffraction, reflection and scattering caused by city structures. Additionally, the Hata Model applies corrections for applications in suburban and rural environments.
Downlink CNR is an important figure in system TVRO design. Below are certain parameters used in CNR computation.
The two-rays ground-reflection model is a multipath radio propagation model which predicts the path losses between a transmitting antenna and a receiving antenna when they are in line of sight (LOS). Generally, the two antenna each have different height. The received signal having two components, the LOS component and the reflection component formed predominantly by a single ground reflected wave.
