June 22, Security Level:

2006 INTERNAL

Microwave Network
Planning and Design--
Frequency Planning

Microwave Business Dept. www.huawei.com

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES Co., HUAWEI

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Microwave Frequency Planning

Purpose of frequency planning:

Make reasonable use of the frequency

resources so that the new microwave links
and existing ones do not interfere with
each other and the system availability of
the microwave network can be ensured. In
the process of planning for the microwave
network, appropriate frequency bands and
channels should be selected and
interference avoidance should also be
taken into account.

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 Microwave Frequency Planning
Division of microwave frequency bands:

Visibl
LF MF HF VHF UHF SHF F ray e
light
EH s
Infrared
Microwav
e

 10 Km 1 Km 100 m 10 m 1m 10 cm 1 cm 1 mm

f 30 KHz 300 KHz 3 MHz 30 MHz 300 MHz 3 GHz 30 GHz 300 GHz

Microwave frequency bands suggested by ITU-R for

common use:
Frequency band 4 GHZ L6GHZ U6 GHZ 7 GHZ 8GHZ 11 GHZ 13 GHZ 15 GHZ 18 GHZ 23 GHZ 26GHZ 38 GHZ 80 GHZ

Range 3.6-4.2 5.9-6.4 6.4-7.1 7.1-7.7 7.7-8.5 10.7-11.7 12.7-13.2 14.5-15.3 17.7-19.7 21.1-23.6 24.5-20.5 37.0-39.5 71-86

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 Microwave Frequency Planning
Principles of selecting proper frequency bands:
1. Select proper frequency bands according to the frequency resources (licenses)
owned by the carriers and the stipulations of local radio management
committees.

2. Select proper frequency bands according to the characteristics of the

designed networks and routes. For example, high-frequency bands are
generally used for mobile networks and MANs because quite a few channels
available at high-frequency bands.

3. Select proper frequency bands according to their characteristics.

• Low-frequency bands (L6G/U6G/7G/8G/11G) are suitable for long-distance

links and high-frequency bands (13G/15G/18G/23G/26G/38G) are suitable
for short-distance links.

• Due to the limited number of channels existing at low-frequency bands,

interference tends to arise in the long-distance transmission.

• High-frequency bands are suitable for high-speed data transmission and

interference sustainable because there are many channels with broad
bandwidth.

• High-frequency antennas feature high gains. Compared with low-frequency

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high- frequency HUAWEI
bands Page 4
require small clearance. Towers with these
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 Microwave Frequency Planning
Illustration of the selection of microwave frequency bands:

LAN/PCS
1. 2.5
5

2
3. Long-distance 11
8
3 backbone GHz
34
networks
Mbit/
Area, local, and edge
s 34
networks
14 2
0
155 8
Mbit/ 34
s 140
155
Mbit/ GHz
s

1 2 3 4 5 8 2 3 40 80
10 0 0 50

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Microwave Frequency Planning
Division of microwave frequency bands:
Frequency Shift Frequencies (MHz) (T-R Spacing) Use
4-7 GHz 161, 154, 245 Long-distance network
backbones

8 GHz 126, 161, 154. 199, 266, 311 Long-distance network

backbones

11-13 GHz 266 Short and medium distance

15 GHz 308, 420, 490, 315. 720, 728 Short and medium distance

18 GHz 340, 1092.5, 1008, 1010, 1560 Short and medium distance

23 GHz 600, 1050, 1232, 1008, 1200, Short distance in urban areas

26 GHz 855, 1008 Short distance in urban areas

28 GHz 1008 Short distance in urban areas

32 GHz 812 Short distance in urban areas

38 GHz 700, 1260 Short distance in urban areas

80 GHz 71,86 Short distance in urban areas

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 Microwave Frequency Planning
Figure 1 for configuring microwave radio frequency channels:

Lower half Upper half

band band

Channel
number 1 2 n 1' n
F3 2' '

Fo
Frequenc
F1 y
F2

Center
frequency
Fo: center
frequency

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 Microwave Frequency Planning
Figure 2 for configuring microwave radio frequency channels:

Each channel consists of a pair of transmission and receiving

frequencies.
Chann Chann
el
el
T 1
x 1
1' 1'
Rx
n n
T
x
n' n'
Rx

High Low
site site
The site which the receiving frequency
higher than transmitting frequency is called
a high site.

The site which the receiving frequency is

lower than the transmitting frequency is
called a low site.
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 Microwave Frequency Planning
Principles of selecting proper bandwidth of microwave channels:

The bandwidth of a microwave channel is decided by the signal rate and

radio
modulation scheme.

The most commonly used ways are the quadrature phase shift keying
(QPSK) and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM).

• 2 x E1 requires 3.5 MHz (QPSK)

• 4 x E1 requires 7 MHZ (QPSK)
• 8 x E1 requires 14 MHz (QPSK)
• 16 x E1 requires 28 MHz (QPSK)
• STM-1 requires 28 MHz (128QAM)

The more advanced modulation is, the smaller the bandwidth is required.
The 16E1 signal subject to QPSK requires the same bandwidth (28 MHz) as
the STM-1
signal subject to 128 QAM does.

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 Microwave Frequency Planning
Principles of selecting proper microwave channels:
1. Try not to select the special frequency resources (licensed) used by other carriers
even if these frequency bands are not used in some areas (in case they may be
used in the future).

2. If the planned microwave link features the same routing or parallel routing as
another microwave link, it is recommended that the frequency band/channels
different from those of the existing link are used. A different polarization mode
should be configured even if the same channel is adopted as a result of the little
interference and big margin proved by the calculation and analysis.

3. If the angle between two interleaving routes is comparatively small (for example,
smaller than 30 degrees), a different channel should be selected. If the angle is
quite large (for example, larger than 60 degrees), the same channel can be used
provided a different polarization mode is configured. The same channel with the
same polarization mode can be used only when the angle is larger than 90
degrees. This is a generally adopted principle for microwave frequency planning.
For different equipment, antenna configuration, or capacity, analysis should be
made on the link accordingly.

4. In the design, the microwave link should be as far from the scatter
communication station and the satellite communications earth station as
possible. When the antenna of the microwave station is directed to the
satellite orbit with a tolerance of ±2 degrees, the frequency band of the
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Frequency planning

Purpose of frequency planning:

Make reasonable use of the frequency resources so that the new microwave links and
existing ones do not interfere with each other and the system availability of the
microwave network can be ensured. In the process of planning for the microwave
network, appropriate frequency bands and channels should be selected and interference
avoidance should also be taken into account.

The frequency corresponding to the distance, approximately:

Frequency Distance
(Ghz) (km)
80 <2

38 <3

23 <4

18 < 10
Frequency planning

80 GHZ 38 GHZ
4 4

2 6 2 6

1 3 5 7 1 3 5 7
250 MHZ 28 MHZ
500 MHZ 56 MHZ
1000 112 MHZ
MHZ

23 GHZ 18 GHZ
4 4

2 6 2 6

1 3 5 7 1 3 5 7
28 MHZ 28 MHZ
56 MHZ 56 MHZ
112 MHZ 112 MHZ

We must use our licensed channels only

Frequency planning

High low violation

All links related to one node must be at the same frequency assignment order, It can be said
in a different way, all the NEs from the node side should use the High frequency, by that we
can avoid front to back interference and will be organized when studding the interference
from other nodes, and each frequency band can have different high low order on the same
node.

L L H H

L L H
H
H L L L

L L H L H H
L
L
X H
L
Frequency planning

Channel slicing

When the angel between the adjacent links are critical and prevent us from reusing the
whole channel, we have to slice the channel and rearrange the frequencies

HZ
10

0M
00
MH

100
Z
H Z L
Ch-2 500 M
H
500 MHZ
HZ L
0M 500 M
100 HZ
L
500 L
1000 MHZ

MH
Z

L
Frequency planning

Enhancing frequency reusing using different polarization

Using different polarization will help us reusing the same channel with smaller angle between
2 adjacent links, be carful to use the vertical polarization for the longer links

V
L
H H V
L L
H
H
L
V

L
Frequency planning

Interference from adjacent node

We have to be carful from the interference that we may get from adjacent nodes o chain
topology, her also we can use different polarization to avoid interference

L L H
H

L H V H
H
H

L L
L L