ADTRAN TRACER 4106 Plan A System Manual

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TRACER 4106/4206 System Manual Section 2 Microwave Path Engineering Basics612804206L2-1A © 2004 ADTRAN, Inc. 19Table 2 gives typical loss figures for some of the more common coaxial cable types (per 100 feet).Path Loss (LP)Path loss is the estimated attenuation between the transmit and receive antennas caused by signalseparation and scattering. The path loss is considered basic transmission loss over the microwave link. Thefollowing expression calculates path loss:wheref carrier frequency (Hz)λ carrier wavelength (c / f) (meters)d path distance (meters)c speed of light, free-space (meters)orwhere d is expressed in miles and f in GHzPath loss, as shown here, increases rapidly as either the path length increases or the carrier wavelengthdecreases (which happens as the carrier frequency increases). Therefore, longer microwave paths naturallyexperience more path loss than shorter paths. Likewise, higher frequency microwave communicationexperiences more path loss than lower frequency microwave communication.Table 2. Typical Coaxial Loss for Common Cable TypesCable Type2.4 GHz Loss/100 ft.(in dB)5.8 GHz Loss/100 ft.(in dB)RG58 80 N/ARG8 (air) 20 N/ARG8 (foam) 9 N/A1/4” Coax 5.91 11.363/8” Coax 5.76 9.651/2” Coax 3.83 6.495/8” Coax 2.98 4.907/8” Coax 2.2 N/A1 1/4” Coax 1.62 N/A1 5/8” Coax 1.41 N/A5.8 GHz Elliptical Waveguide N/A 1.23LP4πdλ----------   2 4πdfc------------   2= = (dB)LP 96.6 20 log10 d( ) 20·log+ 10 f( )⋅+= (dB)