Evaluation of Combined Availability Prediction Methods for Multicarrier Microwave Links

Abstract

Nowadays, microwave backhaul can reliably provide several gigabits of capacity, in many cases due to the aggregation of multiple parallel links working at different frequencies. While the availability prediction methods for a single carrier link are well-known and widely applied for link budget calculations, the method for estimating the availability of the multicarrier system‘s combined throughput (or simply the combined availability) needs to be developed. The purpose of this article is to compare the obtained practical results with software simulation output based on ITU recommendations, as well as to evaluate the theoretical approach to combined availability calculation of a multicarrier link. The results showed a correlation between experimental and theoretical methods, as well as a results deviation between different theoretical models including the ITU-based model, which will be discussed herein.