Monsoon Season Provided Stringent Testing Environment While Proving High Impact Results
In July 2022, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India allocated the C-Band spectrum for 5G and the E-Band spectrum (80 GHz) for microwave transport purposes, presenting significant opportunities for widespread 5G deployments nationwide.
Previous wireless backhaul deployments in India encountered hurdles due to the limited availability of frequency bands, as the available channel bandwidth was relatively narrow, although it adequately supported extensive 4G network deployments. The introduction of the E-Band spectrum, with its significantly wider channel bandwidth, has provided a much-needed performance boost to support 5G microwave backhaul deployments.
However, it’s important to note that E-Band frequencies are more susceptible to rain-induced disruptions than lower frequencies.
Nokia was brought in to conduct a trial during monsoon season, which presented a stringent test for backhaul capabilities and showcased that the Nokia Wavence microwave backhaul portfolio exceeded the operator’s requirements, ensuring reliable connectivity even during heavy rainfall.
Challenging Weather Conditions Diminish Microwave Radio Signals
To address the operator’s goal of extensive 5G rollouts, Nokia collaborated to deploy a microwave backhaul solution utilizing the E-Band spectrum to assess its performance under challenging weather conditions experienced during the monsoon season.
Similarly, within the USA, numerous states in the southwest encounter their own monsoon seasons characterized by periods of intense rainfall. And during hurricane season, our southeastern shorelines experience severe weather conditions that can significantly impact communication networks. In these regions, operators face the challenge of maintaining uninterrupted connectivity and evaluating the resilience of their telecommunications infrastructure in the face of such punishing weather events.
The evaluation encompassed the examination of several key factors, including:
- Behavior of microwave links
- Impact of rain attenuation
- Alignment between network design calculations and on-site measurements
Rain attenuation and signal interference pose challenges to microwave backhaul systems in monsoon and hurricane seasons. Electromagnetic signals are attenuated as they propagate through rainfall, leading to “rain fade.” This phenomenon adversely affects the transmission of microwave radio signals. Also, storm fronts can introduce electromagnetic interference, further degrading signal quality and potentially causing a loss of connection.
Monsoon seasons in Asian countries, including India, are characterized by seasonal shifts in prevailing winds, resulting in heavy and torrential rainfall. In the United States, especially along the eastern and southern coasts, hurricane season brings similar challenges, with tropical cyclones and their associated heavy rain and strong winds impacting telecommunication networks. Similar
These extreme weather events can significantly impact telecommunications infrastructure, including microwave backhaul systems.
Network Design Addresses Challenges of Monsoon and Hurricane Seasons
The setup consisted of three distinct radio unit types from the Wavence Ultra Broadband Transceiver portfolio: UBT-m, UBT-m Urban, and UBT-mX. These variants were carefully chosen to maximize system gain, facilitate longer links, and ensure optimal performance in adverse weather conditions.
Deployed across three diverse geographical locations, including major cities such as Mumbai, the setup encompassed 33 links and spanned the entire five-month monsoon season. Similarly, in areas prone to hurricanes in the United States, network operators must ensure their infrastructure can withstand the hurricane season, which typically spans several months from June through November.
The network design assumptions incorporated vital considerations to address the challenges of heavy rainfall. For example, the rainfall rate, measured at 120 mm per hour, was factored into the design to achieve a minimum modulation with 99.99% availability and a fade margin of at least 10 dB for the highest modulation. Adaptive Coding and Modulation (ACM) was implemented on all links to optimize throughput based on prevailing propagation conditions.
To enable efficient monitoring and consistent data collection across various sites, Nokia provided a centralized network management tool tailored to oversee the microwave links. Similarly, network operators in the United States employ advanced monitoring tools to assess the performance of their infrastructure during hurricane season.
Nokia E-Band Microwave Backhaul Surpassed Expectations
The trial results demonstrated the capability of Nokia’s solution to support both 4G and 5G traffic using a single microwave link, surpassing expectations regarding link availability and adaptive modulation set during the design phase.
Key trial results included:
- Achieving over 99.99% availability, even under challenging propagation conditions with intense rainfall reaching 120 mm/h.
- Similarly, maintaining high availability during hurricane season is crucial for uninterrupted connectivity.
- Demonstrating accurate link distance design for distances up to 1.2 km.
This is important for maintaining reliable connections over longer distances during severe weather events.
Optimizing throughput by implementing Adaptive Coding and Modulation (ACM) allows transmission rates to adapt to prevailing propagation conditions, especially during periods of heavy rainfall. This ensures efficient utilization of available bandwidth.
As observed, the measured availability of most microwave links during the monsoon season exceeded the designed yearly target of 99.99%. Similarly, network operators in hurricane-prone regions aim to exceed availability targets during hurricane season.
The trial highlighted the importance of robust network design and proper equipment installation, including stable antenna structures, as critical factors contributing to superior microwave performance on the E-Band. Similarly, ensuring the resilience and stability of infrastructure in the face of hurricanes is crucial for reliable telecommunications services.
The E-Band Spectrum Is A Viable Solution for Resilient Microwave Backhaul Systems
As the global transition to 5G continues, mobile networks face the challenge of meeting the demands of bandwidth-intensive services, requiring increased backhaul capacity. Microwave links, with their cost-effectiveness and faster deployment compared to fiber backhaul, play a vital role in achieving this transition.
The performance of microwave backhaul depends on the propagation properties of the allocated frequencies. Although higher frequencies, such as E-Band, are more susceptible to rain fade and free-space losses than lower frequencies, they offer higher throughput capabilities. Similarly, the choice of frequency bands for microwave backhaul systems during hurricane season requires careful consideration of their performance characteristics.
The trial demonstrated that the E-Band spectrum is a viable solution for implementing a resilient microwave backhaul system, even during challenging conditions in a monsoon season. Similarly, resilient microwave backhaul systems are essential to maintain reliable connectivity during hurricane season in the United States.
Looking ahead, the utilization of higher power radios, antennas with increased gain, and the implementation of Carrier Aggregation combining lower microwave frequencies with E-Band carriers hold the potential to extend path lengths beyond 2 km even in heavy rain scenarios. These advancements in microwave backhaul technology can enhance network performance and resilience during both monsoon and hurricane seasons.
Nokia’s Wavence radio units are commercially available, providing a reliable solution for microwave backhaul networks that can leverage various frequency bands. These solutions empower network operators to address the challenges of deploying and maintaining robust telecommunications infrastructure, supporting the transition to advanced 5G networks in both Asian monsoon regions and hurricane-prone areas in the United States.
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