PERFORMANCE PREDICTIONS FOR SINGLE TROPOSPHERIC COMMUNICATION LINKS AND FOR SEVERAL LINKS IN TANDEM
Abstract
Performance of long-distance tropospheric communication circuits, either singly or in tandem, is predicted in terms of the probability of obtaining a specified grade of service or better for various percentages of time. The grade of service is determined by signal-to-RMS-noise for the type of intelligence to be transmitted. The standard deviation of prediction errors depends upon the percentage of hours the specified grade of service is required and on parameters characterizing the propagation path. The possibility of reducing this standard deviation by making path-loss measurements is discussed. It is shown that no improvement is possible unless the test path is very nearly the same as the proposed operational path; in particular, unless the test path and operational paths have terminals less than one mile apart it is shown to be doubtful in most cases whether the observations will be useful in improving the reliability of the predicted performance of the proposed system. Assuming that the test path and proposed operational paths are identical, estimates are given of the number of days of observations required to halve the prediction uncertainty or, alternatively, to reduce it to 3 db; in some cases several years of observations are required. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1961
- Accession Number
- AD0288532
Entities
People
- A.p. Barsis
- K.a. Norton
Organizations
- National Institute of Standards and Technology