Fundamentals of Microwave 

• Introduction to MW
• History of microwave
• What’s new?
• Fundamentals of the microwave radio signal
• Latency benefits and calculations
• The electromagnetic and RF spectrum
• Safety of microwave signals
• Relative benefits of microwave compared to other transmission solutions
• A comprehensive guide to current spectrum terminology in the industry 

• Planning considerations
• Link design considerations from UHF to mmWave
• Site and path planning
• High level spectrum planning
• Digital terrain models including SRTM
• Network topologies
• Site acquisition and build
• Repeater types repeaters including civil engineering considerations (road, tower etc.)
• Passive repeater engineering design and planning (back-to-back and billboard)
• GIS (graphical information systems) basics and coordinate system considerations
• Establishing line-of-sight in practise
• Practical discussion on site and path surveys including for non-LOS equipment 

• Homework group exercise to develop a site survey template

In-depth overview of propagation aspects

• Review homework

• Microwave propagation
• Understanding analogue propagation and dispelling the pencil beam myth
• The effect of the atmosphere on radio transmission
• Really understanding k-factor and Fresnel zones
• Thermal and dispersive fading and their countermeasures
• Expert assessment of blackout fading and atmospheric ducting
• Handling reflections especially over water
• Rain fading and the dangers of statistics
• Practical discussion on the types of fading and how to overcome them

• Practical examples

Hardware Considerations

• Hardware
• Understanding the history of transmission standards (PDH, SDH, ATM)
• The benefits of Carrier Ethernet
• Overview of the system components and building blocks of a MW radio system
• Comparison of current digital modulation schemes and how they affect bandwidth efficiency
• Band, carrier (BCA) and link aggregation and use of co and cross channel dual polarisation methods
• Key radio features (adaptive equalisation, FEC, XPIC, ATPC)

Antennas and interference 

• Antenna considerations for MW planning
• Understanding antennas and reversing 50 years of conventional wisdom
• Antenna characteristics and what gain really means
• Practical application of Radiation Pattern Envelope (RPE) diagrams
• Importance of Return Loss
• Understanding near and far field operation
• Antenna types and the real benefit of a high-performance antenna
• Comparing antenna types and why a microwave dish is usually parabolic
• Practical considerations for comparing antennas including dual-band feeds
• Practical advice for planning, installing and maintaining antennas
• Field based discussion of choosing the right cabling, waveguides, radomes and accessories 

• Interference (the hidden gremlin)
• Understanding the realities of interference in digital systems
• Standards bodies and frequency regulation
• Types of licensing
• Frequency bands and frequency planning
• Bucking (high-low) site planning and interference and why it matters
• Understanding and calculating nodal and overshoot interference
• Overview of techniques to optimise frequency re-use 

• Includes class exercises and tutorial group homework

Detailed link design and final tutorial 

• Link design and the elusive five-nines
• How to interpret and use the main radio planning standard ITU-R P.530
• Understanding the difference between availability and performance as defined by the ITU and how to apply this to packet-based networks
• Path, equipment and network reliability issues
• How to handle obstacles in real-world designs
• Setting antenna heights in context ITU rules
• Redundancy schemes to make the transmission system truly carrier grade

  Complete tutorial and review answers