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Planning Wireless Backhaul Links by Testing Line of Sight and Fresnel Zone Clearance

Published: 12 January 2023 Publication History

Abstract

Microwave backhaul links are often used as wireless connections between telecommunication towers, in places where deploying optical fibers is impossible or too expensive. The relatively high frequency of microwaves increases their ability to transfer information at a high rate, but it also makes them susceptible to spatial obstructions and interference. Hence, when deploying wireless links, there are two conflicting considerations. First, the antennas height, selected from the available slots on each tower, should be as low as possible. Second, there should be a line of sight (LoS) between the antennas, and a buffer around the LoS defined by the first Fresnel zone should be clear of obstacles. To compute antenna heights, a planning system for wireless links has to maintain an elevation model, efficiently discover obstacles between towers, and execute Fresnel-zone clearance tests over a 3D model of the deployment area.
In this article we present a system and algorithms for computing the height of antennas, by testing LoS and clearance of Fresnel zones. The system handles the following requirements: (1) the need to cover large areas, e.g., all of the USA, (2) big distance between towers, e.g., 100 kilometers, and (3) computing batches of thousands of pairs within a few minutes. We introduce three novel algorithms for efficient computation of antenna heights, we show how to effectively model and manage the large-scale geospatial data needed for the planning, and we present the results of tests over real-world settings.

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Published In

cover image ACM Transactions on Spatial Algorithms and Systems
ACM Transactions on Spatial Algorithms and Systems  Volume 9, Issue 1
March 2023
201 pages
ISSN:2374-0353
EISSN:2374-0361
DOI:10.1145/3578370
Issue’s Table of Contents

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 12 January 2023
Online AM: 14 April 2022
Accepted: 09 February 2022
Revised: 31 December 2021
Received: 21 May 2021
Published in TSAS Volume 9, Issue 1

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Author Tags

  1. Line of sight
  2. fresnel zone
  3. geospatial database
  4. elevation model
  5. network planning
  6. microwave
  7. backhaul links

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  • (2024)A Model-based Optimization Approach for Through-wall Wi-Fi Sensing2024 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence of Things and Systems (AIoTSys)10.1109/AIoTSys63104.2024.10780608(1-8)Online publication date: 17-Oct-2024
  • (2024)Multi-sensor dynamic scheduling for defending UAV swarms with Fresnel zone under complex terrainISA Transactions10.1016/j.isatra.2024.08.004153(57-69)Online publication date: Oct-2024
  • (2023)Large-Scale Cellular Coverage Simulation and Analyses for Follow-Me UAV Data RelayIEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications10.1109/TWC.2023.329854623:3(2396-2412)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2023
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