Microwaves

Microwaves are generally described as electromagnetic waves with frequencies that

range from approximately 500 MHz to 300 GHz or more. Therefore, microwave signals,
because of their inherently high frequencies, have relatively short wavelengths,
hence the name �gmicro�h waves. For example, a 100-GHz microwave signal has a
wavelength of 0.3 cm, whereas a 100-MHz commercial broadcast-band FM signal has a
wavelength of 3 m. The wavelengths for microwave frequencies fall between 1 cm and
60 cm, slightly longer than infrared energy.
Wavelength Classifications
Gamma ray = < 0.02 nm
X-ray = 0.01 nm ? 10 nm
Ultraviolet = 10 nm ? 400 nm
Visible light = 390 nm ? 750 nm
Infrared = 750 nm ? 1 mm
Microwave = 1 mm ? 1 m
Radio = 1 mm ? 100 km
History of Microwave
History
1873 - James Clerk Maxwell in his theory of electromagnetism, now called Maxwell's
equations, had predicted the existence of electromagnetic waves and proposed that
light was composed of these waves.
1888 - German physicist Heinrich Hertz was the first to demonstrate the existence
of radio waves using a primitive spark gap radio transmitter.
1894 - Oliver Lodge and Augusto Righi generated 1.5 and 12 GHz microwaves
respectively with small metal ball spark resonators.
- Indian physicist Jagadish Chandra Bose was the first person to produce
millimeter waves, generating 60 GHz (5 millimeter) microwaves using a 3 mm metal
ball spark oscillator.
- Bose also invented waveguide and horn antennas for use in his
experiments.
1895 - Russian physicist Pyotr Lebedev generated 50 GHz millimeter waves.
1897 - Lord Rayleigh solved the mathematical boundary-value problem of
electromagnetic waves propagating through conducting tubes and dielectric rods of
arbitrary shape which gave the modes and cutoff frequency of microwaves propagating
through a waveguide.
1930s - The first low power microwave vacuum tubes had been developed using new
principles; the Barkhausen-Kurz tube and the split-anode magnetron.
1931 - An Anglo-French consortium demonstrated the first experimental microwave
relay link, across the English Channel 40 miles (64 km) between Dover, UK and
Calais, France.
1933 - The ability of short waves to quickly heat materials and cook food had been
investigated in the by I. F. Mouromtseff at Westinghouse, and at the 1933 Chicago
World's Fair demonstrated cooking meals with a 60 MHz radio transmitter.
1936 - It was found that conventional transmission lines used to carry radio waves
had excessive power losses at microwave frequencies, and George Southworth at Bell
Labs and Wilmer Barrow at MIT independently invented waveguide.
1937 - The klystron tube was invented by Russell and Sigurd Varian at Stanford
University.
1938 - Barrow invented the horn antenna as a means to efficiently radiate
microwaves into or out of a waveguide.
1940 - The cavity magnetron tube was invented by John Randall and Harry Boot at
Birmingham University, UK.
1943 - 10 centimeter (3 GHz) radar was in use on British and American warplanes.
- The traveling wave tube (TWT) developed by Rudolph Kompfner and John
Pierce provided a high - power tunable source of microwaves up to 50 GHz, and
became the most widely used microwave tube.
1945 - Percy Spencer, an engineer working on radar at Raytheon, noticed that the
radiation from a magnetron oscillator melted a candy bar in his pocket. He
investigated cooking with microwaves and invented the microwave oven, consisting of
a magnetron feeding microwaves into a closed metal cavity containing food, which
was patented by Raytheon on 8 October 1945.
1953 - Two low-noise solid state negative resistance microwave amplifiers were
developed; the ruby maser invented by Charles H. Townes, James P. Gordon, and H. J.
Zeiger.
1956 - The varactor parametric amplifier was developed by Marion Hines.
1957 - The tunnel diode invented by Japanese physicist Leo Esaki could produce a
few milliwatts of microwave power.
1964 - Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson while investigating noise in a
satellite horn antenna at Bell Labs, Holmdel, New Jersey discovered cosmic
microwave background radiation.
1970s to present - Has seen the development of tiny inexpensive active solid state
microwave components which can be mounted on circuit boards, allowing circuits to
perform significant signal processing at
microwave frequencies.
1976 - This led to the first integrated circuits (ICs) which functioned at
microwave frequencies, called monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC).
Analog vs. Digital Microwave
A vast majority of the existing microwave radio systems are frequency modulation,
which of course is analog. Recently, however, systems have been developed that use
either phase-shift keying or quadrature amplitude modulation, which are forms of
digital modulation.
Although many of the system concepts are the same, the performances of digital
signals are evaluated quite differently. Satellite radio systems are similar to
terrestrial microwave radio systems; in fact, the two systems share many of the
same frequencies. The primary difference between satellite and terrestrial radio
systems is that satellite systems propagate signals outside Earth�fs atmosphere
and, thus, are capable of carrying signals much farther while utilizing fewer
transmitters and receivers.

FM modulation in microwave systems

In AM systems, intermodulation noise is caused by repeater amplitude nonlinearity.
In FM systems, intermodulation noise is caused primarily by transmission gain and
delay distortion.
Consequently, in AM systems, intermodulation noise is a function of signal
amplitude, but in FM systems, it is a function of signal amplitude and the
magnitude of the frequency deviation. Thus, the characteristics of FM signals are
more suitable than AM signals for microwave transmission.

Intermodulation Noise
Intermodulation noise/interference/distortion is the undesired combining of several
signals in a nonlinear device, producing new, unwanted frequencies, which can cause
interference in adjacent receivers located at repeater sites. Not all interference
is a result of intermodulation distortion.
ITU-R Band Classifications
L band = 1 to 2 GHz, 15 cm to 30 cm
S band = 2 to 4 GHz, 7.5 cm to 15 cm
C band = 4 to 8 GHz, 3.75 cm to 7.5 cm
X band = 8 to 12 GHz, 25 mm to 37.5 mm
Ku band = 12 to 18 GHz, 16.7 mm to 25 mm
K band = 18 to 26.5 GHz, 11.3 mm to 16.7 mm
Ka band = 26.5 to 40 GHz, 5.0 mm to 11.3 mm
Q band = 33 to 50 GHz, 6.0 mm to 9.0 mm
U band = 40 to 60 GHz, 5.0 mm to 7.5 mm
V band = 50 to 75 GHz, 4.0 mm to 6.0 mm
W band = 75 to 110 GHz, 2.7 mm to 4.0 mm
F band = 90 to 140 GHz, 2.1 mm to 3.3 mm
D band = 110 to 170 GHz, 1.8 mm to 2.7 mm
ITU-R User Assignments for different services
Military = 1710?1850 MHz, Band L
Operational fixed = 1850?1990 MHz, Band L
Studio transmitter link = 1990?2110 MHz, Band L
Common carrier = 2110?2130 MHz, Band S
Operational fixed = 2130?2150 MHz, Band S
Operational carrier = 2160?2180 MHz, Band S
Operational fixed = 2180?2200 MHz, Band S
Operational fixed television = 2500?2690 MHz, Band S
Common carrier and satellite downlink = 3700?4200 MHz, Band S
Military = 4400?4990 MHz, Band C
Military = 5250?5350 MHz, Band C
Common carrier and satellite uplink = 5925?6425 MHz, Band C
Operational fixed = 6575?6875 MHz, Band C
Studio transmitter link = 6875?7125 MHz, Band C
Common carrier and satellite downlink = 7250?7750 MHz, Band C
Common carrier and satellite uplink = 7900?8400 MHz, Band X
Common carrier = 10,700?11,700 MHz, Band X
Operational fixed = 12,200?12,700 MHz, Band X
Cable television (CATV) studio link = 12,700?12,950 MHz, Band Ku
Studio transmitter link = 12,950?13,200 MHz, Band Ku
Military = 14,400?15,250 MHz, Band Ka
Common carrier = 17,700?19,300 MHz, Band Ka
Satellite uplink = 26,000?32,000 MHz, Band K
Satellite downlink = 39,000?42,000 MHz, Band Q
Satellite crosslink = 50,000?51,000 MHz, Band V
Satellite crosslink = 54,000?62,000 MHz, Band V
ITU-R Bandwidth Assignments
Low frequency (LF) and Medium frequency (MF) Bands
Band [kHz]
Region 1 Region 2 Region 3
148.5-283.5 A1 NA
NA
525-526.5
NA
A
NA526.5-535
A1 A A1
535-1605
A1
A2
A11605-1606.5
A1
A3
A11605.5-1705
NA
A3
NA

? 1 - Subject to GE75 Agreement (LF/MF Broadcasting)

? 2 - Subject to RJ81 Agreement (MF Broadcasting)
? 3 - Subject to RJ88 Agreement (MF Broadcasting)

High Frequency (HF) Bands for national broadcasting

Band [kHz]
Region 1
Region 2
Region 32300-2495
A4
A4
A42495-2498
A4
NA
NA3200-3400
A4
A4
A43900-3950
NA
NA
A3950-4000
A
NA
A4750-4995
A4
A4
A45005-5060
A4
A4
A4? 4 - Only in the "Tropical Zone" (RR 5.16 to RR 5.20 and RR 23.3 to RR 23.10)

High Frequency (HF) Bands for international broadcasting under RR12

Band [kHz]
Region 1
Region 2
Region 35900-6200
A
A
A7200-7300
A
NA
A7300-7400
A
A
A7400-7450
A
NA
A9400-9900
A
A
A11600-12100 A
A
A13570-13870 A
A
A15100-15800 A
A
A17480-17900 A
A
A18900-19020 A
A
A21450-21850 A
A
A25670-26100 A
A
A
Very High frequency (VHF) Bands
Band [MHz]
Region 1
Region 2
Region 3
47-50
A5 NA A50-54
A5
NA NA
54-68
A5
A
A76-87
NA
A NA87-87.5
NA A
A87.5-108
A6 A
A174-216
A7 A
A216-230
A7
NA A? 5 - Subject to ST61 (Rev.2006) Agreement (Analog TV and Sound
Broadcasting) or GE89 (Rev. 2006) Agreement (Analog TV)
? 6 - Subject to GE84 Agreement (VHF Sound Broadcasting)
? 7 - Subject to GE06 Agreement

Ultra High frequency (UHF) Bands

Band [MHz]
Region 1
Region 2
Region 3470-862
A 8
A
A862-890
A 9
A
A890-960
A 9
NA
A? 8 - Subject to GE06 Agreement
? 9 - Only in some parts of African Broadcasting Area ( See RR 5.322)

12. ITU-R Channel Plans

Channel Plan A
Channel Plan B
Channel Plan C
Channel Plan D