The Advantages and Disadvantages of Microwave Radio Communication

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Essentially, microwaves are Electromagnetic waves with frequencies that range from

approximately 500 MHz to 300 GHz or more. They are in use in a lot of technology from

mobile phones to satellites and home appliances. A lot of systems rely on

microwaves to transmit data and it is still one of the most viable technologies for a lot of

industries.

But in the age of Wifi, 3G and LTE, why do we still use microwave

radio communication ?

Microwave radio communication uses microwaves to send data to either short

haul systems or long haul systems.

Take a look:

Unlike other types of stations, microwave radio systems do not require a lot of legal and real estate requirements between different stations. Other types of stations need ‘right-of-way’ acquisitions between them.

Each station only needs a small plot of land. This is because microwave radio communication is powerful enough not to need massive towers that should have vast tracks of land between them and other structures in case of an emergency collapse.

Their high operating frequencies allow them to store large amounts of information. This means that it’s very cost efficient to use microwave radio communications for a lot of systems for your business or enterprise.

They only need small antennae. Microwaves operate at very high frequencies so they travel much faster and require only smaller infrastructure to transmit.

Physical obstacles such as water and high mountains may interfere with other kinds of signals. Microwaves travel better through them since they’re so robust.

Amplifying them is cheaper since they don’t need a lot of repeaters

Microwave radio communications are more reliable since they require less maintenance. This means that it’s cheaper to keep up a microwave radio station than any other kind of station.

However, before you look into adhering to this type of signal for whatever industry you’re working in, take a look at its disadvantages as well:

Receiving the signals that have been transmitted is more difficult. Since they move so quickly and can carry a lot of information, it requires meticulous circuitry to be able to utilize the benefits of microwave frequencies.

Measuring techniques are very difficult to implement with microwave radio communication. Usually, you have to hear the reception yourself instead of relying on data that’s transmitted with the signal.

Most systems that do use microwave frequencies have to create their own machinery and electronic arrays since it’s so difficult to design the circuitry. What usually happens is that businesses and enterprises end up asking design and engineering firms to custom make them their own microwave transmitters and receivers.

Microwaves propagate in a straight line. Despite being able to travel through many mediums without compromising the stored data, they can only do so in one direction. This means you might have to broadcast multiple times in several directions if you really want to propagate a signal. This is why microwaves in space are hard to capture and bring so much excitement to scientists. It’s extremely hard to catch microwaves if you aren’t waiting to receive the signal in a straight line from the propagator.

If you’re still looking into microwave radio communications for your needs, keep in mind that the

software used for controlling these waves needs a variety of devices to work best. You’d need multiplexers,

filters, amplifiers, oscillators, frequency multipliers, couplers, and

links.