Starlink: User Guide

STARLINK
USER GUIDE
OCTOBER 2010
STARLINK USER GUIDE
COPYRIGHT
COPYRIGHT © 2010 BY AVIAT NETWORKS, INC.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a
retrieval system, or translated into any language or computer language, in any form or by any means,
electronic, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual or otherwise, without the prior written permission of
Aviat Networks Inc. To request permission, contact techpubs@aviatnet.com.
WARRANTY
Aviat Networks makes no representation or warranties with respect to the contents hereof and
specifically disclaims any implied warranties or merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose.
Further, Aviat Networks reserves the right to revise this publication and to make changes from time to
time in the content hereof without obligation of Aviat Networks to notify any person of such revision or
changes.
TRADEMARKS
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
CONDITIONS OF SOFTWARE USE

By executing this program, users agree to the following conditions:
Aviat Networks grants the user a non-exclusive license to use the software free of charge on an "as-is"
basis, without warranty of any kind. The entire risk as to software and the quality and accuracy of its
results are borne by the user. Because of natural geoclimatic and other factors associated with
microwave path engineering not under Aviat Networks' control, its results and analyses do not
constitute a guarantee on the part of Aviat Networks for the performance of its manufactured
equipment or of other manufacturers products it resells. All results of the computations are the
responsibility of the user who will not hold Aviat Networks at fault for any direct or indirect
consequences of the program's use.
The program is the property of Aviat Networks wherein title, ownership rights, and intellectual property
rights in the software remain with Aviat Networks. A license is given for its use that will terminate on
failure to comply with any of these described limitations. No part of the program may be copied for sale
or resale, translated, modified, reverse engineered, or transferred to any printed or electronic medium
without the prior consent of Aviat Networks.
It may only be copied for archival use and given in its entirety for use by third parties. Proprietary
notices may not be removed.
2 AVIAT NETWORKS AUGUST 2010

STARLINK USER GUIDE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 5
FEATURES ................................................................................................................................................ 6
MAIN FEATURES .......................................................................................................................................................6
ADDITIONAL FEATURES ..........................................................................................................................................8
AUTOMATIC UPDATE VIA THE INTERNET ................................................................................................................................. 8
FASTER SPECIFICATIONS OF A NEW PROJECT...................................................................................................................... 8
DEFAULT VALUES FOR NEW PATH CALCULATIONS WORKSHEETS ................................................................................... 8
THE STARLINK WORKSPACE ................................................................................................................ 9
MENU BAR ..................................................................................................................................................................9
CURRENT PROJECT SCREEN ............................................................................................................................. 10
USING STARLINK ................................................................................................................................... 11
DEFINING A NEW PROJECT ................................................................................................................................. 11
OPENING AN EXISTING STARLINK 4 PROJECT ................................................................................................ 12
EDITING PROJECT SETTINGS ............................................................................................................................. 12
EDITING EXISTING PATH DATA ........................................................................................................................... 13
REMOVING A PATH FROM A PROJECT.............................................................................................................. 13
PERFORMING PATH CALCULATIONS................................................................................................................. 13
PRINTING A PATH CALCULATION SHEET.......................................................................................................... 15
BROWSING RADIOS AND ANTENNAS DATABASES ......................................................................................... 15
USING THE RADIO FINDER WIZARD ................................................................................................................... 16
QUICK START ......................................................................................................................................... 17
VIGANTS C-FACTOR PATH CALCULATIONS “WHAT IF?” SCREEN ................................................................ 22
ITU-R P.530-12 PATH CALCULATIONS SCREEN ............................................................................................... 24
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................ 28
TUTORIAL ............................................................................................................................................... 29
MICROWAVE RADIO PATH CALCULATION OVERVIEW ................................................................................... 29
AZIMUTHS & PATH LENGTHS .............................................................................................................................. 30
FREE-SPACE PATH LOSS ..................................................................................................................................... 31
PATH LOSS (ENGLISH UNITS) ...................................................................................................................................................31
PATH LOSS (METRIC UNITS) .....................................................................................................................................................31
3 AVIAT NETWORKS OCTOBER 2010

STARLINK USER GUIDE
UNFADED (“FREE SPACE”) RECEIVE SIGNAL LEVEL ...................................................................................... 31
DESIGN FADE MARGIN ......................................................................................................................................... 32
DISPERSIVE FADE MARGIN ................................................................................................................................. 32
SHORT-TERM OUTAGE CAUSED BY MULTIPATH FADES............................................................................... 34
METHOD OF CALCULATION PROBABILITY OF SHORT-TERM OUTAGE....................................................... 35
PROBABILITY OF OUTAGE CALCULATIONS (VIGANTS K•Q FACTOR, METRIC UNITS) ....................................................36
PROBABILITY OF OUTAGE CALCULATIONS (ITU-R P.530-12 DETAILED LINK DESIGN, K GEOCLIMATIC FACTOR,
METRIC UNITS) ............................................................................................................................................................................37
DIVERSITY IMPROVEMENT COMPUTATIONS FOR VIGANTS AND ITU-R P.530-12 PATH CALCULATIONS
................................................................................................................................................................................... 38
SPACE DIVERSITY IMPROVEMENT FACTOR ISD (ENGLISH UNITS) .....................................................................................38
SPACE DIVERSITY IMPROVEMENT FACTOR ISD (METRIC UNITS) .......................................................................................39
ANGLE DIVERSITY IMPROVEMENT FACTOR, IAD ...................................................................................................................39
SELF-HEALING RING (“ROUTE DIVERSITY”) IMPROVEMENT FACTOR, ISR .................................................. 39
FREQUENCY AND HYBRID DIVERSITY IMPROVEMENT FACTORS IFD, IHD ................................................... 39
FREQUENCY DIVERSITY IMPROVEMENT FACTOR IFD(ENGLISH UNITS) ...........................................................................40
FREQUENCY DIVERSITY IMPROVEMENT FACTOR IFD (METRIC UNITS) ............................................................................40
EFFECTIVE FREQUENCY DIVERSITY SPACINGS IN N+1 HOPS, ΔFEF .......................................................... 40
MULTIPATH PERFORMANCE OUTAGE OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................... 41
NORTH AMERICAN OUTAGE OBJECTIVES, BELL ............................................................................................ 41
ITU-R F.634 OUTAGE OBJECTIVE, PDH SYSTEMS ........................................................................................... 42
ITU-R F.1668 OUTAGE CALCULATIONS, SDH SYSTEMS ................................................................................. 43
RELIABILITY AND AVAILABILITY OVERVIEW ..................................................................................................... 43
ATTENUATION BY ATMOSPHERIC GASES ........................................................................................................ 44
RAIN OUTAGE ......................................................................................................................................................... 45
RAIN ATTENUATION OVERVIEW ......................................................................................................................... 46

STARLINK USER GUIDE
INTRODUCTION
Starlink 4 is an intuitive, easy-to-use path engineering tool for estimating the multipath performance
and rain availability for line-of-sight 5-38 GHz digital microwave radio hops. Over 2000 radio, antenna
feeder systems, and protection/diversity arrangements are quickly accessed from Starlink’s unique
single “What If?” Path Calculations screen, as are full color North America and Worldwide geoclimatic
factors, average annual temperatures, and rain regions pull-down maps. It accommodates North
American (ANSI T1) and CEPT (ETSI E1) TDM and Ethernet/IP transport standards, English and
Metric measurements, and Vigants and ITU-R P.530-12 “detailed link design” performance models
Although Starlink 4 does not provide the graphics capability necessary to construct profiles or do path
geometry calculations, all paths (or an individual path) are clearly displayed on a full color Google map.
In Starlink 4 you can now select either the Vigants-Barnett (“Vigants”) computational model with its
geoclimatic c-factor or ITU-R K●Q factor, or the ITU-R P.530-12* “detailed link design” model with its
geoclimatic factor K, for annual and worst-month multipath outage, annual path reliability, and other
short-term performance calculations for hops with and without diversity improvements.
Starlink 4 uses the R. F. Crane model to compute long-term rain outage in the millimeterwave bands,
and from that the hop’s rain availability (“uptime”). Starlink 4 can be expected to provide an estimate of
the hop’s median free-space receive signal levels and fade margins within 2 dB, providing the path is
line-of-sight and non-reflective with optimally sized and aligned antennas and not heavily affected by
signal entrapments in ABL (atmospheric boundary layer) ground-based ducts.
Starlink is intended for initial path design and estimates of its performance and rain availability. It is not
a substitute for a path survey and engineering propagation analysis as performed by Aviat Networks.
Starlink runs under Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista and can print path data sheets
on a Windows compatible printer. Windows 7 support will be provided by a later Starlink 4 update.
This program includes a database of thousands of Aviat Networks digital microwave equipment
configurations for the 5-38 GHz bands, as well as a database of antenna feeder systems for all
frequency bands that can be easily increased to include user-selected antennas, waveguide, and
coaxial feeders.
Starlink should be obtained by downloading directly from the Aviat Networks Worldwide Web home
page at http://www.aviatnetworks.com/products/tools/Starlink/ to ensure that the current program and
product databases are used. The Aviat Networks product database is in a separate file that is not
accessible for user changes or modifications, but along with the program its database is updated
regularly and posted on Aviat Networks’ FTP site for user access as product additions or specification
changes are made. Inquiries regarding this program can be made by e-mail to Starlink@aviatnet.com
or inquiries to your Aviat Networks sales engineer.
*All references to ITU-R Rec. P.530-12 in Starlink 4 also apply to the ITU-R P.530-9
through P.530-11 multipath performance models as they are similar.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
FEATURES
MAIN FEATURES
Starlink has been designed to help you determine the most cost-effective, reliable microwave path
arrangement appropriate to your requirements.
With Starlink, you can perform the following operations:
1. Define a project
2. Add paths to the project by defining their site coordinates or path lengths.
3. Automatically compute the appropriate Vigants or ITU-R P.530-12 “detailed link design”
geoclimatic factors for the region.
4. Select the radio with its protection scheme, diversity arrangement, and transport capacity, and
antennas and feeders, appropriate to the hop’s 5-38 GHz frequency band.
5. Perform multipath performance (SESR outage probability, worst month and annual outage time,
annual path reliability, etc.) and rain availability calculations.
6. Meet your multipath performance and rain availability objectives by optimally adjusting the radio,
antenna feeder system, and path parameters on a single “What If?” Path Calculations screen.
7. Display the sites and path(s) on a full color Google map
8. Preview and Print the Path Calculation Sheets.
Starlink incorporates the Aviat Networks’ radio equipment database for North American TDM, CEPT
TDM, and Ethernet/IP data rates, as well as adaptable antenna and feeder databases. A Radio Finder
Wizard helps you select the appropriate Aviat Networks radio corresponding to your specifications
such as frequency, standard T1 or E1 capacity or for Ethernet/IP transport, power level, and protection
configuration.
Starlink has an AUTOCALC that allows you to perform instantaneous “What If” changes to your path
calculations, including the radio frequency, transport capacity, transmitter power level, antenna gains,
path length, rain zone and path polarization, and any other input parameter.
When the value of the input parameter is modified you will instantly see the impact on path outage,
reliability, and availability predictions on Starlink’s Path Calculations screen.
Starlink incorporates the latest methods and techniques for path calculations, including:
1. Inverse Position Azimuth and Path Distance calculations, of accuracies acceptable to the U.S.
FCC and all other regulatory bodies, in both metric and English units.
2. Absorption (attenuation) caused by atmospheric humidity and gases.
3. Rain attenuation computed by the Crane algorithm using either Crane or ITU-R rain region tables
for annual rain outage time and path availability.
4. Multipath outage probability (SESR) and Worst Month outage predictions using either a Vigants
model or the ITU-R P.530-12 model for ITU-R regions.
5. Annual multipath outage predictions and path reliability calculations using either the Vigants c-
factor model, or the ITU-R P.530-12 model based on Fade Season, a function of the hop’s Annual
Average Temperature, for North American and ITU-R regions.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
In order of their importance to its performance, the following are essential to the deployment of a well
performing digital microwave hop:
1. Adequate path clearance that respects the area’s geoclimatic conditions to mitigate long-term
losses of fade margins due to signal entrapments in ABL (atmospheric boundary layer) ducts.
2. Optimum diversity separations (space, frequency) to mitigate or reduce the numbers of short-term
reflective multipath outages on fading paths.
3. Optimum antenna sizes and exacting alignments to best provide discrimination to multipath
signals and to mitigate antenna decoupling (k-factor angle-of-arrival) power fades on longer hops.
4. Adequate fade margin (system gain – Tx power out + Rx threshold – and antenna sizes)
5. Interference-free hop. Starlink does not consider the effect of threshold (fade margin)
degradations caused by external RF interference on hop performance. If intrastation or other
known interference is predicted, a value (e.g. 2 dB) may be entered as a Miscellaneous loss on
Starlink’s Path Reliability screen.
Starlink is highly effective in computing the values listed in numbers 2-5 above for most digital radio
hops, but separate graphical analyses would be required to prepare path profiles and establish path
clearances and optimum diversity antenna separations and sizes in hops deployed in difficult
geoclimatic regions with ABL duct formations, as well as in hops with exposed specular ground
reflections.
THIS PROGRAM AND ITS OUTPUT SHOULD NOT BE VIEWED AS A SUBSTITUTE

FOR PROFESSIONAL MICROWAVE PATH ENGINEERING.
Starlink provides you with a valuable tool and the knowledge not only to help you with the preliminary
analysis of your microwave paths on your own, but also to enable you to work with your microwave
equipment supplier more effectively.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
AUTOMATIC UPDATE VIA THE INTERNET

When Starlink is launched, it can automatically connect to the Starlink FTP site and check if there are
newer versions of the program as well as the following files:
• Database (radios, antennas, feeders)
• Help file
• Reports templates
• Offices addresses
• Executable file
Any newer file is automatically downloaded to your PC; the old files are renamed with “backup”
appended to their filename. The next time you launch Starlink it will automatically use the newest files.
From Starlink v.2.2 on, if you access the Internet via a proxy server, you simply have to specify the
proxy server name before attempting to connect to the Starlink FTP site. Starlink will save your proxy
name, and you will not have to specify it again unless you want to change the proxy server name. See
PRINTING A PATH CALCULATION SHEET under THE STARLINK WORSPACE section.
FASTER SPECIFICATIONS OF A NEW PROJECT

If you design several projects, they are likely to have some characteristics in common, such as the
equipment standard (T1/E1, Ethernet/IP), the measurement system, the reliability calculation method,
and so on.
When you define a new project, you can import all these values from the last project you defined. Just
check the Import settings from the last project checkbox before opening a new project.
DEFAULT VALUES FOR NEW PATH CALCULATIONS WORKSHEETS

On a given project, it is probable that you will select the same type of radio, antennas, feeders, and
other like characteristics for all paths. Starlink avoids having to repeat the same information multiple
times.
In Starlink 4, the microwave site’ latitude and longitude coordinates and ground elevation are entered
on the Edit Site Data screen once. Hop data are automatically populated on the Edit Path Data screen
by selecting the appropriate sites listed. Once you tell Starlink which path to use as a “template”,
Starlink will fill any new path worksheet with values from this path.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
THE STARLINK WORKSPACE
Opening Screen
MENU BAR
The File menu includes commands you can use to start a new project or open an existing project,
convert an earlier Starlink file to the Starlink 4 format, setup the printer, print report files, and exit
Starlink.
The Project menu includes commands you can use to define or edit project characteristics, add a new
path to the project or edit an existing path data.
The Path menu includes the command to perform calculations on a selected path.
The Databases menu includes commands you can use to browse through the radio equipment and
the antenna/feeders database as well as to add new user-defined antennas or waveguide/coaxial
feeders to that database; it also includes the Radio Finder Wizard command, which enables you to
specify the characteristics of a radio equipment and lets the Wizard find the appropriate Aviat Networks
radio(s) for you.
The Options menu allows you to specify which maps will be displayed by default when you use the
Map command during path calculations. Maps included with Starlink are North American and
Worldwide C-Factors, North American rain regions, ITU-R rain regions, and Worldwide annual average
temperature maps. Other drop-down windows compute Vigants c-factors and K●Q factors from terrain
roughness and other values, and K geoclimatic factors for P.530-12 “detailed link design” calculations
from the dN1 refractivity index and GTOPO30 Sa 110x110km terrain databases.
The Help menu displays the Starlink Help file.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
CURRENT PROJECT SCREEN

The opening window changes, as shown below, when a Current Project (under that tab) is selected.
The Current Project screen appears. This window gives a snapshot of the current project including
number of paths, site names, and path calculations if done and when.
Current Project Screen

STARLINK USER GUIDE
USING STARLINK
DEFINING A NEW PROJECT

To define a new project of any number of hops, you can:
• Click on the New Project icon on the main menu bar, or
• Select File menu, then Create a new project submenu.
You will be asked to give a filename for your project. The name you give at this point will be the name
of the file that will contain all the characteristics and data of your project.
To complete the definition of your project, you will enter the following data:
• Customer name
• Project name
• Network type (T1 or E1, both accommodate Ethernet/IP)
-3
• Bit Error Rate for the receiver’s outage threshold. 10 BER (or LOF – Loss-of-Frame
synchronization) is the internationally-defined outage point in a PDH hop, which equates to a 2x10-5
-6
RBER LOP – Loss of Pointer synchronization in SDH hops, although a non-standard 10 RBER is
now commonly assigned as the receiver’s outage point by many telecom users.
• Temperature unit (oF or oC)
• Distance units (English feet/miles or metric m/km)
• Performance calculation method (Vigants North America c-factor model, Vigants Rep. 338 K●Q
model, or ITU-R P.530-12 model)
• Rain zones table (Crane or ITU-R) for Crane rain outage calculations
• Path polarization
• Rain unavailability or outage objective (optional)
• Multipath reliability objective calculation method (Bellcore, ITU-R, etc.)
The rain zone, rain unavailability objective (optional), and path polarization are meaningful only for
hops deployed in millimeterwave bands above 10 GHz. The rain outage objective is specified as
sec/year per path. This objective will be shown in the Path Calculations form, along with the computed
rain outage and availability, e.g. 1600 SES/yr = 99.995% rain availability is a typical objective for a
millimeterwave hop.
The choices for the multipath performance (path reliability) objective calculation method are:
• Bell Short Haul
• ITU-R Rec. F.634
• ITU-R Rec. F.1668
• User-defined
• None
User-defined objective is specified per path, either as %path reliability (e.g. 99.9995%) or outages/year
(e.g. 160 sec/yr) as a typical per-hop short-term multipath outage objective for a short-haul system. A
more demanding outage objective, e.g. 99.9998% or 60 sec/yr per hop, may be more appropriate for a
long-haul system.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
Although you can change the project settings later, you should normally keep these initial settings.
Some changes may invalidate path calculations already done, as explained in the “Editing Project
Settings” topic.
OPENING AN EXISTING STARLINK 4 PROJECT

You can open an existing project in two ways:
• Click on the Open icon on the main menu bar, or
• Select File menu, then Select Project submenu.
In both cases, an open file dialog box is opened and all project file names are displayed. By default,
project files are stored in the subdirectory named projects in the Starlink directory. The dialog box
displays files in the default projects directory. If you moved the files outside of Starlink you will have to
give the directory where your project is located.
Once the project is successfully opened, you will see the project Snapshot window, which gives the
number of paths in the project, the site names, and an indication if path calculations have been done
and when. In addition to its Site editing tabs, the snapshot window has five command buttons you can
use to quickly perform operations on your project:
• View/Edit Project Settings
• Add Path to Project
• View/Edit Path data
• Path Calculations
• Remove Path
EDITING PROJECT SETTINGS

To edit Project Settings, you can
• Select Project Menu, the View/Edit Project Settings submenu, or
• Click the View/Edit Project Settings button on the Current Project form.
Although you can change the project settings anytime, you should not do so if you have already
performed calculations on some paths. If you do so, you may need to perform those calculations
again, if some of the settings have been changed, as explained below.
Settings that may require calculations to be performed again after project edits include:
• Network type
• Bit Error Rate threshold
• Multipath calculation method
• Rain outage (availability) objective
• Reliability (performance) objective
Starlink will issue a warning if any of these settings are changed when there are paths with calculations
already performed.
Starlink will automatically handle changes in the temperature or distance units, but it is strongly
recommended that you review these calculations on the paths again to ensure consistency.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
EDITING EXISTING PATH DATA

To edit existing path data, you can
• Select Project Menu, then the View/Edit Path Data submenu, or
• Click the View/Edit Path Data button on the Current Project form.
You can change any of the path data. If you have already performed calculations on the path, note that
if you change the path length or site coordinates, the path reliability and availability calculations are
automatically redone and you may have to make antenna or other changes to meet your path reliability
or rain availability objective. Starlink will warn you upon exiting the path editing form, in addition to the
next time you open the path for calculations.
REMOVING A PATH FROM A PROJECT

You can remove a path from a project by clicking on the Remove Path from Project button, which
appears on the snapshot form. Starlink will ask for a confirmation before removing the path. Once
removed, a path will no longer be available. If any of the removed path’s sites is not a terminal site for
other path(s), it will also be removed.
PERFORMING PATH CALCULATIONS

You can access the Path Calculations form by:
• Selecting a path on the Current Project form and clicking the Path Calculations button, or
• Selecting the Project Menu, then the Path Calculations submenu.
Path reliability and rain availability calculations are the main features of Starlink. In order to proceed,
you will be required to make some choices and input some general and specific information.
All Required Inputs appear in white on the form. They are grouped into logical units, within frames that
are labeled for easy navigation within the form. Below is a summary list of the inputs:
• Radio Equipment
• Type (modulation, etc.)
• Capacity in T1s, E1s, Mbps data throughput, etc.
• Frequency band
• Protection configuration or non-protected
• Diversity arrangement
• Transmit power level

• Antennas available for the selected frequency band (database or user-defined)
• Size and gain
• Centerline
• Transmission lines available for the selected frequency band (database or user-defined)
• Type and loss
• Length

STARLINK USER GUIDE
• Climate-related data (all automatically computed in Starlink)
• Vigants climate-terrain factor, c-factor with or without “w”, terrain roughness, in North
America; K●Q with “S”, terrain roughness, in ITU-R regions
• ITU-R P.530-12 geoclimatic factor “K” for ITU-R regions, requiring 110x110km area
roughness Sa, and dN1 refractive index exceeded 1% of the year, inputs
• Average annual temperature for annual outage and path reliability calculations in North
American or International hops , to determine the length of the fade season and therefore the
annual outage time and path reliability
• Rain zone (Crane or ITU-R rain rate tables)
• Path Polarization
• Losses
• Miscellaneous losses
• Negative losses are entered for higher fade margin or system gain in “What If” studies
• Space diversity protection
• Main and diversity antenna centerlines
• Main and diversity antenna sizes and gains

• Frequency diversity protection
• Frequency spacing
Hybrid (space + frequency) diversity, a very effective and economical one-way or two-way three-
antenna/path diversity arrangement, is also available for Aviat Networks medium and high capacity
radios. Hybrid diversity requires both space diversity and frequency diversity inputs. The dual antenna
end of the path is selected on this form.
All the inputs are not required for all paths. For example, rain-related data (rain region, path
polarization, etc.) are required only if transmission frequency is above 10 GHz. Also, all diversity
configurations (space, frequency, or hybrid) may not be available for all Aviat Networks radios, or
necessary on all paths.
Starlink has a built-in AutoCalc feature; SESR outage probability, path reliability, and rain availability
calculations are done as soon as all required data is entered. If any required data are either missing or
invalid, a warning is displayed on the form. You may click on the warning button to display what is
missing or invalid (if there are many items missing, the first 2 or 3 will be displayed).
If you change the radio equipment or the transmission frequency, some previously entered data may
no longer be valid (such as antennas and feeders at the new frequency). Starlink automatically detects
this condition, and requires the new input(s).

STARLINK USER GUIDE
PRINTING A PATH CALCULATION SHEET

Starting in Starlink v.3.7, Starlink prints through HTML so it is necessary to have access to Internet
Explorer for this:
• A new printout module has been released
Some configuration is required, please follow the instructions below.
In Internet Explorer, you need to:
» Select the "File" menu, then "Page Setup"
» In the "Headers and Footers" section, remove any entries in the boxes
» In the "Orientation" section, select "Portrait"
» In the "Margins" section, set all margins to 0.5 (inches)
» Click "OK" to apply changes
You can print a Path Calculation Sheet:

• By clicking the Print Preview button on the Path Calculations form.
From the Path Calculations form, you can print the current path calculation sheet. If you need to setup
your printer, you can do it from the main menu: select File, then Printer Setup, to access standard
Windows printer setup dialog.
The project and path information and calculations are automatically saved until deleted by Starlink.
BROWSING RADIOS AND ANTENNAS DATABASES

The Starlink program includes two databases of Aviat Networks digital microwave equipment: the
radios database and the antennas database. The antennas database also includes the coax or
waveguide feeders that can be used in conjunction with the antennas.
You can browse through these databases by selecting Databases from the main menu, then either the
Radio, Antenna, or Feeder submenu. For the radio equipment, using the Radio Finder Wizard is the
most effective way of searching.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
USING THE RADIO FINDER WIZARD

The Radio Finder Wizard is designed to help the user in selecting the appropriate Aviat Networks radio
equipment.
To use it, you can either select Databases from the main menu, then Radio Finder Wizard, or click on
the Find icon on the main menu bar. The Radio Finder Wizard is also available from the Path
Calculations form.
The Radio Finder allows you to specify the selection criteria, and returns the radio equipment meeting
these criteria. The criteria are:
• Radio hierarchy (T1 or E1)
• Frequency range
• Capacity
• Power level
• Protection configuration or diversity arrangement
For capacity, power level and protection configuration, you can choose not to apply any restriction.
Once the criteria are given, the Wizard gives a list of all radios matching the criteria. If there is no radio
equipment that matches all the criteria, you may relax your constraints: for example, remove the
constraint on the power level, capacity or protection configuration.
If you use the Radio Finder Wizard from the Path Calculations window, you can select a radio from the
Finder’s list, and export it to the path calculation form.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
QUICK START
If you are an experienced Windows user with prior experience in designing microwave paths, you can
follow these steps to perform calculations on a network project.
1. Start the Starlink program.
Opening Screen
2. Click the New Project button and give a name to your project in the dialog box; this name will be
used as your project file name, so it should conform to your system file naming conventions.
New Project Screen

STARLINK USER GUIDE
3. Provide the project settings in the Project Definition screen below which, after selecting the
Calculation Method - Vigants (c-factor), ITU-R Vigants (K●Q factor), or ITU-R P.530-12 model,
typically (selected inputs may be mixed) encompasses either:
• Typical North American standards:
T1 trunk, English feet/miles, Fahrenheit degrees, terrain roughness “w”, geoclimatic c-
factor for multipath outage, Bell short-haul performance objectives, Crane rain zones, Bell
rain availability objective, or
• Typical ITU-R/CEPT standards:
E1 trunk, metric meter/kilometers, Celsius degrees, terrain roughness S or Sa,
geoclimatic K●Q or K factor for the multipath outage model, ITU-R F.634 or F.1668
performance objectives, ITU-R rain zones, rain availability objective.
Project Definition Screen
Once you have entered the mandatory data on this Project Definition screen, the OK button is
enabled; click OK to save. You will notice a new window with the following title Current Project:
<Your Project Name>; this window gives you all path and site names, the status of path
calculations, and a View/Edit Project settings tab for changes.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
Current Project Screen
4. On this Current Project window, click on the Add Site button to define your project's first path. At
this step, you can also review and edit the data you provided in a previous Project Definition
window by clicking on the View/Edit Project settings button.
5. Press the Add Site (or, for existing sites, View/Edit Site) button on the Current Project screen, and
enter the site name, site latitude and longitude coordinates.
Repeat this for all other sites in the project.
6. While Starlink will compute Vigants path performance with some of this data omitted, e.g. with
missing ground elevation and site coordinates with Distance entered on the Edit Path Data screen
below or later in the Path Calculations screen, the ITU-R P.530 model requires all of these inputs.
Edit Site Data Screen
7. On the Current Project screen above, click on the View/Edit Path tab. The following Edit Path Data
screen then appears.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
Edit Path Data Screen
8. All of your sites are available on this Edit Path Data screen under each of the two windows for hop
selection, which is especially convenient at a hub site where a number of hops converge. In this
star configuration, the hub site is selected only once. In tandem hops, the sites are simply moved
from one window to the next as the route is configured.
9. For each site selected, its site coordinates and ground elevation appear. For each valid hop, click
on the Compute Distance and Azimuth tab, and then save the hop to the Current Project window
above.
10. Or, you can chose to enter a path length rather than site coordinates to complete the Path
Calculations, which is convenient as the Path Length can then be changed on the Path
Calculations screen to do “What If” calculations.
11. For Vigants c-factor or K●Q calculations, if site coordinates are missing, a direct Distance (path
length) input is useful because it can be easily changed along with antenna sizes, frequency band,
radio type and diversity protection, etc. on the Path Calculations screen for “What If” studies.
12. Although not needed in Vigants calculations, Ground Elevation (required for P.530-12
calculations) if entered will appear on the Path Calculations printouts. When you are done, click
the OK button to save path data.
13. Repeat Step 5 above to include all other paths in the project. (You may perform calculations for
defined paths, and add other paths later, if you wish.)
14. On the Current Project window, you should now see the site names of the defined paths, as well
as the text NOT DONE under the column Calculations, which will change to DONE later along
with the date of the calculations. Select a path by clicking in any cell on the path's row.
15. A useful new feature in Starlink 4 is its See Paths on a Map tab on the Current Project screen. If
on-line, upon pressing this button a map showing all of the hops in the Current Project list appears
on a map, as seen below. A map for an individual hop may also be selected from the See Path on
a Map tab on the Path Calculations screen.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
Path(s) on a Map Screen
16. In the Current Project screen, highlight the path and then click on its Path Calculations button; the
Path Calculations form below then appears.
17. Provide the data required (white textboxes, drop-down lists, optional calculations, and maps). A
natural way to enter data is to fill the left half of the form first, beginning with the radio equipment
(transport capacity, transmit power, protection scheme, etc.) and frequency band you want to use.
At this point, you may want to click on the Radio Finder Wizard to help you select the radio equipment.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
VIGANTS C-FACTOR PATH CALCULATIONS “WHAT IF?” SCREEN

Starlink’s ease of operation and powerful computational ability should be evident during the use of this
Path Calculations page.
It is on this screen that all path parameters are selected and changed as needed to meet the user’s
performance and rain availability objectives - radio type, transport capacity, frequency band, protection
scheme or diversity arrangement, high or low transmitter power output, antenna sizes and heights,
diversity spacing, geoclimatic factors, annual average temperature, rain region, path polarization,
feeder types and lengths, etc.
New “What If?” inputs should immediately change the results shown on this screen; however, if not
press the Compute button.
Path Calculations Screen Using Vigants Geoclimatic c-Factor
Other input path parameters include miscellaneous losses where, for example, a negative (-) value
may be inputted for less loss to emulate a higher transmitter power (perhaps for another radio) or fade
margin, as well as changing the hop’s path length if it is not already computed from the site
coordinates entered on the Path Data screen.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
U.S. and International Geoclimatic c-Factor Pull-Down Screens
North American and worldwide pull-down maps are provided under the Maps button for access to
Annual Average Temperatures (required for annual outage and path reliability calculations),
Geoclimatic c-Factors, and Rain Zones maps. Tabs below the maps select the values inputted to
Starlink calculations.
Optionally for Vigants c-factor, and required for Vigants K●Q calculations, C-Factor Details and View
K●Q Factors tabs (as appropriate to the calculation) provide access to tables wherein Terrain
Roughness (w = 20-140ft or S = 6-42m range) from the path’s profile is entered. This, along with the
-5 -5
region’s climate factor (0.5, 1, or 2 for c-factor calculations; 1x10 to 4.1x10 in the K●Q table),
automatically derives a more accurate geoclimatic c-factor or K●Q factor specifically for the hop.
For annual 2-way rain outage calculations, the rain rate for millimeterwave hops above about 10 GHz
is easily selected (and automatically inputted into the path calculations) from the following North
American Rain Region (left) and World Rain Region pull-down maps:
U.S. and International Rain Rate Regions Screens

STARLINK USER GUIDE
ITU-R P.530-12 PATH CALCULATIONS SCREEN

Although Starlink’s ITU-R P.530-12 Path Calculations screen below looks somewhat similar to the
Vigants Path Calculations screen above, P.530-12’s geoclimatic factor K and calculation method are
more complex and thus quite different.
While intended primarily for hops using metric values deployed internationally, Starlink’s ITU-R P.530-
12 calculations may also be applied to hops deployed in North America as well as in other venues
using English units.
Path Calculations Screen Using ITU-R-12 Geoclimatic Factor K
As seen below, the ITU-R geoclimatic factor K for ITU-R P.530-12 calculations is automatically
computed under the above Path Calculations screen dN1, Roughness tab for access to Starlink’s
regional dN1 (dN/dh refractive index, N-units/km exceeded 1% of the time) and to the on-line
worldwide USGS GTOPO30 Sa 110x110 km terrain databases screen shown below.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
ITU-12 dN1 Refractivity Gradient and Sa 110x110km Terrain Roughness Screen
The hop’s dN1 Point Refractivity Gradient exceeded 1% of the time worldwide database accessed
from the hop’s mid latitude and longitude computed from site coordinates as entered in the hop’s Path
Data screen is integrated into the Starlink program.
The worldwide terrain database needed for the P.530-12 “detailed link design” algorithm’s 110x110km
Terrain Roughness is automatically accessed from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) site
by pressing the Go to GTOPO30 data download page tab in the above screen, and then on this screen
further selecting the geographical area of interest:
USGS Worldwide GTOPO30 Terrain Data Selection Screen

STARLINK USER GUIDE
The GTOPO30 terrain database selected from amongst the 27 quadrants shown in the above USGS
screen is in a .zip file that is imported into the Starlink 4 program’s GTOPO30 folder.
18. For annual multipath outage and performance (path reliability) calculations using either the
Vigants or ITU-R P.530-12 model, the hop’s Average Annual Temperature input is always
required to convert Vigants’ Fade Season or ITU-R’s Worst Month multipath outage time to an
annual value, and from that the hop’s path reliability, %. Starlink provides the pull-down North
American and worldwide Annual Average Temperature maps shown below to select the 0F or 0C
tab values required for this calculation:
U.S. and Worldwide Annual Average Temperature Pull-Down Maps
19. If the desired antenna type, size, or gain, or waveguide or coaxial feeder type, size, or loss does
not appear under the appropriate windows on the Path Calculations screen, Starlink permits the
user to easily add new antennas and feeders to Starlink’s large database under the Databases
button on its main (opening) screen, above. New antennas and feeders are easily added in the
User Defined Antennas and User Defined Feeders windows with gains, losses, types, sizes, and
frequency band inputs to a table. These new user-defined antennas and feeders appropriate to its
frequency band are then included, and will automatically appear, in the Path Calculations screen
listings.
20. Once all required data are entered, Starlink computes the hop’s median received signal level, fade
margin, space, frequency, or hybrid diversity improvements, SESR (outage probability), worst
month multipath outage (and with an Annual Average Temperature input) annual multipath fade
outage and path reliability, and rain outage and availability in higher bands, as appropriate to the
calculation method selected in the Project Definition screen.
21. Input data on the Path Calculations “What If?” screen - antenna size and height, diversity spacing,
feeder type and length, path polarization, radio frequency band, transport type and capacity,
transmitter power output, etc. - are easily changed to quickly optimize the hop’s performance and
rain availability.
22. If the Required Input(s) Missing or Not Valid warning window appears at the lower right, click on
the Click Here for Details button to see the appropriate message.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
23. You can change any of the path parameters, and see instantly the changes in the hop’s path
performance and rain availability. When you are satisfied with the path’s performance and rain
availability values, you can click on the Print Preview to view, and then Print or save as a .pdf file,
the completed path calculation sheet.
24. Before printing, however, Starlink now (with Starlink v.3.7 and later) requires that you set your
Iexplorer.exe (Internet Explorer) or Netscape.exe browser in your Program Directory to display
and print html files as described under Help:
A new printout module has been released
Some configuration is required, please follow the instructions below:
In Internet Explorer, you need to:
» Select the "File" menu, then "Page Setup"
» In the "Headers and Footers" section, remove any entries in the boxes
» In the "Orientation" section, select "Portrait"
» In the "Margins" section, set all margins to 0.5 (inches)
» Click "OK" to apply changes
25. Click the Done button to save the path calculations and return to the main Starlink window. You
can also print the path calculation sheet(s) at this level after clicking the Print Preview tab.
26. You can save, export, or send as an e-mail attachment to another Starlink 4 user completed .mlnx
files in the Starlink 4 program directory’s Projects folder.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
REFERENCES
1. ITU-R Rec. F.557-4, “Availability Objective for Radio-Relay Systems”, Geneva, 1997.
2. ITU-R Rec. F.634-4, “Error Performance Objectives for Radio-Relay Hops Forming Part of a High-
Grade Circuit”, Geneva, 1997.
3. ITU-R Rec P.676-3, “Attenuation by Atmosphere Gases “, Geneva, 1997.
4. ITU-R Rec. P.837-1, “Characteristics of Precipitation for Propagation Modeling”, Geneva, 1997.
5. ITU-R Rec. 838, Specific Attenuation Model for Rain for Use in Prediction Methods, Geneva, 1992
6. ITU-R Rep. 338-6, “Propagation Data and Prediction Methods Required for Terrestrial Line-of-
Sight Radio-Relay Systems”, Geneva, 1990.
7. U.S. Department of Commerce Special Publication No. 8, “Formulas and Tables for the
Computation of Geodetic Positions”, C&GS, Washington, DC, 1963.
8. R. K. Crane, “Prediction of Attenuation by Rain”, Proc. IEEE Trans. on Communications,

September, 1980.
9. S. H. Lin, “Measured Relative Performance of Antenna Pattern Diversity, Antenna Angle Diversity,
and Vertical Space Diversity in Mississippi”, IEEE Globecom ‘88, Hollywood, FL, November 1988
10. W. D. Rummler, “Advances in Microwave Radio Route Engineering for Rain”, ICC 87, Seattle,
WA, June 1987.
11. A. Vigants, ”Space Diversity Engineering”, Bell System Technical Journal, Vol. 54, No. 1, January
1975.
12. ITU-R Rec. P.530-12, “Propagation Data and Prediction Methods Required for the Design of
Terrestrial Line-of-Sight Systems”, Geneva, 2007. Also ITU-R Rec. P.530-9 (2001), P.530-10
(2001) and P.530-11 (2005) whose “detailed link design models are similar to P.530-12.
13. ITU-R Rec. F.1668, “Error Performance Objectives for Real Digital Fixed Wireless Links Used in
the 27500km Hypothetical Reference Paths and Connections”, Geneva, 2006.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
TUTORIAL
MICROWAVE RADIO PATH CALCULATION OVERVIEW

The basic calculations associated with a Digital Microwave Radio Path Data Sheet are simply the
addition and subtraction of relative gains and losses in dB from/to power levels in dBm, to arrive at an
expected or desired Composite Fade Margin. The gathering of those numbers and some of the
preliminary calculations associated with path length and azimuths is a bit more difficult, depending on
access to the correct tables, use of hand-held calculators, and the like. The conversion of the
expected or desired Composite Fade Margin into predictable short-term (multipath fade) and long-term
(rain fade) Outage Time, SESR, Path Reliability, and Rain Availability requires even more
sophistication.
This Starlink Tutorial is intended to provide you a limited overview of the basic calculations associated
with the Digital Microwave Radio Path Data Sheet and to compare these results with recognized
performance and availability objectives.
Starlink’s short-term (multipath fade) Probability of Outage (SESR or Severely Errored Second - SES -
Ratio) and Annual Outage Time computations are based upon Vigants’ widely-used field-verified
model as defined in references [11], most often used for designing microwave links in North American
hops with c-factors, but also widely used internationally, and [Ref. 6] for International (ITU-R Rep. 338)
hops with K●Q geoclimatic factors. Both Vigants models provide similar performance results.
Starlink’s ITU-R Rec. P.530-12 [Ref. 12] multipath outage prediction method produces results that
could divergent a bit from these two Vigants’ outage models, especially for flatland paths deployed in
difficult geoclimatic regions.
Starlink’s long-term (rain fade) outage time computations use the Crane rain model, and access
Crane’s rain rate tables [8] for North American radio-relay hops which are derived from ITU-R but
optimized for this region. This Crane model also accesses ITU-R rain regions and rain rate tables [Ref.
4] for international microwave path rain outage calculations.
The ITU-R Rec. P.530-12 rain availability model is not used in Starlink rain outage computations.
Although the ITU-R P.530-12 and Crane models are dissimilar both use similar rain coefficients (for the
frequency band and hop polarization) and rain rates, the two models most often do yield somewhat
comparable results. Starlink applies the Crane rain model to all rain outage and hop availability
calculations for both North American and digital microwave hops deployed worldwide.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
AZIMUTHS & PATH LENGTHS

This section describes the method used in Starlink for the precise calculation of true north azimuths at
each end of a path and its microwave path length when end coordinates (latitudes and longitudes) are
accurately known.
If these site coordinates are not known or not entered on the View/Edit Site Data screen and you wish
to add or change the path length along with other parameters such as frequency band, radio type,
antenna sizes, etc. to exploit Starlink’s powerful “What If” feature in the Path Calculations screen,
Starlink will accept a specific path length, in kilometers/miles, as a direct Path Calculations screen
input to observe its immediate results. You must be prepared to provide either path length or site
coordinates, along with Site Elevations for ITU-R calculations, to successfully complete the Path Data
Sheet.
The Azimuths and Path Length calculation method used in Starlink is an adaptation of the "Inverse
Position Computation" on page 14 of “Formulas and Tables for the Computation of Geodetic Positions,
Special Publication No. 8, Coast and Geodetic Survey [Ref. 7]. Factors (log Bm and log Am) from
tables in that publication are used in the Starlink computation. The tables list these factors for every
minute of North or South Latitude from 00 to 720, but this degree of accuracy while required of most
Regulatory bodies is not needed for microwave path calculations. Following the United States Federal
Communications Commission’s approach, we have extracted from the table only those values of log
Bm and log Am corresponding to integral degrees from 00 to 720.
The errors introduced by using these factors to the nearest degree, rather than to the nearest minute,
of latitude will not exceed more than a few seconds in azimuth and substantially less than a tenth of a
kilometer/mile in distance. This degree of accuracy is more than adequate for path calculation
purposes.
Since the Inverse Position Method takes into account the oblateness of the earth, it gives more precise
values than an uncorrected great-circle calculation method. For paths longer than about 120
kilometers/75 miles, however, the great-circle method (not in Starlink) could be used.
These methods will fail when the two stations have exactly the same longitude. In
this case, one station will have an azimuth of 00 while the other an azimuth of 1800.
Also, when the two stations have exactly the same latitude, angle W is equal to 00 and
need not be calculated. Starlink has introduced a small adjustment into the formulas
to allow these calculations to be made under the conditions of equal longitude or
equal latitude.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
FREE-SPACE PATH LOSS

Determining the Free Space Path Loss is the next calculation in the preparation of a Path Data Sheet.
Free-space loss is defined as the loss that exists between two isotropic antennas in free space where
there are no ground influences or obstructions; in other words, where losses due to refraction,
reflection, and diffraction fade activity and atmospheric absorption do not exist. Radio energy is lost
with distance because of the triangular spreading of wavefront energy as it travels through space. In
accordance with the “inverse-square law”, wavefront area quadruples for each doubling of distance, for
a 10 log 4 = 6 dB increase in path loss.
The derivation of the formula for free-space loss based upon spherical geometry is presented in many
other references and will not be repeated here. The formula itself, however, is shown below:
PATH LOSS (ENGLISH UNITS)

A = 96.6 + 20 log f + 20 log D
Where
A = free space attenuation between antennas, dB
f = frequency, GHz
D = path length, miles
PATH LOSS (METRIC UNITS)

A = 92.4 + 20 log f + 20 log D
Where
D = path length, kilometers
UNFADED (“FREE SPACE”) RECEIVE SIGNAL LEVEL

The Unfaded Receive Signal Level is computed by introducing the Net Path Loss (NPL), dB, between
a radio transmitter output and the following radio receiver’s input. The microwave radio transmit power
is reduced by the NPL as determined by free space and atmospheric absorption losses, antenna
gains, and all the feeder and network losses at both ends of the single radio path, link, or hop
(preferred). “Hop” is the ITU-R’s definition for a single complete (with antenna feeder systems and
radios) microwave radio path, with “Link” defined in ITU-R recommendations as multiple tandemly
interconnected hops.
RSL = Pt - NPL
= Pt + Gt - Lfs - Labs + Gr - Lf - Lnet
Where
Pt = transmit power, dBm
Gt = transmit antenna gain, dB
Lfs = free space loss, dB
Labs = absorption loss, dB
Gr = receive antenna gain, dB
Lf = coax or waveguide feeder loss, dB
Lnet = network and other losses, dB

STARLINK USER GUIDE
DESIGN FADE MARGIN

The Thermal (or Flat) Fade Margin (TFM) is the difference between the Unfaded Receive Signal Level
and the receiver’s Static 10-6 “test” Threshold or Dynamic 10-3 (or LOF – loss of frame synchronization
point) Outage (as defined by ITU) Threshold, dBm, as measured with back-to-back digital radios
devoid of interference and spectrum distortion (dispersion), at this given Bit Error Rate.
-3
Starlink provides you with the ability to select either the radio’s 10 BER Dynamic Threshold for outage
-6
computations, or the 10 BER Static Threshold for other performance and availability computations.
This selection adjusts the receiver’s threshold to correspond with the selected BER. The threshold RSL
values used in the Starlink template are based on Aviat Networks Digital Microwave Radios. The
values are located in a table and are accessed via Windows TM commands based on the data you
enter, e.g. threshold BER, frequency, capacity, protection type, etc.
Note that the internationally defined, field-verifiable outage in a PDH (asynchronous) digital radio hop
-3
corresponds to a 10 BER severely-errored second (SES) or LOF loss-of-frame synchronization event
at the receiver’s Dynamic Threshold. This threshold is very near the initiation of a T1 or E1 AIS alarm
(loss of frame synchronization) condition in the connected PABX, channel bank, etc. trunk port. The
digital radio’s 10-6 BER Static Threshold or operating point is used for in-service radio and interference
measurements (with attenuators) and as a measurement of circuit quality, not outage, although it is
now often assigned as an “outage” threshold by many users, even though such errored second events
are not field-verifiable during dynamic fade activity.
The outage threshold of a SONET or SDH (synchronous) digital hop is defined at its SONET/SDH
-5
multiplexer’s loss-of-pointer synchronization (LOP) point coinciding with a 2x10 BER for STM-1 and
Sonet (STS-3) radios. However, since an LOP event in SONET and SDH hops will cause an LOF
event in its derived T1 or E1 trunks, digital microwave radio specifications show no difference between
this LOP point and a 10-3 BER or LOF threshold point in a radio hop.
DISPERSIVE FADE MARGIN

High-clearance digital microwave radio hops with adverse path geometry and inappropriate (too small
or misaligned) antennas may be susceptible to Dispersive (spectrum-distorting) fade outages.
Dispersive fading may cause the loss of the digital radio receiver’s quadrature lock (synchronization)
even during high RF signal level periods due to amplitude or group delay slope and notch effects
resulting in degraded error performance, including short- or long-term outages. Powerful corrective
measures that now combat dispersive fading include Space Diversity, Forward Error Correction (FEC),
Adaptive Time Domain Equalization (ATDE), and Adaptive IF Slope Amplitude Equalization (ASAE).
As the RF bandwidths or number of signaling states that increase the effect of dispersive fading
increases, this requires the more sophisticated countermeasures typical of today’s digital microwave
radios.
The robustness of a digital radio to dispersive fading is defined by its Dispersive Fade Margin (DFM), a
value found in the radio’s data sheets. The DFM for a digital radio is derived from its Signature Curve,
constructed by moving a high-level delayed multipath notch through the receiver’s IF passband at
depths increased to cause an outage. The DFM values in the radio’s data sheet result from the
canceling null generated by the combining of the transmitter’s direct signal with its multipath signal
delayed 6.3 nsec (6 feet or 2m).
Starlink adds TFM + DFM (power addition, e.g. 40 dB TFM + 50 dB DFM = 39.6 dB CFM) to derive the
hop’s Composite Fade Margin (CFM) used for multipath outage calculations. Unless very high thermal

STARLINK USER GUIDE
fade margins result with a short path and/or large antennas, the affect of a modern digital radio’s DFM
upon CFM, and therefore upon the hop design, should be negligible. However, the radio’s DFM could
be heavily degraded on some high clearance paths with inadequate antenna discriminations to the
resulting very long-delayed (>10 nsec) multipath signal. The radio’s DFM could degrade from over 50
dB to 40 dB or even much lower if exposed to this long-delayed high amplitude multipath signal.
It is essential that the antenna discriminations (antenna’s frequency band, sizes, and uptilt) to the long-
delayed specular reflection lower the echo’s amplitude adequately to meet a minimum 50 dB hop DFM
objective for no degradation in the hop’s error performance:
Hop DFM = Radio DFM [related to the multipath signal’s delay time] + Antenna Discriminations =
>50 dB for good performance
Intra-station, intra-system, and inter-hop Interference from other microwave transmitters may also
degrade the digital radio’s threshold and, therefore, the hop’s fade margin. Although usually ignored in
initial path design, interference is typically limited to that level allowed by the FCC introducing less
than 1 dB threshold (and fade margin) degradation into a hop.
Once the Composite Fade Margin has been determined, it is used to compute an expected probability
of outage or severely errored second ratio (SESR) and, in North America and many international hop
other hops (although not required in ITU-R calculations), the hop’s one-way path reliability based upon
annual outage time. Annual short-term outage time from which path reliability is computed is
influenced by the effects of:
• Multipath fading, defined by geographical propagation characteristics (climate and terrain) for given
locales, and
• Average Annual Temperature defining the 2.1-4.5 month fade season during which the Vigants
model assumes that all fade outage event occur for the same geographical region.
CFM is also an input for computing expected the annual two-way Rain Availability in high-frequency
hops which accommodates all long-term (>10 CSES - continuous SES - traffic disconnect) rain outage
events. Rain availability is computed from:
• Tables which assign multiplier and exponent coefficients based upon frequency and polarization, and
• Rain rate tables based upon thunderstorm and similar high rain rate activity in North America and all
worldwide regions.
Of course, equipment, antenna system, and infrastructure failures and manual intervention (switching,
etc.) can also cause long-term outage, but the calculation of unavailability (traffic “downtime”) caused
by such failures requires MTBF (mean time between failures) and MTTR (supplier) or MTR (user,
mean time to restore the traffic) values not in Starlink so are not a part of these Starlink two-way
availability calculations.
Rain outage is a “self-healing” unavailability traffic disconnect event; thus unlike long-term outages
caused by equipment and infrastructure failures, rain outage is predictable from North American and
worldwide rain rate tables in Starlink’s pull-down maps.
Each of these factors has been the topic of numerous studies and papers, and it is not the intent of this
tutorial to provide an in-depth discussion of them. If you desire more information than is presented
here, please refer to the References section.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
SHORT-TERM OUTAGE CAUSED BY MULTIPATH FADES

The fade margin of a digital microwave radio hop provides a "safety margin" to protect the microwave
signal from the adverse effects (carrier-to-noise degradations) of multipath fading, interference, and
rain attenuation. Digital microwave hop fade margins are typically much smaller than for analog radios
whose fade margins are often increased to provide baseband quieting (low kTb thermal noise) even in
short and other non-fading hops.
The provision of an adequate fade margin and sufficient path clearance to protect against CFM
degradations and outage due to surface ducting and earth blocking, plus diversity on longer or
otherwise vulnerable paths, makes it possible to achieve per-hop propagation reliabilities with respect
to Rayleigh-distributed multipath fading exceeding 99.999%.
Multipath outage and annual path reliability, along with quality (RBER, %EFS, etc.), define digital radio
hop performance during traffic availability (“uptime”) periods.
Path availability relates to the time a given microwave hop is operational (traffic is not disconnected) for
a specified period of time, typically a year. With the exception of millimeterwave (above 10 GHz) hops
deployed in rain areas, the availability objective for users of most microwave hops is near 100%.
Predicted (and measured) only during available (traffic connected) periods, path reliability is a measure
of annual short-term (<10 CSES) one-way multipath fade outages occurring over a 2.1-4.5 month fade
season.
Table 1: Rain Availability, Multipath Reliability, and Outage Time Conversion Table
Annual Rain Outage Outage time* per Period
Availability or Time, %
Path Reliability,
%
Annual 3 Month fade Fade period, Fade
period (“season”) worst month period,
one
day in
the
worst
month
90.0 10.0 876 hrs 876 hrs 292 hrs 10 hrs
95.0 5.0 438 hrs 438 hrs 146 hrs 5 hrs
98.0 2.0 175 hrs 175 hrs 58 hrs 2 hrs
99.0 1.0 88 hrs 88 hrs 29 hrs 1 hr
99.9 0.1 52min 52 min 18mni 35 sec
99.999 0.001 5 min 5 min 106 sec 4 sec
99.9999 0.0001 32 min 32 min 11 sec 1 sec
* Annual rain outage should be that averaged over a 10 or more year period as rain rates are far more intense in
some years than others. Probability of multipath outage (SESR), and therefore multipath outage seconds are for
a “worst month” (or Any Month) in ITU recommendations, or over a fade season (3 months @ 10 0 C/50 0 F, for
North American path reliability calculations).

STARLINK USER GUIDE
METHOD OF CALCULATION PROBABILITY OF SHORT-TERM OUTAGE

In this section, the fractional probability of outage is the probability of an outage occurrence, known
internationally as the Severely-Errored Second Ratio or SESR. For computational purposes microwave
outages are considered to occur not over a tear but only during a “worst month” in ITU-R calculations,
or over a 2.1-4.5 month “fade season” in North American calculations, not annually.
6
The numbers of multipath fade outages during the “worst month” is therefore SESR x 2.6x10
sec/month.
The numbers of multipath fade outages per year is therefore SESR x seconds in the fade season (2.5
6 6
to 4mo x 2.6x10 sec/month), from which annual (over 31.5x10 sec/yr) path reliability is determined:
6
Path reliability = 100-100x (outage sec/yr)/31.5x10 sec/yr, %.
Path “reliability” is never computed for a “worst month” or any period other than annual.
The term path or hop “availability” is sometimes incorrectly expressed as a percentage synonymous
with path “reliability”. ITU-R defines a microwave hop as “unavailable” or “failed” (disconnects traffic)
only after ten seconds of continuous outage (>10 CSES), such as with a typical rain outage event,
whereas each second of multipath outage (up to ten continuous SES) only lowers path reliability.
Message (VF or data) traffic is lost or disconnected only with long-term unavailability events, not short-
term outage events.
Probability of Outage Calculations (Vigants c-Factor, English Units)
In North America, and very often internationally, the equation for the probability of short-term outage in
a non-diversity microwave hop during the fade season using English units is as follows [10]:
-5
SESR = c f/4 10 D3 10CFM/10
Where
SESR = One-way probability of outage for a non- diversity hop
f = frequency, GHz
CFM = composite or thermal (flat) fade margin, dB
c = climate/terrain factor (from Starlink’s c-factor pull-down maps)
= 6: influenced by surface ducting (flat, very humid)
= 4: average terrain, very humid climate
= 2: average terrain, humid climate
= 1: average terrain, average climate
= 0.25: mountainous terrain and dry climate
Or
1.3
c = x/(w/50)
where
x = climate factor: 2, 1.4, 1, or 0.5 for very humid, humid, average, and dry climates

STARLINK USER GUIDE
= c0.5 from the pull-down map (exception: when c = 6, x = 2)
w = Terrain roughness over a 20-140 ft range (50ft = average terrain) from the path’s profile. The
tilting ground of a high/low path computes to a large terrain roughness “w” even if the terrain is
smooth, for maximum c = 0.52 (low outage time) even in very humid areas with large climate
factors.
Probability of Outage Calculations (Vigants c-Factor, Metric Units)

-7
SESR = c f 6x10 D3 10CFM/10
where
SESR = One-way probability of outage for a non-diversity hop

-1.3
c = either from the above, or computed as c = x /(S/15)
S = terrain roughness, 6-42m range, from the path profile
x = climate factor (see following c-factor to K•Q conversion chart)
PROBABILITY OF OUTAGE CALCULATIONS (VIGANTS K•Q FACTOR,

METRIC UNITS)
Starlink computes the probability of outage (SESR) for international non-diversity radio-relay hops as
follows:
3 CFM/10
SESR = K•Q f D 10
where
SESR = one-way probability of outage for a non-diversity hop
f = frequency, GHz
K•Q = geoclimatic factor (see K•Q factors pull-down maps)

1.3
= x/(S )
x = climate factor
-5
= 4.1x10 : Maritime climate, coastal with surface ducting (flat, very humid, high temperature)
-5
= 3.1x10 : Maritime sub-tropical
-5
= 2.1x10 : Continental temperate or mid-latitude inland
-5
= 1x10 : High, dry, mountainous
S = Terrain roughness, 6-42m (20m = average terrain), from the path profile. The tilting ground of a
high/low path computes to a large terrain roughness S = 42m even if the terrain is smooth, for a
-7
maximum K•Q = 3.2x10 (low outage time) even in very humid areas with large climate factors.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
Table 2: Vigants Geoclimatic K•Q to c-Factor Conversion Table
PROBABILITY OF OUTAGE CALCULATIONS (ITU-R P.530-12 DETAILED

LINK DESIGN, K GEOCLIMATIC FACTOR, METRIC UNITS)
For detailed link design applications the ITU-R P.530-12 probability of short-term outage, SESR,
exceeded in the average worst month is computed as follows:
3.2
(1 + ξP)-0.97 100.032 f - 0.00085 hL – CFM/10
SESR = K/100 D
where
SESR = One-way probability of outage for a non-diversity hop
K = Geoclimatic factor (below)
f = frequency, GHz
ξP = Path inclination, mrad (milliradian)
= hH – hL / D
hL = low site antenna height AMSL, m
hH = high site antenna height AMSL, m
The P.530-12 Geoclimatic Factor for detailed link calculations is:

-3.9 – 0.003 dN1
K = 10 Sa-0.42
where
dN1 = dN/dh point refractivity gradient in the lowest 65m of the atmosphere not exceeded for 1% of an
average year (selection from the worldwide dN1 database in Starlink).

STARLINK USER GUIDE
Sa = terrain roughness, standard deviation of terrain heights within a 110x110 kilometer area with 30
sec resolution, from GTOPO30 data (tab selection in Starlink accesses the USGS worldwide
GTOPO30 terrain database for Sa)
The “K/100” in Starlink’s SESR computation above is necessary because the ITU-R P,530-10 model
computes outage probability as a percentage (%), and SESR as a “probability” is never defined as a
percentage. The absence of this “1/100” factor would otherwise increase worst month and annual
multipath outage computed in this P.530-12 model by X100.
DIVERSITY IMPROVEMENT COMPUTATIONS FOR VIGANTS AND ITU-R P.530-

12 PATH CALCULATIONS
For microwave systems needing the added protection of diversity (e.g. space diversity) to meet outage
objectives, the calculation for SESR, the non-diversity outage probability, is identical to that above.
Diversity provides an improvement to the path reliability (reduces outage time).
The probability of outage (SESR) or "unreliability" for a diversity system is calculated based on the
following formula:
SESR (diversity) = SESR (Non-Diversity)/I
where
I = Diversity Improvement Factor
The diversity improvement factor differs for each type of diversity - space, frequency, hybrid, multiline,
etc.
SPACE DIVERSITY IMPROVEMENT FACTOR I S D (ENGLISH UNITS)

The space diversity improvement factor, Isd, is shown below:
-5 2 2 CFM/10
Isd = 7x10 f s v 10 /D
where
Isd = space diversity improvement factor
f = frequency, GHz
s = vertical main-diversity antenna spacing, feet

2
v = Factor for dissimilar main and diversity fade margins
2
v is computed when the main and diversity paths differ, as with different main-diversity antenna sizes
or waveguide losses. In such cases, Starlink will take CFM as the larger of the two fade margins used
in calculating SESR for the path. CFM is then the smaller of the two fade margins used to calculate
Isd.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
SPACE DIVERSITY IMPROVEMENT FACTOR I S D (METRIC UNITS)

Isd = 1.2x10-3 f s2 v2 10CFM/10 / D
where
f = frequency, GHz
s = vertical main-diversity antenna spacing, meters

2
v = Factor for dissimilar main and diversity fade margins
ANGLE DIVERSITY IMPROVEMENT FACTOR, I A D

Starlink diversity improvement calculations do not accommodate Angle Diversity, a method of
improving path reliability with a special antenna that is now rarely used. The angle diversity antenna
has two feeds vertically offset by about 1o (the smaller the better) in a single antenna. Angle diversity
is occasionally suggested as a substitute for the venerable two-dish space diversity scheme where
tower loading, aesthetics, antenna heights, or tower or building space is limited. Angle diversity may
be most effective when path outages are dominated by dispersive fade activity (dispersive fade outage
greater than flat fade outage).
However, digital radios are now far more robust to dispersive fade activity, i.e. have DFMs some 20 dB
higher, than the 1980s digital radios which inspired the wide use of angle diversity antennas. When
used, an angle diversity improvement factor Iad may be assigned, but some extended period of
exacting antenna alignment to accommodate the path’s geoclimatic conditions may be required for
optimum Iad.
SELF-HEALING RING (“ROUTE DIVERSITY”) IMPROVEMENT FACTOR, I SR

Ring (loop) systems will automatically route traffic away from fading microwave paths, and therefore
improve the performance (reduce outage) in these networks. While “route diversity” improvements are
not in Starlink, an Isr = 20 is typical for ring systems.
FREQUENCY AND HYBRID DIVERSITY IMPROVEMENT FACTORS I FD , I HD

Frequency or hybrid (frequency+space) diversity is computed in Starlink for hops deployed in regions
where regulatory rules so permit, e.g. in electrical utility hops deployed in Canada.
The hybrid diversity improvement factor, Ihd, is derived from the space diversity improvement Isd
shown above and the frequency diversity improvement factor Ifd described below:
Ihd = Isd + Ifd
Above 3 GHz, Isd is always higher (better) than Ifd unless the diversity spacing, Δf, exceeds about 5%
(300 MHz or 0.3 GHz in the 6 GHz band, for example).
In hybrid diversity hops, the higher T/R frequencies should always be assigned to the upper antenna at
the space diversity (usually the lower elevation) site for optimum performance since Ifd could otherwise
tend to cancel, rather than add, to the Isd space diversity improvement.
The frequency diversity improvement factor, Ifd, in English units is as follows:

STARLINK USER GUIDE
FREQUENCY DIVERSITY IMPROVEMENT FACTOR I F D (ENGLISH UNITS)

Ifd = 50 Δf 10CFM/10 / f2 D
where
Δf = diversity spacing, GHz
f = frequency, GHz
CFM = flat or composite fade margin. dB
FREQUENCY DIVERSITY IMPROVEMENT FACTOR I F D (METRIC UNITS)

Ifd = 80 Δf 10CFM/10 / f2 D
where
f = frequency, GHz
EFFECTIVE FREQUENCY DIVERSITY SPACINGS IN N+1 HOPS, ΔF EF

Ifd(N+1) = 80 ΔfEF 10CFM/10 / f2 D
Where
f = frequency, GHz
ΔfEF = ___________N________________ , GHz
N + N-1 + N-2 + … + _1_
Δf 2 Δf 3 Δf N Δf
Where, in N+1 multiline hops:
ΔfEF = Effective FD spacing in Ifd(N+1) calculations that are
done outside Starlink, then entered on the Reliability Screen
N = Number of bearer channels (3, in an N+3 hop)
Δf = Actual RF channel spacing (e.g., 0.160 GHz), starting with
the smallest channel separation if non-symmetrical

STARLINK USER GUIDE
MULTIPATH PERFORMANCE OUTAGE OBJECTIVES

The performance objectives are defined as the SESR (severely-errored second ratio, the probability of
a non-diversity short-term multipath fade outage) objective for ITU-R hops and systems. In ITU, no
further calculation of actual outage time over a measurement period (e.g., month, year) is necessary.
As will be discussed later, the ITU any- or worse-month objective [2] for a microwave system is:
SESR Objective = 0.00054 x Dkm/2500
Where Dkm = Path or system length, km
Although it is not required in ITU calculations, the actual outage time over a one-month period can be
computed by multiplying the probability of outage, SESR, times the number of seconds in a month (2.6
6
x10 ). Annual outage in an ITU hop or system may be computed from the following North American
procedure.
In North American calculation procedures, the annual outage time due to short-term multipath fade
activity in a microwave hop is computed over a one-year period. In this calculation, actual outage is
defined as that occurring over a 2-4.5 month “fade season”:
T = SESR To t/50
where
SESR = One-way probability of outage for a diversity or non-diversity hop
T = annual outage, SES/year
To = fade season taken as three months, for a combination of two severe and two moderate fade
6
months, or 8x10 seconds
SESR = non-diversity or diversity probability of outage

0
t = average annual temperature, F, extends the fade season in warmer areas and shortens it in cooler
climates. Per the Vigants model, t is within a 350F to 750F (20C to 240C) range. Starlink automatically
does the necessary 0C to 0F conversions for metric calculations of annual outage and path reliability.
NORTH AMERICAN OUTAGE OBJECTIVES, BELL

The Bell one-way 1600 SES/yr end-to-end outage objective for a system may be over links making up
a part or whole of a long-haul system, a short-haul system, or other distance. While the following
computations are for hop(s) making up a full short- or long-haul system, the 1600 end-to-end SES/yr
outage allocation may be proportioned only to the actual number of tandem hops in an actual system.
For example, 1600/20 = 80 SES/yr (99.99975% path reliability) per-hop objective for a 20-hop digital
microwave system.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
The Bell one-way short-haul T1/E1 trunk outage objective at its 10-3 BER or LOF SES outage point is
defined as:
T (short-haul, English) = 1600 x Dmi/250, SES/yr
= 6.4xDmi
where Dmi = System (T1/E1 trunk) length, miles
T (short-haul, metric) = (1600 Dkm/400), SES/yr
= 4xDkm, SES/yr
where Dkm = System (T1/E1 trunk) length, kilometers
The AT&T long-haul one-way outage is defined as:
T (long-haul, English) = 1600 Dmi/2000, SES/yr
= 0.8xDmi
where Dmi = System (T1/E1 trunk) length, miles
T (long-haul, metric) = 1600 x Dkm/3200 SES/yr
= 0.5xDkm
where Dkm = System (T1/E1 trunk) length, kilometers
ITU-R F.634 OUTAGE OBJECTIVE, PDH SYSTEMS

The ITU-R probability of outage (SESR) objective [2] for a long-haul reference 2500km/1500mi system
(E1 trunk) length is:
SESR = 0.00054 Dkm/2500
where SESR = Probability of outage
Dkm = System (E1 trunk) length, kilometers
Although only SESR, not worst month or annual outage seconds (SES/month or SES/year) is specified
as an ITU-R objective, T (outage objective in seconds) is computed from SESR:
6
Tmo = SESR x 2.6x10
Tyr = Tmo 3 x t/50
where
Tmo = outage objective, SES/month
Tyr = outage objective, SES/yr

0 0
t = average annual temperature, F = 1.8 C + 32

STARLINK USER GUIDE
ITU-R F.1668 OUTAGE CALCULATIONS, SDH SYSTEMS

ITU-R F.1668 long-haul SESR (probability of outage) objectives are for multiple SDH (155 Mbps) hops
in a link (multiple hops) within a county (“National Portion”) based upon ITU-T Rec. G.828 and G.826
[Ref. 13]:
Per-hop average SESR = 0.002 (0.01 + 0.002) x Llink/100 (Llink <100 km)
Example, SESR, Llink= 80 km (two 40 km hops), A1= 0.01 to 0.02 (1-2%) SESR objective = 0.002
(0.01 + 0.002) x 80/100 = 0.0000192 (50 SES, 25 SES/hop any month)
SDH Short-Haul Objective based upon ITU-T Rec. G.828/G826:
Per-hop average SESR, E3 (34 Mbit/s) = 0.002B/hops, B = 0.075 to 0.085 (7.5-8.5%)
Example, per-hop SESR, Llink= 90km (three 30 km hops), Short-Haul route (length independent)
SESR/hop objective = 0.002 x 0.075 = 0.00015 (390 SES end-to-end, 130 SES/hop any month)
RELIABILITY AND AVAILABILITY OVERVIEW

In considering how to establish realistic outage or reliability objectives, several things need to be kept
in mind. A single overall design objective, for not more than X hours, minutes, or seconds’ outage,
over some period such as a year is an over-simplification. The character of the particular kind of
outage and its effect on the system should be taken into account, and perhaps there should even be
different objectives for different types of outage.
For example, propagation outages due to multipath fading are usually of short duration. An outage of
an hour per year due to multipath might represent 1,000 or more individual outages, each averaging 1
second or less (1 SES) on a properly engineered path. On the other hand, propagation outages
totaling an hour per hop due to rain attenuation mayt consist of four or five individual outages
averaging five to fifteen minutes each.
The effects of long-term and short-term system outage on message trunks are very different. Short-
term “unreliability” outage events do not disconnect circuits nor reduce (in most circuits) data or
Ethernet packet throughout, while long-term “unavailability” events likely cause both traffic disconnect
and loss of data throughput.
A distinction should be made between communication circuits for which an outage of a few seconds or
a few minutes is just a nuisance or an inconvenience, and circuits for which such an outage might
result in danger to life, great economic loss, or other catastrophic consequences. The suitability or
unsuitability of deploying millimeterwave hops that are not loop (UPSR ring) protected a rain-affected
band such as 18 or 38 GHz could differ widely for these two situations.
Even if the maximum possible reliability and availability objectives are established and a path or a
system is engineered to the full limit of the state of the art, the probability of outage can never be
eliminated but only reduced to a very low value.
It is imperative to make any ultra-important services such as public safety, homeland security, and
electrical utility protection as fail-safe as possible against a loss of the communications or control
channel. Therefore, regardless of the degree of reliability a system should be engineered so that if an
outage does occur it can be tolerated or at least its effects at least kept within acceptable bounds.
It seems that in some cases, perhaps many cases, a more relaxed attitude might be taken toward rain-
induced outages than toward multipath outages or even equipment outages. In several respects, rain

STARLINK USER GUIDE
outage is somewhat benign in nature. If the fade margins are kept high and the paths are not
stretched out too much, even in less advantageous areas the number of outages per year should not
be very large and the length of individual rain outages on a hop should only rarely exceed five to
perhaps ten minutes.
Short (less than 2-second duration per event) microwave outages, common in a typical longer diversity
or a shorter non-diversity digital microwave hop with adequate fade margin, will not drop any telephone
or data lines. Such outages quickly clear (“self-healing”) with all circuits remaining connected and little
note taken of these transient events. Critical real-time, non-repeatable control or data blocks are
usually sent over data circuits that have X.25, X.35, etc. error detection which requests a resend of
interrupted data from far-end buffers, and Ethernet/IP packets are typically resent as a result of the
ARQ automatic retransmission of “lost” packets.
Longer outages associated with low fade margins, rain, etc. disconnect all subscribers and may block
access to the digital hop for at least 10 seconds after each long-term outage event. Such traffic
disconnects are unacceptable to most users. These more vulnerable hops clearly require diversity or
ring protection. For high reliability hops, (usually in long-haul systems with many hops in tandem), the
per-hop objective may approach or exceed 99.9999%, allowing only 20-30 seconds per-hop outage
per year.
Short-haul systems, up to about ten hops, often have a per-hop design objective of about 99.9995%
for 160 SES/yr outage. Spur legs or short systems with 2-5 hops may be designed for something on
the order of 99.999% per-hop path reliability equating to 320 SES (5.3 minutes) outages per year.
Objectives such as these are typical of those used in telephone, utility and public safety networks. For
other services even dramatically lowered path reliabilities may be acceptable, even approaching
99.99% or about 1 hour outage per year. It is important to note that Starlink path reliability formulas
and methods are for calculating short-term one-way outage in accordance with all North American and
International (ITU) standards organizations. Although no domestic or international standards exist for
this to calculate two-way outage it is necessary to double the calculated multipath outage.
Unavailability outages due to rain fading do not have to be doubled since they occur simultaneously in
both directions of transmission and are always two-way.
ATTENUATION BY ATMOSPHERIC GASES

The principal gaseous absorption is by oxygen and water vapor. The attenuation due to oxygen is
relatively constant in the 2 to 14 GHz frequency range. Water vapor absorption, on the other hand, is
highly dependent on the frequency, as well as to the density of the water vapor (absolute humidity,
gm/m3) The following formulas from ITU-R Report 719-1 have been incorporated into Starlink for the
purposes of calculating the attenuating effect of oxygen and water vapor within an accuracy of within +
0.2 dB when compared to later ITU-R models:
2 2 2 -3
Aoxy = [6.6/(f +0.33) + 9/((f-57) + 1.96)] f 10 , dB/km
where
f = frequency, GHz
2 2 -4
Awv = [0.067 + 2.4/((f-22.3) + 6.6) f p 10 , dB/km
where
f = frequency, GHz

STARLINK USER GUIDE
p = water vapor density, gm/m3

0 0
= 7.5 (ITU-R typical value corresponding to 50% humidity at 16 C, 75% at 10 C, is used in Starlink)
RAIN OUTAGE
Heavy rainfall, usually in cells accompanying thunderstorm activity, has a great impact on path
availability above 10 GHz in some areas, and this long-term (5-15 min) outage time causes traffic
disconnects and packet loss. Such long-term outage is never added to short-term multipath outage
previously discussed. Rain outage increases dramatically with frequency, and then with path length.
Increased outage at 23 GHz can require a 50% reduction in path length compared to 18 GHz for a
given availability, for example. Extended 10-15 minute duration fades to over 50 dB have been
recorded on a 5km/3mi 18 GHz path in Houston, for example. The predicted annual outage may not
occur for years, and then accumulate over a single rainy season for a long-term average.
Early studies, both theoretical and experimental, resulted from the recognition of the importance of rain
in designing microwave paths with availability objective in excess of 99.9%. In recent years the
emphasis has been on establishing predictive techniques for the statistical estimation of the
attenuation probability distribution for a particular path. R. K. Crane [8] has developed a model for
determining the attenuation due to rain based on several factors, including path length, frequency, and
point rain rates. These have been incorporated into Starlink, with Crane's formulas:
β λβd β cβd β cβD
A(%) = α Rx% [(e -1)/λβ - b e /cβ + b e /cβ] , dB for d < D < 22.5 km
β λβD
= α Rx% [(e -1)/λβ], dB for D < d, km
where
A(%) = Rain attenuation, dB, exceeded (%) of the time

cd
λ = [ln (be )]/d
-0.17
b = 2.3 Rx%
c = 0.026 – 0.03 ln Rx%
d = 3.8 – 0.6 ln Rx% (typically 1-2 km)
α, β = Regression coefficients, f(frequency & polarization), table below
α = multiplier, function of frequency and polarization
β = exponent, function of frequency and polarization
D = Path length, km
Rx% = Rain rate, mm/hr exceeded x% of the time (from Crane or ITU-R rain region tables)

STARLINK USER GUIDE
Table 3: Rain Attenuation Coefficients
A greatly simplified rain attenuation (A%) model has been provided in ITU-R Rec. P.530, with its latest
change provided in P.530-8. The P.530 model lends itself to calculator methods of computation, and
provides A (%) values comparable to Crane in most rain regions but somewhat different in others
depending on rain rates. Starlink uses the above Crane rain outage model, not the ITU-R P.530 rain
outage model.
RAIN ATTENUATION OVERVIEW

Rain attenuation at the higher microwave frequencies (>10 GHz) has been under study for more than
50 years. Much is known about the qualitative aspects, but the problems faced by the microwave
transmission engineer – who makes quantitative estimates of the probability distribution of the rainfall
attenuation for a given frequency band, polarization, path length, and geographic (rain distribution rate)
area – remains more difficult.
In order to estimate this probability distribution, instantaneous rainfall data is needed. Unfortunately,
the available rainfall data is usually in the form of a statistical description of the amount of rain which
falls at a given measurement point over various time periods, generally at least an hour in length.
The rain-induced attenuation along a given path at a given instant in time is a function of the integrated
effect of the rainfall existing at all points along the path. Rain attenuation is affected not only by the
total amount of water in the path at that instant, but also by its distribution along the path in volume and
drop size. For heavy rain rates, the instantaneous distribution of volume and drop size along the path
is highly variable and is difficult to predict with any sort of accuracy from the kind of rainfall data
generally available.
One of the earliest and most comprehensive attempts at developing a workable prediction method was
carried out by Bell Laboratories in the 1950s, and was described in a classic paper by Hathaway and
Evans (1958). A method of predicting annual outages for microwave paths operating in the 11 GHz
common carrier band as a function of path length, fade margin, and geographical area within North
America was developed in this paper.

STARLINK USER GUIDE
This study has proved to be a worthwhile prediction tool and, even considering its limitations, is still
one of the best references available for microwave engineers working within the United States.
Additional studies have been conducted in Europe and Asia. The combined information has been
reviewed and published by R. K. Crane [Ref. 8] for North American paths and internationally in the
ITU-R Recommendations [Ref. 4]
Increasing fade margins, shortening path lengths, and increasing antenna sizes are the most readily
available tools for minimally reducing the rain outage in a given area. Route diversity (ring protection),
vertical polarization, or migration to a lower, less vulnerable frequency band are far more effective in
reducing outage (increasing rain availability (“uptime”) in microwave links. .
The total annual rainfall in an area has little relation to the rain attenuation for the area. Within the
U.S., for example, the northwestern states have the greatest annual rainfall (in excess of 100
inches/2500 mm per year) produced, however, by long periods of steady rain of relatively low intensity
at any given time. Other areas of the country with lower annual rates experience thunderstorms and
frontal squalls that produce short duration rain rates of extreme intensity. It is the incidence of
rainstorms of this type that determines the rain rates for an area and thus the high-frequency
microwave hop’s long-term path outage (“unavailability”) characteristics.
Even the rain statistics for a day or an hour have little relationship to rain attenuation. A day with only a
fraction of an inch/centimeter of total rainfall may have a path outage due to a short period of
concentrated, extremely high intensity rain. Another path that has days with several inches/centimeters
of total rainfall may experience little or no path attenuation because the rain is spread over a long time
period or area.
The most common reason a preference for lower frequencies is the susceptibility of bands above 10
GHz to rainfall attenuation. Although the effect is present to some degree at lower frequencies, it
increases rapidly with frequency. For example, a rain cell intensity causing only a few dB of attenuation
at lower frequencies could be sufficient to cause a path outage at 18 GHz.
Although fades caused by rain cells are occasionally observed at lower frequencies (10-20 dB fades at
6 GHz have been recorded even in North America), this type of fade generally causes outages only on
paths above 10 GHz. The outages are usually caused by blockage of the path by the passage of rain
cells (thunderstorms, etc.), perhaps 4-8km/2.5-5mi in diameter and 5-15 minutes in duration on the
path. Such fading exhibits fairly slow, erratic level changes, with rapid path failure as the rain cell
intercepts the path. The fades are nonselective in that all main and diversity paths in both directions of
a millimeterwave hop are affected simultaneously.
Vertical polarization is less susceptible to rainfall attenuation than horizontal polarized frequencies.
Increased fade margin is of some help in rainfall attenuation fading; margins as high as 45 to 60 dB,
some with ATPC, have been used in some highly vulnerable hops for increased availability. When
permitted, seldom-used cross-band diversity is totally effective; the lower frequency path is stable
(affected only by multipath fading) during periods when the upper frequency path is obstructed by rain
cells.
Route diversity with ring-protected paths separated by more than about 8 km/5mi is nearly totally
effective in preventing long-term traffic outage and subscriber disconnects with rain cell passage, thus
also is often used successfully.
In summary, things to bear in mind in connection with rain attenuation fades are:

STARLINK USER GUIDE
• Multipath fading is at its minimum during periods of heavy rainfall with well aligned dishes, so the
entire path fade margin is available to combat the rain attenuation (wet-radome loss effects are
minimized with shrouded antennas).
• Neither space diversity nor in-band frequency diversity provides measureable improvements against
rain attenuation.
Vertically-polarized rain outage in millimeterwave hops is 40-60% less than those hops horizontally
polarized.
WWW.AVIATNETWORKS.COM
Aviat, Aviat Networks, and Aviat logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Aviat Networks, Inc.
© Aviat Networks, Inc. (2010) All Rights Reserved.
Data subject to change without notice.

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STARLINK

CONDITIONS OF SOFTWARE USE

2 AVIAT NETWORKS AUGUST 2010

MAIN FEATURES .......................................................................................................................................................6

ADDITIONAL FEATURES ..........................................................................................................................................8

AUTOMATIC UPDATE VIA THE INTERNET ................................................................................................................................. 8

FASTER SPECIFICATIONS OF A NEW PROJECT...................................................................................................................... 8

DEFAULT VALUES FOR NEW PATH CALCULATIONS WORKSHEETS ................................................................................... 8

THE STARLINK WORKSPACE ................................................................................................................ 9

MENU BAR ..................................................................................................................................................................9

CURRENT PROJECT SCREEN ............................................................................................................................. 10

USING STARLINK ................................................................................................................................... 11

DEFINING A NEW PROJECT ................................................................................................................................. 11

OPENING AN EXISTING STARLINK 4 PROJECT ................................................................................................ 12

EDITING PROJECT SETTINGS ............................................................................................................................. 12

EDITING EXISTING PATH DATA ........................................................................................................................... 13

REMOVING A PATH FROM A PROJECT.............................................................................................................. 13

PERFORMING PATH CALCULATIONS................................................................................................................. 13

PRINTING A PATH CALCULATION SHEET.......................................................................................................... 15

BROWSING RADIOS AND ANTENNAS DATABASES ......................................................................................... 15

USING THE RADIO FINDER WIZARD ................................................................................................................... 16

QUICK START ......................................................................................................................................... 17

VIGANTS C-FACTOR PATH CALCULATIONS “WHAT IF?” SCREEN ................................................................ 22

ITU-R P.530-12 PATH CALCULATIONS SCREEN ............................................................................................... 24

REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................ 28

TUTORIAL ............................................................................................................................................... 29

MICROWAVE RADIO PATH CALCULATION OVERVIEW ................................................................................... 29

AZIMUTHS & PATH LENGTHS .............................................................................................................................. 30

FREE-SPACE PATH LOSS ..................................................................................................................................... 31

PATH LOSS (ENGLISH UNITS) ...................................................................................................................................................31

PATH LOSS (METRIC UNITS) .....................................................................................................................................................31

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UNFADED (“FREE SPACE”) RECEIVE SIGNAL LEVEL ...................................................................................... 31

DESIGN FADE MARGIN ......................................................................................................................................... 32

DISPERSIVE FADE MARGIN ................................................................................................................................. 32

SHORT-TERM OUTAGE CAUSED BY MULTIPATH FADES............................................................................... 34

METHOD OF CALCULATION PROBABILITY OF SHORT-TERM OUTAGE....................................................... 35

PROBABILITY OF OUTAGE CALCULATIONS (VIGANTS K•Q FACTOR, METRIC UNITS) ....................................................36

SPACE DIVERSITY IMPROVEMENT FACTOR ISD (ENGLISH UNITS) .....................................................................................38

SPACE DIVERSITY IMPROVEMENT FACTOR ISD (METRIC UNITS) .......................................................................................39

ANGLE DIVERSITY IMPROVEMENT FACTOR, IAD ...................................................................................................................39

SELF-HEALING RING (“ROUTE DIVERSITY”) IMPROVEMENT FACTOR, ISR .................................................. 39

FREQUENCY DIVERSITY IMPROVEMENT FACTOR IFD(ENGLISH UNITS) ...........................................................................40

FREQUENCY DIVERSITY IMPROVEMENT FACTOR IFD (METRIC UNITS) ............................................................................40

EFFECTIVE FREQUENCY DIVERSITY SPACINGS IN N+1 HOPS, ΔFEF .......................................................... 40

MULTIPATH PERFORMANCE OUTAGE OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................... 41

NORTH AMERICAN OUTAGE OBJECTIVES, BELL ............................................................................................ 41

ITU-R F.634 OUTAGE OBJECTIVE, PDH SYSTEMS ........................................................................................... 42

ITU-R F.1668 OUTAGE CALCULATIONS, SDH SYSTEMS ................................................................................. 43

RELIABILITY AND AVAILABILITY OVERVIEW ..................................................................................................... 43

ATTENUATION BY ATMOSPHERIC GASES ........................................................................................................ 44

RAIN OUTAGE ......................................................................................................................................................... 45

RAIN ATTENUATION OVERVIEW ......................................................................................................................... 46

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With Starlink, you can perform the following operations:

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THIS PROGRAM AND ITS OUTPUT SHOULD NOT BE VIEWED AS A SUBSTITUTE

7 AVIAT NETWORKS OCTOBER 2010

AUTOMATIC UPDATE VIA THE INTERNET

FASTER SPECIFICATIONS OF A NEW PROJECT

DEFAULT VALUES FOR NEW PATH CALCULATIONS WORKSHEETS

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