Optimizing the RF Link: Introduction

Optimizing the RF Link: Introduction

Introduction

One of the most frequent questions we get is “how far can your radios go?” This is not an easy question to answer, as there are many factors that go into this. This application note gives an overview of the major considerations and discusses methods to optimize the link performance. Our intention is to provide some useful insights which can help during the design of an RF link.

Our overall recommendation is to design a link with about 10-15 dB fade margin to account for changes in the environmental and operational conditions.  Mobile nodes change their orientation and that can affect the link margin. Use the highest gain antenna that your application allows, and if possible, separate the antennas by a half-wavelength in an orthogonal arrangement. The objective is to operate the link with the highest SNR possible (the sweet spot for Smart Radio is around -40 dB to -70 dB RSSI). A higher RSSI level will allow the link to operate at the highest modulation rate, and provide the best throughput, interference resistance and reliability.

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