User's Manual

Table Of Contents
Installation Planning 23
Three
Installation Planning
30000
This chapter provides a comprehensive planning guide for Link CX installations, and includes a Radio
Link Planning Worksheet that should be filled out for each radio link. Fill out a copy of the Radio Link
Planning Worksheet before continuing with Chapter Four.
In addition, this chapter provides an introduction to Network Management System (NMS) software and
configuration issues.
This chapter contains the following sections:
Section 3-1, Planning a Link CX Network
Section 3-2, Site Planning
Section 3-3, Planning Element and Network Management Ethernet Links
Section 3-4, Planning DS-3 Links
Section 3-5, Power Planning
Section 3-6, Transmit Power Planning
Section 3-7, Radio Link Planning
3-1 Planning a Link CX Network
As described in Section 1-5, the Link CX can be used to support a number of applications. However, the
two most common configurations are point-to-point and mesh network. Point-to-point configurations
(Figure 1-1) are easiest to plan and implement, as the radio links merely transmit industry-standard
formatted data from one location to another. Mesh network configurations (Figure 1-7) use interWAVE
StreamNet ATM Switches to create networks that feature high reliability, low maintenance cost,
improved scalability, and enhanced interference mitigation.
Both configurations use common point-to-point radio links, so the point-to-point radio link planning can
also be applied to mesh network configurations. Generally, the common points to consider when
planning a Link CX network are:
Line of Sight: Unlike some frequency bands, the Link CX radios must be within line of sight
of each other. That is, the far-end antenna must be visible from the near-end antenna. If
there are trees, buildings, mountains, or other obstructions between the two antennas, the
Make sure that you read through this chapter, and make a copy of and
fill out the Radio Link Planning Worksheet in Section 3-7 before you
continue with the Link CX installation.