Addressing The Myths of Wireless System Transmitter Power
The issue is not always a simple matter of “more is better”, nor for that matter, is it always “more is worse"
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One of the topics that I’ve seen poorly understood, and even deliberately used to mislead people, is the issue of wireless microphone transmitter power and the effects said power has on system performance.

Let’s start with the basics: all things being equal, more transmitter power = more range for the system, but not in a linear way.

In broad terms, when discussing analog wireless systems, the receiver wants to see a signal from a transmitter that is at least about 3 dB greater than the noise floor before it can make use of that signal. And we all remember the inverse square law, right?

In other words, every time you double the distance between transmitter and receiver (in free space), you cut the amount of RF power received by four times. Thus distance is a greater factor in losing your signal than the level of power.

Another way to look at it is that you need to quadruple the RF power in order to have the same reception at only double the distance. This is why in the real world, twice the power at the transmitter yields only about a 20 percent gain in range.

But the other problem is that things are never equal. There are many other factors affecting the potential range of the system, from the type of surfaces nearby (or lack thereof), weather conditions, how many people are around, and of course; potential interference from other sources. Antenna system design also affects range.

In other words, transmitter power is one factor, and relatively speaking, can be a minor one. This is not to say that more power doesn’t help, because it very well may.

Background noise is nearly always present ,and has lately been on the increase due to DTV and other sources, so greater transmitter power can help to “cut through” and provide a solid signal with no dropouts.

In some cases, however, it can also be advantageous to use the lowest power you can manage with your wireless transmitters. For one thing, there is less battery draw, which may be an important factor depending upon the type of application.

Another drawback of increasing transmitter power is the resulting increase in the level of inter-modulation (IM) products. Normally, when a larger-scale wireless system is set up, careful frequency coordination is done to minimize the impact of these IM products, and usually, a certain amount of them can be ignored because they’re so low in level. 

If the level of these products increases, then so does the potential for interference and reduced range.


Comments (10) Most recent displayed first | All comments in chronological order
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