AdaptiveModulation(AM)

DuringthelastyearsAdaptiveModulation(AM)inMicrowave(MW)systemshasbecomeverypopular.
ThemainreasonliesontheIPtechniques(i.e.QualityofService(QoS))ofmodernpacketizednetworks.
LetsfirstlyanalyzehowAMworks.
Capacity
(Mbs)

256QAM

128QAM

64QAM

64QAM
32QAM

16QAM

8QAM

QPSK

BPSK

QPSK

8QAM

16QAM

128QAM

256QAM

32QAM

Time
(s)

Fig1GraphicalrepresentationofAdaptiveModulation(AM)
Fig1showsageneral,butveryrepresentativeideaofhowAMworks.TheMWsystem(IDU/ODUon
eachsite)willpasstrafficatthemaximumspeed(usually270400Mbsfora50MHzchannel)onnormal
conditions.Whenweatherconditionsdeterioratethemodulationschemewillbereducedfrom256QAM
toBPSK(Capacityisdirectlyrelatedtomodulationscheme),ifneeded.Onceweatherconditionscome
backtonormalthelinkwillrunatmaximumcapacityonceagain.Linksworkingatfrequencieslower
than7GHzarealmostnotaffectedbyrain.However,AMisusedtomitigateinterferencethatcanbe
interpretedasnoisebythereceiver.
Howdoesthemechanismwork?
EverymanufacturerhasitsowncontrolmechanismforAMorAAM.Ingeneral,theshiftingfromone
modulationschemeisrelatedtothesignaltonoiseratio(SNR).ThereisapredeterminedSNRvaluefor
everymodulationscheme(ShannonTheorem).Thus,ifthereceivesignallevel(RSL)goesdownorthe
noiselevelgoesupamodulationschemedownshiftmaybetriggeredifBPSKisnottheactive
modulationscheme.Ifthereceivesignallevel(RSL)goesuporthenoiselevelgoesdownamodulation
schemeupshiftmaybetriggeredif256QAMisnottheactivemodulationscheme.
Equipmentsatbothsidesofthelinkareconstantlyinterchanginginfoaboutthehealthofthelink.Their
controlinformationisincludedonthepayload.Ifthelinkdeterioratesbeyondthepointwhereeven
BPSKisnotpossibleAMwillnotwork.
Themodulationschemeuseinonedirectiondoesnothavetobethesamethantheoneintheother
direction.Thisisaverycommonscenariowheninterferenceispresent.

IsAMalwaysused?
Notalways.TherearecaseswhenAMisnotconvenienttobeimplemented.Ithappenswhenmorethan
onepathexiststoroutethetraffic.Forexample,ifProviderBackboneBridgeTrafficEngineering(PBB
TE)isbeingusedthebackuproutecouldprovidehigherbandwidththantheprimaryroute.Letsanalyze
Fig2.
A

256QAM
BPSK
C
Primary

256QAM

Backup
D

Fig2AMwithPBBTE
IftheAMsystemreducesthelinkcapacitybecauseofrainbetweenBandAtheprimarytunnelwill
be kept as the active route even though the backup route presents higher capacity. It will create a
bottleneckbetweenBandA.Inthiscase,itisabetterideatodisableAMsoPBBTEcanredirectthe
traffic to best route B,C,and A. On the other hand, fortail access links/spur sites like the one
betweenDandBAMisagoodideabecausethereisnotbackuproute.
WhyAMworksgreatwithIP?
IPtrafficisveryrandom.So,thelinkwillnotbeusedatfullcapacityallthetime.Itisverypossibleto
provideagoodservicewhenthelinkcapacityhasbeenreducedusingAM.However,ifthepeakIPtraffic
is higher than the link capacity a QoS mechanism needs to be implemented. IP packets with higher
priority(i.e.VoIP)willbehandledfirsttomaintaintheservicelevelagreement(SLA).IPpacketswithless
priority (i.e. http) will have to wait in a queue or drop. It is important to note that management and
controltraffictakespriorityoveranyothertraffic.