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Wireless Link Budget

A link budget commonly refers to the complete gain and loss equation from the transmitter, through the ambient medium (air, cable, waveguide, fiber, etc.) and through to the receiver. Although the complete equation would incorporate many terms, the high-level block diagram shown below is often used.

See the 1-Way Path Loss and 2-Way Path Loss calculators.

Prx = Ptx + Gtx + Grx - Afs - Am

where:

Prx = received power at detector ( dBW )
Ptx = transmitter output power ( dBW )
Gtx = transmitter antenna gain ( dBi )
Grx = receiver antenna gain ( dBi )
Afs = free space attenuation ( dB )
Am = miscellaneous attenuation ( radome, rain, etc. )

 

Link budget

 

 

Posted September 12, 2023
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About RF Cafe

Kirt Blattenberger - RF Cafe Webmaster

Copyright: 1996 - 2025
Webmaster: Kirt Blattenberger,
   BSEE - KB3UON - AMA92498

RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line, and a lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...

Copyright  1996 - 2026

All trademarks, copyrights, patents, and other rights of ownership to images and text used on the RF Cafe website are hereby acknowledged.

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