1. Introduction
1.1 Background to spectrum engineering
The radio spectrum is a limited resource and can only be used optimally if compatibility is assur...
1.2 Basic Radio Frequency Terminology
The following terminology has been developed to support the SEAMCAT simulation tool. While it is ...
1.2.1 Receiver thermal noise
The thermal noise (in Watts) expressed in power level is defined as: where: ...
1.2.2 Noise figure and Noise factor
Noise figure (NF) and noise factor (F) are measures of degradation of the signal-to-noise ratio (...
1.2.3 Receiver noise floor
Any practical measurement will be subject to some form of noise or unwanted signal (thermal noise...
1.2.4 Receiver sensitivity
The sensitivity of a receiver is normally taken as the minimum input signal (Smin) required to pr...
1.2.5 Wanted signal: dRSS
The victim’s wanted signal strength also called desired Received Signal Strength (dRSS), correspo...
1.2.6 Interfering signal: iRSS
The interfering Received Signal Strength (iRSS), corresponding to the interference level (I), is ...
1.2.7 Bandwidth correction factor
When the bandwidth of the interferer and the victim are different, SEAMCAT automatically applies ...
1.2.8 Desensitisation
Desensitisation (D) of the receiver in the presence of an interfering signal, given in dB, corres...
1.2.9 Blocking
The term “Blocking” is used in SEAMCAT to describe the capability of the victim receiver to recei...
1.2.10 Adjacent channel selectivity (ACS)
The receiver selectivity is often given as Adjacent Channel Selectivity (ACS) – i.e. when the con...
1.2.11 In-band, out-of-band, spurious, unwanted emission
In-band emission is understood as relating to the necessary bandwidth. The ITU-R Radio Regulation...
1.2.12 Co channel
A co-channel interference scenario can be illustrated as shown in figure below. In this case a pa...
1.3 Monte-Carlo Basics
The statistical methodology used as a basis for SEAMCAT is the Monte Carlo method. Statistical s...
1.4 Interference calculations in generic systems
1.4.1 Introduction
In this section the interference calculations for ‘generic’ systems are described. Cellular syste...
1.4.2 An illustration with C/I as interference criterion
The C/I ratio available at the victim receiver’s input is computed using both the iRSS (Interferi...
1.4.3 Methodology associated to the interference criterion (C/I, C/(I+N), (N+I)/N, I/N)
Four interference criteria are considered within SEAMCAT: C/I : Carrier to interference...
1.4.4 Interference criteria relationship
C/I may vary typically from 9 dB (e.g. for QPSK) to 26 dB or higher (e.g. for 64QAM…). By introdu...
1.4.5 Unwanted emissions
The level of unwanted emissions ( i.e. consisting of the out-of-band emissions and the spurious ...
1.4.6 Receiver blocking
The level of interference determined by the interferer’s transmit power, the antenna gains and pr...
1.4.7 Intermodulation
The intermodulation interference, i.e. the power of intermodulation products, reduced by the inte...
1.4.8 Overloading
Overloading threshold is the minimum interfering signal levelat which the receiver loses its abil...
1.4.9 Combined interference mechanism
The combination of the unwanted emissions and receiver blocking can also be studied simultaneousl...
1.4.10 Interference calculation
SEAMCAT calculates the probability of interference for generic (i.e. non-cellular) victim systems...
1.5 Applicability of SEAMCAT to spectrum engineering problems
SEAMCAT can address virtually all radio interference scenarios on terrestrial[1] paths in both co...
1.6 Understanding Radio Jargon
Many common terms in RF engineering are used differently depending on the specific community wher...
1.7 SEAMCAT software
1.7.1 Installation using .jar package
SEAMCAT is an open source project developed using Java which means it can run on any operating sy...
1.7.2 SEAMCAT home directory and configuration panel
When SEAMCAT (5 and upward) is run, a folder (SEAMCAT home directory) will be automatically creat...
1.7.3 Java source code
The source code for SEAMCAT is made available for scrutiny. The only condition for obtaining a c...
1.7.4 Multi processing power in SEAMCAT
As of version 5, SEAMCAT is able to run in multiprocessor environments to increase the computatio...
1.8 The SEAMCAT community
1.9 Reference material and ECC / CEPT reports
Existing workspaces (i.e. .sws files) which have been generated as part of some ECC report or CEP...