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Understanding the Effects of Output Power Setting
TND6310/D Rev. 2, November − 2019
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Understanding the Effects of Output Power Setting
Introduction
As the popularity of Wi-Fi® continues to increase, especially for high-performing 802.11n technology, Wi-Fi silicon vendors are striving to demonstrate the maximum possible data rates and throughput for their 802.1n reference designs. Often unmentioned in these demonstrations, however, are the output power settings, which when increased beyond typical levels will improve performance and throughput but can also introduce new issues.
Some 802.11n reference designs are customized with special power amplifiers so that their output power setting can be raised from a typical +23 dBm (200 mW) to +30 dBm (1,000 mW).
While an additional 7 dB (800 mW) of power will likely increase performance for any system, operating at such high power can introduce issues including increased cost, adjacent channel interference, higher battery consumption, and more heat. These power levels may also violate applicable regulations in some domains.
This paper will illustrate throughput, range and performance under normal power settings, and explore the effects when output power is raised to unusually high settings.
Effect of Output Power on Range For 3x3 and 4x4 MIMO Systems
At every power level, a 4x4 MIMO reference design will have significantly longer range than a 3x3 design, as shown in Figure 1. At normal, typical, legal power output settings of +23 dBm (green arrow), the 3x3 reference design has a range of 60 feet. This compares to 100 feet for the 4x4 reference design. As the output power is raised, range increases for both the 3x3 reference design and the 4x4 reference design.
Figure 1. Output Power vs. Range at 100 Mbps Throughput
The red arrow in Figure 1 indicates the +30 dBm setting. At this power level, the 3x3 design increases range to 95 feet, and the 4x4 design increases range to 158 feet. While an interesting lab experiment, this setting is legal in only a subset of the available channels in the primary regulatory domains. It also requires more expensive power amplifiers, increases generated
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Comparing 3x3 and 4x4 Throughput vs. Range At Normal Power
The following series of charts shows throughput performance vs. distance (or range) for 3x3 and 4x4 MIMO designs at normal (+23 dBm) power. As shown in Figure 2, at any given point of throughput (for example, where the green arrow shows 100 Mbps), the range is always better for the 4x4 reference design (100 feet) than the 3x3 design (60 feet).
Figure 2. Throughput Performance vs. Distance (Range) for 3x3 and 4x4 Reference Designs at Normal +23 dBm Power
A similar scenario is shown in Figure 3, except that both designs are set at +30 dBm. Note that the same relationship applies in terms of the comparative reach characteristics of 3x3 and 4x4 MIMO designs. The 4x4 design always has better range at any given point in throughput.
Unlike Figure 2, all the curves in Figure 3 are shifted to the right in range performance. The green arrows in Figure 3 show that, as power is increased 7 dB to +30 dBm, the curve representing the 3x3 design will shift to the right, increasing its range. At the same 100 Mbps throughput level, the 3x3 range increases from 60 feet to 96 feet. However, it is similarly true that if power is increased for the 4x4 design by the same 7 dB, the curve for this design also shifts to the right, jumping from 100 feet to 160 feet.
Figure 3. Throughput Performance vs. Distance (Range) for 3x3 and 4x4 Reference Designs at Atypical +30 dBm Higher Power
These same relationships are consolidated into a single view Figure 4. The green arrows show the original +23 dBm power setting, while the red arrows show the +30 dBm high power setting. Such power shifts to +30 dBm are interesting, but are likely impractical in the real world.
The +23 dBm power setting is the default setting for most vendors, worldwide, because this power level complies with the prevailing regulatory standards for all channels and maintains cost limits by avoiding special power amplifiers. The normal +23 dBm power level also avoids a significant increase in power consumption, which drains mobile device battery life and can generate additional heat. This, in turn, can further increase cost since heat sinks and/or special fans may be needed depending on the device.
Figure 4 also shows that the performance of a 3x3 system at the higher, +30 dBm power setting appears close to the performance of a 4x4 system at normal, +23 dBm power setting.
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Figure 4. Throughput Performance vs. Distance (Range) for 3x3 and 4x4 − Combined Normal and High Power
Power Effects on Adjacent Channel Interference
Interference into a nearby (higher or lower) channel is called adjacent channel interference, or ACI, and can affect the throughput performance in that channel. This phenomenon is shown in Figure 5, which is a spectrum analyzer report of an 802.11n reference design’s spectral masks at two power settings: the typical +23 dBm (green line) setting, and an above-normal +30 dBm spectral mask (blue line). This is overlaid on the FCC regulatory spectral masks at 5190 MHz (purple line) and 5230 MHz (red line). These are the normal 40 MHz wide channels that 802.11n uses.
Figure 5. Spectral Mask and Adjacent Channel Interferance
The green line at normal power +23 dBm shows the power dropping off from peak very quickly per FCC requirements (purple line). This maintains regulatory compliance and minimizes interference in the nearby channel, which is indicated by the red lines. However, when the power is raised to +30 dBm (blue line), two detrimental effects come into play. First, the spectral mask at +30 dBm starts to violate the regulatory requirement (blue shaded area), which could cause the product to fail FCC and other regulatory certification (a stop-ship condition for most products). Second, it significantly increases adjacent channel interference (red shaded area).
Causing significantly more ACI may not matter if only one channel will be used, but most Wi-Fi systems are built to utilize several available channels simultaneously. In addition to causing the other problems mentioned earlier, increasing the power to an abnormal +30 dBm can cause a significant increase in ACI, which lowers the throughput for Wi-Fi devices in the neighboring channels and negates the purported gain in throughput.
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Conclusion
Increasing power beyond the typical, legal, standards-approved +23 dBm to an above-normal +30 dBm will likely increase range and throughput for most 802.11n reference designs, at least on the current channel. Consequently, to ensure relevant results when comparing reference designs from various 802.11n silicon vendors, one must be sure that that the same output power setting is used across all evaluated designs. Furthermore, a +30 dBm setting, while theoretically possible, creates serious issues in terms of regulatory approval in certain regions and channels.
Even where legal, a higher output power setting significantly increases cost by requiring special, expensive power amplifiers. In addition, the higher power setting comes at the cost of higher power consumption. It also reduces battery life in mobile devices, and generates more heat, potentially causing device problems and/or necessitating the additional cost of heat sinks or fans. The higher power setting also likely mitigates the intended benefit of higher channel performance by causing interference that decreases performance in adjacent channels.
Consequently, most product vendors will seek to avoid such abnormally high power settings and ship their products at or near the typical +23 dBm power setting.
ON Semiconductor and are trademarks of Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC dba ON Semiconductor or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries.
ON Semiconductor owns the rights to a number of patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and other intellectual property. A listing of ON Semiconductor’s product/patent coverage may be accessed at www.onsemi.com/site/pdf/Patent−Marking.pdf. ON Semiconductor reserves the right to make changes without further notice to any products herein.
ON Semiconductor makes no warranty, representation or guarantee regarding the suitability of its products for any particular purpose, nor does ON Semiconductor assume any liability arising out of the application or use of any product or circuit, and specifically disclaims any and all liability, including without limitation special, consequential or incidental damages.
Buyer is responsible for its products and applications using ON Semiconductor products, including compliance with all laws, regulations and safety requirements or standards, regardless of any support or applications information provided by ON Semiconductor. “Typical” parameters which may be provided in ON Semiconductor data sheets and/or specifications can and do vary in different applications and actual performance may vary over time. All operating parameters, including “Typicals” must be validated for each customer application by customer’s technical experts. ON Semiconductor does not convey any license under its patent rights nor the rights of others. ON Semiconductor products are not designed, intended, or authorized for use as a critical component in life support systems or any FDA Class 3 medical devices or medical devices with a same or similar classification in a foreign jurisdiction or any devices intended for implantation in the human body. Should Buyer purchase or use ON Semiconductor products for any such unintended or unauthorized application, Buyer shall indemnify and hold ON Semiconductor and its officers, employees, subsidiaries, affiliates, and distributors harmless against all claims, costs, damages, and expenses, and reasonable attorney fees arising out of, directly or indirectly, any claim of personal injury or death associated with such unintended or unauthorized use, even if such claim alleges that ON Semiconductor was negligent regarding the design or manufacture of the part. ON Semiconductor is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. This literature is subject to all applicable copyright laws and is not for resale in any manner.
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