ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the fundamental relationships between data transmission rate, transmitter power and distance between transmitters and receivers for wireless data systems. The wireless signal power received at some reference distance can be changed by changing antenna gains and other system factors, but a fundamental bit rate versus distance relationship still applies as discussed in the chapter. While increasing the capability of the protocols to handle ever increasing data rates, the parameters of wireless systems have, if anything changed to increase the overall wireless link loss that must be overcome at a specific range. The factors that affect data transmission rate are interference, either from other users in the same system or from transmissions from other wireless systems, multipath fading, and spread in time delays. Two key limitations establish the fundamental relationship between date transmission rate and range for digital wireless systems.
