Link Information Variants | Data Provider Elements

Link Information

Link information provides the link budget for each Transmitter-Receiver link in a chain. The chain must model signal flow starting with a Transmitter and ending at a Receiver, possibly including transponders in between (where each transponder is modeled as a co-located Receiver-Transmitter pair).

Data Provider Variant: Chain

Available for these objects: Chain

Restrictions: Chain - Applies to chains that model signal flow through Transmitter-Receiver links, i.e., Transmitter to Receiver or Transmitter to Receiver to Transmitter to Receiver, etc., where each Transmitter after the first must be co-located with the preceding Receiver.

Type: Time-varying data.

Availability: Reports | Graphs | Dynamic Displays | Strip Charts

Data Provider Elements

The first link uses the suffix '1' with each element name; the second link uses suffix '2', etc.

Name	Dimension	Type	Description
Time	Date	Real Number or Text	Time.
Strand Name1	Unitless	Text	The strand name.
Link Name1	Unitless	Text	The strand name listed as from the receiver to the transmitter.
Beam ID1	Unitless	Text	Reports out the unique Beam ID assigned to each new beam which can consist of any combination of characters. A default ID will be assigned to a new beam when you insert one, as well as to a copy that you create via duplication.
Xmtr Beam ID1	Unitless	Text	Reports out the unique Beam ID assigned to each new beam of a multibeam type transmitter which can consist of any combination of characters. A default ID will be assigned to a new beam when you insert one, as well as to a copy that you create via duplication.
Xmtr Power1	Power	Real Number	The RF power output of the transmitter as measured at the input to the antenna. This is a user selectable value.
Xmtr Azimuth1	Longitude	Real Number or Text	The transmitter azimuth (Phi) is the angle between the transmitter body +x axis and the x-y projection of the link vector in the antenna coordinate system.
Xmtr Elevation1	Angle	Real Number or Text	The transmitter elevation (Theta) is the angle between the transmitter antenna bore-sight vector and the link vector in the antenna coordinate system.
Xmtr Gain1	Ratio	Real Number	The antenna gain of the transmitter which is dependent on the antenna type selected. For transmitter models that do not have an antenna model, this is a user defined value. For the simple source transmitter, 0 dB is reported since the simple source transmitter is modeled as an isotropic radiator. When using a Multibeam Transmitter with the Beam Selection Strategy set to Aggregate Active Beams, the Xmtr Gain element represents an effective (not aggregate) gain that weighs the contribution of each beam in the link direction according to its transmitted power.
EIRP1	Power	Real Number	The effective isotropic radiated power in the link direction. This value is the product of the transmitter power and the transmitter gain in the link direction with the inclusion of user defined post transmit gains and losses.
Xmtr EIRP Intensity1	PowerIntensity	Real Number	Equivalent to EIRP over 4PI.
IBO1	Ratio	Real Number	In a power amplifier, Input BackOff (IBO) is a measure of how far you must reduce the input power in order to receive the desired output linearity and power.
OBO1	Ratio	Real Number	Output BackOff (OBO) is the reduction in power applied to a power amplifier to minimize the effect of any intermodulation products created by modulated carriers.
COverIm1	Ratio	Real Number	The process of modulation creates higher order intermodulation products. The Carrier to Intermod ratio (C/Im) is a power ratio between the Carrier and Intermodulation components.
Range1	Distance	Real Number	The range (i.e., distance between the primary and secondary object) at the given time.
Free Space Loss1	Ratio	Real Number	Loss due to propagation through free space.
Atmos Loss1	Ratio	Real Number	Loss calculated by the selected atmosphere model.
UrbanTerres Loss1	Ratio	Real Number	Loss calculated by the selected Urban and Terrestrial model.
Rain Loss1	Ratio	Real Number	Loss calculated by the selected rain model.
CloudsFog Loss1	Ratio	Real Number	Loss calculated by the Clouds and Fog model.
TropoScintill Loss1	Ratio	Real Number	Loss calculated by the troposphere Scintillation model.
IonoFading Loss1	Ratio	Real Number	Loss calculated by the Ionospheric Propagation Fading Loss Model.
UserCustomA Loss1	Ratio	Real Number	Loss calculated by custom loss scripting plugin model A, written in VBscript or MATLAB.
UserCustomB Loss1	Ratio	Real Number	Loss calculated by custom loss scripting plugin model B, written in VBscript or MATLAB.
UserCustomC Loss1	Ratio	Real Number	Loss calculated by custom loss scripting plugin model C, written in VBscript or MATLAB.
Prop Loss1	Ratio	Real Number	The total propagation loss computed across all enabled propagation models.
Rcvd. Frequency1	Frequency	Real Number	The received frequency is the frequency that the receiver is tuned to in order to communicate with the transmitter. This frequency may be auto-tracked or entered by the user in the receiver properties.
Freq. Doppler Shift1	Frequency	Real Number	The frequency Doppler shift is the offset in frequency between the transmitted frequency and the received frequency. This value is zero for auto tracked receivers.
Bandwidth Overlap1	Ratio	Real Number	The bandwidth overlap factor is the fraction (between 0 and 1) of transmitted power which is contained within the receiver's bandwidth. The amount of power received by the receiver is equal to the transmitted EIRP multiplied by the bandwidth overlap factor and taking into account any propagation losses.
Rcvd. Iso. Power1	Power	Real Number	Received isotropic power is the power at the receiver before the pre-receive gains/losses and the receiver antenna gain added (in dBW). It is equal to the EIRP with all the channel losses as well as the bandwidth overlap applied.
Carrier Power at Rcvr Input1	Power	Real Number	Carrier Power at Rcvr Input is the power at the receiver after the receiver antenna gain added (in dBW). It is equal to the EIRP with all the channel losses as well as the bandwidth overlap and receiver gain applied.
Flux Density1	PowerFluxDensity	Real Number	The power from the desired transmitter crossing a unit area normal to the direction of wave propagation.
Rcvr Azimuth1	Longitude	Real Number or Text	The receiver azimuth (Phi) is the angle between the receiver body +x axis and the x-y projection of the link vector in the antenna coordinate system.
Rcvr Elevation1	Angle	Real Number or Text	The receiver elevation (Theta) is the angle between the receiver antenna bore-sight vector and the link vector in the antenna coordinate system.
Rcvr Gain1	Ratio	Real Number	Receiver Gain is the antenna gain (in dBi) of the receiver which is dependent on the antenna type used.
Rcvr Beam ID1	Unitless	Text	Reports out the unique Beam ID assigned to each new beam of a multibeam type receiver which can consist of any combination of characters. A default ID will be assigned to a new beam when you insert one, as well as to a copy that you create via duplication.
Tatmos1	Temperature	Real Number	Tatmos is the antenna noise temperature component attributed to the gaseous absorption model.
TUrbanTerres1	Temperature	Real Number	The noise temperature from the Urban and Terrestrial model.
Train1	Temperature	Real Number	Train is the antenna noise temperature component attributed to the rain model.
TcloudsFog1	Temperature	Real Number	The noise temperature from the Cloud and Fog model.
TtropoScintill1	Temperature	Real Number	The noise temperature from the Troposhperic Scintillation model.
TionoFading1	Temperature	Real Number	The noise temperature from the Ionospheric Propagation Fading Loss Model.
TuserCustomA1	Temperature	Real Number	TuserCustomA is the antenna noise temperature component attributed to user defined custom loss model A.
TuserCustomB1	Temperature	Real Number	TuserCustomB is the antenna noise temperature component attributed to user defined custom loss model B.
TuserCustomC1	Temperature	Real Number	TuserCustomC is the antenna noise temperature component attributed to user defined custom loss model C.
Tsun1	Temperature	Real Number	Tsun is the antenna noise temperature component attributed to the sun.
Tearth1	Temperature	Real Number	Tearth is the antenna noise temperature component attributed to the earth. This is applicable only to receivers not on the ground.
Tcosmic1	Temperature	Real Number	Tcosmic is the antenna noise temperature component attributed to the cosmic background. This is applicable only to receivers not on the ground.
Tantenna1	Temperature	Real Number	Tantenna is the antenna noise temperature which is the sum of all the noise source components.
Texternal1	Temperature	Real Number	The noise temperature specified by the external noise temperature file.
Tother1	Temperature	Real Number	Tother is the antenna noise temperature component attributed to other antenna noise sources.
Tplugin1	Temperature	Real Number	Loss calculated by the selected atmosphere model.
Tequivalent1	Temperature	Real Number	The equivalent system temperature is specified by the user as a constant value or computed at each time step from the receiver system temperature parameters defined by the user.
Pol. Rel. Angle1	Angle	Real Number or Text	The angle corresponding to the relative mismatch between the transmitted signal polarization and the receiver polarization.
Polarization Effic1	Ratio	Real Number	The polarization match between the transmitted signal polarization and the receiving antenna (or in case of Simple and Medium models implied antenna) polarization. It is computed on a scale of 0 - - 1. The value of 1.0 represents the perfect match between the transmitter and the receiver polarizations. On the opposite end of the scale, the value of 0.0 represents a perfect mismatch. STK also provides an option to model Cross Polarization Leakage value. The polarization mismatch value cannot drop below the user specified Cross Pol Leakage value.
g/T1	GainTempRatio	Real Number	G/T = (Receiver Gain)/(System Temperature at the Receiver). The ratio of the receive antenna gain G to the total system temperature T is the "figure of merit" for the receiver (in dB/K). The figure of merit is independent of the point where it is calculated. However, the gain and system temperature must be specified at the same point.
C/No1	SpectralDensity	Real Number	The carrier to noise density ratio (C/No) where C is the carrier power and No = kT (Boltzmann's constant x system temperature) is the noise density. It is equivalent to C/N with a normalized Bandwidth (B=1).
C/No Tot.1	SpectralDensity	Real Number	The composite value of the carrier to noise density ratio (C/No) across all hops of an analog bent pipe communications link where C is the carrier power and No = kT (Boltzmann's constant x system temperature) is the noise density. Note that C/No is equivalent to C/N with a normalized Bandwidth (B=1).
C/(No+Io)1	SpectralDensity	Real Number	The carrier to noise-plus-interference density ratio (C/(No+Io)) for a given link in the chain, where C is the carrier power, No = kT (Boltzmann's constant * system temperature), and Io = interference power spectral density. The number at the end of this data provider element is a dynamically increasing integer representing each link in the multilink sequence.
C/(No+Io) Tot.1	SpectralDensity	Real Number	The composite value of the carrier to noise-plus-interference density ratio (C/No+Io) up to and including a given link in the chain, where C is the carrier power, No = kT (Boltzmann's constant x system temperature) is the noise density, and and Io = interference power spectral density. Note that C/(No+Io) is equivalent to C/(N+I) with a normalized Bandwidth (B=1). The number at the end of this data provider element is a dynamically increasing integer representing each link in the multilink sequence.
Bandwidth1	Bandwidth	Real Number	Bandwidth is the Receiver Bandwidth.
C/N1	Ratio	Real Number	The carrier to noise ratio (C/N) where C is the carrier power and N = kTB (Boltzmann's constant x system temperature x bandwidth) is the noise power.
C/N Tot.1	Ratio	Real Number	The composite value of the carrier to noise ratio (C/N) across all hops of an analog bent pipe communications link where C is the carrier power and N equals kTB (Boltzmann's constant x system temperature x bandwidth) is the noise power.
C/(N+I)1	Ratio	Real Number	The carrier to noise-plus-interference ratio (C/(N+I)) for a given link in the chain, where C is the carrier power, N = kTB (Boltzmann's constant * system temperature * bandwidth), and I = interference power. The number at the end of this data provider element is a dynamically increasing integer representing each link in the multilink sequence.
C/(N+I) Tot.1	Ratio	Real Number	The composite value of the carrier to noise-plus-interference ratio (C/N+I) up to and including a given link in the chain, where C is the carrier power, N equals kTB (Boltzmann's constant x system temperature x bandwidth) is the noise power, and I = interference power. The number at the end of this data provider element is a dynamically increasing integer representing each link in the multilink sequence.
C/I1	Ratio	Real Number	C/I is the carrier power from the desired signal over the sum of all interferer powers for a given link in the chain. The number at the end of this data provider element is a dynamically increasing integer representing each link in the multilink sequence.
DeltaT/T1	Ratio	Real Number	The ratio of interference power spectral density Io and receiver noise spectral density No for a given link in the chain. The number at the end of this data provider element is a dynamically increasing integer representing each link in the multilink sequence.
Eb/No1	Ratio	Real Number	The energy per bit to noise ratio (Eb/No) where Eb is the energy per bit and No = kT (Boltzmann's constant * system temperature).
Eb/No Tot.1	Ratio	Real Number	The composite value of energy per bit to noise ratio (Eb/No) across all hops of an analog bent pipe communications link where Eb is the energy per bit and No = kT (Boltzmann's constant * system temperature).
Eb/(No+Io)1	Ratio	Real Number	The energy per bit to noise-plus-interference ratio (Eb/(No+Io)) for a given link in the chain, where Eb is the energy per bit, No = kT (Boltzmann's constant * system temperature), and Io = interference power spectral density. The number at the end of this data provider element is a dynamically increasing integer representing each link in the multilink sequence.
Eb/(No+Io) Tot.1	Ratio	Real Number	The composite value of energy per bit to noise-plus-interference ratio (Eb/No) up to and including a given link in the chain, where Eb is the energy per bit, No = kT (Boltzmann's constant * system temperature), and Io = interference power spectral density. The number at the end of this data provider element is a dynamically increasing integer representing each link in the multilink sequence.
BER1	Unitless	Real Number	Bit Error Rate (BER) is the probability that a bit is in error (i.e. a zero is transmitted but a one is received). The BER is the number of bits in error divided by the total number of bits sent. STK uses table lookup from a .mod file to extract a BER given an Eb/No. STK interpolates the table as necessary to determine the appropriate bit error rate for a particular bit energy level. If the bit energy is smaller than the first value in the table, the bit error rate for the first value is used. If the bit energy is larger than the last value in the table, a default bit error rate of 1.0e-30 is used to indicate no errors.
BER Tot.1	Unitless	Real Number	Bit Error Rate (BER) Total is the probability that a bit is in error (i.e., a zero is transmitted but a one is received) across all hops of an analog bent pipe communications link or a digital repeater communications link. The BER is the number of bits in error divided by the total number of bits sent. STK uses table lookup from a .mod file to extract a BER given an Eb/No. STK interpolates the table as necessary to determine the appropriate bit error rate for a particular bit energy level. If the bit energy is smaller than the first value in the table, the bit error rate for the first value is used. If the bit energy is larger than the last value in the table, a default bit error rate of 1.0e-30 is used to indicate no errors.
BER+I1	Unitless	Real Number	Bit error rate in the presence of interference (BER+I)1 is the probability that a bit is in error (i.e. a zero is transmitted but a one is received) in the interference environment for a given link in the chain. The number at the end of this data provider element is a dynamically increasing integer representing each link in the multilink sequence. The BER+I is the number of bits in error divided by the total number of bits sent. STK uses table lookup from a .mod file to extract a BER+I given an Eb/(No+Io). STK interpolates the table as necessary to determine the appropriate bit error rate for a particular bit energy level. If the bit energy is smaller than the first value in the table, the bit error rate for the first value is used. If the bit energy is larger than the last value in the table, a default bit error rate of 1.0e-30 is used to indicate no errors.
BER+I Tot.1	Unitless	Real Number	The total Bit Error Rate (BER) in the presence of interference is the probability that a bit is in error (i.e., a zero is transmitted but a one is received) in the interference environment up to and including a given link in the chain. The number at the end of this data provider element is a dynamically increasing integer representing each link in the multilink sequence. The BER is the number of bits in error divided by the total number of bits sent. STK uses table lookup from a .mod file to extract a BER given an Eb/No. STK interpolates the table as necessary to determine the appropriate bit error rate for a particular bit energy level. If the bit energy is smaller than the first value in the table, the bit error rate for the first value is used. If the bit energy is larger than the last value in the table, a default bit error rate of 1.0e-30 is used to indicate no errors.
log(BER)1	Unitless	Real Number	The logarithm base 10 of the probability that a bit is in error (i.e., a zero is transmitted but a one is received). The BER is the number of bits in error divided by the total number of bits sent. STK uses table lookup from a .mod file to extract a BER given an Eb/No. STK interpolates the table as necessary to determine the appropriate bit error rate for a particular bit energy level. If the bit energy is smaller than the first value in the table, the bit error rate for the first value is used. If the bit energy is larger than the last value in the table, a default bit error rate of 1.0e-30 is used to indicate no errors.
log(BER) Tot.1	Unitless	Real Number	The logarithm base 10 of the probability that a bit is in error (i.e., a zero is transmitted but a one is received) across all hops of an analog bent pipe communications link or a digital repeater communications link. The BER is the number of bits in error divided by the total number of bits sent. STK uses table lookup from a .mod file to extract a BER given an Eb/No. STK interpolates the table as necessary to determine the appropriate bit error rate for a particular bit energy level. If the bit energy is smaller than the first value in the table, the bit error rate for the first value is used. If the bit energy is larger than the last value in the table, a default bit error rate of 1.0e-30 is used to indicate no errors.
log(BER+I)1	Unitless	Real Number	The logarithm base 10 of the probability that, in the presence of interferers, a bit is in error (i.e., a zero is transmitted but a one is received) for a given link in the chain. The number at the end of this data provider element is a dynamically increasing integer representing each link in the multilink sequence. The BER is the number of bits in error divided by the total number of bits sent. STK uses table lookup from a .mod file to extract a BER given an Eb/No. STK interpolates the table as necessary to determine the appropriate bit error rate for a particular bit energy level. If the bit energy is smaller than the first value in the table, the bit error rate for the first value is used. If the bit energy is larger than the last value in the table, a default bit error rate of 1.0e-30 is used to indicate no errors.
log(BER+I) Tot.1	Unitless	Real Number	The logarithm base 10 of the probability that, in the presence of interferers, a bit is in error (i.e., a zero is transmitted but a one is received) up to and including a given link in the chain. The number at the end of this data provider element is a dynamically increasing integer representing each link in the multilink sequence. The BER is the number of bits in error divided by the total number of bits sent. STK uses table lookup from a .mod file to extract a BER given an Eb/No. STK interpolates the table as necessary to determine the appropriate bit error rate for a particular bit energy level. If the bit energy is smaller than the first value in the table, the bit error rate for the first value is used. If the bit energy is larger than the last value in the table, a default bit error rate of 1.0e-30 is used to indicate no errors.
Link Margin1	Ratio	Real Number	The computed value that indicates by how much the link meets, exceeds, or fails to meet the users link budget requirements.
Link Margin Tot.1	Ratio	Real Number	The computed value that indicates by how much the total end-to-end link meets, exceeds, or fails to meet the users link budget requirements. If the link is a single hop, this will be equivalent to the Link Margin.
Link Margin Type1	Unitless	Text	The user-selected type of link margin being considered. Included in the data provider for your convenience.
Link Margin Value1	Unitless	Real Number	The user-selected threshold value of the link margin being considered. Included in the data provider for your convenience. Note: The dimension of the Link Margin Value depends on the selected Link Margin Type. The dimensions for the Link Margin Value are: BER - Unitless, C/N - RatioUnit, C/No - SpectralDensityUnit, Eb/No - RatioUnit, Flux Density - PowerFluxDensityUnit, RIP - PowerUnit, and Rcvd Carrier Power - PowerUnit.
Propagation Delay1	Time	Real Number	The amount of time required for a signal to propagate through the physical link medium. This will vary depending on the propagation distance and the type of medium.
Propagation Distance1	Distance	Real Number	The distance of the physical link medium between a transmitter and a receiver for which a signal will travel.
Spectral Flux Density1	PowerSpectralFluxDensity	Real Number	The power per unit area per unit bandwidth. The power is computed across the receiver's bandwidth as seen by the receiver's RF front end. The bandwidth is the receiver's total bandwidth. The dimension is Power / (Area * Bandwidth), and is typically represented in dBW/(m^2*Hz).
IonosphericTEC1	Unitless	Real Number	Loss calculated by the selected atmosphere model.
DataRate1	DataRate	Real Number	This is the data rate of the transmitter in bits/time.