Slow Frequency Hopping for Mitigating Tidal Fading on Rural Long Distance Over-Water Wireless Links

Abstract

We consider the scenario where long-distance point-to-point wireless links are established over tidal estuaries to bring Internet access to rural communities living in coastal villages. Using real signal strength measurements from links in the Tegola network testbed in northwest Scotland, we highlight the significance of the tidal fading problem, which we reason using a simple geometric model and simulation using the well-known Pathloss radio link planning tool. We propose slow frequency hopping as a cost-effective, software- only alternative to the commonly used space- diversity approach for mitigating tidal fading, and demonstrate its effectiveness using Pathloss simulation.