Locating Sources of Interference

摘要

The proliferation of RF devices has benefited the world in many ways, providing readier and more convenient access to communications, entertainment and information. But it has come with one unintended drawback: a huge increase in the frequency and severity of incidents of interference. Cellular telephone networks have been hit particularly hard: the introduction of many new cellular technologies to an ever-growing number of subscribers has made it difficult for the network operators and spectrum regulation authorities to find clean spectrum unaffected by interference. Interference in cellular transmissions increases noise, with the effect of: 1. reducing the effective size of a cell 2. lowering data rates delivered to user equipment 3. impairing the quality of voice and data communications As a result, radio technicians spend much time travelling around the country, hunting the sources of interference. Only once a source is precisely located can action be taken to lower the power of its transmissions or to disable it entirely, if appropriate.