RF Calc Utility

This is a command-line utility that provides various RF (radio frequency) calculations, such as:

• Transmitter Power mW<->dBm Conversion
• Free Space Path Loss Calculation
• RF Link Range Calculation
• Times Further Calculation

Installation

• Install Rust and Cargo.
• Clone this repository and navigate to its directory.
• Build and install the program with cargo install --path ..
• rf_calc should be accessible if you have the cargo bin in $PATH.

Commands and Their Usage

Power Conversion (power_conversion)

Converts transmitter power between mW and dBm.

rf_calc power_conversion [VALUE]

• [VALUE]: The value to convert, followed by its unit (mW or dBm).

Formula

Conversion between mW and dBm:

P(dBm) = 10 * log10(P(mW))
P(mW) = 10^(P(dBm)/10)

Free Space Path Loss (path_loss)

Calculates the free space path loss given frequency and distance.

rf_calc path_loss [FREQUENCY] [DISTANCE]

• [FREQUENCY]: Frequency in MHz.
• [DISTANCE]: Distance in meters.

Formula

Free Space Path Loss (FSPL) is given by:

FSPL(dB) = 20*log10(d) + 20*log10(f) + 20*log10(c/(4*pi))

Where:

• ( d ) is the distance.
• ( f ) is the frequency.
• ( c ) is the speed of light.

RF Link Range (link_range)

Calculates the RF link range given transmitter power, receiver sensitivity, and frequency.

rf_calc link_range [TRANSMITTER_POWER] [RECEIVER_SENSITIVITY] [FREQUENCY]

• [TRANSMITTER_POWER]: Transmitter power in dBm.
• [RECEIVER_SENSITIVITY]: Receiver sensitivity in dBm.
• [FREQUENCY]: Frequency in MHz.

Formula

The formula to calculate link range is derived from the Friis transmission equation:

d = (lambda/(4*pi)) * 10^((Pr - Pt)/20)

Where:

• ( d ) is the distance (or range).
• ( lambda ) is the wavelength.
• ( Pr ) is the receiver power.
• ( Pt ) is the transmitter power.

Times Further (times_further)

Calculates how many times further a new distance is compared to a current distance.

rf_calc times_further [CURRENT_DISTANCE] [NEW_DISTANCE]

• [CURRENT_DISTANCE]: Current distance in meters.
• [NEW_DISTANCE]: New distance in meters.

Formula

Times Further is given by:

Times Further = New Distance / Current Distance

License

This project is open-source and available under the MIT License.