Two terminals are required to establish a microwave communications link, commonly referred to as a microwave hop. The non-protected configuration is a single standalone terminal. One very important characteristic of digital microwave radio transmission is its immunity to noise. Noise refers to unwanted electromagnetic waveforms which corrupt a message signal. Noise is inevitable in electrical communications systems.
Microwave radio offers several advantages over cable-based transmission.
Microwave radio is simpler, faster, more feasible and more flexible to implement than cable systems. Microwave is also easy to move if there is a change in a network. In order to turn up their networks, cellular carriers need to connect their cell sites to switching stations. To make this connection, they usually choose microwave, because it is reliable and can be commissioned within a day. Many businesses use microwave in their private networks because it's the fastest way for them to install digital communications.