The recent allocation and auctioning of the largest spectrum currently available has positioned Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS) technology as a major contender in the race to provide broadband connectivity to customers. With the focus on solving the "Last Mile" problem, LMDS provides a significant reduction in both the time it takes for system deployment as well as the cost of the implementation. However, as with all emerging technologies, the lack of standardization and the risks involved in being the pioneer of an emerging market have resulted in a slower commercialization of such systems. The issues mentioned above served as the catalyst for this paper, to examine the factors that affect deployment strategies for an LMDS system in a rural commercial environment. In order to provide a better understanding of this technology, a review on the background issues in the areas of terrain, coverage/capacity, and networking will be presented. By evaluating these criteria, a strategy that can be employed to facilitate the implementation of LMDS systems is generated. Finally, the application of these methodologies will be demonstrated on a case study performed for a commercial environment in the county of South Boston, Virginia. Through evaluating the possible designs and the feasibility of the business case, it was determined that a point-to-multipoint system will best match the needs of the proposed location. / Master of Science

This thesis takes the reader through an overview of issues pertinent to Local Multi-point Distribution Services (LMDS). The reader will first learn what LMDS is and then review the system architectures that are made available for LMDS technologies. After summarizing the basics of LMDS, we will compare it with some competing technologies. The reader will then be guided through the aspects of millimeter (mm) wave radio link design. This should be a good lead into the experiment section, since it is suspected that the reader would want to be aware of what design techniques are involved in mm-wave radio link design and what issues may pose potential problems and how they may be mitigated. Of the potential problems posed in the mm-wave radio link design section, one will be further investigated experimentally. This is the investigation of the effect of vegetation on the magnitude, phase and error vector magnitude (EVM) performance of an LMDS channel. The motivation for this experiment came from the review earlier work, which showed an unexpected relationship between carrier to noise ratio (C/N) and bit error rate BER. / Master of Science