RF Field Guide · reviewed reference
Modulation and receiver sensitivity
Higher modulation and coding modes carry more bits per symbol but require a cleaner received signal.
Question
How does a received level become an expected data rate?
Inputs
- Radio's MCS and sensitivity table for the selected bandwidth
- Received signal, noise, interference, and target reliability
Answer
Working
Receiver sensitivity is a condition-specific threshold, not one universal radio number. It changes with modulation/coding, channel width, packet error target, and often firmware. In a link budget, fade margin = received level − sensitivity for the specific operating mode.
Visual explanation
- Received level
- Noise + interference
- SINR
- Supported MCS
- Margin
- Expected throughput
Interpretation
Choose a conservative committed rate and treat higher adaptive rates as opportunity, not guaranteed capacity. The two directions may have different power, antenna gain, noise, or sensitivity.