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The Indoor Radio Propagation Channel
HOMAYOUN HASHEMI,
MEMBER, IEEE
In
this tutorial-survey paper the principles of radio propagation
in
indoor environments are reviewed. Modeling the channel as alinear time-varying jilter at each location in the three-dimensionalspace, properties of the jilter’s impulse response are described.Theoretical distributions of the sequences
of
arrival times, ampli-tudes and phases are presented. Other relevant concepts such asspatial and temporal variations
of
the channel, large scale pathlosses, mean excess delay and RMS delay spread are explored.Propagation characteristics of the indoor and outdoor channelsare compared and their major differences are outlined. Previousmeasurement and modeling efforts are surveyed and areas forfuture research are suggested.
I. INTRODUCTION
The invention of telephone in the 19th century was thefirst step toward shattering the barriers of space and time
in
communication between individuals. The second stepwas the successful deployment of radio communications.To date, however, the
location
barrier has not been sur-mounted; i.e., people are more
or
less tied to telephonesets
or
“fixed wireline” equipment for communication.The astonishing success of cellular radio
in
providingtelecommunication services to the mobile and handheldportable units in the last decade has paved the way towardbreaking the location barrier in telecommunications. Theultimate goal
of
personal communication services (PCS)is to provide instant communications between individualslocated anywhere in the world, and at any time. Realizationof futuristic pocket-size telephone units and subsequentDick Tracy wrist-watch phones are major communicationfrontiers. Industry and research organizations worldwideare collectively facing great challenges in providing PCS
[11-[251.
An important consideration in successful implementa-tion of the PCS is indoor radio communications; i.e.,transmission of voice and data to people on the moveinside buildings. Indoor radio communication covers awide variety of situations ranging from communicationwith individuals walking in residential
or
office buildings,supermarkets
or
shopping malls, etc., to fixed stations
Manuscript received December 5, 1991; revised January 22, 1993.The author
is
with the Department
of
Electrical Engineering, SharifUniversity
of
Technology,
P.
0.
Box
11365-9363, Teheran, Iran. Currentlyhe is
on
summer leave at TRLabs, 3553-31
Sreet
NW,
Calgary, Alberta,Canada, T2L 2K7. The work was performed during the author’s sabbaticalleave at NovAtel Communications Ltd., Calgary, Alberta, Canada.IEEE Log Number 9210749.
sending messages to robots in motion in assembly linesand-factory environments of the future.Network architecture for in-building communications areevolving. The European-initiated systems such as the digitalEuropean cordless telecommunications (DECT), and thecordless telecommunications second and third generations(CT2 and CT3) are primarily in-building communicationsystems
[7],
[13],
[21],
while the universal portable digitalcommunications (UPDC) in the United States calls
for
aunification of the indoor and outdoor portable radio commu-nications into an overall integrated system
[
1]-[3].
Practicalportable radio communication requires lightweight unitswith long operation time between battery recharges. Digitalcommunication technology can meet this requirement, inaddition to offering many other advantages. There is littledoubt that future indoor radio communication systems willbe digital.In a typical indoor portable radiotelephone system a fixedantenna (base) installed in an elevated position communi-cates with a number of portable radios inside the building.Due to reflection, refraction and scattering of radio wavesby structures inside a building, the transmitted signal mostoften reaches the receiver by more than one path, resultingin
a
phenomenon known as multipath fading. The signalcomponents arriving from indirect paths and the directpath (if it exists) combine and produce a distorted versionof the transmitted signal. In narrow-band transmissionthe multipath medium causes fluctuations in the receivedsignal envelope and phase. In wide-band pulse transmission,on the other hand, the effect is to produce a series ofdelayed and attenuated pulses (echoes) for each transmittedpulse. This is illustrated in Fig.
1,
where the channel’sresponses at two points in the three-dimensional spaceare displayed. Both analog and digital transmissions alsosuffer from severe attenuations by the intervening structure.The received signal
is
further corrupted by other unwantedrandom effects: noise and cochannel interference.Multipath fading seriously degrades the performance ofcommunication systems operating inside buildings. Unfor-tunately, one can do little to eliminate multipath distur-bances. However, if the multipath medium is well charac-terized, transmitter and receiver can be designed to “match”the channel and to reduce the effect of these disturbances.Detailed characterization of radio propagation is therefore
PROCEEDINGS
OF
THE
IEEE.
VOL
81,
NO.
7,
JULY 1993
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0 100
200300
400
Time (nsec)
(a)
I
0
100 200
300
400
Time
(nsec)
(b)
Fig.
1.
The impulse responses
for
a medium-size
office
building.Antenna separation is
5
m. (a) Line
of
sight;
(b)
no line
of
sight.(Measurements and processing
by
David Tholl
of
TRLabs.)
a major requirement for successful design of indoor com-munication systems.Although published work on the topic of indoor radiopropagation channel dates back to
1959 [26],
with a few ex-ceptions, measurement and modeling efforts have all beencarried out and reported
in
the past
10
years. This is
in
partdue to the enormous worldwide success of cellular mobileradio systems, which resulted
in
an exponential growth
in
demand for wireless communications, and
in
part due torapid advances
in
microelectronics, microprocessors, andsoftware engineering
in
the past decade, which make thedesign and operation of sophisticated lightweight portableradio systems feasible.A comprehensive list of measurement and modelingefforts for characterization of the analog and digital radiopropagation within and into buildings are provided
in
refer-ences
[26]-[208].
Extending the definition of indoor radiopropagation to electromagnetic radiation within coveredareas, mine and tunnel propagation modeling should also beincluded. These papers are listed
in
references
12091-[248].
(Reference
[221]
s a short review paper on the lattersubject.)The goal of this work is to provide a tutorial-surveycoverage of the indoor radio propagation channel. Since themultipath medium can be fully described by its time andspace varying impulse response, the tutorial aspect of thispaper is based on characterization of the channel’s impulseresponse. The general impulse response modeling of themultipath fading channel was first suggested by Turin
[250].
It has been subsequently used in measurement, modeling,and simulation of the mobile radio channel by investigatorsfollowing Turin’s line of work
[251]-[253],
nd by other re-searchers
12541-[259].
More recently, the impulse responseapproach has been used directly or indirectly in the indoorradio propagation channel modeling
([28]-[61], 1641-17
,
[1891, 1911, 1921, 1961, 1991, [2001).
After proper mathematical (the impulse response) formu-lation of the channel, other related topics such as channel’stemporal variations, large-scale path losses, mean excessdelay and
rms
delay spread, frequency dependence ofstatistics, etc., are addressed. The survey aspect of this paperreviews the literature. There are a number of importantissues that either have not been addressed in the currentlyavailable measurement and modeling reports, or have re-ceived insufficient treatment. These areas are specified anddirections for future research are provided. The surveycovers papers published on the modeling of propagation asapplied to portable radiotelephones or data services inside
conventional
buildings
[26]-[208].
The mine and tunnelpropagation papers are included for several reasons. Thefirst reason is the similarities between some principlesand applications. A good example is the leaky feeders
([99]-[loll, 103], 104], 172], 173],
or in-building, and
12181-[220], 12271, 12331, [235], 242], 244],
or mine andtunnel propagation). The second reason is that a strong the-oretical framework based on electromagnetic theory existsfor mine and tunnel propagation (e.g.,
[212], 213], 2251,[232], 234], 240], 248])
nd not for the indoor office andresidential building propagation. With a few exceptions,reported efforts on the latter subject are mainly directedtoward measurements and statistical characterizations ofthe channel, with little emphasis on theoretical aspects.The interested researchers are encouraged to carry out adetailed comparison between the two types of propagationenvironments and bring out the points in common. Possibleapplication of mine and tunnel propagation principles tosome indoor environments is a challenging topic that willnot be pursued
in
this report.The main emphasis of this paper is on the tutorialaspect of the topic, although the survey aspect is alsocomprehensive. A general review of the indoor propaga-tion measurement and models based on a totally differentapproach can be found in
[27].
Finally, the indoor radio propagation modeling efforts canbe divided
in
two categories. In the first category, trans-mission occurs between a unit located outside a buildingand a
unit
inside
([26], 891, 92]-[94],‘
I
121-11
141,
[1311,
[1321,[1341,1361, 1611, 11641, 1671, [1681,11781, 1831).
Expansion of current cellular mobile services to indoorapplications and the unification of the two types of serviceshas been the main thrust behind most of the measurements
in
this category. In the second category the transmitter andreceiver are both located inside the building (the balanceof references
in
[26]-[208]).
stablishment of specialized
[731, 741, 1771-[881, [971, [98], 117]-[124], 11491, [1881,
944
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indoor communication systems has motivated most of theresearchers in this category. Although the impulse responseapproach is compatible with both, it has been mainly usedfor measurements and modeling efforts reported in thesecond category.
11.
MATHEMATICALODELING
F
THE
CHANNEL
A. The Impulse Response Approach
The complicated random and time-varying indoor radiopropagation channel can be modeled in the followingmanner:
for
each point in the three- dimensional spacethe channel is a linear time-varying filter with the impulseresponse given by:
N(T)-~
h(t,~)
uk(t)S[.r
-
k(t)~ej’k(~)
(1)
k=O
where
t
and
r
are the observation time and applicationtime of the impulse, respectively,
N(r)
is the numberof multipath components,
{ak(t)},
{~k(t)},
Ok(t)}
are therandom time-varying amplitude, arrival-time, and phasesequences, respectively, and
6
s the delta function. Thechannel is completely characterized by these path variables.This mathematical model is illustrated inFig. 2.It is awide-band model which has the advantage that, because ofits generality, it can be used to obtain the response of thechannel to the transmission of
any
transmitted signal
s(t)
by convolving
s(t)
with
h(t)
and adding noise.The time-invariant version of this model, first suggestedby Turin [250] to describe multipath fading channels,has been used successfully
in
mobile radio applications[25 11-[253].
For
the stationary (time-invariant) channel,
(1)
reduces to:
A-
h(t)
=
Uk6(t
-
k)eiek.
(2)
k=O
The output
y(t)
of the channel to a transmitted signal
s(t)
is therefore given by
00
y(t)
=
1
S(T)h(t
-
)
dT
+
.(t)
(3)
--oo
where
n(t)
s the low-pass complex-valued additive Gauss-ian noise.With the above mathematical model, if the signal
~(t)
Re(s(t)
exp[jwot]}
is transmitted through this channel en-vironment (where
s(t)
s any low-pass signal and
WO
is thecarrier frequency), the signal
y(t)
=
Re(p(t)
exp[jwot]}
isreceived where
N-1
p(t)
=
aks(t
-
k)ejek
+
n(t).
(4)
k=O
In a real-life situation a portable receiver moving throughthe channel experiences a space-varying fading phenom-enon. One can therefore associate an impulse response“profile” with each point in space, as illustrated inFig. 
3.
It should be noted that profiles corresponding to points
I
I
Fig.
2.
Mathematical model
of
the channel.
close in space are expected to be grossly similar becauseprinciple reflectors and scatterers which give rise to themultipath structures remain approximately the same overshort distances. This is further illustrated in the empiricalprofiles of Fig.
4.
B.
The Discrete-Time
Impulse
Response
A
convenient model for characterization of the indoorchannel is the discrete-time impulse response model. Inthis model the time axis is divided into small time intervalscalled “bins.” Each bin is assumed to contain either onemultipath component, or no multipath component. Possibil-
ity
of
more than one path in a bin is excluded.
A
reasonablebin size is the resolution of the specific measurement sincetwo paths arriving within a bin cannot be resolved asdistinct paths. Using this model each impulse response canbe described by a sequence of
“0”s
and
“1”s
(the pathindicator sequence), where a
“1”
indicates presence of apath in a given bin and a
“0”
represents absence of a pathin that bin.
To
each
“1”
an amplitude and a phase valueare associated.The advantage of this model is that
it
greatly simplifiesany simulation process. It has been used successfully inthe modeling [252] and the simulation
[253]
of the mobileradio propagation channel. Analysis of system performanceis also easier with a discrete-time model, as compared toa continuous-time model.
C.
Deduction
of
the Narrow-Band Model
When a single unmodulated carrier (constant envelope)is transmitted in a multipath environment, due to vectoraddition
of
the individual multipath components, a rapidlyfluctuating CW envelope is experienced by a receiver inmotion. To deduce this narrow-band result from the abovewide-band model we let
s(t)
of
(4)
equal to 1. Excludingnoise, the resultant CW envelope R and phase
8
or a singlepoint in space
are thus given by
(5)
Sampling the channel’s impulse response frequentlyenough, one should be able to generate the narrow-bandCW fading results for the receiver
in
motion, using thewide-band impulse response model.
HASHEMI: THE INDOOR RADIO PROPAGATION CHANNEL
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