"The world at your fingertips. No strings attached.

"

“No Wires – No Limits”

"Don't be surprised if you dial the wrong

planet."

Unit 1: Wireless channels

The ability to communicate with people on the move has evolved remarkably
since Guglielmo Marconi first demonstrated radio's ability to provide
continuous contact with ships sailing the English channel. That was in 1897,
and since then new wireless communications have been enthusiastically adopted
by people throughout the world.

The mobile radio channel places fundamental limitations on the performance of

wireless communication systems . The transmission path between the
transmitter and the receiver can vary from simple direct line-of-sight to one
that is severely obstructed by buildings, mountains, and foliage ( Trees) . Wired
channels are stationary means do not change their behaviour with time and
thus it is easy to analyse their performance in terms of transmission losses and
Bit error rates. Contrary to this radio channels are extremely random and do
not offer easy analysis.
Modeling the radio channel has historically been one of the most difficult
parts of mobile radio system design.

Free Space Radio Wave Propagation

The mechanisms behind electromagnetic wave propagation are very much

diversified , but can generally be attributed to reflection, diffraction, and
scattering.

Reflection occurs when the Electromagnetic waves fall on objects which are
much greater than the wavelength of the travelling wave. Diffraction is a
phenomena occurring when the wave interacts with a surface having sharp
irregularities. Scattering occurs when the medium through the wave is travelling
contains objects which are much smaller than the wavelength of the EM wave.

Most cellular radio systems operate in urban areas where there is no direct line-
of-sight path between the transmitter and the receiver, and where the presence
of high rise buildings causes severe diffraction loss. Due to multiple reflections
from various objects, the signal travels along different paths of different
lengths.

Due to the this multipath propogation of the signal , we will get many signal
replicas instead of one. These multipath component of the signal will phase
difference due to the difference in distances travelled by them, and hence the
sum of the component will have weakened strength as out of phase lead to
cancel each other. This phenomena is called MULTIPATH FADING .

These varied phenomena of reflection, diffraction, and scattering s lead to large

scale and small scale propagation losses. Due to the inherent randomness
associated with such channels they are best described with the help of statistical
models.

Propagation Model : Models which predict the signal strength for arbitrary
transmitter receiver distances for wireless channels are termed as propagation
models.

large scale propagation model :

Models which predict the mean signal strength for arbitrary transmitter receiver
distances are termed as large scale propagation models. These are termed so
because they predict the average signal strength for large Tx-Rx separations,
typically for hundreds of kilometers.

Small-scale Model or fading models :

Propagation models that characterize the rapid fluctuations of the received
signal strength over very short travel distances (a few wavelengths) or short
time durations (on the order of seconds) are called small-scale or fading models.

In figure 1 the rapid fluctuation of received power is small scale fading and
average power is large scale .
 Fig : 1 Small Scale and Large scale Fading

In small-scale fading, the received signal power may vary by as much as three
or four orders of magnitude (30 or 40 dB) when the receiver is moved by only a
fraction of a wavelength. As the mobile moves away from the transmitter over
much larger distances, the local average received signal will gradually decrease,
and it is this local average signal level that is predicted by large-scale
propagation models.

Free space Propagation Model

Although EM signals when travelling through wireless channels experience

fading effects due to various effects, but in some cases the transmission is with
a direct line of sight such as in satellite communication. Free space model
predicts that the received power decays as negative square root of the distance.
Friis free space equation is given by

.........(1)
where Pt is the transmitted power, Pr(d) is the received power, Gt is the
transmitter
antenna gain, Gr is the receiver antenna gain, d is the Tx-Rx separation and L is
the system loss factor and is generally 1 for wireless communication.. The gain
of the antenna is related to the effective aperture of the antenna which in turn is
dependent upon the physical size of the antenna as given below

G = 4πAe/λ2

The effective aperture Ae is related to the physical size of the antenna, and
λ is related to the carrier frequency by

λ = c/f
where c is speed of light in meters/s and f is carrier frequency of transmitted
signal in Hz

The path loss, representing the attenuation suffered by the signal as it travels
through the wireless channel is given by the difference of the transmitted and
received power in dB and is expressed as:

PL(dB) = 10log Pt / Pr

From equation (1), put L =1 , we can write

The path loss, which represents signal attenuation as a positive quantity

measured in dB, is defined as the difference (in dB) between the effective
transmitted power and the received power, and may or may not include the
effect of the antenna gains.
The path loss for the free space model when antenna gains are included is given
by

For Unity gain antenna Gt =Gr=1 so path loss will become

 ........(2)

The Friis free space model is only a valid predictor for for values of d which are
in the far-field of the 'transmitting antenna. The far-field, or Fraunhofer region,
of a transmitting antenna is defined as the region beyond the far field distance
df, which is related to the largest linear dimension of the transmitter antenna
aperture and the carrier wavelength. The Fraunhofer distance is given by

df = 2D2/ λ

D is the largest physical linear dimension of the antenna

large-scale propagation models use a close-in distance, d0, as a known

received power reference point

The received power Pr(d) at any distance d > d0, may be related to Pr at d0.

is expressed in units of dBm or dBW by simply taking the logarithm of both

sides and multiplying by 10. For example, if is in units of dBm, the received
power
is given by

Example 1

If a transmitter produces 50 watts of power, express the transmit power in units

of (a) dBm, and (b) dBW. If 50 watts is applied to a unity gain antenna with a
900 MHz carrier frequency, find the received power in dBm at a free space
distance of 100 m from the antenna, What is P (10 km) 2 Assume unity gain for
the receiver antenna.

Solution

Given:
Transmitter power Pt, = 50 W
Carrier frequency fc, = 900 MHz

= 1/3 m

The received power in watts and dBm is calculate for distance 100m assuming
Gt , Gr and L =1 as

The received power at 10 km can be expressed in terms of dBm

*******************************************************

Two Ray Model

In a mobile radio channel, a single direct path between the base station and
a mobile is seldom the only physical means for propagation, and hence the free
space propagation model is in most cases inaccurate.
The 2-ray ground reflection model shown in Figure 2 where two signal
components are considered one direct Line of sight and other is a reflected
component of the signal. At the receiver the two signals reaching with different
path length ( Distance ) and thus having different phases associated with them.
Here the ground is considered as reflecting object.

Figure 2 : Two ray ground reflection model

The total received E-field, ETOT, is then a result of the direct line-of-sight
component, ELOS , and the ground reflected component, Eg. Referring to Figure
2, ht is the height of the transmitter and hr is the height of the receiver.

If E0 is the free space E-field (in units of V/m) at a reference distance d0 from
the transmitter, then for d > d0, the free space propagating E-field is given by

where E (d, t) = E0d0/d represents the envelope of the E-field at d meters from
the transmitter. and cos wct is tranmitted signal . after travelling distance d the
time delay of the signal is d/c, so delay difference will be( t-d/c ) .

Two propagating waves arrive at the receiver: the direct wave that travels a
distance d'; and the reflected wave that travels a distance d''.

The E-field due to the line-of-sight component at the receiver can be expressed
as
and the E-fleld for the ground reflected wave, which has a propagation distance
of d", can be expressed as

where Γ is reflection coefficient and for perfect ground reflection Γ= -1

The resultant E-field, is the vector sum of ELOS and Eg and the resultant total
E-field envelope is given by

Using the method of images, which is demonstrated by the geometry of Figure

3, the path difference Δ can be found

Figure 3 : Method of Images

From the figure it can be seen that d'2 = (ht -hr) 2
+ d2 ( using pythagoras
theorem )

similarly
d''2 = (ht +hr) 2 + d2

Then path difference is expressed a

However, when T-R separation distance is very large compared to (ht + hr),
then

Δ=[ d2 { 1+ (ht+hr)/d}2] 1/2 - [ d2 { 1+ (ht-hr)/d}2] 1/2

by taylors approximation

Δ= d[ 1+ 1/2 (( ht+hr)/d))2 ] - d[ 1+ 1/2 (( ht-hr)/d))2 ]

Take d common from complete equation

= d[ {1+ 1/2 (ht2+ hr2 +2hthr)/d2}- {1+ 1/2 (ht2+ hr2 - 2hthr)/d2}

=d[ 1+ 1/2 ht2/ d2 +1/2 hr 2/ d2 + 1/2 *2ht hr / d2 - 1 - 1/2 ht2/ d2 -1/2 hr2/ d2 +
1/2 *2ht hr /d 2}

=d [ 1/2 * 2ht hr/ d2 +1/2 * 2ht hr/ d2]

= d/ d2 [ 2hthr]

= 2hthr/d

.....(3)

Once the path difference is known, the phase difference is

....(4)
and the time difference
When d is very large, then Δ becomes very small and therefore ELOS and Eg are
virtually identical with only phase difference,i.e.,

Say, we want to evaluate the received E-field at any t = d-d''/c

Then

Using phasor diagram concept for vector addition as shown in Figures 4

Figure 4
we get

from equation (4)

put the value of Δ from equation (3) we get

The corresponding total received electric field is

The received power is proportional to square of the electric field E and

from the free space eqation it can be written as

Observations on Equation : The important observations from this

equation are :
1. the power decays as the fourth power of distance
2. Path loss is independent of frequency (wavelength).
3. Received power is also proportional to ht2 and hr2, meaning, if height of any
of the antennas is increased, received power increases

****************************************************************

Link Budget Analysis

Log-distance Path Loss Model:

propagation models indicate that average received signal power decreases

logarithmically with distance.
The average large-scale path loss for an arbitrary T-R separation
is expressed as a function of distance by using a path loss exponent, n.

According to this model the received power at distance d can be calculated if

the received power at some known distance is d0 is given

The path loss at d is :

Value of Path Loss Exponents for Different Environments

****************************************************
Outdoor Propagation Models : There are many model designed by
scientists for outdoor wireless communication channels . Here we will
discuss Okumara and Hata models.

Okumura Model

Okumura's model is one of the most widely used models for sighal prediction
in urban areas. This model is applicable for frequencies in the range 150
MHz to 1920 MHz (although it is typically extrapolated up to 3000 MHz) and
distances of 1 km to 100 km. It can be used for base station antenna heights
ranging from 30 m to 1000 m.
Okumura developed a set of curves giving the median attenuation relative
to free space (Amu), in an urban area over a quasi-smooth terrain with a base
station
effective antenna height (hte) of 200 m and a mobile antenna height (hre) of
3m

The model can be expressed as

where L50 is the 50th percentile (i.e., median) value of propagation path loss, LF
is the free space propagation loss, Amu (f,d) is the median attenuation relative to
free
space, G(hte) is the base station antenna height gain factor, G(hre) is the
mobile antenna height gain factor, and GAREA is the gain due to the type of
environment.

The plots for Amu (f,d) and GAREA are shown in figure 5 and 6.
Figure 5 : Amu( f,d)

Figure 6 : GAREA

Example 2 :

Find the median path loss using Okumura's model for d = 50 km, = 100, hte =
100m , hre = 10m in a suburban environment. If the base station transmitter
radiates an power of I kW at a carrier frequency of 900 MHz, find the power at
the receiver.

Solution

Using equation2 free space path loss LF is

Given transmitted power is = 1kw
Pt in dbm= 10log 1kw/1mw = 60dBm

Meadian received power = Transmitted power -L50(db)

Pr( dBm) = 60 dBm- 155.04 = -95.04 dBm
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hata Model

The Hata model is an empirical formulation of the graphical path-loss data

provided by the Okumura and is valid over roughly the same range of
frequencies, 150-1500 MHz.

The standard formula for empirical path loss in urban areas under the Hata
model is

The parameters in this model are same as in the Okumura model,and a(hr) is a
correction factor for the mobile antenna height based on the size of coverage
area.For
small to medium sized cities this factor is given by

path loss for suburban area is

Path loss for open rural area is

********************************************************

Small scale fading

Multipath signals are received in a terrestrial environment, i.e., where different

forms of propagation are present and the signals arrive at the receiver from
transmitter via a variety of paths. Therefore there would be multipath
interference, causing multipath fading. Adding the effect of movement of either
Tx or Rx or the surrounding clutter to it, the received overall signal amplitude
or phase changes over a small amount of time. Mainly this causes the fading.

small-scale fading, means rapid fluctuations of the amplitudes,

phases, or multipath delays of a radio signal over a short period or short travel
distance. This might be so severe that large scale radio propagation loss effects
might be ignored.

Multipath Fading Effects

In principle, the following are the main multipath effects:
1. Rapid changes in signal strength over a small travel distance or time interval.
2. Random frequency modulation due to varying Doppler shifts on different
multipath
signals.
3. Time dispersion or echoes caused by multipath propagation delays.
Factors Influencing Fading

The following physical factors influence small-scale fading in the radio

propagation
channel:
(1) Multipath propagation – Multipath is the propagation phenomenon that
results in radio signals reaching the receiving antenna by two or more paths.
The effects of multipath include constructive and destructive interference, and
phase shifting of the signal.

(2) Speed of the mobile – The relative motion between the base station and the
mobile results in random frequency modulation due to different doppler shifts
on each of the multipath components.

(3) Speed of surrounding objects – If objects in the radio channel are in

motion, they induce a time varying Doppler shift on multipath components. If
the surrounding objects move at a greater rate than the mobile, then this effect
dominates fading.

(4) Transmission Bandwidth of the signal – If the transmitted radio signal

bandwidth is greater than the “bandwidth” of the multipath channel (quantified
by coherence bandwidth), the received signal will be distorted.

Doppler Shift

Figure 6 : Doppler shift

Consider a mobile moving at a constant velocity v, along a path segment length
d between points A and B, while it receives signals from a remote source S. The
difference in path lengths travelled by the wave from source S to the mobile at
points A and B is

Δl = d cos θ = vΔt cos θ,

where Δt is the time required for the mobile to travel from A to B, and θ is
assumed to be the same at points A and B since the source is assumed to be very
far away. The phase change in the received signal due to the difference in path
lengths is therefore

and hence the apparent change in frequency, or Doppler shift (fd) is

Time Dispersion Parameters

In order to compare different multipath channels and to develop some general

design guidelines for wireless systems, parameters which grossly quantify the
multipath channel are used. The mean excess delay, rms delay spread, and
excess delay spread (X dB) are multipath channel parameters that can be
determined from a power delay profile.

The mean excess delay is the first moment of the power delay profile and is
defined to be

where ak is the amplitude, τk is the excess delay and P(τk) is the power of the
individual multipath signals.
The mean square excess delay spread is defined as
Since the rms delay spread is the square root of the second central moment of
the
power delay profile, it can be written as

The maximum excess delay (X dB) of the power delay profile is defined to be
the time delay during which multipath energy falls to X dB below the
maximum.

Figure 7: Example of an indoor power delay profile; nns delay spread, mean
excess delay, maximum excess delay (10 dB).
Coherence Bandwidth

Coherence bandwidth is a statistical measure of the range of frequencies over

which the channel can be considered "flat" (i.e., a channel which passes all
spectral components with approximately equal gain and linear phase); In other
words, coherence bandwidth is the range of frequencies over which two
frequency components have a strong potential for amplitude correlation. Two
sinusoids with frequency separation greater than are affected quite differently
by the channel
If the coherence bandwidth is defined as the bandwidth over which the
frequency correlation function is above 0.9, then the coherence bandwidth is
approximately

If the definition is relaxed so that the frequency correlation function is above

0.5. then the coherence bandwidth is approximately

Example 3 :
Calculate the mean excess delay, rms delay spread, and the maximum excess
delay (10 dE) for the multipath profile given in the figure below. Estimate the
50% coherence bandwidth of the channel
Solution

First convert the power in watts by

p (dB) = 10log P ( in watts)

The maximum excess delay ( 10dB) = (5-0)= 5 microseconds

The second moment for the given power delay profile can be calculated
as

Doppler Spread and Coherence Time

Doppler spread BD is a measure of the spectral broadening caused by the

time rate of change of the mobile radio channel and is defined as the range of
frequencies over which the received Doppler spectrum is essentially non-zero.
When a pure sinusoidal tone of frequency fc is transmitted, the received signal
spectrum, called the Doppler spectrum, will have components in the range
fc+fd and fc-fd where fd is the Doppler shift.

Coherence time: this is a statistical measure of the time duration over which
the channel impulse response is almost invariant. When channel behaves like
this, it is said to be slow faded. Essentially it is the minimum time duration over
which two received signals are affected differently.
For an example, if the coherence time is considered to be the bandwidth over
which the time correlation is above 0.5, then
it can be approximated as

Types of Small-Scale Fading

The type of fading experienced by the signal through a mobile channel depends
on the relation between the signal parameters (bandwidth, symbol period) and
the channel parameters (rms delay spread and Doppler spread). Hence we have
four different types of fading. There are two types of fading due to the time
dispersive nature of the channel.

Fading Effects due to Multipath Time Delay Spread

Flat Fading
Such types of fading occurs when the bandwidth of the transmitted signal is less
than the coherence bandwidth of the channel. Equivalently if the symbol period
of the signal is more than the rms delay spread of the channel, then the fading is
flat fading.
So we can say that flat fading occurs when

BS < BC
where BS is the signal bandwidth and BC is the coherence bandwidth. Also
TS > στ

where TS is the symbol period and στ is the rms delay spread. And in such a
case,
mobile channel has a constant gain and linear phase response over its bandwidth

Frequency Selective Fading

Frequency selective fading occurs when the signal bandwidth is more than the
coherence bandwidth of the mobile radio channel or equivalently the symbols
duration of the signal is less than the rms delay spread.

BS > BC and TS < στ

Fading Effects due to Doppler Spread

Fast Fading
In a fast fading channel, the channel impulse response changes rapidly within
the symbol duration of the signal. Due to Doppler spreading, signal undergoes
frequency dispersion leading to distortion. Therefore a signal undergoes fast
fading if

TS > TC

where TC is the coherence time and

BS < BD

BD is doppler spread

Slow Fading
In such a channel, the rate of the change of the channel impulse response is
much less than the transmitted signal. We can consider a slow faded channel a
channel in which channel is almost constant over atleast one symbol duration.
Hence
TS < TC

and
BS > BD

We observe that the velocity of the user plays an important role in deciding
whether the signal experiences fast or slow fading.
****************************************************************
************************************

Unit2: Multipath Mitigation Techniques

Apart from the better transmitter and receiver technology, mobile

communications require signal processing techniques that improve the link
performance. Equalization, Diversity and channel coding are channel
impairment improvement techniques.
Equalization compensates for Inter Symbol Interference (ISI) created by
multipath within time dispersive channels. An equalizer within a receiver
compensates for the average range of expected channel amplitude and delay
characteristics. In other words, an equalizer is a filter at the mobile receiver
whose impulse response is inverse of the channel impulse response.
The ISI is the effect of the multipath fading where the symbol ( Bits) are
spread due to dispersion and interferes in the adjacent symbols . Due to
ISI the Bit error rate increases and thus it puts the limits on high speed
data transmission.

Equalization

ISI has been identified as one of the major obstacles to high speed data
transmission over mobile radio channels. If the modulation bandwidth exceeds
the coherence bandwidth of the radio channel (i.e., frequency selective fading),
modulation pulses are spread in time, causing ISI. An equalizer at the front end
of a receiver compensates for the average range of expected channel amplitude
and delay characteristics. As the mobile fading channels are random and time
varying, equalizers must track the time-varying characteristics of the mobile
channel and therefore should be time varying or adaptive.

An adaptive equalizer has two phases of operation: training

and tracking.
These are as follows.
Training Mode:
• Initially a known, fixed length training sequence is sent by the transmitter so
that the receiver equalizer may average to a proper setting.
• Training sequence is typically a pseudo-random binary signal or a fixed, of
prescribed bit pattern.
• The training sequence is designed to permit an equalizer at the receiver to
acquire the proper filter coefficient in the worst possible channel condition.
An adaptive filter at the receiver thus uses a recursive algorithm to evaluate
the channel and estimate filter coefficients to compensate for the channel.

Tracking Mode:
• When the training sequence is finished the filter coefficients are near optimal.
• Immediately following the training sequence, user data is sent.
• When the data of the users are received, the adaptive algorithms of the
equalizer
tracks the changing channel.
• As a result, the adaptive equalizer continuously changes the filter
characteristics
over time.
 Figure 8 Block diagram of a simplified communications system using
an adaptive equalizer at the receiver

The signal received by the equalizer is given by

where d(t) is the transmitted signal, h(t) is the combined impulse response of the
transmitter,channel and the RF/IF section of the receiver and nb (t) denotes the
baseband noise.
If the impulse response of the equalizer is heq (t), the output of the equalizer is

However, the desired output of the equalizer is d(t) which is the original source
data.
Assuming nb (t)=0, we can write y(t) = d(t), which in turn stems the following
equation:

The main goal of any equalization process is to satisfy this equation optimally.
In frequency domain it can be written as
which indicates that an equalizer is actually an inverse filter of the channel. If
the channel is frequency selective, the equalizer enhances the frequency
components with small amplitudes and attenuates the strong frequencies in the
received frequency spectrum in order to provide a flat, composite received
frequency response and linear phase response .

A Generic Adaptive Equalizer

The basic structure of an adaptive filter is shown in Figure This filter is called
the transversal filter, and in this case has N delay elements, N+1 taps and N+1
tunable complex multipliers, called weights. These weights are updated
continuously by an adaptive algorithm. In the figure the subscript k represents
discrete time index. The adaptive algorithm is controlled by the error signal ek.
The error signal is derived by comparing the output of the equalizer, with some
signal dk which is replica of transmitted signal. The adaptive algorithm uses ek.
to minimize the cost function and uses the equalizer weights in such a manner
that it minimizes the cost function iteratively.

Figure 9 : A generic adaptive equalizer

Types of Equalizers

Linear Equalizer

Equalization techniques can be subdivided into two general categories —

linear and nonlinear equalization. These categories are determined from how the
output of an adaptive equalizer is used for subsequent control (feedback) of the
equalizer. In general, the analog signal d (t) is processed by the decision making
device in the receiver. The decision maker determines the value of the digital
data bit being received and applies a slicing or thresholding operation (a
nonlinear operation) in order to determine the value of d(t) . If d(t) is
not used in the feedback path to adapt the equalizer, the equalization is linear.
On the other hand, if d(t) is fed back to change the subsequent outputs of the
equalizer, the equalization is nonlinear.

Linear transversal Equalizer

The most common equalizer structure is a linear transversal equalizer

(LTE). A linear transversal filter is made up of tapped delay lines, with the
tappings spaced a symbol period z -1 (1/T) apart, as shown in Figure 10.
Assuming that the delay elements have unity gain and delay z -1 ,

Figure 10 Linear Transversal filter

Nonlinear Equalization

Nonlinear equalizers are used in applications where the channel distortion

is too severe for a linear equalizer to handle.

Three very effective nonlinear methods have been developed which offer
improvements over linear equalization techniques.
1. Decision Feedback Equalization (DFE)
2. Maximum Likelihood Symbol Detection
3. Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimation (MLSE)

Decision Feedback Equalization (DFE)

The basic idea behind decision feedback equalization is that once an

information symbol has been detected and decided upon, the 1ST that it induces
on future symbols can be estimated and subtracted out before detection of
subsequent symbols. The direct form is shown in Figure 11, It consists of a
feedforward filter (FFF) and a feedback filter (FBF). The FBF is driven by
decisions on the output of the detector, and its coefficients can be adjusted to
cancel the ISI on the current symbol from past detected symbols
The equalizer has
N1 + N2 + I taps in the feed forward filter and N3 taps in the feedback filter,
and
its output can be expressed as:

where c, and y, are tap gains and the inputs, respectively, to the forward filter,
F1 are tap gains for the feedback filter

Feedback filter ( FBF)

Three classic equalizer algorithms are discussed below. These include the
zero forcing (ZF) algorithm, the least mean squares (LMS) algorithm, and the
recursive least squares (RLS) algorithm.

Zero Forcing Algorithm

In a zero forcing equalizer, the equalizer coefficients are chosen to force

the samples of the combined channel and equalizer impulse response to zero at
all but one of the NT spaced sample points in the tapped delay line filter. By
letting the number of coefficients increase without bound, an infinite length
equalizer with zero ISI at the output can be obtained, When each of the delay
elements provide a time delay equal to the symbol duration z -1 , the frequency
response Heq (t) of the equalizer is periodic with a period equal to the symbol
rate I / T. The combined response of the channel with the equalizer must satisies
Nyquists first criterion

LMS Algorithm

A more robust equalizer is the LMS equalizer where the criterion used is
the minimization of the mean square error (MSE) between the desired equalizer
output and the actual equalizer output.

Refer to figure 9 the prediction error is given by

The LMS algorithm seeks to minimize the mean square error given in
equation