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Basic Definitions
Radio frequency (RF) – The number of cycles per second (or

Hertz, Hz) of a radio wave.
Transmitter (Tx) – A device that converts electrical signals into
emitted RF energy. It is the source of a radiated wave or
perturbation.
Receiver (Rx) – A device that receives RF energy and converts it
back into electrical signals.
Propagation – The ability of a radio wave to travel between a
transmitter and a receiver in free space or in another medium such
as air.
Aerial or Antenna – This can be considered as a part of the
transmitter or receiver system (or it can be in both). It is usually a
passive device that converts electrical signals straight into radio
waves.
Communication Infrastructure / 2
Electromagnetic Vectors
From basic physics, radio waves are considered to be

electromagnetic in origin. Electromagnetic waves have three
perpendicular vectors describing their generation. An electrical
vector E, a magnetic vector H and the propagation vector v.
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Polarization (or Polarity)
The electrical vector E is being used when the polarization is discussed:

- vertical polarization is when the electrical E field is excited in a vertical
direction relative to the earth’s surface
- horizontal polarization is when the electrical E field is excited in a horizontal
direction relative to the earth’s surface
- circular polarization is a hybrid of both vertical and horizontal polarity
where the direction of the electrical field excitation revolves between the two
planes going out along the axis of propagation
Speed of Propagation and Relationship

to Wavelength and Frequency
Electromagnetic waves travel at the same speed as light in a free space
(vacuum):
C = 3 10^8 m/s
If C is the velocity (sometimes V) in metres per second (m/s), then f is the cycles
per second, or frequency in hertz (Hz) and λ is the wavelength in metres (m).
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Power, Amplitudes and the Decibel Scale
To simplify calculations of values of high dynamic ranges, the logarithmic scale is

often used: this is often called the decibel scale.
Definition of Isotropic Power Source
By definition, an isotropic power source:

- is from a pinpoint source of infinitesimal low volume (i.e. volume ≈ 0m3);
- radiates radio power uniformly in all directions (i.e. the envelope of
propagation is an outwardly expanding sphere);
- has no loss.
Obviously this is an ideal situation that cannot exist in practice.

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Free Space Path Loss formulae
Considerations: radio link that starts at point PTx ; received at point PRx; isotropic
transmitting source PTx (watts); the power passing through a unit aperture at
distance d (metres) from the isotropic source (i.e. consider this area as separate on
the surface of the propagation sphere).
PFD (Power Flux Density) passing through an area on the surface of the sphere:
Effective aperture Ae of an isotropic antenna: antenna placed on this sphere:
The received power into an isotropic antenna:
Substituting equations:
Free Space Path Loss formulae
Taking logs of each side of the equation:
The expression 10 log PTx − 10 log PRx is the difference in what is transmitted
and what is received and can be called path loss (sometimes called free space
path loss):
Putting equation into Lfspl equation:
A more practical form is to have distance in kilometers and frequency in MHz:
This formulae is reproduced in ITU Recommendation PN 525-2 ‘Calculation of free

space attenuation’.
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The Atmosphere
Radio Wave Propagation
Ground waves propagate at LF (30 – 300 kHz) and MF (300kHz – 3 MHz) bands
following curvature of Earth.
Space waves at VHF and above (30 MHz and higher) and propagates
in LOS (Line-Of-Sight) manner only.
Ionospheric (sky) waves

propagate at MF (300kHz – 3
MHz) and LF (3 – 30 MHz)
bands reflecting from the
ionosphere layer.
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Modulation
Modulation is when the signal message that is to be conveyed is transposed (e.g.

voice or raw computer data) into a suitable form so that it can be transmitted over
the media involved.
A carrier frequency is selected to suit propagation conditions, spectrum and

frequency management constraints and ITU regulations and efficient and reliable
transportation of the information across the media.
Analogue Modulations:
Amplitude Modulation (AM)
AM is when the amplitude of the carrier is directly proportional to the
modulating signal.
The simplest form of AM is double side band amplitude modulation (DSB-AM).
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Advantages of DSB-AM:
- It is very easy to synthesize DSB-AM
- It is very easy to demodulate (non-coherent detection uses a simple diode,
capacitor, resistor circuit or can use a coherent detector)
- There is always a carrier present, even when no information is being sent; this
means a receiver can easily tune to this carrier frequency and keep locked to it.
- In the amplitude domain, signals cannot get distorted or shifted by Doppler shifts
of receivers and transmitters that are physically moving with relation to one
another
Disadvantages of DSB-AM:
- At M=100%, only one-third of power being transmitted is the information
signal, the other two-thirds of power is absorbed by the carrier and is not useful.
- DSB-AM uses more RF bandwidth than is actually needed.
Single sideband amplitude modulation (SSB-AM)
By removing one of the sidebands and by removing the carrier, therefore, no
information is lost and the SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) increases for a given transmit
power as all the transmitted energy is concentrated into the information signal.
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Advantages of SSB-AM:
- all transferred power is concentrated into the ‘useful’ sideband carrying
information. This gives transmitters efficiency theoretically up to 100 %;
- It is twice as bandwidth efficient as the DSB-AM system.
Disadvantages of SSB-AM:
- More sophisticated demodulation is required (coherent detector with PLL,
costas loop).
- It can be prone to phase distortions (due to Tx and Rx oscillators beating and
changing), so high oscillator specification is required at both ends.
- Doppler shift can’t be compensated by the receiver
- Not really heard by listeners (quality not high).
Frequency Modulation (FM)
Frequency modulation is when the carrier frequency is modulated by the
baseband signal. FM is used for some specialist military systems, in aeronautical
telemetry, as well for the civil radio broadcasts.
Advantages of FM:
- gives a better quality
voice service.
Disadvantages of FM:
- more susceptible to
Doppler shifts, make it
impractical for mobile
aeronautical
communications.
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Digital Modulations:
Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
Amplitude shift keying is when, for example, a digital 1 turns on the modulation of a
fixed carrier frequency and a digital 0 signal turns it off:
The RF bandwidth required is double the

Advantages of ASK: raw data speed in baud (i.e. 9.6 kbps
- Easy implementation will require 19.2 kHz)
Disadvantages of ASK:
- setting the amplitude detection threshold between what constitutes a 1 and what
constitutes a 0 require adaptive technique
Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)
In the binary FSK modulator, a binary 1 input will modulate a frequency f1 and a
binary 0 state will modulate a frequency f2.
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Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK)
Binary phase shift keying (BPSK) consists of shifting the phase of a carrier by
180deg (or changing the amplitude of a carrier between a positive and a negative
state).
The result is two information states; where one could represent bit 0 and the other
state could represent bit 1.
Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK)
for a quadrature modulator information is modulated onto a carrier with full freedom
to manipulate the amplitude, phase, or frequency of the carrier. A quadrature
modulator is implemented with a phase shifter, two mixers, and a signal combining
stage. The quadrature modulator transmits
the same information in half the time.
RF bandwidth remains the same.
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Quadrature Modulator details
4-QAM Baseband I/Q Data

and 4-QAM Constellation Plot
M- Phase Shift Keying (M-PSK)
Obviously as the modulation index (M) goes up, the difference in voltage and
phase between the different signaling states is decreased; hence from a
practical viewpoint, it is harder to distinguish between the states, and as such as the
M-ary level is raised, the required SNR in the analogue environment necessary for
successful demodulation goes up.
+ baud rate stays the same;

+ bit rate increases
+ RF bandwidth remains the same
- required SNR goes up for detection.
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Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)
The creation of symbols that are some combination of amplitude and phase can
carry the concept of transmitting more bits per symbol further.
Example of the 16QAM
Comparison of modulation schemes and

their spectral efficiency expressed in terms
of BER versus CNR (Carrier to Noise Ratio)
Multiple Access Schemes
Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)

This is when a radio resource is shared in an Frequency Division Mmultiplexing
manner. Any user may use one of the frequencies for a given amount of time. A call
may be initiated and continued for a variable length of time.
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Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)

It exploits the use of dividing the time domain between the users.
This technology is nearly always digital and is sometimes referred to as second-
generation technology or second-generation digital mobile radio technology.
FDMA TDMA
FDMA stand for frequency division TDMA stand for time division multiple
multiple access. access.
The FDMA (frequency division multiple
It is required synchronization.
access) is not required synchronization.
It has less power efficiency. It has more power efficiency.
It requires high carrier frequency The high carrier frequency is not
stability. necessary.
It has divide frequency band into disjoint It has divided the time into non
subband. overlapping time slot.
Its entire bandwidth is shared among
Its Entire band of frequencies is divided
different subscribers at fixed
into multiple RF channels/carriers. Each
predetermined or dynamically assigned
carrier is allocated to different users.
time intervals/slots.
It has continuous transmission scheme. It discontinuous transmission scheme.
It is used in advanced mobile phone
It used in GSM and PDC.
systems (AMPS).
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9/7/2018

Radio frequency (RF) – The number of cycles per second (or

From basic physics, radio waves are considered to be

Polarization (or Polarity)

The electrical vector E is being used when the polarization is discussed:

Speed of Propagation and Relationship

Power, Amplitudes and the Decibel Scale

To simplify calculations of values of high dynamic ranges, the logarithmic scale is

Definition of Isotropic Power Source

By definition, an isotropic power source:

Obviously this is an ideal situation that cannot exist in practice.

Free Space Path Loss formulae

Effective aperture Ae of an isotropic antenna: antenna placed on this sphere:

The received power into an isotropic antenna:

Free Space Path Loss formulae

Taking logs of each side of the equation:

Putting equation into Lfspl equation:

A more practical form is to have distance in kilometers and frequency in MHz:

This formulae is reproduced in ITU Recommendation PN 525-2 ‘Calculation of free

Radio Wave Propagation

Ionospheric (sky) waves

Modulation is when the signal message that is to be conveyed is transposed (e.g.

A carrier frequency is selected to suit propagation conditions, spectrum and

The RF bandwidth required is double the

4-QAM Baseband I/Q Data

+ baud rate stays the same;

Example of the 16QAM

Comparison of modulation schemes and

Multiple Access Schemes

Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)

Multiple Access Schemes

Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)

Multiple Access Schemes

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