Mobile Communications Lecture 2

Chapter 4:

Mobile Radio Propagation: Large-Scale Path Loss

4.1 Introduction to Radio Wave Propagation

Transmitter d Receiver
TX RX

The distance between the transmitter and the receiver is d.

What is the difference between large-scale and small-scale

Small-scale
propagation models?
Large-scale

=d

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 • Due to multiple reflections, the electromagnetic waves
go through different paths and the interaction between
these waves causes multipath fading.
• If d is several hundreds to thousands meters, the
propagation model that characterizes the mean signal
strength is called large-scale.
• If d is a few wavelengths (short distance), the
propagation model that characterizes the rapid change of
the received signal strength is called small-scale or
fading model.

Large-scale Propagation Models:

4.2 Free Space Propagation Model
The free space power received by a receive antenna is given
by

t tG r 
2
PG
Pr (d ) = Friis free space equation
(4 ) 2 d 2 L
where
Pt is the transmitted power.
Gt is the transmit antenna gain.
Gr is the receive antenna gain.
λ is the wavelength of the signal.

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d is the distance between the transmitter and the receiver.
L is the system loss factor and it is not related to propagation
L  1.
Usually, it is assumed that L = 1.

PG
t t

Pt
Pt L
Pr(d)
System
d
Transmitter Receiver
TX RX

The wavelength λ is the travel distance of the signal over one

time period T.
c 3 108
= = (meter)
f f
where c is the light speed and f is the frequency.

The antenna gain is given as

4 Ae G2
G=  Ae = (m2)
 2
4
where Ae is the effective area (aperture) of the antenna and it
is related to the physical size of the antenna.
The isotropic antenna is defined as the ideal antenna that
radiates power with unit gain (Gt = 1) in all directions.
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The path loss for free space is expressed as
Pt P (d )
PL (dB) = 10 Log = −10 Log r
Pr (d ) Pt
t tG r 
2
PG
(4 ) 2 d 2 L GtG r  2
= −10 Log = −10 Log
Pt (4 ) 2 d 2 L
If the gains Gt = G r = 1 and L = 1, then

2
PL (dB) = −10 Log
(4 ) 2 d 2
For d = 0, Friis equation is not valid.

t tG r 
2
PG
Pr (d ) =
(4 ) 2 d 2 L
Friis equation is valid for a distance in the far field (d  d f )

The far field distance = Fraunhofer distance is given by

2D 2
df =

where D is the largest physical linear dimension of the
antenna.

D D