LECTURE NOTES

97254 RADIO AIDS & INSTRUMENTS

BSC – AVIATION
SEMESTER – V

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 UNIT – 2

PROPAGATION OF RADIO WAVES

RADIO SPECTRUM

You've probably heard about "AM radio" and "FM radio," "VHF" and "UHF"
television, "citizens band radio," "short wave radio" and so on. A radio wave is
an electromagnetic wave propagated by an antenna. Radio waves have different
frequencies, and by tuning a radio receiver to a specific frequency you can pick
up a specific signal.

In the United States, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) decides

who is able to use which frequencies for which purposes, and it issues licenses
to stations for specific frequencies. See How Radio Works for more details on
radio waves.

When you listen to a radio station and the announcer says, "You are listening to
91.5 FM WRKX The Rock!," what the announcer means is that you are
listening to a radio station broadcasting an FM radio signal at a frequency of
91.5 megahertz, with FCC-assigned call letters of WRKX. Megahertz means
"millions of cycles per second," so "91.5 megahertz" means that the transmitter
at the radio station is oscillating at a frequency of 91,500,000 cycles per second.
You’re FM (frequency modulated) radio can tune in to that specific frequency
and give you clear reception of that station. All FM radio stations transmit in a
band of frequencies between 88 megahertz and 108 megahertz. This band of the
radio spectrum is used for no other purpose but FM radio broadcasts.

In the same way, AM radio is confined to a band from 535 kilohertz to 1,700
kilohertz (kilo meaning "thousands," so 535,000 to 1,700,000 cycles per
second). So an AM (amplitude modulated) radio station that says, "This is AM

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680 WPTF" means that the radio station is broadcasting an AM radio signal at
680 kilohertz and its FCC-assigned call letters are WPTF.

DIFFERENT BANDS OF RADIO WAVES

Common radio frequency bands include the following:

 AM radio - 535 kilohertz to 1.7 megahertz

 Short wave radio - bands from 5.9 megahertz to 26.1 megahertz
 Citizens band (CB) radio - 26.96 megahertz to 27.41 megahertz
 Television stations - 54 to 88 megahertz for channels 2 through 6
 FM radio - 88 megahertz to 108 megahertz
 Television stations - 174 to 220 megahertz for channels 7 through 13

Most radios that you see in your everyday life are single-purpose radios. For
example, an AM radio can listen to any AM radio station in the frequency band
from 535 kilohertz to 1.7 megahertz, but nothing else. An FM radio can listen to
any FM radio station in the band from 88 to 108 megahertz and nothing else. A
CB radio can listen to the 40 channels devoted to citizens band radio and
nothing else. Scanners are different.

Scanners are radio receivers that have extremely wide frequency ranges so you
can listen to all kinds of radio signals. Typically, scanners are used to tune in to
police, fire and emergency radio in the local area (so scanners are often called
"police scanners"), but you can use a scanner to listen to all kinds of
conversations. Generally, you will either:

 Set a scanner up to scan (switch between) a whole range of frequencies

and then stop scanning when it detects a signal on any of the frequencies
it is scanning - If you're interested in learning what the police are doing,
you can scan the police radio frequencies in your local area. When a
patrol car calls in to report a problem, the scanner will stop on that
frequency and let you hear the conversation.
 Set a scanner to a specific frequency and listen to that channel - For
example, say you want to listen to the transmissions between the control
tower and airplanes at the local airport -- you can do this by listening to
the specific frequency used at the airport. Because a scanner can receive a
huge range of frequencies, you can set it to receive nearly anything on the
air.

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SURFACE WAVES

In radio transmission a radiating antenna is used to convert a time-varying

electric current into an electromagnetic wave or field, which freely propagates
through a nonconducting medium such as air or space. In a broadcast radio
channel, an omnidirectional antenna radiates a transmitted signal over a wide
service area. In a point-to-point radio channel, a directional transmitting antenna
is used to focus the wave into a narrow beam, which is directed toward a single
receiver site. In either case the transmitted electromagnetic wave is picked up
by a remote receiving antenna and reconverted to an electric current.

Radio wave propagation is not constrained by any physical conductor or

waveguide. This makes radio ideal for mobile communications, satellite and
deep-space communications, broadcast communications, and other applications
in which the laying of physical connections may be impossible or very costly.
On the other hand, unlike guided channels such as wire or optical fibre, the
medium through which radio waves propagate is highly variable, being subject
to diurnal, annual, and solar changes in the ionosphere, variations in the density
of water droplets in the troposphere, varying moisture gradients, and diverse
sources of reflection and diffraction.

Surface propagation

For low radio frequencies, terrestrial antennas radiate electromagnetic waves

that travel along the surface of the Earth as if in a waveguide. The attenuation of
surface waves increases with distance, ground resistance, and transmitted
frequency. Attenuation is lower over seawater, which has high conductivity,
than over dry land, which has low conductivity. At frequencies below 3
megahertz, surface waves can propagate over very large distances. Ranges of
100 km (about 60 miles) at 3 megahertz to 10,000 km (6,000 miles) at 1
kilohertz are not uncommon.

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SKYWAVE

In radio communication, skywave or skip refers to the propagation of radio

waves reflected or refracted back toward Earth from the ionosphere, an
electrically charged layer of the upper atmosphere.

What are Sky Waves and HF Radio Communication?

High Frequency (HF) band is defined by the International Telecommunication

Union (ITU) as radio waves with frequencies between 3MHz to 30MHz. HF
radio signals can propagate via three different ways:

 Ground waves: near the ground for short distances, up to 100 km over
land and 300 km over sea.

 Direct waves: available through line-of-sight. Available only in distances

with line-of-sight.

 Sky waves: reflected by the Ionosphere, all distances.

For long distances (more than 1000 km) between the transmitter and the
receiver, only sky-waves are applicable for HF transmission.

The Ionosphere is a region in the atmosphere in which its molecules are ionized
by radiation from the sun. This region extends from a height of about 50 km to
over 500 km. At day, the Ionosphere is comprised of four main regions which
are at different heights:

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At night, only the F2 layer is present. While regions E, F1 and F2 can be used to
reflect (refract) HF radio waves, the D region absorbs (attenuates) them. Since
the F2 region is present 24 hours of the day, and due to its high altitude, it is the
most important region for HF radio transmission.

Not all HF waves are reflected by the Ionosphere. If the frequency is too high,
the wave will penetrate through the Ionosphere. If it is too low, it will be
absorbed by the D region. Furthermore, the Ionosphere is usually not stable. It
variates during solar cycles (roughly 11 years), seasons and even during each
day. These variations cause difficulties in HF radio transmission. For example,
the range of usable frequencies will vary throughout the day, with the seasons,
and with the solar cycle. Thus, a sophisticated mechanism for the best operating
frequency tracking is required for continuous and reliable operations.

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For long distances between the transmitter and the receiver, one reflection from
the Ionosphere is not enough. The radio wave is returned to earth and refracted
from the Ionosphere once again. This double “hop” causes significant
deterioration in signal power due to the refraction from earth and the double
propagation in the D region. Furthermore, multiple number of “hops” can co-
exist in a single transmission. The effect of this multi-path translates into severe
channel conditions that should be accounted for at the receiver.

While HF radio waves can be used for data transmission over long distances,
other popular methods of such transmission are fiber-optic communication and
microwave wireless communication.  Although fiber-optic can reach very long
distances with high throughput, the latency in such communication is much
higher than that of HF communication since the speed-of-light in fiber is
approximately 2/3 of the speed-of-light in a vacuum. Microwave wireless
communication does not have this limitation in latency. However, unlike HF
radio transmission, it requires line-of-sight between the transmitter and the
receiver. This means that long distances should be covered by relay stations.
Moreover, such relay stations cannot be positioned over sea, which means that
this transmission is impossible between continents.

Raft-Technologies uses HF radio waves to acquire ultra-low latency data

communication between several stations in the world. Raft’s advanced
technology is built to maximize the potential in HF radio-waves in the sense of
low latency data communication. Our system optimizes its parameters in real-
time based on the Ionosphere variations in order to ensure continuous and
reliable links. Furthermore, our communication system can perform in harsh
environmental conditions such as receiving weak signals relative to noise at the
receiver, and in very rough channel conditions

ATTENUATION

 It means loss of energy

 When a signal travels through medium it loses some of energy

 Amplifies used to amplify the signal

 Attenuation is the loss of signal strength in networking cables or

connections. This typically is measured in decibels (dB) or voltage
and can occur due to a variety of factors.

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What causes Attenuation?

Noise: The noises like radio frequencies, electricity, etc may interfere with the
signal and weaken the signal strength and cause attenuation. Higher the
interference with noise higher is the attenuation you experience.

Travel Distance: If the signal has to travel over a longer distance then the
signal strength decreases with the distance.

Physical Surrounding: Factors like temperature, improper installation of the

cable may decrease the signal strength and cause attenuation.

Wire Size: Wires having more diameter suffer less attenuation than the wires
having less diameter. The fibre optics cable has a lower attenuation rate than
the copper cable. Fiber optics cable carries the light over long distances
with low attenuation and distortion of the signal. On contrary the copper
wires there is significant attenuation and distortion of the signal. The copper
wires are made up of electrical frequencies which are very much prone to noise.

REFRACTION OF RADIO WAVES

The same way that light waves are refracted, so too radio waves can undergo
refraction. The classic case for refraction occurs at the boundary of two media.
At the boundary, some of the electromagnetic waves will be reflected, and some
will enter the new medium and be refracted.

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This is best illustrated by placing a straight stick through the surface of a still
pond where both the reflection and the refracted waves can be seen.

Radio wave refraction follows exactly the same effects as it does for light. The
basic law for radio wave refraction and light wave refraction is known as Snells
Law which states:

Refraction of radio waves in ionised regions

Radio waves are also refracted in regions of ionisation such as the ionosphere.
The ionosphere is a region in the upper atmosphere where there is a large
concentration of ions and free electrons, primarily as a result of the effect of the
Sun’s radiation on the upper reaches of the atmosphere.

The electrons in the ionosphere are excited by the radio waves and are set in
motion by them as a result they tend to re-radiate the signal. As the signal is
travelling in an area where the density of electrons is increasing, the further it
progresses into the region, the signal is refracted away from the area of higher
electron density. In the case of signals below about 30 MHz, this refraction is
often sufficient to bend them back to earth. In effect it appears that the region
has "reflected" the signal.

The tendency for this "reflection" is dependent upon the frequency and the
angle of incidence. As the frequency increases, it is found that the amount of
refraction decreases until a frequency is reached where the signals pass through
the region and on to the next. Eventually a point is reached where the signal
passes through the E layer on to the next layer above it. The state of the
ionosphere is constantly changing, so the degrees of refraction that are
encountered will vary continually.

DENSITY

 Density is a measure of mass per volume. The average density of an

object equals its total mass divided by its total volume.

 An object made from a comparatively dense material (such as iron) will

have less volume than an object of equal mass made from some less
dense substance (such as water).

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Density altitude

 Can be a confusing concept but it is absolutely critical that pilots

understand it and especially critical for pilots of small, single engine
aircraft.

 The main thing to take away is that a high density altitude is bad for
aircraft performance. When the density altitude is higher than normal
the aircraft engine will be less efficient in producing power, the propeller
blades will be less efficient at producing thrust, the wings will be less
efficient at producing lift and therefore it will take you longer to takeoff,
climb and even land.

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  This is why all pilots must calculate their takeoff and landing
performance using the forecasted temperature and elevation (because
they change the density altitude!).

 The very last thing you want to do is come into land at a high density
altitude and not have enough runway to stop! Or takeoff at a high density
altitude and not have enough runway to takeoff!

 A high density altitude does not mean the density is high.

 This is where it can be confusing. It means that the density of the air
makes it seem like you are at a high altitude since the density of air
decreases as altitude increases.

 But altitude isn’t the only thing that changes the density of the air.

 High Air temperature, high humidity and low air pressure also decrease
the density of air and cause high density altitudes.

DEAD SPACE

Dead space is the volume of air that is inhaled that does not take part in the gas
exchange, because it either remains in the conducting airways or reaches alveoli
that are not perfused or poorly perfused. In other words, not all the air in each
breath is available for the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide.

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Benefits do accrue to a seemingly wasteful design for ventilation that
includes dead space

1. Carbon dioxide is retained, making a bicarbonate-buffered blood and

interstitium possible.

2. Inspired air is brought to body temperature, increasing the affinity

of hemoglobin for oxygen, improving O2 uptake.

3. Particulate matter is trapped on the mucus that lines the conducting

airways, allowing its removal by mucociliary transport.

4. Inspired air is humidified, improving the quality of airway mucus

FADING

Fading is a phenomenon that occurs due to varying parameters and conditions

of the channel during wireless propagation. To better understand and eliminate
the adverse effects of fading, it is divided into various types. Let us take a look
into them in detail.

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The figure above shows the different types of fading and the sub-categories. We
have tried to elaborate on each type of fading below and provide information on
how do they affect wave propagation.

1. Large Scale Fading: This refers to the attenuation of signal power due to

obstacles between the transmitter and receiver. It also covers the
attenuation and fluctuations of signal when the signal is transmitted over
a long distance (usually in kilometres).

 Path Loss: It refers to the attenuation when a signal is transmitted

over large distances. Wireless signals spread as they propagate
through the medium and as the distance increases, the energy per
unit area starts decreasing (Click here to try the Path Loss
Calculator).This is a fundamental loss that is independent of the
type of transmitter and medium. Although, we can minimize its
effects by increasing the capture area/dimension of the receiver.
The figure below shows the radiation pattern and spread of the
signal transmitted from the antenna.
 Shadowing: This refers to the loss in signal power due to the
obstructions in the path of propagation. There are a few ways in
which shadowing effects can minimize signal loss. One that is
most effective, is to have a Line-Of-Sight propagation.
Shadowing losses also depend on the frequency of the EM wave.
As we know, EM Waves can penetrate through various surfaces
but at the cost of loss in power i.e signal attenuation. The losses
depend on the type of the surface and frequency of the signal.
Generally, the penetration power of a signal is inversely
proportional to the frequency of the signal.

2. Small Scale Fading: This refers to the fluctuations in signal strength and

phase over short distance and small duration of time. It is also called Rayleigh
Fading. Small Scale Fading affects almost all forms of wireless communication
and overcoming them is a necessity to increase efficiency and decrease error.

• Fast Fading: It occurs mainly due to reflections for surfaces and

movement of transmitter or receiver. High doppler spread is
observed in the fast fading with Doppler bandwidth comparable to
or greater than the bandwidth of the signal and the channel
variations are as fast or faster than the signal variations. It causes

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 linear distortions in the shape of the baseband signal and
creates Inter Symbol Interference (ISI). One way to remove ISI
is adaptive equalization.

• Slow Fading: It occurs mainly due to shadowing where large

buildings or geographical structures obstruct the LOS. Low
doppler spread is observed in Slow Fading with the doppler
bandwidth being smaller compared to the bandwidth of the signal
and the channel variations are slow relative to the signal
variations. It results in reduction of SNR which can be overcome
using error correction techniques and receiver diversity techniques.

• Multipath Fading: It occurs when a signal reaches the receiver

from various path i.e. when multipath propagation takes place.
Multipath fading can affect all ranges of frequencies starting from
low frequency to microwave and beyond. It affects both the
amplitude and the phase of the signal causing phase distortions and
ISI. Multipath fading can affect signal transmission in two ways:

Flat Fading: In flat fading, all frequency components get

affected almost equally. Flat multipath fading causes the
amplitude to fluctuate over a period of time.
Selective Fading: Selective Fading or Selective Frequency
Fading refers to multipath fading when the selected
frequency component of the signal is affected. It means
selected frequencies will have increased error and
attenuation as compared to other frequency components of
the same signal. This can be overcome by techniques such
as OFDM which spreads the data across the frequency
components of the signal to reduce data loss.

MULTI – HOP REFRACTION

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CRITICAL ANGLE

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