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The 1st International Conference on Engineering and Applied Science IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1381 (2019) 012054 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1381/1/012054

Measurement of Wideband Indoor Radio Propagation

Channel Using USRP

B.B Harianto1,2*, M. Ardiansyah1, G. Hendrantoro1, A. Mauludiyanto1

1
Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya, Indonesia
2
Aviation Polytechnic of Surabaya, Indonesia

bambangfarzardy@gmail.com*

Abstract—This paper describes the measurement of wideband radio channel sounding

techniques for indoor radio propagation. The system consists of multiple frequency band-
switching scheme, which is able to extend the overall sounding bandwidth without changing
operation bandwidth of the hardware. It is used for low mobility and high data rate
communications. The system of the channel sounding is developed on a universal software radio
peripheral (USRP) that employs an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing signal at 2.190-
2.290 GHz. In each sounding cycling, ten sub band frequency (10 MHz bandwidth) are used to
reach an equivalent measurement over a 100-MHz bandwidth, corresponding to 10 ns time delay
resolution. The validation test was perform using Vector Network Analyser (VNA). It will be
showed variation result of channel impulse response consist of radio channel accuration and
resolution between VNA and USRP. At the end of the chapter the proposed system will be used
for measuring indoor channel propagation using five scenarios line of sight (LOS) and non-line
of sight (NLOS).

1. Introduction
Wireless communication will increase rapidly because of people and device grow fast in the near
future [1]. It will be need a 1000 times (1000x) system capacity for fifth generation (5G) wireless
network to be achieved compared with the fourth generation (4G) network [2]. Wireless communication
need propagation channel parameters such as distance- path loss relation between transmitter and
receiver, shadowing loss, small fading, power delay profile, delay spread, angular spread and soon are
necessary in the design and implementation processes of the wireless network in any environment. One
of the approaches which can accurately determine the propagation channel is to conduct the
measurement in a target environment by using channel sounder. The example of the simplest channel
sounder is the system which consists of transmitter and receiver. To estimate the channel parameters,
the transmitter (TX) part of channel sounder send the signal through the environment which consists of
several scatters to the receiver (Rx). Then, the channel parameters can be estimated by performing the
signal processing on the received and transmitted. The example of the channel information which can
be easily obtained is the distance-path loss relation between transmitter and receiver by comparing the
transmitted power with the received power versus their distance. In such case, the architecture of channel
sounder is not complicated. However, to investigated the small fading, power delay profile and delay
spread, the complicated synchronizations of time and frequency between transmitter and receiver are
required. In case of indoor measurement, the vector network analyzer (VNA), which is the famous

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The 1st International Conference on Engineering and Applied Science IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1381 (2019) 012054 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1381/1/012054

commercial equipment, usually utilized to be the channel sounder by many researchers e.g. [3] in order
to obtain a precise synchronization between transmitter and receiver since both TX and Rx use the same
local oscillator.
A more recent trend, there are several work which developed the channel sounder based on open-source
software define radio platform called universal software define radio peripheral (USRP). The size of
such channel sounder is small and it can be portable easier compared with the conventional channel
sounder. Such characteristic is suitable for various indoor measurement. The hardware part of such open-
source software define radio platform is usually connected to computer laptop, in which the data transfer
between them is limited, resulting to the limited bandwidth of transmitter/receiver. For instance, by
using the Nyquist sampling rate at two time of baseband signal, the maximum of bandwidth of channel
sounder based on the famous low cost USRP-N210 model is 12.5 MHz . it means that such channel
sounder can discriminate the delay time of signal (or delay resolution) only at . = 80 which
is not sufficient in some indoor measurement scenarios. Please note that the higher bandwidth can be
obtained by using the higher price model such as USRP-X310/E310, but it requires more investment at
least two time of low-cost USRP Models.
In this research, the portable channel is developed using LabVIEW software and the other platform of
open source software define radio called universal software radio peripheral (USRP) which is much
cheaper and smaller than conventional channel sounding model. This can be solved by adopting the
multitoned-overlapping frequency stepping approach [4][5], the relative phase ∆∅ between tones can
be obtained and used to calculate the channel transfer function. Finally, the channel information can be
extracted from the calculated channel transfer function. In this paper, by transmitting/receiving the two
thousand and fifty-overlapping signal in each frequency stepping until to reach 2050 tones totally, the
100 MHz bandwidth of channel can be obtained. As for the synchronization, it is done by power
detection algorithm.
The concept of multi tone over lapping frequency stepping approach and the synchronization are
described in more detail in section 2. The validation result in laboratory environment is presented in
section 2. The indoor channel propagation test conducted in laboratory are also presented in section 3.
It shows the environments of the measurement site and how the proposed channel is used in the real
measurement. Finally, the conclusion is made in section 4.

2. System Design and Calibration

System design and calibration need hardware setup and software design in order to make a wide band
channel measurement. By using Vector Network Analyzer and LabVIEW the proposed system would be
design.

2.1. Hardware Channel Sounding Desaign

Measurements was arrenged using USRP N210, a type of software defined radio that able to sampling
signals from dual ADC and DAC up to 100 MS/s and 400 MS/s. [6]. In this research, USRP N210
combine with SBX daughterboard that works at frequencies range from 400 to 4400 MHz. This
daughterboard serves as a transceiver operate at the frequency of measurement proposed Its feature an
output power up to 100 mW with a typical noise figure of 5 dB [7]. with a wide frequency band, the SBX
daughterboard is suitable for any measurement research. The local oscillators for the receive and transmit
can be arrange independently with dual operations [8].

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The 1st International Conference on Engineering and Applied Science IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1381 (2019) 012054 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1381/1/012054

Figure 1. Blok diagram of USRP transmitter and receiver

2.2. Software Channel Sounding Design

Wideband channel sounding using OFDM modulation to determine channel characteristics. In Figure 2
it can be explained that a number of 2050 bits are generated from data source, the output will be mapped
and converted into symbol using 4QAM modulation with the same phase = after passing
serial to parallel zero padding will be added and modulated with 205 subcarriers. The output of zero
padding is added with cyclic prefix and transmitted. The receiver symbol will be processed by eliminating
cyclic prefix and zero padding to obtain the subcarrier value.
Serial to Parallel
Data Mapper Add Add RF
Parallel IFFT To serial DAC
Source 4-QAM Zero Pad Cp Tx
(S/P) (P/S)

Wirelass
Channel

Pararel to Serial
Data Demapper Remove Remove RF
Serial FFT To pararel ADC
Source 4-QAM Zero Pad Cp Rx
(P/S) (S/P)

Magnitude
Complex
to polar
Phase

Figure 2. OFDM Software Architecture

measurement is done by sending a number of signals with 10 MHz and repeated ten times until reaching
a bandwidth of 100 MHz the value of the sending from the subcarrier is 2050 after reaching the desired
bandwidth. the output data is taken from the serial to parallel block after passing through the zero pad

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The 1st International Conference on Engineering and Applied Science IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1381 (2019) 012054 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1381/1/012054

removal block. the data is still complex signal then separated into magnitude and phase. The raw data
will be change into response frekwency using mathlab.

H( f )
e j 0.25 
e j 0.25 
e j 0.25 
e j 0.25 
e j 0.25 
e j 0.25 
e j 0.25 
e j 0.25 
e j 0.25 
e j 0.25 

e j 0.25 
e j 0.25 
e j 0.25 
e j 0.25 
f1 f2
Figure 3. One frame of OFDM Symbol

Figure 3 shows an OFDM symbol consisting of 205 sub carrier frequencies with a phase difference of 45
degree. This OFDM symbol will be repeated 10 times when measure a wideband signal characteristic the
desired number of subcarriers is adjusted using LabVIEW software before adding to the Zero Pad. the
phase is made fixed with the aim of producing a stable frequency response.

H1( f ) H2 ( f ) H10 ( f )

fC1 f C2 f C3 fn
Figure 4. Multicarrier overlapping frequency sounding

Multiple overlapping frequency sounding is describe in the figure 4. All the signal will bw convert into,
frequency response of the channel. By using inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) the frequency
response convert into Channel Impulse Response ℎ =ℎ , where = 1⁄ ∆ is the sample
period and is the discrete time index. Theoretically, the CIR ℎ ! is composed of infinite number of
multipath component arrivals, which can be expressed by
ℎ " = ∑*
%+ $%
∅& ' ()(&
(1)
Where," denotes the delay of the , th arrival in propagation between the transmitter and the receiver. The
$% and ∅% ~. 0,21 [11] represent, respectively, the amplitude and phase shift of the , th arrival. The
multiband switching scheme, the receiver detects and store the probe signal frame and then switch to the
next frequency band synchronously with the transmitter in a sounding cycle. In data post processing,
synchronization is first performed to find the exact starting point of the received symbols. Then fast
Fourier transform (FFT) is performed on both the transmitted and received symbols to acquire the 23 on
each frequency band. The channel transfer function of the sounder itself could be modeled as
4 3 7 3
2 =5 =6 (2)
3

Where 8 is the received signal, is transmit signal, 6 is amplitude response, 9 is the phase
response, respectively

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The 1st International Conference on Engineering and Applied Science IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1381 (2019) 012054 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1381/1/012054

2.3. Radio Channel Sounding Calibration

To validate the performance of the proposed channel sounder, the measurement of radio channel sounding
calibration as show in figure 5. The result of channel transfer function in term of amplitude (power in dB)
and phase between two case compare between response channel and transmit signal [9]. Sounding
calibration radio channel has a measurement distance of : = 3 < and two cables that connect it to port1
and TX antennas, port 2 with Rx antenna cable length : = 4 < and :> = 3 < . the radio channel that
passes through the VNA using s12 parameter and the signal pass through : , : , :> . by considering phase
C
velocity of RF cable is relative to its material, i.e.,? = = , where c is the velocity of light in
√AB √AD BD
vacuum, EF = E ⁄EG is the relative magnetic conductivity of the medium [9]. The dielectric of coaxial
cable is polyethylene; whose nominal velocity ratio is 67% [10]. i.e., the phase velocity in cable is 0.67c.
Therefore, the relative delay " of the cable quite enough for influencing channel transfer function and
should be compensated.
 1, l1

 3 ,l3  2 ,l 2

VNA

.
Figure 5. Radio channel sounding calibration

3. Indoor Channel Measurement

Measurements take place at the antenna and propagation laboratory Institut Teknologi Sepuluh
Nopember Surabaya. The measurement is divided into five LOS and NLOS scenarios. The distance and
delay resolution of each measurement are shown in table 1.
Tabel 1. Channel measurement distance and delay resolution calculation
Tx Rx Delay (ns)
1. 3m 10
2. 4.24 m 14.13
3. 3m 10
4. 4m 13.33
5. 5m 16.67

Indoor Channel measurement were performed using USRP N210 motherboard and SBX daughterboard.
by using a frequency of 2,195 - 2,285 GHz with 10 MHz sub bandwidth, each step is consisting of 205
Sub carriers. Measurements using LOS propagation scenario and using the OFDM signal test, the mapper
is used 4 QAM modulation with total delay resolution is 10 ns (100 MHz)

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The 1st International Conference on Engineering and Applied Science IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1381 (2019) 012054 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1381/1/012054

Figure 6. Floor plane of measurement site

Figure 7a-7e are measurement of USRP using data taken from the transmitter and receiver sides. from
the measurement results we can find from the picture a channel impulse response in the form of
magnitude and excess delay in ns. This data is used in data processing using one sample, namely the
line of sight (LOS) condition. Figure 8a-8e are measuremen of USRP from the location setup non line
of sight (NLOS)

7a. 7b.

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The 1st International Conference on Engineering and Applied Science IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1381 (2019) 012054 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1381/1/012054

7c. 7d.

Figure 7e.
Figure 7. Typical impulse response LOS indoor propagation measurement
figure 7a. Impulse response for RX 1, figure 7b. Impulse response for RX 1, figure 7c. Impulse
response for RX 1, figure 7d. Impulse response for RX 1, figure 7e. Impulse response for RX 1

Figure 8a. Figure 8b

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The 1st International Conference on Engineering and Applied Science IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1381 (2019) 012054 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1381/1/012054

8c. 8d.

8d.
Figure 8. Typical impulse response NLOS indoor propagation measurement
figure 8a. Impulse response for RX 1, figure 8b. Impulse response for RX 1, figure 8c. Impulse
response for RX 1, figure 8d. Impulse response for RX 1, figure 8e. Impulse response for RX 1

4. Conclusion
This paper proposed the portable channel sounder which is suitable for indoor radio propagation channel
by adopting LabVIEW software and low-cost commercially-available device called USRP. The
multitoned-overlapping frequency stepping approach is implemented on USRP N210 device to obtain
the wideband characteristic of propagation channel. The validation from VNA radio propagation is
compared with proposed system.

References

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modeling of an ultra-wide bandwidth indoor channel IEEE Trans. Commun.
[4] Merwaday A, Rupasinghe N, Güvenç I, Saad W and Yuksel M 2014 USRP-based indoor
channel sounding for D2D and multi-hop communications 2014 IEEE 15th Annual IEEE

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The 1st International Conference on Engineering and Applied Science IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1381 (2019) 012054 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1381/1/012054

Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference, WAMICON 2014

[5] Srisooksai T, Takada J I and Saito K 2017 Portable wide-band channel sounder based software
defined radio for studying the radio propagation in an outdoor environment 2017 International
Symposium on Antennas and Propagation, ISAP 2017
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[7] Ettus Research, http:/www.ettus.com/performance_data/sbx
[8] Zitouni R, Ataman S, Mathian M and George L 2015 Radio frequency measurements on a
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