Pathloss 1

Large scale path loss
Numerical methods
Thu, September 1, 2022 1

What is large scale?
●
Time: several modulation symbols
●
Space: several wavelengths in all spatial
dimensions (5λ to 40λ)

What is path loss?
●
Attenuation of RF signal as it travels from tx
antenna to rx antenna and finally arrives at the
input of the LNA.
●
If the signal power at the input of the LNA is
below a certain value, communication can
not take place.

Large and small scale fading

Path loss behavior
●
Random
●
But there are certain trends clearly visible. For
example, as the user moves away from BS,
average RX power decreases and vice versa.
●
That triangular indicator at the top edge of your
mobile screen responds to this average power.

Design goal of network planner
●
Ensure sufficient input power for mobiles at the edge of desired
cell radius.
●
Rx RF power depends on
– Transmitted power
– Attenuation in the environment
●
Attenuation depends mainly on the distance between transmitter
and receiver.
●
Reduces exponentially with distance.

Estimation of path loss
●
This is one of the most critical aspects of cellular network design.
●
If you estimate higher than actual, you may set tx power higher
than required or cell dimensions will be larger than you think. Lot
of overlap of adjacent cells may happen.
●
If you estimate it less than actual, intended coverage may not be
achieved at all. Lot of areas may be left out of coverage.
●
Earlier, we have considered D/R ratio only, now we focus on
determining R of the cell.

Estimation of path loss
●
Two approaches are found in the literature
●
Numerical or empirical (covered first)
– Development of path loss equations from analysis of large
amount of measurement data
●
Deterministic (will be covered later)
– Ray tracing from tx to rx location and taking into account
all the effects like reflection, diffraction and scattering

Path loss basics
●
Free space propagation and Friis equation
●
Initial assumptions (some of them will be removed later)
– Transmitter antenna impedance perfectly matched with
transmitter circuit.
– Receiving antenna matched with polarization of incoming
wave and also matched with load impedance
– Both the antennas are in the far-field region of each other.

Friis equation
●
For surface type antennas, generally
dfar = 2D2/ λ0
where
D = diameter of antenna horn or equivalent
λ0 = wavelength (at center frequency of bandwidth of interest)
●
For wire type antennas, generally
dfar = 3λ0

Friis equation
Let d = distance between tx and rx antenna
locations
dT,far , dR,far= Far-field distance of tx and rx
antenna, respectively
We assume d > max(dT,far , dR,far)
dT,far
dR,far

Friis equation
Let PT = transmitted RF power
GT = gain of tx antenna in the direction of rx
antenna, compared to isotropic radiator
Power density at the location of rx antenna will
be
PT G T
S av = 2
⋯(1)
4πd
Friis equation
Let PR = received RF power at the output of rx
antenna
AR = aperture of rx antenna for the direction
from tx antenna.
P R =S av A R ⋯(2)

Friis equation
Using eqn. 1 for Sav
P T GT A R
PR= 2
⋯(3)
4πd
We know that (reciprocity principle)
4π
G R= 2 A R ⋯( 4)
λ0
GR is the rx antenna gain in the direction of tx antenna

Friis equation
Case 1 (Traditional antenna design)
●
Gain is independent of frequency or
wavelength.
●
From (4) it is clear that aperture has to be
proportional to wavelength.
●
In that case λ 20
A R= GR ⋯(5)
4π
Friis equation
Using (5) for AR in (3)
2
λ0
( )
P R =P T GT G R
4 πd
⋯(6)
2
PR λ0
PT
=G T G R ( )
4 πd
⋯(7)

Friis equation
●
Equations (6) and (7) are the two forms of Friis
equation under the assumptions mentioned
earlier
●
Now we consider case 2 (Modern antenna
design) Here, the antenna apertures are
constant with frequency or wavelength. So the
antenna gain will be dependent on frequency

Friis equation
From equation (4), we can write the following equation
for transmitting antenna
4π
GT = 2 A T ⋯(8)
λ0
Using (8) in (3) for GT , we get
PR A T A R
= 2 2 ⋯(9)
PT λ0 d

Friis equation
●
Now we consider impedance mismatch,
polarization mismatch and absorption of RF
signal in the medium.
●
Equation (7) is modified as follows

General form of Friis equation
PR λ0 2
PT
=G T G R
4 πd ( ) 2 2 * 2 −α d
(1−|Γ T| )(1−|Γ R| )|aT⋅a R| e ⋯(10)
ΓT,ΓR = reflection coefficients at transmitting and

receiving antenna ports, respectively
aT,aR = polarization unit vectors taken in appropriate
directions.
α = absorption coefficient of the medium

Path gain vs path loss
●
If you consider RF channel from tx antenna port as input
and rx antenna port as output, then PR/PT is considered
as channel “gain”, in the sense that it is ratio of output
power of channel to input power of channel.
● Hence, the ratio PT/PR is called as “loss” and generally
expressed in dB.
● It will be a positive quantity in dB as PT/PR > 1

Path loss
Expressing (7) and (9) as path loss
P T (4 π d)2
= ⋯(11) Case 1(Gain independent of frequency )
P R G T G R λ 20
2 2
PT λ0 d
= ⋯(12) Case 2( Aperture independent of frequency )
PR A T A R

Path loss behavior
●
Path loss ∝ d2 in both the cases.
● Case 1, path loss ∝ 1 / λ02
– Longer the wavelength or lower the frequency, lesser the
path loss
● Case 2, path loss ∝ λ02
– Shorter the wavelength or higher the frequency, lesser the
path loss. Useful for mmWave tech in 5G

Exercise 2.1
●
Write modified form of (9) based on (10)
●
Express equations (11) and (12) in dB.
● Let d = R and PR = PR,min. Substitute in (11) and
(12) and derive expressions for R

Path loss models
●
Log-distance ●
Indoor
●
Log-normal shadowing – Partition loss model
●
Outdoor – Attenuation Factor
model
– Okumura
– Tata Indoor Path Loss
– Hata model
– Walfisch-Bertoni

Log-distance
●
The simplest model, used extensively as a starting
point for more advanced models.
●
When we have only ‘Line of sight’ (LoS) free space
propagation,
Path Loss ∝ d2 (Friis equation)
●
Majority of phones operate in non-LoS (NLOS)
situation.

Log-distance
●
Signal reaches indirectly through reflection(s),
diffraction and scattering.
●
The single parameter PLE n, captures combined
effect of everything that is present in the
environment.
●
Mean path loss increases exponentially with
distance, (Path Loss ∝ dn)
Log-distance
n
d
Lav (d)=L B
( )
d0
⋯(13)
n = path loss exponent, typically 2.5 ≤ n ≤ 5 for outdoor environment and 2 ≤ n ≤ 4 for
indoor environment
d = distance between tx and rx antenna
d0 = reference distance or free space propagation corner distance, typically
100m ≤ d0 ≤ 1km for outdoor environment and 1m ≤ d0 ≤ 3m for indoor environment.
Also dfar < d0 << d
LB = propagation loss of the LoS path at distance d0, as calculated from Friis equation
or measured actually.
Lav = average path loss for the combined LoS and NLoS paths at distance d

Log-distance

Log-distance
From (11), we get
2
(4 π d 0 )
LB= 2
⋯(14)
GT G R λ 0
So (13) is written as
2
( 4 π d0) d n
G G λ ( )
Lav (d)= ⋯(15)
T R
2
0
d0

Exercise 2.2
● Let Lmax be the permissible maximum average
path loss in a system. The corresponding
distance will be dmax. In other words,
communication is possible up to distance dmax.
● Obtain an expression for dmax from (15) above.

Log-distance
In practice, (13) is used in logarithmic or dB form
d
Lav , dB (d)=10 log 10 (Lav (d))=10 log 10 ( LB )+10 n log 10
( )
d0
⋯(16)
Considering the quantity log10(d/d0) as

independent variable, it is an equation of straight
line, with slope 10n and y-intercept 10log10(LB)
Log-normal shadowing
●
Note that the loss predicted by (16) is average value
in dB for a given value of d.
●
If you measure the loss along a circle of radius d and
center at the location of tx antenna, there is a wide
and random variation in the measured values.
●
The measurements in dB are found to be log-normally
distributed about the average value given by (16)

●
This is modeled by adding a Gaussian random
variable Xσ (in dB) with zero mean and standard
deviation σ (also in dB) to equation (16)
d
LdB (d)=10 log 10 (L B )+10 n log 10
( )
d0
+Xσ ⋯(17)

The received power in dBm, at distance d is
given by
P R , dBm (d) = PT , dBm − LdB (d) ⋯(18)
where PT,dBm is transmitted power in dBm and LdB(d) is the
path loss predicted by (17)
Note that, as the loss is a random quantity, PR,dBm(d) is
also a random quantity for a given d and PT,dBm

● The three parameters, d0, n and σ define the
log-normal shadowing model.
● The reference distance d0 is set according to
the considerations mentioned earlier.
●
The PLE n and σ are calculated using best-fit
line according to MMSE criterion

Computation of n and σ
Also see
example
4.9

Probability of getting PRmin,dBm
● PR,dBm (d) is also a Gaussian random variable
with average PRav,dBm(d) and standard deviation
σ.
P Rav , dBm (d) = PT , dBm −Lav , dB (d) ⋯(19)
P Rmin , dBm −P Rav , dBm (d)
P(P R , dBm (d)> P Rmin , dBm )=Q ( σ ) ⋯(20)
P Rav , dBm (d)−P Rmin , dBm

P(P R , dBm (d)< P Rmin , dBm )=Q ( σ ) ⋯(21)
Q-function
It is CDF of N~(0,1) RV
2
1 ∞∫ 1 z
Q( z)=
√2 π z ( )
exp
−x
2 [
dx= 1−erf
2 ( )]
√2
⋯(23)
Q(z)=1−Q (−z) ⋯(24)

Fraction of total area with signal
above threshold
U(PRmin,dBm) = fraction of area where the
received power is greater than or equal to
PRmin,dBm, for a given likelihood of coverage at
cell boundary (d = R)
1 2
[ 2 ((
U (P Rmin , dBm )= 1+exp σ
3.07 n ) )( 1−erf
(
σ
3.07 n )) ] ⋯(25)

Fraction of coverage area
γ = PRmin,dBm
A → n = 4, σ = 8 dB, A
75% boundary B
coverage
U(γ) = 0.94
B → n = 2, σ = 8 dB,
75% boundary
coverage C
U(γ) = 0.91
C → n = 3, σ = 9 dB,
50% boundary
coverage
U(γ) = 0.71

Okumura model
●
Published in 1968. One of the oldest but most popular
models for out-door path loss prediction
●
Based completely on measured data and does not provide
any explanation.
●
One of the simplest yet accurate models, standard in radio
network planning.
●
Fairly good for urban and suburban areas, not so good
for rural areas.

Okumura model
●
Initially developed for 100 to 1920 MHz, later extrapolated
up to 3000 MHz.
●
Distances from 1 km to 100 km, base station antenna
heights from 30m to 1000m
●
Set of curves giving median attenuation relative to free
space Amu(f, d) and correction factors for terrain type G AREA,
tx antenna height G(hte)and rx antenna height G(hre).

Okumura model
L50 , dB (d)=L F , dB (d)+ A mu (f , d)−G(h t e)−G(h r e)−G AREA ⋯(26)
L50,dB(d) = 50th percentile or median loss for the given distance d.

LF,dB (d) = free-space propagation loss as given by equation (11) in dB
Amu(f, d) = median attenuation relative to free space, to be read out from graph.
GAREA= Gain factor dependent on terrain, to be read out from graph
G(hte) = Base station antenna height gain factor, to be calculated from equations
provided
G(hre) = Mobile antenna height gain factor, to be calculated from equations
provided
Hata model
●
Graphs of Okumura model replaced by empirical
equations.
●
Valid from 150 to 1500 MHz
●
Basic equation for urban area, and correction
equations for other situations
●
Predictions of Hata model are fairly close to that of
Okumura model for d > 1km

Hata model
●
European Cooperative for Scientific and Technical
Research established COST-231 working
committee
●
They came out with a formula to extend Hata
model to 2 GHz
● It is restricted to a certain range of f, d, hte and hre

Walfisch-Bertoni model

●
Impact of rooftops and building heights is
considered by using diffraction to predict
average signal strength at street level.
●
Path gain S is expressed as product of 3 terms.
S=P 0 Q 2 P1 ⋯(27)

● P0 is free space propagation gain up to distance R in the
geometry shown earlier. (Bldg ③)
2
P0 = λ
( ) ⋯(28)
4πR
●
Q2 gives reduction in roof top signal due to the row of buildings that
immediately shadow the the receiver at street. (Bldg ③)
● P1 gives the signal gain from roof-top to street, based on diffraction.

Indoor models
●
Early research focused on mobile coverage inside
buildings, now wireless LANs, main application of
these models.
●
Distances covered are much smaller but variability of
environment is much more compared to outdoor.
●
Indoor propagation is strongly influenced by building
type, lay out and construction material.

Indoor models
●
Same mechanisms (reflection, refraction, diffraction
and scattering) are applicable.
●
Path loss depends on conditions also like doors
open or closed, antenna mounted at desktop height
or on the ceiling etc.
●
Ensuring far-field radiations for all receivers and
antenna type is difficult

Indoor models
●
Log-normal model can also be used for indoor
modeling. Here also, d0 is chosen appropriately
and the parameters n and σ are obtained from
measurements
●
Other models, specifically developed for indoor
environment are presented next.

Partition loss models
●
Same floor or across multiple floors
●
Hard partitions: part of building structure, walls separating halls.
●
Soft partitions: do not span to the ceiling, can be moved and
reconfigured
●
Wide variety of physical and electrical characteristics of
partitions.
●
Application of general models to specific indoor installations is
difficult.

●
See Table 4.3, Rappaport’s book for this.
●
Losses between floors depend on external
dimensions and material of building, type of
construction used for creating floors and
external surroundings, number of windows,
presence of tinting that absorbs radio energy.

●
Floor attenuation factors are obtained from
averaging measurements in a building.
●
Attenuation through one floor is typically in the
range of 13 to 17 dB.
●
There is no significant incremental attenuation
due to additional floors. (See Table 4.5)

Attenuation Factor Model
●
Addition of site-specific attenuation factors to
basic log-normal equation, to improve accuracy.
d
Lav , dB (d )= Lav , dB (d 0 )+10 n SF log 10
( )
d0
+ FAF dB + ∑ PAF dB ⋯(29)
nSF = PLE based on “same floor” measurements

FAFdB = Floor attenuation factor for a specified number of building floors
PAFdB = Partition attenuation factor, corresponding to specific obstructions
encountered along a ray drawn from tx to rx in 3D (Primary ray tracing)
These factors are obtained from data published earlier e.g. Table 4.5 for FAF and
Table 4.3 for PAFs
●
Alternate form of (29)
d
Lav , dB (d)= Lav , dB (d 0 )+10 n MF log10
( )
d0
+ ∑ PAF dB ⋯(30)
nMF = PLE based on “multiple floor” measurements, effect of multiple floors is

already captured in this.
See Table 4.7 for typical values of PLE for various types of buildings.

●
Devasirvatham et al. Observed additional loss factor that increases
exponentially with distance.
●
Equation (29) is modified as
d
Lav , dB (d)= Lav , dB (d 0 )+20 log 10
( )
d0
+ α d + FAF dB + ∑ PAF dB ⋯(31)
PLE is fixed at 2 and α attenuation constant of the channel expressed in dB/m. It is

used to capture the path loss dependent on d.
2 αd
So now path loss ∝ d 10
See Table 4.8 for typical values of α for various types of buildings.

Tata Indoor Path Loss Model
●
Published in 23rd National Conference on
Communications, NCC 2017, IEEE
●
TCS and IIT-M joint team.
●
For 2.4 to 2.5 GHz indoor environment.
●
Indian offices specific research. Concrete slab with
false ceiling (generally PVC) and tile/ marble flooring is
unique to India

TIPL model equation
LTIPL , dB (d)=20 log 10 (f )+ N T log 10 (d)+ ∑ L w + FAF dB −20 ⋯(32)
w
●
Frequency f is in MHz ● F AFdB = Floor attenuation factor
● NT = 10 n = power loss coefficient ●
The constant 20 is coming from
● Lw = LoS loss factor of walls (glass their calculations.
or wooden or temporary partitions) ● (Reference distance d0 is 1 m, I
●
The summation is the total loss only think)
due to the walls

TIPL model data
Table for Lw values

TIPL model data
Table for NT values

TIPL model data

TIPL model data

End of Large Scale Path Loss 1

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Large scale path loss

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ΓT,ΓR = reflection coefficients at transmitting and

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Considering the quantity log10(d/d0) as

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P Rav , dBm (d)−P Rmin , dBm

Q(z)=1−Q (−z) ⋯(24)

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L50,dB(d) = 50th percentile or median loss for the given distance d.

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nSF = PLE based on “same floor” measurements

nMF = PLE based on “multiple floor” measurements, effect of multiple floors is

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PLE is fixed at 2 and α attenuation constant of the channel expressed in dB/m. It is

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