Module-1

Introduction to wireless communications

Nagarjuna Telagam
By: Dr.Mohab Mangoud
 Introduction to Radio Wave Propagation

Electromagnetic wave propagation are attributed to reflection,

diffraction, and scattering.

Most cellular radio systems operate in urban areas where there is no

direct line-of-sight path between the transmitter and the receiver, and
where the presence of high- rise buildings causes severe diffraction
loss.

Propagation models have traditionally focused on predicting the

average received signal strength at a given distance from the
transmitter, as well as the variability of the signal strength in close
spatial proximity to a particular location.
Fading Problems

1. Shadowing (Normal fading):

The reason for shadowing is the presence of obstacles like large hills or
buildings in the path between the site and the mobile.
The signal strength received fluctuates around a mean value while
changing the mobile position resulting in undesirable beats in the speech
signal.
Fading Problems

2. Rayleigh Fading (Multi-path Fading)

The received signal is coming from different paths due to a series of
reflection on many obstacles. The difference in paths leads to a
difference in paths of the received components.
 propagation models
• Propagation models that predict the mean signal strength for
an arbitrary transmitter-receiver (T-R) separation distance are
useful in estimating the radio coverage area of a transmitter
and are called large-scale propagation models, since they
characterize signal strength over large T-R separation
distances (several hundreds or thousands of meters).

• On the other hand, propagation models that characterize the

rapid fluctuations of the received signal strength over very
short travel distances (a few wavelengths) or short time
durations (on the order of seconds) are called small-scale or
fading models.
In small-scale fading, the received signal power may vary by as much as three
or four orders of magnitude (30 or 40 dB) when the receiver is moved by
only a fraction of a wavelength.

As the mobile moves away from the transmitter over much larger distances,
the local average received signal will gradually decrease, and it is this local
average signal level that is predicted by large-scale propagation models.
Fading Problems
 Small-scale and large-scale fading

Figure 4.1 Small-scale and large-scale fading.

 Basic Ideas: Path Loss, Shadowing, Fading

• Variable decay of signal due to environment, multipaths, mobility

Source: A. Goldsmith book

 Large-scale Fading:
Path Loss, Shadowing
 3.2 Free Space Propagation Model

The free space propagation model is used to predict received

signal strength when the transmitter and receiver have a
clear, unobstructed line-of-sight path between them.

the free space model predicts that received power decays as a

function of the T-R separation distance raised to some power
(i.e. a power law function).
The free space power received by a receiver antenna which is separated
from a radiating transmitter antenna by a distance d, is given by the Friis
free space equation,

Where
Pt is the transmitted power,
Pr (d) is the received power which is a of the T-R separation,
Gt is the transmitter antenna gain,
Gr is the receiver antenna gain,
d is the T-R separation distance in meters,
L is the system loss factor not related to propagation (L  1), and
 is the wavelength in meters.
The gain of an antenna is related to its effective aperture, Ae by
1. The values for Pt and Pr must be expressed in the same units,

2. and Gt and Gr are dimensionless quantities.

3. The miscellaneous losses L (L  I ) are usually due to transmission

line attenuation, filter losses, and antenna losses in the
communication system. A value of L = 1 indicates no loss in the
system hardware.

4. The Friis free space equation of (3.1) shows that the received
power falls off as the square of the T-R separation distance. This
implies that the received power decays with distance at a rate of 20
dB/decade.
In practice, effective radiated power (ERP) is used instead of
EIRP to denote the maximum radiated power as compared to a
half-wave dipole antenna (instead of an isotropic antenna).

Since a dipole antenna has a gain of 1.64 (2.15 dB above an

isotropic), the ERP will be 2.15 dB smaller than the EIRP for
the same transmission system.

In practice, antenna gains are given in units of dBi (dB gain

with respect to an isotropic source) or dBd (dB gain with
respect to a half-wave dipole)
a close-in distance, d0, as a known received power reference point.
The received power, Pr(d). at any distance d > d0,
The reference distance must be chosen such that it lies in the
far-field region, that is, d0 > df, and d0 is chosen to be smaller than any
practical distance used in the mobile communication system.

may be expressed in units of dBm or dBW by simply taking the

logarithm of both sides and multiplying by 10.
For example, if Pr is in units of dBm, the received power is given
by
Multipathradio propagation in urban areas
 Impulse response of multipath channel
• The small-scale variations of a mobile radio signal can be directly
related to the impulse response of the mobile radio channel. Impulse
response is wideband channel characterization and contains all
information necessary to simulate or analyze any type of radio
transmission through the channel.

• A mobile radio channel is modelled as a linear filter with a time

varying impulse response, where the time variation is due to receiver
motion in space. The impulse response is a useful characterization of
the channel as it is used to predict and compare the performance of
many different mobile communication systems and transmission
bandwidths for a particular mobile channel condition.
ECE6331 Spring 2009
ECE6331 Spring 2009
Impulse Response Model of a Multipath Channel
 Determining the impulse response of a

channel
Transmit a narrowband pulse into the channel

 Measure replicas of the pulse that traverse different paths

between transmitter and receiver
Doppler Shift
 Parameters of Mobile Multipath Channels
• Time Dispersion Parameters
– Grossly quantifies the multipath channel
– Determined from Power Delay Profile (average over
different time, a function of delay)
– Parameters include
– Mean Access Delay
– RMS Delay Spread
– Excess Delay Spread (X dB)
• Coherence Bandwidth
• Doppler Spread and Coherence Time
ECE6331 Spring 2009
 Power Delay Profiles
• Power delay profiles are generally represented as plots of
relative received power as a function of excess delay with
respect to a fixed time delay reference.
• Power delay profiles are found by averaging instantaneous
power delay profile measurements over a local area.
• Are measured by channel sounding techniques
• Plots of relative received power as a function of excess delay
• They are found by averaging intantenous power delay
measurements over a local area
• Local area: no greater than 6m outdoor
• Local area: no greater than 2m indoor
– Samples taken at /4 meters approximately
– For 450MHz – 6 GHz frequency range.
PDP Outdoor
PDP Indoor
 Time Dispersion Parameters
• The mean excess delay, rms delay spread, and excess delay spread (X dB)
are multipath channel parameters that can be determined form a power delay
profile.
• The mean excess delay is the first moment of the power delay profile and is
defined as,  ak2 k  P ( k ) k
k k
  
•   P ( k )
ak represents the path gain for the kth path ak2
k k
• The rms delay spread is the square root of the second central moment of the
power delay profile, where
 ak2 k2  P ( k ) k2
k k
2  
     ( )2 2
 ak2  P ( k )
• Typical values of rms delay spread are
k on thek order of microseconds in
outdoor mobile radio channel and on the order of nanoseconds in indoor
radio channel
ECE6331 Spring 2009
ECE6331 Spring 2009
ECE6331 Spring 2009
 Maximum Excess Delay (X dB)
• Maximum Excess Delay (X dB): Defined as the time delay value
after which the multipath energy falls to X dB below the maximum
multipath energy (not necesarily belongingto the first arriving
component). It is also called excess delay spread.
• The maximum excess delay is defined as (x - 0), where 0 is the first
arriving signal and x is the maximum delay at which a multipath
component is within X dB of the strongest arriving multipath signal.
The value of x is sometimes called the excess delay spread of a
power delay profile.
• In practice, values depend on the choice of noise threshold used to
process P().
• In next figure, x axis is nano secs, clearly it is indoor data. First we
cacluate mean value, i.e statisitical mean value at 45ns. Lets put a
threshold value at 10db, the last pulse below 10db matters to
maximum excess delay.
RMS Delay Spread
 Coherent bandwidth
• Analogous to the delay spread parameters in the time domain,
coherence bandwidth is used to characterize the channel in the
frequency domain.
• Coherence bandwidth is a statistical measure of the range of
frequencies over which the channel can be considered flat. I,e channel
passes all spectral components with equal gain and linear phase.
• Two sinusoids with frequency separation greater than Bc are affected
quite differently by the channel.
f1

Receiver
f2

Multipath Channel Frequency Separation: |f1-f2|

 Coherence Bandwidth
• Frequency correlation between two sinusoids: 0 <= Cr1, r2 <= 1.
• Coherence bandwidth is the range of frequencies over which
two frequency components have a strong potential for
amplitude correlation.
  is rms delay spread 1
BC 
50
– If correlation is above 0.9, then
1
BC 
– If correlation is above 0.5, then 5
– This is called 50% coherence bandwidth
– Coherence bandwidth indicates the frequency selectivity
during transmission
 Example
• For a multipath channel,  is given as 1.37s.
• The 50% coherence bandwidth is given as: 1/5 = 146kHz.
– This means that, for a good transmission from a transmitter
to a receiver, the range of transmission frequency (channel
bandwidth) should not exceed 146kHz, so that all
frequencies in this band experience the same channel
characteristics.
– Equalizers are needed in order to use transmission
frequencies that are separated larger than this value.
– This coherence bandwidth is enough for an AMPS channel
(30kHz band needed for a channel), but is not enough for a
GSM channel (200kHz needed per channel).
 Coherence Time
• Delay spread and Coherence bandwidth describe the time
dispersive nature of the channel in a local area.
• They don’t offer information about the time varying
nature of the channel caused by relative motion of
transmitter and receiver.
• Doppler Spread and Coherence time are parameters which
describe the time varying nature of the channel in a small-scale
region.
 Doppler Spread
• Measure of spectral broadening caused by motion, the time rate
of change of the mobile radio channel, and is defined as the
range of frequencies over which the received Doppler spectrum
is essentially non-zero.
• We know how to compute Doppler shift: fd
• Doppler spread, BD, is defined as the maximum Doppler shift:
fm = v/
• If the baseband signal bandwidth is much less than BD then
effect of Doppler spread is negligible at the receiver.
 Coherence Time
• Coherence time is the time duration over which the channel
impulse response is essentially invariant.
• If the symbol period of the baseband signal (reciprocal of the
baseband signal bandwidth) is greater the coherence time, than
the signal will distort, since channel will change during the
transmission of the signal .

TS Coherence time (TC) is defined as:

TC TC  1
fm

f2
f1

t1 t=t2 - t1 t2
 Coherence Time 0.423
Coherence time is also defined as: TC  
9
• 16f m2
fm
• Coherence time definition implies that two signals arriving with
a time separation greater than TC are affected differently by the
channel.
• Coherence time Tc is the time domain dual of Doppler spread
and is used to characterize the time varying nature of the
frequency dispersive-ness of the channel in the time domain.
• If the coherence time is defined as the time over which the time
correlation function is above 0.5, then the coherence time is
approximately, T  9 where fm  v
c 
16 f m
 Types of Small-scale Fading
Small-scale Fading
(Based on Multipath Tİme Delay Spread)

Flat Fading Frequency Selective Fading

1. BW Signal < BW of Channel 1. BW Signal > Bw of Channel

2. Delay Spread < Symbol Period 2. Delay Spread > Symbol Period

Small-scale Fading
(Based on Doppler Spread)

Slow Fading
Fast Fading
1. Low Doppler Spread
1. High Doppler Spread
2. Coherence Time > Symbol Period
2. Coherence Time < Symbol Period
3. Channel variations smaller than baseband
3. Channel variations faster than baseband
signal variations
signal variations
•
Flat Fading
Occurs when symbol period of the transmitted signal is much larger than the
Delay Spread of the channel
– Bandwidth of the applied signal is narrow.
– If Bs  Bc , and Ts    Flat fading
• May cause deep fades.
– require 20 or 30 dB more power to achieve low BER during times of
deep fades.
– Increase the transmit power to combat this situation.
• The spectral characteristics of the transmitted signals are preserved at the
receiver, however the strength of the received signal changes with time.
• Flat fading channels are known as amplitude varying channels or narrow-
band channels.
• Radio channel has a constant gain and linear phase response over a
bandwidth which is greater than the bandwidth of the transmitted signal.
• It is the most common type of fading described in the technical literature.
 Flat Fading
s(t) r(t)
h(t,

TS

0 TS 0  0 TS+

Occurs when: B : Coherence bandwidth

C
BS << BC BS: Signal bandwidth
and TS: Symbol period
TS >> 
: Delay Spread
 Frequency Selective Fading
• Occurs when channel multipath delay spread is greater than the symbol
period.
– Symbols face time dispersion
– Channel induces Intersymbol Interference (ISI)
• Bandwidth of the signal s(t) is wider than the channel impulse response.
• Radio channel has a constant gain and linear phase response over a
bandwidth which is smaller than the bandwidth of the transmitted signal.
• Frequency selective fading is due to time dispersion of the transmitted
symbols within the channel. Thus the channel induces inter-symbol-
interference.
• Statistical impulse response model and computer generated impulse
responses are used for analyzing frequency selective small-scale fading.
• Frequency selective fading channels are known as wideband channels since
the BW of the signal is wider than the BW of the channel impulse response.
• As time varies, the channel varies in gain and amplitude across the spectrum
of s(t), resulting in time varying distortion in the received signal r(t).
• If Bs  Bc , and 0.1Ts    Frequency selective fading
 Frequency Selective Fading
s(t) r(t)
h(t,

TS

0 TS 0  0 TS TS+

Causes distortion of the received baseband signal

Causes Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI)

Occurs when:
BS > BC As a rule of thumb: TS < 
and
TS < 
 Fast Fading
• Due to Doppler Spread
– Rate of change of the channel characteristics is larger than the BS: Bandwidth of
Rate of change of the transmitted signal the signal
– The channel changes during a symbol period. Occurs when: BD: Doppler
BS < B D Spread
– The channel changes because of receiver motion.
and TS: Symbol Period
– Coherence time of the channel is smaller than
T S > TC TC: Coherence
the symbol period of the transmitter signal Bandwidth
– It causes frequency dispersion due to Doppler spread and leads to
distortion.
– Note that, when a channel is specified as a fast or slow fading channel, it
does not specify whether the channel is flat or frequency selective
• A flat, fast fading channel  the amplitude of the delta function varies
faster than the rate of change of the transmitted baseband signal.
• A frequency selective, fast fading channel  the amplitudes, phases,
and time delays of any one of the multipath components varies faster
than the rate of change of the transmitted baseband signal.
 Slow Fading
• Due to Doppler Spread
– Rate of change of the channel characteristics is much
smaller than the rate of change of the transmitted signal

Occurs when: BS: Bandwidth of the signal

BS >> BD BD: Doppler Spread
and TS: Symbol Period
TS << TC
TC: Coherence Bandwidth
 Different Types of Fading
• With Respect To SYMBOL PERIOD
TS

Flat Fast
Flat Slow
Fading
Fading

Symbol Period of
Transmitting Signal

 Frequency Selective Frequency Selective

Slow Fading Fast Fading

TC
TS
Transmitted Symbol Period
 Different Types of Fading
• With Respect To BASEBAND SIGNAL BANDWIDTH

BS
Frequency Selective Frequency Selective
Fast Fading Slow Fading
Transmitted
Baseband BC
Signal Bandwidth

Flat Fast Flat Slow

Fading Fading

BD
BS
Transmitted Baseband Signal Bandwidth