Radio Signal Propagation

ZTE University

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 Content

 1. Radio wave propagation

 2. Propagation models
 3. Antenna systems
 4. Diversity technique
 5. Interference and interference reduction
 6. Link budget

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 Radio Link Propagation
 Multi-path propagation
 Radio path is a complicated propagation medium
 Limited transmitting energy
 The service range is determined by the
transmission power of mobiles
 Battery life-time
 Limited spectrum
 Set upper limitation for data rate (Shannon´s
theorem)
 Additional effort needed for channel coding
 Frequency reused result in self- interference
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 Radio Propagation Environment

 Multi-path propagation
 Shadowing
 Terrain
 Building
 Reflection
 Interference

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 Reflections

 Strong echoes can cause excessive transmission delay

 No impact If the delay falls in the equalizer window
 Cause self-interference if the delay falls out of the
equalizer window
direct signal
strong reflected signal

amplitude long echoes, out of equalizer window:

self-interference

delay time
equalizer window 16 s

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 Fading(1)

 Slow fading (Lognormal

Fading)
 Shadowing due to large
obstacles on propagation
Level (dB)
direction +10

 Fast fading (Rayleigh

-10
fading)
-20
 Serious interference from 920 MHz
v = 20 km/h
-30
multi-path signals 0 1 2 3 4 5m

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 Fading(2)

power
Rayleigh
fading
+20 dB
lognormal
fading

mean
value

- 20 dB

2 sec 4 sec 6 sec time

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 Signal Variations

Rayleigh Lognormal Large scale

fading fading variation
Cause Superposition of Shadowing or Prop. path profile, terrain
multiple reflection by & clutter structure, Earth
propagation cars, trees, curvature
paths with buildings
different phase

Correlation < 10 ... 100m > 100m

Prediction unpredictable mostly predictable (maps, terrain

predictable database)
(buildings!!)

Planning apply statistical consider use maps or digital

thresholds for lognormal terrain & clutter
method Rayleigh fading distribution databases to predict
signals around local (50 ..200m pixel
mean (use  = resolution)
3 ... 10dB)

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 Propagation
 Free- space propagation
Signal strength decreases with distance increases
D
 Reflection
 Specula R.
• Amplitude : A --> α*A (α< 1)
• Phase : --> -Ф
• Polarization : material determining phase shift specula reflection

 Diffuse R.
• Amplitude : A --> α*A (α<< 1)
• Phase : random
• Polarization : random diffuse reflection

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 Propagation

 Absorption
A A - 5..30 dB
 Heavy amplitude attenuation
 Material determining phase shift
 Diffraction
 Wedge-model
 Knife edge
 Multiple knife edges

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 Mobile Radio Link

 1. Radio wave propagation

 2. Propagation models
 3. Antenna systems
 4. Diversity technique
 5. Interference and interference reduction
 6. Link budget

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 Propagation Model

 Historical CCIR- Model for Radio station

 Not very accurate nor serious
 Okumura- Hata
 Empirical model
 Measure and estimate additional attenuations
 Applied for larger distance estimation (range: 5 .. 20
km)
 Not suitable for small distance ( < 1km)

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 Hata Model

 Model used for 900 MHz

L  A  B log f  1382
. log hb  a (hm )
 (44.9  6.55 log hb ) log d  Lmorpho
with
f frequency in MHz additional attenuation due
h BS antenna height [m] to land usage classes
a(h) function of MS antenna height
d distance between BS and MS [km] and

A= 69.55, B = 26.16 (for 150 .. 1000 MHz)

A= 46.3 , B = 33.9 (for 1000 ..2000MHz)

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 Land Usage Types

 Urban small cells, 40..50 dB/Dec attenuation

 Forest heavy absorption; 30..40 dB/Dec;
differs with season (foliage loss)
 Open, farmland easy, smooth propagation conditions
 Water propagates very easily ==>
dangerous !
 Mountain surface strong reflection, long echoes
 Glaciers very strong reflection; extreme delay ,
strong interferences over long distance
 Hilltops can be used as barriers between cells,
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 Walfish- Ikegami Model

 Model used for urban micro-cell propagation. Assume

regular city layout (“Manhattan grid”). Total path loss
consists of three parts:
 Line-of-sight loss LLOS
 Roof-to-street loss LRTS
 Mobile environment loss LMS
d

h
w
b

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 Mobil Radio Link

 1. Radio wave propagation

 2. Propagation model
 3. Antenna system
 4. Diversity technique
 5. Interference and interference reduction
 6. Link budget

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 Antenna Characteristics

 Lobes
 Main lobes
 Side and Back lobes
 Front-to-Back ratio
 Half-power beam-width
 Antenna downtilt
 Polarization
 Frequency range
 Antenna impedance
 Mechanical size
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 Coupling Between Antennas

main lobe
 Horizontal separation
 Sufficient decoupling distance: 5-10λ
 Antenna patterns superimposed if
distance too close
5 .. 10

 Vertical separation
 Decoupling distance:1λ can provide good RX /TX d
ecoupling
 Minimum coupling loss

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 Installation Examples

 Recommended decoupling
 TX - TX: ~20dB
0,2m

 TX - RX: ~40dB
 Horizontal decoupling distance depends on
 Antenna gain Omni-directional.: 5 .. 20m
directional : 1 ... 3m

 Horizontal rad. pattern

 Omni-directional antenna
 Use vertical separation for RX and TX
 Use vertical separation (“fork”) for RX and diversity
RX
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 Installation Examples

 Directional antenna
 Antenna downtilt
 Improve hotspot coverage
 Reduce interference

5..8 deg

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 Feeder

 Feeder parameter
Type Diameter 1800MHz 900MHz
(mm) dB/100m dB/100
m

3/8” 10 14 10

5/8” 17 9 6

7/8” 25 6 4

1 5/8” 47 3 2

Use the short feeder whenever possible

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 Distributed Antennas
 Leaking feeder
 Cables with very high loss per length unit “distributed
antenna” often used for tunnel coverage. This kind of
feeder is expensive

Propagation loss: 4 ... 40 dB/100m

50 Ohm
coupling loss: ~ 60 dB (at 1m dist.)

 Optic fiber distribution system

 Distribute RF signal radiate from discrete antenna points
at remote locations via (very thin) optic fiber.
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 Repeaters

 Repeater type
 Narrow-band Repeater
 Wide-band Repeater
 The Repeater is used to relay signal into shadowed
area
 Behind hill
decoupling ~40 dB needed
 Into valley
 Into building
Note: The Repeater needs a host cell

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 Mobile Radio Link

 1. Radio wave propagation

 2. Propagation models
 3. Antenna systems
 4. Diversity technique
 5. Interference and interference reduction
 6. Link budget

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 Diversity

t
 Time diversity
Coding, interleaving
f
 Frequency diversity
Frequency hopping
 Space diversity
Multiple antennas
 Polarization diversity
Dual-polarized antennas
 Multi-path diversity
Equalizer

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 Benefit From Diversity

 Diversity gain depends on environment

 Antenna diversity
• 3dB gain
• More path loss acceptable in link budget
• Higher coverage range
R(div) ~ 1,3 R A 1.7 A
70% more coverage per cell
Needs, less cells in total
R
The above case can be satisfied
only under ideal condition. That
is the environment is infinitely
large and flat

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 Mobile Radio Link

 1. Radio wave propagation

 2. Propagation models
 3. Antenna systems
 4. Diversity technique
 5. Interference and interference reduction
 6. Link budget

ZTE University
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 Interference

Signal quality =
sum of all expected signals carrier (C )
sum of all unexpected signal = interference (I)
atmospheric
expected signal noise

other signals

Notes: GSM specification : C / I >= 9 dB (Co-Channel)

Practical: C/I >= 12dB

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 Effects of Interference

 Affect signal quality

 Cause bit error
 Repairable errors : channel coding, error correction
 Irreducible errors : phase distortions
 Interference situation is
 Non- reciprocal : uplink <> downlink
 Unsymmetrical : different situation at MS and BTS
 C/I
 Co-Channel C/I : 9dB
 Adjacent Channel C/I : -12dB

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 Signal Quality in GSM

RX Quality
RXQUAL class : 0 ... 7

RXQUAL Mean BER BER range

class (%) from... to
0 0.14 < 0.2%
good 1 0.28 0.2 ... 0.4 %
usable signal 2 0.57 0.4 ... 0.8 %
3 1.13 0.8 ... 1.6 %
acceptable 4 2.26 1.6 ... 3.2 %
5 4.53 3.2 ... 6.4 %
unusable 6 9.05 6.4 ... 12.8 %
signal 7 18.1 > 12.8 %

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 Interference sources

 Multi-path (long echoes)

 Frequency reuse
 External interference (Such as repeaters, Military Equipments)
Note : Interference has the same effect as poor coverage.

Reduce the interference

as possible.

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 Methods for reducing
Interference

 Frequency planning
 Suitable site location
 Antenna azimuth, downtilt and height
bad location

good location

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 Methods for reducing
Interference

 Frequency hopping
 A diversity technique, frequency diversity include:
 Less fading loss
 De-coding gain
 Interference averaging
 Power control based on quality
 Evaluate signal level and quality
 DTX
 Silent transmission in speech pauses

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 Methods for reducing
Interference

 Adaptive antenna
 According to subscriber distribution, concentrate
signal energy to certain direction.
 Adaptive channel allocation
 Always assign the best available channel during call
setup.

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 Frequency Hopping

 Diversity technique
 Frequency diversity can reduce fast fading effects
 Useful for static or slow-moving mobiles
 Cyclic base-band hopping
 TRX hops cyclic between its allocated frequencies
 RF hopping
 Either cyclic or random hopping
 Needs wideband combiner
 Can use any frequency included in the MA

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 Power Control

 Save battery life-time

 Minimize interference
GSM : 15 steps and 2 dB for each

Use power control in both uplink and downlink

triggered by level or quality
signal
level target level
e.g. -85 dm

Power control isn’t allowed

on BCCH

time

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 DTX

 DTX (Discontinuous transmission)

 Switch transmitter off in speech pauses and silence
periods, both sides transmit only silence update
s (SID frames) comfort noise generated by transc
oder.
 VAD: voice activity detection
 Transcoder is informed the use of DTX/ VAD

Battery
Batterysaving
savingand
and
interference
interferencereducing
reducing

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 Mobile Radio Link

 1. Radio wave propagation

 2. Propagation models
 3. Antenna systems
 4. Diversity technique
 5. Interference and interference reduction
 6. Link budget

ZTE University
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 Link Budget Calculation

 Why we need a link budget?

 Which will decide the coverage range?
 The coverage range is limited by the weaker one.
 Two-way communication needed
 link usually limited by mobile transmitting power
 Desired result: downlink = uplink
Link budget should
be balanced

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 ZTE University
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