Wirelesscomm - MBN - Lec2

EEE613 (MobiNets)
Mobile Broadband Networks
Shahzad A. Malik, Ph.D.
smalik@comsats.edu.pk
Lecture 2
Wireless Communication Basics

Basic Communication System
 Electrical communication systems are designed to send

messages from a source to one or more destinations.
Info Source
Ouptput
& Transm. Channel Rx
Transd.
Input Transd.
Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-3

06.03.2008
 Info source: speech, video, data.
 Transducer: microphone, video camera - convert
information into electrical signal.
 Transmitter: converts electrical signal into form
suitable for communication.
 Translates frequencies to appropriate range.
 Performs modulation - use of the information to vary
attributes of a carrier. Modulation enables many users
to use same physical channel.
 Performs filtering and amplification.
 Provides the radiation for wireless transmission.

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 Channel: the physical medium causes signal corruption
by a variety of mechanisms. Some are additions, some
affect own signal.
 Additive noise - thermal noise.
 Multipath fading attenuates and distorts the signal.
 Receiver: its function is to recover the message. It
performs:
 Carrier demodulation.
 Signal filtering.
 Noise suppression.
 Symbol detection.

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Digital Communication System
 Signal fidelity better controlled through digital
transmission.
 Discrete-time signals -- digital communications.
 Our communication system needs to be expanded to
include message signal discretization at the
transmitter and message signal synthesis at the
receiver.
 Source - outputs are bits.
 Source encoder - represents the source in as few
digits as possible. Converts the output of the source
into an efficient representation.

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Info S ource
S ource C hannel D igital
Input
E ncoder E ncoder M odulation
T ransd.
C hannel
D igital
O utput S ource C hannel
D em odulati
T ransd. D ecoder D ecoder
on

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 Channel Encoder - introduces controlled redundancy to
overcome effects of noise and interference in the
channel. Trivial example repeat each bit m times:
Channel
K-bit sequence n-bit sequence
Encoder
Code redundancy = n/k, code rate = k/n

 Digital Modulation - maps information bits into electrical
signals. Example: map digit 0 into signal s0(t), and digit 1
into signal s1(t). To code B information bits there are M =
2B required waveforms.
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 Demodulator - processes the noise corrupted received
information and decides on the transmitted bit.
 Binary decision - decide 0, or 1.
 Ternary decision - 0,1, neither.
 Several performance measures used in wireless:
 Frequency of errors in the decoded sequence: average
probability of error at output of the decoder .
 Probability of SNR falling below a specified threshold -
outage.
 Digital communication stems from the work of Nyquist.

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Classifications of Transmission Media
 Transmission Medium
 Physical path between transmitter and receiver
 Guided Media
 Waves are guided along a solid medium
 E.g., copper twisted pair, copper coaxial cable, optical
fiber
 Unguided Media
 Provides means of transmission but does not guide
electromagnetic signals
 Usually referred to as wireless transmission
 E.g., atmosphere, outer space

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Unguided Media - Wireless Transmission
 Transmitting information (voice and data) using
electromagnetic (EM) waves in open space.

 Electromagnetic waves
 Travel at speed of light (c = 3x108 m/s)

 Characterized by a frequency (f) and a wavelength ()
 c=f
 Transmission and reception are achieved by means of an
antenna. EM energy is coupled to medium by antenna. For

efficient radiation antenna longer than 1/10 of wavelength.

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Signals
 physical representation of data
 function of time and space (location)
 Can also be expressed as a function of frequency
 Signal consists of components of different
frequencies
 classification
 continuous time/discrete time
 continuous values/discrete values
 analog signal = continuous time and continuous values
 digital signal = discrete time and discrete values

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Signals: Time-Domain Concepts
 Analog signal - signal intensity varies in a smooth
fashion over time
 No breaks or discontinuities in the signal
 Digital signal - signal intensity maintains a constant
level for some period of time and then changes to
another constant level
 Periodic signal - analog or digital signal pattern that
repeats over time
s(t +T ) = s(t ) - < t < +
where T is the period of the signal
 Aperiodic signal - analog or digital signal pattern that
doesn't repeat over time

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Signals: Time-Domain Concepts
 signal parameters: parameters representing the value
of data
 signal parameters of periodic signals:
 Peak amplitude (A) - maximum value or strength of the
signal over time; typically measured in volts
 Frequency (f ) - Rate, in cycles per second, or Hertz (Hz)
at which the signal repeats
 Period (T ) - amount of time it takes for one repetition of
the signal --- > T = 1/f
 Phase () - measure of the relative position in time within
a single period of a signal

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Sine Wave Parameters
 General sine wave as special periodic signal for a carrier
 s(t ) = A sin(2ft + )
 Effect of varying each of the three parameters of a
sine wave is shown in Fig on next slide
(a) A = 1, f = 1 Hz,  = 0; thus T = 1s
(b) Reduced peak amplitude; A=0.5
(c) Increased frequency; f = 2, thus T = ½
(d) Phase shift;  = /4 radians (45 degrees)
 note: 2 radians = 360° = 1 period

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Time vs. Distance
 When the horizontal axis is time, graphs display the value of a
signal at a given point in space as a function of time
 With the horizontal axis in space, graphs display the value of a
signal at a given point in time as a function of distance
 At a particular instant of time, the intensity of the signal
varies as a function of distance from the source
 Wavelength () - distance occupied by a single cycle of the
signal, or the distance between two points of corresponding
phase of two consecutive cycles
 Frequency (f) and wavelength () are related
 c = f 
Where c is the velocity of light (3 x 10^8 m/s)

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Signal representation
 Different representations of signals
 amplitude (amplitude domain)
 frequency spectrum (frequency domain)
 phase state diagram (amplitude M and phase  in polar
coordinates)
A [V] A [V] Q = M sin 
t[s] 
I= M cos 
 f [Hz]
 Composed signals transferred into frequency domain using

Fourier transformation
 Digital signals need
 infinite frequencies for perfect transmission
 modulation with a carrier frequency for transmission (analog
signal!)
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Fourier representation of periodic signals
 
1
g (t )  c   an sin( 2nft )   bn cos( 2nft )
2 n 1 n 1
1 1
0 0
t t
ideal periodic signal real composition
(based on harmonics)

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Signals: Frequency-Domain Concepts
 Fundamental frequency
when all frequency components of a signal are integer multiples
of one frequency, it’s referred to as the fundamental
frequency
 Spectrum
 range of frequencies that a signal contains
 Absolute bandwidth
 width of the spectrum of a signal
 Effective bandwidth (or just bandwidth)

 narrow band of frequencies where most of the signal’s energy
is contained in
 Any electromagnetic signal can be shown to consist of a collection
of periodic analog signals (sine waves) at different amplitudes,
frequencies, and phases
 The period of the total signal is equal to the period of the
fundamental frequency
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Analog Signaling/Transmission

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Digital Signaling/Transmission

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Analog Transmission
 Transmit analog signals without regard to content
 Attenuation limits length of transmission link
 Cascaded amplifiers boost signal’s energy for

longer distances but cause distortion
 Analog data can tolerate distortion
 Introduces errors in digital data

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Digital Transmission
 Concerned with the content of the signal
 Attenuation endangers integrity of data
 Digital Signal
 Repeaters achieve greater distance
 Repeaters recover the signal and retransmit
 Analog signal carrying digital data

 Retransmission device recovers the digital data from
analog signal
 Generates new, clean analog signal

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Transmission Impairments
 Channel Impairments
 Noise
 Attenuation and attenuation distortion

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Noise
 Noise is the unwanted signal inserted/added to the main
signal while it travels from the transmitter to the receiver

 Noise is a major limiting factor in communications system
performance
 Noise is divided into four categories:
 Thermal Noise
 Intermodulation Noise
 Crosstalk
 Impulse Noise

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Noise
 Thermal noise - due to agitation of electrons
 Present in all electronic devices and transmission media
 Cannot be eliminated
 Function of temperature
 Particularly significant for satellite communication,
received signal being very weak
 Amount of thermal noise to be found in a bandwidth of
1Hz in any device or conductor is:
N 0  kT W/Hz 
N0 = noise power density in watts per 1 Hz of bandwidth
k = Boltzmann's constant = 1.3803 ´ 10-23 J/K
T = temperature, in kelvins (absolute temperature)
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Noise
 Intermodulation noise – occurs if signals with different
frequencies share the same medium

 Interference caused by a signal produced at a
frequency that is the sum or difference of original
frequencies
 Crosstalk – unwanted coupling between signal paths
 Impulse noise – irregular pulses or noise spikes
 Short duration and of relatively high amplitude

 Caused by external electromagnetic disturbances, or
faults and flaws in the communications system

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Noise
 Performance of wireless systems is determined by the
signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Sometimes referred to as
carrier-to-noise ratio
 To achieve required SNR at the receiver it is necessary:
 Evaluate noise power
 Transmit sufficient power
Transmitted power
Propagation loss
Received Power
Required SNR
Receiver noise floor
Power Diagram
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Noise
 SNR is expressed in decibels (dB)
S
SNRdB  10 log10
N
 Typical SNR required: telephone 26 dB, hi-fi audio 60
dB, Cellular wireless 14 - 18 dB
 All electrical circuits generate noise:
 SNR at the output is always smaller than SNR at
the input.
SNRin SNRout
Receiver
SNRin
Noise Figure, F  1
SNRout
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Noise
 Eb/N0 - Ratio of signal energy per bit to noise power
density per Hertz
Eb S/R S
 
N0 N0 kTR
 The bit error rate for digital data is a function of Eb/N0

 Given a value for Eb/N0 to achieve a desired error rate,
parameters of this formula can be selected
 As bit rate R increases, transmitted signal power
must increase to maintain required Eb/N0

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Attenuation
 Strength of signal falls off with distance over
transmission medium
 Attenuation factors for the transmission media:
 Received signal must have sufficient strength so that
circuitry in the receiver can interpret the signal
 Signal must maintain a level sufficiently higher than noise
to be received without error
 Attenuation is greater at higher frequencies, causing
distortion

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What is bandwidth?
 Bandwidth is the range of frequencies that can be
transmitted over a channel (a general name for communication
medium) without significant loss of power
 If a channel has a bandwidth of 1 MHz, does that mean you
can’t transmit a signal of higher frequency?
 What is the relationship between spectrum, frequency, and
bandwidth?
 Spectrum: a range of frequencies (e.g. I requested a 25
MHz of spectrum from FCC, does it tell you what is my
frequency of operation?)
 Bandwidth: an inherent property of a channel (e.g. Fiber
has 10 THz of bandwidth)
 Frequency of operation (e.g. W-LAN using 2.4 GHz
frequency)

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How many bits can we transmit?
 The actual number of bits transmitted in a medium is a
function of signal power, noise, source and channel coding,
and bandwidth
 So 1 MHz does not mean 1 Mbps!!
 Bandwidth is limited by Regulatory allocation or the size of
unlicensed bands (such as ISM bands)
 Signal power can not be raised beyond certain limit
 Interference mostly is beyond your control
 After a limit, how well you code your signal becomes useless
and then the upper limit of number of bits/second is
determined by signal power, noise and bandwidth (this
relationship is also known as Shannon’s theorem)
 Bandwidth can be re-used in different places as in
cellular/PCS systems
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Channel Capacity
 Impairments, such as noise, limit data rate that can

be achieved
 For digital data, to what extent do impairments limit
data rate?
 Channel Capacity – the maximum rate at which data
can be transmitted over a given communication path,
or channel, under given conditions

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Concepts Related to Channel Capacity
 Data rate - rate at which data can be communicated (bps)
 Bandwidth - the bandwidth of the transmitted signal as

constrained by the transmitter and the nature of the
transmission medium (Hertz)
 Noise - average level of noise over the communications
path
 Error rate - rate at which errors occur
 Error = transmit 1 and receive 0; transmit 0 and
receive 1

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Nyquist Bandwidth
 For binary signals (two voltage levels)
C = 2B
 With multilevel signaling
C = 2B log2 M
M = number of discrete signal or voltage levels

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Signal-to-Noise Ratio
 Ratio of the power in a signal to the power contained in the
noise that’s present at a particular point in the
transmission
 Typically measured at a receiver
 Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR, or S/N)
signal power
( SNR) dB  10 log10
noise power
 A high SNR means a high-quality signal, low number of
required intermediate repeaters
 SNR sets upper bound on achievable data rate

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Shannon Capacity Formula
 Equation:
C  B log 2 1  SNR 
 Represents theoretical maximum that can be achieved
 In practice, only much lower rates achieved

 Formula assumes white noise (thermal noise)
 Impulse noise is not accounted for
 Attenuation distortion or delay distortion not
accounted for

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Example of Nyquist and Shannon Formulations
 Spectrum of a channel between 3 MHz and 4 MHz ;

SNRdB = 24 dB
B  4 MHz  3 MHz  1 MHz

SNR dB  24 dB  10 log10 SNR 
SNR  251
 Using Shannon’s formula
C  106  log 2 1  251  106  8  8Mbps

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Example of Nyquist and Shannon Formulations
 How many signaling levels are required?
C  2 B log 2 M
8  106  2  106  log 2 M  
4  log 2 M
M  16

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Relationship between Data Rate and Bandwidth
 The greater the bandwidth, the higher the

information-carrying capacity
 Conclusions
 Any digital waveform will have infinite bandwidth
 BUT the transmission system will limit the bandwidth
that can be transmitted
 AND, for any given medium, the greater the bandwidth
transmitted, the greater the cost
 HOWEVER, limiting the bandwidth creates distortions

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Modulation
 Modulation: the process of encoding information from a
message source in a manner suitable for transmission
 Involves translating a baseband message signal to a
bandpass signal at frequencies much higher w.r.t.
baseband frequency
 Modulated Signal – bandpass carrier signal
 Modulating Signal – baseband message signal
 Amplitude, frequency or phase a carrier signal is varied
in accordance with the amplitude of the message signal
 Demodulation: the process of extracting baseband
message from the carrier

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Modulation
 Digital modulation
 digital data is translated into an analog signal (baseband)
 differences in spectral efficiency, power efficiency, robustness
 Analog modulation
 shifts center frequency of baseband signal up to the radio
carrier
 Motivation
 smaller antennas (e.g., /4)
 Frequency Division Multiplexing
 medium characteristics
 Basic schemes
 Amplitude Modulation (AM)
 Frequency Modulation (FM)
 Phase Modulation (PM)

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Modulation and demodulation
analog
baseband
digital
signal
data digital analog
101101001 modulation modulation radio transmitter
radio
carrier
analog
baseband
digital
signal
analog synchronization data
demodulation decision 101101001 radio receiver
radio
carrier

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Digital Modulation
 Digital modulation schemes – mainly used in present 2G and
future mobile radio systems
 A digital modulation is a mapping from a block of log2M
bits/s to a symbol from an alphabet of M symbols
 Advantages of digital modulation
 Greater noise immunity
 Robustness to channel impairments
 Easier multiplexing of various forms of information (voice, data,
video)
 Support complex signal conditioning and processing
 Error detection/correction - utilization of error control codes

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Digital modulation
 Modulation of digital signals known as Shift Keying
1 0 1
 Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK):
 very simple t
 low bandwidth requirements

1 0 1
 very susceptible to interference
 Frequency Shift Keying (FSK): t
 needs larger bandwidth

 Phase Shift Keying (PSK): 1 0 1
 more complex t
 robust against interference

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Digital Modulation
Choice of Digital Modulation
 Desirable properties:
 Low BER at low SNR.
 Occupies minimum bandwidth.
 Performs well in multipath
 Simple (cost-effective)
 Performance measures - power efficiency, bandwidth

efficiency
 Power efficiency - Eb/N0 ratio of energy per bit to noise
power spectral density (PSD) required for specified
performance (say BER=10^-5)

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Digital Modulation
 Bandwidth efficiency
B  R (data rate in bps)

B (bw occupied by modulated RF signal)
 Fundamental upper bound on bandwidth efficiency limited
by noise in the channel.
 Shannon’s Channel Capacity Theorem
 Upper bound on spectral efficiency achievable for a given
SNR.
C
 B  B  log 2 1  SNR 

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Digital Modulation
 Trade off between power efficiency and bandwidth efficiency
C  B log 2 1  SNR  bits/s

Information rate can be increased by increasing either
bandwidth or SNR
E Determine capacity data rate C, given that SNR=20 dB, B=30k

Hz (TDMA)
C  B log 2 1  SNR   200 kbps

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Digital Modulation
Other Factors affecting choice of modulation
 receiver cost and complexity
 detection/demodulation is simple
 performance under various channel impairments
(fading, multipath time dispersion)

 performance in interference environmen
Simulation analysis of complete system including

modulation, interference, fading and demodulation to
determine relative performance and select
appropriate techniques

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Advanced Frequency Shift Keying
 bandwidth needed for FSK depends on the distance
between the carrier frequencies
 special pre-computation avoids sudden phase shifts
 MSK (Minimum Shift Keying)
 bit separated into even and odd bits, the duration of each
bit is doubled
 depending on the bit values (even, odd) the higher or lower
frequency, original or inverted is chosen
 the frequency of one carrier is twice the frequency of the
other
 Equivalent to offset QPSK
 even higher bandwidth efficiency using a Gaussian low-pass
filter  GMSK (Gaussian MSK), used in GSM
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Advanced Phase Shift Keying
 BPSK (Binary Phase Shift Keying): Q
 bit value 0: sine wave
 bit value 1: inverted sine wave I
1 0
 very simple PSK
 low spectral efficiency 10 Q 11
 robust, used e.g. in satellite systems
 QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying): I
 2 bits coded as one symbol

00 01
 symbol determines shift of sine wave
A
 needs less bandwidth compared to BPSK
 more complex
t
 Often also transmission of relative, not
absolute phase shift: DQPSK - Differential 11 10 00 01
QPSK (IS-136, PHS)
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Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM):
combines amplitude and phase modulation
 it is possible to code n bits using one
symbol
 2n discrete levels, n=2 identical to QPSK Q
0010
 bit error rate increases with n, but less 0001
errors compared to comparable PSK 0011 0000

schemes φ
a I
Example: 16-QAM (4 bits = 1 symbol) 1000
 Symbols 0011 and 0001 have the same

phase φ, but different amplitude a. 0000
and 1000 have different phase, but same
amplitude.
 used in standard 9600 bit/s modems

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Hierarchical Modulation
 DVB-T modulates two separate data streams onto a single DVB-T
stream
 High Priority (HP) embedded within a Low Priority (LP) stream
 Multi carrier system, about 2000 or 8000 carriers
 QPSK, 16 QAM, 64QAM
Q
 Example: 64QAM
 good reception: resolve the entire
64QAM constellation 10
 poor reception, mobile reception: I
resolve only QPSK portion

 6 bit per QAM symbol, 2 most
00
significant determine QPSK
000010 010101
 HP service coded in QPSK (2 bit),
LP uses remaining 4 bit

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Multiplexing
 Capacity of transmission medium usually exceeds capacity
required for transmission of a single signal
 Multiplexing - carrying multiple signals on a single medium
 More efficient use of transmission medium

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Multiplexing
channels ki
 Multiplexing in 4 dimensions k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
 space (si)
c
 time (t) t c
 frequency (f) t
 code (c) s1
f
s2
f
 Goal: multiple use c
of a shared medium t
 Important: guard spaces needed! s3

f

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Frequency Division Multiplex (FDM)
 Separation of the whole spectrum into smaller frequency bands
 A channel gets a certain band of the spectrum for the whole time
 Takes advantage of the fact that the useful bandwidth of the
medium exceeds the required bandwidth of a given signal
 Advantages:
 no dynamic coordination k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
necessary
c
 works also for analog signals
f
 Disadvantages:
 waste of bandwidth
if the traffic is
distributed unevenly
 inflexible
 guard spaces
t

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Time Division Multiplex (TDM)
 A channel gets the whole spectrum for a certain amount of time
 Takes advantage of the fact that the achievable bit rate of the
medium exceeds the required data rate of a digital signal
 Advantages:
 only one carrier in the
medium at any time k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
 throughput high even
for many users
c
f
 Disadvantages:
 precise
synchronization
necessary
t

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Time and frequency multiplex
 Combination of both methods
 A channel gets a certain frequency band for a certain amount of
time
 Example: GSM
 Advantages:
 better protection against
tapping k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
 protection against frequency
c
selective interference
 higher data rates compared to f
code multiplex
 but: precise coordination
required
t

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Code Division Multiplex (CDM)
 Each channel has a unique code
k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
 All channels use the same spectrum

at the same time c
 Advantages:
 bandwidth efficient
 no coordination and
synchronization necessary
 good protection against f
interference and tapping
 Disadvantages:
 lower user data rates
 more complex signal regeneration t
 Implemented using spread spectrum
technology

06.03.2008
Wireless Transmission
 The information from sender to receiver is carrier over a
well defined frequency band.

 This is called a channel
 Each channel has a fixed frequency bandwidth (in KHz) and
Capacity (bit-rate)
 Different frequency bands (channels) can be used to
transmit information in parallel and independently.

 Configurations for wireless transmission
 Directional
 Omnidirectional

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Frequencies for communication
twisted coax cable optical transmission
pair
1 Mm 10 km 100 m 1m 10 mm 100 m 1 m
300 Hz 30 kHz 3 MHz 300 MHz 30 GHz 3 THz 300 THz
VLF LF MF HF VHF UHF SHF EHF infrared visible light UV
VLF = Very Low Frequency UHF = Ultra High Frequency

LF = Low Frequency SHF = Super High Frequency
MF = Medium Frequency EHF = Extra High Frequency
HF = High Frequency UV = Ultraviolet Light
VHF = Very High Frequency
Frequency and wave length:

= c/f
wave length , speed of light c  3x108m/s, frequency f

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Frequencies
 In theory, any frequency can be used for communications
 Lower frequencies are in wide use, so higher interference from
others
 Higher loss of signal power at higher frequencies, but not much
interference as fewer users
 Higher frequencies also reduce the size of receiving devices
 The power loss (of a signal) also depends on the distance, objects,
and rain
 The power loss can not be overcome simply by increasing the power
of transmission
 as it increases the interference for other users
 and reduces battery life and raises health concerns
 Most radio and microwave frequencies controlled by regulatory
bodies (FCC in USA), except ISM

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General Frequency Ranges
 Microwave frequency range
 1 GHz to 40 GHz
 Directional beams possible
 Suitable for point-to-point transmission
 Used for satellite communications
 Radio frequency range
 30 MHz to 1 GHz
 Suitable for omnidirectional applications
 E.g. GSM in Europe (890-915, 935-960, 1710-1785, 1805-1880 MHz)
 GSM in NA (1850-1910, 1930-1990 MHz)
 Infrared frequency range
 Roughly, 3x10^11 to 2x10^14 Hz
 Useful in local point-to-point multipoint applications within confined
areas
 License Free Bands
 UHF ISM band (902 – 928 MHz)
 The Industrial Scientific and Medical (ISM) Band (2.4 – 2.5 GHz)
 Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (UNII) band (5.725 –
5.875GHz)
06.03.2008
Frequencies and regulations
 ITU-R holds auctions for new frequencies, manages frequency
bands worldwide (WRC, World Radio Conferences)
Europe USA Japan
Cellular GSM 450-457, 479- AMPS, TDMA, CDMA PDC

Phones 486/460-467,489- 824-849, 810-826,
496, 890-915/935- 869-894 940-956,
960, TDMA, CDMA, GSM 1429-1465,
1710-1785/1805- 1850-1910, 1477-1513
1880 1930-1990
UMTS (FDD) 1920-
1980, 2110-2190
UMTS (TDD) 1900-
1920, 2020-2025
Cordless CT1+ 885-887, 930- PACS 1850-1910, 1930- PHS
Phones 932 1990 1895-1918
CT2 PACS-UB 1910-1930 JCT
864-868 254-380
DECT
1880-1900
Wireless IEEE 802.11 902-928 IEEE 802.11
LANs 2400-2483 IEEE 802.11 2471-2497
HIPERLAN 2 2400-2483 5150-5250
5150-5350, 5470- 5150-5350, 5725-5825
5725
Others RF-Control RF-Control RF-Control
27, 128, 418, 433, 315, 915 426, 868
868

06.03.2008
Antenna
 Radiation and reception of electromagnetic waves, coupling
of wires to space for radio transmission
 An antenna is an electrical conductor or system of
conductors
 Transmission - radiates electromagnetic energy into space
 Reception - collects electromagnetic energy from space
 In two-way communication, the same antenna can be used
for transmission and reception
 Antenna characteristics and efficiency is essentially same
for both transmission and reception
 Antenna radiates power in all directions but does not
perform equally well in all directions

06.03.2008
Antenna Gain
 Antennas are passive devices: they do not produce Omni-directional
power Antenna
 Can only receive power in one form and pass it
on in another, minus incidental losses
 Cannot generate power or “amplify”
 However, an antenna can appear to have “gain”
compared against another antenna or condition.
This gain can be expressed in dB or as a power
ratio. It applies both to radiating and receiving
 A directional antenna, in its direction of maximum
radiation, appears to have “gain” compared against
a non-directional antenna
 Gain in one direction comes at the expense of less
radiation in other directions
 Antenna Gain is RELATIVE, not ABSOLUTE
 When describing antenna “gain”, the comparison
condition must be stated or implied Directional
Antenna

06.03.2008
Antenna
 Antenna gain
 Power output, in a particular direction, compared to that
produced in any direction by a perfect omnidirectional
antenna (isotropic antenna)
 Effective area
 Related to physical size and shape of antenna
 Relationship between antenna gain and effective area
4Ae 4f 2 Ae
G 
2 c2
 G = antenna gain
 Ae = effective area
 f = carrier frequency
 c = speed of light (» 3 ´ 108 m/s)
  = carrier wavelength

06.03.2008
Antennas: isotropic radiator
 Performance of an antenna is characterized by Radiation
Pattern - graphical representation of the radiation
properties of an antenna
 Radiation pattern: measurement of radiation around an
antenna
 Isotropic radiator: equal radiation in all directions (three
dimensional) - only a theoretical reference antenna
 Real antennas always have directive effects (vertically
and/or horizontally)
z
y z ideal
isotropic
y x
x radiator

06.03.2008
Antennas: simple dipoles
 Real antennas are not isotropic radiators but, e.g., dipoles
with lengths /4 on car roofs or /2 as Hertzian dipole
 shape of antenna proportional to wavelength
/4 /2
 Example: Radiation pattern of a simple Hertzian dipole

y y z
simple
x z x dipole
side view (xy-plane) side view (yz-plane) top view (xz-plane)
 Gain: maximum power in the direction of the main lobe

compared to the power of an isotropic radiator (with the
same average power)

06.03.2008
Reference Antennas
Isotropic
 Isotropic Radiator Antenna
 Trulynon-directional -- in 3 dimensions
 Difficult to build or approximate physically,
but mathematically very simple to describe
 A popular reference: 1000 MHz and above
 PCS, microwave, etc.
 Dipole Antenna
 Non-directional in 2-dimensional plane only
 Can be easily constructed, physically
practical
 A popular reference: below 1000 MHz
 800 MHz. cellular, land mobile, TV & FM
Dipole Antenna
Quantity Units
Notice that a dipole
Gain above Isotropic radiator dBi
has 2.15 dB gain
Gain above Dipole reference dBd compared to an
Effective Radiated Power Vs. Isotropic (watts or dBm) EIRP isotropic antenna.
Effective Radiated Power Vs. Dipole (watts or dBm) ERP

06.03.2008
Effective Radiated Power
 An antenna radiates all power fed to it from the Reference
transmitter, minus any incidental losses. Antenna
Every direction gets some amount of power
 Effective Radiated Power (ERP) is the apparent A TX
100 W
power in a particular direction
 Equal to actual transmitter power times
antenna gain in that direction B
 Effective Radiated Power is expressed in
comparison to a standard radiator Directional TX
Antenna 100 W
 ERP: compared with dipole antenna
 EIRP: compared with Isotropic antenna ERP B A (ref)
A
Example: Antennas A and B each radiate 100 watts from B
their own transmitters. Antenna A is our reference, it
happens to be isotropic. 275w 100w
Antenna B is directional. In its maximum direction, its
signal seems 2.75 stronger than the signal from antenna
A. Antenna B’s EIRP in this case is 275 watts.

06.03.2008
Antenna Gain And ERP Examples
 Many wireless systems at 1900 & 800 MHz use omni
antennas like the one shown in this figure
 These patterns are drawn to scale in E-field radiation
units, based on equal power to each antenna Isotropic
 Notice the typical wireless omni antenna concentrates
most of its radiation toward the horizon, where users are,
at the expense of sending less radiation sharply upward or
downward
 The wireless antenna’s maximum radiation is 12.1 dB
stronger than the isotropic (thus 12.1 dBi gain), and Dipole
10 dB stronger than the dipole (so 10 dBd gain).
Gain Comparison
Typical Wireless
12.1 dBi Isotropic
Omni Antenna
10dBd Dipole Gain 12.1 dBi or 10 dBd
Omni

06.03.2008
Antennas: diversity
 Grouping of 2 or more antennas
 multi-element antenna arrays
 Antenna diversity
 switched diversity, selection diversity
 receiver chooses antenna with largest output
 diversity combining
 combine output power to produce gain
 cophasing needed to avoid cancellation
/2 /2
/4 /2 /4 /2
+ +
ground plane

06.03.2008
Understanding Signal Propagation
Tx
Rx
 How does signal propagate ?

 How much noise is added ?
 How much attenuation/distortion take place ?
 How does signal look like at the receiver ?

06.03.2008
Signal Propagation
 Signal Propagation in Wired medium
 the medium exhibits same characteristics at
every point in case of no interruption or damage
 received power depends upon the length
 In wireless medium
 Transmission range
Sender
 range in which the receiver receives the
signal with low and acceptable error rate Transmission
 Detection range Detection
 receiver can detect the signal as its power Interference
is high enough to make it distinguishable
from the background noise
 Interference range
 receiver cannot detect the signal, but it
can disturb other signals and contribute to
background noise to other transmissions

06.03.2008
Propagation Modes
 Ground-wave propagation
 Sky-wave propagation
 Line-of-sight propagation

06.03.2008
Ground Wave Propagation
 Follows contour of the earth - earth acts as guide
 Can Propagate considerable distances - signals propagate around
the globe
 Frequencies up to 2 MHz (VLF, LF, MF)
 Bandwidth available is small
 Example
 AM radio

06.03.2008
Sky Wave Propagation
 Signal reflected from ionized layer of atmosphere back down to
earth
 Signal can travel a number of hops, back and forth between
ionosphere and earth’s surface
 Reflection effect caused by refraction
 Absorption below 2MHz - above 30 MHz goes through ionosphere
 Examples
 Amateur radio
 CB radio

06.03.2008
Line-of-Sight Propagation
 Transmitting and receiving antennas must be within line of sight
Satellite communication – signal above 30 MHz not reflected

by ionosphere
 Ground communication – antennas within effective line of site
due to refraction
 Refraction – bending of microwaves by the atmosphere
 Velocity of electromagnetic wave is a function of the density
of the medium
 When wave changes medium, speed changes
 Wave bends at the boundary between mediums

06.03.2008
Wireless Transmission Impairments
 Wireless Channel Impairments
 Noise
 Attenuation and attenuation distortion
 Free space loss
 Atmospheric absorption
 Multipath
 Refraction

06.03.2008
Introduction to Propagation
 Propagation is the heart of every radio link. During propagation, many
processes act on the radio signal.
 attenuation
 the signal amplitude is reduced by various natural mechanisms. If
there is too much attenuation, the signal will fall below the reliable
detection threshold at the receiver. Attenuation is the most
important single factor in propagation.
 multipath and group delay distortions
 the signal diffracts and reflects off irregularly shaped objects,

producing a host of components which arrive in random timings and
random RF phases at the receiver. This blurs pulses and also
produces intermittent signal cancellation and reinforcement. These
effects are overcome through a variety of special techniques
 time variability - signal strength and quality varies with time, often
dramatically
 space variability - signal strength and quality varies with location and
distance
 frequency variability - signal strength and quality differs on different
frequencies

06.03.2008
Frequency and Wavelength: Implications
 Radio signals in the atmosphere
propagate at almost speed of light
c / f = wavelength
for AMPS: f= 870 MHz
c = distance propagated in 1
0.345 m = 13.6 inches second
f = frequency, Hertz
for PCS-1900: f = 1960 MHz  The wavelength of a radio signal
0.153 m = 6.0 inches determines many of its propagation
characteristics
 Antenna elements size are typically in
/2 the order of 1/4 to 1/2 wavelength
 Objects bigger than a wavelength can
reflect or obstruct RF energy
 RF energy can penetrate into a
building or vehicle if they have
apertures a wavelength in size, or
larger

06.03.2008
Signal Propagation in the “Real World”
a wave
can be absorbed
penetrate
reflect bend

06.03.2008
The Cluttered World of Radio Waves
hills
girders
rain
hallways
windows
vehicles
trees
walls

06.03.2008
Basic Radio Propagation mechanisms
 Three basic propagation mechanisms
Reflection Diffraction Scattering
λ << D λ  D λ >> D
 Propagation effects depend on not only on the specific

portion of spectrum used for transmission, but also on
the bandwidth (or spectral occupancy) of the signal
being transmitted
 Spatial separation of Tx-Rx

06.03.2008
06.03.2008
Signal propagation
B C
Power
distance
 A Large scale effect - Path Loss
 B Medium scale effect - shadowing
 C Small scale effect - rapid fluctuations in signal amplitude

06.03.2008
Signal propagation
 Propagation effects can be classified:
 Propagation loss due to geometric considerations
Less power per unit area
 Shadowing

06.03.2008
Signal propagation
 Multipath fading - constructive/ destructive combination
of the electromagnetic waves at the receive antenna
 The radio channel is difficult to model. It needs to be

characterized statistically.
06.03.2008
Signal propagation
 Propagation in free space always like light (straight line)
 Received power proportional to 1/d²
(d = distance between sender and receiver)
 Receiving power additionally influenced by
 fading (frequency dependent)
 shadowing
 reflection at large obstacles
 refraction depending on the density of a medium
 scattering at small obstacles
 diffraction at edges
shadowing reflection refraction scattering diffraction

06.03.2008
Path Loss of Radio Signals
 Radio Propagation in Free Space
 Follow a straight line (besides gravitational effects)
 Straight line if exists between sender and receiver is called
Line of Sight (LOS)
 Free Space Loss (even in vacuum)
 Received Power Pr  1/d2
 Energy travels as spherical waves, in case of no hindrance the
spherical area s grows with the distance over which the energy
is distributed
 S= 4d2

06.03.2008
Path Loss of Radio Signals
 The Pr also depends upon the wavelength and the gains of
the receiver and transmitter antenna gains

 If there is a medium then signal experiences further loss or
attenuation due to air, rain, snow, fog, dust particles, smog etc
 The medium effect is less for short distance (e.g. Wireless

LAN), but more pronounced for long distance (e.g. Satellite)
 Radio signals (waves) can penetrate objects depending upon

the frequency
 Generally lower the frequency better the penetration will be

06.03.2008
Additional Signal Propagation Effects
 Additional effects caused by existence of non-line of sight
phenomenon in real wireless communication situations
 Blocking or Shadowing
 Object in the path create obstacles in signal propagation
 Higher the signal frequency more attenuation it will experience
due to even small objects, e.g. walls, trucks, trees etc.
 Reflection
 Signal is reflected by objects if they are larger than the signal
wavelength
 E.g. huge buildings, mountains, and earth surface
 Reflected signals are weaker than the original signals because
the objects causing reflection absorb some energy

06.03.2008
Additional Effects
 Shadowing and Reflection are caused by objects much larger than
the wavelength of the signal
 Signal shows particle effect
 Scattering and Diffraction are caused by objects with size in the
order of wavelength or less
 Signal shows wave effect due to scattering and diffraction
 The wavelength of GSM and AMPS signals are in the order of
10cm
 Many objects can cause these effects
 Scattering
Incoming signal is scattered into several weaker outgoing signals

 Diffraction
 Radio waves are deflected at an edge and propagate in different
directions
 Result of scattering and diffraction are patterns of varying signal
strength
06.03.2008
Fading
 Short term or small-scale fading
 The power of received signal changes considerably over
short time
 Depending upon multiple path signals take, they may be in
different phases canceling each other
 Cause transmission error
 For a mobile terminal to tune the equalizer to swiftly
changing channel is very difficult
 Long term or large-scale fading
 The average power of received signal varies over time
 Sender can increase/decrease the sending power to keep the
power of received signal within a limit

06.03.2008
Small-Scale Fading
 Rapid fluctuations of the
amplitudes, phases or multipath
delays of a radio signal; these
fluctuations are observed over
short periods of time or over short
distances and referred to as fading
 Fading is caused by interference
between versions of the signal
arriving via different paths; these
waves, known as multipath waves,
combine at the receiver to produce
a resultant signal that can vary
widely in amplitude and phase

06.03.2008
Factors influencing small-scale fading
 Multipath Propagation
 constantly changing environment, multiple versions of the
transmitted signal arrive at receiver, displaced in time and
spatial orientation
 Speed of the mobile
 relative motion between the base station and the mobile,
random frequency modulation due different Doppler shifts of
multipath components, positive or negative
 Speed of surrounding objects
 mobile objects in the radio environment induce a varying
Doppler shift on multipath components; this effect dominates
fading if the surrounding objects move faster than the mobile,
otherwise this can be ignored.
 Coherence Time: defines the staticness of the channel,
directly affected by Doppler shift
06.03.2008
Factors influencing small-scale fading
 Transmission bandwidth of the signal
 if signal bandwidth > channel bandwidth, the signal is distorted
in time but des not fade much (small-scale fading is not
significant); Otherwise, the signal amplitude varies rapidly but
does not distort in time
 Coherence bandwidth: measure of the maximum frequency
difference for which the signals are strongly correlated;
quantifies the bandwidth of the channel, in terms of specific
multipath structure of the channel
--> statistics of small-scale signal strength and the
likelihood of signal smearing over small scale distances are
related to the specific amplitudes and delays of the multipath
channel as well as the bandwidth of the transmitted signal
06.03.2008
Multipath propagation
 Signal can take many different paths between sender and
receiver due to reflection, scattering, diffraction
multipath
LOS pulses pulses
signal at sender
signal at receiver
 Time dispersion: signal is dispersed over time
 interference with “neighbor” symbols, Inter Symbol
Interference (ISI)
 The signal reaches a receiver directly and phase shifted
 distorted signal depending on the phases of the different
parts
06.03.2008
Multipath Propagation
 Together with direct transmission from sender and receiver, and
the propagation effects cause multipath propagation
 Signals emitted by the sender travel through different paths
 Direct path: LOS
 Reflection: reflected signal
 Scattering: scattered signals
 Signals through different paths reach the receiver at different
times
 Path lengths are different while the signal speed=speed of light is
constant
 Delay spread
 Delay spread
 Typical of radio transmission characteristics
 It is independent of user mobility
 It is caused by multipath propagation
 Delay spread of 3s is common in cities
 GSM can tolerate delay spread upto 16s ~ 3km path difference
06.03.2008
Multipath Propagation - Effects
 Effects of Delay Spread
 Short impulse is smeared into broader impulse or into several weaker
impulses
 Each path causes different attenuation resulting into received signal
with different power level
 Some received impulses are too weak to be detected
 Appeared as noise
 Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI)
 Impulses generated at the sender may overlap at the receiver
 An impulse represents a symbol
 One of more symbols form a bit
 Overlapping impulses shows that the energy intended for one symbol
spills over to the adjacent symbol
 Intersymbol interference (ISI)
 The higher the symbol rate the worst ISI effect would be
 Because original symbols are closer to each other
 It limits the bandwidth of the radio channel
 How fast the signal can be transmitted
 The overlapping symbols lead to misinterpretation at the receiver
causing transmission errors
06.03.2008
Effects of mobility
 Channel characteristics change over time and location
 signal paths change
 different delay variations of different signal parts
 different phases of signal parts
 quick changes in the power received (short term fading)
power long term

fading
 Additional changes in
 distance to sender
 obstacles further away
t
short term fading
 slow changes in the average power received (long term

fading)
06.03.2008
Types of small-scale fading
 Type of fading experienced by a signal propagating through a
mobile radio channel depends on the nature of transmitted signal
with respect to the characteristics of the channel
 Different transmitted signals undergo different type of fading
depending on the relationship between
 Signal parameters (bandwidth, symbol rate, etc)
 Channel parameters (delay spread and Doppler spread)
 Time dispersion and frequency dispersion mechanisms lead to four
distinct effects
Delay Spread  time dispersion and frequency selective fading
Doppler Spread  frequency dispersion and time selective fading
 Two propagation mechanisms are independent of each other

06.03.2008
Types of small-scale fading

06.03.2008
Propagation Models
Propagation Models: focus 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.
Large-Scale or Path-Loss Models: predict the mean signal strength for an
arbitrary transmitter-receiver (T-R) separation distance; useful in predicting
the coverage area of a transmitter; characterize signal strength over large
T-R distances (several hundreds or thousands of meters); as mobile moves
away from the transmitter over much larger distances, the local average
received signal will gradually decrease, and it is local average signal level that
is predicted by large-scale models.
Small-Scale or Fading Models: characterize the rapid fluctuations of the
received signal strength over very short distances (a few wavelengths) or
short time durations (on the order of seconds); as a mobile moves over very
small distances, the instantaneous received signal strength, being the sum of
many contributions coming from different directions, may fluctuate rapidly
giving rise to small-scale fading. The variation can be as much as three to
four orders of magnitude (30 or 40 dB) while the receiver is moved by a
fraction of a wave length.

06.03.2008
Propagation Models
Large-Scale and Small-Scale Fading

06.03.2008
Types Of Propagation Models And Their Uses
Examples of various model types
 Simple Analytical models  Simple Analytical
 Used for understanding and • Free space (Friis formula)
predicting individual paths and • Reflection cancellation
specific obstruction cases • Knife-edge diffraction
 General Area models  Area
 Primary drivers: statistical • Okumura-Hata
 Used for early system • Euro/Cost-231
dimensioning (cell counts, etc.) • Walfisch-Betroni/Ikegami
 Point-to-Point models  Point-to-Point
 Primary drivers: analytical • Ray Tracing
 Used for detailed coverage - Lee’s Method, others
analysis and cell planning • Tech-Note 101
• Longley-Rice, Biby-C
 Local Variability models
 Primary drivers: statistical  Local Variability
 Characterizes microscopic level • Rayleigh Distribution
• Normal Distribution
fluctuations in a given locale,
• Joint Probability Techniques
confidence-of-service probability

06.03.2008
The Okumura Model: General Concept
70
Urban Area 35
100
(dB)
30 a
ar e
80 Open
Correction factor, Garea

Median Attenuation A(f,d),
25 area
50 p en
70 si o
Qu a
d, km
20
a
40 15 are
an
urb
30
10 S ub
26
5 9 dB
dB
2 5
1 850 MHz
850
10
100 500 3000 100 200 300 500 700 1000 2000 3000
Frequency f, MHz Frequency f, (MHz)
The Okumura model is based on detailed analysis of exhaustive drive-test

measurements made in Tokyo and its suburbs during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.
The collected date included measurements on numerous VHF, UHF, and microwave
signal sources, both horizontally and vertically polarized, at a wide range of heights.
The measurements were statistically processed and analyzed with respect to almost
every imaginable variable. This analysis was distilled into the curves above, showing a
median attenuation relative to free space loss Amu (f,d) and correlation factor
Garea (f,area), for BS antenna height ht = 200 m and MS antenna height hr = 3
m.
Okumura has served as the basis for high-level design of many existing wireless
systems, and has spawned a number of newer models adapted from its basic concepts
and numerical parameters.

06.03.2008
Link Performance Improvement
 Three main techniques that can be used independently or in
tandem to improve link performance
 Equalization: a filtering technique that compensates for
the presence of ISI. In practice, equalizers usually need
to be adaptive since channels are generally unknown and
time varying.
 Diversity: a signal processing technique that reduces the
depth and duration of fades. There are several types of
diversities: spatial, frequency, temporal.
 Channel coding: the process of adding redundant bits for
detecting or correcting errors

06.03.2008
Equalization
 Intersymbol interference (ISI) is a major obstacle to high
speed data transmission over wireless channels
 Equalization is a technique used to combat intersymbol
interference
 Mobile fading channel is random and time-varying, adaptive
equalizers are needed to track the time-varying
characteristics of the channel
 An equalizer is an inverse filter of the channel
 For frequency selective channels, the equalizer enhances the
frequency components with small amplitudes and attenuates
the strong frequencies in the received frequency spectrum in
order to provide a flat, composite, received frequency
response and linear phase response

06.03.2008
Equalization
 Due to the presence of noise, an equalizer is unable to
achieve perfect performance, there is always some residual
ISI and some tracking error
 The instantaneous combined frequency response will not
always be flat, resulting in some finite prediction error
 General operating modes of an adapter equalizer include
training and tracking
 A known, fixed-length training sequence is sent to adapt the
equalizer to proper setting for minimum BER detection
 As user data is received, the adaptive algorithm of the
equalizer tracks the changing channel

06.03.2008
Diversity
 Diversity is the utilization of independent paths between the
transmitter and the receiver in order to reduce the chance
of a deep fade
 Diversity exploits the random nature of radio propagation by
finding independent or at least highly uncorrelated signal
paths for communication
 If one path is undergoes a deep fade, another independent
path may have a strong signal
 A powerful, cost effective way to mitigate fading effects
 Diversity can be accomplished either at the transmitter or at
the receiver
 Independent paths for diversity can be implemented in space,
time, or frequency

06.03.2008
Diversity
 Microscopic diversity techniques exploit the rapidly varying
signal
 In case of small-scale fading, if two antennas are separated
by a fraction of a meter, one may receive a null while other
receives a strong signal
 A receiver can mitigate small-scale fading effects by
selecting the best signal
 Macroscopic diversity techniques enable a mobile station or a
base station to improve substantially the average SNR
 A mobile can select a base station which provides the best
signal at a given time on the forward link
 Base station is also able to improve the reverse link by using
multiple antennas that sufficiently separated in space

06.03.2008
Channel Coding
 Channel Coding: process of introducing redundancy in the
transmitted data to protect it from errors
 Channel coders operate on a source data by encoding source
information into a code sequence for transmission through
the channel
 Error Detection Codes: channel codes used for error
detection only
 Error Correction Codes: codes that detect and also correct
errors
 Wireless link performance can be improved through channel
coding

06.03.2008
Channel Coding
 Introduction of redundancy increases raw data rate

over the link, thus increasing bandwidth requirements
 Thus, channel coding reduces the bandwidth efficiency
of the link but provides better BER performance
 Three basic types of channel codes:
 Block Codes
 Convolutional Codes
 Turbo Codes

06.03.2008
Spread Spectrum
Modulation
Spread Spectrum (SS) Modulation
 Bandwidth is a limited resource, so primary design objective is to
minimize the required transmission bandwidth
 The minimum required bandwidth for transmission of a signal is a
function of the symbol rate. From Nyquist pulse considerations (no
ISI condition):
 Baseband minimum bandwidth Bmin = Rs/2, where Rs is the symbol
rate.
 For passband transmission Bmin = Rs
 In practical systems, pulses are shaped such that actual bandwidth
B is equal to or slightly larger than Bmin
 Spread Spectrum (SS) employs transmission bandwidth that is
several orders of magnitude greater than the minimum required
bandwidth

06.03.2008
Spread Spectrum (SS) Modulation
 Spread spectrum signals are pseudorandom with noise-like
properties
 Spreading waveform is controlled by a pseudo-noise (PN)
sequence or pseudo-noise code
 A PN code is binary sequence that appears random but can be
generated in a deterministic manner by intended receivers
 SS signals are demodulated at the receiver through cross-
correlation with a locally generated version of PN sequence
 Cross-correlation with the correct PN sequence despreads the
SS signal and restores the message as original data
 Cross-correlating the signal with an undesired user results in a
very small amount of wideband noise at the receiver

06.03.2008
Spread Spectrum Modulation
 Inherent interference rejection capability of spread spectrum is
the most important advantage
 Narrowband interference affects only a small portion of SS
signal, hence that can be removed without much loss of
information
 Resistance to multipath fading is another principal advantage of
Spread spectrum
 Due to very large bandwidth in SS systems, only a small portion
of spectrum is affected by fading
 From time domain aspect, resistance to multipath is due to the
fact that the delayed versions of the transmitted PN signal have
poor correlation with the original PN sequence, and appear as
another uncorrelated user

06.03.2008
Spread Spectrum Modulation
 SS systems are not only resistance to multipath fading, but
can also exploit the delayed multipath components to
improve performance of the system using a RAKE receiver
 A RAKE receiver is capable of combining information from
several multipath components to form a stronger version of
the signal
 Frequency planning in not needed for SS systems, all users
share the same spectrum and all cells can use the same
channels
 Spread Spectrum Modulations
 Direct Sequence (DS) Spread Spectrum
 Frequency Hopping (FH) Spread Spectrum

06.03.2008
DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum)
 In DSSS systems, each user is assigned a unique PN code which
is approximately orthogonal to the codes of other users
 The receiver can thus separate each user based on their codes,
although they occupy the same spectrum all the time
 Spread spectrum bandwidth usage is inefficient for single user,
but efficient for multiple users
 SS systems are very bandwidth efficient in multiple-user,
multiple access interference (MAI) environments
 General properties of direct sequence spread spectrum signals:
 large bandwidth
 pseudo-noise appearance
 interference rejection capability
 overlay of users in the same bandwidth
 resistance to multipath fading

06.03.2008
 XOR of the signal with pseudo-random number (chipping
sequence)
 many chips per bit (e.g., 128) result in higher bandwidth of
the signal t b
 Advantages user data

 reduces frequency selective 0 1 XOR
fading tc
 in cellular networks chipping

sequence
 base stations can use the 01101010110101 =
same frequency range resulting
 several base stations can signal
detect and recover the signal 01101011001010
 soft handover tb: bit period

 Disadvantages tc: chip period
 precise power control necessary

06.03.2008
spread
spectrum transmit
user data signal signal
X modulator
chipping radio
sequence carrier
transmitter
correlator
lowpass sampled
received filtered products sums
signal signal data
demodulator X integrator decision
radio chipping
carrier sequence
receiver

06.03.2008
Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DS-SS)
 Power level of the signal becomes very low after spreading
 Energy is spread over a large frequency range
 The power level could be as low as background noise
rendering it hard to distinguish it from the noise
 It can be used to increase resistance of several base
channels
 Signals in all channels are spread across the same frequency
range
 Channels are distinguished by assigning distinct codes
 Works in conjunction with CDMA

06.03.2008
CDMA – Multiple Users

06.03.2008
Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FH-SS)
 Signal is broadcast over seemingly random series of radio
frequencies
 A number of channels allocated for the FH signal
 Width of each channel corresponds to bandwidth of input signal
 Signal hops from frequency to frequency at fixed intervals

 Transmitter operates in one channel at a time
 Bits are transmitted using some encoding scheme
 At each successive interval, a new carrier frequency is selected
 Channel sequence dictated by spreading code

 Receiver, hopping between frequencies in synchronization with
transmitter, picks up message
 Advantages
 Eavesdroppers hear only unintelligible blips
 Attempts to jam signal on one frequency succeed only at knocking out
a few bits
06.03.2008
 Frequency Hopping signal – sequence of modulated data bursts
with time-varying, pseudorandom carrier frequencies
 Hopset: set of possible carrier frequencies
 Hopping occurs over a frequency band that includes a number of
channels
 Instantaneous Bandwidth, B: bandwidth of a channel used in the
hopset
 Total Hopping Bandwidth, Bss: bandwidth of the spectrum over
which the hopping occurs
 Hop Duration or Hopping Period, Th: time duration between hops,
also known as Dwell Time
 Processing Gain for FH systems is
PG = Bss/B

06.03.2008

06.03.2008
FHSS (Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum)
 Discrete changes of carrier frequency
 sequence of frequency changes determined via pseudo random
number sequence
 Two versions
 Fast Hopping: several frequencies per user bit
 Slow Hopping: several user bits per frequency
 Advantages
 frequency selective fading and interference limited to short
period
 simple implementation
 uses only small portion of spectrum at any time
 Disadvantages
 not as robust as DSSS
 simpler to detect
06.03.2008
tb
user data
0 1 0 1 1 t
f
td
f3 slow
f2 hopping
f1 (3 bits/hop)
td t
f
f3 fast
f2 hopping
f1 (3 hops/bit)
tb: bit period td: dwell time

06.03.2008
narrowband spread
signal transmit
user data signal
modulator modulator
transmitter frequency hopping

synthesizer sequenc
e
narrowband
received signal
signal data
receiver demodulator demodulator
hopping frequency
sequenc synthesizer
e

06.03.2008

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EEE613 (MobiNets)

Mobile Broadband Networks

Shahzad A. Malik, Ph.D.

Wireless Communication Basics

 Electrical communication systems are designed to send

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-3

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-4

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-5

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-6

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-7

Code redundancy = n/k, code rate = k/n

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-9

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-10

electromagnetic (EM) waves in open space.

 Travel at speed of light (c = 3x108 m/s)

 Transmission and reception are achieved by means of an

antenna. EM energy is coupled to medium by antenna. For

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-11

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-12

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-13

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-14

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-15

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-17

 Composed signals transferred into frequency domain using

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-19

 Effective bandwidth (or just bandwidth)

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-21

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-22

 Transmit analog signals without regard to content

 Attenuation limits length of transmission link

 Cascaded amplifiers boost signal’s energy for

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-23

 Attenuation endangers integrity of data

 Analog signal carrying digital data

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-24

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-25

signal while it travels from the transmitter to the receiver

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-26

frequencies share the same medium

 Impulse noise – irregular pulses or noise spikes

 Short duration and of relatively high amplitude

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-28

 The bit error rate for digital data is a function of Eb/N0

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-31

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-32

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-33

 Impairments, such as noise, limit data rate that can

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-35

 Bandwidth - the bandwidth of the transmitted signal as

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-36

 For binary signals (two voltage levels)

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-37

 Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR, or S/N)

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-38

 Represents theoretical maximum that can be achieved

 In practice, only much lower rates achieved

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-39

 Spectrum of a channel between 3 MHz and 4 MHz ;

B  4 MHz  3 MHz  1 MHz

 Using Shannon’s formula

C  106  log 2 1  251  106  8  8Mbps

Mobile Broadband Networks – Wireless Communication Basics 2-40

 How many signaling levels are required?