Wireless Transmission Basic

 Frequencies  Outdoor Propagation Model

 Signals Fading
 Antenna
 Signal propagation
 Frequencies for mobile communication
 VHF-/UHF-ranges for mobile radio
– simple, small antenna for cars
– deterministic propagation characteristics, reliable connections
 SHF and higher for directed radio links, satellite
communication
– small antenna, beam forming
– large bandwidth available
 Wireless LANs use frequencies in UHF to SHF range
– some systems planned up to EHF
– limitations due to absorption by water and oxygen molecules
(resonance frequencies)
• weather dependent fading, signal loss caused by heavy rainfall etc.
 Free Space Propagation Model
• The free space propagation model is used to predict received signal
strength when the transmitter and receiver have a clear line-of-sight
path between them.
– satellite communication
– microwave line-of-sight radio link
• Friis free space equation
Pt Gt Gr 2
Pr ( d ) 
( 4 ) 2 d 2 L
Pt : transmitted power d : T-R separation distance (m)
Pr (d ) : received power L: system loss
Gt : transmitter antenna gain  : wave length in meters
Gr : receiver antenna gain
• The gain of the antenna
4Ae
G
2
Ae : effective aperture is related to the physical size of the antenna
• The wave length  is related to the carrier frequency by
c 2c
 
f c
f : carrier frequency in Hertz
c: carrier frequency in radians
c: speed of light (meters/s)
• The losses L ( L 1) 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.
• Isotropic radiator is an ideal antenna which radiates power with unit
gain.
• Effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) is defined as
EIRP  Pt Gt
and represents the maximum radiated power available from
transmitter in the direction of maximum antenna gain as compared to
an isotropic radiator.
• Path loss for the free space model with antenna gains
Pt  Gt Gr 2 
PL( dB ) 10 log  10 log 
2 2 
Pr  ( 4 ) d 
• When antenna gains are excluded
Pt  2 
PL( dB ) 10 log  10 log 
2 2 
Pr  ( 4 ) d 

Pr
 Signals
 physical representation of data
 function of time and location
 signal parameters: parameters representing the value of
data
 classification
– continuous time/discrete time
– continuous values/discrete values
– analog signal = continuous time and continuous values
– digital signal = discrete time and discrete values
 signal parameters of periodic signals:
period T, frequency f=1/T, amplitude A, phase shift 
– sine wave as special periodic signal for a carrier:

s(t) = At sin(2  ft t + t)

 Signal propagation ranges
Transmission range
– communication possible
– low error rate

Detection range sender

– detection of the signal

possible transmission
– no communication distance
possible detection

Interference range interference

– signal may not be
detected
– signal adds to the
background noise
 Signal propagation
Propagation in free space always like light (straight line)
Receiving power proportional to 1/d² in vacuum – much more in real environments
(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

reflection refraction scattering diffraction

shadowing
 The Three Basic Propagation Mechanisms
• Basic propagation mechanisms
– reflection
– diffraction
– Scattering

• Reflection occurs when a propagating electromagnetic wave impinges

upon an object which has very large dimensions when compared to the
wavelength, e.g., buildings, walls.

• Diffraction occurs when the radio path between the transmitter and
receiver is obstructed by a surface that has sharp edges.

• Scattering occurs when the medium through which the wave travels
consists of objects with dimensions that are small compared to the
wavelength.
 Propagation Model
• Outdoor Propagation Model
• Indoor Propagation Model
 Outdoor Propagation Models
• Radio transmission in a mobile communication system often
take place over irregular terrain

• The terrain profile of a particular area needs to be taken into

account for estimating the path loss

• The terrain profile may vary from a simple curved earth

profile to a highly mountainous profile

• A number of propagation models are available to predict path

loss over irregular terrain
 Outdoor Propagation models
• Longley Rice Model
• Durkin’s Model
• Okumura Model
• Hata Model
• COST 231-Hata Model
• COST 231-Walfish-Ikegami Model
 Longley-rice Model
• The Longley rice model is applicable to point-to-point
communication system in the frequency range from 40MHz
to 100 GHz, over the different kinds of terrain
• The median transmission loss is predicted using the path
geometry of the terrain profile and the refractivity of the
troposphere
• Geometric optics techniques are used to predict signal strength
within the horizon.
• This prediction model is also referred to as the ITS irregular
terrain model
 Durkin’s Model
• Similar to Longly-Rice
 predicts field strength contours over irregular terrain
 adopted by UK joint radio committee
 consists of two parts
(1) ground profile
 reconstructed from topographic data of proposed surface along
 radial joining transmitter and receiver
 models LOS & diffraction derived from obstacles & local scatters
 assume all signal received along radial (no multipath)
(2) expected path loss calculated along the radial
 move receiver location to deduce signal strength contour
 pessimistic in narrow valleys
 identifies weak reception areas well
 Okumura Model
• It is based on measured data - no analytical explanation
• among the simplest & best for in terms of path loss accuracy
in cluttered mobile environment
• disadvantage: slow response to rapid terrain changes
• common std deviations between predicted & measured path
loss  10dB - 14dB
• widely used for urban areas
• useful for
• - frequencies ranging from 150MHz-1920MHz
• - frequencies can be extrapolated to 3GHz
• - distances from 1km to 100km
• - base station antenna heights from 30m-1000m
• developed from extensive measurements using vertical omni-
directional antennas at base and mobile
• measurements plotted against frequency
Estimating path loss using Okumura Model
1. determine free space loss, Amu(f,d), between points of interest
2. add Amu(f,d) and correction factors to account for terrain

L50(dB)= LF + Amu(f,d) – G(hte) – G(hre) – GAREA

L50 = 50% value of propagation path loss (median)

LF = free space propagation loss
Amu(f,d) = median attenuation relative to free space
G(hte) = base station antenna height gain factor
G(hre) = mobile antenna height gain factor
GAREA = gain due to environment

18
Amu(f,d) & GAREA have been plotted for wide range of frequencies

antenna gain varies at rate of 20dB per decade or 10dB per decade

G(hte) =
hte 10m < hte < 1000m
20 log
200
hre
G(hre) = 10 log hre  3m
3
G(hre) =
h 3m < hre <10m
20 log re
3
model corrected for
• h = terrain undulation height
• isolated ridge height
• average terrain slope
• mixed land/sea parameter

19
Median Attenuation Relative to Free Space = Amu(f,d) (dB)

100
70 Urban Area
ht = 200m 80
60 hr = 3m 70
60
50
50 40
30

d(km)
40
Amu(f,d) (dB)

20
10
30 5
2
1
20

10

70 100 200 300 500 700 1000 2000 3000 f (MHz) 20

Correction Factor = GAREA(dB)

35
open area
30
quasi open area
25
suburban area
20
GAREA(dB)

15
10
5
0

100 200 300 500 700 103 2103 3 103

frequency (MHz)

21
 Example
Calculate the mean path los using Okumara’s
model for d=50km, hte =100m, hre =10m in a
suburban environment. If the base station
transmitter radiates an EIRP of 1 kW at a
carrier frequency of 900 MHz, Find
EIRP(dBm) and the power at the receiver
where gain at receiving antenna is 10 dB.
 Hata Model
• Empirical model of graphical path loss data from Okumura
– predicts median path loss for different channels
– valid over UHF/VHF band from 150MHz-1.5GHz
– charts used to characterize factors affecting mobile land
propagation
– standard formulas for approximating urban propagation loss
– correction factors for some situations
– compares closely with Okumura model as d > 1km  large
mobile systems
 Parameter Comment
L50 50th % value (median) propagation path loss (urban)
fc frequency from 150MHz-1.5GHz
hte, hre Base Station and Mobile antenna height
 (hre) correction factor for hre , affected by coverage area
d Tx-Rx separation
L50 (urban)(dB) = A + B log10d

A= 69.55 + 26.16 log10(fc) – 13.82 log10(hte) – (hre)

• represents fixed loss – approximately 2.6 power law
dependence on fc
• dependence on antenna heights is proportional to hre1.382
B= 44.9 - 6.55 log10(hte)
•represents path loss exponent, worst case ≈ 4.5
L50 (urban)(dB) = 69.55 + 26.16log10 fc – 13.82 log10 hte – (hre)
+ (44.9-6.55hte)log10 d
24
Mobile Antenna Height Correction Factor for Hata Model

 (hre) Comment
(1.1log10 fc - 0.7)hre – (1.56log10 fc - 0.8)dB Medium City 3.83
8.29(log10 1.54hre)2 – 1.1 dB Large City (fc  300MHz) 3.84a
3.2(log10 11.75hre)2 – 4.97 dB Large City (fc > 300MHz) 3.84b

Hata Model for Rural and Suburban Regions

• represent reductions in fixed losses for less demanding environments

L50 (dB) Comment

L50 (urban) - 2[log10 (fc/28)]2 – 5.4 Suburban Area 3.85

L50 (urban) - 4.78(log10 fc)2 - 18.33log10 fc - 40.98 Rural Area 3.86

25
Valid Range for Parameters
• 150MHz < fc < 1GHz
• 30m < hb < 200m
• 1m < hm < 10m
• 1km < r < 20km

Propagation losses increase

• with frequency
• in built up areas

26
Example Tables for Okumura-Hata Model
180

Path Loss (dB)

Terrain Legend 170
• hte = 30m
160
• Urban 150 • hre = 1m
• Suburban 140
• Open 130 900 MHz
120 700 MHz
110
100
0 4 8 12 16 20
Range (km)
160
155
Path Loss (dB)

fc = 700MHz
150
145 20km
140
135 10km
130
125 5km
120
20 60 100 140 180
hte (m) 27
 PCS Extension to Hata Model
• European Co-operative Scientific & Technical (EUROCOST) formed COST-231
extend Hata model to 2GHz

L50 (urban)(dB) = 46.3 + 33.9logfc – 13.82 loghte – (hre) +

(44.9-6.55hte)logd + CM

• (hre) defined in 3.83, 3.84a, 3.84b

• for medium sized cities CM = 0dB

• metropolitan centers CM = 3dB

fc = frequency from 1500MHz - 2 GHz

hte = 30m-200m
hre = 1m-10m
d = 1km-20km

28
PL(d ) (dB) = 10nlog(d) + p1

n = OBS path loss exponent – related to transmitter height

 = log normal shadowing component from distance dependent

mean (3.10.2)

Transmit Antenna Height 1900 MHz LOS 1900 MHz OBS

n1 n2 (dB) n (dB)
low (3.7m) 2.18 3.29 8.76 2.58 9.31
med (8.5m) 2.17 3.36 7.88 2.56 7.67
high(13.3m) 2.07 4.16 8.77 2.69 7.94

29
 Indoor Propagation Model
• Indoor propagation is affected by the same mechanisms as
outdoors: reflection, diffraction, scattering
• Indoor conditions lead to more variation in signal levels
• Increased variation is caused by many factors in indoor
environment, including sensitivity to
– building materials and construction
– antenna placement
– doors opened or closed
• In general, indoor channels are classified as LOS or obstructed
(OBS)
• Indoor Propagation Models are:
– Partitions Losses (Same floor)
– Partitions Losses between floor
– Log-Distance Path Loss Model
– Ericsson Multiple Breakpoint Model
– Attenuation Factor Model
 Measurements and Calculations

•For OBS channels, the propagation losses depend on the materials of

the partitions and obstacles the signal passes through

•These partition losses are categorized into same-floor

and between-floor losses

•These losses are tabulated in tables 3.3-3.5 in the book

•Examples of same-floor losses

•Concrete wall: 18-15 dB @ 1300 MHz
•Sheetrock (2 sheets): 2 dB @9.6 GHz
•Dry Plywood: 1 dB @9.6 GHz
•Wet Plywood: 19 dB @9.6 GHz
•Aluminum (1/8 in): 47 dB @9.6 GHz
 Losses Between Floors
•Can also quantify partition losses between floors
•FAF = floor attenuation factor (in dB)
•Typical values of FAF for Office Building:
•*** Note that attenuation caused by one floor >> attenuation caused by
additional floors
FAF, 915 MHz FAF, 1900 MHz
1 Floor 13.2 26.2
2 Floors 18.1 33.4
3 Floors 24.0 35.2
4 Floors 27.0 38.4
5 Floors 27.1 46.4
 Log-distance Path Model

•Log-distance path model is valid for many indoor environments

•Values of parameters have been measured for different types of buildings
•Typical parameter values:
Building Frequency (MHz) n (dB)
Retail Sore 914 2.2 8.7
Office, Hard Partition 1500 3.0 7.0
Office, Soft Partition 900 2.4 9.6
Suburban Home 900 3.0 7.0
 Attenuation-Factor Model

•Modifies log-distance model for multiple-floor propagation

•Method 1

where nSF= same-floor path-loss exponent

 Fading
• Fading: rapid fluctuations of received signal strength over
short time intervals and/or travel distances

• Caused by interference from multiple copies of Tx signal

arriving @ Rx at slightly different times

• Three most important effects:

1. Rapid changes in signal strengths over small travel distances or short
time periods.
2. Changes in the frequency of signals.
3. Multiple signals arriving a different times. When added together at
the antenna, signals are spread out in time. This can cause a
smearing of the signal and interference between bits that are
received.
36
• Fading signals occur due to reflections from ground
& surrounding buildings (clutter) as well as
scattered signals from trees, people, towers, etc.
– often an LOS path is not available so the first multipath signal
arrival is probably the desired signal (the one which traveled the
shortest distance)
– allows service even when Rx is severely obstructed by surrounding
clutter

37
• Even stationary Tx/Rx wireless links can experience
fading due to the motion of objects (cars, people,
trees, etc.) in surrounding environment off of which
come the reflections

• Multipath signals have randomly distributed

amplitudes, phases, & direction of arrival
– vector summation of (A ∠θ) @ Rx of multipath leads to
constructive/destructive interference as mobile Rx moves
in space with respect to time

38
 Physical Factors Influencing Fading

• Multipath Propagation

• Speed of Mobile

• Speed of surrounding objects

• Tx Signal Bandwidth
 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
2) Speed of Mobile
– relative motion between base station & mobile causes
random frequency modulation due to Doppler shift (fd)
– Different multipath components may have different
frequency shifts.

3) Speed of Surrounding Objects

– also influence Doppler shifts on multipath signals
– dominates small-scale fading if speed of objects > mobile
speed
• otherwise ignored

41
• motion causes frequency modulation due to Doppler shift
(fd)

• v : velocity (m/s)
• λ : wavelength (m)
• θ : angle between
mobile direction
and arrival direction of RF energy
» + shift → mobile moving toward S
» − shift → mobile moving away from S
42
• Flat Fading- If the mobile radio channel has a constant gain
and linear phase response over a band of frequencies, which is
greater than the bandwidth of the transmitted signal. The
received signal is said to said to undergo flat fading.

• Frequency selective Fading- If the bandwidth over the

channel has constant gain and linear phase response is smaller
than the bandwidth of the transmitted signal, the receiver
signal undergoes frequency selective fading

• Coherence Time- Coherence gives a statistical measure of the

time interval over which the channel impulse response remain
invariant.
 Fading Types
• Fast fading
• Slow fading
 Fast Fading
• The phenomenon of fast fading is represented by the rapid
fluctuations of the signal over small areas.

• The multiple ray set up an interference pattern in space

through which the MS moves.

• When the signals arrive from all directions in the plane, fast
fading will be observed for all directions of motion.

• In response to the variation in the nearby buildings, there will

be a change in the average about which the rapid fluctuations
take place.
• Fast fading occurs if the channel impulse response changes
rapidly within the symbol duration.
• In other works, fast fading occurs when the coherence time of
the channel TD is smaller than the symbol period of the
transmitted signal T ⇒ TD << T.
• This causes frequency dispersion or time selective fading due
to Doppler spreading.
• Fast Fading is due to reflections of local objects and the
motion of the objects relative to those objects.
• This middle scale over which the signal varies, which is on the
order of the buildings dimensions is known as shadow fading,
slow fading or log-normal fading.
 Multiplexing
channels ki
k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6

Multiplexing in 4 dimensionsc
– space (si)
t c
– time (t)
– frequency (f) t
– code (c) s1
f
s2
f
c
Goal: multiple use t
of a shared medium
s3
f

Important: guard spaces needed!

 Frequency multiplex
Separation of the whole spectrum into smaller frequency bands
A channel gets a certain band of the spectrum for the whole time
Advantages:
 no dynamic coordination
necessary k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
 works also for analog signals
c
Disadvantages: f
 waste of bandwidth
if the traffic is
distributed unevenly
 inflexible
 guard spaces
t
 Time multiplex
A channel gets the whole spectrum for a certain amount
of time

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
 Time and frequency multiplex
Combination of both methods
A channel gets a certain frequency band for a certain
amount of time
Example: GSM
k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6

Advantages: c
– better protection against f
tapping
– protection against frequency
selective interference
– higher data rates compared to
code multiplex
but: precise coordination
required t
 Code division multiplex
Each channel has a unique code
k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6

All channels use the same spectrum c

at the same time
Advantages:
– bandwidth efficient
– no coordination and synchronization necessary
– good protection against interference and tapping
f
Disadvantages:
– lower user data rates
– more complex signal regeneration

Implemented using spread spectrum

technology t
 Modulation
Digital modulation
– digital data is translated into an analog signal (baseband)
– ASK, FSK, PSK - main focus in this chapter
– 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)
 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
 Digital modulation
Modulation of digital signals known as Shift Keying
1 0 1

 Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK):

– very simple t

– low bandwidth requirements

– very susceptible to interference 1 0 1

 Frequency Shift Keying (FSK): t

– needs larger bandwidth

1 0 1

 Phase Shift Keying (PSK):

t
– more complex
– robust against interference
 Numerical
• Find the fraunhofer distance for an antenna
with maximum dimension of 1 m and
operating frequency of 900 MHz. If antenna
have unit gain, calculate the path loss
• A wireless communication transmitter has an
output power of 165 watts at a carrier
frequency on 325 MHz. It is connected to an
antenna with a gain of 12 dBi. The received
antenna is 15 km away and has a gain of 6 dBi.
Calculate the power delivered to the receiver,
considering free space propagation. Assume
that there are no other loss in the system
• A wireless communication base station
transmit 10 watts of power at a carrier
frequency at 1 GHz. If the receiver station at a
distance of 1.6 km from the base station then
determine
– The propagation path loss in (dB) in a free space
environment
– The received signal power in dBm
– The transmission delay in ns
Assume that the transmitter and receiver
antenna gains area 1.6 each
• If a transmitter produces 50W of power,
express the transmit power in units of (a)
dBm, and (b) dBW. If 50W is applied to a unity
gain antenna with a 900 MHz carrier
frequency, find the received power in dBm at
a free space distance of 100 m from antenna.
What is Pr (10 km)? Assume unity gain for the
receiver antenna
• Determine the propagation path loss for a
radio signal at 900 MHz cellular system
operating in a large urban city, with a base
station Tx antenna of 100 m and mobile Rx
antenna height of 2 m. The mobile is located
at a distance of 4 Km. Use the Hata
propagation path loss model and COST 231
model
• If a total of 33 MHz of bandwidth is allocated to a
particular FDD cellular telephone system which uses
two 25 kHz simplex channels to provide full duplex
voice and control channels, compute the number of
channels available per cell if a system uses (a) 4 cell
reuse (b) 7 cell reuse (c) 12 cell reuse. If 1 MHz of the
allocated spectrum is dedicated to control channels,
determine an equitable distribution of control and
voice channels on each of the three systems.
• In the US digital cellular system, if fc=900 MHz
and the mobile velocity is 70km.hr, calculate the
receiver carrier frequency if the mobile (a)
directly toward the transmitter (Positive Doppler
shift), (b) directly away from the transmitter
(Negative Doppler Shift) and (c) in a
perpendicular to the direction of the arrival of
the transmitted signal. Assume that the
transmitter and receiver antenna gains are 1.6
each.
• A wireless communication transmitter has an
output power of 165 watts at a frequency of
325 MHz. It is connected to an antenna with a
gain of 12 dBi. The receiving antenna is 15 km
away and has again of 6 dBi. Calculate the
power delivered to the receiver, considering
free-space propagation. Assume that there
are no other losses or mismatches in the
system
• Determine the propagation loss for a radio
signal at 900 MHz cellular system operating in
large urban city, with a base station Tx
antenna height of 100 m and mobile Rx
antenna height of 2m. The mobile unit is
located at a distance of Km. Use the Hata
propagation path loss model. (If any data is
not given please assume it).