Basics of Wireless Communications: Dmitri A. Moltchanov E-Mail: Moltchan@cs - Tut.fi

Basics of wireless communications
Dmitri A. Moltchanov
E-mail: moltchan@cs.tut.
http://www.cs.tut./kurssit/TLT-2756/
Ad hoc networks D.Moltchanov, TUT, 2009
OUTLINE
Mobile ad hoc networks
The electromagnetic spectrum
Radio propagation
Modulation techniques
Error control
Multiple access schemes
Channel access schemes
Lecture: Basics of wireless communications 2
1. Mobile ad hoc networks (MANET)
1
3
2
4
6
5
7 8
Figure 1: Graphical representation of ad hoc network.
Ad hoc networks:
complex wireless distributed system;
nodes can freely and dynamically self-organize into arbitrary and temporary topologies;
What we expect out of ad hoc networks:
provide a multi-hop communication between inherently mobile devises;
provide coverage in areas with low population densities.
Basis of any ad hoc network is the point-to-point wireless link
wireless transmission medium
1
3
2
4
6
5
7 8
D-L
PHY
D-L
PHY
Figure 2: A wireless link in isolation.
2. The electromagnetic spectrum
Wireless communications: broadcast and reception of electromagnetic waves:
frequency, f:
number of cycles per second of the wave, measured in Hz.
wavelength, :
the length of the cycle, measured in meters.
The speed of propagation waves:
varies from medium to medium;
in vacuum equals to the speed of light.
The following relation holds:
r = f, (1)
r is the speed of the wave.
Frequency bands dened by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is shown in Fig. 3.
Frequency (Hz)
Wavelength (m)
10
0
10
2
10
4
10
6
10
8
10
10
10
12
10
14
10
16
10
18
10
20
10
22
10
24
10
26
10
28
10
8
10
6
10
4
10
2
10
0
10
-2
10
-4
10
-6
10
-8
10
-10
10
-12
10
-14
10
-16
10
-18
10
-20
Radio
X-ray Gamma ray Microwave
Infrared
Visible
Ultraviolet
mostly usable for communications
not usable:
- affect health
- difficult to modulate
- do not propagate through obstacles
Figure 3: Frequency bands in the electromagnetic spectrum.
Frequency determines properties of the transmission:
low frequency: pass through the obstacles;
higher frequency: more prone to absorbtion by rain or fog;
higher frequency: reected by obstacles.
Radio waves:
relatively easy to generate and modulate;
have the ability to path through the buildings;
may travel very long distances;
radio transmission is omni-directional.
Microwave:
tend to travel in a straight lines;
can be narrowly focused and concentrated in a small beam;
cannot pass through obstacles.
Infrared waves:
cannot pass through obstacles;
relatively directional and inexpensive to implement;
used in short range communications.
Visible light:
may provide very high bandwidth at a very low cost using optical laser signalling;
hard to focus a very narrow uni-directional laser;
cannot penetrate through rain and fog.
Allocation of waves:
electromagnetic spectrum is a common resource;
international agreements have been drawn to allocate it;
national agreements may override them;
note: remember military usage!
3. Radio propagation
Radio waves experience the following propagation mechanisms:
Reection:
when: wave hits an objects which is very large compared to its wavelength;
result: phase shift of 180 degrees between the incident and the reected rays.
Diraction:
when: wave hits an object that is comparable to its wavelength;
result: wave bends at the edges of the object, propagating in dierent directions.
Scattering:
when: wave goes through a medium with objects that are small compared to its wavelength;
result: wave gets scattered into several weaker outgoing signals.
Figure 4: Illustration of the radio propagation.
3.1. Propagation mechanisms
Propagation mechanisms:
aect the performance of wireless channels;
restricts the range, data rate and reliability.
The received signal may have:
LOS component:
exists when the receiver is not shadowed by an obstacle.
non-LOS components (multipath components):
reected, diracted, and scattered components.
Changes in the received signal are due to:
path loss:
attenuation caused by distance between the transmitter and a receiver.
small-scale propagation eects:
rapid changes of the signal strength caused by propagation mechanisms.
3.2. Propagation models
We distinguish between:
large-scale propagation models:
predict the average received signal strength at a given distance from transmitter;
what: capture path loss component;
application: estimation of the radio coverage area around the transmitter.
small-scale propagation models:
characterize the rapid uctuations of the received signal strength;
what: capture inuence of multipath components;
application: performance evaluation of data transmission over the wireless channels.
Historic aspects:
most are designed for applications in cellular networks;
some are applicable to ad-hoc networks.
3.3. Large-scale propagation models
Figure 5: Illustration of the areas with dierent received local average signal strength.
Path loss: attenuation caused by distance between the transmitter and a receiver.
Pass loss depends on:
radio frequency;
propagation environment;
distance between the transmitter and a receiver.
Basically, we distinguish between:
analytical models:
capture path loss based on analytical representation of propagation phenomenons;
+: allows to get predictions very quickly;
: often too complicated;
: limited to the complexity of mathematics.
empirical model:
based on tting empirical formulas to a set of statistical data;
+: implicitly include all propagation phenomenons;
: cannot be derived without measurements;
: always specic to those environment in which measurements have been carried out.
Large-scale propagation models are also classied into:
indoor models;
outdoor models.
See: T. Rappaport, Wireless communications, 2nd edition, Prentice Hall, 2002.
3.4. Small-scale propagation (fading) models
Used to represent rapid changes of the received signal strength.
Figure 6: Attenuation due to distance and rapid uctuations of the received signal strength.
The following physical factors inuence small-scale fading:
Multipath propagation:
due to reecting and scattering objects;
this is called time dispersion of the channel.
Speed of receiver:
due to Doppler shift.
this is called frequency dispersion of the channel.
These dispersions lead to four distinctive eects:
Based on multipath delay spread we distinguish between:
at fading;
frequency selective fading.
Based on Doppler spread we distinguish between:
fast fading;
slow fading.
Small-scale fading (multipath time delay spread)
Small-scale fading (Doppler spread)
Flat fading (time dispersion)
1. BW of signal < BW of channel
2. Delay spread < Symbol period
Frequency selective fading
1. BW of signal > BW of channel
2. Delay spread > Symbol period
Fast fading (frequency dispersion)
1. High Doppler spread
2. Coherence time < Symbol period
3. Channel variations faster that signal vars
Slow fading (time selective fading)
1. Low Doppler spread
2. Coherence time > Symbol period
3. Channel variations slower that signal vars
3.5. Practical received signal strength models
Depending on presence of LOS received signal strength has:
LOS: Rician distribution;
Non-LOS: Rayleigh distribution
The Rician distribution is given by:
p(r) =
2
exp
(r
2
+A
2
)
2
2
I
0
Ar
, A > 0, r 0,
0 r < 0.
(2)
As A 0 the Rician distribution degenerates to Rayleigh one:
p(r) =
2
exp
r
2
2
2
, 0 < r < ,
0, r < 0.
(3)
Signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio:
received signal strength and
noise (local, interference).
4. Modulation techniques
Modulation:
why: information cannot be transferred as is;
what: converting data into electromagnetic waves;
how: altering certain properties of the carrier wave.
Classication based on the nature of the data to be transmitted :
analog modulation techniques:
Amplitude modulation;
Frequency modulation;
Phase modulation.
digital modulation techniques:
Amplitude shift keying;
Frequency shift keying;
Phase shift keying.
4.1. Analog modulation
Characteristics:
used to transmit analog data (e.g. voice);
perform superimposing analog data signal x(t) on a predened carrier signal c(t).
Amplitude modulation:
frequency and phase of the modulating signal remains the same;
amplitude varies with that of information signal.
Frequency modulation:
amplitude and phase of the modulating signal remains the same;
frequency varies with that of information signal.
Phase modulation:
amplitude and frequency of the modulating signal remains the same;
phase varies with that of information signal.
Figure 7: Illustration of the analog amplitude modulation.
Figure 8: Illustration of the analog frequency modulations.
Figure 9: Illustration of the analog phase modulations.
4.2. Digital modulation
Characteristics:
used to transmit binary data (e.g. PCM voice);
alters certain properties of transmitting data;
dierence: changes occur at discrete time instants.
There are a number of digital modulation techniques:
amplitude shift keying (ASK);
frequency shift keying (FSK);
phase shift keying (PSK).
Amplitude shift keying
t: transmission time of the symbol;
1: presence of a carrier for t;
0: absence of a carrier t.
Mathematically ASK is represented as:
s(t) =
A
c
cos2f
c
t, for 1,
0, for 0.
(4)
Figure 10: Illustration of the amplitude shift keying.
Frequency shift keying
Let f
c
be the carrier frequency and f be the small frequency oset. Then according to FSK:
transmission of 1 is represented by presence of carrier with frequency f
c
+k for a certain time;
c
k for the same time.
Two-levels: binary FSK (BFSK):
s(t) =
A
c
cos2(f
c
+ k)t, for 1,
A
c
cos2(f
c
k)t, for 0.
(5)
Figure 11: Illustration of the binary frequency shift keying (BFSK).
Phase shift keying
In PSK change in phase of the carrier signal is used to represent 0 and 1, that is:
c
for a certain time;
transmission of 1 is represented by presence of carrier with a phase dierence of .
Mathematically, two-level PSK (binary PSK, BPSK) is given by:
s(t) =
A
c
cos(2f
c
t + ), for 1,
A
c
cos2f
c
t, for 0.
(6)
Multiple phase deviation can also be used to encode multiple bits. For example, Quadrature
PSK (QPSK) uses four dierent phases each separated by /2:
s(t) =
A
c
cos(2f
c
t +

4
), for 10,
A
c
cos(2f
c
t +
3
4
), for 11,
A
c
cos(2f
c
t +
5
4
), for 01,
A
c
cos(2f
c
t +
7
4
), for 00.
(7)
Figure 12: Constellation diagrams for BPSK, QPSK, and 8-PSK.
Figure 13: Illustration of QPSK.
5. Error control
BER can be high (around 10E 4 10E 2):
using channel coding (adding additional bits;)
using protocols with retransmission.
We distinguish between following channel coding:
coding using error detecting codes:
Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC).
coding using error correcting codes:
Block codes (BCH);
Convolutional codes.
Protocols with retransmissions:
Stop-and-wait ARQ (SW-ARQ);
Go-Back-N ARQ (GBN-ARQ);
Selective-repeat ARQ (SR-ARQ).
6. Multiple access techniques
Why we need multiple access scheme:
bandwidth is a scarce resource at the air interface;
there are a number of users that want to transmit.
Multiple access is dierent from channel access:
multiple access: how media is channelized;
channel access: how a user access a channel for transmission.
Basically, there are four centralized multiple access schemes:
frequency division multiple access (FDMA);
time division multiple access (TDMA);
code division multiple access (CDMA).
6.1. Frequency division multiple access
What is the basis:
shares available bandwidth in the frequency domain;
available bandwidth is divided into a number of channels;
there should be a guard band between adjacent channels;
each tranbsmitter/receiver pair is assigned the same channel for operation.
Bandwidth (Hz)
F
1
F
2
F
n
Figure 14: Illustration of FDMA principle.
: guard bands: inecient use of spectrum;
: assigned slot may not always be in use: inecient use of spectrum.
6.2. Time division multiple access
What is the basis:
shares the available bandwidth in the time domain;
frequency band is divided into a number of time slots;
a set of periodically repeated time slots is known as TDMA frame;
each node is assigned a slot in each frame and transmits only in this slots.
4 ... 4 ...
TDMA frame
time slot assigned for a transmitter/receiver pair
Figure 15: Illustration of TDMA principle.
Two-way communications:
Time division duplex: uplink and downlink on the same frequency;
Frequency division duplex: uplink and downlink on dierent frequencies.
FRAME FRAME
uplink downlink
FRAME FRAME
uplink downlink
time frequency
Figure 16: Illustration of TDD and FDD principle.
Shortcomings:
: perfect synchronization is required;
: guard bands: inecient use of spectrum;
guard bands between slots are introduced for synchronization;
: assigned slot may not always be in use: inecient use of spectrum.
6.3. Spread spectrum techniques
What is the basis:
every user uses the entire spectrum;
individual transmission are encoded with a pseudo-random sequences;
assigned codes are orthogonal so that the simultaneous transmissions are possible.
There are two types of spreads spectrum techniques available:
frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS);
direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS).
Frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS):
transmission switches across multiple narrow-band frequencies in a pseudo-random manner;
the sequence of transmission frequencies is known to the transmitter and a receiver only;
this sequence appears random for other pairs of transmitter/receiver in the network;
the signal is de-hopped at the receiver using the known pseudo-random sequence.
t, slots
f, frequencies
Figure 17: Illustration of FHSS principle.
FHSS systems are classied into:
fast FHSS:
the dwell time of each frequency is very small;
each bit being transmitted across multiple hops.
slow FHSS:
the dwell time on each frequency is high;
multiple bits are transmitted on each frequency hop.
Direct sequence spread spectrum
each node is assigned a specic code called chipping code;
codes are orthogonal to each other;
in order to transmit binary information:
1: the sender transmits its chipping code;
0: the sender transmits complement of the chipping code.
7. Channel access schemes
What is the basis:
provide access to a channel for multiple concurrent stations;
is not needed when there is a centralized control;
required when the access is distributed;
can be used for decentralized control in TDMA and FDMA channels.
There are following basic techniques for uncontrolled access to the broadcast media:
ALOHA and slotted ALOHA;
Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA);
Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA);
Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD).
These techniques are used for access to the channel in LANs and WLANs.
7.1. ALOHA
Pure ALOHA
a terminal transmits whenever the user data is ready;
if the sender nds that the packet get collided:
it waits for a random period of time;
sends the packet again.
Throughput: low, depends on stations and trac they generate.
Slotted ALOHA
time is slotted, length on the slot is the time to transmit a packet;
node starts transmission in the beginning of slots only;
if collision occurs:
sender waits for a random number of slots;
transmits packet again.
Throughput: higher than ALOHA but still low.
7.2. Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA)
Why we need:
throughput of ALOHA is very low;
what to do: listen for packet transmissions.
In general, there are three dierent CSMA schemes:
1-persistent CSMA;
non-persistent CSMA;
p-persistent CSMA.
1-persistent CSMA
when the packet is ready for transmission the sender listens to the channel;
if the channel is free packet is immediately transmitted;
if not the senders continues to listen till the channel becomes free.
Probability of starting transmission when the channel is free: 1.
Two bad eects:
Wrong channel free eect;
Synchronization eect
Wrong channel free eect
an arbitrary node starts transmitting;
a node near the destination sense the channel and nds it free since packet has not yet arrived.
Synchronization eect
t
t
t
start of sensing
start of sensing
node 1
node 2
node 3
Figure 18: Illustration of the synchronization eect.
Non-persistent CSMA
This scheme was introduced to combat with the synchronization problem. It works as follows:
when the packet is ready for transmission the sender listens the channel;
if the channel is busy the sender goes in the waiting state for a randomly chosen time;
after this time the sender sense the channel again the the algorithm is repeated.
t
t
t
start of sensing
start of sensing
node 1
node 2
node 3
random waiting
random waiting
Figure 19: Illustration of non-persistent CSMA.
advantage: probability of collision is less than for 1-persistent CSMA.
p-persistent CSMA
the channel is slotted;
transmission is a free channel is performed with probability p.
The scheme operates as:
when the packet is ready for transmission the sender listens the channel;
if the channel is busy the sender keeps listen the channel until it nds the channel idle;
if the channel is idle:
the sender transmits the packet in this slot with probability p;
defers transmission to the next slot with probability q = 1 p.
t
t
node 1
node 2
both have a packet p
1
<p
p
1
>p p
1
<p
7.3. Carrier sense multiple access with collision detection
What is new:
capability to detect collisions.
t
node 1
node 2
t
t
node 1
node 2
t
collision is detected bandwidth is wasted
Figure 20: Illustration of collision detection advantages.
The algorithm operates as follows:
if the collision is detected the nodes immediately aborts its current transmission;
then, the node sends a brief jamming signal;
any other transmitting node on hearing the jamming signal abort their transmissions;
after transmitting the jamming signal the node waits for a random time and repeats the CSMA.

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