Wireless&MobileComm - 2-Radio Propagation

Wireless and Mobile Communication
2. Radio propagation
Sosina M.
AAiT
Wireless channel
Transferring information from one point to another without any physical medium –
radio wave propagation
Challenges
 Broadcast nature of wireless medium
 Variable channel quality
 Energy limitation
 User mobility
Wired vs. wireless communication - Read [1] page 28
Wireless and Mobile Communication 2

Challenges in Wireless communication
Challenges in designing an efficient radio communication system

 Characteristics of the wireless channel
o Path loss, shadowing, Fading
o Changes over time in unpredictable ways due to user movement
o Interference from other wireless communications or devices
 Constraints – e.g., battery life, regulation

Propagation characteristics
Path loss
 The strength of signals falls of with distance
Shadowing
 Obstructions to line-of-sight paths cause areas of weak received signal
strength
Multipath propagation
 Radio signals' reaching the receiving antenna by two or more paths

Multi-path propagation
waves arrive from many different directions and with different delays-this
property is called multipath propagation.
The Multi Path Components (MPCs) combine vectorially at the receiver

antenna to produce a composite received signal
 The interference between them can be constructive or destructive, depending on
the phases of the MPCs
 The phases depend mostly on the run length of the MPC - thus on the position of
the RX and interacting objects (IOs)
 The amplitude of the total signal, changes with time if either TX, RX, or IOs is
moving
o At 2-GHz carrier frequency, a movement by less than 10 cm can already effect a change
from constructive to or destructive, depending on the phases of the MPCs
Multipath propagation
Wireless and Mobile Communication

Radio propagation mechanisms
Signal propagation in free space follows a straight line

 But, in real life we rarely have a line-of-sight between Tx and Rx
Blocking of signals due to large obstacles

 The higher the frequency of a signal the more it behavers like light
 Evan small obstacles (e.g., wall, trees) may block the signal
The three basic propagation mechanisms

 Reflection, diffraction and scattering

Reflection
 Occurs when an object is large compared to the wavelength of the signal
 The reflected signal is not as strong as the origin al, as objects can absorb some of
the signal’s power
 Reflection occur from surface of the earth, walls and buildings
Diffraction
 Occurs when the radio path between the TX and Rx is obstructed by a surface that
has sharp irregularities (edges)
 Gives rise to the bending of the waves around the obstacle
Scattering
 occurs when the medium through which the wave travels consists of objects with
dimensions that are small compared to the wavelength.

 Read - [2] page 78-102

Propagation Models
The design of spectrally efficient wireless communication systems
requires a detailed understanding of the radio propagation environment.
The characteristics of the radio channel vary greatly with the operating
frequency, and the mode of propagation, e.g., line-of-sight (LoS) radio
links, diffraction/scatter, and satellite links.

Propagation models
Main focus of propagation models
 Predicting the average received signal strength at a given Tx -Rx
o E.g., to estimate the radio coverage are of a Tx
 Characterize the rapid fluctuations of the received signal strength over large
Tx-Rx separation distance
o large-scale propagation models
 Predicting the variability of the signal strength in close spatial proximity to
a particular location
o Characterize the rapid fluctuation of the received signal strength over a very
short distance or short time duration
o Small scale propagation models

Propagation models
Since variations due to path loss and shadowing occur over relatively
large distances, this variation is sometimes referred to as large-scale
propagation effects
Variation due to multipath occurs over very short distances, on the order
of the signal wavelength, so these variations are sometimes referred to as
small-scale propagation effects.

Propagation models
Small scale and large scale fading
 The smoothed line is the
average signal strength. The
actual is the more jagged line.
 The signal fades rapidly as the

receiver moves, but the local
average signal changes much
more slowly with distance

Large scale path loss models

Free space propagation model
In free space radio signals follow a straight line
 If such a straight line exists between Tx and Rx it is called line-of-sight (LOS)
Even if no medium exists between Tx and Rx, the signal still experiences the
free space loss
 The received power is proportional to 1
𝑑2 with d being the distance between Tx
and Rx
 This is because:
o The Tx emits a signal with some energy
o The signal travels away from the Tx at a speed of light as a wave of spherical shape
o The sphere continuously grows with the sending energy equally distributed over the sphere
surface
o The surface area (s) grows with the increasing distance d, i.e. 𝑠 = 4𝜋𝑑 2

If the Tx antenna radiates isotopically
 The power density on the surface (S)
𝑃𝑡
𝑆=
4𝜋𝑑 2
 The Rx antenna has an “effective area” or
aperture 𝐴𝑟 , then the received power (𝑃𝑟 )
𝑃𝑡
𝑃𝑟 = 𝑆 ∗ 𝐴𝑟 = 𝐴𝑟 ∗
4𝜋𝑑 2
If the transmit antenna is not isotropic →the

energy density has to be multiplied with a
transmit antenna gain (𝐺𝑡 )
𝑃𝑡
𝑃𝑟 = 𝐴𝑟 ∗ 𝐺𝑡 ∗
4𝜋𝑑 2

The effective antenna area is proportional to the power that can be extracted
from the antenna radiators with a given energy density
The effective aperture for isotropic antenna 𝐴𝑖

2
𝐴𝑖 = λ 4𝜋
The relation between received and transmitted power in a free space
λ2
𝑃𝑟 = 𝑃𝑡 𝐺𝑙 (Friis law)
(4𝜋𝑑)2
• 𝐺𝑙 - the product of the transmit and receive antenna gain
• λ - wave length
• d – the Tx-Rx separation

Introducing system loss factor 𝐿
 A measure of attenuation factor caused by transmission line and antenna
losses in the system
𝝀𝟐
𝑷𝒓 = 𝑷𝒕 𝑮𝒍
(𝟒𝝅𝒅)𝟐 𝑳
 𝐿 = 1 indicates no loss in the system hardware
The signal attenuation or path loss is defined as
𝑷𝒕 𝑮𝒍 𝝀𝟐
𝑷𝑳 𝒅𝑩 = 𝟏𝟎𝒍𝒐𝒈 = −𝟏𝟎 𝒍𝒐𝒈
𝑷𝒓 (𝟒𝝅𝒅)𝟐

Friis equation does not hold for 𝑑 = 0 => large scale propagation models use a
close-in distance 𝑑0 as a known received power reference point
• 𝑑0 must lie in the far-field region
• 𝑑0 is chosen to be smaller than any practical distance used in the mobile
communication system
The received power at any distance 𝑑 > 𝑑0 [𝑃𝑟 (𝑑)]

𝑑0 2
𝑃𝑟 𝑑 = 𝑃𝑟 𝑑0 𝑑 ≥ 𝑑0 ≥ 𝑑𝑓
𝑑
Expressing in a unit of dB
𝑑0
𝑃𝑟 𝑑 𝑑𝐵 = 10 log 𝑃𝑟 𝑑0 + 20𝑙𝑜𝑔
𝑑
o Common values for 𝑑0
• E.g., Low-gain antennas in 1.2 GHZ
 Indoor - 𝑑0 =1 m, 100 m or 1 km outdoor

Considers the simplest possible scenario
The received power decays as a function of the separation distance

between Tx and Rx
 Path loss models assume that path loss is the same at a given transmit-
receive distance
The free-space equation is valid in a ‘far-field’ region

 The distance d from Tx not less than a Fraunhofer distance (𝑑𝑓 )
2𝐷𝑎 2
𝑑𝑓 = where𝐷𝑎 is the largest dimension of the antenna
λ
 The far field also requires
𝑑𝑓 ≫ 𝐷𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑑𝑓 ≫ λ
Log distance path loss model
Both theoretical or measurement-based propagation models have shown
that average received signal power decreases logarithmically with
distance (indoor or outdoor)
The average large-scale path loss for an arbitrary Tx-Rx separation is

expressed as a function of distance by using a path loss exponent, n
𝑑 𝑛 𝑑
𝑃𝐿 𝑑 ∝ ( ) or 𝑃𝐿 𝑑𝐵 = 𝑃𝐿 𝑑0 + 10𝑛 log
𝑑0 𝑑0
 The value of n varies with propagation environments.
o n= 2 for free space, when obstructions are present n will have a larger value

Log distance path loss model
Path loss exponents for different environments

Log normal shadowing model
Log-distance PL model
 Does not consider the fact that the surrounding environmental clutter may be
vastly different for two locations having the same T-R separation
 Thus, the model cannot predict well the measured signals
A signal transmitted through a wireless channel will typically experience

random variation due to blockage from objects in the signal path, giving rise to
random variations of the received power at a given distance.
Such variations are also caused by changes in reflecting surfaces and scattering
objects.
Thus, a model for the random attenuation due to these effects is also needed

From empirical observation – at any value of d, the path loss PL(d) at a
particular location is random and distributed log-normally about the mean
distance dependent value
𝑑
𝑃𝐿 𝑑𝐵 = 𝑃𝐿 𝑑𝐵 + 𝑋𝜎 = 𝑃𝐿 𝑑0 + 10𝑛 log + 𝑋𝜎
𝑑0
o 𝑋𝜎 -a zero-mean Gaussian distributed random variable with SD 𝜎
o The value of n and 𝜎 are computed from measured data
Log-normal distribution describes the random shadowing effect which

occur over a large number of measurement locations which have the
same T-R separation
 Measured data and corresponding

path loss model for different cities
 For this data, n=2.7 and 𝜎 = 11.8 𝑑𝐵

Other models
Outdoor propagation models
 Okumura model
 Hata model
 Walfish and Bertoni model
Indoor propagation models
Read [2]

Small scale fading models

Small scale fading
Small scale fading describes the rapid fluctuation of the amplitude and
phase of a radio signal over a short period of time or travel distance
 Caused by interference between two or multipath waves combined at

the receiver antenna
 The combined signal can vary widely in amplitude and phase, depending
on the distribution of the intensity and relative propagation time of the waves
and the bandwidth of the transmitted signal

Small scale multipath propagation
Small scale fading effects

 Rapid changes in signal strength over a small travel distance or time interval
 Random frequency modulation due to varying Doppler shift on different
multipath signals
 Time dispersion caused by multipath propagation delays

Small scale multipath propagation
The signal received may consist of a large number of plane waves having
randomly distributed amplitudes, phases and angles of arrival.
 Causes the distortion or fading of received signal
 When the Rx is stationary → the signal may fade due to the movement of
surrounding objects
 If the surrounding objects are static → the fading is purely a spatial
phenomenon

Factors influencing small scale fading
Multipath propagation
 Multiple versions of the transmitted signal arrive at the receiver
 The random phase and amplitudes of the different multipath components
cause fluctuations in signal strength, inducing small scale fading
Speed of the mobile (Rx)

 The relative motion between the Tx and Rx results in random frequency
modulation due to different Doppler shifts on each of the multipath
components

Factors influencing small scale fading
Speed of surrounding objects
 If objects in the radio channel are in motion – induce a time varying Doppler
shift
 If the surrounding object move at a greater rate than the mobile, then this
effect dominates the small scale fading
 Otherwise motion of surrounding objects may be ignored
Transmission bandwidth of the signal

 If the transmitted radio signal bandwidth is greater than the "bandwidth" of
the multipath channel, the received signal will be distorted

Doppler shift
The movement of the Rx/Tx leads to a shift of the received frequency,

called the Doppler shift.
The frequency shift is directly proportional to

 The velocity of Rx
 The direction of motion of the Rx with respect to the direction of the
received multipath wave

Doppler shift
If the RX moves away from the TX with speed v, then the distance d between
TX and RX increases with that speed
 Thus, the Doppler shift is given by:
𝑣
𝑓𝑑 = −
λ
o Note that the Doppler shift is negative when the TX and RX move away from each other
If the direction of RX movement is not aligned with the direction of wave
propagation, the Doppler shift is determined by the speed of movement in the
direction of wave propagation
 The Doppler shift is then:
𝑣 cos 𝛾
o 𝑓𝑑 = −
λ

Doppler shift
The Doppler shift is positive (i.e., the apparent received frequency is
increased), if the mobile is moving toward the direction of arrival of the
wave.
The Doppler shift is negative (i.e. the apparent received frequency is

decreased), if the mobile is moving away from the direction of arrival of
the wave.
Different MPCs have different Doppler shifts. The superposition of

several Doppler-shifted waves creates the sequence of fading dips.
Impulse Response Model of a Multipath Channel
Small scale variation of a mobile radio signal can be directly related to
the impulse response of the mobile radio channel
A mobile radio channel can be modeled as a linear filter with a time

varying impulse response
 The variation is due to Rx motion in space
 The filtering nature of the channel is caused by the summation of
amplitudes and delays of the multiple arriving waves

Impulse response model
The Rx moves at constant speed

 For a fixed position d – the channel between Rx and TX can be modeled as a
linear time invariant system
 Multipath waves have propagation delays which vary with the location (d) of
the receiver  the impulse response of the linear time invariant channel
should be a function of d

The received signal is a sum of a large
number of waves with random phases.
The
Random phases imply that

 These waves may add constructively
producing a received signal with large
amplitude
 Or they may add destructively,
resulting in a very low amplitude.

Let
 𝑥(𝑡) = the transmitted signal, 𝑦(𝑑, 𝑡) = the received signal at position d and
ℎ(𝑑, 𝑡)=the channel impulse response
 𝑦(𝑑, 𝑡) can be expressed as a convolution of 𝑥(𝑡) with ℎ(𝑑, 𝑡)

𝑡
𝑦 𝑑, 𝑡 = 𝑥 𝑡 ⊕ ℎ 𝑑, 𝑡 = −∞
𝑥 𝜏 ℎ 𝑑, 𝑡 − 𝜏 𝑑𝜏
𝑡
𝑦 𝑣𝑡, 𝑡 = −∞
𝑥 𝜏 ℎ 𝑣𝑡, 𝑡 − 𝜏 𝑑𝜏 𝑑 = 𝑣𝑡
o t and 𝜏 represent the time variation due to motion and the channel multipath delay for a fixed
value of t, respectively
The mobile radio channel can be modeled as a linear time varying channel, where the
channel changes with time and distance
Discrete time impulse response model
Discretize the multipath delay axis 𝜏 of the
impulse response into equal time delay segment
– excess delay bins
 Each bin time delay width = 𝜏𝑖+1 − 𝜏𝑖 = ∆𝜏
 𝜏0 = 0 ( the first arriving signal at the Rx), 𝜏𝑖 =
𝑖∆𝜏, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑖 = 0 𝑡𝑜 𝑁 − 1,
o where N represents the total number of possible
equal spaced multipath components
The model can be used to analyze transmitted

signals having bandwidths which are less than 2 ∆𝜏

Discrete time impulse response model
The received signal consists of a series of attenuated, time delayed, phase
shifted replicas of the transmitted signal
The baseband impulse response of a multipath channel can be expressed

as
𝑁−1
ℎ𝑏 𝑡, 𝜏 = 𝑖=0 𝑎𝑖 𝑡, 𝜏 exp 𝑗 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝜏𝑖 𝑡 + 𝜑𝑖 𝑡, 𝜏 𝛿(𝜏 − 𝜏𝑖 (𝑡))
o 𝑎𝑖 𝑡, 𝜏 and 𝜏𝑖 𝑡 are the real amplitude and excess delays, respectively, of the
ith multipath component at time t
o 2𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝜏𝑖 𝑡 + 𝜑𝑖 𝑡, 𝜏 - represents the phase shift

Characterization of fading channels
Fading radio channels have been classified in two ways
 flat (frequency non-selective) or frequency selective
Time dispersion parameters
In order to compare different multipath channels and to develop some

general design guidelines for wireless systems, parameters which grossly
quantify the multipath channel are used
The time dispersive properties of the wide band multipath channels are
most commonly quantified by their mean excess delay and rms delay
spread
Coherence bandwidth
statistical measure of the range of frequencies over which the

channel can be considered ”flat” (i.e. a channel which passes all
spectral components with equal gain and phase)
1
𝐵𝑐 ∝
𝜎𝜏
o Where 𝜎𝜏 is the RMS delay spread

Doppler Spread and Coherence time
𝐵𝑐 and 𝜎𝜏 do not offer any information about the time-variations of the
channel due to relative motion between the Tx and the Rx
The Doppler spread 𝐵𝐷 , defined as a measure of spectral broadening

caused by the time-rate of change of the channel
The coherence time is a statistical measure of the time duration over

which the channel impulse response is essentially invariant
1
𝑇𝑐 ≈
𝐵𝐷
Types of small scale fading

Fading models
Two-ray Rayleigh fading model
Rician fading model
Nakagami fading model
Read [2]

Path loss, Shadowing and Multi-path

Further reading
1. Molisch A. F., Wireless Communications, IEEE Press, John Wiley & Sons, 2005
2. Rappaport T. S., 1996. Wireless communications principles and practice. Vol. 2. New
Jersey; prentice hall PTR.

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Wireless and Mobile Communication

Wired vs. wireless communication - Read [1] page 28

Wireless and Mobile Communication 2

Challenges in designing an efficient radio communication system

Wireless and Mobile Communication 3

Wireless and Mobile Communication 4

The Multi Path Components (MPCs) combine vectorially at the receiver

Wireless and Mobile Communication

Signal propagation in free space follows a straight line

Blocking of signals due to large obstacles

The three basic propagation mechanisms

Wireless and Mobile Communication 7

Wireless and Mobile Communication 8

 Read - [2] page 78-102

Wireless and Mobile Communication 9

Wireless and Mobile Communication 10

Wireless and Mobile Communication 11

Wireless and Mobile Communication 12

 The signal fades rapidly as the

Wireless and Mobile Communication 13

Wireless and Mobile Communication 14

Wireless and Mobile Communication 15

If the transmit antenna is not isotropic →the

Wireless and Mobile Communication 16

The effective aperture for isotropic antenna 𝐴𝑖

The relation between received and transmitted power in a free space

Wireless and Mobile Communication 17

The signal attenuation or path loss is defined as

Wireless and Mobile Communication 18

The received power at any distance 𝑑 > 𝑑0 [𝑃𝑟 (𝑑)]

Wireless and Mobile Communication 19

The received power decays as a function of the separation distance

The free-space equation is valid in a ‘far-field’ region

The average large-scale path loss for an arbitrary Tx-Rx separation is

Wireless and Mobile Communication 21

Wireless and Mobile Communication 22

A signal transmitted through a wireless channel will typically experience

Wireless and Mobile Communication 23

Log-normal distribution describes the random shadowing effect which

 Measured data and corresponding

 For this data, n=2.7 and 𝜎 = 11.8 𝑑𝐵

Wireless and Mobile Communication 25

Indoor propagation models

Wireless and Mobile Communication 26

Wireless and Mobile Communication 27

 Caused by interference between two or multipath waves combined at

Wireless and Mobile Communication 28

Small scale fading effects

Wireless and Mobile Communication 29

Wireless and Mobile Communication 30

Speed of the mobile (Rx)

Wireless and Mobile Communication 31

Transmission bandwidth of the signal

Wireless and Mobile Communication 32

The movement of the Rx/Tx leads to a shift of the received frequency,

The frequency shift is directly proportional to

Wireless and Mobile Communication 33

Wireless and Mobile Communication 34

The Doppler shift is negative (i.e. the apparent received frequency is

Different MPCs have different Doppler shifts. The superposition of

A mobile radio channel can be modeled as a linear filter with a time

Wireless and Mobile Communication 36