Propagation Models in Wireless Communications

Microwaves UCL
Propagation models for wireless mobile

communications
D. Vanhoenacker-Janvier,
Microwave Lab. UCL, Louvain-la-Neuve,
Belgium
AT1-Propagation in wired, wireless and optical communications

1
Content of the presentation Microwaves UCL
- Free space losses

- Plane earth losses
- Models for wireless channel
macrocells
shadowing
narrowband fast fading
wideband fast fading
megacells
This presentation is based on the following reference:

S.R. Saunders, Antennas and propagation for wireless
communication systems, Wiley, 1999.
2
Free space losses Microwaves UCL
GT GR
PT L
PR
LT LR
emitter receiver
PT GT GR
PR =
L LT LR
Where PR is the power at the receiver terminal
PT is the power at the emitter terminal
GT is the gain of the emitter antenna (dBi)
GR is the gain of the receiver antenna (dBi)
L is the path loss
LT,E are the feeder losses (emitter, receiver)
3
Effective isotropic radiated power:
PT GT
EIRP = = PTI
LT
Effective isotropic received power:

PR LR
PRI =
GR
Path loss:
æ PTI ö æ PT GT GR ö
L = 10 logç ÷ = 10 logç
è PRI è PR LR LT
4
Assuming 2 antennas, with their polarisation matched,

the power density arriving to the receiving antenna is
(feeder losses are neglected)
PT GT
S=
4π r 2
The power received by the antenna is
PG A
PR = T T 2eR
4π r
where AeR is the effective aperture of the
receive antenna:
4π
GR = 2 AeR
λ
5
And finally
2
PR æ λ ö Friis formula
= GR GT ç
PT è 4π r
The free space loss becomes:
PT GT GR æ 4π r ö
2
L= =ç
PR è λ
6
Plane earth loss Microwaves UCL
Wireless environment is not governed by free space losses,

due to the presence of the ground.
Base station
mobile
This is not multipath!

7
Assumption: flat reflecting ground

The lengths of the direct and reflected rays are:
r1 = (hb − hm )2 + r 2
r2 = (hb + hm )2 + r 2
The amplitude of the fields is assumed to be the same, only
the phase difference is taken into account:
é æ h + h ö2 æ h − h ö
2 ù
r2 − r1 = r ê ç b m
÷ +1 − ç
b m
÷ +1
ëê è
r ø è r ø
8
In most of the practical cases: hb , hm << r

Then
2hm hb
(r2 − r1 ) ≈
r
And the amplitude of the electric field is

Etot = E0 1 + R exp( j∆ψ )
E0 is the amplitude of the direct field

2hm hb
∆ψ = k
r
9
2
PR æ λ ö
=ç 1 + R exp( j∆ψ )
2
PT è 4π r
If the angle of incidence is small, the reflection coefficient is

close to -1.
2
æ λ ö
1 − cos ∆ψ − j sin ∆ψ
2
PR = PT ç
è 4π r
The phase difference is small so that
cos ∆ψ ≅ 1
sin ∆ψ ≅ ∆ψ
10
2 2 2
æ λ ö æ λ ö æ 4π hm hb ö
PR ≅ PT ç ÷ ∆ψ ≅ PT ç
2
÷ ç
è 4π r è 4π r è λ d
2
æ hm hb ö
PR ≅ PT ç 2
è d
The loss is increasing with the distance by 40 dB per decade

and decreasing with the antenna heights.
This is not an accurate model of propagation; it is sometimes

used as a reference case.
11
Models for wireless channel Microwaves UCL
Various types of models for the wireless channel:

- empirical models,
based on measurements
linked to the environment and the parameters of the
measurement campaign
- deterministic models
based on a fixed geometry (buildings, streets,…)
used to analyse particular situations
- physical-statistical models
combination of deterministic models and statistics of
various parameters (building heights, street width,…)
12
Models for wireless channel Microwaves UCL
- Models for macrocells
- Shadowing
- Narrowband fast fading
- Wideband fast fading
- Megacells
13
Macrocells Microwaves UCL
Macrocell geometry
Definition: hb>h0
14
Macrocells Microwaves UCL
Macrocell models are used by system designers to place

the base stations.
They are
- simple
- dependent on distance from the base station only
- based on measurement (empirical models)
15
Macrocells-empirical models Microwaves UCL
Each measurement
represents an
average of a set of
samples (local
mean)
Example of measurements taken in a suburban area.

16
Macrocells-empirical models Microwaves UCL
Simplest form for an empirical path loss model:
PR 1 k
= = n
PT L r
L(dB) = 10n log r + K ; K = 10 log k
PR and PT are the effective isotropic transmitted and

predicted isotropic received power, K and n are constants of
the model.
17
Macrocells -empirical models Microwaves UCL
Measurements taken in urban and suburban area usually

find a path loss exponent close to 4, but with losses higher
than predicted.
L(dB ) = 10n log r + K
L(dB) = 10n log(r rref ) + Lref
Represented by the clutter factor
18
In urban and
suburban areas
Lm = 76,3 − 10 log hm for hm < 10

Lm = 76,3 − 20 log hm for hm ≥ 10
J. Egli, “Radiowave propagation above 40 Mc over irregular terrain”, Proc. IRE, pp. 1383-1391, 1957.
G. Delisle, J. Lefèvre, M. Lecours, J. Chouinard, ‘Propagation loss prediction : a comparative study with
application to the mobile radio channel”, IEEE Trans. Veh. Techn., vol.26, n)4, pp. 295-308, 1985. 19
Fully empirical model, based on an extensive series of

measurements made around Tokyo city between 200 MHz
and 2 GHz1 .
Predictions are based on a series of graphs; the most

important ones have been approximated in a set of
formulae by Hata2.
1 Y. Okumura, E. Ohmori, T. Kawano, K. Fukuda, “Field strength and its variability in VHF and
UHF land mobile radio service”, Rev. Electr. Communic. Lab., vol.16, pp. 825-873, 1968.
2 M. Hata, “Empirical formula for propagation loss in land mobile radio services”, IEEE Trans.
Vehic. Techn., vol 29, pp. 317-325, 1980.

20
21
The terrain categories proposed by Okumura are the following:
- Open area: open space, no tall trees or buildings in the path,

land cleared for 300-400m ahead, e.g. farmlands, rice fields,
open fields
- Suburban area: village or highway scattered with trees and
houses, some obstacles near the mobile but not very congested
- Urban area: built up city or large town with large buildings
and houses with two or more storeys, or larger villages with
close houses and tall, thickly grown trees.
22
Lee model is a power law model with parameters taken from

measurements in a number of locations
æ f ö
PR = −61.7 − 38.4 log R − n logç ÷ + α 0 suburban
è 900
æ f ö
PR = −70 − 36.8 log R − n logç ÷ + α 0 Philadelphie
è 900
æ f ö
PR = −64 − 43.1log R − n logç ÷ + α 0 Newark
è 900
æ hb ö æ PT ö æ hm ö
α 0 = 20 logç ÷ + 10 logç ÷ + (Gb − 6 ) + Gm + 10 logç
è 100 è 10 è 10
hb,hm in feet; PT in Watts, f in MHz, R in miles (R>1mile)
23
W.C.Lee, Mobile design fundamentals, John Wiley, New York, 1993.

24
Limitations of the empirical models:
- they can only be used over parameter ranges included in the

original measurement set.
- environment must be classified subjectively according
categories, which may be different in different countries.
- they provide no physical insight into the mechanisms by
which propagation occurs.
25
Macrocells-Physical models Microwaves UCL
S. R. Saunders, F. Bonar, “Prediction of mobile radio wave propagation aver buildings of

irregular heights and spacings, IEEE Trans. Ant. Prop., vol. 42, n°2, pp. 137-144.
26
Macrocells-Physical models Microwaves UCL
S. Saunders, F; Bonar, “Explicit multiple building diffraction attenuation function for mobile
radio wave propagation”, Electr. Let., vol. 27, n°14, pp. 1276-1277, 1991.
27
Macrocells-base station antennas Microwaves UCL
28
Shadowing Microwaves UCL
29
Typical variation of shadowing with mobile position, at a fixed distance of the

base station. 30
31
32
Narrowband fast fading Microwaves UCL
After path loss and shadowing, there is still significant

variation in the signal as mobile moves over distances which
are small compared with the shadowing.
This phenomenon is
Fast fading
and can be described by

deterministic models
statistical models
33
Non-line-of-sight
Line-of-sight
34
Deterministic model: ray-tracing method
The built-up area is composed of parallelepipedic blocs

with plane faces representing buildings either vegetation.
The field arriving at the receiver results from the

combination of all components arriving at the terminal:
- direct component (if it exists)
- reflected components (various orders of reflection)
- diffracted components (various orders of diffraction)
- scattered components (d∼λ).
It is necessary to know the√electrical characteristics of the
blocs (ε and σ) at the frequency of interest.
35
3-D bloc model for “place du Levant”

36
12.5 GHz
−30
−35
Simulation winter
Received power, [dB]
−40
−45
+ Meas. winter
−50
Simulation summer
−55
−60
30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Meas. summer
Distance from Maxwell building, [m]
30 GHz
−30
−35
Received power, [dB]
−40
−45
−50
−55
−60
−65
30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Distance from Maxwell building, [m]
Comparison between simulation and measurement

37
LOS path (simulated, without trees)
38
Path under the balcony
39
40
Statistical model for the multipath signal
A sum of enough independent variables approaches very

closely a normal distribution.
In the NLOS case, the real and imaginary parts of the electric
field components are composed of a sum of a large number of
waves
they have a normal distribution
41
Complex baseband signal (Rice

representation)
42
Pdf of r is a Rayleigh function 43

44
45
46
filtered
47
Doppler effect on the direct wave

ϑ
v ax
v = vax
Er = E0 exp( j (ω 0t − kx cosϑ ))
æ æ 1 öö
= E0 expç j 2π ç f 0t − vt cosϑ ÷ ÷
è è λ
æ æ v öö
= E0 expç j 2π ç f 0 − cosϑ ÷t
è è λ
fd 48
Effect of Doppler spread on signal spectrum:
a different doppler shift affects all the multipaths
v
f m = ± f0
λ
49
Statistics of the angle of arrival of the multipaths
Pdf of the arrival angle
50
The mean power arriving from an element of angle dα
P (α ) = G (α ) p(α )dα
has a given Doppler shift (G(α) is the antenna gain for α).
The power spectrum of the received signal, S(f), is found by
equating the power in an element of α to the power in an
element of spectrum
P( f ) = S ( f )df = G (α ) p(α )dα + G (− α ) p(− α )dα
G (α ) p(α ) + G (− α ) p(− α )
S( f ) =
df
dα
51
Assuming a short dipole antenna:
G (α ) = 1.5
and the spectral density becomes
1.5
S( f ) = for f < fm
2
π fm 1 − æç f ö
è fm
52
Classical Doppler spectrum
Very difficult to measure due to the small bandwith!

53
Limited angle of arrival :

p(α)
1/2β
β β
β β
−π/2 π/2
1.5
S( f ) =
(β f )
− fm 2 ≤ f ≤ fm 2
m 1 − ( f fm )
2
54
Other measurable parameters linked to the Doppler spectrum
55
LCR
Jakes
56
AFD
57
Exemple:
Soit un système mobile à 900 MHz et un mobile se déplaçant à 100
km/h, combien de fois le signal sera-t-il de 20dB inférieur à sa
valeur rms en 1 minute?
Dans ce cas,
f c v 900 106 ⋅100 103 3600

fm = = 8
= 83.33Hz
c 3 10
NR
fm
( )
2
= 2π r exp − r = 2.5 ⋅ 0.1 ⋅ 0.99 ≅ 0.25
car r = −20dB = 0.1

Cela fait N R = 0.25 f m = 21 fois par seconde
En doublant la fréquence et en divisant la vitesse par deux, on
58
obtient le même lcr.
Importance of interleaving 59
Another way to see Doppler effect is to work in time domain.

The inverse Fourier Transform of the power spectral density is
the autocorrelation function. It expresses correlation between a
signal at t and its value at t+τ. The autocorrelation function of
the received signal writes down
[ ] [ ]
ρ (τ ) = E α (t )α * (t + τ ) E α
2
For the classical spectrum, one obtains

ρ (t ) = J 0 (2π f mτ )
The coherence time is defined as the time during which teh
channel can be considered as constant. The signals, shorter then
the coherence time are not affected by the Doppler shift nor the
speed of the mobile. 60
In the time domain:
61
Exemple:
Quel est le débit maximum pour éviter les effets de l’étalement
Doppler dans un système mobile à 900 MHz pour une vitesse
maximum du mobile de 100 km/h?
La fréquence Doppler maximum est
f c v 900 106 ⋅100 103 3600
fm = = 8
= 83.33Hz
c 3 10
Le temps de cohérence est

9 9
Tc = = = 2.15ms
16π f m 16π 83.33
C’est donc la durée maximum d’un symbole, cela fait un débit
symbole minimum de 465 bits/sec.
62
Microwaves UCL
Wideband fast fading
63
Wideband fast fading Microwaves UCL
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
Megacells Microwaves UCL
73
74
75
76
Local multipath effects
77
Empirical narrowband models

Empirical Roadside Shadowing model (ERS)
Statistical models
Loo model (shadowing due to roadside trees)
Corazza model
Lutz model (2 states: LOS and NLOS)
Physical-statistical model for built up area
78
Basic physical parameters:
hb
A' h2 hb
hm
L
h1
dm
79
Fade statistics:
π / 2 π / 2 ∞ w∞
T A (a ) = TA H b DmWφθ ⋅ TH b (hb ) ⋅
0 0 000
TDm (d m ) ⋅ TW (w) ⋅ Tφ (ϕ ) ⋅ Tϑ (ϑ ) dhb dd m dw dφ dϑ
80
0.3
0.25
Guildford
0.2 Building height distribution
Probability density function
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 81
Building height, [m]
0.04
0.035
Maximum elevation angle
0.03 for Iridium constellation
at London
0.025
0.02
0.015
0.01
0.005
0
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85
Elevation angle, [deg.]
82
0.07
0.06
Street width distribution in
Guildford
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Street width, [m]
83
Distribution of the nearest satellite azimuth

0.35
angle (relative to earth parallels) for Iridium at
0.3
London
0.25
Probability density
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Satellite azimuth angle, [rad.]
84
Distribution of the global azimuth angle (relative to

0.17
street axis) for Iridium constellation at London
0.168
0.166
0.164
Probability density
0.162
0.16
0.158
0.156
0.154
0.152
0.15
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Satellite azimuth angle, [rad.]
85
86

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Microwaves UCL

Propagation models for wireless mobile

AT1-Propagation in wired, wireless and optical communications

- Free space losses

This presentation is based on the following reference:

Effective isotropic radiated power:

Effective isotropic received power:

Assuming 2 antennas, with their polarisation matched,

The free space loss becomes:

Wireless environment is not governed by free space losses,

This is not multipath!

Assumption: flat reflecting ground

In most of the practical cases: hb , hm << r

And the amplitude of the electric field is

E0 is the amplitude of the direct field

If the angle of incidence is small, the reflection coefficient is

The loss is increasing with the distance by 40 dB per decade

This is not an accurate model of propagation; it is sometimes

Various types of models for the wireless channel:

- Models for macrocells

- Narrowband fast fading

- Wideband fast fading

Macrocell models are used by system designers to place

Example of measurements taken in a suburban area.

Simplest form for an empirical path loss model:

L(dB) = 10n log r + K ; K = 10 log k

PR and PT are the effective isotropic transmitted and

Measurements taken in urban and suburban area usually

Represented by the clutter factor

Lm = 76,3 − 10 log hm for hm < 10

Fully empirical model, based on an extensive series of

Predictions are based on a series of graphs; the most

Vehic. Techn., vol 29, pp. 317-325, 1980.

The terrain categories proposed by Okumura are the following:

- Open area: open space, no tall trees or buildings in the path,

Lee model is a power law model with parameters taken from

W.C.Lee, Mobile design fundamentals, John Wiley, New York, 1993.

Limitations of the empirical models:

- they can only be used over parameter ranges included in the

S. R. Saunders, F. Bonar, “Prediction of mobile radio wave propagation aver buildings of

Typical variation of shadowing with mobile position, at a fixed distance of the

After path loss and shadowing, there is still significant

and can be described by

Deterministic model: ray-tracing method

The built-up area is composed of parallelepipedic blocs

The field arriving at the receiver results from the

3-D bloc model for “place du Levant”

Comparison between simulation and measurement

LOS path (simulated, without trees)

Path under the balcony

Statistical model for the multipath signal

A sum of enough independent variables approaches very

they have a normal distribution

Complex baseband signal (Rice

Pdf of r is a Rayleigh function 43

Doppler effect on the direct wave

Effect of Doppler spread on signal spectrum:

a different doppler shift affects all the multipaths

Statistics of the angle of arrival of the multipaths

Pdf of the arrival angle

The mean power arriving from an element of angle dα

Assuming a short dipole antenna: