ITCE419

Wireless Sensor Networks

Radio Communications Basics

Radio spectrum for communication
 Which part of the electromagnetic spectrum is used for
communication
 Not all frequencies are equally suitable for all tasks – e.g., wall
penetration, different atmospheric attenuation (oxygen resonances,
…) AM FM TV broadcast
optical transmission

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 © Jochen Schiller, FU Berlin

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Frequency allocation
 Some frequencies are allocated Frequency Comment
to specific uses
850-900 MHz Mobile phones
 Cellular phones, analog
television/radio broadcasting, 1.8GHz, 2.1 GHz 3G
DVB-T, radar, emergency
services, radio astronomy, …

 Particularly interesting: ISM Some typical ISM bands

bands (“Industrial, scientific, Frequency Comment
medicine”) – license-free
operation 2.4 – 2.5 GHz WLAN/WPAN

5.725 – 5.875 GHz WLAN

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 Frequency allocation
 LTE operating frequency bands:

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Frequency channels

 A frequency band is divided into multiple channels

 Example:
 Each digital TV channel in Australia is 7MHz wide
 The channels do not overlap
 A transmission within a frequency channel must not be
wider than the channel width (Transmission bandwidth).

7 MHz

…
527.25MHz 534.25MHz 541.25MHz 814.25MHz

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Frequency channels

 Operating Bandwidth in LTE can be 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 20

MHz, 40 MHz, etc.

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Transmitting data using radio waves
 Basics: Transmitter can send a radio wave, receiver can
detect whether such a wave is present and also its
parameters
 Parameters of a wave = sine function:

 Parameters: amplitude A(t), frequency f(t), phase (t)

 Manipulating these three parameters allows the sender to
express data; receiver reconstructs data from signal
 Simplification: Receiver “sees” the same signal that the
sender generated – not true, see later!

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 Modulation and keying
 Modulation?
 Data to be transmitted is used to select transmission parameters
as a function of time
 These parameters modify a basic sine wave, which serves as a
starting point for modulating the signal onto it
 This basic sine wave has a center frequency fc
 The resulting signal requires a certain bandwidth to be
transmitted (centered around center frequency)
 Example: Use data to modify the
amplitude of a carrier frequency =
Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
 Note: There are many modulation
and keying techniques. ASK is
chosen as the example here
because it can be explained easily
but it is by no means the best © Tanenbaum, Computer Networks
technique
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Modulation and keying- Search !

© Tanenbaum, Computer Networks

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Modulation and keying- Search !
 Can you discuss the difference between Frequency,
amplitude and phase modulations ???

 What are the pros and cons for each of the modulation
schemes ?

 Give examples of communication systems and which

modulation schemes they use ?

© Tanenbaum, Computer Networks

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Receiver: Demodulation
 The receiver looks at the received wave form and matches
it with the data bit that caused the transmitter to generate
this wave form
 Necessary: one-to-one mapping between data and wave form
 Because of channel imperfections, this is at best possible for digital
signals
 Problems caused by
 Carrier synchronization: frequency can vary between sender and
receiver (drift, temperature changes, aging, …)
 Bit synchronization (actually: symbol synchronization): When does
symbol representing a certain bit start/end?
 Frame synchronization: When does a packet start/end?
 Biggest problem: Received signal is not the transmitted signal!

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Transmitted signal ~= received signal
 Wireless transmission distorts any transmitted signal
 Received ~= transmitted signal; results in uncertainty at receiver about
which bit sequence originally caused the transmitted signal
 Abstraction: Wireless channel describes these distortion effects
 Sources of distortion
 Attenuation – energy is distributed to larger areas with increasing distance
 Reflection/refraction – bounce of a surface; enter material
 Diffraction – start “new wave” from a sharp edge
 Scattering – multiple reflections at rough surfaces
 Doppler fading – shift in frequencies (loss of center)

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Transmitted signal ~= received signal
 Multipath propagation: radio signal reflects off objects ground, arriving ad
destination at slightly different times-

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Attenuation
 Attenuation = decrease in signal strength due to distance
Transmitter Receiver 1 at Receiver 2 at
distance d1 from distance d2 (> d1)
transmitter from transmitter

Received signals (All signals are drawn to

the same scale)
Transmitted The farther away, the smaller the signal strength
signal (determined by the amplitude) or signal power.
Remark: sound wave behaves similarly.
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 Attenuation formulas
 Equation below shows how received power strength
decreases with distance d from the transmitter based on
free space model (I.e. no obstacle, refractions etc.)
 Pt = Transmit power
 Pr(d) = Received power at distance d
 K = some constant depending on the antenna and wavelength

The above equation only holds when the transmitter is within a certain
distance known as Friis distance from the receiver. Beyond this
Distance, we have:

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Attenuation
120

 Transmission power =
100mW 100

 Using the given formula

 Sharp drop (exponential) 80

 The receivers will be able

Power (mW)
to receive the signal and 60

decode it at certain
distance. 40

25
20

4
1 0.444444444
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Distance from transmitter (m)

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Erroneous reception
 There are two reasons why a receiver may not be able to
decode the received signal correctly
 Noise at the receiver
 Interference from the other transmitters
 Remarks: These are very important concept to understand
because they have important implications on how wireless
networks are designed. We will discuss these implications
later.
 Let us begin with the effect of noise.

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 Effect of noise on reception (1)
Transmitter Receiver

+ noise

= signal for decoding

 Noise comes from the antenna and electronics inside the
receiver
 The signal available for the receiver to decode (I.e to
decide whether the bit is zero or one)
 = Attenuated signal (which is noise free) + noise

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 Effect of noise on reception (2)
Noise free signal + Noise = signal available for decoding

Noise free signal

Receiver 1

at receiver 1 is
strong. Receiver 1
can decode the
bits are 010 even
in the presence of
noise.

Weak noise free

Receiver 2

signal means
receiver 2
cannot decode
the bits in the
presence of
noise.

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Signal-to-noise ratio
 Let
Search:
 Ps = Power of the noise-free signal
Relation
 Pn = Power of noise between
 Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is defined as SNR and
data rate ?!

 (Simplified/deterministic view) Decoding is possible if

 SNR at the receiver >= a threshold
 (A more accurate view) The probability of decoding a bit
correctly is higher if the SNR at the receiver is farther from
the threshold
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Example (1)
Transmitter Receiver 1 Receiver 2 Receiver 3

 Transmitter transmit with power 10mW

 Receivers 1, 2 and 3 are at distance 5,10,20 m away from
the transmitter
 Assume received power is given by Pr = K Pt / d^2 where
K = 10^(-2)
 Noise power = 10^(-7)
 We use the simplified/deterministic view and assume we
need a SNR threshold of 10 to decode the signal
 Which of these receivers can decode the signal?

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Example (2)
Transmitter Receiver 1 Receiver 2 Receiver 3

 Since noise power = 10^(-7) W and we need an SNR >= 10

 Minimum signal power needed to decode the signal = 10^(-6) W
 The following table computes the received power at the three receivers
 Both Receivers 1 and 2 can decode but not Receiver 3
 In fact, Receiver 2 can just enough signal strength to decode the
signal.

d Pr = K Pt / d^2 where K=10^(-2) Pt = 10^(-2)

Receiver 1 5 4*10^(-6)
Receiver 2 10 10^(-6)
Receiver 3 20 0.25*10^(-6)

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Transmission range
 Maximum transmission power of radios are regulated by
government
 Limited radio transmission power means that receivers
beyond the transmission range cannot decode the signal
 This is based on the “simplified deterministic view”
Transmission range

Receiver 2 Transmitter
Receiver 1

Receiver 1 can decode but not

Receiver 2

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Interference
 A receiver may not be able to decode the bits correctly if
more than one transmitter is transmitting
 This is known as interference
 Example:
 Radio 1 is transmitting to Radio 2
 If Radio 3 also transmits in exactly the same frequency channel,
then Radio 2 may not be able to decode the signal from Radio 1

Radio 1 is Radio 3
transmitting to
Radio 2

Radio 2

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Interference (2)

Signal from Radio 1

that arrives at Radio
2. Bit pattern = 0100

Radio 3 starts to
transmit at time
2.3 time unit.

The signal that

Radio 2 sees =
Signal from Radio 1 +
Signal from Radio 3 +
Noise.
Radio mis-decodes
the bit pattern as 0111.

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Interference (2)

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Signal-to-interference-noise ratio
 Let
 Ps = Received power of the signal from the intended transmitter
 Pi = Received power of the signal from all other transmitters
operating in the same frequency band
 Pn = Power of noise
 Signal-to-interference-noise ratio (SINR) is defined as

 (Simplified/deterministic view) Decoding is possible if

 SINR at the receiver >= a threshold
 (A more accurate view) The probability of decoding a bit
correctly is higher if the SINR at the receiver is farther from
the threshold
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WLAN channels
 The following diagram shows the channels for WLAN
 Can a transmission in Channel 1 interfere with one in Channel 2?
 Can a transmission in Channel 1 interfere with one in Channel 6?

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Summary
 We have gone through the following concepts on radio
transmission
 Frequency spectrum
 Modulation and demodulation
 Transmission power
 Transmission range
 Noise and interference
 Requirement for correct decoding of signal (or reception) in terms
of signal-to-noise ratio and signal-to-interference-noise ratio
 Make sure you understand these concepts as they are
fundamental in understanding the design of wireless
networks

ITCE419 from previous ITCE419 slides by Dr. Nedal Ababneh 29