Antennas and Propagation

Lecture 2
G. Noubir
noubir@ccs.neu.edu
Textbook: Wireless Communications and Networks, William Stallings,
Prentice Hall
 Outline
 Antennas
 Propagation Modes
 Line of Sight Transmission
 Fading in Mobile Environment and
Compensation

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 Decibels
 The Decibel Unit:
 Standard unit describing transmission gain (loss) and
relative power levels
 Gain: N(dB) = 10 log(P2/P1)
 Decibels above or below 1W: N (dBW) = 10 log(P2/1W)
 Decibels above or below 1Milliwatt: N(dBm) =
10log(P2/1mW)
 Example:
 P = 1mW => P(dBm) = ? ; P(dBW) = ?
 P = 10mW => P(dBm) = ?; P(dBW) = ?

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 Introduction
 An antenna is an electrical conductor or
system of conductors
 Transmission - radiates electromagnetic energy
into space
 Reception - collects electromagnetic energy
from space
 In two-way communication, the same
antenna can be used for transmission and
reception

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 Basics of Radio-waves
Propagation
 Radiowave propagation:
 Radiowaves: electromagnetic waves
 Signal energy: electrical field (E) and magnetic field (H)
 E and H are sinusoidal functions of time
 The signal is attenuated and affected by the medium

 Antennas
 Form the link between the guided part and the free space:
couple energy
 Purpose:
 Transmission: efficiently transform the electrical signal into
radiated electromagnetic wave (radio/microwave)
 Reception: efficiently accept the received radiated energy and
convert it to an electrical signal

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 Radiation Patterns
 Radiation pattern
 Graphical representation of radiation properties
of an antenna
 Depicted as two-dimensional cross section
 Beam width (or half-power beam width)
 Measure of directivity of antenna
 Reception pattern
 Receiving antenna’s equivalent to radiation
pattern

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 Types of Antennas
 Theoretical reference antenna (isotropic radiator):
 A point in space radiating with equal power in all directions
 Points with equal power are located on a sphere with the
antenna in the center
 Real antennas exhibit directive effects:
 Types: omnidirectional (dipole) or directional (pencil beam)
 Simplest antenna:
 Dipole (or Hertzian dipole) of length l/4 or l/2
 Directional antennas may be more useful:
 To cover a highway, valley, satellite beam
 Parabolic antenna

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 Antenna Gain
 Antenna gain
 Power output, in a particular direction,
compared to that produced in any direction by a
perfect omnidirectional antenna (isotropic
antenna)
 G = 4p*PwrDirection/AllRadiatedPwr
 Effective area
 Related to physical size and shape of antenna

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 Antenna Gain
 Relationship between antenna gain and effective area
4Ae 4f 2 Ae
G 2  2
 G = antenna gain  c
 Ae = effective area
 f = carrier frequency
 c = speed of light (» 3 ´ 108 m/s)
  = carrier wavelength
 Affective area:
 Isotropic: l2/4p
 Half-wave dipole: 1.64l2/4p (power gain vs. istropic 1.64)
 Parabolic: 0.56 A (power gain vs. istropic 7A/l2)

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 Propagation Modes
 Ground-wave propagation
 Sky-wave propagation
 Line-of-sight propagation

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 Ground Wave Propagation

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 Ground Wave Propagation
 Follows contour of the earth
 Can Propagate considerable distances
 Frequencies up to 2 MHz
 Example
 AM radio

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 Sky Wave Propagation

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 Sky Wave Propagation
 Signal reflected from ionized layer of
atmosphere back down to earth
 Signal can travel a number of hops, back
and forth between ionosphere and earth’s
surface
 Reflection effect caused by refraction
 Examples
 Amateur radio
 CB radio

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 Line-of-Sight Propagation

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 Line-of-Sight Propagation
 Transmitting and receiving antennas must be
within line of sight
 Satellite communication – signal above 30 MHz not
reflected by ionosphere
 Ground communication – antennas within effective line
of site due to refraction
 Refraction – bending of microwaves by the
atmosphere
 Velocity of electromagnetic wave is a function of the
density of the medium
 When wave changes medium, speed changes
 Wave bends at the boundary between mediums
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 Line-of-Sight Equations
 Optical line of sight
d  3.57 h
 Effective, or radio, line of sight
d  3.57 h
 d = distance between antenna and horizon (km)
 h = antenna height (m)
 K = adjustment factor to account for refraction,
rule of thumb K = 4/3

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 Line-of-Sight Equations
 Maximum distance between two antennas
for LOS propagation:


3.57 h1  h2 
 h1 = height of antenna one
 h2 = height of antenna two

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 LOS Wireless Transmission
Impairments
 Attenuation and attenuation distortion
 Free space loss
 Noise
 Atmospheric absorption
 Multipath
 Refraction
 Thermal Noise

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 Attenuation (Pathloss)
 Strength of signal falls off with distance
over transmission medium
 Attenuation factors for unguided media:
 Received signal must have sufficient strength
so that circuitry in the receiver can interpret the
signal
 Signal must maintain a level sufficiently higher
than noise to be received without error
 Attenuation is greater at higher frequencies,
causing distortion

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 Free Space Loss
 Free space loss, ideal isotropic antenna
Pt 4d  4fd 
2 2
 2
 2
Pr  c

Pt = signal power at transmitting antenna

Pr = signal power at receiving antenna
  = carrier wavelength

 d = propagation distance between antennas

 c = speed of light (» 3 ´ 10 8 m/s)

where d and  are in the same units (e.g., meters)

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 Free Space Loss
 Free space loss equation can be recast:

Pt  4d 
LdB  10 log  20 log 
Pr   

 20 log   20 logd   21.98 dB

 4fd 
 20 log   20 log f   20 logd   147.56 dB
 c 

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 Free Space Loss
 Free space loss accounting for gain of other
antennas
Pt 4  d  d  cd 
2 2 2 2
 2
  2
Pr Gr Gt  Ar At f Ar At

Gt = gain of transmitting antenna

Gr = gain of receiving antenna

At = effective area of transmitting antenna

Ar = effective area of receiving antenna

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 Free Space Loss
 Free space loss accounting for gain of other
antennas can be recast as

LdB  20 log   20 logd   10 log At Ar 

 20 log f   20 logd   10 log At Ar   169.54dB

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 Categories of Noise
 Thermal Noise
 Intermodulation noise
 Crosstalk
 Impulse Noise

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 Thermal Noise
 Thermal noise due to agitation of electrons
 Present in all electronic devices and
transmission media
 Cannot be eliminated
 Function of temperature
 Particularly significant for satellite
communication

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 Thermal Noise
 Amount of thermal noise to be found in a
bandwidth of 1Hz in any device or
conductor is:
N 0  kT W/Hz 
 N0 = noise power density in watts per 1 Hz of
bandwidth
 k = Boltzmann's constant = 1.3803 ´ 10-23 J/K
 T = temperature, in kelvins (absolute temperature)

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 Thermal Noise
 Noise is assumed to be independent of frequency
 Thermal noise present in a bandwidth of B Hertz
(in watts):

N  kTB
or, in decibel-watts
N  10 log k  10 log T  10 log B
 228.6 dBW  10 log T  10 log B

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 Noise Terminology
 Intermodulation noise – occurs if signals with
different frequencies share the same medium
 Interference caused by a signal produced at a frequency
that is the sum or difference of original frequencies
 Crosstalk – unwanted coupling between signal
paths
 Impulse noise – irregular pulses or noise spikes
 Short duration and of relatively high amplitude
 Caused by external electromagnetic disturbances, or
faults and flaws in the communications system

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 Expression Eb/N0
 Ratio of signal energy per bit to noise power
density per Hertz
Eb S / R S
 
N0 N0 kTR
 The bit error rate for digital data is a function of
Eb/N0
 Given a value for Eb/N0 to achieve a desired error rate,
parameters of this formula can be selected
 As bit rate R increases, transmitted signal power must
increase to maintain required Eb/N0
 Eb Energy per bit, N0 noise power density per Hertz
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 Other Impairments
 Atmospheric absorption – water vapor and
oxygen contribute to attenuation
 Multipath – obstacles reflect signals so that
multiple copies with varying delays are
received
 Refraction – bending of radio waves as they
propagate through the atmosphere

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 Multipath Propagation

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 Multipath Propagation
 Reflection – Change in direction occurs
when signal encounters a surface that is
large relative to the wavelength of the
signal
 Diffraction – change in direction of waves
as they pass through an opening or around a
barrier in their path like water waves do
 Scattering – occurs when incoming signal
hits an object whose size in the order of the
wavelength of the signal or less
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 The Effects of Multipath
Propagation
 Multiple copies of a signal may arrive at
different phases
 If phases add destructively, the signal level
relative to noise declines, making detection
more difficult
 Intersymbol interference (ISI)
 One or more delayed copies of a pulse may
arrive at the same time as the primary pulse for
a subsequent bit

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 Fading
 The time variation of received signal
power due to changes in transmission
medium or paths is known as fading.

 In fixed scenario, fading depends on atmospheric

conditions such as rainfall, lightening etc
 In mobile scenario, fading depends on obstacles over
the path which are varying with respect to time.

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 Types of Fading

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 1.) Large Scale Fading
 Large scale fading occurs when an obstacle
comes in between transmitter and receiver.
 This interference type causes significant
amount of signal strength reduction.
 This is because EM wave is shadowed or
blocked by the obstacle.
 It is related to large fluctuations of the signal
over distance.

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 1.A) PATH LOSS
 The free space path loss can be
expressed as follows.
➤ Pt/Pr = {(4 * π * d)2/ λ2} = (4*π*f*d)2/c2

 From the equation it implies that

transmitted signal attenuates over
distance as the signal is being spread
over larger and larger area from
transmit end towards receive end.
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 1.B) SHADOWING EFFECT
 It is result of obstacles over the path
between transmitter and receiver.
 It depends on geographical position as
well as radio frequency of EM
(ElectroMagnetic) waves.

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 2. Small Scale Fading
 Small scale fading is concerned with
rapid fluctuations of received signal
strength over very short distance and
short time period.

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 Multipath Delay Spread
 Based on  multipath delay spread
there are two types of small scale
fading
1. flat fading
2. frequency selective fading.

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 2.A) FLAT FADING
 In this type of fading all the frequency
components of the received signal
fluctuate in same proportions
simultaneously. It is also known as non-
selective fading.
• Signal BW << Channel BW
• Symbol period >> Delay Spread

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 2.B) FREQUENCY
SELECTIVE FADING
 It affects different spectral components
of a radio signal with different
amplitudes. Hence the name selective
fading.
 • Signal BW > Channel BW
• Symbol period < Delay Spread

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 Doppler Spread
 Based on doppler spread there are
two types of fading viz.
1. fast fading
2. slow fading.
 These doppler spread fading types
depend on mobile speed i.e. speed of
receiver with respect to transmitter.

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 2.C) FAST FADING
 The phenomenon of fast fading is
represented by rapid fluctuations of
signal over small areas (i.e. bandwidth).
 Fast fading occurs when channel
impulse response changes very rapidly
within the symbol duration.
 • High doppler spread
• Symbol period > Coherence time
• Signal Variation < Channel variation
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 2.D) SLOW FADING
 Slow fading is result of shadowing by
buildings, hills, mountains and other
objects over the path.
 • Low Doppler Spread
• Symbol period <<Coherence Time
• Signal Variation >> Channel Variation

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