MAHARAJA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY THANDAVAPURA

NH 766, Nanjangud Taluk, Mysuru- 571 302

(An ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 21001:2018 Certified Institution)
(Affiliated to VTU, Belagavi and approved by AICTE, New Delhi)
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

WIRELESS & CELLULAR COMMUNICATION – 18EC81

MODULE 1

CHAPTER 2 – FADING & MULTIPATH

Broadband Wireless Channel, Delay Spread And Coherence Bandwidth, Doppler Spread And
Coherence Time, Angular Spread And Coherence Distance (Text 1 - 2.4)
Statistical Channel Model of A Broadband Fading Channel (Text 1 - 2.5.1)

CHAPTER 3 – THE CELLULAR CONCEPT

Cellular Concept, Analysis of Cellular System, Sectoring (Text 1 - 2.3)

MEGHANA M N
Assistant Professor
Dept. Of ECE
MIT, Thandavapura
WIRELESS & CELLULAR COMMUNICATION – 18EC81 MODULE 1

MODULE 1
CHAPTER 2 – fading & multipath
1. BROADBAND WIRELESS CHANNEL (BWC) : FADING
 In wireless, broadband is the wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals.
 The fundamental factors affecting the received signal in a BWC system are:
1. Fading
2. Multipath

1.1 FADING & MULTIPATH IN BROADBAND WIRELESS CHANNEL (BWC)

 FADING: Fading in wireless channel is defined as attenuation of signal with various variables like
time, location and frequency range and caused due to reception of multiple version of same signal.
 MULTIPATH: Fading is caused by the reception of multiple versions of the same signal. The multiple
received versions are caused by reflections that are referred to as Multipath.
 The multipath signals may arrive close to each other or at the same time to the receiver.
 The multiple different paths between the transmitter and receiver are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: The channel may have a few major paths with quite different lengths, and then the receiver may
see a number of locally scattered versions of those paths.

 When some of the reflections arrive at nearly the same time, the combined effect of those reflections
shown in Figure 2.
 Depending on the phase difference between the arriving signals, the interference can be either
constructive or destructive, which causes a very difference in the amplitude of the received signal.
 Moving the transmitter or receiver for a very short distance can have a major effect on the received
amplitude, even though the path loss and shadowing effects may not have changed at all.
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Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, MIT Thandavapura

WIRELESS & CELLULAR COMMUNICATION – 18EC81 MODULE 1

Figure 2: The difference between constructive interference (top) and destructive interference (bottom) at
𝒇𝑪 =2.5GHz is less than 0.1 nanoseconds in phase, which corresponds to about 3cm

 If the transmitter or receiver move relative to each other, then the channel response h(t) will change.
 This channel response can be thought of as having two dimensions as shown in Figure 3:
I. Delay dimension (τ)
II. Time dimension (t)

Figure 3: The delay τ corresponds to how long the channel impulse response lasts. The channel is time
varying, so the channel impulse response is also a function of time, i.e., h (τ, t), and can be quite different at
time (t + ∆t) than it was at time t.
 Since the channel changes over distance (and hence time), the values of h0, h1,…,hv may be totally
different at time t vs. time t + ∆t, because the channel is highly variant in both the τ and t dimensions.
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 The fundamental function used to statistically describe broadband fading channels is the two-
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dimensional autocorrelation function A(∆τ, ∆t).

Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, MIT Thandavapura

WIRELESS & CELLULAR COMMUNICATION – 18EC81 MODULE 1

 The autocorrelation function is defined as

A(Δτ, Δt) = E[h(τ1,t1) h*(τ2,t2)]
= E[h(τ1,t) h*(τ2,t+Δt)] (step 1)
= E[h(τ,t) h*(τ+Δτ,t+Δt)] (step 2)
 In step 1 assume channel response is Wide Sense Stationary (WSS), hence autocorrelation function
depends on Δt where Δt = t2 – t1.
 In step 2 assume channel response of paths arriving at different times τ1and τ2 are uncorrelated. Hence
τ1 and τ2 are replaced by τ =τ1 - τ2.
 Hence the above equation is referred to as Wide Sense Stationary Uncorrelated Scattering (WSSUS),
which is the most popular model for wideband fading channels.

2. BROADBAND FADING PARAMETERS*****

The key broadband fading parameters with rules of thumb that evaluate the wireless channels are:
1. Delay Spread and Coherence Bandwidth*****

2. Doppler Spread and Coherence Time*****

3. Angular Spread and Coherence Distance*****

Summary of broadband fading parameters with rule of thumb is shown in table 1.

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Table 1: summary of broadband fading parameters with rules of thumb

Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, MIT Thandavapura

WIRELESS & CELLULAR COMMUNICATION – 18EC81 MODULE 1

2.1 DELAY SPREAD AND COHERENCE BANDWIDTH

 Delay Spread
 The delay spread is mostly used in the characterization of wireless channels.
 It is a measure of the multipath richness of a communications channel.
 It specifies the duration of the channel impulse response 𝒉 (𝝉, 𝒕).
 The delay spread is the amount of time that elapses between the first arriving and the last arriving path.
 The delay spread can be found by inspecting 𝑨 (∆𝝉, 𝟎) by setting ∆𝒕 = 𝟎 in the channel autocorrelation
function. It is often referred to as the Multipath Intensity Profile, or power delay profile.
 The maximum delay spread is𝝉𝒎𝒂𝒙 . Characterized wireless channel with number of delay taps v will be
needed in the discrete representation of the channel impulse response, since
𝛕𝐦𝐚𝐱
𝐯 ≈ Where Ts = Sampling time
𝐓𝐬

 Delay spread can be quantified through different metrics, although the most common one is the root
mean square (rms) delay spread.

𝝉rms gives the measure of the width and spread of the channel response in time.
 Larger 𝝉𝒓𝒎𝒔 implies a highly dispersive channel in time and a large impulse response (𝐯) and Smaller
𝝉𝒓𝒎𝒔 implies that the channel is not very dispersive.
 A general rule of thumb is that 𝝉𝒎𝒂𝒙 = 5 𝝉𝒓𝒎𝒔

 Coherence Bandwidth (Bc)

 It is a statistical measurement of the range of frequencies over which the channel can be considered
"flat".
 The 𝑩𝑪 is the frequency domain dual of the channel delay spread.
 The coherence bandwidth gives a rough measure for the maximum separation between a frequency f1
and a frequency f2 where the channel frequency response is correlated. That is
𝐟𝟏 − 𝐟𝟐 ≤ 𝐁𝐂 ⇒ 𝐇 𝐟𝟏 ≈ 𝐇 𝐟𝟐
𝐟𝟏 − 𝐟𝟐 > 𝐁𝐂 ⇒ 𝐇 𝐟𝟏 & 𝑯 𝐟𝟐 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝.
 𝝉𝒎𝒂𝒙 is a value describing the channel duration, 𝑩𝑪 is a value describing the range of frequencies over
which the channel stays constant. Given the channel delay spread, it can be shown that
𝟏 𝟏
𝐁𝐂 ≈ ≈
𝟓𝛕𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝛕𝐦𝐚𝐱
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 The important feature is that 𝑩𝑪 and 𝝉𝒓𝒎𝒔 are inversely related.

Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, MIT Thandavapura

WIRELESS & CELLULAR COMMUNICATION – 18EC81 MODULE 1

2.2 DOPPLER SPREAD AND COHERENCE TIME*****

Q: Explain Doppler spread and coherence time. [6M] June2019
 Doppler spread and coherence time are parameters which describe the time varying nature of the
channel in a small-scale region.
 Doppler Spread (BD)
 Doppler spread is a measure of the spectral broadening caused by the rate of change of the mobile radio
channel.
 It is defined as the range of frequencies over which the received Doppler spectrum is non-zero.
 The Doppler power spectrum is caused by motion between the transmitter and receiver.
 The Doppler power spectrum is the Fourier transform of At(∆t) is given by
∞
𝛒𝐭 = 𝐀 𝐭 ∆𝐭 𝐞−∆𝐟.∆𝐭 (𝐝∆𝐭)
−∞

 When a pure sinusoidal tone of frequency fc is transmitted, the received signal spectrum, called the
Doppler spectrum.
 The spectrum ranges from𝒇𝒄 – 𝒇𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒄 + 𝒇𝒅, where fd is the Doppler shift.
 The amount of spectral broadening depends on fd and the maximum Doppler spread 𝐟𝐝 is given by
𝐯𝐟𝐜
𝐟𝐝 =
𝐜
Where 𝐯 = maximum speed between the transmitter and receiver,
fc = the carrier frequency and c = the speed of light.
 Until the bandwidth 𝑩 << 𝒇𝑪 , the Doppler power spectrum is approximately constant.
 If the transmitter and receiver are moving fast relative to each other the Doppler is large, the channel
behavior changes more quickly than if the transmitter and receiver are stationary.
 Coherence Time (TC)
 Coherence time Tc is used to characterize the time varying nature of the frequency of the channel in the
time domain.
 It is a statistical measure of the time duration over which the channel impulse response is invariant.
 In other words, coherence time is the time duration over which two received signals have a strong
potential for amplitude correlation. Mathematically
𝐭 𝟏 − 𝐭 𝟐 ≤ 𝐓𝐂 ⇒ 𝐡 𝐭 𝟏 ≈ 𝐡 𝐭 𝟐
𝐭 𝟏 − 𝐭 𝟐 > 𝐭 𝐂 ⇒ 𝐡 𝐭 𝟏 & 𝐡 𝐭 𝟐 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝.
 The coherence time and Doppler spread are also inversely related
𝟏
5

𝐓𝐜 ≈
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𝐟𝐝

Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, MIT Thandavapura

WIRELESS & CELLULAR COMMUNICATION – 18EC81 MODULE 1

2.3 ANGULAR SPREAD AND COHERANCE DISTANCE*****

Q: Explain angular spread and coherence distance. [4M] June2019
 Angular Spread and Coherence Distance give the measure of how far the antennas have to the placed
and the antenna angle for signal transmission.
 Angular spread and coherence distance are particularly important in multiple antenna (MIMO)systems.

 Angular Spread(θrms)
 Angular spread refers to the measure of the angle of the arriving energy.
 A large 𝜃𝑟𝑚𝑠 implies that channel energy is coming in from many directions and a small 𝜃𝑟𝑚𝑠 implies that
the channel energy is coming in from only one direction.
 A large angular spread generally occurs when there is a lot of local scattering.

 Coherence Distance (DC)

 The coherence distance is the measure of distance between the antennas in the region.
 The coherence distance is the spatial distance over which the channel does not change.
 The dual of angular spread is coherence distance.
 As the angular spread increases, the coherence distances decreases, and vice versa.
 If the coherence distance is very small, antenna arrays will provide rich diversity.
 An approximate rule of thumb between angular spread and coherence distance is
2𝜆
𝐷𝐶 ≈
𝜃𝑟𝑚𝑠

3. STATISTICAL CHANNEL MODEL OF A BROADBAND FADING CHANNEL

Q: Explain the steps involved in developing statistical model. Discuss any one model. [8M] Nov2019
 Statistical models are simpler and are useful for analysis and simulations using mathematical approach.
 These models are used to characterize the amplitude and power of a received signal r(t) when all the
reflections arrive at about the same time.
 Some of the popular statistical models are:
1. Rayleigh Fading
2. Ricean Distribution
3. Nakagami-m fading
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WIRELESS & CELLULAR COMMUNICATION – 18EC81 MODULE 1

3.1 RAYLEIGH FADING

 Rayleigh fading is a model that is used to describe the form of fading that occurs when multipath
propagation exists.
 Rayleigh fading is used when there is many objects in the environment that scatter the radio signal
before it arrives at the receiver.
 The received signal component r(t) can be classified as in-phase rI(t) and quadrature rQ(t) components
r(t) = rI(t) + rQ(t).
 Consider a received signal r(t) at time t = 0, and r(0) = rI(0) + rQ(0).

 The amplitude is given as : |𝑟| = 𝑟𝐼2 + 𝑟𝑄2 and the received power is given as : |𝑟|2 = 𝑟I2 + 𝑟𝑄2

−𝑥 2
2𝑥
 Rayleigh fading equation is given as : 𝑓 𝑟 𝑥 = 𝑒 𝑃𝑟 ,𝑥 ≥ 0
𝑃𝑟

1 −𝑥
𝑓𝑟2 𝑥 = 𝑒𝑃𝑟 , 𝑥 ≥ 0
𝑃𝑟
Where Pr is the average received power due to shadowing and path loss.
𝑃𝑟
 Gaussian random variables rI(t) and rQ(t) each have zero mean and variance 𝜎 2 = .
2
𝑟𝑄
 The phase of r(t) uniformly distributed from 0 to 2π is defined as : 𝜃𝑟 = 𝑡𝑎𝑛−1 𝑟𝐼

 The path loss and shadowing determine the mean received power and the total received power fluctuates
around this mean due to the fading. This is demonstrated in Figure 4.

Figure 4: The three major channel attenuation factors are shown in terms of their relative spatial scales

3.2 RICEAN DISTRIBUTION (LINE OF SIGHT CHANNELS)

 In Ricean fading, a strong dominant component is present for example, a line-of-sight (LOS) path
between the transmitter and receiver.
 For a LOS signal, the received envelope distribution is modeled by a Ricean distribution, which is given
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by

Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, MIT Thandavapura

WIRELESS & CELLULAR COMMUNICATION – 18EC81 MODULE 1

𝑥 −(𝑥 2 +𝜇 2)
𝑥𝜇
𝑓𝑥 𝑥 = 𝑒 2𝜎 2 𝐼0 ,𝑥 ≥ 0
𝜎2 𝜎2
Where 𝜎 = standard deviation, µ = mean which determines power of LOS and x = value set.
 Ricean distribution reduces to the Rayleigh distribution in the absence of a LOS component i.e. by
𝑥𝜇
equating µ = 0 =>𝐼0 = 1.
𝜎2

 The LOS factor K is quantified as

µ2
𝐾=
2𝜎
 K= 0 specifies single LOS and K= ∞ specifies multiple LOS.
 The average received power in ricean fading is the combination of the scattering power and the LOS
power given as
𝑃𝑟 = 2𝜎 2 + 𝜇 2

3.3 NAKAGAMI-m FADING (THE GENERAL MODEL)

 It is a general model for wireless channel. The probability density function (PDF) of Nakagami fading
is parameterized by m and given as
2𝑚𝑚 𝑥 2𝑚 −1 −𝑚 𝑥 2
𝑓𝑟 𝑥 = 𝑒 𝑃 𝑟 , 𝑚 ≥ 0.5
Γ(𝑚)𝑃𝑟𝑚
𝐾+1 2
Where m = shape parameter gives as 𝑚 =
(2𝐾+1)

 If m = 0 gives Rayleigh equation and if m = ∞ then the received power Pr tends to be constant.
 Nakagami-m fading is given as
𝑚 𝑚 𝑥 𝑚 −1 −𝑚𝑥
𝑓|𝑟|2 𝑥 = 𝑒 𝑃 𝑟 , 𝑚 ≥ 0.5
𝑃𝑟 Γ(𝑚)
 Figure 5 shows comparison of probability distributions f|r|(x) for Rayleigh, Ricean w/K = 1, and

Nakagami with m =2. All have average received power Pr =1.

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Figure 5: probability distribution for Rayleigh, ricean and nakagami

Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, MIT Thandavapura

WIRELESS & CELLULAR COMMUNICATION – 18EC81 MODULE 1

MODULE 1
CHAPTER 3 – THE CELLULAR CONCEPT
1. CELLULAR SYSTEM
Cellular system mainly comprised of 3 parameters:
1. The cellular concept
2. Analysis of cellular system
3. Sectoring

1.1 THE CELLULAR CONCEPT*****

Q: Explain cellular concept. Discuss how interference can be reduced in cellular communication. [8M]
Nov2020, Aug2020
 In cellular systems, the service area is subdivided into smaller geographic areas called cells.
 The shape of a cell is hexagonal. Each cell has a Base Station (BS) / Base Transceiver Station (BTS)
with or without a Mobile Station (MS).
 To minimize interference between cells, transmit power of each Base Station (BS) is set to minimal
value required at the cell boundaries.
 Cellular concepts includes: core cellular principles, Frequency planning & Frequency reuse and
handoff.

 CORE CELLULAR PRINCIPLES

 The major transmitting stations between cells include Mobile Station (MS), Base Station / Base
Transceiver Station (BS / BTS), Base Station Controller (BSC) and a Mobile station controller
(MSC).

CELL A MS BS
BSC
CELL B MS BS
MSC

CELL C MS BS BSC MSC

C
C
Figure 1: Simple cellular system architecture
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Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, MIT Thandavapura

WIRELESS & CELLULAR COMMUNICATION – 18EC81 MODULE 1

 CO-CELLS AND CLUSTER

 Co-cell: The cells in cellular system which are adjacent to each other and which uses the same
frequency channel set.
 Cluster: The groups of cells which are using entire frequency channels set.
 The reuse of the same frequency channels should be properly planned in order to maximize the
geographic distance between the co-channel base stations.
 Figure 2 shows an example of hexagonal cellular system model with frequency reuse factor f = 1/7.

Figure 2: Standard figure of a hexagonal cellular system with f=1/7.

 FREQUENCY PLANNING & FREQUENCY REUSE*****

 Frequency Reuse: The same frequencies used by cells in the different clusters can be reused and the
process is called frequency reuse.
 Frequency Planning: the process of implementation of capacity is known as frequency planning.
 It is required to determine a proper frequency reuse factor and a geographic reuse pattern.
 Frequencies can be reused, such that the interference between base stations is kept to an acceptable
level.
 The frequency reuse factor f is defined as f ≤ 1,
Where f = 1 means that all cells reuse all the frequencies.
f = 1/4 means frequency is reused by 1 cell out of every 4 cells in a cluster.
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Figure 3: Frequency reuse pattern

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Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, MIT Thandavapura

WIRELESS & CELLULAR COMMUNICATION – 18EC81 MODULE 1

 CELLULAR SYSTEM CAPACITY

 The overall system capacity can be increased by making the cells smaller and turning down the
power.
 As the cell size decreases, the transmit power of each base station also decreases correspondingly.
 For example, if the radius of a cell is reduced by half when the propagation path loss exponent is 4,
the transmit power level of a base station is reduced by 12dB (= l0 log 16 dB).

 HANDOFF
 Since cellular systems support user mobility, call transfer from one cell to another should be provided.
 The handoff process provides a transfer of a connection from one base station to another.

 ADVANTAGES OF CELLULAR CONCEPT

 Small cells give a large capacity advantage and reduce power consumption and allow frequency reuse.

 DISADVANTAGES OF CELLULAR CONCEPT

 As cell size decreases, the number of cells for the same service area needs more base stations and their
associated hardware costs also increases.
 It leads to frequent handoffs.
 Interference level increases and effect on service efficiency.

1.2 SECTORING*****
 Sectoring is a capacity expansion technique which is achieved by keeping the cell radius unchanged
and is a method used to decrease the D /R (Distance/Radius) ratio.
 It is a technique to improve SIR (Signal to Interference noise Ratio) without using much bandwidth.
 Co-channel interference can be reduced by using directional antennas instead of Omni-directional
antenna at the base station.
 It provides interference reduction, hence S/I ratio increases.
 No capacity is lost from sectoring because each sector can reuse time and code slots, so each sector
has the same nominal capacity as an entire cell.
 In sectored cellular system, capacity in each sector is actually higher than that in a non-sectored
cellular system because the interference is reduced by sectoring.
 An illustration of sectoring is shown in Figure 4.
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Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, MIT Thandavapura

WIRELESS & CELLULAR COMMUNICATION – 18EC81 MODULE 1

Figure 4: Three-sector (120-degree) and Six-sector (60-degree) cells

 In Figure 4(a), if each sector 1 points the same direction in each cell, then the interference caused by
neighboring cells will be dramatically reduced.
 An alternative way to use sectors is to reuse frequencies in each sector and the time/code/frequency slots
can be reused in each sector, but there is no reduction in the experienced interference.
 As the number of sectors per cell increases the SIR also increases, thus the capacity of cellular system
increases.

 ADVANTAGES OF SECTORING
1. It is an effective and practical approach to the OCI (Other Cell Interference) problem.
2. It is an antenna technique to increase the system capacity.

 DISADVANTAGES OF SECTORING
1. Sectoring increases the number of antennas at each base station, hence it increases the cost and the
number of hand offs increases.
2. It reduces efficiency due to channel sectoring at the base station.
3. It also increases the overhead due to the increased number of inter sector handoffs.
4. It causes intersect or interference as well as power loss.

 NEW APPROACHES TO OTHER CELL INTERFERENCE

Following are other approaches to reduces cell interference
1. Use advanced signal processing techniques at the receiver and/or transmitter as a means of reducing
or cancelling the perceived interference.
2. Use network-level approaches such as cooperative scheduling or encoding across Base station.
Adopt multi-cell power control and distributed antenna technique.
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Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, MIT Thandavapura

WIRELESS & CELLULAR COMMUNICATION – 18EC81 MODULE 1

1.3 ANALYSIS OF CELLULAR SYSTEM

 The performance of wireless cellular systems is significantly limited by Co-channel interference
(CCI) and other cell interference (OCI) which comes from other users in the same cell or from other
cells.
 The cellular systems performance (capacity, reliability) is measured by SIR of the desired cell, i.e.,
the amount of desired power to the amount of transmitted power.
 The spatial isolation between co-channel cells can be measured by defining the parameter Z, called
co-channel reuse ratio is given by

𝐷 3
𝑍= =
𝑅 𝑓

Where, D = distance between the co-cells

R = radius of the desired cell

1/f = size of the cluster and inverse of the frequency reuse factor N, i.e. 1/f = N

𝐷
𝑍= = 3𝑁
𝑅
 As the cluster size 1/f = N increases, CCI decreases, so that it improves the quality of communication
link and capacity.
 However, the overall spectral efficiency decreases with the size of a cluster, so f should be chosen just
small enough to keep the received signal-to-interference-noise ratio (SINR) above acceptable levels.

 SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO (SNR) OF CELLULAR SYSTEM

 SNR of a cellular system is given by

𝑆 𝑆
= 𝑁𝑙
𝐼 𝑖=1 𝐼𝑖

Where S = Received power of desired signal and Ii= Interference power from the ith co-cell base station

 The received SIR depends on the location of each mobile station, and it should be kept above an
appropriate threshold for reliable communication.
 The received SIR at the cell boundaries is of great interest since this corresponds to the worst
interference scenario.
 The received SIR for the worst case described in Figure 5 and its empirical path loss formula given as
𝑆 𝑥0
13

= 2 5 11
𝐼 𝑥0 + 𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖 + 2−∝ 𝑖=3 𝑥𝑖 + (2.633)
−∝
𝑖=6 𝑥𝑖
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WIRELESS & CELLULAR COMMUNICATION – 18EC81 MODULE 1

Where, xi = shadowing from the ith base station

∝ = path loss components
xo = lognormal distribution for the shadowing value

Figure 5: Forward link interference in a hexagonal cellular system (worst case)

 OUTAGE PROBABILITY (Pout)

 The outage probability is the received SIR falls below a threshold can be derived from the
distribution.
 If the mean and standard deviation of the lognormal distribution are μ and σ in dB, the outage
probability is derived in the form of Q function is given by
𝛾−𝜇
𝑃𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 𝑃 𝑆𝐼𝑅 < 𝛾 = 𝑄 𝜎

Where 𝛾 = threshold SIR level in dB

 Lower frequency reuse factor is typically adopted in the system design to satisfy the target outage
probability at the sacrifice of spectral efficiency.

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Meghana M N, Assistant Professor, MIT Thandavapura