Sub: Wireless Cellular and LTE 4G

Broadband
Sub Code: 17EC81

BY
NATRAJ H
Assistant Professor
Dept. of E&CE, FoE&T (Co-Ed)
Sharnbasva University, Kalaburagi
Module 1: Content
Key Enablers for LTE features: OFDM, Single carrier FDMA, Single
carrier FDE, Channel Dependent Multiuser Resource Scheduling,
Multi antenna Techniques, IP based Flat network Architecture, LTE
Network Architecture. (Sec 1.4- 1.5 of Text).
Wireless Fundamentals: Cellular concept, Broadband wireless
channel (BWC), Fading in BWC, Modeling BWC – Empirical and
Statistical models, Mitigation of Narrow band and Broadband Fading
(Sec 2.2 – 2.7of Text). L1, L2

Text Book:
Arunabha Ghosh, Jan Zhang, Jefferey Andrews, Riaz Mohammed, Fundamentals
of LTE‘, Prentice Hall, Communications Engg. and Emerging Technologies.
Key Enabling Technologies and Features of LTE
1. OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing)

•3G systems are based on CDMA technology.

Advantage: CDMA Performs remarkably well for low data rate communications, where
a large number of users can be multiplexed to achieve high system capacity.
Limitation: CDMA cannot able to handle the large bandwidth required for high-speed
applications and hence design becomes complex.
•OFDM has emerged as a technology for achieving high data rates and is widely used
in Wi-Fi.
The following advantages of OFDM led to its selection for LTE:

Elegant solution to multipath interference:

• The main aim is to achieve high Bit-rate transmissions in a wireless channel the
critical challenge is Inter Symbol Interference (ISI) caused by multi path.
• At high data rates the symbol time is shorter; hence it only takes a small delay to
cause ISI.
• OFDM is a multicarrier modulation technique which can be used to eliminate the ISI
effect.
• In OFDM, the subcarriers are orthogonal to one another over the symbol duration.
• Thereby instead of using non-over lapping subcarrier, subcarrier can be overlapped over
a channel which eliminates ISI.

Reduced computational complexity:

• OFDM can be easily implemented using Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT) at the sender side
and Inverse Fast Fourier Transforms (IFFT) at the receiving end.
• The computational complexity of OFDM = (B log B Tm), where B is the bandwidth and
Tm is the delay spread.
• Reduced complexity is mainly used the downlink as it simplifies receiver processing and
thus reduces mobile device cost and power consumption.
Graceful degradation of performance under excess delay:
• The performance of an OFDM system degrades gracefully as the delay spread exceeds the
designed value.
• OFDM is well suited for adaptive modulation and coding, which allows the system to make
the best use of the
available channel conditions.
Exploitation of frequency diversity:
• OFDM provides the range of frequencies to subcarriers in the frequency domain, which
can provide
robustness against errors.
• OFDM also allows scaling of channel bandwidth without affecting the hardware design of
the base station
and the mobile station.
Enables efficient multi-access scheme:
• OFDM can be used as a multi-access scheme by partitioning different subcarriers among
multiple users.• This scheme is referred as OFDMA and is used in LTE standard.
Robust against narrowband interference:
• OFDM is relatively robust against narrowband interference, since such interference affects
only a fraction of the subcarriers.
Suitable for coherent demodulation:
• It is relatively easy to do pilot-based channel estimation in OFDM systems, which renders
them suitable for coherent demodulation schemes that are more power efficient.
Facilitates use of MIMO:
• MIMO refers to a collection of signal processing techniques that use multiple antennas at
both the transmitter and receiver to improve system performance.
• For MIMO techniques to be effective, it is required that the channel conditions are such
that the multipath delays do not cause ISI interference.
• OFDM converts a frequency selective broad band channel into several narrowband flat
fading channels where the MIMO models and techniques work well.
Efficient support of broadcast services:
• It is possible to operate an OFDM network as a Single Frequency Network (SFN).
• This allows broadcast signals from different cells to combine over the air and which
enhances the received signal power, thereby enabling higher data rate broadcast
transmissions.

➢ Disadvantages of OFDM:
• Peak-to-Average Ratio (PAR): OFDM has high PAR, which causes non-linearity and
clipping distortion when passed through an RF amplifier.
• High PAR increases the cost of the transmitter.
• OFDM is tolerated in the downlink as part of the design, for the uplink LTE selected a
variation of OFDM that has a lower peak-to- average ratio.
• The modulation used for the uplink is called Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple
Access. (SCFDMA).
2. SC-FDE and SC-FDMA
➢ Single-Carrier Frequency Domain Equalization (SC-FDE)
• It is a single-carrier (SC) modulation combined with frequency-domain equalization
(FDE).
• It is an alternative approach to inter symbol interference (ISI) mitigation.
• It uses QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) rather than FFT/IFFT used in OFDM
to send data.
• SC-FDE retains all the advantages of OFDM such as multipath resistance and low
complexity, while having a low peak-to-average ratio of 4-5dB.
• It keeps the mobile station cost down and the battery life up.
• LTE incorporated a SC-FDE as a power efficient transmission scheme for the uplink.
➢ Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access( SC-FDMA)
• A multi-user version of SC-FDE, called SC-FDMA.
• The uplink of LTE implements uses to SC-FDMA, which allows multiple users to use
parts of the frequency spectrum.
• SC-FDMA closely resembles OFDMA and also preserves the PAR properties.
• The drawback of SC-FDE is increases the complexity of the transmitter and the
receiver.
3. CHANNEL DEPENDENT MULTI-USER RESOURCE SCHEDULING

• Resource scheduling is mainly used in OFDM - Orthogonal Frequency Division

Multiplexing and OFDMA - Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access.
• The OFDMA scheme used in LTE provides more flexibility with respect to channel
resources allocation.
• OFDMA allows allocation in both time and frequency and it is possible to design
algorithms to allocate resources in a flexible and dynamic manner to meet arbitrary
throughput, delay and other requirements.
• The standard supports dynamic, channel-dependent scheduling to enhance overall
system capacity.
• In OFDM, It is possible to allocate subcarriers among users in such a way that the
overall capacity is increased.
• Allocation of subcarriers among users is called as frequency selective multiuser
scheduling, which focuses on transmitting power in each user’s best channel portion.
• In OFDMA, frequency selective scheduling can be combined with multi-user time
domain scheduling.
• Capacity gains are also obtained by adapting the modulation and coding to the
instantaneous signal-to noise ratio conditions for each user subcarrier.
• For high-mobility users, OFDMA can be used to achieve frequency diversity by coding and
interleaving across subcarriers.
• Frequency diverse scheduling is best suited for control signalling and delay sensitive
services.

4. MULTI-ANTENNA TECHNIQUES
• The LTE standard provides multi-antenna solutions to improve link robustness, system
capacity, and spectral efficiency.
• Multi-antenna techniques supported in LTE include:
1. Transmit diversity 2. Beam forming
3. Spatial multiplexing 4. Multi user MIMO
TRANSMIT DIVERSITY
• Diversity means send copies of the same signal by using two or more communication
channels with different characteristics. This is a technique to prevent multipath fading in
the wireless channel.

•LTE transmit diversity is based on space-frequency block coding (SFBC) techniques.

• Transmit diversity is used in common downlink channels that cannot make use of
channel-dependent scheduling.
• It increases system capacity and cell range.
BEAMFORMING
• Multiple antennas in LTE may also be used beamforming technique to transmit the
beam in the direction of the receiver and away from interference, thereby improving the
received signal-to-interference ratio.
• It can provide significant improvements in coverage range, capacity, reliability, and
battery life.
• It can also be useful in providing angular information for user tracking.
• LTE supports beamforming in the downlink.
SPATIAL MULTIPLEXING
• In spatial multiplexing, multiple independent streams can be transmitted in parallel
over multiple antennas and can be separated at the receiver using multiple receive chains
through appropriate signal processing.
• Spatial multiplexing provides data rate and capacity gains proportional to the number of
antennas used.
• It works well under good SNR and light load conditions.
LTE standard supports spatial multiplexing with up to four transmits antennas and four
receiver antennas.

MIMO with Transmit diversity MIMO with Spatial Multiplexing

MULTI-USER MIMO
• Since spatial multiplexing requires multiple transmit antennas, it is currently not
supported in the uplink due to complexity and high cost.
• Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO) allows multiple users in the uplink, each with a single
antenna, to transmit using the same frequency and time.
• The signals from the different MU-MIMO users are separated at the base station
receiver using accurate channel state information of each user obtained through uplink
reference signals that are orthogonal between users.

Comparison between
Single and multiuser
MIMO
5. IP-BASED FLAT LTE SAE NETWORK ARCHITECTURE

• Apart from air interface the other aspects of LTE is Flat Network Architecture. Flat
implies fewer nodes and less hierarchical structure for the network which reduces the
infrastructure cost.
• It also means fewer interfaces and protocol-related processing and reduced inter-
operability testing, which lowers the development cost.
• Fewer nodes also allow better optimization of radio interface, merging of some control
plane protocols, and short session start-up time.
Fig. 3GPP evolution toward a flat LTE SAE architecture
Flat LTE architecture description-
• 3GPP Release 6 architecture has four network elements in the data path: Base Station
(BS), Radio Network Controller (RNC), Serving GPRS Service Node (SGSN), and Gateway
GRPS Service Node (GGSN).
• Release 7 introduced a direct tunnel option from the RNC to GGSN, which eliminated
SGSN from the data path.
• LTE on the other hand, will have only two network elements in the data path: the
enhanced Node-Bore (eNode-B) and a System Architecture Evolution Gateway (SAE-GW).
• LTE merges the BS and RNC functionality into a single unit.
• The control path includes a functional entity called the Mobility Management Entity
(MME), which
provides control plane functions related to subscriber, mobility, and session
management.
• The MME and SAE-GW collocated in a single entity called the Access Gateway (A-GW).
• A key aspect of the LTE flat architecture is that all services, including voice, are
supported on the IP packet network using IP protocols.
• Whereas previous 2G and 3G systems had a separate circuit-switched sub-network for
supporting voice with their own Mobile Switching Centers (MSC) and transport networks.
• LTE focuses on a single Evolved Packet Core (EPC) over which all services are supported,
which could provide huge operational and infrastructure cost savings.
• However, LTE has been designed for IP services with a flat architecture, due to
backwards compatibility reasons certain legacy, non-IP aspects of the 3GPP architecture
such as the GPRS tunnelling protocol and PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol) still
exists within the LTE network architecture.
LTE NETWORK ARCHITECTURE

• The core network design by 3GPP Release 8 to support LTE is called the Evolved Packet
Core (EPC).
• EPC is designed to provide a high capacity, reduced latency and supports all IPs.
• Flat architecture reduces cost and supports advanced real-time operations. It is
designed not only to support LTE, but also provide interworking with legacy 2G GERAN
and 3G UTRAN networks connected via SGSN.

➢ Functions of LTE architecture

• It includes access control, packet routing and transfer, mobility management,
security, radio resource management and network management.
➢ LTE architectural elements
The EPC includes four new elements:
1. Serving Gateway (SGW)
2. Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW)
3. Mobility Management Entity (MME)
4. Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF)

Figure : Evolved Packet Core architecture

SERVING GATEWAY (SGW)
• SGW terminates the interface toward the 3GPP radio access networks.
• It acts as an interface between the RAN and core network, and manages user plane
mobility.
• SGW is incorporated in downlink packet buffering and initiation of network-triggered
service request procedures.
•Other functions of SGW include:
- Lawful interception, packet routing and forwarding.
- Transport level packet marking in the uplink and the downlink.
- Accounting support for user and inter-operator charging.
PACKET DATA NETWORK GATEWAY (PGW)
• It controls IP data services, does routing, allocates IP addresses, enforces policy, and
provides access for non-3GPP access networks.
• The PGW acts as the termination point of the EPC toward other Packet Data Networks
(PDN) such as the Internet, private IP network, or the IMS network providing end-user
services.
• It serves as an anchor point for sessions toward external PDN and provides functions
such as user IP address allocation, policy enforcement, packet filtering, and charging
support.
• Policy enforcement includes operator-defined rules for resource allocation to control data
rate, QoS, and usage.
• Packet filtering functions include deep packet inspection for application detection.
MOBILITY MANAGEMENT ENTITY (MME)
• The MME performs the signaling and control functions to manage the user terminal
access to network connections, assignment of network resources.
• Mobility management function such as idle mode location tracking, paging, roaming,
and handovers.
• MME controls all control plane functions related to subscriber and session management.
• The MME provides security functions such as providing temporary identities for user
terminals, interacting with Home Subscriber Server (HSS) for authentication, and
negotiation of ciphering and integrity protection algorithms.
• It is also responsible for selecting the appropriate serving and PDN gateways, and
selecting legacy gateways for handovers to other GERAN or UTRAN networks.
• MME manages thousands of eNode-B elements, which is one of the key differences
from 2G or 3G.
POLICY AND CHARGING RULES FUNCTION (PCRF)
• It is a concatenation of Policy Decision Function (PDF) and Charging Rules Function (CRF).
• The PCRF interfaces with the PDN gateway and supports service data flow detection,
policy enforcement, and flow-based charging.
 MODULE 1
CHAPTER 2 - WIRELESS FUNDAMENTALS

1. CELLULAR SYSTEM
Cellular system mainly comprised of 3 parameters:
1. The cellular concept
2. Sectoring
3. Analysis of cellular system

1.1 THE CELLULAR CONCEPT

• AT&T proposed a core idea of cellular system in 1971.
• In cellular systems, the service area is subdivided into smaller geographic areas called
cells.
• Each cell has a Base Station (BS)/Base Transceiver Station(BTS) with or without a
Mobile Station(MS).
• To prevent interference between cells, neighboring cells do not use same set of
frequencies.
➢ Core cellular Principles
• The major transmitting stations between cells include Mobile Station (MS), Base Station
(BS), Base Station Controller (BSC) and an Mobile station controller (MSC).
➢ Frequency planning
• The same frequencies used by cells in the different clusters can be reused and the
process is called frequency reuse.
• 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 = 1/3 means frequency is reused by 1 cell out of every 3 cells in a cluster.
➢ Co-cells and cluster
• Co-cells are cells in cellular system which uses the same frequency channel set.
• The reuse of the same frequency channels should be intelligently planned in order to
maximize the geographic distance between the co-channel base stations.
• Figure shows an example of hexagonal cellular system model with frequency reuse
factor f = 1/7.
• The groups of cells which are using entire frequency channels set are called “clusters”.
➢ 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 12 dB (=l0log16
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.

➢ Drawback of cellular system

• 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.
• In Figure, 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.

➢ Drawback
1. Sectoring increases the number of antennas at each base station, hence it increases
the cost and the number of handoffs 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 inter sector 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.
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 cochannel reuse ratio is given by

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
➢ Signal to Noise ratio (SNR) of cellular system
• SNR of a cellular system is given by

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 and its empirical path loss formula
given as
Where, xi = shadowing from the ith base
station
∝ = path loss components
xo= lognormal distribution for the shadowing
value
➢ Outage probability (P0)
• 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 are𝛼 and 𝜎 in dB, the
outage probability is derived in the form of Q function is given by

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.
2. BROADBAND WIRELESS CHANNEL (BWC)

In wireless, broadband is the wide bandwidth data transmission which transports

multiple signals.

2.1 PATH LOSS IN BROADBAND WIRELESS CHANNEL (BWC)

• Path loss is defined as the ratio of the transmit power to the receive power.
• Path loss model relates the path loss between the transmitter and receiver.
• Assuming an isotropic antenna is used as shown in figure, the propagated signal
energy expands over a spherical wavefront, so that the energy received at the antenna
with a distance of d away is inversely proportional to the sphere surface area 4πd2.
• The free space path formula or FRIIS formula is given as

Where Pr = received power, Pt = transmitted power and 𝜆 = wavelength.

And also we know that C = fcλ => λ = C/fc where C is the spped of light.
• The average value of channel gain is given as

Where E[.] denotes expected value or mathematical mean.

• If the directional antenna is used at the transmitter or receiver the gain Gt and/or Gr is
achieved, and the received power is simply increased by the gain of these antennas.
• Reflection from the earth and other objects will tend to increase the received power
at the receiver, because of the reflected waves experience a 180 degree phase shift at
relatively larger distance this reflection creates destructive interference.
• Path loss for such destructive interference is given as
• One of the simplest and most common is the empirical path loss formula given as
• Path loss for such destructive interference is given as

Where Po is a measured path loss at a distance do.

2.2 SHADOWING IN BROADBAND WIRELESS CHANNEL (BWC)

• In Path loss, distance was the major factor effect on the total received power. However
many factors apart from distance can have a large effect on the total received power.

Figure : shadowing can cause large deviations from path loss predictions
• For example, as shown in figure , obstacles such as trees and buildings may be located
between the transmitter and receiver and cause temporary degradation in the received
signal strength.
• Shadowing is the effect that the received signal power fluctuates due to objects
obstructing the propagation path between transmitter and receiver.
• With shadowing the empirical path loss formula given as

Where 𝜒 = sample of the shadowing random process

• Hence the received power is now modeled as a random process.

• The distance trend in the path loss can be thought of as the mean received power.
• The χ causes a deviation of a signal from the expected values. Typically it has a
correlation distance of meters to tens of meters.
• Hence shadowing is also called as Large scale fading.
• The shadowing value is modeled as lognormal random variable that is

Where 𝑁(0, 𝜎𝑠2) is an Gaussian distribution with a mean 0 and variance 𝜎𝑠2 and it’s
typical value ranges from 6-12dB.
2.3 FADING 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.
• The multiple received signals 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

Figure : 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.
➢ Fading effect
• When some of the reflections arrive at nearly the same time, the combined effect of
those reflections shown in below Figure .
• Depending on the phase difference between the arriving signals, the interference can
be either constructive or destructive, which causes a very large observed difference in
the amplitude of the received signal even over very short distances.

Figure : The difference between constructive interference (top) and destructive interference
(bottom) at 4 = 2.5GHz is less than 0.1 nanoseconds in phase, which corresponds to about 3 cm
• The 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.
➢ Time-varying tapped-delay line channel model of fading:
• 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
below
I. Delay dimension (τ)
II. Time-dimension(t)

Figure : 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 + Δt) 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 + Δt. Because the channel is highly variant in both
the τ and t dimensions.
• The fundamental function used to statistically describe broadband fading channels is
the two-dimensional autocorrelation function A(Δτ, Δt).

• The autocorrelation function is defined as

• 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 τ1 and 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.
3. WIRELESS CHANNEL PARAMETERS / BROADBAND FADING PARAMETERS

The key broadband fading parameters to 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.

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

3.1 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 path
(typically the line-ofsight component) and the last arriving (non-negligible) path.
• The delay spread can be found by inspecting 𝐴 (Δ𝜏, 0) by setting Δ𝑡 = 0 in the channel
autocorrelation function. It is often referred to as the Multipath Intensity Profile, or power
delay profile.
• The maximum delay spread is 𝜏𝑚𝑎𝑥. Characterized wireless channel with number of delay
taps v will be needed in the discrete representation of the channel impulse response, since

Where Ts = Sampling time

• 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 overwhich the channel stays constant. Given the channel delay spread, it can be
shown that

• The important and prevailing feature is that 𝐵𝑐 and 𝜏𝑟𝑚𝑠 are inversely related.
3.2 DOPPLER SPREAD AND COHERENCE TIME

• 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 plotted with statistical power distribution of the channel
versus frequency for a signal transmitted at just one exact frequency.
• The power delay profile is caused by multipath between the transmitter and receiver.
• The Doppler power spectrum is caused by motion between the transmitter and receiver.
• The Doppler power spectrum is the Fourier transform of At(Δt) is given by
• When a pure sinusoidal tone of frequency fc is transmitted, the received signal
spectrum, called the Doppler spectrum.
• The spectrum ranges from 𝑓𝑐 – 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

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.
• Coherence time 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
|t1 − t2| ≤ TC ⇒ h(t1) ≈ h(t2)
|t1 − t2| > tC ⇒ h(t1) & h(t2) are uncorrelated.

• The coherence time and Doppler spread are also inversely related
Tc ≈1/fd
• Values for the Doppler spread and the associated channel coherence time for LTE at
Pedestrian, Vehicular, and Maximum Speeds are given in Table 2 for two possible LTE
frequency bands.
Table 2: Doppler spread and approximates coherence times for LTE at pedestrian,
vehicular and maximum speeds
• At high frequency and mobility, the channel may change up to 1000 times per second,
it results in a large overhead on channel and Channel estimation algorithms.
3.3 ANGULAR SPREAD AND COHERANCE DISTANCE*****[4M] June/July 2019
• 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)
• It 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 antenna’s 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 distance 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
𝐷𝐶 ≈2𝜆/𝜃𝑟𝑚𝑠
4. MODELING BROADBAND FADING CHANNELS
• Modeling a channel specifies calculating all the physical processing effecting of signal
from the transmitter to the receiver.
• The two major classes of models are:
1. Statistical models
2. Empirical models
4.1 STATISTICAL MODELS
• 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.
• This is only true when the symbol time is much greater than the delay spread, i.e., T
>>𝜏𝑚𝑎𝑥 so these models are often said to be valid for "narrowband fading channels.
• Some of the popular statistical models are:
1. Rayleigh Fading
2. Ricean Distribution
3. Nakagami-m fading
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 can be classified as in-phase rI(t) and quadrature rQ(t)
components of r(t) of a Gaussian random variables.
• Consider a snapshot of a received signal r(t) at time t = 0, and r(0) = rI(0) + rQ(0).
• The distribution of the envelope amplitude is given as

and the received power is given as

• Rayleigh fading equation is given as

Where Pr is the average received power due to shadowing and path loss.
• Gaussian random variables rI(t) and rQ(t) each have zero mean and variance

• The phase of r(t) uniformly distributed from 0 to 2π is defined as

• 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

Figure : The three major channel attenuation factors are shown in terms of their relative
spatial (and hence temporal) scales.
2. RICEAN DISTRIBUTION (LINE OF SIGHT CHANNELS)
• An important assumption in the Rayleigh fading model is that all the arriving reflections
have a mean of zero.
• 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 modelled by a Ricean distribution,
which is given by

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 equating
• Since the Ricean distribution depends on the LOS component's power μ2, a common
way to characterize the channel is by the relative strengths of the LOS and scattered paths.
• The LOS factor K is quantified as

K=0 specified single LOS the ricean distribution reduces to Rayleigh 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
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

Where m = shape parameter gives as

• If m=0 gives Rayleigh equation and if m=∞ then the received power Pr tends to be
constant.
• Nakagami-m fading is given as

• Figure shows comparison of the most popular fading distributions with probability
distributions f|r|(x) for Rayleigh, Ricean w/K = 1, and Nakagami with m =2. All have average
received power Pr =1.
Figure: probability distribution for Rayleigh,
ricean and nakagami
4.2 EMPIRICAL CHANNEL MODELS

• Statistical channel models do not take into consideration of specific wireless

propagation environments.
• Modeling of a channel requires the complete knowledge of the surrounding (ex.
Buildings, plants, etc.), time and computational demand. Hence empirical and semi
empirical models were developed.
• Empirical and semi-empirical wireless channel models are the specific models, which
have been developed to accurately estimate the path loss, shadowing, and small-scale
fast fading.
• Empirical model are created by observation and experiment rather than
mathematical aspects.
• These are more complicated but usually represent a specific type of channel more
accurately.
• These models considers the realistic factors such as Angle of Arrival (AoA), Angle of
Departure (AoD), Antenna Array Fashion (AAF), Angle Spread (AS), and Antenna Array
Gain(AAG) pattern and other real time factors.
• Different empirical channel models exist for different wireless scenarios, such as sub-
urban macro, urban macro, urban micro cells, and so on.
1. LTE CHANNEL MODELS FOR PATH LOSS
• These models are widely used in modeling the outdoor macro and micro cell wireless
environments.
• These are also referred to as "3GPP" channel models.
• It provides a measure of Base Station (BS) to Base Station(BS) distance.
• First step is to specify the environment here an empirical channel model is used, e.g.,
suburban macro, urban macro, or urban micro environment.
• The BS to BS distance is typically larger tan 3 km for a macro-cell environment and less
than 1 km for an urban micro-cell environment.
• For macro-cell environment, the path loss is given by COST HATA MODEL, which is given
as
• COST Hata model is considered to be accurate when d = 100m to 20 km and 𝑓𝑐 = 1500 to
2000MHz.
• LTE system also operates with below 1500Mhz, for example 700MHz, the empirical
channel model used in such scenarios is the HATA MODEL.
• HATA model is closely related to the COST Hata model, but with slightly different
parameters.
• HATA models exist depending on whether the environment is urban, suburban, or for
open areas.
• HATA Model for Urban areas is given as
2. LTE CHANNEL MODELS FOR MULTIPATH

• The received signal at the mobile receiver consists of N time-delayed versions of the
transmitted signal. Example as shown in figure

Figure: 3GPP channel model for MIMO simulations

• The N paths are characterized by powers and delays that are chosen according to
prescribed channel generation procedures, as follows
I. The number of paths N ranges from 1 to 20 and is dependent on the specific channel
models. For example, the 3GPP channel model has N = 6 multipath components.
II. Each multipath component further corresponds to a cluster of M subpaths, where
each subpath characterizes the incoming signal from a scatter.
III. The M subpaths have random phases and subpath gains.
IV. For 3GPP, the phases are random variables uniformly distributed from 0 to 360
degrees.
• In the 3GPP channel model, the nth multipath component from the uth transmit
antenna to the sth receive antenna, is given as
3. LTE SEMI-EMPIRICAL CHANNEL MODELS

• Constructing a fully empirical channel model is time-consuming and computationally

expensive due to the huge number of parameters involved.
• Therefore semi-empirical channel models are used which includes practical parameters
in a real wireless system and maintaining the simplicity of statistical channel models.
• Well-known examples of the simpler multipath channel models include the 3GPP2
Pedestrian A, Pedestrian B, Vehicular A, and Vehicular B models, suited for low-mobility
pedestrian mobile users and higher mobility vehicular mobile users.
• The power delay profile of the channel is determined by the number of multipath taps
and the power and delay of each multipath component.
• Each multipath component is modeled as independent Rayleigh fading with a different
power level, and the correlation in the time domain is created according to a Doppler
spectrum.
• The Pedestrian A is a flat fading model corresponding to a single Rayleigh fading
component with a speed of 3 km/hr.
• Pedestrian B model corresponds to a power delay profile with four paths of delays [0,
0.11, 0.19, 0.41] μs and the power profile given as [1, 0.1071, 0.0120, 0.0052] at 3 km/hr.
• Vehicular A model, the mobile speed is specified at 30 km/hr. Four multipath components
exist, each with delay profile [0, 0.11, 0.19, 0.41] μs and power profile [1, 0.1071, 0.0120,
0.0052].
• For the vehicular B model, the mobile speed is 30km/h, with six multipath components,
delay profile [0, 0.2, 0.8, 1.2, 2.3, 3.7] μs and power profile [1, 0.813, 0.324 0.158, 0.166,
0.004]. These models are often referred to as Ped A/B and Veh A/B.
• LTE standard additionally defined extended delay profile with increased multipath
resolution known as Extended Pedestrian A, Extended Vehicular A, and Extended Typical
Urban. These profiles are given in Tables 2.4, 2.5, and 2.6.
5. STATISTICAL CORRELATION OF THE RECEIVED SIGNAL

• Specific statistical models like Rayleigh, Ricean, and Nakagami-m provided the
probability density functions (PDFs) that gave the likelihoods of the received signal
envelope and power at a given time instant.
• Use these PDF functions with the channel autocorrelation function, 𝐴𝑐(Δ𝜏, Δ𝑡) in order
to understand how the envelope signal r(t) evolves over time, or changes from one
frequency or location to another.
• Analysis of statistical correlation of received signal in different domains are
1. Time correlation
2. Frequency correlation
3. The Dispersion selectivity duality
4. Multi-dimensional correlation
1. TIME CORRELATION
• In the time domain, the channel ℎ (𝜏 = 0, 𝑡) get one new sample from a Rayleigh
distribution for every Tc sec & interpolated with the autocorrelation function of 𝐴𝑡(Δ𝑡).
• The autocorrelation function 𝐴𝑡(Δ𝑡) describes how the channel is correlated in time as
shown in figure.
• Its frequency domain Doppler power spectrum 𝜌𝑡(Δ𝑓 ) provides a band-limited
description of the same correlation. Since it is simply the Fourier transform of 𝐴𝑡 (Δ𝑡).

Figure : Autocorrelation of the signal envelope in time, Ac(Δ𝑡) which here is normalized by the
Doppler fD. For example, from this figure it can be seen that for Δ𝑡 = to 0.4/fD, which means that
after 0.4/fD seconds, the fading value is uncorrelated with the value at time 0.
• For the specific case of uniform scattering, Doppler power spectrum can be described as

• A plot of this realization of 𝜌𝑡(Δ𝑓 ) is shown in Figure 15. Which is often used to model
the time autocorrelation function 𝐴𝑐 (𝛿𝑡 ), and hence predict the time correlation
properties of narrowband fading signals.

Figure: The spectral correlation due to Doppler, 𝜌𝑡(Δ𝑓 ) for uniform scattering
2. FREQUENCY CORRELATION
• Fading in frequency is that the channel in the frequency domain, 𝐻(𝑓, 𝑡 = 0), can be
thought of as consisting of approximately one new random sample every Bc Hz, with the
values in between interpolated.
• The correlated Rayleigh frequency envelope |𝐻 (𝑓)| shown in Figure

Figure: The shape of the Doppler power spectrum 𝝆𝒕(Δ𝒇), determines the correlation envelope of
the channel in time (top). Similarly, the shape of the Multipath Intensity Profile
• The correlation function that maps from uncorrelated time domain (𝜏 domain) random
variables to a correlated frequency response is the Multipath Intensity Profile, 𝐴𝜏(Δ𝜏).
• 𝜌𝑡(Δ𝑓) describes the channel time correlation in the frequency domain.
• 𝐴𝜏(Δ𝜏), describes the channel frequency correlation in the time domain.
• The values of |H(f)| are correlated over all frequencies are refer to as "flat fading,"
i.e., 𝜏𝑚𝑎𝑥 ≪ 𝑇 ).
3. THE DISPERSION SELECTIVITY DUALITY
• Selectivity and dispersion are two quite different effects from fading.
• Selectivity means that the signal's received value is changed by the channel over time or
frequency.
• Dispersion means that the channel is spread out over time or frequency.
• Selectivity and dispersion are time-frequency duals of each other. This is illustrated in
Figure

Figure: The dispersion-selectivity duality: Dispersion in time causes frequency selectivity, while
dispersion in frequency causes time selectivity
4. MULTIDIMENSIONAL CORRELATION
• In reality, signals are correlated in time, frequency, and spatial domains.
• A broadband wireless data system with mobility and multiple antennas is an example of a
system where all three types of fading will play a significant role.
• The concept of doubly selective (in time and frequency) fading channels has received
recent attention for OFDM.
• Highly frequency-selective channel as in a wide area wireless broadband network
requires a large number of closely spaced subcarriers to effectively combat the ISI and
small coherence bandwidth.
• On the other hand, a highly mobile channel with a large Doppler causes the channel to
fluctuate over the resulting long symbol period, which degrades the subcarrier
orthogonally.
• In the frequency domain, the Doppler frequency shift can cause significant ISI as the
carriers become more closely spaced.
• The mobility and multipath delay spread must reach fairly severe levels before this
doubly selective effect becomes significant.
6. MITIGATION OF NARROW BAND FADING
In wireless communication, narrow band refers to signals over a narrow range of
frequencies.
6.1 THE EFFECTS OF UNMITIGATED FADING

• The probability of bit error rate (BER) is the principle metric of interest for the physical
layer of a communication system.
• For a QAM-based modulation system, the BER in an additive white Gaussian noise
(AWGN, no fading) can accurately be approximated by the following relation

• If M ≥ 4 is the M-QAM, the probability of error decreases very rapidly (exponentially)

with the SNR. Since the channel is constant, the BER is constant over time.
• In a fading channel, the BER become a random variable that depends on the
instantaneous channel strength and M level modulation, it given as
For fading channel, BER goes down very slowly with SNR, only inversely. This trend is
captured plainly in Figure

Figure : Flat fading causes a loss of at least 20-

30 dB at reasonable BER values.
6.2 TECHNIQUES FOR MITIGATION OF NARROWBAND FADING

There are 5 main techniques for migration of narrowband fading.

1. Spatial Diversity
2. Coding and Interleaving
3. Automatic Repeat Request ( ARQ)
4. Adaptive Modulation and Coding (AMC)
5. Combining Narrowband Diversity Techniques
1. SPATIAL DIVERSITY

• Diversity is the technique to overcome the fading problems in wireless channels by

improving PER (Packet Error Rate) and BER (Bit Error Rate).
• It is also known as antenna diversity and it usually is achieved by having two or more
antennas at the receiver and/or the transmitter as shown in figure .
• Spatial diversity is a powerful form of diversity, and desirable since it does not require
redundancy in time or frequency.
• The simplest form of space diversity consists of two receive antennas, where the stronger
of the two signals is selected.
• As long as the antennas are spaced sufficiently, the two received signals will undergo
approximately uncorrelated fading.
• This type of diversity is called selection diversity shown in figure
 Figure: Simple two-branch selection diversity eliminates most deep fades.

• More sophisticated forms of spatial diversity include receive antenna arrays (two or
more antennas) with maximal ratio combining, transmit diversity using space-time codes,
transmit pre-coding, and other combinations of transmit and receive diversity.
• Spatial signaling techniques are important in LTE techniques.
2. CODING AND INTERLEAVING
• Coding and interleaving is a form of diversity which is used everywhere for all wireless
communication systems.
• It is a form of time diversity, where in a multicarrier system they also can capture
frequency diversity.
I. CODING
• Coding can be used in Error Correction Codes (ECCs), which is also known as Forward
Error Correction (FEC).
• ECCs introduce redundancy at the transmitter to allow the receiver to recover the input
signal even if the received signal is significantly degraded by attenuation, interference, and
noise.
• Coding techniques can be categorized by their coding rate(r) which is the ratio of
information bits to a coding process to the total number of bits created by the coding
process.
• The coding rate r ≤ 1, which is the inverse of the redundancy added.
• A coding rate is ¼ indicates for each information bit into the coding process there will be
• The higher the code rate, the higher percentage of error detection/correction overhead.
• Higher the coding rate gives higher transmission reliability gain.
• There are 2 main different coding techniques: Convolution codes & turbo codes.

i. CONVOLUTION CODES
• Convolution encoder Convert any length message to a single codeword.
• Encoder has memory and has dK outputs that at any time depend on CK inputs and m
previous input blocks.
• In Figure, shows convolutional encoder defined by LTE for use in the Broadcast Channel
(BCH).

Figure 20: The rate r = 1/3 convolutional encoder de fined by LTE for use in the Broadcast
Channel (BCH)
• The above figures shows the rates of 1/3 code since there is one input bit (𝐶𝑘) and 3
outputs(𝑑𝑘).
• The constraint length of this code is 7, there are 6 delay elements or 64 possible states.
• The generator polynomial G which consist of the generators Gi for each 3 outputs in
octal notation.
• For example G0 = 133 in binary form is 1011011, where a 0 means the output does not
include this tap and a 1 means it does.
ii. TURBO CODES
• It class of high-performance Forward Error Correction (FEC) codes. It is built using two
identical convolutional codes of special type, such as, Recursive Systematic (RSC) type with
parallel concatenation.
• Turbo code provides flexibility and has an ability to recover quickly from errors through
iterative decoding.
• A rate turbo code is also deployed by LTE as shown in Figure

Figure : The rate parallel concatenated turbo encoder defined by LTE for use in
the uplink and downlink shared channels, among others.
• Turbo code comprises of 8-state rate (4 states in each convolution encoder), 1 systematic
encoder that operates on an interleaved input sequence, for a net coding rate of 1/3 .
• By systematic, we mean that one output is generated by a linear modulo-2 sum of the
current encoder state that is a function of both the input bit(s) and the previous states (i.e.,
there is feedback in the state machine), while the other outputs are simply passed through
to the output, like Xk in Figure .
• Codes in LTE can also be punctured, which means that some of the output coded bits are
simply dropped, in order to lower the transmission rate.
• For example, if the output of a rate ½ and a convolutional code had a puncturing factor of
1/4 , this means that out of every four output bits, one is dropped.
• Hence, the effective code rate would become 2/3, since only three coded bits are
transmitted for every two information bits.
• At the decoder, a random or fixed coded his is inserted in the decoding process.
II. INTERLEAVING
• Interleaving is a process or methodology to make a system more efficient, fast and
reliable by arranging data in a noncontiguous (random) manner.
• Interleaving, a technique for making forward error correction more robust with respect
to burst errors.
• Interleaving is typically used in both convolutional coding and turbo coding.
• For use with a conventional convolutional code, the interleaver shuffles coded bits to
provide robustness to burst errors that can be caused by either noise and interference.
• For both convolutional codes and turbo codes, the interleaver block size is quite large.
• The interleaver block size is usually used over a single packet data or often much less
than that.
• De-interleaving delays have been one of the primary drawbacks to turbo-coding since
they cause considerable latency.
• Interleaving has proven very effective in allowing ECCs designed for constant, time-
invariant additive noise channels to also work well on fading, time- variant noisy channels.
3. AUTOMATIC REPEAT REQUEST (ARQ)
• LTE uses ARQ (Automatic Repeat Request) and Hybrid-ARQ (H-ARQ) technique for flow
and error control.
• ARQ is used in MAC layer retransmission protocol that allows large packets to be quickly
retransmitted.
• These protocol works with physical layer ECCs and parity checks to ensure reliable links
in channels.
• Since a single bit error causes an error in the entire packet, with ARQ the entire packet
must be retransmitted even when nearly all of the bits already received were correct,
which is clearly inefficient.
• Hybrid-ARQ combines the two concepts of ARQ and FEC (Forward Error Correction) to
avoid such waste, by combining received packets.
• Hybrid-ARQ is able to extract additional time diversity in a fading channel as well.
• In H-ARQ a channel encoder such as a convolution encoder or turbo encoder is used to
generate additional redundancy to the information bits.
• Instead of transmitting all the encoded bits (systematic bits + redundancy bits), only a
• This is achieved by puncturing some of the encoded bits to create an effective code rate
greater than the native code rate of the encoder.
• After transmitting the encoded and punctured bits, the transmitter waits for an
acknowledgment from the receiver telling it whether the receiver was able to successfully
decode the information bits from the transmission.
• If the receiver was able to decode the information bits, then nothing else needs to be
done. If, on the other hand, the receiver was unable to decode the information bits, then
the transmitter can resend another copy of the encoded bits.
4. ADAPTIVE MODULATION AND CODING (AMC)

• LTE systems employ Adaptive Modulation and Coding (AMC) in order to reduce
fluctuations in the channel over time and frequency.
• The basic idea of AMC:
➢ Transmit at a high data rate when the channel is good.
➢ Transmit at a lower rate when the channel is poor in order to avoid excessive
dropped packets.
➢ Lower data rates are achieved by using a small constellation such as QPSK and low
rate error correcting codes such as rate 1/3 turbo codes.
➢ The higher data rates are achieved with large constellations such as 64QAM and
less robust error correcting codes.
• To perform AMC, the transmitter must have some knowledge of the instantaneous
channel gain.
• Once it does, it can choose the modulation technique that will achieve the highest
possible data rate while still meeting a BER or PER (Packet Error Rate) requirement.
• An alternative way to achieve high data rate is to maximize the throughput.
• A block diagram of an AMC system is given in Figure. For simplicity, consider just a single
user system attempting to transmit as quickly as possible through a channel with a variable
SINR, for example, due to fading.

Figure : Adaptive modulation and coding block diagram

• The goal of the transmitter is to transmit data from its queue as rapidly as possible,
subject to the data being demodulated and decoded reliably at the receiver.
• Feedback is critical for adaptive modulation and coding since the transmitter needs to
know the "channel SINR".
• A Practical Example of AMC: Figure shows a possible realization of AMC, using three
different code rates (1/2, 2/3, 3/4), and three different modulation types (QPSK, 16QAM,
64QAM).

Figure : Throughput vs. SINR, assuming the best available constellation and coding configuration is
chosen for each SINR
• In this example lower offered data rate is QPSK and rate ½ turbo codes, while the highest
data rate is 64QAM and rate ¾ turbo codes.
• The achieved throughput normalized by the bandwidth is given as

𝑇 = (1 − 𝑃𝐸𝑅)𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑔2(𝑀) 𝑏𝑝𝑠/𝐻𝑧

Where PER = Packet Error Rate

r = coding rate, r ≤ 1
and M = number of points in the constellation
7. MITIGATION OF NARROW BAND FADING

• In LTE Inter Symbol Interference (ISI) is the serious problem. This is due to frequency
selective fading which causes dispersion in time.
• OFDM is the most popular choice for combating ISI in a range of high rate systems.
• Other main techniques for ISI mitigation of narrow band fading are:
1. Spread Spectrum and RAKE Receivers
2. Equalization
3. Multicarrier Modulation: OFDM
4. Single-Carrier Modulation with Frequency Domain Equalization
1. SPREAD SPECTRUM AND RAKE RECEIVERS
• It is a technique of transmitting of narrowband data signal in a wideband channel called
spread spectrum.
• RAKE receiver is used to counter the effect of multipath fading.
• Spread spectrum techniques are generally broken into two different categories:
a. Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum(DSSS): It also known as Code Division Multiple
Access (CDMA), is used widely in cellular voice networks and is effective at multiplexing a
large number of variable rate users in a cellular environment.
b. Frequency hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS): Frequency hopping is used in low-rate
wireless LANs like Bluetooth, and also for its interference averaging properties in GSM
cellular networks.
• Spread spectrum techniques is not an appropriate technology for high data rates due
self-interference. In short, spread spectrum is not a natural choice for wireless broadband
networks.
• Although this self-interference can be corrected with an equalizer this largely defeats the
purpose of using spread spectrum to help with ISI.
2. EQUALIZATION
• Equalizers are a technique which is used to suppress ISI without the use of additional
bandwidth or antennas.
• Equalizers are implemented at the receiver, and attempt to reverse the distortion
introduced by the channel.
• Equalizers are broken into two classes: linear and decision-directed (nonlinear).
a. Linear Equalizers:
• In linear equalizer, the received signal is passed through a digital filter which generally
uses FIR filer.
• The problem with this approach is that it inverts not only the channel, but also the
received noise.
• This noise enhancement can severely degrade the receiver performance, especially in a
wireless channel with deep frequency fades.
• Linear receivers are relatively simple to implement, but achieve poor performance in a
time-varying and severe-ISI channel.
b. Nonlinear Equalizers:
• A nonlinear equalizer uses previous symbol decisions made by the receiver to cancel out
their subsequent interference, and so is often called a Decision Feedback Equalizers (DFE).
• Problem with this approach is that it is common to make mistakes about what the prior
symbols were (especially at low SNR), which causes error propagation and is a time
consuming approach due to feedback.
• Nonlinear equalizers increase the computational complexity.
3. MULTICARRIER MODULATION: OFDM
• Multicarrier modulation is used to fight against the time-dispersive ISI channel.
• For a large number of subcarriers (L) are used in parallel, so that the symbol time for each
goes from T to LT.
• In Multicarrier system, rather than sending a single signal with data rate R and bandwidth
B, L signals at the same time can be sent, each having bandwidth B/L and data rate R/L.
• If B/L ≪ Bc, each of the signals will undergo approximately flat fading and the time
dispersion for each signal will be negligible.
• As long as the number of subcarriers L is large enough, the condition B/L ≪ Bc, can be
4. SINGLE-CARRIER MODULATION WITH FREQUENCY DOMAIN EQUALIZATION (FDE)
• A primary drawback of the OFDM approach has a high Peak-to-Average Ratio (PAR).
• The dynamic range of the transmit power is too large, which results in either significant
clipping or distortion, or in a requirement for highly linear power amplifier.
• One can transmit a single carrier signal with a cyclic prefix, which has a low PAR and then
do all the processing at the receiver.
• FDE uses Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to move the signal into the frequency domain, a 1-
tap frequency equalizer (just like in OFDM), and then an Inverse FFT (IFFT) to convert back to
the time domain for decoding and detection.
• In addition to eliminating OFDM's PAR problem, an additional advantage of this approach
for the uplink is the potential to move the FFT and IFFT operations to the base station.
• In LTE multiple uplink users share the frequency channel at the same time, the mobile
station still must perform FFT and IFFT operations.
• In LTE resulting approach is known as Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access(SC-
FDMA).
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