UNIT-V

Chetna Sinha
Assistant Professor
GEC Raipur
Introduction
 The mobile radio channel places fundamental limitations on the performance of wireless communication
system.
 There are uncertainties of the channel coupled with that is multipath propagation, attenuation, scattering
etc.
 the wireless transmission path may either
 line of sight LOS i.e, a direct line of sight from the transmitted to the receiver
 non-line of sight NLOS in which case signal is obstructed either by building or foliage or hills or even cars on the
streets.
 In general, we deal with the non-line of sight situations in our cellular mobile systems. Its difficult to be in direct
line of sight with the base station in urban areas.
 Radio channels are random and often time varying. Not only is it random, that is, you can take enough
measurements; come up with a statistics to model it but with time, the statistics might change. This is a
fundamental issue.
 Modeling radio channels have been one of the most difficult parts of the mobile radio designs since radio
channels behave differently in different frequencies. A model for 900 MHz frequency band may not be
entirely applicable for 2.4GHz.
 Most of the channel models are random but as we move to higher and higher frequencies that is, lower
band wavelengths, we will have to go to deterministic channel modeling.
 Free Space Propagation Model
 The free space propagation model is used to predict received signal strength when the transmitter and receiver have
a clear, unobstructed line-of-sight path between them. Satellite communication systems and microwave line-of-
sight radio links typically undergo free space propagation. The free space power received by a receiver antenna
which is separated from a radiating transmitter antenna by a distance d, is given by the Friis free space equation,

 Where Pt is the transmitted power, Pr(d) is the received power which is a function of the T-R separation, Gt is the
transmitter antenna gain, Gr is the receiver antenna gain, d is the T-R separation distance in meters, L is the system
loss factor not related to propagation (L>=1 ), and ᨂ is the wavelength in meters. The gain of an antenna is related
to its effective aperture Ae, by

 The effective aperture Ae is related to the physical size of the antenna, and is related to the carrier
frequency by

 where f is the carrier frequency in Hertz,; ꞷc is the carrier frequency in radians per second, and c is the
speed of light given in meters/s. The values for Pt and Pr must be expressed in the same units, and Gt and Gr,
are dimensionless quantities
 An isotropic radiator is an ideal antenna which radiates power with unit gain uniformly in all
directions, and is often used to reference antenna gains in wireless systems. The effective isotropic
radiated power (EIRP) is defined as
 EIRP= Pt Gt

 and represents the maximum radiated power available from a transmitter in the direction of
maximum antenna gain, as compared to an isotropic radiator. In practice, effective radiated power
(ERP) is used instead of EIRP to denote the maximum radiated power as compared to a half-wave
dipole antenna (instead of an isotropic antenna), Since a dipole antenna has a gain of 1.64 (2.15 dB
above an isotrope), the ERP will be 2.15 dB smaller than the EIRP for the same transmission system
 The path loss, which represents signal attenuation as a positive quantity measured in
dB, is defined as the difference (in dB) between the effective transmitted power and the
received power, and may or may not include the effect of the antenna gains. The path
loss for the free space model when antenna gains are included is given by

 When antenna gains are excluded, the antennas are assumed to have unity gain, and
path loss is given by
 Introduction to Radio Wave Propagation
 The mechanisms behind electromagnetic wave propagation are diverse, but can generally be
attributed to reflection, diffraction, and scattering.
 Propagation models that predict the mean signal strength for an arbitrary transmitter-receiver (T-
R) separation distance are useful in estimating the radio coverage area of a transmitter and are
called large-scale propagation models, since they characterize signal strength over large T-R
separation distances (several hundreds or thousands of meters).
 On the other hand, propagation models that characterize the rapid fluctuations of the received
signal strength over very short travel distances (a few wavelengths) or short time durations (on
the order of seconds) are called small-scale or fading models
The Three Basic Propagation
Mechanisms
 Reflection occurs when a propagating electromagnetic wave impinges upon an object which has very
large dimensions when compared to the wavelength of the propagating wave. Reflections occur from
the surface of the earth and from buildings and walls.
 Diffraction occurs when the radio path between the transmitter and receiver is obstructed by a surface
that has sharp irregularities (edges). The secondary waves resulting from the obstructing surface are
present throughout the space and even behind the obstacle, giving rise to a bending of waves around
the obstacle, even when a line-of-sight path does not exist between transmitter and receiver. At high
frequencies, diffraction, like reflection, depends on the geometry of the object, as well as the
amplitude, phase, and polarization of the incident wave at the point of diffraction.
 Scattering occurs when the medium through which the wave travels consists of objects with
dimensions that are small compared to the wavelength, and where the number of obstacles per unit
volume is large. Scattered waves are produced by rough surfaces, small objects, or by other
irregularities in the channel. In practice, foliage, street signs, and lamp posts induce scattering in a
mobile communications system.
Reflection
 When a radio wave propagating in one medium impinges upon another medium having
different electrical properties, the wave is partially reflected and partially transmitted.
 If the plane wave is incident on a perfect dielectric, part of the energy is transmitted into
the second medium and part of the energy is reflected back into the first medium, and
there is no loss of energy in absorption.
 If the second medium is a perfect conductor, then all incident energy is reflected back
into the first medium without loss of energy. The electric field intensity of the reflected
and transmitted waves may be related to the incident wave in the medium of origin
through the Fresnel reflection coefficient ( ))
 The reflection coefficient is a function of' the material properties, and generally depends
on the wave polarization, angle of incidence, and the frequency of the propagating
wave.
Reflection from smooth surface
 When a radio wave propagating in one medium impinges upon another
medium having different electrical property the wave is subjected for
reflection
 – Reflection from dielectric
 – Reflection form perfect conductor
 – Ground reflection
Terms involved…

 • Angle of incident wave

 • Angle of reflected wave
 • Angle of transmitted wave
 • Permittivity - How E field is affected by dielectric
 • Permeability - Degree of magnetization
 • Conductance - ability for electricity to flow
Reflection coefficient
Reflection from Conductors

 electromagnetic energy cannot pass through perfect conductors. Therefore

they can be used for shielding.
 all the energy is reflected back.
 Thus we have theta i is equal to theta r- Snell‟s law.
 Ei is equal to Er which is the E field in the plane of incidence.
 Ei is equal to minus Er, E field normal to the plane of incidence and
 Fresnel reflection coefficient gamma parallel is 1 and
 gamma perpendicular is -1.
2 Ray Model

 Free space propagation model is inaccurate in many of the cases when used
alone.
 This model is designed for both LOS and Reflected rays.
 This model is accurate for predicting the large scale signal strength over
distance of several Kilometers.
 In most of the cases the T-R Separation is only few tens of kilometers hence
the earth is assumed to be FLAT.
 Assumption: height of transmitter>50m
2 Ray model
 The first assumption is that the base station and the mobile station should be separated by a certain
distance. The ground reflection model does not work when mobile station is very close the base
station.
 So there is clearly a line of sight because there is no obstruction which we depict by E LOS the
subscript LOS stands for line of sight.
 We will also have a reflected path which goes, hits the earth and is reflected back. Not all the
energy is reflected back because earth is a dielectric.
 Firstly the total received energy at the receiver is the sum of the line of sight path as well as the
reflected path. Not a scalar sum.
 There is a phase difference because of the path difference. So the addition is actually a vector sum
which will result in a very different kind of a E total.
 The other important things is the height of the base station hT as well as the height of the receiver hr
which are absolute height. So if the base station is situated on top of a building, we take the height
from the ground. If the car or the mobile station is sitting on a small hill, we take the height from
the ground level

 Distance “d‟ is between the transmitter and the receiver


Classical 2-ray ground bounce model
General Expression for E field wrt “d”
and “t”
 E Field in Free space Prop is Given by:
 According to law of reflections in dielectrics
Method of images
 Using the method of images, as demonstrated by geometry, the path
difference ∆, between LOS and ground reflected path is given by:

 When T-R Separation distance d is very large compared to ht + hr , the

equation can be simplified by using Taylor’s series approximation
Phase Difference and Time Delay

 Once the path difference is known, then the Phase Difference between the two E Field
Components and Time Delay between the arrival of the two components can be easily
computed by the following relations:

When “d” becomes larger and larger the differences between the d’ and d” becomes very small. •
In this case the amplitude levels of both LOS and Reflected Rays are virtually identical and differ
only in phase
• If the values of transmit power, the antenna gain, the height of the transmitter and receiver antenna is
given, received power can be calculated.
• Received power form the bottom line for receiver sensitivity and also what is the amount of desired
signal and interference signal.
• This is good news for interference because the received power from the interfering base station goes as
1 over D raised to the power 4 since the interference base station is usually far apart i.e the
interference goes down but as distance between transmitter and receiver increases, the line of sight
condition ceases to hold. It‟s more difficult to find line of sight as you move further and further away
from the base station.
 As seen from Pr formula, at large distances the received power falls off with
distance raised to the fourth power, or at a rate of 40 dB/ decade. This is a
much more rapid path loss than is experienced in free space.
 At large values of d, the received power and path loss become independent of
frequency. The path loss for the 2-ray model (with antenna gains) can be
expressed in dB as
 DIFFRACTION
 Diffraction occurs when the radio path between the transmitter and receiver is obstructed by a surface
that has sharp irregularities or edges. These edges, corners, bends, etc. will cause diffraction
 Diffraction explains how radio signals travel urban and rural environments without a clear line of
sight
 Diffraction allows the signal to propagate around the curved surfaces of the earth and to propagate
behind obstructions. Although the received field strength decreases rapidly as a receiver moves
deeper into the obstructed (shadowed) region, the diffraction field still exists and often has sufficient
strength to produce a useful signal.
 The phenomenon of diffraction can be explained by Huygen's principle, which states that all points
on a wavefront can be considered as point sources for the production of secondary wavelets, and that
these 'wavelets combine to produce a new wavefront in the direction of propagation. Diffraction is
caused by the propagation of secondary wavelets into a shadowed region. The field strength of a
diffracted wave in the shadowed region is the vector sum of the electric field components of all the
secondary wavelets in the space around the obstacle.
Huygens Principle
Knife Edge Diffraction Geometry
Knife Edge Diffraction Geometry
 Taking a realistic scenario we have a tower with a transmitter and a receiver antenna.
 It can be a point to point communication, microwave communication link or communication
between two base stations or between the base station and the mobile switching center.
 Now let us put an obstruction to avoid the line of sight. Also the two towers are not at the same
height. the only assumption in this knife edge diffraction geometry, is that at the top where the
diffraction is going to occur, there is a sharp edge. It‟s not a building with a flat top.
 There is no line of sight clearly but by virtue of diffraction, signals being emanated from this first
tower should somehow reach the second tower.
 assuming an omnidirectional antenna., when you transmit from the transmitter T. you radiate in all
directions. The one that hits the edge will generate wavelets which will travel in all directions.
From Huygens secondary source principle, any point on the wave front will generate its secondary
wavelets. So there will be many secondary wavelets but the ones which are present at edge will
diffract and go and will be received at the receiver. So even though there is an absence of a line of
sight, we still get energy at second tower.
 In fact a lot of communication in GSM band occurs like this.
Fresnel zone geometry
 Consider a transmitter and receiver separated in free space as shown in Figure 1
 Let an obstructing screen of effective height h with infinite width be placed between them at a
distance d1, from the transmitter and d2 from the receiver. It is apparent that the wave propagating
from the transmitter to the receiver via the top of the screen travels a longer distance than if a direct
line-of-sight path (through the screen) existed. Assuming h<< d1, d2 and h>>ᨂ, then the difference
between the direct path and the diffracted path, called the excess path length ∆, can be obtained
from the geometry of Figure 2 as

 The corresponding phase difference is given by

 and when tanx =x, then α =β + γ from Figure 3 and The angles of the diffracted waves are related
as:
 Phase difference Equation is often normalized using the dimensionless Fresnel-Kirchoff
diffraction parameter ν which is given by

 It characterizes the phase difference between two propagating paths. It is used to

characterize the diffraction losses in general situation.
 Phase difference can be expressed as

 It is clear that the phase difference between a direct line-of-sight path and diffracted path is a
function of height and position of the obstruction, as well as the transmitter and receiver
location.
 Figure:2 Tr and Rx are not at same height, h<<d1 and d2

Figure:1

Figure:3
 The concept of diffraction loss as a function of the path difference around an obstruction is
explained by Fresnel zones. Fresnel zones represent successive regions where secondary waves
have a path length from the transmitter to receiver which are n ᨂ /2 greater than the total path
length of a line-of-sight path.
 Figure demonstrates a transparent plane located between a transmitter and receiver. The concentric
circles on the plane represent the loci of the origins of secondary wavelets which propagate to the
receiver such that the total path length increases by ᨂ 2 for successive circles. These circles are
called Fresnel zones.
 The successive Fresnel zones have the effect of alternately providing constructive and destructive
interference to the total received signal. The radius of the n th Fresnel zone circle is denoted by r n
and can be expressed in terms n, ᨂ, d1, and d2 by
 In mobile communication systems, diffraction loss occurs from the blockage of
secondary waves such that only a portion of the energy is diffracted around an obstacle.
 An obstruction causes a blockage of energy from some of the Fresnel zones, thus
allowing only some of the transmitted energy to reach the receiver. Depending on the
geometry of the obstruction, the received energy will be a vector sum of the energy
contributions from all unobstructed Fresnel zones.
 Consider a receiver at point R, located in the shadowed region (also called the diffraction zone). The field strength at
point R in Figure is a vector sum of the fields due to all of the secondary Huygen's sources in the plane above the
knife edge
 The electric field strength, Ed. of a knife-edge diffracted wave is given by

 where Eo is the free space field strength in the absence of both the ground and the knife edge, and F (v) is the
complex Fresnel integral.
 The diffraction gain due to the presence of a knife edge, as compared to the free space E-field, is given by

 as we gradually get a larger value of mu, gain increases and then later it starts falling again. So there‟s a slight hump
and if we put it in diagram, we find that the gain increases and then goes down.
 this mu depends on the distance from obstruction and the wave length and of course linearly proportion to the
height.. As the height increases beyond a certain limit, we get very little diffracted energy.
 So buildings which are not very tall, will help in getting some good diffraction gain. So using these, we can actually
calculate how much energy will get after diffraction. So the same building will diffract 2.4GHz frequency band
differently than 5 GHz band or 900 MHz band. In fact, as you go to higher and higher frequencies or smaller and
smaller wavelengths. This diffraction thing decreases. In effect scattering starts becoming more important
Multiple Knife Edge Diffraction
 In practical situations, especially in hilly terrains the propagation path may consists of
more than one obstruction • In this case the total diffraction loss due to all the obstacles
must be computed
SCATTERING

 Scattering occurs when the medium has object, smaller or comparable to the wavelength.
Small objects, rough surfaces rain drops, other irregularities in the channel, dust dew drops
will cause scattering.
 Scattering occurs in such conditions where the surface of the obstacle is rough, in addition
to this the surface dimensions should be small compared to the wave length.
 Analysing the scattered have a vital role in RADAR applications.
 The moment we go to higher frequencies, our wavelengths become smaller and smaller and
very soon they become comparable to the size of the leaves and suddenly the foliage
becomes important.
 At GSM frequencies 900 MHz, 800 MHz, the propagation through trees is not a major
impediment. But the moment we go above 10 GHz, there is a problem.
 If there is a patch of green; a lot of absorption, scattering and diffraction will start taking
place.
 Scattering follows the same principle as diffraction. It causes the transmitter energy to be
radiated in many directions. So foliage, street signs, lamp posts, edges can cause scattering.
Propagation Models

 Free space propagation model

 Small scale propagation model
 Large scale propagation model
 Log-Distance Path Loss Model. It is very important in urban areas.
 Log- Normal Shadowing which is a more realistic model
Need for propagation model

 It helps to determine the coverage area of a transmitter.

 One of the important factors which tells about cell size is the link budget i.e the budget for
the received power. Hence, a good propagation model, can accurately predict the size of the
cell if it is limited by the signal power. So it determines the transmit power requirements
 It determines the battery lifetime.
 Predict appropriate modulation and coding schemes to improve the channel quality.
 Determine maximum channel capacity
 A propagation model that is pessimistic, it does not predict very good signal strength available at a
certain area. And hence lower modulation schemes is employed.
 consider M ary digital modulation schemes and we would be probably going for BPSK because we
think that the signal strength is weak and so signal to interference or signal to noise ratio will be
poor and so to get this desired quality of service ,let us go with BPSK or utmost QPSK whereas, if
your channel model and the propagation model was more accurate, you would have probably
received more signal strength as per prediction and deployed may be 16 QAM or other higher
modulation schemes there by increasing your data rate. So the design perspective must take into
consideration a correct accurate propagation model if it has to design the system.
Radio Propagation Model
 Need models that characterize the signal strength received at the receiver after
undergoing reflections, diffractions and scattering
 small scale propagation model
 large scale propagation model

 Reflection, diffraction and scattering happen in two distinct manners depending

upon the relative location of the transmitter and receiver.
 The actual number of reflectors present, how dense is the reflection
environment and how dense is the scattering environment.
Small scale propagation models
 As the mobile moves over small distances, the instantaneous received signal will fluctuate
rapidly giving rise to small scale fading.
 The reason for this quick fluctuation is that the signal is actually the sum of many
Contributions coming from different directions either from reflections or diffractions or
scattering.
 At Rx, multiple copies of transmitted signal which are delayed in time and different in phase.
Since the phases of these signals are random, the sum of all these different components
actually behaves noise like.
 In small scale fading, the received signal power may change as much as 3 to 4 orders of
magnitude i.e 30 to 40 db when the receiver is only moved a fraction of the wavelength. This
has serious repercussions on handoff strategy. handoff should notbe done simply because you
are in a fade.
 fade is a region where suddenly Rx receive a lot less power simply because the vector sum of
the various reflections and scattering components add up to a very low value.
Small scale propagation models

 It depends on the small transmitter receiver separation distance changes – a few wavelengths.
 It is typical of the urban areas which is heavily populated in terms of buildings, scatterers, strong
reflectors, etc.
 The main propagation mechanism is scattering. Multiple copies of the transmitted signals arriving at
the transmitted via received paths and at different time delays add vectotrially at the receiver and this
results in fading.
 The distribution of the signal attenuation constant could be either Rayleigh distributed or Rician
distributed depending upon whether you have a line of sight or not.
 So if you have a lot of scattered components but no line of sight, then the attenuation coefficients can
be effectively modeled as Rayleigh distributed.
 However in addition to that, if there is a line of sight, you can get something called as a Rician
distribution. So this is the short term fading model and rapid and severe signal fluctuations usually
happened around a slowly varying mean.
Multipath and fading

 The wireless channel is a multipath propagation channel. The radio waves that emanate from
the transmitter do not reach the receiver only by a single path infact there are several paths and
hence the name multipath.
 So multipath in radio channel causes rapid fluctuations of signal amplitude called small scale
fading or simply fading. So fading, actually mean small scale fading as opposed to large scales
path loss.
 Fading is a temporary effect. It is much more frequent and much more temporal in nature.
Fading is caused by destructive interference of two or more versions of the transmitted cell
signal arriving at the receiver at slightly different times.
 when there is several paths, what I receive will have different amplitudes of the same signal and
clearly different phases because path difference causes difference in amplitude and phase.
 These multipath components combine vectorially at the receiver antenna and cause total signal
 To fade
 To distort
Effects of Fading and Multipath

 Fading and multipath results in rapid changes in the signal strength over small travel
distances or small time intervals.
 Random frequency modulation occurs due to varying Doppler shifts on different
multipath signals. Not only the amplitude but also the carrier frequency drifts.
 Time dispersions due to multipath propagation delay occurs. (if you had sent, a narrow
pulse, what you receive is not a narrow pulse but several copies of the pulse). This is
clearly evident in ultra-wide band systems where we use very narrow pulses for
propagation
Mobility in the context of fading

 The mobile station or receiver is free to move.

 Other objects, reflectors and scatterers may be mobile or stationary.
 if other objects are stationary,
 motion is only due to mobile receiver.
 Fading is purely a spatial phenomenon occurs only when the mobile receiver moves (suppose there is
a fixed point to point micro wavelink, so the transmitter is fixed and the receiver is also fixed. In that
case, fading will be minimal because nothing is moving, nothing is changing and these transmitters
and receivers are normally on top of tall towers).
 The spatial variations change as the mobile moves and it will be perceived as temporal
variation.
 Factors influencing small scale fading
 Multipath propagation.
 presence of reflecting objects and scatterers cause multiple versions of the signal to arrive at the receiver
with different amplitudes and time delays
 The total signal at the receiver tends to fade or distort.
 speed of the mobile.
 the speed of the mobile will result in a temporal nature of fading. If you move faster, your fading curve
will be different then if you move slower
 causes Doppler shift at each multipath component
 it is not important only to be moving towards or far away from the base station to cause Doppler shift. It
also depends at what angle you are with respect to the received radio wave. Now since different
multipath components arrive at the receiver at different angles, each one will undergo a different Doppler
shift. Then they add up vectorially. So now you‟re vectorially adding up the copies of the signal which
are delayed, change in amplitude, change in phase and the frequency modulations also take place.
 Speed of mobile causes random frequency modulation. In fact, when standards are finalized, then
different kinds of data rates are prescribed for different speeds of the mobile. When you travel too fast,
you cannot have too much high data rate. Fading is one of the primary problems.
 The Doppler shift will be positive or negative depending on whether the mobile is moving towards or
away from the base station.
PROPAGATION EFFECTS WITH MOBILE RADIO
 These multipath propagation leads to fading. – Slow fading – Fast fading
Small-scale fading

 Due to the relative motion between the mobile and the base station, each multipath
wave experiences an apparent shift in frequency. The shift in received signal frequency
due to motion is called the Doppler shift, and is directly proportional to the velocity and
direction of motion of the mobile with respect to the direction of arrival of the received
multipath wave.
Factors Influencing Small-Scale Fading
 Speed of surrounding objects — If objects in the radio channel are in motion, they induce a time
varying Doppler shift on multipath components. If the surrounding objects move at a greater rate
than the mobile, then this effect dominates the small-scale fading. Otherwise, motion of
surrounding objects may be ignored, and only the speed of the mobile need be considered.
 The transmission bandwidth of the signal — The transmitted radio signal bandwidth and the
bandwidth of the multiple channel decide two things.
 To what extent does the amplitude fluctuate
 To what extent does the signal distort.
 Suppose I sent a continuous wave at frequency f 1 and it undergoes fading. That is, the received signal
strength is much lower than what I send simply because it is faded.
 if my transmitted signal has a bandwidth larger than the coherence bandwidth, by default, it will
overcome some of the effects of fading because signal will not get faded for all the frequency bands
because it is larger than the coherence bandwidth.
 frequency diversity can also be done where we transmit the same information at frequency f 1 and also at
f 2 which is larger than the coherence bandwidth. So if frequency at f 1 fades, my frequency at f 2 more
slightly will not fade and between f 1 and f 2, I will be able to recover my signal. Fading is a big
impairment. I can have 30 to 40 DB fades which means I‟ll completely miss out my signal
 Factors Influencing Small-Scale Fading

 The transmission bandwidth of the signal

 If the transmitted radio signal bandwidth is greater than the "bandwidth" of the multipath channel, the
received signal will be distorted, but the received signal strength will not fade much over a local area
(i.e., the small-scale signal fading will not be significant).
 The bandwidth of the channel can be quantified by the coherence bandwidth which is related to the specific
multipath structure of the channel. The coherence bandwidth is a measure of the maximum frequency difference
for which signals are still strongly correlated in amplitude.
 If the transmitted signal has a narrow bandwidth as compared to the channel, (e.g., the baseband signal has a
duration greater than the excess delay of the channel), then multipath is not resolved by the received signal, and
large signal fluctuations (fading) occur at the receiver due to the phase shifts of the many unresolved multipath
components. i.e. the amplitude of the signal will change rapidly, but the signal will not be distorted in time.
Terminology
 “Level crossing rate” is defined as the average number of times per second the
signal envelope crosses a level in the positive going direction
 Fading rate is defined as the number of times the signal envelope crosses a
middle value in the positive going directions per unit time.
 Depth of fading is defined as the ratio of the mean square value and the
minimum value of the fading signal.
 Fading duration is a time for which the signal is below a given threshold.
Threshold level is a sensitivity level at the receiver beyond which we defined the
signal to be faded
Doppler Shift
 When a wave source, the transmitter or a receiver is moving, the frequency of the received signal
will not be the same as that of the transmitted signal. When they are moving towards each other,
the frequency of the received signal is higher than the source.
 When they are opposing each other i.e, they are going away from each other, the frequency
decreases. The frequency of the receive signal “fr‟ = fc-fd, fc (the frequency of the source carrier) -
fd where (fd is a Doppler shift in the frequency). So this fd may be positive or negative depending
upon which direction is the mobile moving. This is the Doppler Effect.
 Consider a mobile moving at a constant velocity v, along a path segment having length d between
points X and Y, while it receives signals from a remote source S, as illustrated in Figure. The
difference in path lengths traveled by the wave from source S to the mobile at points X and Y is
∆l= d cos = v ∆t cos . where ∆t is the time required for the mobile to travel from X to Y, and is
assumed to be the same at points X and Y since the source is assumed to be very far away. The
phase change in the received signal due to the difference in path lengths is therefore

….(1) ….(2)

 and the apparent change in frequency, or Doppler shift, is given by fd,

 Equation 2 relates the Doppler shift to the mobile velocity and the spatial angle
between the direction of motion of the mobile and the direction of arrival of the wave.
 if the mobile is moving toward the direction of arrival of the wave, the Doppler shift is
positive (i.e., the apparent received frequency is increased),
 if the mobile is moving away from the direction of arrival of the wave, the Doppler
shift is negative (i.e. the apparent received frequency is decreased).
 multipath components from a CW signal which arrive from different directions
contribute to Doppler spreading of the received signal, thus increasing the signal
bandwidth.
Coherence Bandwidth
 Coherence bandwidth is a statistical measure of the range of frequencies over which the
channel can be considered "flat" (i.e., a channel which passes all spectral components with
approximately equal gain and linear phase);
 coherence bandwidth is the range of frequencies over which two frequency components have a
strong potential for amplitude correlation. Two sinusoids with frequency separation greater than
Bc are affected quite differently by the channel.
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 is a measure of the spectral broadening caused by the time rate of change of the
mobile radio channel and is defined as the range of frequencies over which the received Doppler
spectrum is essentially non-zero.
 When a pure sinusoidal tone of frequency fc is transmitted, the received signal spectrum, called the
Doppler spectrum, will have components in the range fc-fd to fc + fd where fd is the Doppler shift.
The amount of spectral broadening depends on fd which is a function of the relative velocity of
the mobile, and the angle between the direction of motion of the mobile and direction of arrival of
the scattered waves.
 If the baseband signal bandwidth is much greater than B D, the effects of Doppler spread are
negligible at the receiver. This is a slow fading channel.
 Coherence time is the time duration over which two received signals have a strong potential for
amplitude correlation. If the reciprocal bandwidth of the baseband signal is greater than the
coherence time of the channel, then the channel will change during the transmission of the
baseband message, thus causing distortion at the receiver
Fading Effects Due to Multipath time Delay Spread
 Time dispersion due to multipath causes the transmitted signal to undergo either flat or frequency
selective fading.
 Flat fading-If the mobile radio channel has a constant gain and linear phase response over a bandwidth
which is greater than the bandwidth of the transmitted signal, then the received signal will undergo flat
fading. the strength of the received signal changes with time, due to fluctuations in the gain of the
channel caused by multipath but the spectrum of the transmission is preserved
 Flat fading channels are also known as amplitude varying channels and are sometimes referred to as
narrowband channels, since the bandwidth of the applied signal is narrow as compared to the channel
flat fading bandwidth.
 Frequency Selective Fading- If the channel possesses a constant-gain and linear phase response over a
bandwidth that is smaller than the bandwidth of transmitted signal, then the channel creates frequency
selective fading on the received signal.
 When this occurs, the received signal includes multiple versions of the transmitted waveform which
are attenuated (faded) and delayed in time, and hence the received signal is distorted. Frequency
selective fading is due to time dispersion of the transmitted symbols within the channel. Thus the
channel induces intersymbol interference (ISI).
Fading Effects Due to Doppler Spread

 Depending on how rapidly the transmitted baseband signal changes as compared to the
rate of change of the channel, a channel may be classified either as a fast fading or slow
fading channel.
 In a fast fading channel, the channel impulse response changes rapidly within the
symbol duration. That is, the coherence time of the channel is smaller than the symbol
period of the transmitted signal. This causes frequency dispersion (also called time
selective fading) due to Doppler spreading, which leads to signal distortion.
 In a slow fading channel, the channel impulse response changes at a rate much slower
than the transmitted baseband signal s(t)
Equalization

 Mobile Radio Channel Impairments:

 1) ACI/CCI → system generated interference
 2) Shadowing → large-scale path loss from LOS obstructions
 3) Multipath Fading → rapid small-scale signal variations
 4) Doppler Spread → due to motion of mobile unit
 All can lead to significant distortion or attenuation of Rx signal
 Degrade Bit Error Rate (BER) of digitally modulated signal
 Three techniques are used to improve Rx signal quality and lower BER:
 1) Equalization
 2) Diversity
 3) Channel Coding

 Can be Used independently or together

Need for Equalization

 Equalization is used for compensating inter symbol interference created by multipath

with time dispersive channels (W>BC )
 In a multipath environment the received signal comes from several multiple paths
thereby causing inter symbol inference. equalizer within a receiver compensates for the
average range of expected channel amplitude and delay characteristics.
 adaptive equalization since the channel is generally unknown and time varying.
 Linear equalization, nonlinear equalization
Need for Diversity
 Diversity is used to compensate for fading channel impairments, Primary goal is to reduce depth &
duration of small-scale fades
 Kinds of diversity techniques
 Spatial diversity,
 antenna diversity,
 frequency diversity,
 time diversity
 Polarization diversity
 Code diversity
 antenna diversity is implemented by using two or more receiving antennas
 equalization is used to counter the effects of ISI or inter symbol interference, diversity is usually
employed to reduce the depth and duration of fades experienced by a receiver in a flat fading
scenario
 These diversity techniques can be employed both at base station and mobile receivers.
 Spatial diversity is the most widely used diversity technique
Spatial diversity
 In this technique multiple antennas are strategically spaced and connected to common receiving
system.
 While one antenna sees a signal null, one of the other antennas may see a signal peak provided
the signals are not correlated.
 Even small antenna separation (∝ λ ) changes phase of signal → constructive /destructive nature
is changed
 It exploits random behavior of MRC – Goal is to make use of several independent (uncorrelated)
received signal paths
 Select path with best SNR or combine multiple paths → improve overall SNR performance
 In this case the receiver is able to select the antenna with the best signal at any time or it can do
some kind of an intelligent combining.
 The CDMA or code division multiple access systems use rake receivers which provide
improvement through time diversity.
diversity techniques
 unlike equalization diversity requires no training overhead.
 equalization has two modes, the training mode and the tracking mode. The training mode will
require sending a known signal and it is used to set the weights of the equalizer whereas
diversity doesn’t have that issue.
 It provides significant link improvement with little added cost,
 It also exploits random nature of wave propagation by finding independent and hence
uncorrelated signal paths for communication.
 It is a very simple concept wherein one path undergoes a deep fade and another independent
path may have a strong signal component.
 As there is more than one path to select from, both the instantaneous and average SNR’s at
the receiver may be improved often as much as 20 to 30 dB.
Channel Coding Techniques
 It is also referred as error control coding because the objective is to detect and recover from errors
introduced by noise and fading.
 It is a technique which improves mobile communication link performance by adding redundant
bits in the transmitted message in a known manner.
 Redundancy is added in a known manner so that there is some kind of a structure built in to the
message, at the receiver because of the noise or fading the structure gets disturbed but we can kind
of guess and hence recover from errors based on the algebraic structure of the code.
 In this technique the base band portion of the transmitter, a channel coder maps a digital message
sequence into another specific containing greater number of bits than originally contained in the
message.
 k bits are mapped to n bits where n is larger than k i.e add n-k redundant bits but in a known
manner. The coded message is then modulated for transmission over the wireless channel.
 Channel coding is used by the receiver to detect or correct some of or all of the errors introduced
by the channel in a particular sequence of message bits.
 The two types of codes is block codes and then there is convolutional codes, convolutional codes
are codes with memory
fundamentals of equalization
 equalization is used to eliminate or reduce the effects of inter symbol interference. ISI has been
recognized as a major obstacle to high speed data transmission.
 Equalization is used to combat inter symbol interference, as the mobile fading channels are
random as well as time varying, equalizers must track the time varying characteristics of the
mobile channel and thus are called adaptive equalizers.
 The two operating modes of an adaptive equalizers are training mode and tracking mode.
 The training mode proceeds the tracking mode, in the training mode a known sequence or a PN
sequence is send in order to understand the channel, it’s basically a method to measure the
frequency response and then fix weights accordingly in order to overcome the effects of channel
and then is a tracking mode