Chapter 6

Radio Wave Propagation

Mobile Communications
Radio Wave Propagation
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Large-Scale Propagation Effects Reflection, diffraction and scattering
Line-of-sight (LOS) path : direct path between a
transmitter (TX) and a receiver (RX)

Dr. Amit Rathi

Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering

Mobile Comm. Basic Electronics

Introduction to Radio Wave Propagation

Radio Propagation Mechanisms
Reflection
Large buildings, earth surface The physical mechanisms that govern radio
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Diffraction
Obstacles with dimensions in order of wavelength
propagation are complex and diverse, but
Scattering generally attributed to the following three factors
Foliage, lamp posts, street signs, walking pedestrian, etc. 1. Reflection
2. Diffraction
3. Scattering
Reflection
Occurs when waves impinges upon an obstruction that is
much larger in size compared to the wavelength of the
signal
tmax received Example: reflections from earth and buildings
transmitted signal
signal These reflections may interfere with the original signal
Ts
constructively or destructively
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 Radio Propagation Mechanisms Radio Propagation Mechanisms
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Diffraction
Occurs when the radio path between sender and receiver is
obstructed by an impenetrable body and by a surface with
sharp irregularities (edges) R
transmitter
Explains how radio signals can travel urban and rural Street
environments without a line-of-sight path
S
D
Scattering D
Occurs when the radio channel contains objects whose sizes
are on the order of the wavelength or less of the propagating
wave and also when the number of obstacles are quite large. R: Reflection receiver
They are produced by small objects, rough surfaces and other D: Diffraction Building Blocks
irregularities on the channel
S: Scattering
Follows same principles with diffraction
Causes the transmitter energy to be radiated in many directions
Lamp posts and street signs may cause scattering
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Radio Propagation Mechanisms

A signal, as it travels through the wireless channel,
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undergoes many kinds of propagation effects such as
As a mobile moves through a coverage area, these 3 reflection, diffraction and scattering, due to the presence
mechanisms have an impact on the instantaneous of buildings, mountains and other such obstructions.
received signal strength. These varied phenomena's lead to large scale and small
If a mobile does have a clear line of sight path scale propagation losses. Due to the inherent
to the base-station, than diffraction and randomness associated with such channels they are
scattering will not dominate the propagation. best described with the help of statistical models.
If a mobile is at a street level without LOS, then
diffraction and scattering will probably dominate
the propagation.

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 Radio Wave Propagation, contd Radio Propagation Models
As the mobile moves away from the transmitter

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over larger distances, the local average received

signal will gradually decrease. This is called
large-scale path loss.
Typically the local average received power is computed
by averaging signal measurements over a measurement
track of 5l to 40l. (For PCS, this means 1m-10m track)
The models that predict the mean signal strength
for an arbitrary-receiver transmitter (T-R)
separation distance are called large-scale
propagation models
Useful for estimating the coverage area of transmitters
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Large-Scale & Small-Scall Fading (Contd.) Propagation Effects

The distance between small scale fades is on the
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order of l/2

Received Power (dBm)

T-R Separation (meters)

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 Multipath Fading

1
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0
First Path
-1
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
1

0 Echo path
(case 1)
-1
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
1

0
Echo path
(case 2)
-1
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
2
Constructive
0 addition
(case 1)
-2
0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Destructive
addition
13 (case 2)
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Transmit and Receive Signal Model Representation of Bandpass Signals

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 Department of Electronic & Communication Engineering Department of Electronic & Communication Engineering

Basic Electronics
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Representation of Bandpass Signals

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Free-Space Propagation Model Free-Space Propagation Model

The gain of an antenna G is related to its affective An isotropic radiator is an ideal antenna that
aperture Ae by: radiates power with unit gain uniformly in all
G = 4pAe / l2 [Equation 2] directions. It is as the reference antenna in wireless
The effective aperture of Ae is related to the physical size of systems.
the antenna, The effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) is
l is related to the carrier frequency by: defined as:
l = c/f = 2pc / wc [Equation 3] EIRP = PtGt [Equation 4]
f is carrier frequency in Hertz Antenna gains are given in units of dBi (dB gain with
wc is carrier frequency in radians per second. respect to an isotropic antenna) or units of dBd (dB
c is speed of light in meters/sec gain with respect to a half-wave dipole antenna).
Unity gain means:
G is 1 or 0dBi

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Free-Space Propagation Model Free-Space Propagation Model

Pr(d) = (PtGtGrl2) / ((4p)2d2L)
[Equation 1]

Path loss, which represents signal attenuation
as positive quantity measured in dB, is defined
as the difference (in dB) between the effective
transmitted power and the received power.
PL(dB) = 10 log (Pt/Pr) = -10log[(GtGrl2)/(4p)2d2]
(You can drive this from equation 1)
If antennas have unity gains (exclude them)
For Friis equation to hold, distance d should
be in the far-field of the transmitting antenna.
The far-field, or Fraunhofer region, of a
transmitting antenna is defined as the region
[Equation 5]
beyond the far-field distance df given by:
df = 2D2/l [Equation 7]
D is the largest physical dimension of the antenna.
Additionally, df >> D and df >> l

PL(dB) = 10 log (Pt/Pr) = -10log[l2/(4p)2d2] [Equation 6]

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 Free-Space Propagation Model Free-Space Propagation Model
Reference Distance d0
It is clear the Equation 1 does not hold for d = 0. Expressing the received power in dBm and dBW
For this reason, models use a close-in distance d0 Pr(d) (dBm) = 10 log [Pr(d0)/0.001W] + 20log(d0/d)
as the receiver power reference point. where d >= d0 >= df and Pr(d0) is in units of watts.
d0 should be >= df [Equation 9]
d0 should be smaller than any practical distance a Pr(d) (dBW) = 10 log [Pr(d0)/1W] + 20log(d0/d)
mobile system uses where d >= d0 >= df and Pr(d0) is in units of watts.
Received power Pr(d), at a distance d > d0 from a [Equation 10]
transmitter, is related to Pr at d0, which is expressed
as Pr(d0).
Reference distance d0 for practical systems:
The power received in free space at a distance
For frequncies in the range 1-2 GHz
greater than d0 is given by:
1 m in indoor environments
100m-1km in outdoor environments
Pr(d) = Pr(d0)(d0/d)2 d >= d0 >= df [Equation 8]

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Example 3

If a transmitter produces 50W of power,

express the transmit power in
(a) dBm
(b) dBW. If 50W is applied to a unit gain antenna
with a 900MHz carrier frequency,
(c) find the received power in dBm at a free space
distance of 100m from the antenna.
(d) What is Pr(10km)?

Assume Gr = 1.

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Dr. Amit Rathi 37 Dr. Amit Rathi 38

In electromagnetism, permittivity
() or absolute permittivity is the measure
of resistance that is encountered when
forming an electric field in a medium. In other
words, permittivity is a measure of how
an electric field affects, and is affected by,
a dielectric medium

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 In electromagnetism, permeability is the
measure of the ability of a material to support
the formation of a magnetic field within itself.
Hence, it is the degree of magnetization that
a material obtains in response to an applied
magnetic field. Magnetic permeability is
typically represented by the (italicized) Greek
letter .

Dr. Amit Rathi 41 Dr. Amit Rathi 42

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 Dr. Amit Rathi 45 Dr. Amit Rathi 46

Ground Reflection (Two- Ray) Model

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 0= =

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 Conclusion This power loss is much more than that in free
20 h1 h 2 20 h t h r space
Whenever d
3
The received E-field can be approximated At large values of d, the received power and path
2 E0d 0 2ht hr k loss become independent of frequency.
ETOT ( d ) 2 V /m
d d d
The path loss for the 2- ray model in db
The power received at distance d is given by PL (db) = 40 log d ( 10 log Gt + 10 log Gr +
ht2hr2 20 log ht + 20 log hr )
Pr Pt Gt Gr 4
d
PL=Pt /Pr Last slide formula
For large T- R distances d ht hr so received
power falls off to the 4th power of d, or at 40 db/
ht2hr2
decade Pr Pt Gt Gr 4
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d

Example 5

T-R distance: 5km, E-field at a distance of

1km from the TX is 103V/m, frequency is
900MHz. The RX uses a vertical /4
monopole antenna with gain of 2.55dB. Find
(a) the length and the effective aperture of the RX
antenna.
(b) find the received power using two-ray model
assuming ht is 50m and hr is 1.5m.

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 Ae = = 0.016 m 2

Given
Efective Aperature of Antenna= 0.016 m 2
Dr. Amit Rathi 57 Dr. Amit Rathi 58

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 Dr. Amit Rathi 61 Dr. Amit Rathi 62

Diffraction
Phenomena: Radio signal can propagate around Huygen's secondary wavelets.
the curved surface of the earth, beyond the
horizon and behind obstructions.
Huygens principle: All points on a wavefront can
be considered as point sources for the
production of secondary wavelets and these
wavelets combine to produce a new wavefront in
the direction of propagation.
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 obstacles.

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Fresnel zone
A Fresnel zone is a cylindrical ellipse drawn between
transmitter and receiver. The size of the ellipse is
determined by the frequency of operation and the
distance between the two sites.
First and second Fresnel zones is a series of
concentric ellipsoidal regions of alternating double
strength and half strength volumes of a wave's
propagation, caused by a wave following multiple
paths as it passes by an object and is partially
refracted by it, resulting in constructive and destructive
interference as the different length paths go in and out
of phase.

65 Dr. Amit Rathi 66

Fresnel Knife-Edge Diffraction Model

Fresnel zone: D is the distance between the transmitter and the

receiver; r is the radius of the first Fresnel zone (n=1) at point P. P is d1
away from the transmitter, and d2 away from the receiver.

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 Fresnel Zone Geometry(Contd)
The concentric circles on the plane are Fresnel
Zones.
It explains the concept of diffraction loss as
a function of path difference around an
abstraction.
Fresnel zones are successive regions where the
path length is n/2 times greater than along LOS
path.

Dr. Amit Rathi 69 70

Knife-Edge Diffraction Loss Model

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 The diffraction gain: Example 6
Graphical representation of
If an obstacle is 10km away from a TX
antenna and 2km away from RX antenna,
find
(a) the 1st Fresnel zone boundary, and
(b) the boundary for 80% clearance for
transmitting 900MHz signal.

Dr. Amit Rathi 73 Dr. Amit Rathi 74

Example 7

Continue the above example. If the TX

antenna height is 50m and RX antenna
height is 25m, determine the loss due to
knife-edge diffraction. Assume the obstacle
height is 100m.

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 Dr. Amit Rathi 77 Dr. Amit Rathi 78

Large-scale Path Loss (part 4)

Scattering: Rayleigh Criterion:

When does Scattering occur? Surface roughness is tested using the Rayleigh
When the medium through which the wave travels criterion, its given by
consists of objects with dimensions that are small
compared to wavelength
The number of obstacles per unit volume is large hc= l/8sini
How are these waves produced: where,
i is the angle of incidence
By rough surfaces, small objects or by other irregularities in the
channel hc is the critical height of surface
Normally street signs, lamp posts, trees induce scattering in mobile protuberance (h) ( - )
communication system for a given i
flat surface EM reflection (one direction) The surface is considered smooth if the minimum to
rough surface EM scattering (many directions)
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maximum protuberance h <= hc and rough if h> hc 80

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Two main channel design issues
Communication engineers are generally
concerned with two main radio channel
issues:
Link Budged Design
Link budget design determines fundamental
quantities such as transmit power requirements,
coverage areas, and battery life
It is determined by the amount of received power
that may be expected at a particular distance or
location from a transmitter
Time dispersion
It arises because of multi-path propagation where
replicas of the transmitted signal reach the
receiver with different propagation delays due to
the propagation mechanisms that are described
earlier.
Time dispersion nature of the channel determines
the maximum data rate that may be transmitted
without using equalization.

Dr. Amit Rathi 81 Dr. Amit Rathi 82

Link Budged Design Using Path Loss Long distance path loss model
Models
The average large-scale
Radio propagation models can be derived path loss for an arbitrary T- PL ( d ) (
d n
)
By use of empirical (Observed) methods: collect R separation is expressed d0
measurement, fit curves. as a function of distance by d
using a path loss exponent PL ( dB) PL (d 0 ) 10n log( )
By use of analytical methods d0
n:
Model the propagation mechanisms mathematically and Equation 11
derive equations for path loss PL(d ) denotes the average large - scale path loss
The value of n depends on
Long distance path loss model the propagation at a distance d (denoted in dB)
environment: for free space where -
Empirical and analytical models show that it is 2; when obstructions n is the path loss exponent which indicates the
received signal power decreases logarithmically are present it has a larger rate at which the path loss increases with
with distance for both indoor and outdoor value. distance,
d0 is the close-in reference distance which is
channels determined from measurements close to the
transmitter, and d is the T-R separation distance.
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Path Loss Exponent for Different
Environments
Environment
Free space
Urban area cellular radio
Shadowed urban cellular radio
In building line-of-sight
Obstructed in building
Obstructed in factories
Selection of free space reference
distance
Path Loss Exponent, n
In large coverage cellular systems
2 1km reference distances are commonly used
2.7 to 3.5 In microcellular systems
Much smaller distances are used: such as 100m
3 to 5
or 1m.
1.6 to 1.8
The reference distance should always be in
4 to 6
the far-field of the antenna so that near-field
2 to 3 effects do not alter the reference path loss.

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