Chapter Four

Mobile Radio Propagations

Objectives of the Chapter

In cellular system, calls are occasionally disconnected
Possible cause: Rapid fluctuation of radio signal amplitude
over short time period or travel distance
Reasons for wireless channels to become selective and dispersive both
in frequency and time
Sources of signal fluctuation: multipath propagation and mobility
To understand physical parameters such as carrier frequency,
mobile speed, bandwidth, delay spread impact how a wireless channel
behaves from the communication system point of view.
Techniques to minimize or modify propagation loss.
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Lecture Outline
Introduction
Parameters of Mobile Radio Channel
Classification of Fading Channel
Impulse Response Model of a Wireless
Channel
Fading Channel Distribution Model
Summary

Introduction to Wireless Channels

Electromagnetic waves can transmit through:
A guided medium or
An unguided medium.
Guided mediums such as coaxial and fiber optic cables are
far less hostile for the information carrying EMW than the
wireless or unguided medium.
It presents limited challenges and problems which are unique
for this kind of transmission.

 When EMW travels through the wireless channel, it undergoes

many kinds of propagation effects such as reflection, diffraction
and scattering due to the presence of buildings, mountains and other
obstructions.
Reflection: Occurs when the EMW impinge on objects which has very
large dimension as compared to the wavelength of the wave.
Diffraction: Occurs when the wave interacts with a surface having
sharp irregularities.
Scattering: Occurs when the EMW passes through objects which
has
very small dimension as compared to the wavelength of the wave
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 These varied phenomena lead to large scale and small scale

propagation losses.
Hence unlike wired channels that are stationary and
predictable, radio channels are extremely random and
time varying
Due to the inherent randomness associated with such
channels they are best described with the help of statistical
model.
We have two types of wireless channel models:
Large Scale Path Loss Models
Small Scale Fading Model
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 Large Scale Path Loss Models: predicts the mean

signal strength for arbitrary transmitter-receiver
distances.
It predicts the average signal strength for large Tx-Rx
separation, typically in hundreds of km.
Time constants associated with variations are very long.
Useful in estimating the coverage area of antenna
More important for cell site planning
Includes Free space path loss, the two-ray model, Hata
model, Okumura model,
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 Free Space propagation Model

Used to predict received signal strength when the
transmitter and receiver have a clear, unobstructed line-ofsight path between them.
For examples: Satellite comm. systems and microwave lineof-sight radio links.

 The power received by a receiver antenna at a distance d is

given by the Friis free space equation:

where

Pt: transmitted power

Pr: received power
Gt, Gr: antenna gain
L: the system loss factor not related to propagation.

(miscellaneous
loss,
and
L
1)

: wavelength in meters
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 The gain of an antenna

where Ae: the effective aperture related to the physical size

of antenna.
The wavelength is related to the carrier frequency

where
f: the carrier frequency in Hertz
c : the carrier frequency in radians per second.
c: the speed of light in meters/sec
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 Small Scale Fading Models: describes the signal strength

variation in close spatial proximity to a particular
location
Characterize the rapid fluctuation of received signal
strength:
Over very short travel distances (a few wavelengths)
or
Over very short time durations (in order of seconds)
The received power may vary by 30-40 dB when the receiver
is moved by fraction of a wavelength.
This is because the received signal is the sum of
many contributions coming from different directions

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 Example: Small scale and large scale fading

Signal variation in an indoor
radio communication system.
Signal fades rapidly as the receiver
moves by more than 20 dBm
However, the average signal decays
much more slowly decays much
more slowly with distance (smoothed
line)
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Small Scale Fading and Multipath

Small Scale Fading (Fading) describes rapid fluctuation of

amplitudes, phases, and/or multipath delays of a radio signal
over:
Short period of time or
Small travel distances
It is caused by multipath interference b/n two or more version
of the transmit signal which arrives at the receiver at slightly
different times.
Multipath Waves: Two or more versions of a transmitted signal
Multipath signals, if arrive at slightly different times, may
combine at the receiver antenna distractively that causes
signal fluctuation

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Representation of multipath wireless propagation

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 Major Effects of Fading :

Envelope Fading: Rapid change in signal strength over
small travel distances or short time periods.
Time Dispersion: Multiple signals arriving a different times
when added together at the antenna, signals are spread out in
time. This can cause a smearing of the signal and
interference between bits that are received.
Frequency Dispersion : Changes in the frequency of signals.
Random frequency modulation due to varying Doppler shifts
on different multipath signals
This Doppler shift is caused by the mobility of mobile
which cause an apparent shift in frequency
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 Physical Factors that influence fading :

Multipath Propagation: due to the presence of reflecting objects

and clutters
Multiple version of the signal arrives at the receiver
with different amplitude and time delays.
Urban areas with many buildings distributed over large spatial
scale
Large

number of strong multipath signals some having

large time delay

Rural areas few multipath signals (LOS + ground reflection)
Relevant terms: Delay spread and coherence bandwidth
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2.Speed of

Mobile: due to the relative motion of the base station,

mobile station, and surrounding environment.

Causes Doppler shift (+ or -) at each multipath
component
Results in random frequency modulation or apparent shift
in frequency
A receiver moving at high speed can pass through several
fades in small period of time
Causes time-varying Doppler shift on the multipath
components
The term coherence time determines how static the channel
is and depends on the Doppler shift,
.e.g., in room environment ,outdoor, urban,

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3. The bandwidth of the signal: causes frequency selectivity.

The channel bandwidth can be quantified by the term
coherence bandwidth(Bc)
Bc measures the maximum frequency difference in which
signals are strongly correlated in amplitude
If BW of the signal is greater than Bc, the received signal will be
distorted (filtered) in frequency
If the transmitted signal has a narrow bandwidth as compared
to the channel, signal will not be distorted in frequency

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Parameters of Mobile Radio Channel

Wireless propagation are mostly governed by a number of
unpredictable factors .
So, it is preferred to characterize the wireless channel from
statistical point of view using some fundamental parameters.
Here, we will see these fundamental parameters and their
impacts on wireless communication

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1. Doppler Shift: is the change in frequency of a wave for

an observer moving relative to the source of the wave.
Caused by movement of Tx, Rx, and surrounding
environment
Results multiplicative in time rendering the channel
impulse response linear time variant (LTV).
For the mobile shown in figure, phase change in the
received signal due to path difference is

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The apparent change in frequency

This is Doppler spreading, which

increase or decrease the signal
frequency at Rx

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 Hence, when transmitter and/or 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 moving opposite to each other, the received
frequency decreases.

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2. The Coherence Time( Tc): Delay spread and coherence bandwidth

are parameters which describe the time dispersive nature of the
wireless channel.
But, they do not give information about the time varying nature of
the channel caused by relative motion between the mobile and base
station.
Doppler spread and coherence time are parameters which describe the
time varying nature of the channel.
Doppler spread fD is a measure of the spectral expansion caused by
the time rate of change of the mobile radio channel.
The range of frequencies over which the received Doppler spectrum
is essentially nonzero.
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 Coherence time(Tc) is the time domain dual of Doppler

spread
It is used to characterize the time varying nature of the
frequency dispersiveness of the channel in time domain.
Coherence time is the time duration over which two
received signals have strong amplitude correlation.
The coherence time is related with the Doppler spread by
If symbol period (Ts) of the baseband signal is greater than
the coherence time of the channel, then the channel will
change during transmission, thus causing distortion at the
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3. Time Dispersive Parameters

The wireless channel is fully described by its impulse response
model as

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3.1 Power Delay Profile(PDP):is a statistical parameter indicating

how the power of a Dirac delta function is dispersed in time
domain as a result of multipath propagation.
It is usually given in table where the average power
associated with each multipath component is provided along
with the corresponding delay.

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 In particular the average power of the th path is given

by
Summing all quantities
power PR
In practice the PDP is
as
normalized so that the
sum o

provides the total average received

f

is unity

Based on

, we define multipath channel parameters that

are
used to characterize time dispersive channel such as: mean
excess delay, RMS delay spread, maximum excess delay and
coherence BW.

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3.2. The Mean Excess Delay( ): is the first moment of the

power delay profile and is defined as

Where

is the average power of the delay profiles in

linear
power units and
is the relative delay in seconds.

3.3 The RMS Delay Spread(): is the square root of the

second central moment of the power delay profile and is given
by

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 These delays are measured relative to the first detectable

signal
arriving at the receiver at 0 =0
Typical values of RMS delay spread are on the order of
microseconds in outdoor mobile radio channels and on
the order of nanoseconds in indoor mobile radio channels.
4. The Mean Excess Delay (x dB):the time delay in which
Multipath energy falls to XdB below the maximum
x-0 where 0 is the first arrival signal and x is the maximum
signal point at which the Multipath component is XdB of
the strongest arrival signal.
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5. Coherence Bandwidth(Bc): is a statistical measure of the range

of frequencies over which the channel can be considered flat.
Flat channel is a channel which passes all spectral
components with approximately equal gain and linear
phase.
The range of frequencies over which two frequency
components have a strong amplitude correlation.
The coherence bandwidth is defined based on the
relation derived from the RMS delay spread.

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 If the coherence bandwidth is defined as the bandwidth

over which the frequency correlation function is 0.9

If the coherence bandwidth is defined as the bandwidth

over which the frequency correlation function is 0.5

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Classification of Fading Channels

Based on the parameters that we have seen before small
scale fading channels can be classified as

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 The above diagram can be described in terms of Ts and

Bs.

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1. Fading due to Multipath Delay

A. Flat Fading:
Bs << Bc or
Ts
TsGenerally
>>
10within the bandwidth of the
Signal fits easily
channel
Channel BW >> signal BW
Most commonly occurring type of fading

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 Spectral properties of transmitted signal are

preserved
Signal is considered as a narrowband channel, since the
bandwidth of the signal is narrow with respect to the
channel bandwidth
Signal is not distorted

What does T

>>

mean:

All multipath signals arrive at receiver during one

symbol period
Hence, small ISI occurs (no multipath components arrive late
to interfere with the next symbol)
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 Flat fading is generally considered desirable:

Even though fading in amplitude occurs, the signal is not distorted.
Forward link: can increase mobile receiver gain (automatic gain
control)
Reverse link: can increase mobile transmitter power (power
control)

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B. Frequency Selective( Time Dispersive )

Fading:
Bs > Bc or Ts <
Generally Ts
10
Bs>Bc, certain frequency components of the signal are
attenuated much more than others.

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Ts < : delayed version of transmitted signal arrive during

different symbol periods
Example: receiving a LOS 1 & multipath 0 (from
prior symbol)
This results in ISI that is undesirable

It is very difficult to predict mobile reciever performance

with frequency selective channels

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2. Fading due to Doppler

Spread
Caused by motion of Tx and Rx and reflecting sources.
A. Fast Fading:
Bs < fD or Ts > Tc
Bs < fD : Doppler shifts significantly alter spectral BW

of transmit signal.
Signal spreading
Ts > Tc: wireless channel changes within one

symbol period
Rapid amplitude fluctuations
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B. Slow Fading: Ts << Tc or Bs >> fD

Wireless channel is constant over many symbol
periods
Results slow amplitude fluctuations
Example: for v = 60 mph at fc = 2 GHz , fD = 178 Hz
. Thus Bs 2 kHz >> fD
. Bs almost always >>fD for most applications

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Impulse Response Model of Wireless Channel

Small scale variations of a signal is related to the
impulse response of the mobile radio channel
The impulse response is:
A wideband channel characterization that

contains

all information necessary to simulate or analyze any

type of channel
A wireless channel can be modelled as a linear time
varying
(LTV) filter
The time variation is due to the motion mobile
We use discrete-time impulse response model

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 In Multipath channel, the received signal is the sum of

Line of sight path component

and

All resolvable Multipath components

Filtering is caused by the summation of amplitudes
and delays of Multipath signals at any instant of time.
Hence the received low pass signal can be described by

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 Thus the low pass equivalent impulse response of the

wireless channel is given by the LTV equation

In this LTV model h(, t):

t represents the time variations due to motion
represents the channel Multipath delay for a fixed value of
t
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 Impulse response of a LTV filter h(, t) is the channel output at

t
when the channel input is an impulse applied at t-.

h(, t) is a function of two time variables:

1. The instant when the impulse is applied to its input (initial
time)
2. The instant of observing the output (final time)

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 Characteristics of Multipath
Component

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Summary
Small scale fading composed of Multipath and Doppler spread
Multipath delay spread leads to time dispersion and frequency
selective fading
Doppler spread leads to frequency dispersion and time
selective fading (the channel becomes time varying)
Envelope Fading: affects the signal strength and therefore
fading margin in link budget calculation of the wireless
system.
Power control and spatial diversity techniques are among the
most effective means to cope with envelope fading.

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 Frequency Selective Fading: alters the signal waveform

and therefore the detection performance.
Channel equalization is utilized to compensate the effect.
Multi-carrier Systems : transferring a broadband signal
into parallel narrowband streams
Time Selective Fading: smears the signal spectrum and
introduces variation too fast for power control.
Coding, time interleaving and diversity techniques are most
effective means of coping with time selective fading.

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