LARGE SCALE PATH LOSS
1.1 INIRODUCTION
a ine-Of- Sight (LOS):
In free space, the radio signals propagates in a straight line. lf such a straight
as
line transmission path exists betweenasender and receiver then it is called
Line - Of- Sight (LOS)communication.
The transmission path in mobile communication between the transmitter (T)
because of
and the receiver (R) can vary from simple line of- sight. This is
mountains and
the propagation path is severely obstructed by buildings,
foliage (leaves of plants and trees).
a mobile
The three basic propagation mechanisms which impact propagation in
communication system are,
() Reflection,
(i) Diffraction, and
(ii) Scattering.
distance between the transmitter
4 The signal strength gets decreases as the
and the receiver increases.
(1) Propagation Models
received signal strength
o Propagation models are used to predict the average
a given distance from the transmitter, as well as the variability of the
at
signal strength in close spatial proximity to a particular location.
Wireless Communication
1.2 These models predicts the Mean Signal Strength (MSS) for an arbitrary
istance which are useful
which
anSmitter-eceiver (T-R) separation
transmitter.
estimating the radio coverage area ofa
transmitter and the receiver, there are
o Based on the distance between the two
types of propagation models
() Large- ScalePropagation Models
large T-p
These propagation models characterizes the signal strength over
of meters.
separation distances, that is, several hundreds or thousands
(i) SmallScale (or) Fading Models
1he propagation models that characterize the rapid fluctuations of the
received signal strength over a very short travel distances (a fey
wavelengths) or short time duration (seconds) are called small scale or
fading models.
o As a mobile moves over very small distance, then the instantaneous received
signal strength may fluctuate rapidly and gives rise to a small-scale fading.
Because of this, the receiyed signal is a sum of many contributions coming
from different directions.
2 FREE SPACE PROPAGATIONMODEI
1.2.1 Introduction
4 Free space in the atmosphere means
open air. The free space propagation
model is used to predict the received signal
strength, when unobstructed
line-of-sight transmission path exits beween the
recetver(R), transmitter (T) and
The satellite
communication systems and
are the examples of microwave line-of-sight radio links
free-space propagation.
PathLoss
LargeScale 13
In most oftthe large-scale radio wave propagation models,the free space model
predicts that the received power decays as a function of the T-R separation
distance.
Transmiting
Antenna Receiving
Antenna
Light-of-sight (LoS) G,
ht Earth h,
Fig 1.1 Line - of-sight propagation
1.2.2 Friis Free Space Equation (or) Law
The free space power received by a receiving antenna which is separated from
a radiating transmitting antenna by a distance 'd' in free space and it is
expressed as,
P,G,G, 1?
P,(d) = (4n) dL ..(1)
where, Pfd).- Received power which is afunction of the d,
P, - Transmitted power,
G - Transmitting antenna gain,
G, - Receiving antenna gain,
d- T-R separation distance in meters,
L - System loss factor (L2 1), and
A - Wavelength of the signal in meters.
* PA) obtained from equation (1) is known as Fris' law. In this, when L=1
indicates that, the system hardware with no loss. The factor (2/4n d÷ is also
known as the free space loss factor.
Wireless Communication
L4
that the "attenuation" in free space increases with
Friis' law seems to indicate
frequency.
a Effectlve Area (or) Effective Aperture
(A of anantenna is an area over which an antenna extracts
Uecve aperture
pOwer from the incident radio waves and it is defined as,
"..(2)
Af Pp
where, Aell - Effective area of the antenna in m".
P, Power delivered to the receiver in W.
Pp - Power density of the signal in W/m.
4 The gain of an antenna is related to its effective aperture (Aeg) as,
G= 4n Aeft ... (3a)
22
22G
Aeff 4 ... (3b)
The effective aperture Aeff iS related to the pllysical size of the antenna, and 2.
is related to the carrier frequency and it is given by,
C 2 C
*.(4)
where, s - Carrier frequency in Hertz.
O- Carrier frequency in radians per second
(angular frequency).
c- Speed of light in free space (3 x 10m/s).
a Isotroplc Radiator (reference antenna):
An isotropic radiator is an ideal antenna which radiates power with unit gain
uniformly in all directions, and its gain is often used as reference antenna
gains in wireless system.
Isotropic radiator
Radiation
pattern
Fig 1.2 Isotropic radiator
& Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) represents the maximum radiated
power available from the transmitter in the direction of maximum antenna
gain, compared to an isotropic radiator and it is expressed as,
EIRP = P,G, ... (5)
Simply the product of transmitter power and gain in the considered (or)
desired direction is known as EIRP.
1.2.3 Path Loss (or) Affenuation (P)
4 The path loss is defined as, "the difference (in dB) between the effective
transmitted power and the received power, and may (or) may not include the
efect of the antenna gains".
P (dB) = P,(dB) -P, (dB) ...(6)
The path loss for the free space model when antenna gains are included is
expressed as,
P(dB) = 10log P =-10 log| G,G, 4?1
-10log . .(7a)
(4 d
16
Wireless Communication
When antenna gains are excluded and the antennas are assumed to have unit.
gain, that is, G, =G, = 1, then the path loss carn be expressed as,
P (dB) = 10 log P,p,
=
- 10 log ... (7b)
1.2.4 Far - Field (or) Fraunhofer Region (or) Rayleigh Dlstance
The far -field (or) Fraunhofer region of a transmitting antenna is defined as,
"the region beyond thefar -field distance (d), which is related to the largest
linear dimension of the transmitter antenna aperture (D), and the carrier
wavelength". Then the Fraunhofer distance is expressed as,
2D²
... (8)
4 In far- field region, d, must satisfy the following two conditions:
d, > D ... (9a)
and
(9b)
The received power reference distance (d,) must be chosen such that it lies in
the far-field region, that is, d, d,, and d, is chosen to be
smaller than any
practical distance used in the mobile communication system.
4 Then, the received power in free space at a distance greater than 'd, is
Cxpressed by using equation (1) as,
P,() = P,(4) ...(10)
* For the large dynamic range of
received power levels, the equation (10) may be
expressed in units of dBm (or) dBW by simply
sides and taking the logarithm of both
multiplying by 10.
Large Scale Path Loss 1.7
4 If P, is in units of dBm, then the received power is expressed as,
P, (do)
P.(d) dBm = 10 log| o.001 W+20 log dz d,z d ...(11)
Where, PAd) is in units of Watts. The reference distance (d) for practical
systems using low-gain antennas in the 1-2 GHz region is typically chosen to
be lm in indoor environments and 100 m (or) 1 km in outdoor environments.
1.3 GROUND REFLECTIONMODEL (OR) TWO-RAY MODEL
1.3.1 Introduction
The two-ray ground reflection model is normally used for modeling the land
mobile radio.
Line-of-sight path
hË
h,
Ground reflection
Fig 1.3 Two - way mnodel formobile radio environments.
Advantages
The advantages of two-ray ground reflection model are,
() I is auseful propagation model that is based on geometric optics, and
considers both the direct path and a ground reflected propagation path
between the transmitter and receiver.
