EECE5576: Wireless Communication Systems

Elena Bernal Mor

Assiciate Teaching Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Northeastern Univsersity
Office: 411 Dana
E-mail: e.bernalmor@northeastern.edu
2. Wireless Propagation Channels
 Outline

• Introduction

• Free Space Propagation

• Propagation Mechanisms

• Description of the Wireless Channel

• Path loss

• Large-scale Fading

• Small-scale Fading

• Channel Characterization

• Channel Models

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 Introduction

• The mobile wireless channel places fundamental limitations on the performance of wireless communication
systems
• Wireless channels are extremely random and do not offer easy analysis
• Modeling the radio channel is typically done in a statistical fashion, typically based on specific measurements
for an intended system or spectrum allocation
• Two main problems
• Signal power received: channel description and propagation models to predict
• Average received signal power at a given distance from the transmitter
• Variability of the signal strength and power in close spatial proximity to a particular location
• Signal distortion: channel characterization and channel statistical models to study the distortion of the
signal at the receiver

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 Introduction

• There are different ways used in order to transmit information in the wireless channel, for example
• Electromagnetic waves
• Acoustic signals
• Magneto-Inductive based communication
• …

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 EM Communication

• Reminder
• Electromagnetic waves: relationship between speed of propagation, wavelength and frequency

𝑣 = 𝜆 ⋅ 𝑓𝐶
• 𝜆: wavelength
• 𝑓𝐶 : frequency
• 𝑣: speed of propagation
• Propagation in free space is the speed of light

𝑣 = 𝜆 ⋅ 𝑓𝐶 ≈ 3 ⋅ 108 m/s

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 EM Communication

• Based on the transmission of EM waves and its properties, the spectrum is divided in several bands:

MHz GHz THz

f (Hz) 104 105 106 107 108 109 1010 1011 1012 1013 1014 1015 1016

Radio Millimeter Wave Infrared UV

Microwaves Terahertz Band Visible

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 EM Communication

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 Radio Frequency

• From 3 kHz to 300 MHz

• Properties:
• Easy to generate
• Omnidirectional propagation
• Transmission distance up to hundreds of km
• Can penetrate buildings
• Service examples:
• AM radio broadcasting: fc=[153-279 kHz, 531-1611 kHz, 2.3-26.1 MHz], B=10 kHz, Spacing=20 kHz
• FM radio broadcasting: fc=[87.5-108 MHz], B=20 kHz, Spacing=200 kHz
• Marine communication, air traffic control, …

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 Microwaves

• From 300 MHz to 30 GHz

• Properties:
• Easy to generate
• Omnidirectional or directional propagation
• Transmission distances decreases fast with frequency (from few km down to hundreds of meters)
• Cannot easily penetrate buildings
• Service examples:
• WiFi, Bluetooth, ZigBee: fc=[2.4, 5 GHz, …], B=depends on the standard
• Cordless phones: fc=[1.9, 2.4, 5.8 GHz], B=3.6 kHz
• Cellular standards, …

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 Millimeter Waves

• From 30 GHz to 300 GHz

• Properties:
• Harder to generate
• Mostly directional propagation
• Transmission distances decreases very fast with frequency (from hundreds of meters to meters)
• Cannot penetrate buildings

• Service examples:
• 5G New Radio Frequency Range 2: fc=[24-250 GHz], B=up to 800 MHz
• WiFi (IEEE 802.11ad and ay): fc=60 GHz, up to B=14 GHz

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 Terahertz Band

• From 300 GHz to 10 THz (not yet regulated!)

• Properties:
• Not so easy to generate (becoming easier…)
• Mainly directional propagation (omnidirectional is possible but not efficient)
• Transmission distances below ten meters unless ultra-directional systems are used
• Cannot penetrate buildings, objects, etc.

• Service examples
• Very high bandwidth applications (multi Gbps and Tbps links):
• Next generation WLAN/WPAN
• Next generation cellular networks (6G)
• …

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 Optical Wireless Communications

• From 10 THz to 790 THz (Infrared, visible, ultra-violet)

• Properties:
• Different technologies with different complexity and performance exists
• Directional propagation only
• Transmission distance changes drastically with application and technology (from few m up to km)
• Cannot penetrate buildings, objects, etc.

• Service examples:
• Remote control for TV, DVD, etc.
• Short-range point-to-point data transfers
• LiFi: Indoor LAN with LEDs
• Temporary network installation (e.g., fairs, conferences)

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 Acoustic Communication

• Based on the transmission of pressure waves

• Properties (in liquids):
• Pressure waves propagate at a very low speed, e.g., 1500 m/s in sea water (compare to EM wave speed)
• Transmission distances up to several km possible in sea water, but only at low frequencies (< 100 kHz)
• Very small bandwidth, very slow data transmissions
• Still much better than EM waves in seawater
• Service examples:
• Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks for oceanographic data collection, pollution monitoring,
offshore exploration, disaster prevention, etc.
• Intra-body Area Networks
• Ultrasonic Nanonetworks

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 Magnetic Induction-based Communication

• Established by the coupling of a non-propagating magnetic field between a transmitter’s magnetic coil and a
receiver’s magnetic coil

• Properties:
• The strength of the induced field does not depend on the medium
• As a result, it works well in gases, liquids, solids
• Only over short distances (few meters)
• But MI waveguides can be created by placing passive relaying coils

• Service examples:
• Underground sensor networks, e.g., smart watering of fields, soil monitoring
• Mines and tunnels communication
• Communication in challenged environments

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 Outline

• Introduction

• Free Space Propagation

• Propagation Mechanisms

• Description of the Wireless Channel

• Path loss

• Large-scale Fading

• Small-scale Fading

• Channel Characterization

• Channel Models

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 Free Space Propagation

• Free space is an ideal propagation medium

• Line-of-Sight (LOS) path: transmitter and receiver are in view of each other without any sort of an obstacle
between them
• Free space propagation model might be used to predict the received power when transmitter and receiver
have a clear, unobstructed LOS path between them
• Satellite links typically undergo free space propagation

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 Free Space Propagation

• Reminder:
• Isotropic antenna: ideal antenna which radiates power with unit gain uniformly in all directions and is
often used as a reference antenna gains in wireless systems
• Omnidirectional antenna: antenna which radiates equal radio power in all directions perpendicular to an
axis (azimuthal directions), with power varying with angle to the axis (elevation angle), declining to zero
on the axis
• A dipole antenna has a gain of 1.64 (2.15 dB) above an isotropic antenna in the direction of
maximum antenna gain

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 Free Space Propagation

• Received power in the receiver at distance 𝑑 from the transmitter, 𝑃𝑟 (𝑑):

• 𝑑: transmitter-receiver separation distance in meters

1 • 𝑃𝑡 : transmitter power in same linear units as 𝑃𝑟 (W, mW, …)
𝑃𝑟 𝑑 = 𝑃𝑡 𝐺𝑡 2
𝐴𝑟
4𝜋𝑑 • 𝐺𝑡 : transmitter antenna gain is dimensionless
• 𝐴𝑟 : antenna effective area in the receiver in m2

• The gain of an antenna, 𝐺, is related to its effective area, 𝐴𝑒 :

𝐺=
4𝜋
𝐴 • 𝐺: antenna gain is dimensionless
𝜆2 𝑒
• 𝐴𝑒 : antenna effective area in m2
𝜆2 • λ: wavelength in meters
𝐴𝑒 = 𝐺
4𝜋 • In the receiver: 𝐺 → 𝐺𝑟 and 𝐴𝑒 → 𝐴𝑟

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 Free Space Propagation

• Substituting

2
𝜆 This equation is known as the Friis free space equation
𝑃𝑟 𝑑 = 𝑃𝑡 𝐺𝑡 𝐺𝑟
4𝜋𝑑

• The Friis free space equation shows that the received power falls off as the square of the transmitter-
receiver distance
• The received power depends on the wavelength of the signal, 𝜆, (and the frequency) because the effective
area of the receiver antenna depends on the wavelength of the signal, 𝜆
• Not because the propagation itself

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 Free Space Propagation

• Usually, the received power in free space is measured in dB

𝜆
𝑃𝑟|𝑑𝐵 𝑑 = 10 log10 𝑃𝑟 𝑑 = 𝑃𝑡|𝑑𝐵 + 𝐺𝑡|𝑑𝐵 + 𝐺𝑟|𝑑𝐵 + 20log10
4𝜋𝑑

• Usually, the antenna gains are supposed to have unity gain, i.e., 0 dB (isotropic antenna)

2
𝜆
𝑃𝑟 𝑑 = 𝑃𝑡
4𝜋𝑑

𝜆
𝑃𝑟|𝑑𝐵 𝑑 = 𝑃𝑡|𝑑𝐵 + 20log10
4𝜋𝑑

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 Free Space Propagation

• The Friis free space propagation model is only valid for 𝑃𝑟 with values of 𝑑 in the far-field of the transmitting
antenna

• Far-field of a transmitting antenna is the region beyond the Rayleigh distance, aka the Fraunhofer distance:

𝑑𝑅 = 2𝐿2𝑎 /𝜆

• 𝐿𝑎 : largest physical dimension of the antenna

• Usually, a close-in reference distance 𝑑0 (𝑑 ≥ 𝑑0 ≥ 𝑑𝑅 ), is used as a known received power reference point

• 𝑃𝑟 (𝑑), at any distance 𝑑 > 𝑑0 may be related to 𝑃𝑟 at 𝑑0 (linear units)

2
𝑑0
𝑃𝑟 𝑑 = 𝑃𝑟 𝑑0 𝑑 ≥ 𝑑0 ≥ 𝑑𝑅
𝑑

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 Free Space Propagation

• Free-space path loss: signal attenuation between two antennas in free space, which indicates the power lost
in space expressed as a power ratio
2
𝑃𝑡 1 4𝜋𝑑
𝑃𝐿𝑓𝑠 (𝑑) = =
𝑃𝑟 (𝑑) 𝐺𝑡 𝐺𝑟 𝜆
• Is very common to define 𝑃𝐿𝑓𝑠 considering two isotropic antennas (unity gains)
2 2
4𝜋𝑑 4𝜋𝑓𝑐 𝑑 • 𝑓𝑐 : carrier frequency
𝑃𝐿𝑓𝑠 (𝑑) = =
𝜆 𝑐 • 𝑐: speed of light → 3 ⋅ 108 𝑚/𝑠
• Expression in units of dB:
P𝐿𝑓𝑠|dB (d) = 𝑃𝑡|𝑑𝐵 − 𝑃𝑟|𝑑𝐵 (𝑑) = 32.45 + 20 log10 𝑓𝑐 𝑀𝐻𝑧 + 20 log10 (𝑑 𝑘𝑚 )

• Notice that the dependence with the frequency is not by the propagation itself → it is given by the fact that
the effective area of the receiver antenna depends on the frequency

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 Outline

• Introduction

• Free Space Propagation

• Propagation Mechanisms

• Description of the Wireless Channel

• Path loss

• Large-scale Fading

• Small-scale Fading

• Channel Characterization

• Channel Models

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 Propagation Mechanisms

• The mechanisms behind electromagnetic wave propagation are diverse, but can generally be classified in
three basic mechanisms:
• Reflection
• Wave impinges upon an object which is large compared to the wavelength of the propagating wave
• E.g., the surface of the Earth, buildings, walls, etc.
• Diffraction
• Radio path between transmitter and receiver obstructed by a surface with sharp irregular edges
• E. g., waves bend around an obstacle
• Scattering
• Created by objects smaller than the wavelength of the wave and with rough surface
• E.g., small objects such as foliage, street signs, lamp posts

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 Propagation Mechanisms

Building

Direct Signal

Reflected Signal
Diffracted
Signal

d
Transmitter Receiver

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 Propagation Mechanisms

• Advantage of having these propagation mechanisms: diffracted and reflected radio waves enable the signals
to reach locations that are not directly in line with the direct path, i.e., are not in LOS
• It helps when covering neighborhood areas

• Disadvantage of having these propagation mechanisms: receiver may receive multiple copies of the same
signals with different delays corresponding to the different traversed paths of varying lengths

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 Propagation Mechanisms
Waveguiding
• Other important propagation mechanism
• Waveguiding: propagation in dielectric waveguides
W
• This process models propagation in street, canyons,
o
corridors, tunnels, … p
• The basic equations of dielectric waveguides
n
occurring in wireless communications deviate from
the idealized assumptions of theoretical work T
l
• Waveguiding effects often result in a lower s
transmitter-receiver distance exponent: n=1.5-5
• This means lower losses along certain street
corridors

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 Propagation Mechanisms
Atmospheric attenuation
• Other important propagation mechanism
• AtAbsorption:
• Atmospheric mm-wave frequencies,
the air absorption
molecules, as well lines
as water vapor and due
other to oxygen
particles, can lead to
and water
absorption and/or scattering

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 Land Propagation

• Propagation mechanisms: the land wireless channel becomes a multipath propagation channel with fading
• Multipath propagation: the signal reaches the destination using many different paths due to reflection,
diffraction and scattering from various objects along the propagation path
• Multipath component (MPC): each EM wave at the receiver created by multipath propagation
• Fading: variation of the received signal power with various parameters (time, distance, frequency) due to
changes in the propagation path

• Two main problems

• Signal power received: channel description and propagation models to study the received power
• Signal distortion: channel characterization and channel statistical models to study signal distortion

• We need to describe the behavior of the wireless channel using a good and relevant statistical model

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