EEE-457: Mobile Cellular Communication

A Presentation On
Mobile Radio Propagation

Presented By
18102903 Hasibur Rahman
18102906 Md. Sajjad Hossen
18102907 Md. Nazmul Alam Munna
18102922 Md. Imon Mia
18102925 Bablu Mia
 Propagation Characteristics of Radio Waves
Wireless propagation is the way radio signals are transmitted from one point to another inside the
earth’s atmosphere or free space.

In the radio-frequency spectrum, the various frequency ranges possess different propagation
characteristics thus each part of the spectrum is used for specific types of applications. The
propagation characteristics of radio waves show a high dependency on frequency.

• No direct line of sight between the transmitter and receiver.

• Radio wave propagation attributed to
 Reflection
 Diffraction
 Scattering
• Waves travel along different paths of varying lengths.
• The strength of the waves decreases as the distance between the transmitter and receiver
increases.
 Radio Frequency Spectrum

1. Very Low Frequency (VLF): Its range is between 3 to 30 kHz. It is used worldwide for
telegraphy.
2. Low Frequency (LF): The frequency lies within 30 to 300 kHz. Generally, navigational aids, and
point-to-point long-distance communication uses this frequency range.
3. Medium Frequency (MF): It ranges between 300 to 3000 kHz and is used for the purpose of
navigation.
4. High Frequency (HF): Its range is between 3 to 30 MHz and finds applications in general
communication between two points that are separated at a moderate distance and short-wave
broadcasting to distant places.
5. Very High Frequency (VHF): VHF holds a frequency between 30 to 3000 MHz and is suitable for
short-distance communication in the case of radar, telephony, and frequency modulation.
 Radio Frequency Spectrum

6. Ultra-High Frequency (UHF): It ranges between 300 to 3000 MHz and is used in television and
radar relay systems for short-distance communication.
7. Super High Frequency (SHF): The frequency between 3000 to 30,000 MHz is referred to as SHF
and is used in satellite communication and radar, radio, and relay links.
8. Extremely High Frequency (EHF): Its range is between 30,000 to 300000 MHz and is used in
fields of experiments and amateur.
In order to study wave characteristics, the above-discussed frequency bands are subdivided which
are given as:
 Characteristics of Different Waves
Characteristics of VLF waves – Range between 3 to 30 kHz
• It is primarily used in ground wave propagation.
• As these are very low-frequency waves, thus, possess long wavelengths and hence hold the
ability to get travelled to thousands of km along the surface of the earth.
Characteristics of radio waves which are a combination of VLF and LF – Range is 20 to 100 kHz
• This frequency range uses ground wave as well as skywave propagation. Generally, up to a
distance of 1000 km ground wave propagation is used while for more than 1000 km sky wave
propagation is used.
• Ground wave propagation provides relatively low attenuation. However, sometimes received
signals suffer some seasonal or yearly changes.
Characteristics of radio waves which are a combination of LF and MF – Range is 100 to 535 kHz
• The frequency range majorly opts for sky wave propagation when the distance is moderate. As with
an increase in frequency, attenuation increases in the case of ground waves.
• With the increase in frequency, the range of ground wave propagation is reduced.
 Characteristics of Different Waves
Characteristics of radio waves which are some parts of MF – Range is 535 to 1600 kHz
• The major application of these radio waves is radio broadcasting.
• As sky wave propagation in the daytime leads to complete absorption of the signal thus during
the day hours broadcasting is facilitated by ground wave propagation.

Characteristics of HF waves – Range between 3 to 30 MHz

• Long-distance communication with such high frequency is facilitated by sky wave propagation.
• At these frequencies the ionospheric absorptions are quite low, hence, even miles of
propagation distance is achievable.

Characteristics of waves with a frequency above 30 MHz

• Generally, above 30 MHz, space wave propagation is practically used.
• In very rare cases only, the frequencies above 30 MHz undergo reflections by the ionosphere towards
the earth.
• The transmission range offered is usually less than 100 miles.
 Multipath Propagation
The vast number of different signal paths arise from the fact that signals are reflections from
buildings, mountains, or other reflective surfaces including water, etc. that may be adjacent to the
main path. Additionally, other effects such as ionospheric reflections give rise to multipath
propagation as does tropospheric ducting.

The antennas used for transmission and reception have an effect on the number of paths that the
signal can take. Non-directive antennas will radiate the signal in all directions, whereas directive
ones will focus the power in one direction reducing the strength of reflected signals away from the
main beam. The multipath propagation resulting from the variety of signal paths that may exist
between the transmitter and receiver can give rise to interference in a variety of ways including
distortion of the signal, loss of data, and multipath fading.

At other times, the variety of signal paths arising from the multipath propagation can be used to
advantage. Schemes such as MIMO use multipath propagation to increase the capacity of the
channels they use or seek to improve the signal-to-noise ratio.
At other times, the variety of signal paths arising from the multipath propagation can be used to
advantage. Schemes such as MIMO use multipath propagation to increase the capacity of the
channels they use or seek to improve the signal-to-noise ratio
 Multipath Fading

Fading refers to the distortion that a carrier-modulated telecommunication signal

experiences over certain propagation media.
 Multipath Fading

Multipath:
Multipath is the propagation phenomenon that results in
radio signals' reaching the receiving antenna through two
or more paths by
• Free space
• Reflection
• Diffraction
• Scattering

Multipath fading is the distortion of signals due to multipath

propagation of signals.
 Delay Spread

Delay spread is a measure of the multipath profile that defines the difference between the time of
arrival of the earliest component and the time of arrival of the latest multipath component.

Delay spread is a random variable, and the standard deviation is a common metric to measure it.
This measure is widely known as the root-mean-square delay spread στ

Coherence Bandwidth,
Bc = 1/ στ

• The time between pulses is >> delay spread, therefore the received pulses do not interfere.
• The time between pulses is < delay spread, which causes Intersymbol interference.
• The rate at which symbols can be transmitted without intersymbol interference is 1/delay spread.
 Doppler Shift

 The Doppler Shift or the Doppler Effect is the change in frequency of a wave in relation to an
observer who is moving relative to the wave source.
 Difference between received and transmitted frequency.
 Caused by relative motion between sound source & receiver.
 Frequency shift indicative of reflector speed.
 Doppler Shift

Doppler Shift formula:

Here,
Fs denotes the frequency of the source of the sound.
V denotes the velocity of sound.
Vs denotes the velocity of the source.
Vl denotes the velocity of the listener.

There are many applications of doppler shift such as Sirens, Radar, Military, Aerospace, Vibration &
Flow measurement, etc.
 The 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 long-distance path loss model

Path loss (PL) refers to the loss or attenuation a propagating electromagnetic signal (or wave)
encounters along its path from the transmitter to the receiver.

It is important to select a free space reference distance that is appropriate for the propagation
environment. In large coverage cellular systems, 1km reference distances are commonly used,
whereas, in microcellular systems, much smaller distances are used.