Small Scale Fading

l Describes rapid fluctuations of the amplitude,

phase of multipath delays of a radio signal
over short period of time or travel distance
l Caused by interference between two or more
versions of the transmitted signal which arrive
at the receiver at slightly different times.
l These waves are called multipath waves and
combine at the receiver antenna to give a
resultant signal which can vary widely in
amplitude and phase.
Small Scale Multipath Propagation
l Effects of multipath
l Rapid changes in the signal strength
§ Over small travel distances, or
§ Over small time intervals
l Random frequency modulation due to varying Doppler
shifts on different multiples signals
l Time dispersion (echoes) caused by multipath propagation
delays
l Multipath occurs because of
l Reflections
l Scattering
Multipath
l At a receiver point
l Radio waves generated from the same transmitted signal
may come
l from different directions

l with different propagation delays

l with (possibly) different amplitudes (random)

l with (possibly) different phases (random)

l with different angles of arrival (random).

l These multipath components combine vectorially at the

receiver antenna and cause the total signal
§ to fade
§ to distort
Multipath Components
Radio Signals Arriving from different directions to receiver

Component 1

Component 2

Component N

Receiver may be stationary or mobile.

Mobility
l Other Objects in the radio channels may be
mobile or stationary
l If other objects are stationary
l Motion is only due to mobile
l Fading is purely a spatial phenomenon (occurs only
when the mobile receiver moves)
l The spatial variations as the mobile moves will be
perceived as temporal variations
§ ∆t = ∆d/v
l Fading may cause disruptions in the
communication
Factors Influencing Small Scale
Fading
l Multipath propagation
l Presence of reflecting objects and scatterers cause
multiple versions of the signal to arrive at the receiver
§ With different amplitudes and time delays
§ Causes the total signal at receiver to fade or distort
l Speed of mobile
l Cause Doppler shift at each multipath component
l Causes random frequency modulation
l Speed of surrounding objects
l Causes time-varying Doppler shift on the multipath
components
Factors Influencing Small Scale
Fading
l Transmission bandwidth of the channel
l The transmitted radio signal bandwidth and
bandwidth of the multipath channel affect the
received signal properties:
§ If amplitude fluctuates or not
§ If the signal is distorted or not
Doppler Effect
l Whe a transmitter or receiver is moving, the
frequency of the received signal changes, i.e. İt is
different than the frequency of transmissin. This is
called Doppler Effect.
l The change in frequency is called Doppler Shift.
l It depends on
l The relative velocity of the receiver with respect to
transmitter
l The frequenct (or wavelenth) of transmission

l The direction of traveling with respect to the direction of the

arriving signal.
Doppler Shift – Transmitter is
moving

The frequency of the signal The frequency of the signal

that is received behind the that is received in front of the
transmitter will be smaller transmitter will be bigger
 Doppler Shift –Recever is
moving S

d = XY
Λl = SX − SY = d cos θ
Λl = vΛt cos θ

The phase change in the received signal :

Λl 2πvΛt
∆Φ = 2π = cos θ
λ λ

∆l Doppler shift (The apparent change in frequency) :

1 ∆Φ v
X θ d Y fd = = cos θ
2π ∆t λ
v
A mobile receiver is traveling from point X to point Y
Doppler Shift
l The Dopper shift is positive
l If the mobile is moving toward the direction of
arrival of the wave.
l The Doppler shift is negative
l If the mobile is moving away from the direction of
arrival of the wave.
Impulse Response Model of a
Multipath Channel
l The wireless channel charcteristics can be
expressed by impulse response function
l The channel is time varying channel when the
receiver is moving.
l Lets assume first that time variation due strictly to
the receiver motion (t = d/v)
l Since at any distance d = vt, the received power will
be combination of different incoming signals, the
channel charactesitics or the impulse response
funcion depends on the distance d between
trandmitter and receiver.
Multipath Channel
Modeling
Impulse Response Model of a
Multipath Wireless Channel
Impulse Response Model of a
Multipath Channel
l The wireless channel characteristics can be
expressed by impulse response function
l The channel is time varying channel when the
receiver is moving.
l Lets assume first that time variation due strictly to
the receiver motion (t = d/v)
l Since at any distance d = vt, the received power will
ve combination of different incoming signals, the
channel charactesitics or the impulse response
funcion depends on the distance d between
trandmitter and receiver
Impulse Response Model of a
Multipath Channel
d = vt
v

d
A receiver is moving along the ground at some constant velocity v.
The multipath components that are received at the receiver will have different
propagation delays depending on d: distance between transmitter and receiver.
Hence the channel impulse response depends on d.

Lets x(t) represents the transmitter signal

y(d,t) represents the received signal at position d.
h(d,t) represents the channel impulse response which is dependent on d
(hence time-varying d=vt).
Multipath Channel Model
Building Multipath
Channel
2nd MC

Base 1st MC
Mobile 2
Station

Bu
ild
in
g
Bu

1st MC
ild

4th MC
in

Multipath
g

Channel
2nd MC

Bu Mobile 1
ildi 3rd MC
ng (Multipath Component)
Impulse Response Model of a
Multipath Channel
x(t) Wireless Multipath Channel
y(t)
h(d,t)

The channel is linear time-varying channel, where the channel characteristics

changes with distance (hence time, t = d/v)

∞
y ( d , t ) = x (t ) ⊗ h ( d , t ) = ∫ x(τ )h(d , t − τ )dτ
−∞

For a causal system, h(d,t) = 0 for t < 0; hence

t
y (d , t ) = ∫ x(τ )h(d , t − τ )dτ
−∞
Impulse Response Model
d = vt assume v is constant over time

t
y (vt , t ) = ∫ x(τ )h(vt, t − τ )dτ
−∞
t
y (t ) = ∫ x(τ )h(vt , t − τ )dτ = x(t ) ⊗ h(vt , t ) = x(t ) ⊗ h(d , t )
−∞

We assume v is constant over short time.

x(t): transmitted waveform
y(t): received waveform
h(t,τ): impulse response of the channel. Depends on d (and therefore t=d/v)
and also to the multiple delay for the channel for a fixed value of t.
τ is the multipath delay of the channel for a fixed value of t.
∞
y (t ) = ∫ x(τ )h(t ,τ )dτ = x(t ) ⊗ h(t ,τ )
−∞
 ...Continue with
Multipath Channel
Impulse Response
Model
 Impulse Response Model
x(t) y(t)
{
h (t ,τ ) = Re hb (t ,τ )e jωct }
{
x(t ) = Re c(t )e jω c t
} {
y (t ) = Re r (t )e jωct }
Bandpass Channel Impulse Response Model y (t ) = x (t ) ⊗ h(t ,τ )

c(t) 1 r(t)
hb (t ,τ )
2 1
r (t ) = c (t ) ⊗ hb (t ,τ )
2

Baseband Equivalent Channel Impulse Response Model

Impulse Response Model
1
r (t ) = c (t ) ⊗ hb (t , τ )
2
{
x (t ) = Re c (t ) e j 2πf c t }
ω c = 2πf c
y (t ) = Re {r (t )e j 2 πf c t
}

c(t) is the complex envelope representation of the transmitted signal

r(t) is the complex envelope representation of the received signal

hb(t,τ) is the complex baseband impulse response

Discrete-time Impulse Response Model of
Multipath Channel
Amplitude of
Multipath Component There are N multipath components (0..N-1)

τo= 0
τ1= ∆τ
Excess
Delay τi= (i)∆τ
Bin τN-1= (N-1)∆τ

τ (excess delay)
∆τ
τ0 τ2 τi τN-1
Excess delay: relative delay of the ith multipath componentas compared to the
first arriving component
τi : Excesss delay of ith multipath component, N∆τ: Maximum excess delay
Multipath Components arriving to
a Receiver
Ignore the fact that multipath components arrive with different angles, and
assume that they arriving with the same angle in 3D.

1 2 N-2 N-1 Nth Component

.......
τ
τ0=0 τ1 τΝ−3 τΝ−2 τΝ−1 (relative delay
of multipath
Comnponent)
Each component will have different Amplitude (ai) and Phase (θi)
Baseband impulse response of
the Channel
N −1
hb (t ,τ ) = ∑ ai (t ,τ )e j ( 2πf cτ i ( t ) +φi ( t ,τ ))δ (τ − τ i (t ))
i =0

ai (t ,τ ) : the real amplitude of the ith multipath component at time t.

τ i (t ) : excess delay of the ith multipath component at time t.
2πf cτ i (t ) + φi (t ,τ ) : Phase term that represents phase shift due to
free space propagatio n of the ith component. Simply represent it with : θ (t , T )
i
δ (•) : unit impulse function.
Discrete-Time Impulse Response
Model for a Multipath Channel

hb(t,τ)

t3
τ(t3)
t2
τ(t2)
t1
τ(t1)
t0
τo τ(t0)
τ1 τ2 τ3 τ4 τ5 τ6 τN-2 τN-1
Time-Invariance Assumption
If the channel impulse response is assumed to be time-invariant over
small-scale time or distance interval, then the channel impulse response
can be simplified as:

N −1
hb (τ ) = ∑ ai e jθ i δ (τ − τ i )
i =0

When measuring or predicting hb(τ), a probing pulse p(t) which approximates

the unit impulse function is used at the transmitter. That is:

p (t ) ≈ δ (t − τ )
This is called sounding the channel to determine impulse response.
Complex Baseband Impulse
Response
Baseband impulse response hb(τ) is a complex number
and therefore has a magnitude (amplitude) ai and
a phase θi.

hb(τ) = aiejθι
hb(τ)
ai hb(τ) = ai(cosθi+jsinθi)
θi
|hb(τ)| = ai

you can think of it also as a vector

that starts at origin.
Amplitudes and Phases of
Multipath Components
1st Arriving Multipath Component
(Say 0th Component)
θ0=0 (phase)
fc 2a0

Two components emerge from the same source at the

same time. They belong to the same transmitter signal.
But they travel different paths. They arrive at the
same receiver with time difference equal to τi.

fc 2ai

ith Multipath Component θi=2πfcτi

0 τi
τ
θi is expressed in radians
 Components arriving at the same
time
What happens if two or more multipath components are with the
same access delay bin (arrive at the same time)?
Then the received signal is the vectorial addition of two multipath signals.
R
Example:
Lets assume two signals S1 and S2 arrive at
a3 S1 the same time at the receiver:
S2 θ3 a1
a2 θ2
θ1
S1 = a1e jθ1 S 2 = a 2 e jθ 2
R = S1 + S 2
= a1e jθ1 + a 2 e jθ 2 = a3e jθ 3
R is the combined receiver signal.
Components arriving at the same
time
The amplitude and phase of the combined signal (R) depends
on the amplitudes and phases of the two components.

Depending on the values of the phases of the components, the combined

affect may weaken or strengthen the amplitude of the combined signal.

It is possible that the two signals may totally cancel each other depending on
their relative phases on their amplitudes.
Example 1 – Addition of Two
Signals
MC: Multipath Component
3
cos(x+pi/16)
1st MC cos(x+pi)
cos(x+pi/16)+cos(x+pi)
2st MC 2

1
Combined
Signal
0

a1/a2=1
-1

θ1=π/16
θ2 =π
-2

-3
-10 -5 0 5 10
Example 2 – Addition of Two
Signals
3
cos(x+pi/16)
1st MC 3*cos(x+pi)
cos(x+pi/16)+3*cos(x+pi)
2st MC 2

1
Combined
Signal
0

a1/a2=1/3
-1

θ1=π/16
θ2 =π
-2

-3
-10 -5 0 5 10
Power Delay Profile
For small-scale fading, the power delay profile of the channel is found by
taking the spatial average of h (t;τ ) 2 over a local area (small-scale area).
b

If p(t) has a time duration much smaller than the impulse response of the
multipath channel, the received power delay profile in a local area is given by:

P (τ ) ≈ k hb (t ;τ )
2

The bar represents the average over the local area of hb (t ;τ ) 2

Gain k relates the transmitter power in the probing pulse p(t) to the total
received power in a multipath delay profile.
Example power delay profile

Taken from Dimitrios Mavrakis Homepage:http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/D.Mavrakis/

Relationship between Bandwidth
and Receiver Power
l What happens when two different signals with
different bandwidths are sent through the channel?
l What is the receiver power characteristics for both signals?
l We mean the bandwith of the baseband signal
l The bandwidth of the baseband is signal is inversely
related with its symbol rate.

One symbol
Bandwidth of Baseband
Signals
Highbandwidth
(Wideband)
Signal

Lowbandwidth
(Narrowband)
Signal

Continuous
Wave (CW)
Signal
t
 A pulsed probing signal
(wideband)
T bb

Transmitter
p(t) x(t): transmitted signal
TREP

TREP >> τ max (τ max : maximum measured excess delay )

x (t ) = Re{ p (t )e j 2πf c t } = p (t ) cos( 2πf c t )

x(t) Multipath y(t) p(t) Multipath r(t)

Wireless Channel Wireless Channel

Bandpass signals Baseband signals

Received Power of Wideband
Sİgnals
p(t) Multipath r(t)
Wireless Channel

The output r(t) will approximate the channel impulse response since
p(t) approximates unit impulses.

1 N −1 jθ i
r (t ) = ∑ a i e ⋅ p (t − τ i )
2 i =0
Assume the multipath components have random amplitudes and phases at
time t.

 N −1 jθ i 2 
N −1
E a ,θ [ PWB ] = Ea ,θ ∑ ai e  ∑ i = E[ PWB ]
=
2
a
 i =0  i=0
Received Power of Wideband
Sİgnals

This shows that if all the multipath components of a transmitted signal is

resolved at the receiver then:
The average small scale received power is simply the sum of
received powers in each multipath component.

In practice, the amplitudes of individual multipath components do not

fluctuate widely in a local area (for distance in the order of wavelength or
fraction of wavelength).

This means the average received power of a wideband signal

do not fluctuate significantly when the receiver is moving in a local area.
Received Power of Narrowband
Sİgnals

A CW Signal x(t): transmitted signal

Transmitter

c(t)

Assume now A CW signal transmitted into the same channel.

Let comlex envelope will be: c (t ) = 2
N −1
The instantaneous complex envelope r (t ) = ∑ ai e jθ i (t ,τ )
of the received signal will be: i =0

2
N −1
r (t ) = ∑ i jθ i ( t ,τ )
2
The instantaneous power will be: a e
i =0
 Received Power of Narrowband
Sİgnals
Over a local area (over small distance – wavelengths), the amplitude a
multipath component may not change signicantly, but the phase may change a lot.

For example:
- if receiver moves λ meters then phase change is 2π.
In this case the component may add up posively to the total sum Σ.

- if receiver moves λ/4 meters then phase change is π/2 (90 degrees) .
In this case the component may add up negatively to the total sum Σ, hence
the instantaneous receiver power.

Therefore for a CW (continues wave, narrowband) signal, the small

movements may cause large fluctuations on the instantenous
receiver power, which typifies small scale fading for CW signals.
Wideband versus Narrowband
Baseband Signals
However, the average received power for a CW signal over a local area
is equivalent to the average received power for a wideband signal on the
local area.
This occurs because the phases of multipath components at
different locations over the small-scale region are independently distributed
(IID uniform) over [0,2π].

In summary:
1. Received power for CW signals undergoes rapid fades over small distances
2. Received power for wideband signals changes very little of small distances.
3. However, the local area average of both signals are nearly identical.
Small-Scale Multipath
Measurements
l Several Methods
l Direct RF Pulse System
l Spread Spectrum Sliding Correlator Channel
Sounding
l Frequency Domain Channel Sounding
l These techniques are also called channel
sounding techniques
Direct RF Pulse System
Tx

fc

Pulse Generator

RF Link

Rx

Digital
BPF Detector
Oscilloscope
Parameters of Mobile Multipath
Channels
l Time Dispersion Parameters
l Grossly quantifies the multipath channel
l Determined from Power Delay Profile
l Parameters include
§ Mean Access Delay
§ RMS Delay Spread
§ Excess Delay Spread (X dB)

l Coherence Bandwidth
l Doppler Spread and Coherence Time
Measuring PDPs
l Power Delay Profiles
l Are measured by channel sounding techniques
l Plots of relative received power as a function of
excess delay
l They are found by averaging intantenous power
delay measurements over a local area
§ Local area: no greater than 6m outdoor
§ Local area: no greater than 2m indoor
§ Samples taken at λ/4 meters approximately
§ For 450MHz – 6 GHz frequency range.
Timer Dispersion Parameters
Determined from a power delay profile.

Mean excess delay( ):

∑ kτ k
a 2
∑ P (τ )(τ k k )
τ τ = k
= k

∑ k
a 2

k
∑ P (τ )
k
k

Rms delay spread (στ):

στ = τ − τ 2
() 2

∑ kτ k
a 2 2
∑ k k)
P (τ )(τ 2

τ2 = k
= k

∑ k
a 2

k
∑ P (τ
k
k )
Timer Dispersion Parameters
Maximum Excess Delay (X dB):

Defined as the time delay value after which the multipath energy
falls to X dB below the maximum multipath energy (not necesarily belonging
to the first arriving component).

It is also called excess delay spread.

RMS Delay Spread
PDP Outdoor
PDP Indoor
Noise Threshold
l The values of time dispersion parameters
also depend on the noise threshold (the level
of power below which the signal is
considered as noise).
l If noise threshold is set too low, then the
noise will be processed as multipath and thus
causing the parameters to be higher.
Coherence Bandwidth (BC)
l Range of frequencies over which the channel can be
considered flat (i.e. channel passes all spectral
components with equal gain and linear phase).
§ It is a definition that depends on RMS Delay Spread.
l Two sinusoids with frequency separation greater than Bc
are affected quite differently by the channel.
f1

Receiver
f2

Multipath Channel Frequency Separation: |f1-f2|

Coherence Bandwidth
Frequency correlation between two sinusoids: 0 <= Cr1, r2 <= 1.

If we define Coherence Bandwidth (BC) as the range of frequencies over which

the frequency correlation is above 0.9, then

BC =
1 σ is rms delay spread.
50σ

If we define Coherence Bandwidth as the range of frequencies over which

the frequency correlation is above 0.5, then

1
BC =
5σ
This is called 50% coherence bandwidth.
Coherence Bandwidth
l Example:
l For a multipath channel, σ is given as 1.37µs.
l The 50% coherence bandwidth is given as: 1/5σ =
146kHz.
§ This means that, for a good transmission from a transmitter
to a receiver, the range of transmission frequency (channel
bandwidth) should not exceed 146kHz, so that all
frequencies in this band experience the same channel
characteristics.
§ Equalizers are needed in order to use transmission
frequencies that are separated larger than this value.
§ This coherence bandwidth is enough for an AMPS channel
(30kHz band needed for a channel), but is not enough for a
GSM channel (200kHz needed per channel).
Coherence Time
l Delay spread and Coherence bandwidth
describe the time dispersive nature of the
channel in a local area.
l They don’t offer information about the time varying
nature of the channel caused by relative motion of
transmitter and receiver.
l Doppler Spread and Coherence time are
parameters which describe the time varying
nature of the channel in a small-scale region.
Doppler Spread
l Measure of spectral broadening caused by
motion
l We know how to compute Doppler shift: fd
l Doppler spread, BD, is defined as the
maximum Doppler shift: fm = v/λ
l If the baseband signal bandwidth is much
greater than BD then effect of Doppler spread
is negligible at the receiver.
Coherence Time
Coherence time is the time duration over which the channel impulse response
is essentially invariant.

If the symbol period of the baseband signal (reciprocal of the baseband signal
bandwidth) is greater the coherence time, than the signal will distort, since
channel will change during the transmission of the signal .

TS Coherence time (TC) is defined as:

TC
TC ≈ 1
fm
f2
f1

t1 ∆t=t2 - t1 t2
Coherence Time
0.423
Coherence time is also defined as: TC ≈ 9
16πf m2
=
fm

Coherence time definition implies that two signals arriving with a time
separation greater than TC are affected differently by the channel.
Types of Small-scale Fading
Small-scale Fading
(Based on Multipath Tİme Delay Spread)

Flat Fading Frequency Selective Fading

1. BW Signal < BW of Channel 1. BW Signal > Bw of Channel

2. Delay Spread < Symbol Period 2. Delay Spread > Symbol Period

Small-scale Fading
(Based on Doppler Spread)

Fast Fading Slow Fading

1. Low Doppler Spread

1. High Doppler Spread
2. Coherence Time > Symbol Period
2. Coherence Time < Symbol Period
3. Channel variations smaller than baseband
3. Channel variations faster than baseband
signal variations
signal variations
Flat Fading
l Occurs when the amplitude of the received
signal changes with time
l For example according to Rayleigh Distribution
l Occurs when symbol period of the
transmitted signal is much larger than the
Delay Spread of the channel
§ Bandwidth of the applied signal is narrow.

l May cause deep fades.

§ Increase the transmit power to combat this situation.
Flat Fading
s(t) r(t)
h(t,τ)

τ << TS

0 TS 0 τ 0 TS+τ

Occurs when: BC: Coherence bandwidth

BS << BC BS: Signal bandwidth
and TS: Symbol period
TS >> στ στ: Delay Spread
Frequency Selective Fading
l Occurs when channel multipath delay spread
is greater than the symbol period.
l Symbols face time dispersion
l Channel induces Intersymbol Interference (ISI)
l Bandwidth of the signal s(t) is wider than the
channel impulse response.
Frequency Selective Fading
s(t) r(t)
h(t,τ)

τ >> TS

0 TS 0 τ 0 TS TS+τ

Causes distortion of the received baseband signal

Causes Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI)

Occurs when:
BS > BC As a rule of thumb: TS < στ
and
TS < στ
Fast Fading
l Due to Doppler Spread
l Rate of change of the channel characteristics
is larger than the
Rate of change of the transmitted signal
l The channel changes during a symbol period.
l The channel changes because of receiver motion.
l Coherence time of the channel is smaller than the symbol
period of the transmitter signal
Occurs when: BS: Bandwidth of the signal
BS < BD BD: Doppler Spread
and TS: Symbol Period
TS > TC TC: Coherence Bandwidth
Slow Fading
l Due to Doppler Spread
l Rate of change of the channel characteristics
is much smaller than the
Rate of change of the transmitted signal

Occurs when: BS: Bandwidth of the signal

BS >> BD BD: Doppler Spread
and TS: Symbol Period
TS << TC TC: Coherence Bandwidth
Different Types of Fading
TS

Flat Fast
Flat Slow
Fading
Fading

Symbol Period of
Transmitting Signal

στ Frequency Selective Frequency Selective

Slow Fading Fast Fading

TC
TS
Transmitted Symbol Period

With Respect To SYMBOL PERIOD

Different Types of Fading
BS
Frequency Selective Frequency Selective
Fast Fading Slow Fading
Transmitted
Baseband BC
Signal Bandwidth

Flat Fast Flat Slow

Fading Fading

BD
BS
Transmitted Baseband Signal Bandwidth

With Respect To BASEBAND SIGNAL BANDWIDTH

Fading Distributions
l Describes how the received signal amplitude
changes with time.
l Remember that the received signal is combination of
multiple signals arriving from different directions, phases
and amplitudes.
l With the received signal we mean the baseband signal,
namely the envelope of the received signal (i.e. r(t)).
l Its is a statistical characterization of the multipath
fading.
l Two distributions
§ Rayleigh Fading
§ Ricean Fading
Rayleigh and Ricean
Distributions
l Describes the received signal envelope
distribution for channels, where all the
components are non-LOS:
l i.e. there is no line-of–sight (LOS) component.
l Describes the received signal envelope
distribution for channels where one of the
multipath components is LOS component.
l i.e. there is one LOS component.
Rayleigh Fading
Rayleigh
Rayleigh distribution has the probability density function (PDF) given by:

  r2 
− 
 2σ 2 
r
 e
p ( r ) = σ 2

(0 ≤ r ≤ ∞ )

0 ( r < 0)

σ2 is the time average power of the received signal before envelope detection.
σ is the rms value of the received voltage signal before envelope detection

Remember: P (average power) ∝ Vrms

2 (see end of slides 5)
Rayleigh
The probability that the envelope of the received signal does not exceed a
specified value of R is given by the CDF:

R R2
−
P ( R ) = Pr ( r ≤ R ) = ∫ p ( r ) dr = 1 − e 2σ 2

∞
π
rmean = E[ r ] = ∫ rp ( r ) dr = σ = 1.2533σ
0
2
rmedian
1
rmedian = 1.177σ found by solving =
2 ∫ p (r )dr
0

rrms = 2σ
Rayleigh PDF
0.7

0.6065/σ
0.6
mean = 1.2533σ
median = 1.177σ
0.5
variance = 0.4292σ2
0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 σ1 2σ
2 3σ
3 4σ
4 5σ
5
Ricean Distribution
l When there is a stationary (non-fading) LOS
signal present, then the envelope distribution
is Ricean.
l The Ricean distribution degenerates to
Rayleigh when the dominant component
fades away.
Level Crossing Rate (LCR)

Threshold (R)

LCR is defined as the expected rate at which the Rayleigh fading

envelope, normalized to the local rms signal level, crosses a specified
threshold level R in a positive going direction.
direction It is given by:

N R = 2π f m ρe − ρ
2

where

ρ = R / rrms (specfied envelope value normalized to rms)

N R : crossings per second