Universidad Industrial de Santander

COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
Universidad Industrial de Santander
School of Electrical, Electronics and Telecommunications
Engineering
DISCLAIMER
This presentation is meant for educational purposes only. Reproduction or distribution in whole or in part is prohibited without the prior written consent of the copyright owner.
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LESSON 1-5

Wireless Transmission
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Summary
• Basic concepts
• Radio propagation
• Propagation modes
• Multipath propagation effect
• Link Budget
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Basic concepts
Frequency (𝒇)
• Number of cycles of a repetitive wave that occur in a given period of time. Unit: Hertz (Hz).

Wavelength (𝝀)
• Distance occupied by one cycle of a wave or distance traveled by an electromagnetic
wave during the time of one cycle, and is usually expressed in meters (m).

electromagnetic wave direction electromagnetic wave direction

(a) (b)
By Lookang many thanks to Fu-Kwun Hwang and author of Easy Java Simulation = Francisco Esquembre - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
(a) https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16874304 (b) https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16874302
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Basic concepts

Frequency and Wavelength

𝑐 = 𝜆𝑓
𝑐: speed of light = 3 × 108 m/s
𝑓: frequency
𝜆: wavelength

Example:
What is the wavelength if the frequency is 4 MHz?

𝜆 = 3 × 108 / 4 MHz
= 75 m
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Radio Propagation: Wave Phenomena

• Reflection
• Refraction
• Diffraction
• Absorption
• Polarization
• Dispersion
• Scattering
• Fading
• Doppler shift
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Radio propagation: Reflection

http://www.acs.psu.edu/drussell/Demos/reflect/hard.gif

http://www.gcse.com/waves/images/circular_waves.gif

http://www.physicsclassroom.com/mmedia/optics/lr.gif
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Radio propagation: Refraction

sin 𝜃1 𝑣1 𝑛2 𝜖2 𝜇 2
= = =
sin 𝜃2 𝑣2 𝑛1 𝜖1 𝜇1

𝑛1

𝑛2

http://www.acs.psu.edu/drussell/Demos/refract/snell-anim.gif
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Radio propagation: Diffraction and interference

By Lookang many thanks to Fu-Kwun Hwang and author of Easy Java Simulation =
Francisco Esquembre - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16981639 https://d2jmvrsizmvf4x.cloudfront.net/LmshI21xSrKeNu468Sru_Doubleslit3Dspectrum.gif
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Radio propagation: Absorption

By NASA (original); SVG by Mysid. - Vectorized by User:Mysid in Inkscape, original NASA image from File:Atmospheric electromagnetic transmittance
or opacity.jpg., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5577513
http://cddemo.szialab.org/p7.gif
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Radio propagation: Polarization

http://samatt.github.io/network-geography/apr1/img/9q9PY.gif http://electron6.phys.utk.edu/light/images7-10/polarization.gif
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Radio propagation: Dispersion

By Lucas V. Barbosa - Own work, Public Domain,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3270145
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Radio propagation: Scattering

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KiBkxNqnak0/T6JeDAqV9bI/AAAAAAAAAhQ/ok6rC0_kano/s1600/scattering.gif
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Radio propagation: Doppler effect

Observed frequency
Δ𝑣
𝑓 = 1+ 𝑓0
𝑐

Change in frequency (doppler shift)

Δ𝑣
Δ𝑓 = 𝑓
𝑐 0

where
Δ𝑓 = 𝑓 − 𝑓0
Δ𝑣 = −(𝑣𝑟 − 𝑣𝑠 )

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppler_effect
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Radio propagation: Doppler effect

Example. Doppler effect on Satellites

Variables:
𝑐
• 𝑓𝑐 = is the carrier frequency,
𝜆𝑐
𝑣𝑚𝑜𝑏
• 𝑓𝐷,𝑚𝑎𝑥 = is the maximum Doppler shift due to the mobile station moving,
𝜆𝑐
• 𝑓𝐷𝑠𝑎𝑡 is the additional Doppler shift due to the satellite moving.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppler_effect
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Radio propagation: Fading

Variation of the attenuation of a signal due to:

• Time
• Geographical position
• Radio frequency
• Multipath
• Weather
• Shadowing

http://www.teletopix.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/RICEAN-FADING.jpg
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Propagation modes

1. Surface modes (groundwave) Earth’s upper

atmosphere
2. Ionospheric modes (skywave)
3. Tropospheric modes
4. Direct modes (line-of-sight)
Direct LOS wave (space wave)
5. Other effects Transmit Receive
antenna antenna
• Diffraction
• Absorption

Surface wave

Earth’s surface
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Ground-wave propagation and Surface waves

• Lower-frequency waves (below 3 MHz) are more strongly diffracted around

obstacles due to their long wavelengths, allowing them to follow the Earth's
curvature.
• Disturbances: Atmospheric noise, man-made noise, and thermal noise from
electronic components at the receiver

Source: [Proakis, 2014]

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Ionospheric modes (skywave)

3 MHz ~ 30 MHz

Daytime: D-layer serves to absorb frequencies

below 2 MHz
Night-time: electron density in the lower layers of the
ionosphere drops sharply. Powerful AM radio
broadcast stations can propagate over the F-layer of
the ionosphere Source: [Wikipedia]
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Line-of-sight (LOS)

Radio line of sight Optical horizon

Radio horizon

Radius of Earth
ℎ Line of sight distance

𝑑𝑜𝑝 [km] = 12.74ℎ[m]

4
𝑑𝑟𝑎 [km] = 12.74 × 𝐾 × ℎ[m] Usually, 𝐾 ≈
3
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Line-of-sight (LOS)

Air
𝑑2
𝑑1 𝑑
ℎ2
ℎ1 Earth

𝑑𝑜𝑝 [km] = 12.74ℎ[m]

⇒ 𝑑 = 𝑑1 + 𝑑2 ≈ 3.57 ℎ1 + ℎ2
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𝑑𝑜𝑝 [km] = 12.74ℎ[m]

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Line-of-sight (LOS)

(100 MHz ~ 10 GHz).

Disturbances: thermal noise
generated in the receiver front
end and cosmic noise picked up
by the antenna.

(>10 GHz). Disturbances:

atmospheric conditions.

[Proakis, 2001]
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Impact of rain in RF propagation

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Exercise
Consider a 60 km RF-link designed to work under heavy rain conditions (up to 25
mm/hr), such that attenuation because of rain should not exceed 50%. What is the
maximum frequency you would recommend for this link?
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Multipath propagation effect

𝑥 𝑡 = 𝛿(𝑡) 𝑁−1

⇒ 𝑦 𝑡 = ℎ 𝑡 = ෍ 𝜌𝑛 𝑒 𝑗𝜙𝑛 𝛿(𝑡 − 𝜏𝑛 )
𝑛=0

Channel Impulse Response

A: free space
B: reflection
C: diffraction
D: scattering
https://www.slideshare.net/ShreeKrupa1/multichannel-fading https://www.slideshare.net/ShreeKrupa1/multichannel-fading
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Multipath propagation effect

Channel Impulse Response
• It refers to the evolution of the received signal over time when an electromagnetic
wave is emitted by a source, providing statistical characteristics of the
communication channel based on the responses from line-of-sight (LOS) and
non-line-of-sight (NLOS) reflections
Direct path (LOS) ∞
‫׬‬0 𝜏𝐴𝑐 𝜏 𝑑𝜏
𝜏𝑑 = ∞
‫׬‬0 𝐴𝑐 𝜏 𝑑𝜏

∞
‫׬‬0 𝜏 − 𝜏𝑑 2 𝐴𝑐 𝜏 𝑑𝜏
𝜏𝑑,rms = ∞
‫׬‬0 𝐴𝑐 𝜏 𝑑𝜏

where 𝐴𝑐 𝜏 is the power delay profile

of the channel

difference between the time of arrival of the earliest

significant multipath component and the time of arrival of
𝜏𝑑 Delay spread the last multipath components.
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Multipath propagation effect

Power delay profile (PDP)
• It gives the signal power received on each multipath as a function of
the propagation delays of the respective multipaths.
• The time delay is the difference in travel time between multipath
arrivals.

https://www.gaussianwaves.com/2014/07/power-delay-profile/
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Multipath propagation effect

Coherence Bandwidth
• The coherence bandwidth 𝐵𝑐 of a channel is the frequency range (Δ𝑓) at which a
channel is correlated or in other words the approximate maximum bandwidth or
frequency interval over which two frequencies of a signal are likely to experience
comparable or correlated amplitude fading. Two signals transmitted in frequencies
separated more than Δ𝑓 are affected differently by the channel.
• Coherence bandwidth is a statistical measurement of the range of frequencies
over which the channel can be considered "flat“.
• It can be reasonably assumed that the channel is flat if the coherence bandwidth
is greater than the data signal bandwidth.

1
𝐵𝑐 ≈
𝜏𝑑
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Multipath propagation effect

Coherence time 𝑇𝑐
• It is the time duration over which the channel impulse response is considered to
be not varying.

Doppler spread Δ𝑓max

• It is the widening of the spectrum of a narrow-band signal transmitted through a
multipath propagation channel. It is due to the different Doppler shift frequencies
associated with the multiple propagation paths when there is relative motion
between the transmitter and the receiver.

1 1
𝑇𝑐 ≈ =
Δ𝑓max 2Δ𝑓
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Types of Fading
• Slow fading: coherence time of the channel is large relative to the delay
requirement of the application (invariant system approach). In this regime,
the amplitude and phase change imposed by the channel can be considered
roughly constant over the period of use. Slow fading can be caused by
events such as shadowing, where a large obstruction such as a hill or large
building obscures the main signal path between the transmitter and the
receiver.

• Fast fading: coherence time of the channel is small relative to the delay
requirement of the application (variant system approach). In this case, the
amplitude and phase change imposed by the channel varies considerably
over the period of use.
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Example
• Scenario:
• Assume we measure 𝐻(𝑓) at 𝑁𝑝 = 10 different positions along a linear track.
• At each position, we measure 𝐻(𝑓) over a frequency range 𝑓1 = 2.4 GHz to 𝑓2 =
2.5 with 𝑁𝑓 = 50 frequency points.
• The channel exhibits small-scale fading, and measurements at different positions
provide independent realizations of the channel.

• Procedure (simulating channel measurements):

• Since in practice 𝐻(𝑓) is complex and varies due to multipath, let's assume:
𝐻 𝑓, 𝑥 = 𝑒 𝑗(2𝜋𝑓𝜏+𝜙𝑥)
• where:
• 𝜏 represents a delay component
• 𝜙𝑥 is a random phase at position 𝑥, modeling small-scale fading.

See Python simulation

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Free space propagation

Friis transmission formula
Path loss
𝟐
𝑃𝑟 𝜆 exponent
= 𝐷𝑡 𝐷𝑟
𝑑 𝑃𝑡 4𝜋𝑑
1
𝜌𝑃 ∝ 2 Using decibels:
𝑑 𝜆
𝑃𝑟 = 𝑃𝑡 + 𝐷𝑡 + 𝐷𝑟 −FSPL
+ 20log10
4𝜋𝑑
Free-space path loss
Friis free-space radio circuit 2
4𝜋𝑑
FSPL =
𝜆

4𝜋𝑑
FSPL [dB] = 10 ⋅ 𝟐 ⋅ log10
𝜆
Path loss
exponent
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friis_transmission_equation#/media/File:Friis_Free-Space_Radio_Circuit.png
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Exercise
2 2
𝑃𝑟 𝜆 4𝜋𝑑
= 𝐷𝑡 𝐷𝑟 FSPL =
𝑃𝑡 4𝜋𝑑 𝜆
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Fresnel zones

𝑛𝜆𝑑1 𝑑2
𝑟𝑛 =
𝑑1 + 𝑑2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresnel_zone
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Link budget

𝑃𝑟 =
Received Power (dB) 𝑃𝑡 + (𝐷𝑡 +𝐷Power
= Transmitted 𝑟 ) − FSPL
(dB) + Gains (dB) − Losses (dB)

Free space Gains:

• 𝐺𝑇𝑋 = transmitter antenna gain (dBi)
• 𝐺𝑅𝑋 = receiver antenna gain (dBi)

Free space Losses:

• 𝐿 𝑇𝑋 = transmitter losses (cables, connectors, etc.)
• 𝐿𝑅𝑋 = receiver losses (cables, connectors, etc.)
• 𝐿𝐹𝑆 = free space loss, path loss.
• 𝐿𝑀 = miscellaneous losses (fading, polarization mismatches,
Fresnel zone losses, multipath losses, Doppler shift, etc.)
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Statistical Channel Modeling

Channel model

Pathloss Large-scale fading Small-scale fading

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Statistical Channel Modeling

Channel model

Pathloss Large-scale fading Small-scale fading

𝑑
𝑃𝐿 𝑑 = 𝑃𝐿 𝑑0 + 10𝒏 log10 in dB
𝑑0

Reference distance: 𝑑0
Path loss exponent: 𝒏
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Statistical Channel Modeling

Channel model

Pathloss Large-scale fading Small-scale fading

𝑑
𝑃𝐿 𝑑 = 𝑃𝐿 𝑑0 + 10𝒏 log10 + 𝑆 in dB 𝑆 ~ 𝑁(0, σ𝑆 )
𝑑0

Reference distance: 𝑑0 Gaussian random variable with zero mean and

standard deviation σ𝑆
Path loss exponent: 𝒏
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Statistical Channel Modeling

Channel model

Pathloss Large-scale fading Small-scale fading

e.g. Multipath channel model

𝑀−1

ℎ 𝑡 = ෍ 𝑎𝑚 𝑒 𝑗𝜙𝑚 𝛿(𝑡 − 𝜏𝑚 )
𝑚=0

𝑥 𝑡 Channel ℎ 𝑡 ∗ 𝑥(𝑡)
Tx Rx
ℎ(𝑡)
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Multipath Channel Model

𝑀−1

ℎ 𝑡 = ෍ 𝑎𝑚 𝑒 𝑗𝜙𝑚 𝛿(𝑡 − 𝜏𝑚 )
𝑚=0

𝑥 𝑡 ℎ 𝑡 ∗ 𝑥(𝑡)
Channel
Tx Rx
ℎ(𝑡)

𝑎𝑚

𝑡 in ns
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Multipath Channel Model: e.g. Saleh-Valenzuela Model / IEEE 802.15.4 Model

Cluster 𝑙 = 0 Cluster 𝑙 = 1
𝑀−1

ℎ 𝑡 = ෍ 𝑎𝑚 𝑒 𝑗𝜙𝑚 𝛿(𝑡 − 𝜏𝑚 ) 𝐿 = 5, K = 10
𝑚=0 𝑘=0
Clustering
𝑘=9

𝐿−1 𝐾−1

ℎ 𝑡 = ෍ ෍ 𝑎𝑘,𝑙 𝑒 𝑗𝜙𝑘,𝑙 𝛿(𝑡 − 𝑇𝑙 − 𝜏𝑘,𝑙 )

𝑙=0 𝑘=0 𝑎𝑘,𝑙

Phase coefficients 𝜙𝑘,𝑙

𝑝 𝜙𝑘,𝑙 = Uniform(0, 2𝜋)

𝑡 in ns
𝑇0 𝑇1
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Multipath Channel Model: e.g. Saleh-Valenzuela Model / IEEE 802.15.4 Model

Cluster 𝑙 = 0 Cluster 𝑙 = 1
𝑀−1

ℎ 𝑡 = ෍ 𝑎𝑚 𝑒 𝑗𝜙𝑚 𝛿(𝑡 − 𝜏𝑚 ) 𝑎𝑘,𝑙 𝐿 = 5, K = 10

𝑚=0 𝑘=0
Clustering 𝑇
𝑘=9 − 𝑙
𝜏 𝑒 Γ
− 𝛾0,𝑙
𝐿−1 𝐾−1
𝑒 𝑙

ℎ 𝑡 = ෍ ෍ 𝑎𝑘,𝑙 𝑒 𝑗𝜙𝑘,𝑙 𝛿(𝑡 − 𝑇𝑙 − 𝜏𝑘,𝑙 ) 𝜏

− 𝛾1,𝑙
𝑒 𝑙
𝑙=0 𝑘=0

Phase coefficients 𝜙𝑘,𝑙

𝑝 𝜙𝑘,𝑙 = Uniform(0, 2𝜋)

𝑡 in ns
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References
• [Proakis, 2014] J. Proakis, M. Salehi. Fundamentals of communication systems. 2
ed. England: Pearson Education Limited, 2014. In:
https://uis.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/57UIDS_INST/63p0of/cdi_askewsh
olts_vlebooks_9781292015699
• [ULABY, 2015] Fundamentals of Applied Electromagnetics (7th ed.), F. T. Ulaby
and U. Ravaioli. Pearson (Global edition). 2015. In:
https://uis.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/57UIDS_INST/ds6hgo/alma991001
713980307671
• [Wikipedia] Wikipedia in English, the free Encyclopedia.