Frequency diversity: The signal is transmitted using several frequency channels or spread over a wide spectrum that is affected

by frequency-selective fading. Middle-late 20th century microwave radio relay lines often used several regular wideband radio channels, and one protection channel for automatic use by any faded channel. Later examples include:

OFDM modulation in combination with subcarrier interleaving and forward error correction Spread spectrum, for example frequency hopping or DS-CDMA.

Space diversity: The signal is transmitted over several different propagation paths. In the case of wired transmission, this can be achieved by transmitting via multiple wires. In the case of wireless transmission, it can be achieved by antenna diversity using multiple transmitter antennas (transmit diversity) and/or multiple receiving antennas (reception diversity). In the latter case, a diversity combining technique is applied before further signal processing takes place. If the antennas are far apart, for example at different cellular base station sites or WLAN access points, this is called macro diversity or site diversity. If the antennas are at a distance in the order of one wavelength, this is called micro diversity. A special case is phased antenna arrays, which also can be used for beam forming, MIMO channels and spacetime coding (STC). Fade Margin (fading margin) has the following meanings:

A design allowance that provides for sufficient system gain or sensitivity to accommodate expected fading, for the purpose of ensuring that the required quality of service is maintained. The amount by which a received signal level may be reduced without causing system performance to fall below a specified threshold value. It is mainly used to describe a communication system such as satellite, for example a system like global star operates at 25-35 dB Fade margin

SMALL - SCALE FADING

Small-scale fading refers to the dramatic changes in signal amplitude and phase that can be experienced as a result of small changes (as small as half wavelength) in the spatial position between transmitter and receiver. In this section, we will develop the small-scale fading component r(t). Analysis proceeds on the assumption that the antenna remains within a limited trajectory so that the effect of large-scale fading m(t) is constant. Assume that the antenna is traveling and there are multiple scatter paths, each associated with a time-variant propagation delay n(t) and a time variant multiplicative factor n(t). Neglecting noise, the received bandpass signal can be written as below r (t)=nn(t)s(tn(t))(1) Substituting Equation (1) in the module of Characterizing Mobile-Radio Propagation into Equation (1) above, we can write the received bandpass signal as follow r(t)=Re((nn(t)g(tn(t))ej2fc(tn(t)))(2) =Re((nn(t)ej2fcn(t)g(tn(t)))ej2fct We have the equivalent received bandpass signal is s(t)=nn(t)ej2fn(t)cg(tn(t))(3) Consider the transmission of an unmodulated carrier at frequency fc or in other words, for all time, g(t)=1. then the received bandpass signal becomes s(t)=nn(t)ej2fcn(t)=nn(t)ejn(t)(4) The baseband signal s(t) consists of a sum of time-variant components having amplitudes n(t) and phases n(t). Notice that n(t) will change by 2 radians whenever n changes by 1/fc (very small delay). These multipath components combine either constructively or destructively, resulting in amplitude variations or fading of s(t). Equation (4) is very important because it tell us that a bandpass signal s(t) is the signal that experienced the fading effects and gave rise to the received signal r(t), these effects can be described by analyzing r(t) at the baseband level. Small scale manifests itself in two mechanisms - time spreading of signal (or signal dispersion) and time-variant behavior of the channel (Figure 2). It is important to distinguish between two different time references- delay time and transmission time t. Delay time refers to the time spreading effect resulting from the fading channels nonoptimum impulse response. The transmission time, however, is related to the motion of antenna or spatial changes, accounting for propagation path changes that are perceived as the channels time-variant behavior.

Multipath Fading MULTIPATH is simply a term used to describe the multiple paths a radio wave may follow between transmitter and receiver. Such propagation paths include the ground wave, ionospheric refraction, reradiating by the ionospheric layers, reflection from the earths surface or from more than one ionospheric layer, and so on. Figure 1 shows a few of the paths that a signal can travel between two sites in a typical circuit. One path, XYZ, is the basic ground wave. Another path, XFZ, refracts the wave at the F layer and passes it on to the receiver at point Z. At point Z, the received signal is a combination of the ground wave and the sky wave. These two signals, having traveled different paths, arrive at point Z at different times. Thus, the arriving waves may or may not be in phase with each other. A similar situation may resultant point A. Another path, XFZFA, results from a greater angle of incidence and two refractions from the F layer. A wave traveling that path and one traveling the XEA path may or may not arrive at point A in phase. Radio waves that are received in phase reinforce each other and produce a stronger signal at the receiving site, while those that are

received out of phase produce a weak or fading signal. Small alterations in the transmission path may change the phase relationship of the two signals, causing periodic fading.

Figure 1Multipath transmission. Multipath fading may be minimized by practices called SPACE DIVERSITY and FREQUENCY DIVERSITY In space diversity, two or more receiving antennas are spaced some distance apart. Fading does not occur simultaneously at both antennas. Therefore, enough output is almost always available from one of the antennas to provide a useful signal. In frequency diversity, two transmitters and two receivers are used, each pair tuned to a different frequency, with the same information being transmitted simultaneously over both frequencies. One of the two receivers will almost always produce a useful signal.