Signal Design for Multipath Fading Channels - Doppler and IS1 Barriers

Aame Mammela
VTT Electronics
P.O. Box 1100,FIN-90571 Oulu, Finland
Aarne.Mammela@vtt.fi

Abstract
Signal design for digital communications in linear
multipath fading channels is discussed. We de$ne two
extremes for the symbol rate in single-carrier systems, i.e.,
the Doppler barrier and the intersymbol interference (IS0
barrier and we note that it is difficult to go beyond these
two barriers. The Doppler barrier is roughly equal to the
Doppler spread of the channel. The ISI barrier is roughly
equal to the inverse of the multipath spread of the channel.
We use the time-frequency duality and show that above the
ISI barrier it is advantageous to use frequencymultiplexed signals like orthogonal frequency division
multiplexing (OFDM) signals, and below the Doppler
barrier it is advantageous to use the corresponding timemultiplexed signals. An important parameter defining the
measurability of the channel is the spread factor or the
product of the Doppler spread and the multipath spread.
Communications in overspread channels in which the
spread factor is larger than unity is also discussed. All the
results should be useful for system designers,

1. Introduction
In digital communications in multipath fading linear
channels we have fundamental barriers both at small and
high symbol rates. Those barriers are difficult but not
impossible to pass in ordinary single-carrier systems using
ordinary full-length symbols. We refer to the barriers as
the Doppler and intersymbol interference (ISI) barriers [ 11.
The Doppler barrier for the symbol rate is roughly equal to
the Doppler spread of the channel. The IS1 barrier is
roughly equal to the inverse of the multipath spread of the
channel. The term IS1 barrier was used earlier in [2] and
the term Doppler barrier was used by the author in [ l ] .
The terminology comes originally from the aircraft where
a similar barrier for the velocity, i.e., the sonic barrier,
exists.
We note that depending on the system parameters,
similar barriers can also be caused by the analog parts of

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the transmitter and receiver, for example from the

inaccurate oscillators causing frequency errors and phase
jitter, normally without significant amplitude changes, and
the filters causing frequency-selectivity.
We assume that the channel is a linear time-variant
wide-sense stationary uncorrelated scattering (WSSUS)
channel with Gaussian statistics [ 11, 151. We assume that
we transmit linearly modulated M-ary symbols, each of
which includes k bits where M = 2k. We can somewhat
control the length of the symbol by selecting a suitable k.
For narrowband signals the signal bandwidth is W = 1/ T ,
and for spread spectrum signals W >> 1/T where T is the
symbol interval.
In mobile communications in macrocells the maximum
Doppler spread BO is typically in the order of 100 Hz, and
we say that the Doppler barrier is about 100 baud (Bd),
below which the channel is time-selective and fast fading
but usually frequency-nonselective or flat fading unless
spread-spectrum signals are used. Transmission becomes
difficult due to estimation and equalization problems. At
the other extreme, the typical maximum multipath spread
TM = 10 ps leads to the IS1 barrier of lOOkBd, above
which the channel is frequency-selective and slowly
fading and the received signal includes intersymbol
interference (ISI), and again equalization is needed.
Our purpose is to suggest signals for each case such
that the equalization (if useful) is simple enough and the
performance is reasonable. All the results should be useful
for system designers. Some ideas concerning timefrequency duality come from [ 6 ] ,but we present the ideas
in a modern perspective. Time-frequency duality was
summarized in [ 7 ] . Just like in [6] we emphasize the
diversity systems which are always behind most
communications systems in fading channels even though it
is not always easy to see this.

2. Underspread and overspread channels

Communications is easiest between the Doppler and
IS1 barriers since equalization remains simple [ 5 ] . We now
define the spread factor of the channel as S = Bo TM[8]. If

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the spread factor is smaller than a threshold close to unity,

the channel is underspread, otherwise it is overspread. The
threshold depends on the definitions of the multipath and
Doppler spreads. It is advantageous for channel estimation
i f s < < 1 [5].
In an underspread channel the Doppler barrier is
always below the IS1 barrier and the channel is measurable
[8]. For a more detailed discussion, see [SI where a new
spread factor referred to as the area spread factor is
defined.
The channel is slowly flat fading between the two
barriers. In slowly fading channels the Doppler spread is
much smaller than the symbol rate or B, << R [3].
Equivalently in mobile communications we require
v l c << R l f o where v is the velocity of the mobile
station, c is the velocity of the light, R = 1lT the symbol
rate and fo is the carrier frequency. In general, we have
slowly fading channels in applications where v is small, R
is large and f o is small.
In a flat fading channel, we require W << l l T M [3]. If
we assume that in general the multipath spread depends
linearly on the link distance, we see that flat fading
channels have small enough bandwidths and small link
distances.
Link distances are limited by another basic resource of
a communication system, namely the transmitter power
[14]. A fundamental parameter in link budget
computations is thus the average received signal-to-noise
ratio per symbol [3]. In channel estimators we have an
observation interval whose upper limit is the coherence
time of the channel [ 1I. The observation interval together
with the average received signal-to-noise ratio per symbol
defines the average signal-to-noise ratio of the estimates,
which should be much larger than the signal-to-noise ratio
per symbol in coherent receivers [5].We conclude that the
channel must be underspread and slowly fading for
coherent receivers [I].
In the example channel of Section 1 the spread factor
is 0.001 and the channel is clearly underspread. In an
extreme case the Doppler spread might be 1000 Hz and
the multipath spread could be 100 ps, and the spread
factor is 0.1. The channel is still underspread, but there is
no easy way for communications due to estimation
problems. Advanced equalization is needed [4].
An optimal receiver in all channels (underspread or
overspread, slowly or fast fading) is based on the
estimator-correlator [4, 11I. It can be approximated
recursively above the Doppler barrier by using persurvivor processing (PSP) with a channel estimator for
each survivor in the Viterbi algorithm. The basic idea is to
avoid the delay in the conventional decision directed
estimator since each estimator is using its own survivor at
the input of the estimator. If we are well above the
Doppler barrier, we can use the simpler conventional
correlator receiver, implemented recursively by the

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ordinary Viterbi algorithm with a single decision directed

channel estimator. If the channel is overspread, the
impulse response would not be measurable even in a
noiseless channel and coherent processing becomes almost
impossible [SI. In the worst case we are forced to use
noncoherent energy detection [ 5 ] .

3. Communications
barrier

below

the

Doppler

Below the Doppler barrier the channel is fast fading,

but usually almost frequency-nonselective or flat fading.
The Doppler spread is large compared to the symbol rate.
Applications include systems with large mobile velocities
and high carrier frequencies, but with small symbol rates.
The coherence time is short and therefore, to avoid
distortions, we prefer short pulses in the time domain [6]
so that in effect the signal is moved above the Doppler
barrier (Fig. 1). Between the pulses other pulses can be
transmitted and time division multiplexing is a natural
form of transmission. The bandwidth of the pulses is large.
We can use time diversity in the form of repetitions or
channel coding. Also the interleavers work well in the
time domain. Furthermore, we can use time hopping and
time division multiple access (TDMA). The signals are
spread in frequency and thus a gap or guard band is
needed in the frequency domain to avoid a crosstalk
between different frequency division multiplexed signals.
If the signal-to-noise ratio per symbol is not large
enough, it will be difficult to estimate the channel since
the maximum observation interval is the coherence time
and only a small amount of energy is available for
estimation. We must use noncoherent receivers and in
diversity systems we must tolerate a noncoherent
combining loss.
The delay of the channel might also be changing quite
rapidly in fast fading channels, causing a new
phenomenon called delay modulation [9], created by the
Doppler effect. Delay modulation can be approximated
with a frequency shift if the delay rate, i.e., the change of
the channel delay in a unit time interval, is small
compared to time-bandwidth product of the signal to be
estimated [9]. Delay modulation or time warping is more
thoroughly discussed in [lo].
We consider separately the usefulness of the direct
sequence (DS) spread spectrum signals, which are often
used in modern code-division multiple access (CDMA)
systems. We note that CDMA signals are not very
efficient here since they are based on coherent signal
compression, which is not easy in fast fading channels.
This topic is further considered in [l] where a method
based on composite codes was developed for this
application and the idea of the RAKE principle [3] was
extended to fast fading channels. In general, CDMA
signals should be used in slowly fading channels above the
Doppler barrier.

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4. Communications above the IS1 barrier

Above the IS1 barrier the channel is frequencyselective and typically slowly fading. The coherence
bandwidth or the inverse of the multipath spread [3] is
small compared to the signal bandwidth. Applications
include fixed or slowly moving links with small carrier
frequencies, large link distances and large bit rates.
The channel can be estimated quite easily, and
therefore the optimal receiver is the correlator receiver
implemented with the recursive Viterbi algorithm. In
general, we must tolerate a loss due to IS1 [3], but this loss
is at least partially compensated by the diversity gain in
the frequency-selective channel. The complexity of the
Viterbi algorithm depends exponentially on the length of
the channel impulse response, measured in symbol
intervals. When Mary modulation is used, the complexity
depends exponentially also on k, the number of bits per
symbol.
To avoid distortions and the loss due to IS1 and to
simplify the equalizer, we prefer narrow pulses in the
frequency domain and long pulses in the time domain
(Fig. 1). In effect, the signal is moved below the IS1
barrier. Frequency division multiplexing is a natural form
of transmission. We can efficiently use frequency diversity
(perhaps in the form of channel coding and interleaving in
the frequency domain), frequency hopping and frequency
division multiple access (FDMA). This is the domain of
orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). The
signals are spread in time and therefore a gap or guard
interval is used between the OFDM symbols in the time
domain.
DS/CDMA signals can be considered for systems
above the IS1 barrier. However, a technical problem is the
high bandwidth, which makes the signal processing very
demanding. When we are above the IS1 barrier, the
bandwidth is already very large and DS signals will make
the bandwidth even larger. An additional problem is the
ISI, which is not totally avoided in CDMA systems even
though it is somewhat reduced when the pulses are
compressed [12]. Thus equalization might be needed in
CDMA systems above the IS1 barrier and the loss due to
IS1 must be tolerated.

Therefore overspread channels are not common in mobile

communications.
In an overspread channel the impulse response is not
measurable and therefore equalization, which is obviously
based on coherent processing, is not possible. We are
therefore forced to stay below the IS1 barrier, otherwise
the loss due to IS1 would be too large [5]. We are also
forced to use energy detection since the channel is fast
fading and the signal is severely distorted [5].
We prefer symbols whose frequency difference is
larger than the Doppler spread and whose length is less
than the multipath spread. In a bandwidth of W there are a
maximum of about W/BDsubchannels with a symbol rate
< UT''. The total symbol rate is R < W/S. Thus there is a
fundamental limitation for the symbol rate in an
overspread channel due to the spread factor when the
crosstalk between the pulses must be avoided. In an ideal
channel the limit for R is 2W according to Nyquist [3].
This limit must be divided by 2s in an overspread channel.
In practice the maximum symbol rate might be much
smaller.

6. Conclusions
The signal design problems were discussed in this
paper. We concluded that above the IS1 barrier we should
use OFDM-type of signals and below the Doppler barrier
we should use time division multiplexing. In many
practical systems we are approaching an overspread
channel. An example system is the GSM/EDGE system
where in one extreme the velocity of trains is 500 km/h.
We note that originally the GSM system used TDMA to
stay well above the Doppler barrier and close to the IS1
barrier even though the bit rate per user is small. In the
EDGE system TDMA has been removed to attain higher
bit rates per user and also more bits per symbol are
transmitted (k = 3). In the future, when the bit rate will be
further increased, it will be natural to use OFDM
modulation, which is selected for some wireless local area
networks (WLAN). We have also shown that DS/CDMA
signals are not very efficient below the Doppler barrier
(signal compression is difficult) nor above the IS1 barrier
(bandwidth is too large and the IS1 may need
equalization).

5. Communications in an overspread channel

References
A. Mammela, Diversity Receivers in a Fast Fading
Multipath Channel. Doctoral thesis. VTT Publications 253.
Technical Research Center of Finland, Espoo, Finland,

In an overspread channel the IS1 barrier is below the

Doppler barrier and pulses of any kind are severely
distorted. Overspread channels can be found from large
cells (long link distances) with high velocities of mobile
stations and high carrier frequencies. These are somewhat
contradictory requirements since the transmitter power is
limited, the channel attenuation is large with high carrier
frequencies and the link distances are typically small.

0-7803-6728-6/01/$10.0002001 IEEE.

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Frequency-division multiplexing

Time-division multiplexing

Frequency

Frequency
I

Time

Time

Symbol rate

I
IS1 barrier = 1Multipath spread

Doppler barrier = Doppler spread

Fig. 1. Communications below the Doppler barrier and above the IS1 barrier in an underspreadchannel.

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