A model of High Frequencies (H.F) Channel used to design a modem of 9600 bits/s rate in 3kHz of bandwidth LECONTE Michel, TESTARD Mare Laboratory of Radiocommunications University of Rennes I Campus of Beaulieu, Bat 11c, 35042 Rennes France Email: michel.leconteGuniv-rennes] fr, sacet.marc.testard@wanadoo.fr Abstract: Our goal is to develop an H.F transmis- sion system, thus, we need to modelize the ionospheric channel. We define our H.F channel model starting from its weighting function g(t,r) and its transfer function G(f,t) variable in time. The study of the correlation function of the channel filter allows to characterize the modelized channel with two fundamental parameters used to design any modem: the coherence bandwidth B, and the coherence time T-. I. Introduction ‘The most of H.F channel models are commonly based ‘on a multipath propagation principle and on a non- stationarity of the medium which is described in term of, doppler effect. Their differences lie in their validity do- main and the consideration or not of some physical phe- nomena. Several models have been previously proposed by Watterson and al [1] or Vogler and Hoffmeyer (2]. ‘The Watterson’s model has been and is always widely used to simulate this channel. However, it’s only valid for narrowband signals (< 12kH) whereas the Vogler and Hoffmeyer’s (V&cH’s) model simulates wider band- width. The latter is based on empirical relations whi have been established from measurement campaigns. ‘When we elaborate an H.F modem, using this type of models, we're confronted with the difficulty for evaluat- ing analytically the system performance. As far as we're concerned, we propose an H.F channel model to help the design of a military parallel modem whose spectral efficiency is greater than 3.2 bits/s/Hz. This model is derived from the V&H’s model with a simplified ver- sion in order to calculate analytically the performance ‘of a numeric transmission system. In this article, we begin with a description of the channel model with its weighting function g(t,r). This function is a measure of the distorsions induced by the channel at time t to a pulse sent at time t—r. The choices used to define g(t) are exposed and the use of the Fourier transform yields the transfer function G(f,t) variable in time do- main. Next, we study the correlation function of G(,t) 0-7803-4249-6/97/§10,00 © 1997 IEEE to define the coherence bandwidth B, and the coherence time T,. We end up with simulation results concerning the estimation of B. and T,. 2. Definition of the H.F channel model ‘The H.F medium is a selective channel both in the time domain and the frequency domain. The variations of the channel can be analyzed with the transfer fune- tion G(f,) using variable filters theory (3). This theory defines a weighting function g(t,7) which measures the distorsions induced by the channel on a pulse sent at time tr, the direct fourier transform of g(t, r) regard- ing r gives G(J,t). The variable 7 is the propagation delay in the channel. We define the transmitted signal spt) = Re(s(t).27 =) (a) with: - s(t): signal sent in baseband, fo: carrier frequency. At the receiver, the measured signal yj. at time t will correspond to the signal sent at time t—r, weighted by the function 9j,(t,r) for all the values of r. Hence, 100 wl = [anttrdsnlt-dr 2) where 9/,(t,7) is the weighting function at frequency fe Defining = vyo(t) = y(t).c#?*-4* where y(t) is the received signal in baseband, = gplt,t) = g(t,r).e277 with g(t,r) the low frequency equivalent weighting function, ‘Then, it’s possible to give the following expression of the received signal in baseband v= [°° ot r)ster).¢r @The weighting function g(t,7) of the channel is a function of the time variable t and of the propagation delay 7; the variation in t depends on the Doppler effect. whereas the variation in r is induced by the multipath propagation. Assuming the independance of both ef- fects, when neglecting the diffusion occurring in spread- F conditions !, g(t,7) can be written as, ft, 7) = Cdopp (t) 0497) (a) where = cdapp(t) represents the phase and amplitude distor- sions relative to the Doppler effect, = ayg(r) tepresents the amplitude distorsions relative to the propagation delay. from the expressions 3 and 4, we can obtain a new relation of the received signal y(t): 00 VO = Ado (t) fo aug(r).tt dr 8) So the received signal will correspond to the trans- mitted signal filtered by a filter of impulse response a4,(r) and modulated by a complex factor adopp(t)- ‘The propagation delay ‘The effect of the propagation delay will depend on the bandwidth of the transmitted signal. In the case of a narrowband signal (< 12kHz), the hypothesis of a non-dispersive channel is frequently used [2][4], mean- ing that the propagation delay doesn’t depend on fre- quency. Under such conditions, the channel is linear and all the frequencies in the signal undergo the same delay at the output of the channel filter. This type of, channel is called a discrete path channel and a¢,(r) may be expressed as: g(r) = S(t - 7) (6) In fact, around a propagation mode there always ex- ists a dispersion. This is recognized in the CCIR report number 549-2 (1986). The amplitude of this temporal dispersion around one propagation mode has been ex- perimentally studied by Leroux (5] and Basler (6]. The following table gives some values depending on the geo- physical location, ‘The amplitude distribution of g(¢,7) function of 7, corresponding to g(r), has been studied by Vogler and Hoffmeyer from measures realized in equatorial and po- lar region and medium latitudes. A characteristic rep- resentation of azp(r)? issued from their model is given in figure 1.a. However, the empirical relation of azg(r)? "these conditions can be seen on jonogram as a spread in the propagation delay for a given frequency ‘Table 1 order of sizes of the propagation delay disper geophysical location of the link medium latitude dispersion Tew tens of us high latitude,equator few hundreds of us Figure 1 Shape of ai,(7)* a) Vogler and Hoffmeyer’s, model b) Gaussian model 7 ye a in Vogler{2] isn’t an easy expression to perform ana- lytical calculations of modem performance. Hence, we give to aug(7)? a gaussian form. The advantage of this ribution is the independance between the mean and the standard deviation of variable r. We can handle a mean of propagation delay 7 of the order of a few 10~°s and a standard deviation o, of afew 10~®s. These val- ues of # and o are related to typical values for HF. channel at medium latitudes. We write az(r)? as ang(s)) = Ae eNO Y= a = eam | «O where: - Aand Ay are respectively the maximum and min- imum power of the received signal, = a, : value of the propagation delay for Ay after compression by 7, = Ong : value of the propagation delay for Ay with a gaussian pulse normalized to A. ‘The + parameter is the compression parameter of the normalized gaussian pulse, it allows to quantify the en- ergy considered in the channel with the values of o-,A and Ay. The figure 1. illustrates the shape of rg(r)? for a gaussian modelization. ‘The doppler effect ‘The doppler shift fy and the doppler spread, as a consequence of the ionospheric mobility and stochastic variations of the electronic density, are measures of the variability of ionospheric physical parameters. The ana- lytical relation for fz is given by [7]d.d-(t) a Mae ae (8) where ¢-(t) is the time varying phase distorsion of the channel. To define cdrpp(t), we take into account the phase shift and the amplitude distorsion imparted respect- ively by fy and the doppler spread. The latter is gen- erally modelized by a gaussian distribution [1][7] and wwe have to notice that this model has only been valid- ated for quiet conditions of the ionosphere(1]. Hence, the doppler effect dopp(t) can be written as exdopp(t) = 2(t).€0 44 (9) with z(t) a stochastic process which leads to the vari- ation in time of the channel model. The doppler spread ‘or doppler spectrum, denoted by S.(fz), is obtained by 1a direct fourier transform of the autocorrelation func~ tion I, (At) of 2(t): 400 Sila) = f[ oP 2foOt DP (At).dAt TAAt) = <2(t)"2(t+ At) > (19) Where < . >: stands for mathematical mean. We know that the fourier transform of a gaussian is also a gaus- sian. If we modelize S,(fa) by a gaussian, the autocor- relation function I, (At) has also the same distribution ‘To obtain a stochastic process 2(t) with a gaussian auto- correlation form, we can filter a gaussian stochastic pro- cess z(t), generating independant stochastic variables, by a gaussian filter. ‘The channel filter expression By replacing, in relation 4, the expressions of az,(r) and adop(t), the weighting function g(t,7) can be writ- ten as alt.) = 2.2 Ae PP (11) Now, we can give the channel synoptic for one path illustrated in figure 2. The channel filter G(f, t) is ob- tained by a direct Fourier transform of g(t, ) regarding the variable r. Also, we have GU) = TRlg(t.7)] VA ctdapp t).07F 28 EF PP Gdopp(t) = 2{t).€8?* Set (12) where - TF, : Fourier transform regarding 7, ~ A: maximum power of the received signal, compression factor of a normalized gaussian pulse, Figure 2 synoptic of the channel model for one path ia janie 0 - fa: doppler frequency, 7 : mean propagation delay, - z(t) + gaussian process generating correlated stochastic variables. 3 Characterization of the H.F channel To design a modem suited to an H.F channel we need to know the coherence time T. and coherence band- width B,. These two parameters quantify the channel selectivity in time-frequency domain. The computation of Tz and B, relies on the study of the channel filter correlation function. Correlation function ‘The channel filter G(/,t) is a stochastic process by 2(¢). We introduce a new variable w for the channel filter to denote a realization of the process G(f,t) and we form G(f,t, w). The correlation function of the channel filter is defined as [8]: Tf fast ta) = $< GSW). GUfa ta) > 13) with: = <.>: stands for mathematical mean, ~ w : related to a realization of the process G(f,t), complex conjugation, ‘The mathematical mean is performed on the realiz- ations of the process G(f,t). With the hypothesis of an ergodic system, the mathematical mean on several realizations is equivalent to the temporal mean of a unique realization. Under this assumption, the correla- tion function is written as - << G"Ufastitth).GUfastitta) De (14) Pol fis faitista) where = = tj : instants of one realization, = ty ty : instants regarding t;We assume wide sense stationarity of the chan- nel and independance of propagation modes. We re- call that wide sense stationarity involves the inde- pendance of the channel statistical parameters with re- spect to temporal references. Therefore, the function Tol fas faits, ta) depends on the differences At = t2~t, and Af = fr ~ fr. Without loss of generality, we can set f; = 0 and f = 0 and obtain a new expression of the correlation function: Te(Af; At) = 5. < G"(0,t).G(AS, 4+ At) >1, (15) ‘The coherence bandwidth and coherence time ‘The coherence bandwidth B. and coherence time T. define respectively the maximum frequency bandwidth and the maximum time where the phase and amplitude distorsions of the channel are correlated. The coher- ence bandwidth is defined with the frequency correla- tion function prg,, given by: _ Wo(AFi0)1 _ < G00, t)*.G(AF ti) > Pron Tel:0] — . (16) In expression 16 the coherence bandwidth B, is ob- tained by replacing Af by B./2. The coherence band- width B. verifies: < G(0,t)*.G(B./2,ti) >8 _ g < 16,4)? ‘The coherence time is given by the time correlation function pre, a8: (17) ‘The simulations are realized with two types of chan- nel. Each channel are constituted of two paths. In the table 2, we give the doppler bandwidth By of the paths for each channel and the time delay between the two paths which is equivalent to the propagation delay spread Ty. We assume that the doppler bandwidth By is defined at —34B. Thus, with the relation 10 of the doppler spectrum we have : S,(B4/2) = ~3dB. The first channe] modelized a quiet channel with a slow fad- ing, the second one describes a more selective channel both in the time domain and the frequency domain. Table 2 Characteristics of the channels used for simu- lations Doppler spread By OH THz Delay spread Ty, O.5ms ‘ams channel 1 channel 2 As results, we shows in the figures 3 and 4 the amp- litude of the transfer function for each channel. The transfer functions are issued of the computation of the expression 12. The figures 5 and 6 represent the correl- ation function P'¢(Af; At) defined in 15; they allow to estimate the coherence bandwidth B. and the coherence time T. in setting respectively At = 0 and Af = 0 in the correlation function. The table 3 contains the values of B. ans T, deduced from the correlation function of each channel. Table 3 Values of coherence bandwidth B. and coher- ence time T; for the channels defined in table 2 ACEREAO) _ [Pa(OiAt)] _ < G(0,t)".G(0,ti+ At > channel 1] 1.725 [10.96 < 1G, 6)" > channel 2 || _0.313_| Lit Pron = Trg( 0) (18) In a similar manner as B, the coherence time T. is defined by: << G(0,t)*.G(0,t; + Te/2) >a 7 In the litterature, B. and T, are often computed for a value of B= 0.5, this value is enough for diversity techniques to be efficiently designed.Furthermore, we introduce two other parameters used in the standard- ized waveform STANAG 4481 to characterize the H.F channel: the doppler bandwidth By and the propagation delay spread Tin. These four parameters are related by the following expressions: Tm © WB, Ba = YT. (20) 4 Simulation results 5 Conclusion We have presented our channel model to develop an HLF military modem. This model is a simplified ver- sion of the Vogler and Hoffmeyer's model. The chan- nel model has been defined with its weighting function ‘g(t,7) and its transfer function G(f,t). ‘The main hy- pothesis of the model is to assume the independance of the two variables t and r in the relation of (t,7). In the latter, the variation in t depends on the Doppler effect whereas the variation in 7 is induced by the mul- tipath propagation. The model takes into account the dispersion ? of the channel for each path, this disper- sion is assumed to have a gaussian form. The study of propagation delay depends on frequencyFigure 3 Amplitude of the transfer fanetion with the channel described by By = 0.1H= and Tm = 0.5ms Figure 5 Correlation function of the channel described 0.5ms by Ba = 0.12 and Typ the the correlation function allows us to evaluate the coher- ence bandwidth B, and the coherence time T,. These two parameters are fundamental to develop the H.P. modem, because their values influence the repartition in the time-frequency domain of the transmitted sig- As it’s shown in the simulation results the value of the coherence bandwidth can be very weak, about hun- dreds hertz. Thus to perform an H.F modem whose rate is 9600 bits/s in 3kHz of bandwidth we need to have a spectral efficiency of the system more than %% bits/s/Hz. Because we have to take account of the l ral. (a age in spectral efficiency induced by the channel coding, and the synchronization. The purpose of our future in- vestigations will be to define a waveform well suited to the HF channel, Acknowledgments The autors would like to thank the DGA CELAR in France to support this work. References Figure 6 Correlation function of the channel described by Ba = 1Hz and Tm» [1] ©. Watterson, J. Juroshek, and W. Bensema. Experi- mental verification of an ionospheric channel model. ‘Tech nical Report ERL-112-ITS-80, ESSA, 1969. [2] L. Vogler and J. Hoffmeyer. A model for wideband HF propagation channels. Radio Science, 28(6): 1131-1142, Nov 1993, [3] P. Bello Characterization of randomly time-variant lin- ear channels, IEEE Transactions on Communications Sys- tems, CS-11(4):360-393, Dec 1963. [a] L. Bertel, P. Parion, and D. Lemur. Model of nar- rowband signal used in ionospheric High Frequencies (3- 30MHz) channel. Paris, 1996,SEB. {5] Y. Leroux, R. Fleury, J. Menard, and J. Jolivet. Ana- lyse experimentale de liaisons H.F. In Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development, France, Oct 1988. Conf, Proc. N 442. [6] R. Basler, P. Bentley, G. Price, R. Tsunoda and T Wong. Ionospherie distorsion of HLF signals. Technical Re- port C.A 94025, SRI International, Menlo Park, 1937, [i] L. Vogler and J. Hoffmeyer. A new approach to HP channel modeling and simulation part 2: Stochastic model. Technical Report PB 90 200338, NTIA, Boulder, 1990, 8] J. Proakis. Digital Communications. 1989