Mobile Communications

Part IV- Propagation Characteristics

Multi-path Propagation - Fading

Professor Z Ghassemlooy

School of Computing, Engineering and

Information Sciences, University of Northumbria
U.K.
http://soe.unn.ac.uk/ocr
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Contents

 Fading
 Doppler Shift
 Dispersion
 Summary

Z. Ghassemlooy
 Fading

Is due to multipath propagation.

With respect to a stationary base station, multipath
propagation creates a stochastic standing wave pattern,
through which the mobile station moves.
Caused by shadowing:
when the propagation environment is changing
significantly, but this fading is typically much slower than
the multipath fading.
Modem design is affected mainly by the faster
multipath fading, which can be normally assumed to
be locally wide-sense stationary (WSS).
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Multipath Propagation - Fading

a b
No direct path
Diffracted
wave Reflected
wave

a a
Antenna y=a+b Antenna y=0
b b

a & b are in phase a & b are out of phase by 

Complete fading when

Z. Ghassemlooy 2d/ = n, d is the path difference
 Multipath Propagation - contd.

• For a stationary mobile unit with no direct path, the

received signal can be expressed as a sum of delayed
components or in terms of phasor notation:
N
Pulse train S r t    ai Pt  ti 
i 1

A single pulse S r (t )   ai cos (2f c  i )

i 1
Where: ai is the amplitude of the scattered signal,
p(t) is the transmitted signal (pulse) shape,
ti is the time taken by the pulse to reach the receiver,
N is the number of different paths
fc is the carrier frequency
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Fading - Types

• Slow (Long) Term

•Fast (Short) Term (Also known as Rayleigh fading)
Signal strength relative to 1uV (db)

30
Fast fading
20

10
Slow fading
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 Distance ()
Exact representation of fading characteristics is not possible,
because of infinite number of situation.
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Fading - Slow (Long) Term

 Slower variation in mean signal strength (distance 1-

2 km)
 Produced by movement over much longer distances
 Caused by:
- Terrain configuration (hill, flat area etc.):
Results in local mean (long term fading) attenuation
and fluctuation.
- The built environment (rural and urban areas etc.),
between base station and the mobile unit:
Results in local mean attenuation

Z. Ghassemlooy
 Fading - Slow (Long) Term
Receiver

tn,2 path n tn,3

Sr(t)
tn,1

tk,4
one
subpath
tk,3
Transmitter tk,1 tk,2 path k Number of path
N
S r t    ai P0 t  ti 
i 1
path attenuation factor
for the ith path
C. D. Charalambous et al
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Fading- Fast (Short) Term

 Describes the constant amplitude fluctuations in the received

signal as the mobile moves.
 Caused by
- multipath reflection of transmitted signal by local scatters
(houses, building etc.)
- random fluctuations in the received power
 Observed over distances = /2
 Signal variation up to 30 dB.
 Is a frequency selective phenomenon.
 Can be described using
- Rayleigh statistics, (no line of sight).
- Rician statistics, (line of sight).
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Fading- Fast (Short) Term - contd.

A received signal amplitude is given as the sum of delayed

components. In terms of phasor notation it is given as:
N
S r (t )   ai cos (2f c  i )
i 1
Or
N N
S r (t )  cos( 2f c t )  ai cos (i )  sin( 2f c t )  ai sin( i )
i 1 i 1

In-phase Quadrature
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Fading- Fast (Short) Term - contd.

The phase i can be assumed to be uniformly distributed in

the range (0, 2), provided the locations of buildings etc. are
completely random.

For a large N, the amplitude of the received signal is:

Sr (t )  X cos(2f ct )  Y sin( 2f ct )

N N
where X   ai cos (i ), Y   ai sin(i )
i 1 i 1

X and Y are independent, identically distributed Gaussian random

variables.
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Fading- Fast (Short) Term - contd.

The envelope of the received signal is:

A  (X Y )
2 2 0.5 Which will be Rayleigh distributed:
Assuming all components received
have approximately the same power
and that all are resulting from scattering.
Rayleigh
æ r2 ö
pr   2 exp çç 
r
Probability ÷
2 ÷
density s è 2s ø
Where 0< r < , s2 is
function variance of A (the total received
Exponential power in the multipath signal).

A or power P
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Ricean Fading

If there is one direct component in addition to scattered

components, the envelope received multipath is Ricean,
where the impulse response has a non zero mean.
Ricean distribution = Rayleigh signal + direct line of sight
signal. The distribution is:
æ r 2  s 2 ö æ rs ö
pr   2 exp çç 
r
÷I
2 ÷ 0ç 2 ÷
s è 2s ø è s ø

s2 is the power of the line of sight signal and I0 is a Bessel function of

the first kind

Z. Ghassemlooy
 Fading- Fast (Short) Term - contd.

 The probability that the realization of the random

variable has a value smaller than x is defined by
the cumulative distribution function:
cdf (r )   pdf (u )du

 Applying it to the Rayleigh distribution

cdf (r )  1  exp  (r 2 / 2s 2 )

 For small r
cdf (r ) ~ r 2 / 2s 2

Z. Ghassemlooy
 Fast Fading – Cases 1: Stationary Mobile

6
v
1
t6
t1

t2 5
t5
Stationary

Field strength
2
t4
t3
4
3 v
t
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Fast Fading – Cases 1

 The number of fading depends on:

– Traffic flow
– Distance between the mobile and moving cars
 The received signal at the MU is:
N
S r t    ai P0 t  ti 
i 1

ti  t ti
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Fast Fading – Cases 1

where  ti is additional relative delay (positive or negative)

N
1
and t
N
t
i 1
i

Thus
Sr t   x(t  t) e  
j 2 f c t  t  jo

envelope
N  j 2 f c ti 
xt   ao  ai e 
 i 1 

Z. Ghassemlooy
Fast Fading – Cases 2

T1 = d1/c
T2 = d2/c
t1(t1) t2(t2)

S t   xt exp  jc exp  jct 

N
xt    ac ai t  exp  jc ti t 
i 1 18
 Fast Fading – Cases 3: Non-stationary
Mobile

Field strength
No scattered signals Signal level


V
t

The received signal at the mobile is:

j ( 2 f c   o x cos  )
sr (t )  ao e
x = Vt
Amplitude Wave number =2/

Transmitting frequency
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Fast Fading – Cases 3: Doppler Frequency

A moving object causes the frequency of a received wave to

change
Substituting for  and x, the expression for the received signal is

V
j 2  ( f c  cos  ) t
sr (t )  ao e 

V
The Doppler fD  cos   f m cos 
frequency 

The received f r  f c  f m cos 

signal frequency
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Fast Fading – Cases 3: Doppler Frequency

• When  = 0o (mobile moving away from the transmitter)

fr  fc  fm

• When  = 90o (I.e. mobile circling around)

fr  fc
• When  = 180o (mobile moving towards the transmitter)
fr  fc  fm
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Fast Fading – Cases 4: Moving MU +
Stationary Scatterer

Standing Wave Pattern

Voltage

x(t)

so(t)
MU so(t)
V

t=0 t = round trip time

Z. Ghassemlooy
 Fast Fading – Cases 4

j  2 f c t  o Vt cos  
Received signal at the MU: sr (t )  ao e
and for q = 0
j  2 f c t  o Vt  j  2 f c t  o Vt  2 f c t 
sr (t )  ao e  ao e

Incident signal Reflected signal

æ 2f c t ö j 2 f ct o f c t 

sr (t )   j 2ao sin ç Vt  ÷e
è 2 ø
Fading with zero amplitude occurs when Vt  n  f c t
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Fast Fading – Cases 5: Moving MU and
Scatterers

The resultant received signal is the sum of all the scattered

waves from different angles qi depending upon the momentary
attitude of the various scatterers.

N
sr (t )   ao ai e j  2 f c t  o Vt cos i  i 

i 1

Z. Ghassemlooy
 Channel Fading Effects

Transmitting a short pulse over a

(i) frequency-selective (time-spread) fading channel:
Transmitted Received

t t
Tp Tp + dt
(ii) time-selective (Doppler-spread) fading channel:
Transmitted Received

t t
Tp Tp
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Effects of Doppler shifts

 Bandwidth of the signal could increase or decrease leading to

poor and/or missed reception.
 The effect in time is coherence time variation and signal
distortion
– Coherence time: Time duration over which channel impulse response is
invariant, and in which two signals have strong potential for amplitude
correlation
– Coherence time is expressed by: 9
Tc 
16f D-max
2

– where fD-max is the maximum Doppler shift, which occurs when  = 0 degrees
 To avoid distortion due to motion in the channel, the symbol
rate must be greater than the inverse of coherence time.
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Coherence Distance

 Coherence distance is the minimum distance

between points in space for which the signals are
mostly uncorrelated.
 This distance is usually grater than 0.5
wavelengths, depending on antenna beamwidth
and angle of arrival distribution.
 At the BTS, it is common practice to use spacing
of about 10 and 20 wavelengths for low-medium
and high antenna heights, respectively (120o
sector antennas).
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Coherence Bandwidth (Bc)

 Range of frequency over which channel is “flat”

 It is the bandwidth over which two frequencies have a
strong potential for amplitude correlation

Power
Signal bandwidth Bs
Describes frequency selective
phenomenon of fast fading

Coherence
Bandwidth Bc
Freq.
Effect of frequency selective fading on the received signal spectrum
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Estimation of Coherence Bandwidth

Coherence bandwidth is estimated using the value of delay

spread of the channel, st
0.02
For correlation > 0.9 Bc 
tt
0.2
For correlation > 0.5 Bc 
tt
Delay spread figures Delay in
at 900 MHz microseconds
Typical values of delay Urban 1.3
Urban, worst-case 10 - 25

spreads for various types Suburban, typical 0.2 - 0.31

Suburban, extreme 1.96 - 2.11
Indoor, maximum 0.27
of terrain: Delay Spread at 1900 MHz
Buildings, average 0.07 - 0.094
Buildings, worst - 1.47
case
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Channel Classification

Based on Time-Spreading

Flat Fading Frequency Selective

1. BS < BC  Tm < Ts
2. Rayleigh, Ricean distrib.
3. Spectral chara. of transmitted
signal preserved
1. BS > BC  Tm > Ts
2. Intersymbol Interference
3. Spectral chara. of transmitted
signal not preserved
4. Multipath components resolved

Channel Channel

Signal Signal

BC BS
BS freq. BC freq.
C. D. Charalambous et al
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Fading in Digital Mobile Communications

• If Bs>> Bc, then a notch appears in the spectrum. Thus

resulting in inter-symbol interference (ISI).

- To overcome this, an adaptive equaliser (AE) with

inverse response may be used at the receiver.
Training sequences are transmitted to update AE.

• If Bs<< Bc, then flat fading occurs, resulting in a

burst of error.
- Error correction coding is used to overcome this
problem.
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Multipath Delay Spread

 First-arrival delay (τA)

 Mean excess delay t e   (t  t A ) P(t )dt

Z. Ghassemlooy
 Multipath Delay Spread

 The standard deviation of the distribution of multipath signal

amplitudes is called delay spread. For directive antenna is
characterized by the rms delay spread of the entire delay
profile, which is defined as:

t 2
rms   Pjt  (t avg )
2
j
2

j
where
tavg = Σj Pj t j ,
t j is the delay of the j th delay component of the profile
Pj = (power in the j th delay component) / (total power in all components

• Delay spread varies with the terrain with typical values for rural, urban and
suburban areas:
 0.2 ms rural   3.0 ms urban   0.5ms suburban 
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Multipath Delay Spread - Dispersion

 The delay spread limits the maximum data rate:

– No new impulses should arrive at the receiver before the last
replica of the pervious impulse has perished.
– Otherwise symbol spreads (dispersion) into its adjacent slot, thus
resulting in Inter Symbol Interference (ISI)

Transmitted Received
symbols symbols

 The signal arrived at the receiver directly and phase shifted

– Distorted signal depending on the phases of the different parts
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Mitigation Techniques for the Multipath
Fading Channel
 Space diversity –
– Signals at the same frequency using two or three antennas located
several wavelengths a part.
– Antennas are connected to two or three radio receivers.
– The receiver will the strongest signal is elected
– Disadvantage: Uses two or more antennas, therefore the
need for a large site.
 Frequency diversity –
– Signals at different frequencies received by the same antenna
very rarely fade simultaneously. Thus the use of several carrier
frequencies or the use of a wideband signal to combat fading.
– A single aerial connected to a number receiver, each tuned to a
different frequency, whose outputs are connected in parallel.
The receiver with the strongest instantaneous signal will provide
the output.
– Disadvantage: Uses two or more frequencies to transmit
the same signal.
Z. Ghassemlooy
 Mitigation Techniques for the Multipath
Fading Channel

 Time diversity – Spread out the effects of errors

through interleaving and coding
 Multipath diversity
– Consider the tapped delay line model of a channel
shown previously
– If multipaths can be put together coherently at the
receiver, diversity improvement results
– This is what the RAKE receiver does (see next
viewgraph)

Z. Ghassemlooy
 RAKE Multipath Signal Processing

R.E. Ziemer 2002

Z. Ghassemlooy
 System Design and Performance
Prediction

 Base station placement dependent on

– Propagation environment
– Anticipated geographic distribution of users
– Economic considerations (minimize number of base stations)
– Political and public opinion considerations
– Traffic types (3G)
 Performance figure of merit
– Spectrum efficiency for voice: ηv voice circuits/MHz/base station
– Spectrum efficiency for information: ηi bps/MHz/base station
– Dropped call rate – fraction of calls ended prematurely

Z. Ghassemlooy
 Summary

• The random fluctuations in the received power are due to

fading.

• If there is a relative motion between transmitter and receiver

(mobile) the result is Doppler shift
• If maximum Doppler shift is less than the data rate, there
is “slow” fading channel.
• If maximum Doppler shift is larger than the data rate, there
is “fast” fading channel.

Z. Ghassemlooy
 Questions and Answers

 Tell me what you think about this lecture

– fary@ieee.org

 Next lecture: Modulation Techniques

Z. Ghassemlooy