EE-451 Mobile Communication Systems

(3+0)
Lecture 2
Radio Propagation: Large-scale Path Loss
and Shadowing
Lec Moiz Ahmed Pirkani

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Lecture Outline
Introducing radio waves and propagation
Discuss different propagation models and mechanisms
Introducing some common propagation models both
for outdoor and indoor environments
References
Goldsmith Ch 2
Rappaport Ch 4
Haykin Ch 2

Learn how to estimate noise in a system

Rappaport Appendix B
Haykin Ch 2.8
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Introduction to Radio Waves (I)

Why antenna radiates?
Radiation occurs whenever a current flows through a
wire with a certain frequency
Electric and magnetic field

Transmission line theories

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Introduction to Radio Waves (II)

Antennas
Many different types
Passive device
i.e. no gain

Isotropic antenna
Hypothetical lossless antenna having equal radiation in all direction
The reference of 0dBi

Realistic antennas
Has a maximum gain larger than 0dBi
Doesnt mean it is active, but is directional such that in some direction,
the power is larger than in other directions

Gain at a particular direction

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Introduction to Radio Waves (III)

When a signal is injected into the antenna
Radio wave is generated and propagates through the
wireless channel
The received signal can be severely distorted

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Introduction to Radio Waves (IV)

Three level model
Path loss
Models the signal attenuation in large transmitter-receiver (T-R)
separation
Generally, attenuation increases when T-R increases
Caused by the wave propagation through free space

Shadowing
Models the signal power at same T-R separation but different
locations
The signal variation in a circular loci
Caused by change of environment in different locations

Multipath fading
Models the rapid variation within a distance of few wavelengths
Caused by constructive or destructive interference resulted from
multiple arrival paths

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Free Space Propagation Model (I)

Consider a radio wave with power Pt from an isotropic antenna
At a distance d, the power flux density (power per unit area) is

The power Pr captured by an antenna with effective area Ae is:

For isotropic receive antenna

Hence, the received power for isotropic antenna is:

Power attenuates in a squared rate on distance and frequency

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Free Space Propagation Model (II)

Now consider realistic antennas
Transmit antenna with gain Gt
When no direction is specified for the gain, the maximum is used

Receive antenna with gain Gr

Maximum antenna gain

Hence, the received power for realistic antennas is

Also known as the Friis equation

The path loss is defined as

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Free Space Propagation Model (III)

Assumptions
Receiver at far-field d>>
Plain wave model can be used (E, H & propagation direction are
orthogonal)
The max beam of the Tx antenna points to the max beam of the Rx antenna
Both Gt and Gr are at max
Free space propagation
No obstacles or reflectors, not even the ground!

Reference distance d0
A known received power reference point
Could be measured or predicted value
Received power can be written as:

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Quiz
The ground transmitter for a low earth orbit (LEO)
satellite is 1000km away from the satellite. The
carrier frequency is 1.5GHz, and the transmission
power is 10dBW. The antenna gain of the
transmitter is 15dBi and the receiver is 2dBi.
Calculate the received power in free space
propagation model in dBm.

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FSL- Limitations for Mobile Communications

Free space loss factor shows that more power is lost at higher frequencies. It is
evident that for antennas with specified gains defined by the antenna structure,
transmitter or receiver architectures,
The energy transfer (ratio between received and transmit power) will be highest
at lower frequencies.
In the design of antenna structures for mobile communications, we observe that
mobile phones operate at less than 2 GHz (GSM900, GSM 1800, LTE1800).
More frequency spectrum that can provide higher data rates is available at
higher frequencies, but the associated path loss will not enable quality
reception.
Recently developed USA standards for cellular communications, Verizon
Wireless (4G) operates at the frequency band of 700MHz to ensure that
considerable quality of reception may be achieved at larger distances thereby
enhancing their coverage area.
Another important inference that can be derived from the Friis Transmission
equation is that antennas that are made to operate in the higher microwave or
millimeter wave range cannot be used for communication at larger distances
because of the path loss that is incurred during the transmission.
Since the path loss is very high, so only point-to-point communication is
possible. This occurs when the receiver and transmitter are in the vicinity of
each other.
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Noise (I)
System performance is controlled by signal-to-noise
ratio (SNR)
Received signal power can be estimated from the models
Noise must be separately calculated

Thermal noise

k = 1.38x10-23 J/K (Boltzmanns constant)

T0 = 290K (room temperature)
B = bandwidth
N0 = Noise power spectral density

What is the room temperature noise spectral density?

N0 = -174dBm/Hz
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Noise (II)
Noise figure
The ratio increase on noise power at the output of the device

Noise figure measures the additional noise generated by the device

If device is noiseless (F=1), the input noise is only amplified
Noise figure is usually expressed in dB
The smaller the noise figure (close to 0dB), the lower the noise

Equivalent noise temperature Te

Noise generated by the device can be considered as additional thermal
noise Te K
At room temperature, input noise = kT0B:

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Noise (III)
Output noise power

Two cascaded devices

At input of device 2, the noise power density = G1F1N0

Output of device 2 = Gain x (input noise + additional noise)

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Noise (IV)
Cascaded system
Overall noise figure

System equivalent temperature

Antenna is always considered to have unity gain

Remember that antenna gain is the ratio of max strength/isotropic?

Hence, a system with antenna is

Noise is significantly reduced if the first device has high gain but low noise
Importance of low noise amplifier (LNA)!

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Signal to Noise Ratio

The received wireless signal might be very small
Could be in the order of 10-11W
How could we detect such signal?

Performance of communication system is governed by the

signal to noise ratio (SNR)
If the noise is even smaller, the received signal can be detected
Thats why LNA is very important in wireless communication systems!

SNR calculation
SNR after the RF devices (e.g., antenna, amplifiers, mixer etc)
Output received power is also amplified!

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Tutorial Question
For the previously considered LEO satellite, the antenna of
the receiver has a noise figure of 3dB. The low noise
amplifier (LNA) has a noise figure of 0.5dB and a gain of
10dB. The overall system noise figure is 10dB and an overall
system gain of 20dB. The system has a bandwidth of 1MHz.
Calculate the noise figure of the satellite, and the received
SNR (assume shadow facing space temperature = 120K).

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Propagation Mechanism
Three basic propagation mechanism
Reflection
Diffraction
Scattering

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Reflections (I)
Ground reflection (Two-Ray) model
Made use of the theories on reflection of radio waves

ht: height of Tx
hr: height of Rx
d: T-R separation
ETOT: total E-field
ELOS: line-of-sight E-field
Er: reflected E-field
i: incident angle
0: reflected angle

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Reflections (II)
The total received power

PR-LOS is the received power from the LOS path

Assuming ddd, and < 0.3rad such that sin( /2)= /2 (i.e.
d>>hthr)

Plan-Earth propagation equation

Frequency independent
Inverse fourth-power law
Antenna height dependent

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Tutorial Question
The base station of a GSM 900 system (200kHz BW) has a
height of 10m and is 10km away from the mobile user, who
has a height of 2m. The antenna gain of the base station and
the mobile are 2 and 3dBi respectively. The transmit power
is 1dBW.
Calculate the received power with ground reflection

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Diffraction (I)
The phenomenon that radio signal can propagate around
curved surface or sharp-edged obstacles
Huygens principle
Each point on a wave front acts as a secondary point source

Diffraction is caused by propagation of secondary wavelets into the

shadowed area

Excess path length

The wave that bends around
the obstacle will travel with
a longer distance
The excess path length will
lead to a phase difference
between the arrival paths
Could have constructive or destructive interference

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Diffraction (II)
Fresnel zones
Successive regions where secondary waves have a n/2 excess path
length
These successive zones provides constructive and destructive
interference alternately
The centre region will have all signals in-phase, leading to constructive
interference
The next region will have all signals out-of-phase, leading to destructive
interference

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Diffraction (III)
Diffraction is affected by frequency and obstacle location
Higher freq, less diffraction

If the first Fresnel zone is unobstructed, diffraction effect

can be neglected
i.e. Free space propagation if the first Fresnel zone is clear

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Scattering
The phenomenon when a radio signal hits an object and the
reflected waves are spread out
Unlike reflection, where the reflected wave is (theoretically) in one
direction

Occurs when the object is small

e.g. lamp post, trees, etc

Or when the large reflective object has a rough surface

Affects the reflection coefficient
Considered rough when surface protuberance larger than

Difficult to have a generic model as the effect is heavily

dependent on the object
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Path Loss Exponent (I)

Path loss exponent
An average path loss exponent is used to model the propagation loss in
large T-R separation

Mean path loss at distance d

where d0 is a reference distance and

is the mean path loss at d0
If
is not specified, it is usually taken as free-space path loss at a
distance of 1m

Received power at distance d

Pr(d0) is the received power at the reference distance

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Path Loss Exponent (II)

Empirically measured path loss exponent (Rappaport)

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Tutorial Question
For the previous case with ground reflection, assuming free space
propagation within the first 10m, what is the path loss exponent?

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Shadowing
Models the signal power at different location but same T-R separation
Location dependent
Studies have shown that this effect can be modelled as a log-normal distribution

Gaussian distributed in dB

Path loss at distance d in dB

is the mean path loss at distance d, which is modelled by the effect

described previously

X is the log-normal shadowing effect with zero mean and variance

Hence, PL is a random variable with mean

and variance

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Outdoor Channel Model (I)

Prediction model
Estimate the received power using the theories

e.g. Durkins model

User first build a terrain map
Model the signal using the theories of path loss, reflection,
diffraction, scattering, and shadowing
Only models the geographical terrain but no man made obstacles,
such as buildings etc.
Too slow
Site specific

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Outdoor Channel Model (II)

Empirical model
Model the channel from extensive measured results
Okurmura-Hata model
Valid for 150MHz to 1500MHz
In urban area

L50 is the 50-th percentile (median) value of propagation loss in dB

a(hr) is the correction factor for mobile antenna height (in dB)
Area dependent

Small to medium sized city

For large city

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Outdoor Channel Model (III)

In suburban areas, the formula can be modified by
In rural areas

PCS extension to Hata model (COST-231 model)

Extend Hata model to 2GHz

CM=0dB for medium sized city and suburban, =3dB for metropolitan areas
Restricted to:

Frequency: 1.5 to 2GHz

Tx height: 30 to 200m
Rx height: 1 to 10m
Distance: 1km to 20km

Many other models (e.g., COST 231 Walfisch-Ikegami model)

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