Communication Link Analysis

Walter O. Angol
 Introduction:
• Communication link analysis provides the
foundation for analyzing a wireless
communication link
• The purpose is to evaluate the signal to noise
ratio at the receiver to assess the link
performance
• Evaluation of the signal power and noise
power requires the path loss and receiver
system noise temperature, respectively
 Introduction
• The receiver consists of an antenna, a low-
noise amplifier, a downconverter, and a
demodulator
 Basic wireless communication link
• In wireless communications, the point-to-
point link is the simplest connection between
a transmitter and a receiver
• The transmitted signal travels the line-of-sight
path to the receiver and the channel is the
free space
• A typical wireless communication system
consists of a transmitter and a receiver
Basic wireless communication link

Typical wireless communication system

Thermal noise source

 Basic wireless communication link
• The transmitter consists of a modulator, an
upconverter, a high-power amplifier, and a
transmitter antenna
• The receiver consists of a receiver antenna, a
low-noise amplifier, a downconverter, and a
demodulator.
• The upconverter translates the IF carrier
frequency of the modulated signal to the RF
carrier frequency for transmission.
Basic wireless communication link
• The downconverter translates the RF carrier
frequency of the received signal to the IF
carrier frequency for demodulation
• Each subsystem in the transmitter and
receiver processes the information signal and
adds thermal noise to it
• The thermal noise is generated by the
electronic components of the subsystem.
 Basic wireless communication link
• At the transmitter, the signal power is much
larger than the composite thermal noise
power generated by the transmitter’s
subsystems; therefore, the effect of the
thermal noise is negligible.
• The signal is attenuated as it travels through
the channel.
 Basic wireless communication link
• When the signal arrives at the receiver, its
power can diminish to a level so that the
effect of noise becomes relevant. The receiver
antenna receives the signal contaminated by
sky noise.
• At each subsystem of the receiver, the signal is
processed and thermal noise is added to the
signal.
 Basic wireless communication link
• The purpose of link analysis is to obtain the
signal-to-noise ratio at the receiver that can
provide a qualitative assessment of the
performance of the entire communication
system.
• Two quantities need to be evaluated, namely,
the receiver noise power and the received
signal power.
 Thermal noise
• Thermal noise is generated by random motion
of electrons in a resistor whose temperature is
above absolute zero kelvin.
• A noise voltage is generated across the
terminal of the resistor, which can be modeled
as a noiseless resistor with resistance R ohms
in series with a noise voltage source v(t) as in
 Thermal noise
• Noise with a constant power spectral density
is called white noise.
• In a communication system, all subsystems are
designed to have matched impedances at
both input and output.
• For example, the output impedance of the
antenna is matched with the input impedance
of the low-noise amplifier. In practice, these
input and output impedances are 50Ω.
 Thermal noise
• Matched impedances are employed to provide
the maximum power transfer from one
subsystem to the next one
• Unfortunately, this also allows the maximum
power transfer of noise
• A thermal noise source is specified by its noise
temperature Tn, which is also its physical
temperature
 Thermal noise
• The receiver antenna receives the signal plus sky
noise.
• The term sky noise is used to include noise
signals from emitting–absorbing objects in space
• High-temperature-emitting objects such as the
stars and the Sun produce electromagnetic
radiation with a white noise power spectral
density in the practical frequency range that
wireless communications operate in
 Thermal noise
• The antenna also receives noise signals from
absorbing objects, such as the Earth and the
Moon.
• A blackbody that absorbs electromagnetic
radiation also acts as a resistor above absolute
zero kelvin and hence also radiates noise
 Thermal noise - summary
• The antenna noise temperature is a function
of frequency and antenna beam angle, and
includes contributions from sources of
radiation in the main beam as well as sources
of radiation in all directions in proportion to
the antenna pattern.
 Next
• Cellular communication link
• Co-channel interference in a narrowband
cellular system
• CDMA cellular link analysis
• Satellite communication link