Wireless Channels

Ada Poon, Bob Brodersen Berkeley Wireless Research Center University of California, Berkeley

Earth-Ionospheric Waveguide
3 30 kHz, very low frequency (VLF) Large wavelength (>10 km) Wave cant penetrate to the lowest layer of ionosphere. Long distance telegraphy broadcasting Navigation systems Submarine communications
Earth Ionosphere

Surface Wave Diffraction

30 300 kHz, low frequency (LF) Wave follows the curvature of earth. Long distance communications Navigation systems
Earth

Ionospheric Reflection & Refraction

3 30 MHz, high frequency (HF) Wave is refracted by the layers of ionosphere and eventually, totally reflected and returns to the earth. Radio broadcasting
Earth Ionosphere

Tropospheric Scattering
30 300 MHz, very high frequency (VHF) Wave is scattered by the particles in the troposphere. Military applications Multi-channel telephony
Earth Troposphere

Four Basic Propagation Mechanisms

Waveguide Diffraction Reflection & Refraction Scattering

Cellular Systems
Outdoor environment 0.3 3 GHz, ultra high frequency (UHF) Propagation mechanisms:
Waveguiding along streets Diffraction around hills Reflection from buildings Scattering by plants

Wireless LAN
Indoor environment 3 30 GHz, super high frequency (SHF) Propagation mechanisms:
Waveguiding along corridors Diffraction around door openings Reflection from walls Scattering by furniture

We are studying electrical engineering, but most of us dont like to get too involved into classic electrodynamics.

Characterization Parameters
Path loss Delay spread Doppler shift Angular spread Coherence time Coherence bandwidth

Friis Transmission Formula

PR = PT ? In free space, path loss is
PR 1 GR GT 2 2 = 2 d 2 PT d (4 )

d transmitter-receiver separation GR receiver antenna gain GT transmitter antenna gain wavelength

How about in a scattering environment?

Path Loss Exponent, n

In a scattering environment, the path loss is
PR d n PT

Typical values in
Urban Sub-urban Indoor LOS Indoor NLOS 2.7 3.5 35 1.6 1.8 (< 2, why?) 26

UWB, LOS

802.11a, LOS

802.11b, LOS

UWB, NLOS

802.11a, NLOS

802.11b, NLOS

Multipath Model
v
k i
NL

) = e j 2it e j 2 f i ( k ) ,k i ) (k H (t , f , i i
i =1

i i
k i

Doppler shift delay direction of departure direction of arrival polarization

i i

Maximum Doppler Shift

v

f m = max i =

Frequency spread, fm For example, if a cell phone is moving at 60 km/hr using a 900 MHz carrier, the maximum Doppler shift is 50 Hz.

Delay Spread

1 2

3 4

Delay spread
Td = max i min i
i i

Sample Measurements

Delay Spread vs. Frequency

Insensitive to the choice of coordinates Larger delay spread in the office environment Delay spread increases with frequency

Delay Power Profiles and Arrival PDFs

Angular Spread
Coordinates:

= T , T k i i i

i = iR , iR

Transmit elevation spread

T = max iT min iT
i i

Transmit azimuth spread

T = max iT min iT
i i

Receive

R = max iR min iR
i i

R = max iR min iR
i i

Sample Measurements

Angle Power Profiles and Arrival PDFs

Coherence Bandwidth, Coherence Time

v
k i
NL

) = e j 2it e j 2 f i ( k ) ,k i ) (k H (t , f , i i
i =1

Coherence time, Tc

) H * (t , f , ) ~ 0 ,k ,k H (t + Tc , f ,
Coherence bandwidth, Wc

]
]

) H * (t , f , ) ~ 0 ,k ,k H (t , f + Wc ,

Change of Domains

) ,k H (t , ,

array topology

H (t , , r R , r T )

) ,k H (t , f ,

array topology

H (t , f , r R , r T )

Channel Characterization
Measurement
(i, i, i)s extraction

Ray tracing
geometry & dielectric properties of environment

Abstract modeling
effective scatterer distribution path loss

( , , , ) distribution

frequency spread delay spread, angular spread

array topology coherence time coherence bandwidth

(t, f, rR, rT) correlation