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Small Scale Fading in Radio Propagation

16:332:546 Wireless Communication Technologies Spring 2005 ∗

Department of Electrical Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08904


Suhas Mathur (suhas@winlab.rutgers.edu)

Abstract - One of the many impairments inherently


present in any wireless communication system, that
must be recognised and often effectively mitigated for
a system to function well, is fading. Fading itself has
been studied and classified into a number of different
types. Here we present a detailed mathematical
analysis and some useful models for capturing the
effect of small scale fading. Further we discuss the
types of fading as per the behaviour of the wireless
channel with respect to the transmit signal.

I. RAYLEIGH FADING Figure 1: The figure shows a mobile station moving along the
positive x-axis moving at a velocity of v m/s and the nth incoming
wave at an angle of θn (t).
Small scale fading is a characteristic of radio
propagation resulting from the presence reflectors
and scatterers that cause multiple versions of the
transmitted signal to arrive at the receiver, each
distorted in amplitude, phase and angle of arrival. fD,n (t) = fm cos(θn (t)) (1)
Consider the situation shown in Fig. 1 wherein a
mobile receiver (mobile station or MS) is assumed to where fm = maximum Doppler frequency = v/λ, λ
be travelling along the positive x axis with a velocity being the wavelength of the radiowave. Waves ar-
v m/s. The figure shows one of the many waves riving from the direction of motion cause a positive
arriving at the mobile station. Let us call this the doppler shift, while those coming from the opposite
nth incoming wave. Let it be incident at an angle diection cause a negative doppler shift. We wish to
θn (t), where the dependence on t stems from the derive a mathematical framework to characterize the
fact that the receiver is not stationary. effects of small scale fading. Consider the transmit
bandpass signal:
The motion of the MS produces a Doppler shift in
the received frequency as compared to the carrier fre- s(t) = Re{u(t).ej2πfc t } (2)
quency. This doppler offset is given by:
where u(t) is the complex baseband equaivalent of
∗ Taught by Dr. Narayan Mandayam, Rutgers University. the bandpass transmit signal. If N waves arrive at

1
the MS, the received bandpass signal can be written shall see later.
as:
Further continuing our modeling of the received sig-
x(t) = Re{r(t)ej2πfc t } (3) nal, we can neglect the baseband modulating signal
for narrowband signals (i.e. signals in which the base-
with
band signal bandwidth is very small compared to the
N
X carrier frequency, which is true of most communica-
r(t) = αn (t).e−j2πφn (t) u(t − τn (t)) (4) tion systems) and consider the unmodulated carrier
n=1 alone.
where
N
X
φn (t) = (fc + fD,n (t))τn (t) − fD,n (t).t (5) r(t) = αn (t)e−jφn (t) (7)
n=1

is the phase associated with the nth wave. The above


N
expression for r(t) looks like the output of a linear X
x(t) = Re{ αN (t)e−jφn (t) ej2πfc t } (8)
time-varying system. Therefore the channel can be
n=1
modeled as a linear filter with a time varying impulse
response given by:
N
X = rI (t) cos(2πfc t) − rQ (t) sin(2πfc t)
c(τ, t) = αn (t)e−jφn (t) δ(τ − τn (t)) (6)
n=1 where
c(τ, t) is the channel response at time t to an input
N
at time t − τ . Typically the quantity fc + fD,n (t) X
rI (t) = αn (t) cos(2πfc t) (9)
is large. This means that a small change in delay
n=1
τn (t) causes a large change in the phase φn (t). The
delays themselves are random. This implies that N
X
the phases of the incoming waves are random. The rQ (t) = αn (t) sin(2πfc t) (10)
αn (t)’s are not very different from one another, i.e. n=1
the αn (t)’s do not change much over a small time
scale. Therefore the received signal is a sum of a
r(t) = rI (t) + rQ (t) (11)
large number of waves with random phases. The
random phases imply that sometime these waves
rI (t) and rQ (t) are respectively the in-phase and the
add constructively producing a received signal with
quadrature-phase components of the complex base-
large amplitude, while at other times they add
band equivalent of the received signal. Now we invoke
destructively, resulting in a very low amplitude.
the Central Limit Theorem for large N . This makes
This precise effect is termed small-scale fading, and
rI (t) and rQ (t) independent gaussian random pro-
the time scale at which the resulting fluctuation of
cesses. Further, assuming all the random processes
amplitude occurs is of the order of one wave-cycle
involved are WSS, we have:
of the carrier frequency. The range of amplitude
variation that can result can be upto 60 to 70 dB.
Small scale fading is therefore pramarily due to the fD,n (t) = fD,n (12)
random variations in phase φn (t) and also because of
the doppler frequency fD,n (t). The effect of fading
is even more important at higher data rates, as we αn (t) = αn (13)

2
τn (t) = τn (14) Ωp
= Eθ {cos(2πfm τ cos(θ))}
We also assume that x(t) is WSS. 2

If the 2-D isotropic scattering assumption is used in


Φxx (τ ) = E{x(t).x(t + τ )} (15) the above analysis (i.e. the incoming angle θ is uni-
formly distributed over (−π, π)) then the above is
called the Clarke’s Model. Using the uniform distri-
= ΦrI rI (τ ). cos(2πfc t) − ΦrQ rI (τ ). sin(2πfc t) bution for θ in the above, we get:
Now,
Z +π
Ωp 1
ΦrI rI (τ ) = . cos(2πfm τ. cos(θ))dθ (23)
ΦrI rI (τ ) = E{rI (t)rI (t + τ )} (16) 2 2π −π

which with a change of variable gives us:


N
X N
X Z
= E{{ αi cos(φi t)}.{ αj cos(φj (t + τ ))}} Ωp 1 +π
= . cos(2πfm τ. sin(θ))dθ (24)
i=1 j=1 2 π 0
| {z }
J0 (2πfm τ )
We can assume the φj ’s are independent because de-
lays and doppler shifts are independent from path to Ωp
path. =
.J0 (2πfm τ )
2
φn (t) = U (−π, π) (17)
where J0 (.) is the Bessel function of the zeroth order
On evaluating the expectations, we get: and first kind.1
Ωp Similarly, using the uniform pdf for θ in the expres-
ΦrI rI (τ ) = E {cos(2πfD,n τ )} (18) sion for cross correlation of the in-phase and quadra-
2
ture phase components of r(t) gives:
where
N
Ωp 1 X  2 Φr I r Q = 0 (25)
= E αi (19)
2 2 i=1
We are now in a position to talk about the PSD of
which is the total average received power from all rI (t):
multipath components. Now, in the expression above SrI rI (f ) = F {ΦrI rI (τ )} (26)
(18), we have
( Ω
fD,n = fm cos(θn ) (20)
p
4πfm
√ 1 |f | < fm
= 1−(f /fm )2
0 otherwise
Therefore, we have the auto correlation function of
the in-phase component rI (t): 1 The Bessel functions of the first kind J (x) are defined
n
2
d y
as the solutions to the Bessel differential equation: x2 dx 2 +
Ωp dy
ΦrI rI (τ ) = Eθ {cos(2πfm τ cos(θ)} (21) x dx + (x2 − n2 )y = 0. The bessel function Jn (x) can
2 also Rbe defined in terms of the contour integral: Jn (x) =
1
Going through a similar series of steps for the 2πj
e(x/2)(t−1/t) t−n−1 dt where the contour encloses the ori-
cross-correlation function between the in-phase and gin and is traversed in a counter-clockwise direction. For the
special case of n = 0 a closed form expression due to Frobe-
quadrature-phase component, we get: P∞ 1 x 2 )2
(4
nius is Jo (x) = k=0
(−1)K (k!)2
or the integral J0 (x) =
1

ΦrI rQ (τ ) = E {rI (t)rQ (t + τ )} (22) π 0
ejx cos(θ) dθ

3
( )
ΦrI rI (τ ).ej2πfc t + Φ∗rI rI (τ ).e−j2πfc t
=F
2

Note that ΦrI rI (τ ) = Φ∗rI rI (−τ ), and so for real rI (t),


ΦrI rI (τ ) = ΦrI rI (−τ ). Thus we have:

 
ΦrI rI (τ ).ej2πfc t + ΦrI rI (τ ).e−j2πfc t
Sxx (f ) = F
2
(31)

1
Sxx (f ) = {SrI rI (f − fc ) + SrI rI (−f − fc )} (32)
Figure 2: Bessel function of the zeroth order and the first type. 2
This is the shape of the autocorrelation function ΦrI rI (τ ) of the
in-phase component of the complex baseband equivalent of the Now we shall make use of the knowledge that that
received signal.
r(t) = rI (t) + j.rQ (t) is a complex Gaussian process
q large N . Therefore the envelope z(t) = |r(t)| =
for
2
rI2 (t) + rQ
2 (t) has a Rayleigh distribution

Having obtained the PSD of rI (t), we can now pro-


ceed to derive the PSD x(t) as follows: x −x2 /2σ2
.e
Pz (x) =;x ≥ 0 (33)
σ2
r(t) = rI (t) + jrQ (t) (27) where E{z 2 } = Ωp = 2σ 2 = average power. Thus
we have the probability density function of the recd.
signal given by:
Φrr (τ ) = E {r∗ (t).r(t + τ )} (28)
x 2
Pz (x) = .e−x /Ωp ; x ≥ 0 (34)
Ωp /2
= ΦrI rI (τ ) + jΦrI rQ (τ ) The above is called Rayleigh fading and is derived
from Clarke’s fading model, wherein the PSD of
Therefore: the received signal has the U-shape shown above.
Rayleigh fading is generally applicable when there is
no line-of-sight component. This is a good model for
Φrr (τ ) = ΦrI rI (τ ) cellular mobile radio. Also note that the squared en-
velope |r(t)|2 is exponentially distributed at any time
Further: t:

Φxx (τ ) = Re Φrr (τ ).ej2πfc t (29) 1 −x/Ωp
Pz2 (x) = .e ;x ≥ 0 (35)
Ωp

= Re ΦrI rI (τ ).ej2πfc t
2 It is known that the random variable obtained by finding

  the square-root of the sum of the squares of two independent


Sxx (f ) = F Re ΦrI rI (τ ).ej2πfc t (30) gaussian random variables has a Rayleigh distribution

4
simple AWGN model with no fading. The avegrage
power is given by E[z 2 ] = Ωp = s2 + 2σ 2 . Also:

Kωp Ωp
s2 = , 2σ 2 = (37)
K +1 K +1

III. NAKAGAMI FADING MODEL

The Nakagami Fading model is a purely emperical


model and is not based on results derived from phys-
Figure 3: Power spectral density of the received signal, Sxx (f ). ical consideration of radio propagation. It uses a chi-
This is called the U-shaped PSD characteristic of Rayleigh fading square distrbution with m degrees of freedom. The
modeled by the clarke’s model
distribution of the received signal’s envelope is given
by:

II. RICIAN FADING 2mm x2m−1 −mx2 /Ωp 1


pz (x) = m
.e ;m≥ (38)
Γ(m)Ωp 2
We now consider the situation that arises when there where Ωp = E[z 2 ] = average power, and m is a model
is a line-of-sight component in the received signal.
parameter. By varying the value of this parame-
This is common in microcellular systems. The prob- ter, the model can capture various distributions. For
ability dstribution for the envelope of the received m = 1 the model converges to the Rayleigh fading
signal is then given by:
model, setting m = 1/2 makes it a one sided gaus-
n xs  sian distribution, while setting m = ∞ transforms
x −(x2 +s 2)
it into a ’no-fading’ model. Finally, the Rician dis-
pz (x) = 2 .e 2σ2 .I0 ;x≥0 (36)
σ σ2 tribution can be approximated though the Nakagami
model using the followingrelationships:
where s2 = α20 cos2 θ0 + α20 sin2 θ0 = α20 = ’non cen-
trality parameter’. It denotes the power in the line- √
3 m2 − m
of-sight component. I(.) is the modified bessel K= √ ;m ≥ 1 (39)
function of the zeroth order 4 . m − m2 − m
s2
or,
The quantity K = 2σ 2 is called the Rice factor. Note (K + 1)2
that setting K = 0 transforms this model into the m= (40)
2K + 1
Rayleigh fading model discussed in the preceeding
section and setting K = ∞ would transform it into a The Nakagami model is favoured because it has a
closed form analytical expression.
3 α denotes the amplitude gain of the zeroth wave, (ref:
0
previous section) which in this case is the line-of-sight compo-
nent. All the small-scale fading models considered above
4 The modified Bessel functions I (x) are defined as the so-
n assume that all frequencies in the transmitted sig-
2
d y
lutions to the ’modified’ Bessel differential equation: x2 dx 2 +
nal are affected similarly by the channel, i.e. by the
dy
x dx − (x2 + n2 )y = 0 and can be expressed in terms of the fading. This is called flat-fading or frequency non-
Bessel functions as: In (x) = (j)−n Jn (jx) selective fading.

5
Figure 4: The power delay profile gives the the power received as Figure 5: Since received power can only be measured on a dis-
a function of time when an impulse is transmitted over the wireless crete time scale, we can only have a discrete power delay profile,
channel. which indicates the power received at discrete instants of time
when an impulse is transmitted on the wireless channel.

IV. FREQUENCY SELECTIVE FADING CHANNELS


The RMS delay spread is a way of quantifying the
multipath nature of the channel. It is of the order
Consider only WSSUS (Wide Sense Stationary of µs in outdoor situation and of the order of ns in
Uncorrelated Scattering). Recall that the channel indoor situations. Note that the absolute transmit
response is given by c(t, τ ) and represents the power level does not affect the definition of στ and
response of the channel at time t to an input impulse µτ . Instead the above two definitions only depend
at time t − τ . on the relative amplitudes of multipath components.

Definition: The power delay profile or multipath in- As against the power delay profile shown above, in
tensity profile is defined as: reality we can only have a discrete power delay pro-
file. Corresponding to this discrete delay profile, we
1
Φc (τ ) = E[c(t, τ )c∗ (t, τ )] (41) have the following definitions:
2
P
It gives the average power at the channel output as P (τk )τk
τ = Pk (44)
a function of time delay. k P (τk )

q
Definition: Average delay is defined as: στ = τ¯2 − (τ̄ )2 (45)
R∞
τ φc (τ )dτ where
µτ = R0 ∞ (42)
0
φc (τ )dτ P
¯ P (τk )τk2
Definition: RMS Delay spread is defined as: τ = Pk
2 (46)
k P (τk )
sR ∞
2
0 (τR − µT ) φc (τ )dτ
στ = ∞ (43)
0
φc (τ )dτ

6
V. CHARACTERIZATION OF FADING CHANNELS defined as a measure of spectral broadening caused
by the time-rate of change of the channel (related to
Fading radio channels have been classified in two the doppler frequency). 6 . The coherence time is a
ways. 5 The first type of classification discusses statistical measure of the time duration over which
whether the fading is flat (frequency non-selective) two received signals have a strong potential for am-
or frequency selective, while the second classification plitude correlation. Thus if the inverse bandwidth
is based on the rate at which the wireless channel of the basebad signal is greater than the coherence
is changing (or in other words, the rate of change time of the channel then the channel changes during
of the impulse response of channel), i.e. whether transmission of he baseband message. This will cause
the fading is fast or slow. In connection with these a distortion at the receiver. It is shown that:
characterizations of fading channels, it is useful to
1
note the following quantities: Tc ≈ (48)
BD
Coherence bandwidth: Coherence bandwidth is a
If the coherence time is defined as the duration of
statistical measure of the range of frequencies over
time over which the time correlation function is > 0.5,
which the channel can be considered ”flat” (i.e. fre-
then:
quency non-selective, or in other words a channel s
which passes all spectral components with equal gain 9
Tc ≈ 2
(49)
and phase). It may also be defined as the range of fre- 16πfm
quencies over which any two frequency components
have a strong potential for amplitude correlation. It where fm is the maximum doppler frequency = v/λ.
has been shown that:
1 Example - Consider a vehicle travelling at 60 mi.
Bc ∝ (47) per hour and communicating with a stationary base
στ
station using a carrier frquency fc = 900 Mhz. This
where στ is the RMS delay spread. Also, if we define would give a channel coherence time of Tc ≈ 6.77
the coherence bandwidth as that bandwidth over msec. Therefore if the symbol rate of transmission
which the frequency correlationfunction is above is greater than 150 samples per second then the
0.5 (i.e. the normalized cross-correlation coefficient fading nature of the channel doesn’t really affect the
> 0.5 for all frquencies) then Bc ≈ 5σ1τ . Note that transmitted signal being received by the receiver in a
if the signal bandwidth is > BC , then the different harmful way. For a smaller symbol rate, the symbol
frequency components in the signal will not be faded width is so large that the channel changes (symbol
the same way. The channel then appears to be duration > Tc ) within a single symbol.
’frequency-selective’ to the transmitted signal.
Flat fading : If a channel has a constant response
Doppler spread and Coherence time: While στ for a bandwidth > the transmitted signal bandwidth,
and Bc describe the time dispersive nature of the then the channel is said to be a flat fading channel.
channel in an area local to the receiver, they do not The conditions for a flat fading channel are:
offer any information about the time-variations of the
channel due to relative motion between the trans- Bs  Bc (50)
mitter and the receiver. The doppler spread BD ,
5 An excellent treatment of the characterization of fading Ts  Tc (51)
channels is found in an article in the Sept. 1997 issue of the
IEEE communications magazine: ’Rayleigh Fading Channels 6 If the baseband signal frequency is much greater than the

in Mobile Digital Communication Systems: Part I: Caharac- doppler spread BD then the effects of doppler spread are neg-
terization’, by Bernard Sklar. ligible

7
where Bs and Ts are the signal bandwidth and the Slow fading : In a slow fading channel, the chan-
symbol duration respectively. nel impulse response changes at a rate much slower
than the transmitted baseband signal S(t). In the fre-
Frequency selective fading : A channel is said quency domain, this implies that the Doppler spread
to be frequency selective if the signal bandwidth is of the channel is much less than the bandwidth of the
greater than the coherence bandwidth of the chan- baseband signal. There fore, a signal undergoes slow
nel. In such a case, different frequency components fading if:
of the transmit signal undergo fading to different ex-
tents. For a frequency-selective fading situation: Ts  Tc (57)

Bs > Bc (52) Bs  BD (58)


Key Channel Parameters and Symbol Typical
Ts < Tc (53) Time Scales Value
Carrier frequency fc 1 GHz
The concept of pulse-shaping is used to control the Communication bandwidth W 1 MHz
Distance between Tx and Rx d 1 km
transmit signal bandwidth. This is used in the degin Velocity of mobile v 64 km/h
of the transmit symbol such that given the required Doppler shift for a path fm = fc v/c 50 Hz
Time for change in path gain d/v 1 min
symbol rate of transmission, a pulse shape is designed Time for change in path phase 1/(4fm ) 5 ms
so as to make the signal bandwidth fit within the Coherence time Tc = 1/(BD ) 2.5 ms
Delay spread στ 1 µs
coherence bandwidth of the signal. Ofcourse, this Coherence bandwidth Bc ≈ 1/2στ 500 kHz
places an upper limit on the achievable symbol rate.
Table 1: A summary of the physical parameters
OFDM attempts to solve this problem by breaking
of the channel and the time scale of change of
up the signal bandwidth into sub-carriers, each of
the key parameters in its discrete-time baseband
which can be individually transmitted without the
model. (Taken from ’Fundamentals of Wireless
channel behaving in a frequency - selective manner.
Communication’, David Tse, University of California
A common rule of thumb to characterize a channel
Berkely, Promod Vishwanath, University of Illinios
as frequency selective is that if:
Urbana-champaign)
στ > 0.1Ts (54)

Fast fading : In a fast fading channel, the chan- It must be noted that the wireless channel is func-
nel impulse response changes rapidly within the sym- tion of what is transmitted over it. In order to
bol duration, i.e. the coherence time of the channel determine whether fading will affect communication
is smaller that the symbol period of the transmit- on a wireless channel, we must compare the symbol
ted signal. Viewed in the frequency domain, signal duration of data transmission with the coherence
distortion due to fast fading increases with increas- time and the bandwidth of the baseband signal (fast
ing Doppler spread relative to the bandwidth of the / slow fading) with the coherence bandwidth of the
transmitted signal. Therefore, a signal undergoes fast channel (flat / frequency selective nature).
fading if:
It should also be clear that when a channel is specified
Ts > Tc (55) as a fast or slow fading channel, it does not specify
Bs < BD (56) whether the channel is flat fading or frequency selec-
tive in nature. These are two independent classifica-
where BD is the Doppler spread of the channel and tions. Fast and slow fading deal with the time rate of
Tc is its coherence time. change of the channel with reference to the transmit-
ted signal, whicle flat and frequency-selective fading

8
deal with weather the relationship between the signal
bandwidth and the range of frequencies over which
the fading behaviour of the channel is uniform.

References
[1] Wireless communication technologies, lecture notes,
Spring 2005, Dr. Narayan Mandayam, Rutgers Univer-
sity

[2] Rayleigh fading channels in mobile digital communica-


tion systems, Part I: Characterization, Bernard Sklar,
IEEE Communications Magazine, Sept. 1997

[3] Wireless Communications, Andrea Goldsmith, Stanford


University 2004

[4] Fundamentals of Wireless Communication, David Tse,


University of California Berkely, Promod Vishwanath,
University of Illinios Urbana-champaign

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