Mobile Networks

Module D-1

Antennas and Propagation

1. Introduction
2
2. Propagation modes
3. Line-of-sight transmission
4. Fading
g

1
1. Introduction

„ An antenna is an electrical conductor or

system off conductors
d
„ Transmission - radiates electromagnetic
energy into space
„ Reception - collects electromagnetic
energy from space
„ In two-wayy communication,, the same
antenna can be used for transmission
p
and reception
2
Radiation Patterns

„ Radiation pattern
„ Graphical representation of radiation properties of
an antenna
„ Depicted as two-dimensional cross section
„ Beam width (or half-power beam width)
„ Measure of directivity of antenna
„ Reception
p pattern
p
„ Receiving antenna’s equivalent to radiation
pattern

3
Types of Antennas

„ Isotropic antenna (idealized)

„ Radiates power equally in all directions
„ Dipole
po e a
antennas
te as
„ Half-wave dipole antenna (or Hertz
antenna)
„ Quarter-wave vertical antenna (or Marconi
a te a)
antenna)
„ Parabolic Reflective Antenna

4
5
6
7
8
Antenna Gain

„ Antenna gain
„ Power output, in a particular direction,
compared
p to that produced
p in anyy direction
by a perfect omnidirectional antenna
((isotropic
p antenna))
„ Effective area
„ Related
R l t d to
t physical
h i l size
i and
d shape
h off
antenna

9
Antenna Gain

„ Relationship between antenna gain and

effective
ff area
4πAe 4πf 2 Ae
G= =
λ 2
c 2

„ G = antenna gain
„ Ae = effective area
„ f = carrier frequency
q y
„ c = speed of light (≈ 3 × 108 m/s)
„ λ = carrier wavelength

10
2. Propagation Modes

„ Ground-wave propagation
„ Sky-wave propagation
„ Line of sight propagation
Line-of-sight

11
12
Ground Wave Propagation

13
Ground Wave Propagation

„ Follows contour of the earth

„ Can Propagate considerable distances
„ Frequencies up to 2 MHz
„ Example
p
„ AM radio

14
Sky Wave Propagation

15
Sky Wave Propagation

„ Signal reflected from ionized layer of

atmosphere back down to earth
„ Signal can travel a number of hops, back and
forth between ionosphere and earth’s surface
„ Reflection effect caused by refraction
„ Examples
„ Amateur radio
„ CB radio

16
Line-of-Sight Propagation

17
Line-of-Sight Propagation
„ Transmitting and receiving antennas must be
within line of sight
„ Satellite communication – signal above 30 MHz
not reflected by ionosphere
„ Ground communication – antennas within effective
line of site due to refraction
„ Refraction – bending of microwaves by the
atmosphere
p
„ Velocity of electromagnetic wave is a function of
the density of the medium
„ Wh wave changes
When h medium,
di speedd changes
h
„ Wave bends at the boundary between mediums18
19
Line-of-Sight Equations
„ Optical line of sight
d = 3.57 h
„ Effective,, or radio,, line of sight
g
d = 3.57 Κh
„ d = distance between antenna and horizon
(km)
„ h = antenna
t h
height
i ht (m)
( )
„ K = adjustment factor to account for
refraction rule of thumb K = 4/3
refraction,

20
Line-of-Sight Equations

„ Maximum distance between two

antennas for LOS propagation:

(
3.57 Κh1 + Κh2 )
„ h1 = height of antenna one
„ h2 = height of antenna two

21
3. Line-Of-Sight Transmission

„ Attenuation and attenuation distortion

„ Free space loss
„ Noise
„ Atmospheric
p absorption
p
„ Multipath
„ R f ti
Refraction
„ Thermal noise
22
Attenuation
„ Strength of signal falls off with distance over
transmission medium
„ Attenuation factors for unguided media:
„ Received
R i d signal
i l mustt have
h sufficient
ffi i t strength
t th so
that circuitry in the receiver can interpret the
signal
„ Signal must maintain a level sufficiently higher
than noise to be received without error
„ Attenuation is greater at higher frequencies,
causing distortion

23
Free Space Loss

„ Free space loss, ideal isotropic antenna

Pt (4πd ) (4πfd )
2 2
= =
Pr λ2
c 2

„ Pt = signal power at transmitting antenna

„ Pr = signal power at receiving antenna
„ λ = carrier wavelength
„ d = propagation
ti distance
di t between
b t antennas
t
„ c = speed of light (≈ 3 × 10 8 m/s)

where d and λ are in the same units (e.g., meters)

24
Free Space Loss

„ Free space loss equation can be recast:

Pt ⎛ 4πd ⎞
LdB = 10 log
l = 20 log
l ⎜ ⎟
Pr ⎝ λ ⎠

= −20 log(λ ) + 20 log(d ) + 21.98 dB

⎛ 4πfd ⎞
= 20 log⎜ ⎟ = 20 log( f ) + 20 log(d ) − 147.56 dB
⎝ c ⎠

25
Free Space Loss

„ Free space loss accounting for gain of other

kinds off antennas
Pt (4π ) (d ) (λd ) (cd )
2 2 2 2
= = = 2
Pr Gr Gt λ2
Ar At f Ar At
„ Gt = gain of transmitting antenna
„ Gr = g
gain of receiving
g antenna
„ At = effective area of transmitting antenna
„ Ar = effective area of receiving antenna

26
Free Space Loss

„ Free space loss accounting for gain of

other kinds of antennas can be recast
as

LdB = 20 log(λ ) + 20 log(d ) − 10 log( At Ar )

= −20 logg( f ) + 20 logg(d ) − 10 log

g( At Ar ) + 169.54dB

27
28
Categories of Noise

„ Thermal Noise
„ Intermodulation noise
„ Crosstalk
„ Impulse
p Noise

29
Thermal Noise

„ Also called white noise

„ Due to agitation of electrons
„ Present in all electronic devices and
transmission media
„ Cannot be eliminated
„ Function of temperature
„ Particularly significant for satellite
communication
30
Thermal Noise

„ Amount of thermal noise to be found in a

bandwidth off 1Hz in any device or conductor
is:
N 0 = kT (W/Hz )
„ N0 = noise power density in watts per 1 Hz of bandwidth
„ k = Boltzmann's constant = 1.3803 × 10-23 J/K
„ T = temperature, in kelvins (absolute temperature)

31
Thermal Noise

„ Noise is assumed to be independent of

frequency
„ Thermal noise present in a bandwidth of B
Hertz (in watts):
N = kTB
or,, in decibel-watts
N = 10 log k + 10 log T + 10 log B
= −228.6 dBW + 10 log T + 10 log B
32
Noise Terminology
„ Intermodulation noise – occurs if signals with
different
d e e t frequencies
eque c es sshare
a e tthe
e sa
same
e medium
ed u
„ Interference caused by a signal produced at a
frequency that is the sum or difference of original
f
frequencies
i
„ Crosstalk – unwanted coupling between
signal paths
„ Impulse noise – irregular pulses or noise
spikes
„ Short duration and of relatively high amplitude
„ Caused by external electromagnetic disturbances
disturbances,
or faults and flaws in the communications system
33
Expression
p Eb/N0
„ Ratio of signal
g energy
gy per
p bit to noise power
p
density per Hertz
Eb S / R S
= =
N0 N0 kTR

where S is the signal power, R the bitrate, k

Boltzmann’ss constant and T the temperature
Boltzmann
„ The bit error rate for digital data is a function
of Eb/N0
„ Given a value for Eb/N0 to achieve a desired error
rate, parameters of this formula can be selected
„ As bit rate R increases, transmitted signal power
must increase to maintain required Eb/N0 34
35
Other Impairments

„ Atmospheric absorption – water vapor

and oxygen contribute to attenuation
„ Multipath – obstacles reflect signals so
that multiple copies with varying delays
are received
i d
„ Refraction – bendingg of radio waves as
they propagate through the atmosphere

36
37
Multipath Propagation

„ Reflection - occurs when signal encounters a

surface
f that is large relative to the
wavelength of the signal
„ Diffraction - occurs at the edge of an
impenetrable body that is large compared to
wavelength of radio wave
„ Scattering – occurs when incoming signal hits
an object whose size in the order of the
wavelength of the signal or less
38
Multipath Propagation

39
The Effects of Multipath
Propagation

„ Multiple copies of a signal may arrive at

diff
different phases
h
„ If phases add destructively, the signal level
relative to noise declines, making detection
more difficult
„ Intersymbol interference (ISI)
„ One or more delayed
y copies
p of a pulse
p mayy
arrive at the same time as the primary
pulse for a subsequent bit

40
4. Fading in the mobile
environment
Fading: time variation of received signal power due to
changes in the transmission medium or path(s)
Ki d off fading:
Kinds f di
„ Fast fading

„ Slow
Sl fading
f di
„ Flat fading Æ independent from frequency

„ Selective
S l i fading
f di Æ frequency-dependent
f d d
„ Rayleigh fading Æ no dominant path

„ Rician fading Æ LOS is dominating + presence of

indirect multipath signals

41
42
43
 Power in the dominant p path
K=
Power in the scattered paths

K=0 : Rayleigh
K=∞: Additive White
Gaussian Noise

44
Error Compensation
Mechanisms

„ Forward error correction

„ Adaptive equalization
„ Diversity techniques

45
Forward Error Correction

„ Transmitter adds error-correcting code to

data block
„ Code is a function of the data bits
„ Receiver calculates error-correcting code from
incoming
g data bits
„ If calculated code matches incoming code, no
error occurred
„ If error-correcting codes don’t match, receiver
attempts to determine bits in error and correct

46
Adaptive Equalization
„ Can be applied to transmissions that carry
analog or digital information
„ Analog voice or video
„ Digital data,
data digitized voice or video
„ Used to combat intersymbol interference
„ I
Involves
l gathering
th i dispersed
di d symbol
b l energy
back into its original time interval
„ T h i
Techniques
„ Lumped analog circuits
„ Sophisticated digital signal processing
p ocessing algorithms
algo ithms
47
A known training sequence is sent periodically. The receiver
fine tunes the coefficients accordingly
accordingly.

48
Diversity Techniques
„ Diversity is based on the fact that individual
channels experience independent fading
events
„ Space diversity – techniques involving
physical transmission path (e.g., multiple
antennas)
„ Frequency diversity – techniques where the
signal is spread out over a larger frequency
b d idth or carried
bandwidth i d on multiple
lti l frequency
f
carriers
„ Ti
Time diversity
di it – techniques
t h i aimed
i d att
spreading the data out over time 49
50