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Multipath Fading in Cellular Mobile Communications/A Handbook on Cellular

Mobile Communication Laboratory A MATLAB-Based Approach

Technical Report · March 2016

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.1961.8967

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CMCL 03: Multipath Fading in Cellular Mobile Communications

3.1 Basic Propagation Mechanisms and Concept of Fading

Reflection is a phenomenon (Figure 3.1) that occurs when an EM wave impinges upon an
obstruction with dimensions very large compared to the radio wave wavelength such as earth
surface, building, or wall.

Diffraction occurs from the signal obstruction obstructed by a surface (earth, buildings, or walls)
with sharp irregularities (edges), which may interfere constructively or destructively at the
receiver.
 According to Huygens principle, all points on a wave front can be considered as point
sources for the production of secondary wavelets, and these wavelets combine to produce
a new wave front in the direction of propagation (Figure 3.2).
 Diffraction is caused by the secondary wavelets into the shadowed region and the strength
of the diffracted waves is the sum of all secondary wavelets in the shadowed region.

Scattering occurs when the dimension of the obstacles is small compared to the wavelength and
the number of obstacles per unit volume is quite large.

Direct wave
Transmitter

Receiver
ve
ct ed wa
Refe

Earth Ground

Distance (d)
Figure 3.1: Two ray ground reflection model.
But in reality, because of having such obstructions in the way of signal propagation as reflection,
diffraction, and scattering of radio waves occurred, which causes multipath propagation (varies
with the type and area of obstruction). These signals have longer path than direct signal, and the
magnitude as well as the phase difference varies with the path length of the signals.

The received signals from various radio paths are summed at the MS antenna. This summing can
be either constructive or destructive. In the destructive case, the sum signal has power that is clearly
smaller than the average level of the received signal, and the received signal is said to be in a fade.
The effect can cause fluctuations in the received signal’s amplitude, phase, and angle of arrival.
The overall phenomenon of radio propagation is called multipath fading. The urban environment
is the most common and unpredictable propagation environment in cellular communication
systems, which is characterized by dense urban, urban, and suburban environments with
Q

Huygens secondary sources

Knif
e ed
ge
h

shadowed region
Receiver in
Source

d1 d2

Figure 3.2: Knife-edge diffraction.

the density of civil structure variation. The signal received at the receiver is a result of direct rays,
reflected rays, and shadowing as shown in Figure 3.3. Figure 3.3 shows a typical urban
environment showing direct path and multipath propagation.

Figure 3.3: Multipath fading.

Figure 3.4 represents an overview of fading channel manifestations. It starts with two types of
fading effects that characterize mobile communications: large-scale and small-scale fading. In this
experiment, we limit our focus on small scale fading.
 RK Saha - A Handbook on Cellular Mobile Communication Laboratory-A MATLAB based Approach
Personal use only permitted, not for any commercial purposes

3.9 Appendix: M-file: Multipath Fading in Cellular Mobile Communications

Rayleigh Fading Channel

% Rayleigh Fading Model

%-------------------------------------------------------
% Frequency Flat Rayleigh fading
%--------------------------------------------------
Ray_c_ff = rayleighchan(1/10000,100);
sig = 1i*ones(2000,1); % Generate signal
Ray_y_ff = filter(Ray_c_ff,sig); % Pass signal through channel

%-------------------------------------------------------
% frequency Selective Rayleigh fading
%--------------------------------------------------
Ray_c_fs = rayleighchan(1/10000,100,[0 0.5/50000;],[0 -10]);
sig = 1i*ones(2000,1); % Generate signal
Ray_y_fs = filter(Ray_c_fs,sig); % Pass signal through channel

%-----------------------------------------------------
% Display all properties of the Rayleigh Fadedchannel

disp(Ray_c_ff)
disp(Ray_c_fs)
%-----------------------------------------------------

% Plot power of faded signal, versus sample number.

subplot 221
plot(20*log10(abs(Ray_y_ff))),grid
title('Rayleigh frequency flat')
xlabel('Sample number')
ylabel('Faded signal power')

subplot 222
plot(20*log10(abs(Ray_y_fs))),grid
title('Rayleigh frequency selective')
xlabel('Sample number')
ylabel('Faded signal power')

%---------------------------------------------------------
Rician Fading Channel
%--------------------------------------------------------
% Rician fading Model
%--------------------------------------------------------

%-------------------------------------------------------
% Frequency Flat rician fading
%--------------------------------------------------
Ric_c_ff = ricianchan(1/10000,100,3);
sig = 1i*ones(2000,1); % Generate signal
Ric_y_ff = filter(Ric_c_ff,sig); % Pass signal through channel

© RK Saha Exp 04 Page 3 of 4

 %-------------------------------------------------------
% frequency Selective Rayleigh fading
%--------------------------------------------------
% c_fs = ricianchan(1/10000,100,3,[0 0.5/50000;],[0 -10],3);

Ric_c_fs = ricianchan(1/10000,100,3,[0 0.5/50000;],[0 -10]);

sig = 1i*ones(2000,1); % Generate signal
Ric_y_fs = filter(Ric_c_fs,sig); % Pass signal through channel

%-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
% Output1
%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
% Display all properties of the Rayleigh Faded channel

disp(Ric_c_ff)
disp(Ric_c_fs)
%-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
% Output2
%----------------------------------------------------------------------------
% Plot power of faded signal, versus sample number
%------------------------------------------------------------------------------
subplot 223
plot(20*log10(abs(Ric_y_ff))),grid
title('Rician frequency flat')
xlabel('Sample number')
ylabel('Faded signal power')

subplot 224
plot(20*log10(abs(Ric_y_fs))),grid
title('Rician frequency selective')
xlabel('Sample number')
ylabel('Faded signal power')
%---------------------------------------------------

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