Wolkite University

Department of Information Technology

Wireless Networking and Telecom
Technologies
Introduction to Wireless Communication and
Transmission
Amanuel Tamirat| ITec4082
In this chapter
• Introduction
• Signals
• Components of wireless communications - Antennas
• Frequencies for radio transmissions
• Analog and Digital communications
– Modulation
– Multiplexing
Introduction
• The term wireless refers to telecommunication technology, in
which radio waves, infrared waves and microwaves are used
to carry a signal (information), instead of cables or wires, to
connect communication devices.
• These device including pagers, cell phones, portable PCs,
computer networks, location devices, satellite systems and
handheld digital assistants.
• Wireless networking is the transmission of data using a
physical topology (carrier), not direct physical links.

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Examples of Wireless Networks
• Bluetooth: Small scale network E.g. between headset and
mobile phone.
• IR (Infrared): In the electromagnetic spectrum, IR radiation
lies between microwaves and visible light. It is used for
security control, TV remote control and short range
communications.
• Wireless Sensor Networks: Collecting Information from less
power mobile sensor devices.
• Satellite: Collecting Information from the satellite up in the
sky to GPS receiver or to other satellite phones.
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Signals
• Physical Layer concerns the transfer of message bits using signals.
• Signals are functions. The simplest signal (a.k.a. sinusoids) in a
function of time (t) can be expressed as:
• 𝑓 𝑡 = 𝑠𝑖𝑛 2𝜋𝑣𝑡+
– Where v is the frequency, expressed in cycles per second, or hertz (Hz) and 
is a phase. The period T of the wave is the amount of time it takes for the
wave to go through one complete cycle, that is, T = 1∕𝜈.
• Computers uses a digital signal (a set of 0’s and 1’s). But the signal
is analog while it propagates through a wire or wireless media.
Analog signals encode digital bits.
• What happens when signals propagate over wireless media?
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Signal Propagation
• Signals transmitted on a carrier frequency.
• Travel at speed of light, spread out and attenuate faster than
1/ 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡 2 (distance between sender and receiver).
• Multiple signals on the same frequency interfere at a receiver.
– Transmitters must be far enough apart to use the same frequency.
• Wireless propagation is complex, depends on environment
(buildings, reflection, scattering, diffraction). (see Chapter 2)
• Signals are bounce off objects and could take multiple paths.
– Some frequencies attenuated (faded) at receiver
– Messes up signal; handled with sophisticated methods. 6
Signal Propagation Range
• Transmission range
– communication possible
– low error rate
• Detection range
– detection of the signal possible
– no communication possible
• Interference range
– signal may not be detected
– signal adds to the background noise
Components of Wireless Communications

• Wireless communication systems consist of:

– Transmitters
– Antennas: radiates electromagnetic energy into air
– Receivers
• In some cases, transmitters and receivers are on same device,
called transceivers.
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Antennas
• An antenna is an electrical conductor or system of conductors to
send/receive RF signals
– Transmission - radiates electromagnetic energy into space
– Reception - collects electromagnetic energy from space
• In two-way communication, the same antenna can be used for
transmission and reception.

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Frequencies for Radio Transmission
• The range of electromagnetic signals encompassing all frequencies is
referred to as the electromagnetic spectrum. Frequency Ranges from 30
Hz to 300 GHz

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Physical Layer Terms and Terminologies
• Modulation: Schemes to convert digital signals to analog
signals and vice versa.
– Rate (bandwidth, capacity, speed): the rate, in bits per second,
at which a message can be sent on to the medium channel.
• Bandwidth: Information carrying capacity, in bits/sec.
– In EE community, bandwidth is defined as a width of frequency
band, measured in Hz.
– Delay: the time, in second, takes the signal to cross the channel.
• Propagation delay: the time for a single bit across through wireless
media, is equals to the speed of light (c).

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Types of Wireless Communications
• Depends on the mobile station (receiver and sender) technology
type, we can divide wireless communication as analog and digital.
• Wireless analog communications
– The first generation (1G) mobile cellular standards like AMPS
(Advanced Mobile Phone System) and NMT (Nordic Mobile
Telephone) were based on analog communication technologies.
– Broadcasting (AM, FM) Radio: Radio waves are electromagnetic
signals, allows to obtain an audio signal.
• Wireless digital communications: Most of modern wireless
communication systems are digital.
– WiFi, Bluetooth, 2G, 3G, 4G, etc.
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Wireless Analog Communication

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Wireless Digital Communication

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Modulation
• We’ve talked about signals representing bits (modulations).
• Carrier is simply a signal oscillating at a desired frequency:

• We can modulate it by changing: Amplitude, frequency, or phase

• Two kinds of Wireless Modulation
– Analog Modulation (Wireless Analog Communication)
– Digital Modulation (Wireless Digital Communication)

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Analog Modulations
➢ Amplitude Modulation (AM)
➢ Amplitude modulation is the process of varying the amplitude of a
carrier wave in proportion to the amplitude of a baseband signal.
The frequency of the carrier remains constant.
➢ Frequency Modulation (FM)
➢ Frequency modulation is the process of varying the frequency of a
carrier wave in proportion to the amplitude of a baseband signal.
The amplitude of the carrier remains constant.
➢ Phase Modulation (PM)
➢ Another form of analog modulation technique which works by
altering the phase of the signal.

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Amplitude Modulation
Frequency Modulation
AM vs. FM
• AM requires a simple circuit, and is very easy to generate.
• AM is simple to tune, and is used in almost all short wave
broadcasting.
• The area of coverage of AM (longer wavelength) is greater than FM
(high frequencies). However, it is quite inefficient, and is
susceptible to static and other forms of electrical noise.
• The main advantage of FM is its audio quality and immunity to
noise. Most forms of static and electrical noise are naturally AM,
and an FM receiver will not respond to AM signals.
• The audio quality of a FM signal increases as the frequency
deviation increases (deviation from the center frequency), which is
why FM broadcast stations use such large deviation.
• The main disadvantage of FM is the larger bandwidth it requires.
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Wireless Digital Modulation (Passband)
• Amplitude shift keying (ASK) is similar to AM analog, in that
changes in the carrier’s height represent a 1 or 0 bit. Instead of
both a 1 and 0 bit having a carrier signal, however, the 1 bit has a
carrier signal while the 0 bit does not with ASK.
• Frequency shift keying (FSK) changes the frequency of the carrier
signal. Because it is sending a binary signal, the carrier signal starts
and stops.
• Phase shift keying (PSK) is similar to phase modulation. Another
form of digital modulation technique. Two binary digits are
represented by shifting the phase of the carrier signal. Frequency
and Amplitude remains fixed.
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Modern modulation schemes for mobile communication

• So far, we have seen different and simple modulation schemes

for wireless communications, which encodes a single binary
digit per signal state (ASK, PSK).
• There are variants of the modulation techniques which can
transmit several bits at one signal state change, e.g. amplitude
with 4 levels (see Fig 4.10)
• Since frequencies are measured in Hertz (cycles/sec), they are
suitable for the storage of large amount of quantities.
• For the efficient use of spectrum frequency, amplitude and
phase modulation are combined.
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Fig 4.10: Modulation of several bits per signal state

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Fig 4.11: I/Q-Modulation diagram
• Polar diagram: Phase and Amplitude are specified by
a Q and I value.

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 Illustration
• The signal changes for every • A combination of 4 phases
pair of bits between 4 states and two amplitudes results
• Using four phases and one in 8 different signal states,
(constant) amplitude – i.e. 3 bits can be transmitted
in parallel

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Fig 4.12: Amplitude and Phase modulation combined

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 8-PSK
• 8-PSK combines 8 phases,
at each phase change 3
bits can be transmitted
• Theoretically, there can
be any number of signal
states (phases)
• However, in reality it is
difficult for the receiver
to distinguish two states
which are close to each
other
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 Examples
• QPSK ( = 4-PSK) • 16-QAM (Quadrature
UMTS/CDMA Amplitude Modulation)
• 8-PSK GSM/EDGE – e.g. High Speed Downlink
Packet Access (HSDPA),
• 16-QAM HSDPA 10Mbps UMTS
• 64-QAM HSPA (cat15/16),
LTE, 802.11a
• Read more about other
modulation practices

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Multiplexing
• Multiplexing is the network word for the sharing
resource.

• Classic scenario is sharing a link among different users:

– Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)
– Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)
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FDM
• Put different users on different frequency bands.
• Each signal is modulated to a different carrier frequency
• Carrier frequencies separated so signals do not overlap
(guard bands)
• e.g. scenario
– 12 voice channels (4kHz each) = 48kHz
– Range 60kHz to 108kHz
• Channel allocated even if no data
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FDM Diagram

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FDM System

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TDM
• Users take turns on a fixed schedule
• Data rate of medium exceeds data rate of digital
signal to be transmitted
• Multiple digital signals interleaved in time
• May be at bit level of blocks
• Time slots preassigned to sources and fixed
• Time slots allocated even if no data
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TDM Diagram

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TDM vs FDM
• In TDM a user sends at a high rate a fraction of the time; in
FDM, a user sends at a low rate all the time

• Widely used in telecommunications

– TV and radio stations (FDM)
– GSM (2G cellular) allocates calls using TDM within FDM
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Wireless vs. Wired Networks
• Regulations of frequencies
– Limited availability, coordination is required
– Useful frequencies are almost all occupied
• Bandwidth and delays
– Low transmission rates: few Kbits/s to some Mbit/s.
– Higher delays: several hundred milliseconds
– Higher loss rates: susceptible to interference, e.g., engines, lightning
• Always shared medium
– Lower security, simpler active attacking
– Radio interface accessible for everyone
– Secure access mechanisms important 38
Limitations of Wireless Networks
• Limitations of the Wireless Network
• Limited communication bandwidth
• Frequent disconnections
• Only Broadcast channel
• i.e. when a message is sent by a sender. It is received by all
receivers that are within range of that sender.
• Lack of mobility awareness by system/applications
• Limitations of the Mobile Device
• Short battery lifetime
• Limited capacities

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End of Chapter One.

QUESTIONS?

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