Lecture 2: Wireless Challenges

INT3303
Mạng không dây

1 Slide sources: Prof. Peter Steenkiste, Carnegie Mellon University

 Outline
• Challenges in Wireless Networking
• RF introduction
» A cartoon view
» Communication
» Time versus frequency view
• Modulation and multiplexing
• Channel capacity
• Antennas and signal propagation
• Modulation
• Diversity and coding
• OFDM

2
 Why Use Wireless?

“No wires” has several significant advantages:

• Supports mobile users
» Move around office, campus, city, … - users get hooked
» Cordless phones, cell phones, ..
» Remote control devices (TV, garage door, ..)
» WiFi and cellular, but also: Bluetooth, RFID, LoRaWan, …
• No need to install and maintain wires
» Reduces cost – important in offices, hotels, …
» Simplifies deployment – important in homes, hotspots, …

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 But Wireless Links are Challenging!

• In wired networks, links are constant, reliable and

physically isolated
» A 1 Gps Ethernet always has the same performance
» Reason: all link properties are standardized
» Also, the wire isolates the signal from other the environment
• In wireless networks links are variable, error-
prone and they share the ether with each other
and other external, uncontrolled sources
» Link properties can be extremely dynamic, e.g., mobility
» Other transmitters in the same frequency band
» Worst case: no connectivity

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 Wireless is a shared medium
• In wired communication, Bob Mary
signals are contained in a
conductor
» Copper or fiber
» Guides energy to destination
» Protects signal from external
signals
• Wireless communication
uses broadcasting over
the shared ether
» Energy is distributed in space
» Signal must compete with
many other signals in same
frequency band

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 How Do We Increase Network
Capacity?
Bob Mary
• Easy to do in wired networks:
simply add wires
» Fiber is especially attractive

• Adding wireless “links”

increases interference.
» Frequency reuse can help …
subject to spatial limitations
» Or use different frequencies …
subject to frequency limitations

• The capacity of a wireless

network is fundamentally
limited.

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 Mobility Affects the Link Throughput
• Quality of the Bob
transmission depends
on distance and
obstacles blocking the
“line of sight” (LOS)
» “Slow fading” – the signal
strength changes slowly

• Reflections off
obstacles combined
with mobility can cause
“fast fading” Mary
» Very rapid changes in the signal
» More on this later

• Hard to predict signal!

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 How is Wireless Different?
Wired Wireless
• Physical link properties • Physical link properties
are fixed and specified in can change rapidly in
standards unpredictable ways
• Designed for low error • Error rates vary a lot and
rates and link capacity is capacity is very dynamic
fixed and known • How do you design an
• Datalink layer is simple efficient datalink
and optimized for the protocol?
physical layer • How can higher layer
• Internet was designed protocols deal with this?
assuming low error rates
Understanding the physical layer is key to making wireless work well
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 Outline
• Challenges in Wireless Networking
• RF introduction
» A cartoon view
» Communication
» Time versus frequency view
• Modulation and multiplexing
• Channel capacity
• Antennas and signal propagation
• Modulation
• Diversity and coding
• OFDM

9
 From Signals to Packets
Packet
Transmission Sender Receiver

01000101010111001010101010111011100000011110101011101010101011010110101
Packets
Header/Body Header/Body Header/Body

Bit Stream 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1

“Digital” Signal

Analog Signal

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 Cartoon View 1 – A Wave of Energy

• Think of it as energy that radiates from an

antenna and is picked up by another antenna.
• Helps explain properties such as attenuation
» Density of the energy reduces over time, distance
» Signal strength is reduced, error rates go up
• Relevance to networking?
» Error rates of “wireless” depend on distance T
– Also depends on many properties
» Notion spatial reuse of frequencies
– Basis of cellular and WiFi infrastructures
R

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 Cartoon View 2 – Rays of Energy

• Can also view it as a “ray” that propagates

between two points
» Rays can be reflected etc.
» A channel can include multiple “rays” that take different
paths – “multi-path” effect
• Implications for wireless networks
» We can have provide connectivity without line of sight!
» Receiver can receive multiple copies of the signal, which
leads to signal distortion
» Combined with mobility, it also leads to fast fading

T R

Peter A. Steenkiste, CMU

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 (Not so) Cartoon View 3 – Electro-
magnetic Signal
• Electro-magnetic signal that propagate
» Sigh, this is getting too complicated!
• Cartoon version: sine wave with a certain frequency,
amplitude and phase that propagates from the sender
to the receiver

• The E M signal/sine wave is the basis for

communication:
» The sender can change the properties of the EM signal over time
to convey information
» Receivers can observe these changes and extract the
information

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 Time and Point View of Signal
• Can look at a point in space: signal will change in
time according to a sine function
» But transmitter can change phase, amplitude, frequency
• Can take a snapshot in time: signal will “look” like a
sine function in space
» Signal at different points are (rough) copies of each other

• Receiver can observe transmitter’s changes

Relevance to
Networking?

Transmitter Receiver
Space (snapshot in time)
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 Communication
Remember:
Received
Cartoon view Signal Time (point in space)

Transmitter Space (snapshot in time)

• Sender changes signal in agree upon way and

receiver interprets the changes
» “Modulation” and “demodulation”
• Problem: the signal gets distorted on “channel”
» This may make it harder for the receiver to interpret changes

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 Sine Wave Parameters

• General sine wave

» s(t ) = A sin(2πft + ф)
• Example on next slide shows the effect
of varying each of the three parameters
a) A = 1, f = 1 Hz, ф= 0; thus T = 1s
b) Reduced peak amplitude; A=0.5
c) Increased frequency; f = 2, thus T = ½
d) Phase shift; ф= π/4 radians (45 degrees)

• note: 2 π radians = 360° = 1 period

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 Modulation: Changing the Wireless
Signal

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 Key Idea of Wireless
Communication
• The sender sends an EM signal and changes
its properties over time
» Changes reflect a digital signal, e.g., binary or multi-valued
signal, that represent information
» Can change amplitude, phase, frequency, or a combination
» Note that the transmitted signal is no longer a simple sine
wave or even a periodic signal
• Receiver can identify the digital signal by
observing how the received signal changes
» It can then interpret the digital signal to identify the user
information that was sent
» As a result of signal distortions on the wireless signal, it
may be hard to correctly extract the information

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 Frequency View
• The time domain view is a good basis for
working with wireless signals
» Communication is based on a sine wave – “carrier signal”
» Transmitters continuously change the properties of the
carrier signal based on the sequence of bits in the packets
» Receivers interpret the changes in the carrier wave to
identify the bit stream encoded in the signal
• But: users must share the spectrum – they must
stay within their allocated frequency band
» How can a sender guarantee that it does not interfere with
communication in neighboring bands?
» How much can you really change the wireless signal?
» Does the amount of spectrum matter: 1MHz versus 160MHz?
» Are all spectrum bands the same? 900 MHz, 2.4, 5, 60 GHz?

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 Outline
• Challenges in Wireless Networking
• RF introduction
 » A cartoon view
 » Communication
 » Time versus frequency view

• Modulation and multiplexing

• Channel capacity
• Antennas and signal propagation
• Modulation
• Diversity and coding
• OFDM

20
 Time Domain View:
Periodic versus Aperiodic Signals

• Periodic signal - analog or digital signal

pattern that repeats over time
» s(t +T ) = s(t )
– where T is the period of the signal
» Allows us to take a frequency view – important to
understand wireless challenges and solutions
• Aperiodic signal - analog or digital signal
pattern that doesn't repeat over time
» Harder to analyze
• Can “make” an aperiodic signal periodic
by taking a time slice T and repeating it
» Often what we do implicitly
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 Key Parameters of (Periodic) Signal
• Peak amplitude (A) - maximum value or strength of
the signal over time; typically measured in volts
• Frequency (f )
» Rate, in cycles per second, or Hertz (Hz) at which the signal
repeats
• Period (T ) - amount of time it takes for one
repetition of the signal
» T = 1/f
• Phase (𝚽) - measure of the relative position in time
within a single period of a signal
• Wavelength (𝜆) - distance occupied by a single
cycle of the signal
» Or, the distance between two points of corresponding phase of
two consecutive cycles
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 Key Property of Periodic EM Signals

• Any electromagnetic signal can be shown to

consist of a collection of periodic analog
signals (sine waves) at different amplitudes,
frequencies, and phases
• The period of the total signal is equal to the
period of the fundamental frequency
» All other frequencies are an integer multiple of the
fundamental frequency
• There is a strong relationship between the
“shape” of the signal in the time and frequency
domain
» Discussed in more detail later

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 Representation of the Signal in the
Frequency Domain

=
+ 2.8 X

+ 1.3 X

+ 0.56 X

+ 1.15 X
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 The Frequency Domain
• A (periodic) signal can be viewed as a sum of sine
waves of different strengths.
• Corresponds to energy at a certain frequency
• Every signal has an equivalent representation in the
frequency domain.
• What frequencies are present and what is their strength (energy)
• We can translate between the two formats using a
fourier transform

Bandwidth

Amplitude
Time
Frequency
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 Outline
• Challenges in Wireless Networking
• RF introduction
 » A cartoon view
 » Communication
 » Time versus frequency view

• Modulation and multiplexing

• Channel capacity
• Antennas and signal propagation
• Modulation
• Diversity and coding
• OFDM

26
 Signal Modulation
• Sender sends a “carrier” signal and changes it
in a way that the receiver can recognize
• The carrier is sine wave with fixed amplitude and frequency
• Amplitude modulation (AM): change the strength
of the carrier based on information
• High values -> stronger signal
• Frequency (FM) and phase modulation (PM):
change the frequency or phase of the signal
• Frequency or Phase shift keying
• Digital versions are also called “shift keying”
• Amplitude (ASK), Frequency (FSK), Phase (PSK) Shift Keying
• Discussed in more detail later the course

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 Analog and Digital Signal Modulation

• The signal that is used to modulate the carrier

can be analog or digital
» Analog: broadcast radio (AM/FM)
» Digital: WiFi, LTE
• Analog: a continuously varying signal
» Cannot recover from distortions, noise
» Can amplify the signal since it also amplifies the noise
• Digital: discreet changes in the signal that
correspond to a digital signal
» Can recover from noise and distortion:
» Regenerate signal along the path: demodulate + remodulate

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 Wireless Spectrum in the US

nkiste, CMU
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 Multiple Users Can Share the Ether

Frequency

Different users use

Different carrier frequencies

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 Amplitude Carrier Modulation

Signal Carrier Modulated

Frequency Carrier
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 Multiplexing
• Capacity of the transmission medium usually
exceeds the capacity required for a single signal
• Multiplexing - carrying multiple signals on a
single medium
» More efficient use of transmission medium
• A must for wireless – spectrum is huge!
» Signals must differ in frequency (spectrum), time, or space

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 Multiplexing Techniques
• Frequency-division multiplexing (FDM)
» divide the capacity in the frequency domain
• Time-division multiplexing (TDM)
» Divide the capacity in the time domain
» Fixed or variable length time slices

Peter A. Steenkiste, CMU 35

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 Frequency versus
Time-division Multiplexing
□ With frequency-division
multiplexing different users use

Frequency
different parts of the frequency
spectrum. Frequency
» I.e. each user can send all the time Bands
at reduced rate
» Example: roommates
» Hardware is slightly more expensive
and is less efficient use of spectrum
□ With time-division multiplexing
different users send at different
times.
» I.e. each user can sent at full speed Slot Frame
some of the time
» Example: a time-share condo
» Drawback is that there is some
transition time between slots;
becomes more of an issue with
longer propagation times
□ The two solutions can be Time
combined.

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 Frequency Reuse in Space
• Frequencies can be
reused in space
» Distance must be large
enough
» Example: radio stations
• Basis for “cellular”
network architecture
• Set of “base stations”
connected to the wired
network support set of
nearby clients
» Star topology in each circle
» Cell phones, 802.11, …

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