Introduction

AWGN channels
Fading Channels

Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques

Section 3.1: Performance analysis over AWGN and fading channels

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 1
 Introduction
AWGN channels
Fading Channels

Outline of the lecture notes

1 Introduction

2 AWGN channels
Signal-to-Noise power ratio and bit/symbol energy
Error probability for BPSK and QPSK
Approximate symbol and bit error probabilities for typical
modulations

3 Fading Channels
Introduction
Outage probability
Average probability of error

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 2
 Introduction
AWGN channels
Fading Channels

Introduction

We now consider the performance of the digital modulation

techniques discussed in the previous chapter when used over AWGN
channels and channels with flat-fading.
There are two performance criteria of interest: the probability of
error, defined relative to either symbol or bit errors, and the outage
probability, defined as the probability that the instantaneous
signal-to-noise ratio falls below a given threshold.
Wireless channels may also exhibit frequency selective fading and
Doppler shift. Frequency-selective fading gives rise to intersymbol
interference (ISI), which causes an irreducible error floor in the
received signal.

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 3
 Introduction Signal-to-Noise power ratio and bit/symbol energy
AWGN channels Error probability for BPSK and QPSK
Fading Channels Approximate symbol and bit error probabilities for typical modulations

Signal-to-Noise power ratio and bit/symbol energy

In this section we define the signal-to-noise power ratio (SNR) and

its relation to energy-per-bit (Eb ) and energy-per-symbol (Es ).
We then examine the error probability on AWGN channels for
different modulation techniques as parameterized by these energy
metrics. Our analysis uses the signal space concepts of previous
section.
 
In an AWGN channel, the modulated signal s(t) = Re u(t)ej2πfc t
has receiver noise n(t) added to it prior to reception. The noise n(t)
is a white Gaussian random process with zero-mean and power
spectral density N0 /2.
The received signal is thus r(t) = s(t) + n(t).

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 4
 Introduction Signal-to-Noise power ratio and bit/symbol energy
AWGN channels Error probability for BPSK and QPSK
Fading Channels Approximate symbol and bit error probabilities for typical modulations

Signal-to-Noise power ratio and bit/symbol energy (cont.)

We define the received signal-to-noise power ratio (SNR) as the

ratio of the received signal power Pr to the power of the noise
within the bandwidth of the transmitted signal s(t).
The received power Pr is determined by the transmitted power and
the path loss and multipath fading.
The noise power is determined by the bandwidth of the transmitted
signal and the spectral properties of n(t). Specifically, if the
bandwidth of the complex envelope u(t) of s(t) is B then the
bandwidth of the transmitted signal s(t) is 2B.

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 5
 Introduction Signal-to-Noise power ratio and bit/symbol energy
AWGN channels Error probability for BPSK and QPSK
Fading Channels Approximate symbol and bit error probabilities for typical modulations

Signal-to-Noise ratio and bit/symbol energy (cont.)

Since the noise n(t) has uniform power spectral density N0 /2, the
total noise power within the bandwidth 2B is
Pn = N0 /2 × 2B = N0 B. So, the received SNR is given by
Pr
SN R = . (1)
N0 B
In systems with interference, we often use the received
signal-to-interference-plus-noise power ratio (SINR) in place of SNR
for calculating error probability. If the interference statistics
approximate those of Gaussian noise then this is a reasonable
approximation.
The received SINR is given by
Pr
SN R = . (2)
N0 B + PI
where PI is the average power of the interference.

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 6
 Introduction Signal-to-Noise power ratio and bit/symbol energy
AWGN channels Error probability for BPSK and QPSK
Fading Channels Approximate symbol and bit error probabilities for typical modulations

Signal-to-Noise ratio and bit/symbol energy (cont.)

The SNR is often expressed in terms of the signal energy per bit Eb
or per symbol Es as
Pr Es Eb
SN R = = = . (3)
N0 B N0 BTs N0 BTb
where Ts and Tb are the symbol and bit durations, respectively. For
binary modulation (e.g., BPSK), Ts = Tb and Es = Eb .
For data shaping pulses with Ts = 1/B (e.g., raised cosine pulses
with β = 1), one will have SNR = Es /N0 for multilevel signaling
and SNR = Eb /N0 for binary signaling. For general pulses,
Ts = k/B for some constant k, we have k × SNR = Es /N0 .
The quantities γs = Es /N0 and γb = Eb /N0 are sometimes called
the SNR per symbol and the SNR per bit, respectively.

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 7
 Introduction Signal-to-Noise power ratio and bit/symbol energy
AWGN channels Error probability for BPSK and QPSK
Fading Channels Approximate symbol and bit error probabilities for typical modulations

[Digital Modulation] Lab 5: Plot the QAM constellation

with noise
Lab 5. Expected plots of MQAM constellation

1.5 MQAM constellation at transmitter

0.5

-0.5

-1

-1.5
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1

1.5 MQAM constellation at receiver over AWGN channels

0.5

-0.5

-1

-1.5
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 9
 Introduction Signal-to-Noise power ratio and bit/symbol energy
AWGN channels Error probability for BPSK and QPSK
Fading Channels Approximate symbol and bit error probabilities for typical modulations

Signal-to-Noise ratio and bit/symbol energy (cont.)

For performance specification, we are interested in the bit error

probability Pb as a function of γb .
However, for M-array signaling (e.g., MPAM and MPSK), the bit
error probability depends on both the symbol error probability and
the mapping of bits to symbols. Thus, we typically compute the
symbol error probability Ps as a function of γs based on the signal
space concepts of previous section and then obtain Pb as a function
of γb using an exact or approximate conversion.
These assumptions for M-array signaling lead to the approximations:
γs Ps
γb ≈ and Pb ≈ . (4)
log2 M log2 M

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 11
 Introduction Signal-to-Noise power ratio and bit/symbol energy
AWGN channels Error probability for BPSK and QPSK
Fading Channels Approximate symbol and bit error probabilities for typical modulations

Error probability for BPSK and QPSK

Consider BPSK modulation with coherent detection and perfect
recovery of the carrier frequency and phase. With binary modulation
each symbol corresponds to one bit, so the symbol and bit error
rates are the same.
The transmitted signal is s0 (t) = Ag(t)cos(2πfc t) to send a 0 bit
and s1 (t) = −Ag(t)cos(2πfc t) to send a 1 bit. Note that for binary
modulation where M = 2, there is only one way to make an error
and dmin is the distance between the two signal constellation points,
so the probability of error is also the bound:
 
dmin
Pb = Q √ (5)
2N0
 
where Q(z) = 21 erfc √z2 . Remind that:
Z z
2 2
erfz = √ e−t dt, (6)
π 0
and the complementary error function is erfcz = 1 − erfz
Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 12
 Introduction Signal-to-Noise power ratio and bit/symbol energy
AWGN channels Error probability for BPSK and QPSK
Fading Channels Approximate symbol and bit error probabilities for typical modulations

Error probability for BPSK and QPSK

Consider BPSK modulation with coherent detection and perfect
recovery of the carrier frequency and phase. With binary modulation
each symbol corresponds to one bit, so the symbol and bit error
rates are the same.
The transmitted signal is s0 (t) = Ag(t)cos(2πfc t) to send a 0 bit
and s1 (t) = −Ag(t)cos(2πfc t) to send a 1 bit. Note that for binary
modulation where M = 2, there is only one way to make an error
and dmin is the distance between the two signal constellation points,
so the probability of error is also the bound:
 
dmin
Pb = Q √ (5)
2N0
 
where Q(z) = 12 erfc √z2 . Remind that:
Z z
2 2
erfz = √ e−t dt, (6)
π 0
and the complementary error function is erfcz = 1 − erfz
Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 12
 Introduction Signal-to-Noise power ratio and bit/symbol energy
AWGN channels Error probability for BPSK and QPSK
Fading Channels Approximate symbol and bit error probabilities for typical modulations

Error probability for BPSK and QPSK

Consider BPSK modulation with coherent detection and perfect
recovery of the carrier frequency and phase. With binary modulation
each symbol corresponds to one bit, so the symbol and bit error
rates are the same.
The transmitted signal is s0 (t) = Ag(t)cos(2πfc t) to send a 0 bit
and s1 (t) = −Ag(t)cos(2πfc t) to send a 1 bit. Note that for binary
modulation where M = 2, there is only one way to make an error
and dmin is the distance between the two signal constellation points,
so the probability of error is also the bound:
 
dmin
Pb = Q √ (5)
2N0
 
where Q(z) = 12 erfc √z2 . Remind that:
Z z
2 2
erfz = √ e−t dt, (6)
π 0
and the complementary error function is erfcz = 1 − erfz
Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 12
 Introduction Signal-to-Noise power ratio and bit/symbol energy
AWGN channels Error probability for BPSK and QPSK
Fading Channels Approximate symbol and bit error probabilities for typical modulations

Error probability for BPSK and QPSK (cont.)

Moreover, we have dmin =∥ s0 − s1 ∥=∥ A − (−A) ∥= 2A. The

energy-per-bit can be determined by
Z Tb Z Tb Z Tb
Eb = s20 (t)dt = s21 (t)dt = A2 g 2 (t) cos2 (2πfc t)dt = A2 .
0 0 0
(7)
Thus, the signal
√ constellation for
√ BPSK in terms of energy-per-bit is
given by s0 = Eb and s√1 = − Eb . This yields the minimum
distance dmin = 2A = 2 Eb . Substituting this into (5) yields
 √  r !
2 Eb 2Eb p 
Pb = Q √ =Q =Q 2γb . (8)
2N0 N0

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 13
 Introduction Signal-to-Noise power ratio and bit/symbol energy
AWGN channels Error probability for BPSK and QPSK
Fading Channels Approximate symbol and bit error probabilities for typical modulations

Error probability for BPSK and QPSK (cont.)

QPSK modulation consists of BPSK modulation on both the

in-phase and quadrature components of the signal. With perfect
phase and carrier recovery, the received signal components
corresponding to each of these branches are orthogonal and
independent. Therefore, the bit error
√ probability

on each branch is
the same as for BPSK: Pb = Q 2γb .
The symbol error probability equals the probability that either
branch has a bit error:
h p i2
Ps = 1 − 1 − Q 2γb . (9)

Q: Explain the intuition of this formula?

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 14
 Introduction Signal-to-Noise power ratio and bit/symbol energy
AWGN channels Error probability for BPSK and QPSK
Fading Channels Approximate symbol and bit error probabilities for typical modulations

Digital Modulation] Lab 6: Recover the M-QAM

modulated signals
Lab 6. Based on Lab 5, write a MatLAB function, entitled as
MQAM-demodulator to demodulate the noisy received signals after
transmitting via the AWGN channels and compare with the original
binary sequences.
Modulation level of M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation
(MQAM): M = 4,
The number of MQAM complex symbols per one transmission
burst/frame N = 100(1e2),
The SNR level: SNR= 10[dB]
Extend for the case M = 16.
Lab 6. Hints:
At the RX: Write a function MQAM-demodulator to convert the
M-QAM received sequence into the binary sequence.
Use function dec2bin

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 18
 Introduction Signal-to-Noise power ratio and bit/symbol energy
AWGN channels Error probability for BPSK and QPSK
Fading Channels Approximate symbol and bit error probabilities for typical modulations

Approximate symbol and bit error probabilities for typical

modulations
Many of the approximations or exact values for Ps derived above for
coherent modulation are in the following form:
p 
Ps (γs ) ≈ αM Q βM γ s (10)
where αM and βM depend on the type of approximation and the
modulation type. In the below table, we summarize the specific values of
αM and βM for common Ps expressions for PSK, QAM, and FSK
modulations based on the derivations in the prior sections.
Modulation Ps (γs ) Pb (γb )

√
BFSK: Pb = Q γb

√
BPSK: Pb = Q 2γb

√
√
QPSK,4QAM: Ps ≈ 2 Q  γs  Pb ≈ Q 2γb
q q 
MPAM: Ps ≈ 2(MM−1) Q 6γ s
M 2 −1
Pb ≈ M 2(M −1)
log2 M Q
6γ b log2 M
(M 2 −1)
√
p

MPSK: Ps ≈ 2Q 2γs sin(π/M ) Pb ≈ log2 M Q 2γb log2 M sin(π/M )
√ q  2
√ q 
Rectangular MQAM: Ps ≈ 4( √MM−1) Q 3γ s
M −1 Pb ≈ √4(M M −1)
log2 M
Q 3γ b log2 M
(M −1)
q  q 
3γ s 3γ b log2 M
Nonrectangular MQAM: Ps ≈ 4Q M −1 Pb ≈ log4 M Q (M −1)
2

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 19
 Introduction Signal-to-Noise power ratio and bit/symbol energy
AWGN channels Error probability for BPSK and QPSK
Fading Channels Approximate symbol and bit error probabilities for typical modulations

BER performance over AWGN channels: Lab 7

Lab 7. Expected plots of BER performance via theoretical analysis and
simulation

100
Bit error rate (BER)

10-5

10-10
BER via Monte Carlo Simulation
BER via Theoretical Analysis

10-15
0 5 10 15
SNR (dB)
Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 21
 Introduction Introduction
AWGN channels Outage probability
Fading Channels Average probability of error

Introduction

In AWGN the probability of symbol error depends on the received

SNR γs . In a fading channel, the received signal power varies
randomly over distance or time due to shadowing and/or multipath
fading. Thus, in fading γs is a random variables with distribution
pγs (γ), and therefore Ps (γs ) is also random.
The performance metric when γs is random depends on the rate of
change of the fading. There are two main performance criteria that
can be used to characterize the random variable Ps :
The outage probability, Pout , defined as the probability that γs falls
below a given value corresponding to the maximum allowable Ps .
The average error probability, Ps , averaged over the distribution of
γs .

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 22
 Introduction Introduction
AWGN channels Outage probability
Fading Channels Average probability of error

Outage probability

The outage probability relative to Pout is defined as

Z γ0
Pout = p (γs < γ0 ) = pγs (γ)dγ. (11)
0

where γ0 typically specifies the minimum SNR required for

acceptable performance.
For example, if we consider digitized voice, Pb = 10−3 is an
acceptable error rate since it generally cannot be detected by the
human ear. Thus, for a BPSK signal in Rayleigh fading, γb < 7 dB
would be declared an outage, so we set γ0 = 7 dB.

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 23
 Introduction Introduction
AWGN channels Outage probability
Fading Channels Average probability of error

Outage probability

1 −γs /γ s
In Rayleigh fading with pγs (γ) = γs e , one will have
Z γ0
1 −γs /γ s
Pout = e dγs = 1 − e−γ0 /γ s , (12)
0 γs

where γ s is the required average SNR which can be referred as:

γ0
γs = , (13)
− ln(1 − Pout )

For binary signaling, the distribution of γb is written as:

1 −γ/γ b
pγb (γ) = e (14)
γb

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 24
 Introduction Introduction
AWGN channels Outage probability
Fading Channels Average probability of error

M-QAM performance over AWGN and fading channels:

Lab 8
Lab 8. Expected plots of 4-QAM constellation performance via AWGN
and fading channels

MQAM constellation at transmitter

2

-2
-2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2

MQAM constellation at receiver over AWGN channels

2

-2
-2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2

MQAM constellation at receiver over wireless channels

2

-2
-2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 28
 Introduction Introduction
AWGN channels Outage probability
Fading Channels Average probability of error

BER performance over AWGN and fading channels: Lab 8

Lab 8. Expected plots of BER performance pver AWGN and fading
channels

100
Bit error rate (BER)

-1
10

10-2

Wireless transmission without CSI

Wireless transmission with Rayleigh fading
Wireline transmission, i.e., AWGN channels
-3
10
0 2 4 6 8 10
SNR (dB)
Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 29
 Introduction Introduction
AWGN channels Outage probability
Fading Channels Average probability of error

Average probability of error

The average probability of error is used as a performance metric
when γs is roughly constant over a symbol time. Then the averaged
probability of error is computed by integrating the error probability
in AWGN over the fading distribution:
Z ∞
Ps = Ps (γ)pγs (γ)dγ. (16)
0

where Ps (γ) is the probability of symbol error in AWGN channels

with SNR γ, which can be approximated by the expressions in the
aforementioned table.
For a given distribution of the fading amplitude r (i.e., Rayleigh,
Rician, log-normal, etc.), we compute pγs (γ) by making the change
of variable

pγs (γ)dγ = p(r)dr. (17)

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 31
 Introduction Introduction
AWGN channels Outage probability
Fading Channels Average probability of error

Average probability of error (cont.)

For instance, in Rayleigh fading, the received signal amplitude r has
the Rayleigh distribution
r −r2 /(2σ2 )
p(r) = e , r ≥ 0, (18)
σ2
where the signal power is exponentially distributed with mean 2σ 2 .
The SNR per symbol for a given amplitude r is

r2 Ts r2 Ts
γ= 2
= . (19)
2σn N0

where σn2 = N0 /2 is the PSD of the noise in the in-phase and

quadrature branches.
Differentiating both sides of this expression yields
rTs
dγ = dr. (20)
σn2

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 32
 Introduction Introduction
AWGN channels Outage probability
Fading Channels Average probability of error

Average probability of error (cont.)

Substituting (19) and (20) into (18) and then (17) yields

σn2 −γσn2 /(σ2 Ts )

pγs (γ) = e . (21)
σ 2 Ts

Since the average SNR per symbol γ s is just σ 2 Ts /σn2 , one can
rewrite (21) as
1 −γ/γ s
pγs (γ) = e , (22)
γs
which is exponential. For binary signaling, this reduces to
1 −γ/γ b
pγb (γ) = e . (23)
γb

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 33
 Introduction Introduction
AWGN channels Outage probability
Fading Channels Average probability of error

Average probability of error (cont.)

Integrating the error probability of BPSK in AWGN over the
distribution (23) yields the following average probability of error for
BPSK in Rayleigh fading:
s !
1 γb 1
Pb = 1− ≈ . (24)
2 1 + γb 4γ b

where the approximation holds for large γ b .

√

If we use the general approximation Ps ≈ αM Q βM γs then the
average probability of symbol error in Rayleigh fading can be
approximated as
Z ∞ s !
p  1 α .5β γ
m M
Ps ≈ αM Q βM γ e−γ/γ s dγs = 1− s
0 γs 2 1 + .5βM γ s
αM
≈ .
2βM γ s

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 34
 Introduction Introduction
AWGN channels Outage probability
Fading Channels Average probability of error

Average probability of error: Numerical results of BPSK

0
10
AWGN 0
10
Rayleigh fading

−1
−1
10 10

−2
10
m = 0.5
−2
10

Average Bit Error Probability

−3
10
m=1
−3 −4 (Rayleigh)
10
b

10
P

−5
10
−4
m = 1.5
10
−6
10

m=2
−5 −7
10 10

−8
10 m = 2.5
−6 m=∞ m=4
10 m=5 m=3
0 5 10 15 20 (No fading)
−9
10
γb (dB) 0 10 20 30 40
Average SNR γb (dB)

Figure 1: Average probability of bit

Figure 2: Average Pb for BPSK in
error Pb for BPSK in Rayleigh Fading
Nakagami Fading.
and AWGN.

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 35
 Introduction Introduction
AWGN channels Outage probability
Fading Channels Average probability of error

Average probability of error: Numerical results of MQAM

0
10
M=4
M = 16
M = 64
−1
10

−2
10
Rayleigh fading

−3
b

10
P

−4
10 AWGN

−5
10

−6
10
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

γb(dB)

Figure 3: Average Pb for MQAM in Rayleigh Fading and AWGN.

Wireless communications - Chapter 3: Physical-layer transmission techniques Section 3.1: Performance analysis over fading channels 36