CT-7691-Mobile Wireless Security 3-2-3

Chapter 1:
Introduction to Wireless
Networks
 Introduction
Mobile security (wireless security) ?
• Mobile security, or wireless security, refers to the measures taken to
protect smartphones, tablets, laptops, smartwatches and other portable
computing devices and the networks they connect to, from threats and
vulnerabilities associated with wireless computing.

• The goal of mobile security is to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and

availability of data stored or transmitted by mobile devices. Mobile
security is typically part of an organization's comprehensive security
strategy.

 Mobile wireless security (Wireless mobile security) ?

Wireless and mobile security methods, protocols, and technologies safeguard
wireless networks and mobile devices against unauthorized access, abuse,
and malicious assaults. Securing the invisible communication waves and the
gadgets that use them is essential in the digital age of ubiquitous connection.
 …
• Why is mobile security important?
Securing mobile devices has become increasingly important as the number of
devices and the ways those devices are used have expanded dramatically. In
the enterprise, this is particularly problematic when employee-owned devices
connect to the corporate network.
• Mobile security is important for the following reasons:
 Protects sensitive data
 Prevents data breaches
 Mitigates mobile-specific attacks … i.e. threats such as malware, phishing
schemes, vishing attacks, SIM swap attacks and network vulnerabilities.
 Protects business assets. Mobile devices are frequently used in the workplace
to access business apps, sensitive data and confidential information.
 Ensures regulatory compliance
 Provides user privacy and trust
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 Wireless Security Requirements
• Trust Model
• Access control
 Authenticate users to access particular resources
• Link privacy
 Encryption
• Link integrity
 Message authentication
• Prevent denial of service
 (limit bandwidth hogs)
 …
• Common mobile security and wireless network attacks
include the following:
 Security breaches
 Phishing and smishing attacks
 Open Wi-Fi
 Mobile ransomware
 Biometric spoofing
 Cryptojacking
 MitM attacks … man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack
 Compromised data
 Unnecessary app permissions
 Infections and malware
  Wireless Fundamentals
• One of the most transformative technology trends of the past decade is the availability and
growing expectation of ubiquitous connectivity
• At its broadest, a wireless network refers to any network not connected by cables, which is
what enables the desired convenience and mobility for the user
• We have over a dozen widespread wireless technologies in use:
- Wi-Fi … Wireless Fidelity .. a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards
- Bluetooth …
- ZigBee … a Zonal Intercommunication Global-standard Wireless
- NFC … Near Field Communication (NFC) technology icon
- WiMAX … Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
- LTE … Long Term Evolution
- HSPA --HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) is a third-generation (3G) mobile broadband
communications technology
- EV-DO --Evolution Data Only/Evolution Data Optimized, is a 3G mobile broadband
technology provides typical download speeds of 600-1400kbps
- Earlier 3G standards
- Satellite services
- and more
Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO, EVDO, etc.) is a telecommunications standard for the wireless
transmission of data through radio signals, typically for broadband Internet access.
 …
 Mobile Vs. Wireless
• The terms mobile and wireless are often used synonymously, but actually
denote two different technologies
- Mobile means the technology can travel with the user, but it is not
necessarily in real-time
- Wireless gives users a live (Internet) connection via satellite or radio
transmitters

 Why Wireless
• Immediate communication, mobile user
• Two-way, interactive
• Broadcast
• Convenience
• Bandwidth limitations
• Roaming (no fixed location)
 …
What is wi-fi ?
• Wi-Fi - is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11
family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of
devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange
data by radio waves.
- It is a system used for connecting computers and other electronic
equipment to the internet without using wires: Built-in wi-fi now comes as
a standard feature.

 Wi-Fi, often referred to as WiFi, wifi, wi-fi or wi fi, is often thought to be

short for Wireless Fidelity and the organization that paid for the
marketing firm is sometimes referred to as the Wireless Fidelity Alliance
Inc.
 …
What is IoT?
The Internet of Things (IoT) describes the network of physical objects—“things”—
that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the
purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over
the internet.

IoT, is a network of interrelated devices that connect and exchange data with
other IoT devices and the cloud.
IoT devices are typically embedded with technology such as sensors and software
and can include mechanical and digital machines and consumer objects.
 …
 Network Devices (Connecting Devices):
Connecting devices act as middleware between networks or computers, by
binding the network media together.
Some of the common connecting devices are:
- Repeaters
- Modems
- Bridges
- Switches
- Hubs
- Routers
- Gateways
etc.
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 Radio Frequency
• Federal Communications Commission
 FM Radio: 88 to 108 MHz
 Cellular telephones: 800 and 1900 MHz
 Two-way pagers: 900 MHz
 Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM): 2.402 to 2.480 GHz
SOUND RADIO LIGHT HARMFUL RADIATION

10 GHz
 …
• ISM Band .. i.e., Industrial, Scientific, and Medical frequency or radio bands.

HiperLAN(High Performance Radio LAN) is a European alternative for the IEEE 802.11 standards.
 …
 Radio Wave
Example:
Frequency (f) – no. of wave cycles or no. of oscillations
completed in one second.
1 𝑣
f = Hz or f = , 𝜈 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 or velocity of the wave
T 𝜆
Period (T ) - amount of time it takes for one repetition
of the signal, i.e., time taken to complete one wave
• Frequency 1
cycle, T=
• Wavelength 𝑓
Phase (ϕ) - measure of the relative position in time
• Amplitude
within a single period of a signal
• Modulation Wavelength (𝜆) - distance occupied by a single cycle of
- Amplitude the signal, or, it is the distance between two points of
- Frequency corresponding phase of two consecutive cycles
𝑣
- Phase 𝜆=
𝑓
- FSK - (Frequency Shift Keying) Amplitude(A) – maximum height above or below
- PSK - (Phase Shift Keying ) mean position(equilibrium)
𝑚𝑎𝑥−𝑚𝑖𝑛
- ASK – (Amplitude Shift Keying) A= , in meter
2
• Electromagnetic Signal
 Function of time
 Can also be expressed as a function of frequency
 Signal consists of components of different frequencies
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 TIME-DOMAIN CONCEPTS
• Analog signal -signal intensity varies in a smooth fashion over time
 No breaks or discontinuities in the signal
• Digital signal -signal intensity maintains a constant level for some period of
time and then changes to another constant level
• Periodic signal - analog or digital signal pattern that repeats over time
s(t +T ) = s(t ),
where -∞ < t < + ∞ and T is the period of the signal
- A periodic signal is one that repeats the sequence of values exactly after a
fixed length of time, known as the period. In mathematical terms a signal x(t)
is periodic if there is a number T such that for all t,
x(t ) = x(t +T)
-The smallest positive number T that satisfies this equation is the period and
it defines the duration of one complete cycle. The fundamental frequency of
1
a periodic signal is given by 𝑓 =
𝑇
 …

 FREQUENCY- DOMAIN CONCEPTS

• Fundamental frequency - when all frequency components of a signal are integer
multiples of one frequency, it’s referred to as the fundamental frequency
• Spectrum - range of frequencies that a signal contains
• Absolute bandwidth - width of the spectrum of a signal
• Effective bandwidth (or just bandwidth) - narrow band of frequencies that most of
the signal’s energy is contained in
• 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
 …

 Relationship Between Data Rate and Bandwidth

• The greater the bandwidth, the higher the information-carrying capacity
• Points -
 Any digital waveform will have infinite bandwidth
 But the transmission system will limit the bandwidth that can be transmitted
 And, for any given medium, the greater the bandwidth transmitted, the greater the cost
 However, limiting the bandwidth creates distortions

 DATA COMMUNICATION TERMS

• Data - entities that convey meaning, or information
• Signals - electric or electromagnetic representations of data
• Transmission - communication of data by the propagation and processing of signals
 …

 ABOUT CHANNEL CAPACITY

• Impairments, such as noise, limit data rate that can be achieved
• For digital data, to what extent do impairments limit data rate?
• Channel Capacity – the maximum rate at which data can be transmitted over a given
communication path, or channel, under given conditions

 CONCEPTS RELATED TO CHANNEL CAPACITY

• Data rate - rate at which data can be communicated (bps)
• Bandwidth - the bandwidth of the transmitted signal as constrained by the
transmitter and the nature of the transmission medium (Hertz)
• Noise - average level of noise over the communications path
• Error rate - rate at which errors occur
 Error = transmit 1 and receive 0; transmit 0 and receive 1
 …

 NYQUIST BANDWIDTH
• For binary signals (two voltage levels)
C = 2B C- channel capacity in bps
B = Bandwidth B – bandwidth of channel in hertz
SNR – signal to noise ratio
• With multilevel signaling SNRdB – SNR in decibels
C = 2B log2 M
M = number of discrete signal or voltage levels

 SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO
• Ratio of the power in a signal to the power contained in the noise that’s present at a
particular point in the transmission
• Typically measured at a receiver
• Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR, or S/N)

• A high SNR means a high-quality signal, low number of required intermediate repeaters
• SNR sets upper bound on achievable data rate
 …

 SHANNON CAPACITY FORMULA

- The Shannon capacity theorem defines the maximum amount of information, or data capacity
which can be sent over any channel or medium(wireless, coax, fiber, twister pair, etc.)
Equation: C- capacity of a channel in bits/second (b/s)
B - bandwidth in Hz.
SNR – signal to noise ratio (S/R).

• Represents theoretical maximum that can be achieved

• In practice, only much lower rates achieved
• Formula assumes white noise (thermal noise)
 Example of NYQUIST and SHANNON Formulations
• Spectrum of a channel between 3 MHz and 4 MHz ; SNRdB = 24 dB

• Using Shannon’s formula

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 MULTIPLEXING
• Capacity of transmission medium usually exceeds capacity required for transmission
of a single signal
• Multiplexing - carrying multiple signals on a single medium
 More efficient use of transmission medium
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 MULTIPLEXING TECHNIQUES
• Frequency- division multiplexing (FDM)
 Takes advantage of the fact that the useful bandwidth of
the medium exceeds the required bandwidth of
a given signal

• Time-division multiplexing (TDM)

 Takes advantage of the fact that the achievable
bit rate of the medium exceeds the required data
rate of a digital signal
 …

 WIRELESS WAVES
• Electromagnetic radiation
• Emitted by sinusoidal current running through a wire (transmitting antenna)
• Creates propagating sinusoidal magnetic and electric fields according to Maxwell’s
equations.
• Fields induce current in receiving antenna
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 FREQUENCY & PUBLIC USE BANDS

• Propagating sinusoidal wave with some frequency/wavelength
• C (speed of light) = 3x108 m/s
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 FREE-SPACE PATH-LOSS (FSPL)

• Power of wireless transmission reduces with square of distance (due to surface area
increase of sphere)
• Reduction also depends on wavelength
 Long wave length (low frequency) has less loss
 Short wave length (high frequency) has more loss

D - Distance
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 MULTI-PATH PROPAGATION
• Electromagnetic waves bounce off of conductive (metal) objects
• Reflected waves received along with direct wave

• Multi-path components are delayed depending on path length (delay spread)

• Phase shift causes frequency dependent constructive / destructive
interference
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 MODULATION
• Modulation allows the wave to carry information by adjusting its properties in a time
varying way
 Amplitude modulation
 Frequency modulation
 Phase modulation

• Digital modulation using discrete “steps” so that information can be recovered despite
noise/interference
 8VSB - US HDTV ( 8-level vestigial sideband modulation) - high-definition television)
 8VSB is the modulation method used for broadcast in the ATSC(Advanced
Television Systems Committee) digital television standard
 BFSK -Mote Sensor Networks
 Bianary FSK
 QPSK -2 Mbps 802.11 & CMDA(IS-95)
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 MULTI-TRANSMITTER INTERFERENCE
• Similar to multi-path
• Two transmitting stations will constructively/destructively interfere with each
other at the receiver
• Receiver will “hear” the sum of the two signals, which usually means garbage
 …

 GENERIC WIRELESS ARCHITECTURE

• Mobile terminal
• Airlink
• Radio base station
• Intraconnect links
• Network control
• Interconnect links
• External Networks
 Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)
 Internet
 …

 Common AirLink Problems

AirLink (fixed wireless) allows data communications between two points – like a house
and tower – via a radio at each point.
The common AirLink Problems are:
• Variable link quality
• Multi-path (signal reflections)
• Shadowing (terrain/structure blockage)
• Interference
 Other users
 EMI (Electromagnetic interference)
• Attenuation
 Distance
 Antenna orientation/polarization
MOBILE HAND SET CELLULAR NETWORK
 CELLULAR NETWORK BASICS
•There are many types of cellular services; before delving into details, focus on basics
(helps navigate the “acronym soup”)
• Cellular network/telephony is a radio-based technology; radio waves are
electromagnetic waves that antennas propagate
• Most signals are in the 850 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, and 1900 MHz frequency bands
 …

 CELLULAR NETWORK
• Base stations transmit to and receive from mobiles at the assigned spectrum
 Multiple base stations use the same spectrum (spectral reuse)
• The service area of each base station is called a cell
• Each mobile terminal is typically served by the ‘closest’ base stations
 Handoff when terminals move
 …

 CELLULAR NETWORK GENERATIONS

• It is useful to think of cellular Network/telephony in terms of generations:
0G: Briefcase-size mobile radio telephones
1G: Analog cellular telephony
2G: Digital cellular telephony
3G: High-speed digital cellular telephony (including video telephony)
4G: IP-based “anytime, anywhere” voice, data, and multimedia telephony at faster
data rates than 3G
5G: 5G is the term used to describe the next-generation of mobile networks
beyond the 4G LTE mobile networks of today
 …

 ADHOC MODE
• In ad hoc mode, each mobile device client communicates directly with the other
mobile device clients within the network
• That is, no access points are used to connect the ad hoc network directly with any
wired local area network
• ad hoc mode is designed such that only the clients within transmission range (within
the same cell) of each other can communicate
• If a client in an ad hoc network wants to communicate outside of the cell, a member
of the cell must operate as a gateway and a perform routing service.
 …

 INFRASTRUCTURE MODE
• Each mobile device client in infrastructure mode sends all of its communications to a
network device called an access point (AP)
• The access point acts as an Ethernet bridge and forwards the communications to the
appropriate network, either the wired local area network or another wireless network.
  Wireless Network Protocols and
Wireless Network Standards
• Wireless network basics
- A wireless network is a network that uses radio waves to transmit and receive data
between devices, such as computers, smartphones, routers, and access points.
- Wireless networks have some advantages over wired networks, such as
mobility, convenience, and lower cost.
- However, they also have some challenges, such as interference, security,
and range.

 Protocols vs. Standards?

Note: Protocols define how data is sent, received, and processed, while standards ensure
that various technologies are compatible with each other.

 A wireless network protocol

It is a set of rules and specifications that define how devices communicate and exchange
data over a wireless network.
- A protocol is a set of rules or agreed-upon guidelines for communication. When
communicating, it is important to agree on how to do so.
- Depending on the frequency, bandwidth, and range of the network, there are different
types of wireless network protocols.
The most common ones are Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee.
 …

 Wi-Fi operates on the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz frequency bands and

It supports different standards, such as 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g,
802.11n, 802.11ac, and 802.11ax, which offer different speeds and features.
It is usually secured by encryption methods, such as WEP, WPA, or WPA2.

 Bluetooth operates on the 2.4 GHz frequency band and is designed for short-
range and low-power communication between devices.
It supports different versions, such as Bluetooth 4.0, Bluetooth 5.0, and
Bluetooth Low Energy, which offer different speeds and features.
It is usually secured by pairing codes or authentication methods.

 Zigbee operates on the 2.4 GHz frequency band and is designed for low-data
and low-power communication between devices.
It supports different standards, such as Zigbee 3.0, Zigbee Pro, and Zigbee
Green Power, which offer different speeds and features.
It is usually secured by encryption methods, such as AES-128.
 …

 Wireless network standards

• A wireless network standard is a set of guidelines and recommendations that
define the technical and operational aspects of a wireless network protocol.
• Wireless network standards are developed and maintained by organizations,
such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Wi-Fi
Alliance, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), and the Zigbee Alliance.
• Wireless network standards ensure the compatibility and interoperability of
devices and networks that use the same protocol.

 Which Organizations Issue Standards?

 IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)
 IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force)
 ITU (International Telecommunications Union)
 ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
 W3C (World Wide Web Consortium)
 ... and many others
 …

 WIRELESS STANDARDS
  IEEE Standards (IEEE 802.11. 802.15 etc.)
Example: IEEE Standards
802.1, 802.2, 802.3, 802.4, 802.5, 802.6, 802.7, 802.8, 802.9, 802.10,
802.11 - Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi)
802.12, 802.13, 802.14,
802.15 - Wireless PAN: 802.15.1 (Bluetooth), 802.15.4 (ZigBee)
802.16 - Broadband Wireless Access: 802.16e (Mobile) Broadband Wireless
802.17, 802.18, 802.19,
802.20, - Mobile Broadband Wireless Access
802.21,
802.21 - Wireless Regional Area Network

 The 802.11 family of wireless networking protocols is the standard for wireless
networking and makes it possible for devices to interact.
 802.11ax Protocol (Wi-Fi 6) - The most recent release of the 802.11 protocols
 802.11ac Protocol (Wi-Fi 5) - added Dual Band support to its tool chest.
 802.11n Protocol (Wi-Fi 4) - uses multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) technology
 802.11g Protocol
 802.11a Protocol
 802.11b Protocol
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 IEEE STANDARD COMPARISON

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 IEEE 802.11 STANDARDS

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… IEEE 802.11 STANDARDS

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 HOW IEEE 802.11 WORK IN OSI MODEL

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 SECURITY AN OVERVIEW
• Many wireless networks are based on radio waves, which makes the network medium
inherently open to interception
• Properly protecting radio transmissions on any network is always a concern for
protocol designers.
• 802.11 did not build in much in the way of security protocols.
• Coping with the inherent unreliability of the wireless medium and mobility required
several protocol features to confirm frame delivery, save power, and offer mobility
• Security was quite far down the list, and proved inadequate in the early specifications
• Wireless networks must be strongly authenticated to prevent use by unauthorized
users, and authenticated connections must be strongly encrypted to prevent traffic
interception and injection by unauthorized parties
 …

…SECURITY AN OVERVIEW
• Radio links are subject to several additional constraints that fixed networks are not
because radio spectrum is a relatively scarce resource, it is carefully regulated
• Two ways exist to make radio networks go faster
 Either more spectrum can be allocated, or
 The encoding on the link can be made more sensitive so that it packs more data in
per unit of time.
• Additional spectrum allocations are relatively rare, especially for license-free
networks.
• 802.11 networks have kept the bandwidth of a station's radio channel to
approximately 30 MHz, while developing vastly improved encoding to improve the
speed
• Faster coding methods can increase the speed, but do have one potential drawback
Because the faster coding method depends on the receiver to pick out subtle signal
differences, much greater signal-to-noise ratios are required. Higher data rates
therefore require the station to be located closer to it
 …

 WIRELESS ACCESS POINTS (APs)

• An AP functions like a bridge or router, but is made for wireless, 802.11
communications
• Some APs made for use in the home or small office/home office (SOHO) often have
several additional functions
 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service, which provides the
workstation with a usable IP address, and provides network address translation (NAT)
 Redundant dial-up access, in case of failure of the broadband line
• IEEE 802.11b WLAN Card with PRISM2 chipset
 D-Link DWL-650
 Linksys WPC-11
  Characteristics of Wireless Channels:
• There has been great development in wireless communications due to
advances in
- wireless hardware technology and
- the large demand for mobile access.
However, communication through a wireless channel is a challenging task
because the medium introduces much impairment to the signal.

• Path loss, shadowing, and fading are the main impairments which affect
the signal transmitted over wireless channels.
Next we discuss these impairments and their effect on the performance of
wireless communication systems.
 …

 Path Loss
• Path loss is the attenuation in the transmitted signal power when it traverses the
medium to the receiver.
- This attenuation is increased as the propagation distance increases.
- The value of the path loss is highly dependent on numerous factors related to
the entire transmission setup.
In general, the path loss is usually represented in the decibel scale
PL(dB) = 10𝛽log(d/d0 ) + 𝛿 (2.1)
where, PL (dB) is the path loss (PL) measured in dB,
d is the distance between transmitter and receiver,
𝛽 is the path loss exponent,
δ is a constant related to the antenna gain and the average channel attenuation,
d0 is the reference distance.
- The constant δ can be obtained from the empirical average of the receive power
at the reference distance d0.
- The reference distance is usually 1–10 m indoors and 10 –100 m outdoors.
- The value of the path loss exponent 𝛽 depends on the propagation environment
and usually ranges between 2 and 6.
- Table bellow provides path loss exponents for different propagation
environments.
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Table: Typical Values of the Path Loss Exponent, β, for Several Environments

Environment β
Free space 2
Urban macro cells 3.7 to 6.5
Urban microcells 2.7 to 3.5
Office building (same floor) 1.6 to 3.5
Office building (multiple floors) 2 to 6
Store 1.8 to 2.2
Factory 1.6 to 3.3
Home ≈3
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 Shadowing
• In addition to the power loss attenuation, the radio waves may also be
distorted by the obstacles that appear along the transmission paths.
- These obstacles may absorb part of the signal energy, resulting in signal
strength degradation or random scattering.
- This type of impairment has been named shadow loss or shadow fading.
The path loss introduced by this effect is a random variable that follows a
log-normal distribution.
- Denoting the value of the shadow loss as ω, we may simply combine log-
normal distributed shadowing effect with the average path loss as
PL(dB) = 10𝛽log(d/d0 ) + 𝜔+𝛿 (2.2)

- Since the effects of both path loss and shadow fading are noticeable over
relatively long distances, they are classified as large-scale propagation
effects.
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 Fading
 Fading loss is classified as a small-scale propagation effect because its
effect is noticeable at distances in the order of the signal wavelength.
 This type of impairment occurs as a result of both
- multipath propagation and
- Doppler frequency shift phenomena,
whose combination generates random fluctuations in the received power.
  Multipath Propagation
 In wireless communication systems, a single transmitted signal encounters –
random reflectors, scatters, and attenuators during propagation,
resulting in multiple copies of the signal arriving at the receiver after each
has travelled through a different path.
- The multiple copies of the transmitted signal, each having different
amplitude, phase, and delay, are added at the receiver, creating either
constructive or destructive interference with each other.
- This results in a received signal whose shape changes over time.
- This is the so-called multipath fading effect, which results in fast and small-
scale amplitude and phase distortion, as shown in Figure , bellow.
 .

Figure: Wireless multipath fading channel.

If we denote the transmitted signal by 𝑥(𝑡) and the received signal by 𝑦(𝑡),
then we can write their relation as
𝐿

𝑦(𝑡) = 𝑕ı 𝑡 𝑥(𝑡 − 𝜏𝑙 𝑡 ) (2.3)

𝑙=1

where hl (t) is the attenuation of the l-th path at time t, τl (t) is the
corresponding path delay, and L is the number of resolvable paths at the
receiver.
 …
 In many situations, it is convenient to consider the discrete-time baseband-
equivalent model of the channel, for which the input–output relation derived
from Equation 2.3 for sample ε can be written as
𝑦 ℰ = 𝑕𝑓 ℰ 𝑥 ℰ − 𝑓 (2.4)
𝑓

. The conversion to a discrete-time model combines all the paths with arrival time
within one sampling period into a single channel response coefficient hf[ε].
- The multipath propagation results in time spreading in the channel.
- There are two main time dispersion parameters which are used to both characterize
and classify different multipath channels:
 Channel delay spread (𝑇𝑚 ) is the time difference between the arrival of the
earliest significant multipath component and the latest, i.e.,
𝑇𝑚 = max 𝜏𝑙 − min 𝜏𝑙
𝑙 𝑙
- If the duration of the symbols (𝑇𝑠 ) used for signaling over the channel exceeds the
channel delay spread, then the symbols will suffer from inter-symbol interference (ISI).

 Channel coherence bandwidth (𝐵𝑐 ) is related to the inverse of the delay

spread, and it is used to provide a measurement of the range of frequencies
 …

over which the channel shows a flat frequency response, in the sense that all
the spectral components have approximately the same amplitude and a linear
change of phase.
. If the transmitted signal bandwidth (𝐵𝑠 ) is less than the channel coherence
bandwidth, then all the spectral components of the signal will be affected by
the same attenuation and by a linear change of phase, and the channel is said
to be a flat fading channel, as shown in Figure (a).
- However, if the transmitted signal bandwidth is more than the channel
coherence bandwidth, then the spectral components of the signal will be
affected by different attenuations, and the channel is said to be a frequency
selective channel, as shown in Figure (b).

Figure : Flat fading (a) and frequency selective (b) channels.

  Doppler Frequency Shift
 Due to the relative motion between the transmitter and the receiver, the
received signal frequency is displaced from the transmitted one by an amount
called the Doppler shift, as shown in Figure bellow.
 Assuming that 𝑓0 is the transmitted frequency, 𝑣 is the speed of the vehicle,
and 𝜃 is the angle between the direction of propagation of the
electromagnetic wave and the direction of motion, the Doppler shift can
therefore be expressed as
𝑣
𝑓𝑑 = 𝑓0 cos 𝜃 (2.5)
𝑐
where c is the speed of propagation of the electromagnetic field in the
medium.

Figure 2.3 Doppler effect.

 …

Depending on the direction of the transmitter movement with respect to the

receiver, the Doppler frequency shift is either greater or lower than 0.
- The Doppler shift results in frequency spreading.
- There are two main frequency dispersion parameters, namely, the Doppler-
frequency spread and channel coherence time.
 The Doppler-frequency spread (𝐵𝑑 ) characterizes the spreading of transmitted
frequency due to different Doppler shifts.
 Channel coherence time (𝑇𝑐 ) is the inverse of the Doppler spread and used to
characterize the time over which the channel is time invariant.
• According to the value of the Doppler-frequency spread as compared to the
signal bandwidth (𝐵𝑠 ), the channel is said to have fast fading (see Figure (a))
or slow fading (see Figure (b) bellow.
• If the Doppler spread is smaller than the signal bandwidth or, equivalently, if
the channel coherence time is larger than the transmitted symbol period, the
channel will be changing over a period of time longer than the input symbol
duration. - In this case, the channel is said to have slow fading.
- If the converse applies, the channel is said to have fast fading.
 …

Figure : (a) Fast and (b) slow fading channels.

  Common and Cooperative Diversity
. Acquiring a high data rate together with reliable transmission over error-prone
wireless channels is a major challenge for wireless system designers due to the
wireless channel impairments. These impairments can be compensated by various
ways such as increasing transmit power and bandwidth and/or applying powerful
error control coding (ECC). However, power and bandwidth are very scarce and
expensive radio resources whereas ECC yields reduced transmission rate.
Next, we highlight some relevant work on the popular diversity techniques,
multiple antenna systems and cooperative diversity, the most effective solutions
used for handling channel fading impairment.
 Common Diversity Techniques
With a view to mitigate the fading effect of a wireless channel and thus
improve the overall channel reliability, more than one signal path can be
provided between the source and the destination. Since each path exhibits
a fading process as independent from the others as possible, the chance
that there is at least one sufficiently strong path is improved, and the
probability that all the wireless paths are in fade is made negligible. The
communication techniques that aim at providing multiple, ideally
independent signal paths are collectively known as diversity techniques.
 …

• At the receiver, the signals arriving through the multiple paths are
constructively combined in order to obtain a resulting signal of better quality
or with better probability of successful reception than each of the received
ones.
• There are multiple combination techniques that differ in the nature of the
processing applied to each signal during combining.
 The popular combination techniques are as follows:
 Selection combiner (SC), where the output is the input with the best signal-to-
noise ratio (SNR)
 Threshold combiner, where the combiner sequentially scans the received signals
and outputs the first one with SNR exceeding a threshold
 Maximal ratio combiner (MRC), where the combiner firstly co-phases the multiple
received signals, followed by weighting each sample proportionally to the
corresponding path SNR and finally adding them. The SNR of the resulting signal at
the output of the MRC is equal to the sum of the SNRs corresponding to each path.
 Equal gain combiner (EGC), where the signals are co-phased and added (maximal
ratio with equal weights).
 …

For any diversity technique, the diversity gain (𝐺𝑑 ) is used to measure the
performance improvement of the system. It is defined as the rate of decrease in
the communication error probability at high channel SNR. When using log–log
scales, the diversity gain is defined as
log 𝑃𝑆𝐸𝑅
𝐺𝑑 = lim (2.6)
𝛾→∞ log 𝛾
where γ is the SNR and 𝑃𝑆𝐸𝑅 is the probability of symbol error.
• There are many different forms of diversity, including time diversity, frequency
diversity, and spatial diversity.
 Time Diversity. Using time diversity the same symbol is transmitted at different
time instants provided that the time separation exceeds the coherence time (Tc)
of the channel. This implies that the different transmitted symbols will experience
channel realizations that are highly uncorrelated and can be used to obtain
diversity. The simplest way to achieve this type of diversity is using a repetition
coding scheme. Also, in order to guarantee that the repeated symbols will be
transmitted over uncorrelated channel realization, an appropriate interleaver is
applied to the stream of symbols to be transmitted.
. From the diversity gain point of view, the time-diversity system with repetition
coding achieves full diversity gain. Nevertheless, the use of repetition coding
sacrifices the total bit rate.
 …

 Frequency Diversity. In this form of diversity, the same symbol is

transmitted over multiple carrier frequencies provided that the frequency
separation exceeds the channel coherence bandwidth (Bc). This approach is
applicable in multicarrier systems, where transmission is implemented by
dividing the wideband channel into nonoverlapping narrowband subchannels.
The symbol used for transmission in each subchannel has a transmission
period long enough for the subchannel to appear as a flat fading channel.
Different subchannels, each separated in the frequency domain from the rest
by more than the coherence bandwidth, are used together to achieve
frequency diversity since the fading processes among the different
subchannels will show a small cross-correlation.
 …

 Spatial Diversity. This type of diversity uses multiple antennas at the

transmitter or receiver or at both ends. The configuration of deploying multiple
antennas is often referred to as
- multiple-input–single-output (MISO) systems if only a single antenna is
deployed at the receiver side,
- single-input–multiple output (SIMO) systems if a single transmit antenna is
used,
or, in general,
- multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) systems if multiple antennas are used
at the transceiver.
The greater the number of antenna pairs, the greater the redundancy (diversity)
of the received signals, i.e., the higher the reliability of the transceiver detection.
The antennas should be spaced far apart enough so that different received copies
of the signal undergo independent fading. The necessary antenna separation at
each side depends on the scattering in the neighborhood of the antenna and on
the signal carrier frequency.
- The typical antenna separation is between half to one carrier wavelength for a
mobile and is in the order of tens of wavelengths for base stations.
 …

 MIMO Systems
• Multiple-Input Multiple-output (MIMO) is a wireless technology that uses multiple
transmitters and receivers to transfer more data at the same time.
• MIMO communication systems proved to be a breakthrough in wireless communication
system because of their abilities in providing a high data rate together with a reliable
transmission over error-prone wireless channels. Aiming at improving the system reliability,
the multiple antenna elements at each side are placed with appropriate separation
between them so that different independent and low-correlated channels between each
pair of transmit and receive antennas establish “spatial diversity.” The presence of multiple
transmit/receive antenna pairs improves the chance that there is at least one sufficiently
strong path, and thus the reliability of the transceiver detection is increased. This
improvement in reliability translates into performance improvement—measured as
diversity gain. Aiming at improving the system data rate, the different portions of the data
are placed on different propagation paths (“spatial multiplexing”), and this results in
capacity gain measured by the number of degrees of freedom in the channel, or the
multiplexing gain with no additional power or bandwidth.
Figure bellow, shows a MIMO system with 𝑁𝑡 transmit antennas and 𝑁𝑟 receive antennas;
assuming the path gains between individual antenna pairs are independent and identically
distributed (i.i.d.), the maximal diversity gain and the multiplexing gain can be expressed as
𝐺𝑑 = 𝑁𝑡 × 𝑁𝑟 (2.7)

𝑀𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 = min(𝑁𝑡, 𝑁𝑟 ) (2.8)

 …

For a given MIMO channel, both diversity and multiplexing gains can be achieved
simultaneously but with a fundamental trade-off between the two gains. For
example, as shown by Zheng and Tse, the optimal diversity gain that can be achieved
by any coding scheme having a multiplexing gain 𝑚g is (𝑁𝑡 -𝑚g ) × (𝑁𝑟 -𝑚g ). This
implies that out of the total resources, 𝑚g transmit and 𝑚g receive antennas (𝑚g
integer) are used for multiplexing and the remaining 𝑁𝑡 -𝑚g transmit and 𝑁𝑟 -𝑚g
receive antennas provide the diversity. In summary, the higher spatial diversity gain
comes at the price of a lower spatial multiplexing gain, and vice versa.

Figure : Block diagram of a MIMO system.

 …

 Cooperative Diversity
Despite the gains of MIMO systems in improving both data rate and reliability of the
wireless link, they may result in degrading the system quality of service (QoS) due to the
correlation between multiple co-located antennas. Moreover, it is difficult for small
handheld wireless devices to support multiple antennas due to size, cost, or hardware
limitations.
To overcome the above MIMO limitations, new techniques known as cooperative
communications are introduced. The basic idea of these innovative approaches depends on
exploiting the broadcast nature of the wireless channel to achieve MIMO gains in a
distributed manner. Adopting this point of view, the network nodes have been thought of
as a set of antennas that cooperate with each other for distributed transmission and
processing of information.
As shown in Figure bellow, the cooperating node acts as a relay node for forwarding the
source node information to the intended destination besides its own information. Since the
relay node is usually several wavelengths away from the source, the relay channel is
guaranteed to fade independently from the direct channel, which introduces a MIMO
channel between the source and the destination. The direct channel information and the
relayed information are subsequently combined at a destination node so as to create
spatial diversity. This creates a network that can be regarded as a system implementing a
distributed multiple antenna where collaborating nodes create diverse signal paths for each
other. In the following section, the relay channel concept will be discussed as an
introduction to study in detail the design and analysis of cooperative communications.
 …

Figure : Cooperative communication.

  Classical Relay Channel
. The relay channel concept was firstly presented by van der Meulen.
Figure bellow, shows the basic three-terminal relay channel model consisting
of a source, a destination, and a relay. In this model, when source A sends a
signal X, a noisy, attenuated version is received by both the destination C and
a relay B. Based on what the relay received is, another signal X1 is forwarded
to the destination. Since it was assumed that all nodes operate in the same
band, the system can be decomposed into a broadcast channel (A
transmitting, B and C receiving) from the viewpoint of the source and a
multiple access channel (A and B transmitting, C receiving) from the
viewpoint of the destination.
 …

Figure : Relay channel.

  Wireless Hardware
Access Points
Linksys WAP11
NetGear ME102
Antennas
Wireless NICs