Unit -2

MOBILE RADIO
PROPAGATION
Introduction to Mobile radio channel
• Mobile radio channel places fundamental limitations on the
performance of wireless communication systems
• Transmission path between transmitter and receiver may vary from
simple LOS to one that is severely obstructed by buildings, mountains,
foliage
• Wired channels are stationery and predictable
• Radio channels are extremely random and do not offer easy analysis
• Mobile radio system design is typically done in statistical fashion, based
on measurements made specifically for intended communication
system or spectrum allocation
Introduction to Mobile radio channel
 Modeling radio channel is important for:
 Determining the coverage area of a transmitter
 Determine the transmitter power requirement
 Determine the battery lifetime
 Finding modulation and coding schemes to improve the
channel quality
 Determine the maximum channel capacity
Radio wave propagation
 The mechanisms behind electromagnetic wave propagation are
diverse, but can generally be attributed to reflection, diffraction, and
scattering.
 Propagation models have traditionally focused on predicting the
average received signal strength at a given distance from the
transmitter, as well as the variability of the signal strength in close
spatial proximity to a particular location.
Radio wave propagation
 Propagation models that predict the mean signal strength for an
arbitrary transmitter-receiver (T-R) separation distance are useful in
estimating the radio coverage area of a transmitter and are called
large-scale propagation models.
 On the other hand, propagation models that characterize the rapid
fluctuations of the received signal strength over very short travel
distances (a few wavelengths) or short time durations (on the
order of seconds) are called small-scale or fading models.
 From the figure we can say that the
signal fades as the receiver moves,
but the local average signal changes
much more slowly with distance.

Figure 4.1 Small-scale and large-scale fading.

Three Radio Propagation Mechanisms
The physical mechanisms that govern radio propagation are complex and
diverse, but generally attributed to the following three factors
1. Reflection
2. Diffraction
3. Scattering
Reflection
 Occurs when waves impinges upon an obstruction that is much larger
in size compared to the wavelength of the signal
 Example: reflections from earth and buildings
 These reflections may interfere with the original signal
constructively or destructively
 Diffraction
 Occurs when the radio path between sender and receiver is obstructed by an impenetrable
body and by a surface with sharp irregularities (edges)
 Explains how radio signals can travel urban and rural environments without a line-of-
sight path

 Scattering
 Occurs when the radio channel contains objects whose sizes are on the order of the
wavelength or less of the propagating wave and also when the number of obstacles are quite
large.
 They are produced by small objects, rough surfaces and other irregularities on the channel
 Follows same principles with diffraction
 Causes the transmitter energy to be radiated in many directions
 Lamp posts and street signs may cause scattering
Radio Propagation Models
 As the mobile moves over small distances, the instantaneous
received signal will fluctuate rapidly giving rise to small-scale
fading
 The reason is that the signal is the sum of many contributors coming
from different directions and since the phases of these signals are
random, the sum behave like a noise (Rayleigh fading).
 In small scale fading, the received signal power may change as much
as 3 or 4 orders of magnitude (30dB or 40dB), when the receiver is
only moved a fraction of the wavelength.
Radio Propagation Models
 As the mobile moves away from the transmitter over larger distances,
the local average received signal will gradually decrease. This is called
large-scale path loss.
 Typically the local average received power is computed by averaging signal
measurements over a measurement track of 5 to 40 For PCS, this means
1m-10m track)
 The models that predict the mean signal strength for an arbitrary-receiver
transmitter (T-R) separation distance are called large-scale propagation
models
 Useful for estimating the coverage area of transmitters
Free-Space Propagation Model
 Used to predict the received signal strength when transmitter and
receiver have clear, unobstructed LOS path between them.
 The received power decays as a function of T-R separation distance
raised to some power.
 Path Loss: Signal attenuation as a positive quantity measured in dB
and defined as the difference (in dB) between the effective
transmitter power and received power.
Free-Space Propagation Model
• Free space power received by a receiver antenna separated from a
radiating transmitter antenna by a distance d is given by Friis free space
equation:
Pr(d) = (PtGtGr2) / ((4)2d2L) Eq.1

Pt is transmitted power
Pr(d) is the received power
Gt is the transmitter antenna gain (dimensionless quantity)
Gr is the receiver antenna gain (dimensionless quantity)
d is T-R separation distance in meters
L is system loss factor not related to propagation (L >= 1)
L = 1 indicates no loss in system hardware (for our purposes we will take L = 1, so
we will ignore it in our calculations).
 is wavelength in meters.
Free-Space Propagation Model
• The gain of an antenna G is related to its affective aperture Ae by:
G = 4Ae / 2 Eq. 2
The effective aperture of Ae is related to the physical size of the antenna,
 is related to the carrier frequency by:
 = c/f = 2c / c Eq.3
f is carrier frequency in Hertz
c is carrier frequency in radians per second.
c is speed of light in meters/sec
Free-Space Propagation Model
 An isotropic radiator is an ideal antenna that radiates power with unit
gain uniformly in all directions. It is as the reference antenna in wireless
systems.

 The effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) is defined as:

EIRP = PtGt Eq. 4

 Antenna gains are given in units of dBi (dB gain with respect to an
isotropic antenna) or units of dBd (dB gain with respect to a half-wave
dipole antenna).
 Unity gain means: G is 1 or 0dBi
Free-Space Propagation Model
 Path loss, which represents signal attenuation as positive quantity
measured in dB, is defined as the difference (in dB) between the
effective transmitted power and the received power.
PL(dB) = 10 log (Pt/Pr) = -10log[(GtGr2)/(4)2d2] Eq. 5 (You can drive
this from equation 1)

If antennas have unity gains (exclude them)

PL(dB) = 10 log (Pt/Pr) = -10log[2/(4)2d2] Eq. 6
Free-Space Propagation Model
 For Friis equation to hold, distance d should be in the far-field of the
transmitting antenna.
 The far-field, or Fraunhofer region, of a transmitting antenna is defined
as the region beyond the far-field distance df given by:
 df = 2D2/ [Eq. 7]
 D is the largest physical dimension of the antenna.
 Additionally, df >> D and df >> 
Free-Space Propagation Model
 It is clear the Equation 1 does not hold for d = 0.

 For this reason, models use a close-in distance d0 as the receiver power
reference point.
 d0 should be >= df
 d0 should be smaller than any practical distance a mobile system uses

 Received power Pr(d), at a distance d > d0 from a transmitter, is related to Pr

at d0, which is expressed as Pr(d0).

 The power received in free space at a distance greater than d0 is given

by:
Pr(d) = Pr(d0)(d0/d)2 d >= d0 >= df Eq. 8
Free-Space Propagation Model
 Expressing the received power in dBm and dBW
 Pr(d) (dBm) = 10 log [Pr(d0)/0.001W] + 20log(d0/d)
where d >= d0 >= df and Pr(d0) is in units of watts.
Eq. 9
 Pr(d) (dBW) = 10 log [Pr(d0)/1W] + 20log(d0/d)
where d >= d0 >= df and Pr(d0) is in units of watts.
Eq. 10

 Reference distance d0 for practical systems:

 For frequencies in the range 1-2 GHz
 1 m in indoor environments
 100m-1km in outdoor environments
Ground Reflection(Two-Ray model)
• In mobile radio channel, a single direct path between the BS and the mobile
is seldom the only physical means for propagation
• Free space propagation model is in most cases inaccurate when used alone
• Two ray ground reflection model considers
 Direct path
 Ground reflected propagation path
• Reasonably accurate in predicting large scale signal strength over distances
of several kms for mobile radio systems that use tall towers(heights that
exceed 50m)
• In most cases, in mobile
communication systems
maximum T-R separation
distance is only few tens of
kms
• Earth may be assumed to
be flat
• The total received E-field, is
then a result of direct LOS
component , and the ground
reflection component
height of the transmitting antenna
height of the receiving antenna
i) Determine Total received E-field(in V/m)
If is the free space E-field at a reference distance from transmitter,
Then for ,
The free-space propagating E-field is given by,

---------- (1)

Where = is the envelope of E-field at a distance d meters from the

transmitter
• Two propagating waves arrive at the receiver:
The direct wave that travels a distance
The reflected wave that travels a distance
• The E-field due to the LOS component at the receiver
can be given as,
• ------ ---- (2)

• The E-field for the ground reflected wave, with propagation distance of can be
given as,

----(3)
is the reflection co-efficient for ground
• Resultant E-field is the vector sum of of direct LOS component ,
and the ground reflection component , and can be represented as,

-------- (4)

• Resultant total E-field envelope is given by,

-------- (5)
ii) Compute Phase difference and Delay
between two components
• using method of images, which is demonstrated by geometry shown,
the path difference, Δ, between LOS and ground reflected paths can
be given as
=-= -------- (6)

• when T-R separation distance is very large compared to , eqn.(6) can

be simplified using Taylor series approx.

-------- (7)

• once path difference is known, the phase difference between the

two E-field components and the time delay between the arrival of
the two components can be computed.
= = = -------- (8)
and
= =
-------- (9)
• As becomes large, the difference between the distances becomes
very small and the amplitudes of and are virtually identical and
differ only in phase
i.e.
≈≈
-------- (10)
iii)Evaluate E-field when reflected path
arrives
at receiver
• if the received E-field is evaluated at some time, say at t= , equation.5
can be written as,

------ (11)
 iv) Determine exact E-field for 2-ray ground
reflection model at a distance d
Use phasor
diagram to find
the resultant E- -- (12)
field from
combined direct
and ground
reflection model ------- (13)

Using trigonometric identities, eqn.13 can be expressed as,

------- (14)
• Note that eq. 14 may be simplified as,

This occurs when is less that 0.3 rad.

• Using eqns. 7 and 8,
----- (15)

Which implies eqn.15 may be simplified whenever,

----- (16)

• Thus as long as d satisfies eqn.16, the received E-field can be

approximated as
Where K is a constant related to , the antenna heights and the
----- (17) wavelength.
• The free space power received at d is related to the square of the
electric field through,
----- (18)

• Combining the given eqns.

Power flux density gn by,

• The received power at a distance d from the transmitter for the two-
ray ground bounce model can be given as,

----- (19)
• As seen at large distances , the received power falls off with
distance raised to the fourth power, or at the rate of 40 dB/decade.
• This is much more rapid path loss than is experienced in free space.
• The path loss for the two-ray model can be expressed in dB as,

---- (20)
Diffraction
• Allows radio signals to propagate around the curved surface of the earth,
beyond the horizon, and to propagate behind obstructions
• Although received field strength decreases rapidly as the receiver moves
deeper into the shadowed region, diffraction field still exists and often has
sufficient strength to produce a useful signal.
• Phenomenon of diffraction can be explained by Huygen’s principle
• Diffraction is caused by the propagation of secondary wavelets into a
shadowed region
• The field strength of a diffracted wave in the shadowed region is the vector
sum of the electric field components of all secondary wavelets in space
Fresnel Zone
Geometry
• Consider a transmitter and receiver
separated in free space as in Fig.
• An obstructing screen of effective
height with infinite width be placed
between them at a distance of from
the transmitter and from receiver.
• wave propagating via top of the
screen travels a long distance than if a
direct LOS path existed.
Assuming
,
>>λ
Then the difference between the direct
path and the diffracted path, called Excess
path length Δ can be obtained.
• Path difference direct path and diffracted path is

----- (1)

• corresponding phase difference is given by,

----- (2)

• when then the angle

=+
----- (3)
Eqn.(2) is often normalized using dimensionless Fresnel-kirchoff
diffraction parameter ν given by,
----- (4)
• From eqn. (4), ф can be expressed as,
------ (5)

• It is clear that the phase difference between a direct LOS and

diffracted path is a function of,
 height of the obstruction
 position of the obstruction
 transmitter and receiver location
• in practical diffraction problems, it is advantageous to reduce all
heights by a constant, so that geometry is simplified by without
changing the values of the angles as in fig.3.10c
Fresnel zones
• The concept of diffraction as a function of path difference around an
obstruction is explained by Fresnel zones.

• Fresnel zones represent successive regions where secondary waves

have a path length from the transmitter to receiver which are greater
than the total path length of the LOS path
• successive Fresnel zones alternatively provide constructive and
destructive interference to the total received signal.
• radius of the Fresnel zone circle is denoted by and can be expressed
in terms of n, , , by

----- (6)

This approximation is valid for , >>

• The excess total path length traversed by a ray passing through each
circle is ,where n is an integer.
• The radii of the concentric circles depend on the location of the
plane. Hence shadowing is sensitive to the frequency as well as the
location of obstructions w.r.t transmitter and receiver.
Knife–edge diffraction model
• Diffraction of radio waves over hills& buildings cause signal
attenuations
• Estimating the signal attenuations for predicting the field strength in a
given service area
• Generally very precise estimates of diffraction losses is impossible
• Even then, expressions for diffraction losses for many simple cases are
available
• As a starting point, the limiting case of propagation over a knife-edge
gives good insight into the order of magnitude of diffraction loss
• The attenuation caused by diffraction
can be estimated by treating the
obstruction as a diffracting knife edge
• This is the simplest of diffraction
models
• Diffraction loss can be estimated using
classical Fresnel solution for field
behind a knife edge
• Consider a receiver at point R located
in the shadowed region(also called
diffraction zone)
• The field strength at point R in Fig. is a
vector sum of the fields due to all of
the Secondary Huygen’s sources in the
plane above the knife edge
• The electric field strength, of a knife edge diffracted wave is given by,

----- (7)
free space field strength in the absence of both the ground and knife
edge
is the complex Fresnel integral, is a function of Fresnel-kirchoff
diffraction parameter , defined as

and is commonly evaluated using tables or graphs for given values of

• The diffraction gain due to the presence of knife edge is given by,
---- (8)
• A graphical representation of as a function of

An approximate solution for Eqn. (8) is

Fig. Knife edge diffraction gain as a

function of Fresnel diffraction parameter
Multiple knife edge • Especially in hilly terrain, the
propagation path may consist of more
diffraction than one obstruction
• Bullington suggested that the series of
obstacles can be replaced by a single
equivalent obstacle
Fading –Small scale fading
and Multipath propagation
Multipath propagation • Multiple reflections from various
objects cause the electromagnetic
waves travel along different paths and
varying lengths
• Interaction between these waves
causes multipath fading at a specific
location
• Strengths of the waves decrease as the
distance between the transmitter and
receiver increase

Fig. Multipath propagation

Small scale fading/Fading
• Caused by interference between two or more versions of the transmitted signal
which arrive at the receiver
• Delayed signals are due to reflections, scattering from terrain features or objects
such as people, vehicles
• Temporary event and more frequent as opposed to large scale pathloss

Effects of fading:
Rapid fluctuations of amplitudes, phases, or multipath delays of radio signal over a
short period of time or travel distances
Random frequency modulation due to varying Doppler shifts on different multipath
signals
Time dispersion(echoes) caused by multipath propagation delays
Fading
• At receiver radio waves generated from same transmitted signal may
come from
 from different directions
With different propagation delays
With different amplitudes
With different phases
With different angles of arrival
Factors influencing small-scale fading:

• Multipath propagation
• Speed of the mobile
• Speed of the surrounding object
• The transmission bandwidth of the signal

Multipath propagation:
• Due to the presence of reflecting objects and scatterers in the channel
Speed of the mobile:
• The relative motion between the BS and mobile results in random frequency
modulation
• Random FM is due to different Doppler shits on each of multipath components
• Doppler shift will be positive or negative
Speed of surrounding object:
• If Objects in the radio channel moving, they induce time varying Doppler shift on
MP components
• Dominates only if the objects move at a rate greater than the speed of the mobile
Transmission BW of the signal
• If the transmitted radio signal BW is greater than the BW of the multipath
channel Distorted radio signal
Doppler Shift
• When a wave source (Tx) and/or a Receiver(Rx) is/are moving, the frequency
of the received signal will not be the same as that of the transmitted signal
• When they are moving towards each other, the frequency of the received
signal is higher than that of the source
Doppler shift is positive
Apparent received frequency is increased
• when they are opposing each other, the frequency decreases(when the
mobile is moving away from the direction of arrival of the wave)
 Doppler shift is negative
 Apparent received frequency is decreased
Doppler Shift • Consider
Mobile moving at a constant speed V
Length of the path segment d
Remote source S
• The difference in the path lengths travelled
by the wave from source S to the mobile at
points X and Y is

time required for the mobile to move from

x to Y
assumed to be same at points X and Y, since
the source S is assumed to be very far away
Doppler Shift
• The phase difference in the received signal due to the difference in
path lengths is therefore,
---- (1)
• The apparent change in frequency, or Doppler shift, is given , where
---- (2)

Eqn.2 relates the Doppler shift to

 The mobile velocity
 Spatial angle between the direction of motion of mobile and the
direction of arrival of the wave
Modeling of wireless systems
x(t) Wireless y(t)
Input signal channel h(t) output signal

• Develop a model for h(t) in order to find the relation between x(t)
and y(t)
• Each multipath is characterized by two aspects
Delay due to propagation
Attenuation due to scattering
• Let us say there are L paths,
• path of wireless environment is characterized by
Delay
Attenuation
Modeling of wireless systems
• Response of a system that delays the signal by is modelled as,
)
• System that attenuates signal by and delays signal by can be given as,
)
• Suppose we have L multipath components
0-------, ---------- )
1-------, ---------- )

L-1-------, ---------- )
Modeling of wireless systems
• Multipath channel response h(t)=sum of individual responses
)+ )+………. )

Where is the impulse response of the channel

Transmitted Signal

pass band transmitted signal

complex baseband signal which is up-converted to carrier frequency
Modeling of wireless systems
• When this signal is transmitted across multipath communication
channel, we have different multipath components
• Passband signal corresponding to path is given by,

Similarly for path,

Similarly for path

Modeling of wireless systems
Received passband signal

=
=

Sum of attenuated, delayed baseband signal which is Complex received

baseband signal

Complex phase
Complex baseband received signal
factor arising out of
delay
Key parameters that characterize the wireless
environment
• study the nature of wireless channel
• impulse response of the standard wireless channel can be given as,

 Corresponds to delaying the signal by , and is the

attenuation associated with path

L Number of paths or multipath components

• Hence we can define the multipath power profile of the multipath
channel as,

Where is the power gain of the path

The wireless channel

• Total energy corresponding to the

transmitted wireless signal is received
in increments at the receiver, with a
part of it arriving in each multipath
component
• Consider an L=4 path multipath • power with gain is received after a
channel delay of ……
• The gains and corresponding delays of Whereas last path arriving at delay of
the paths of the multipath channel delivers power with a gain of
are shown.
Delay spread
• Total power received in a multipath wireless channel occurs over a
spread of time referred to as Delay spread
• Key parameter that characterizes the nature of wireless environment
• Denoted by

• This property of wireless

channel is in contrast to that of
a wireline channel
• In wireline channel, all the
power is received at a single
time instant
• Presence of only a single
propagation path
Maximum delay spread
• Consider a wireless channel with L multipath components , with the first
path arriving at and last signal copy arriving at
• Maximum delay spread is defined as,
=-
• It is the time interval between the arrival of the first and last copies of the
signal at the receiver
• Measure of the spread of the energy in the wireless channel, while
effectively capturing the multipath signal arrival
• Larger the value of implies a richer scattering environment and larger
differential propagation delays between the paths
 Note:
• Delay spread does not depend on
the absolute delays , but the
Note difference.
• Distance of mobile receiver from
the base station has no impact on
delay spread
• e.g. a scenario where there is a
single propagation path
corresponding to a large delay for a
mobile at a larger distance from BS.
Here delay spread would be 0.
• Delay spread depends on the
presence of multipath components
and the richness of the scatter
environment
 • The paths which arrive later are significantly
lower in power
RMS Delay spread • This lower power is due to larger propagation
distances and weaker reflections.
• larger value maximum delay spread even
though several of the later paths comprise
weak scatter components with negligible
power
• Maximum delay spread is not a reliable
indicator of true power spread
• Does not weight the delays in proportion to
signal power in MCs.
RMS Delay spread
• More realistic indicator of the spread of signal power in the arriving components
• Consider the power profile comprising of L MCS defined in,

• We define a new quantity, Bias

the ratio denotes the fraction of

power in MC
denotes the total power corresponding to path
While denotes the total power in the multipath power profile
RMS Delay spread
• Define the quantity proportionally with multipath delay components
• Observe that the various define a power distribution for the above
multipath power profile since each >0 and =1
• Hence the average delay can be computed to the mean of the above
power distribution as,

Average delay is
obtained by weighing
each delay in
proportion to the
fraction of the power
RMS Delay spread
• RMS delay spread can be computed as the standard deviation of the
power distribution defined as,
Average Delay
spread in outdoor • Cell radii of typical cells are in range
cellular channels 1-5km
• as in fig. consider two paths
• Direct path with distance
• scatter path with distance
• propagation delays, =
= where c=3x10^8m/s
Average Delay spread in outdoor cellular
channels
• Delay spread in this case is =Δτ
=-
=3.33μs
• Not an exact calculation of the indoor delay spread
• Demonstrates that in typical outdoor cellular scenarios, with signal
propagation distances of orders of kms, the delay spreads are of 1-3 μs
• Great importance in design and analysis of practical wireless communication
systems
• For indoor distances of around 10m
• Typical delay spreads are of the orders of 10-50ns
Coherence
Bandwidth

• Defined as the bandwidth of the response

H(f) i.e. as in fig. frequency band over
which the response H(f) is flat
• The impact of the coherence bandwidth on
the signal x(t)
What is the significance
of this quantity ?
• if the bandwidth of the
signal x(t) is less than , the
X(f) spans the flat portion
of the channel response
H(f)
• The output Y(f)=H(f)X(f) is
simply a scaled version of
X(f) corresponding to the
magnitude of the flat
portion
• Hence input signal X(f) is
undistorted at the output
• Such wireless channel is a
Flat-fading channel
>
• Signal bandwidth greater than
coherence BW leading to
distortion in the spectrum of the
received signal
• Different parts of the signal
spectrum X(f) experience
different attenuations i.e.
attenuation is frequency
selective
Note:
then NO DISTORTION IN THE
RECEIVED SIGNAL i.e. FLAT FADING
THEN DISTORTION IN THE
RECEIVED SIGNAL i.e. Frequency
selective fading
Coherence bandwidth and delay spread
• Delay spread is a natural phenomenon caused by reflected and scattered propagation paths in
the radio channel
• Coherence bandwidth is a defined relation derived from RMS delay spread
• Statistical measure of the range of frequencies over which the channel can be considered
“flat”(i.e. channel which passes all the spectral components with approximately equal gain and
linear phase)
• is the range of frequencies over which two frequency components have a strong potential for
amplitude correlation
• Two sinusoids with frequency separation greater than are affected quite differently by the
channel
• If is defined as the bandwidth over which the frequency correlation function is above 0.9, then,

• If the frequency correlation function is above 0.5, then

• Spectral analysis tech. and simulation are required to determine the exact impact that time
varying multipath has on particular transmitted signal
Coherence bandwidth and delay spread
• In general approximately, the bandwidth of the channel
=
Say =2micro seconds(typical delay spread)
then ===500kHz
FREQUENCY SELECTIVE DISTORTION
Occurs when
T->symbol time , > implies >T
Frequency selective distortion in frequency domain corresponds to ISI
in time domain
Doppler spread(
• we have
• Doppler spread , is the maximum Doppler shift
• Characterizes the frequency dispersiveness of the channel or spreading of transmitted
frequency due to Doppler shifts
• measure of spectral broadening caused by time rate of change of mobile radio
channel
• Range of frequencies over which the received Doppler spectrum is essentially
non-zero
• If is the pure sinusoidal tone, the received Doppler spectrum, will have
components in the range -to
• Amount of spectral broadening depends on
• If the baseband signal BW is much greater than Doppler spread then effects of
Doppler spread are negligible at receiver
• This is slow-fading channel
Coherence Time ()
• Time duration over which the channel impulse response is essentially
time invariant
• If the symbol period of the baseband signal is greater than the
coherence time of the channel, there will be distortion at the receiver

is maximum frequency spread due to Doppler shift

Diversity Techniques
• Exploits random nature of radio propagation by finding
independent(or at least highly uncorrelated)signal paths for
transmission
• In virtually all applications, diversity decisions are made by the
receiver, and are unknown to the transmitter
• If one path undergoes a deep fade, another independent path may
have a strong signal
• By having more than one path to select from, both instantaneous and
average SNR at the receiver may be improved often by 20 to 30dB
Diversity classification
• Space Diversity-Antennas separated in space
• Time Diversity-Copies transmitted over different TS
• Frequency Diversity Copies transmitted over different frequencies
• Polarization Diversity Copies have different field polarization
Space Diversity
• Also known as Antenna Diversity
• Can be used at either the mobile or BS
• Fading becomes less correlated as the separation between the
antennas increase
• Fading becomes less correlated as the scattering objects get
closer to the receiving antenna
Space diversity to be effective
• For BS, typically on top of tall tower, separation has to be order of  Diversity tech. used nearly in
ten or more wavelengths all cellular BSs by utilizing 2
• For MSs, a separation of a fraction of wavelength is sufficient as or 3 receive antennas per
scattering objects are typically nearby
sector
• Space Diversity reception methods are classified into
 Used by many point to point
Selection diversity microwave links by placing
Feedback diversity two antennas separated
Maximal ratio combining vertically on the same tower
Equal gain diversity
Space Diversity
Selection Diversity
• m demodulators provide m
diversity reception paths
• Gains are adjusted to provide same
average SNR for each branch
• Receiver branch with highest
instantaneous SNR is connected
Feedback or
Scanning Diversity • m signals are scanned in a fixed
sequence until one is found to be
above a predetermined threshold
• This signal is then received until it
falls below threshold and scanning
is again initiated
• Resulting fading statistics are
somewhat inferior
• Very simple to implement as just
one receiver is required
 • Signals from all m branches are weighted
Maximal Ratio according to their individual SNR and then
Combining summed
• Individual signals are co-phased before being
summed
• Generally requires an individual receiver and
phasing circuit for each antenna element
• MRC produces an output SNR equal to the
sum of individual SNRs
• Advantage of producing an output with
acceptable SNR even when none of the
individual signals are themselves acceptable
Equal Gain Combining
• In certain cases, it is not convenient to provide for the variable
weighting capability required for true MRC
• If individual branches signals are not independent the performance
degrades
• In such cases, branch weights are all set to unity
• Signals from each branch are co-phased to provide equal gain
combining diversity
Frequency Diversity
• Implemented by transmitting information on more than one carrier frequency
• Idea behind: Frequencies separated by more than the coherence BW of the
channel will be uncorrelated and hence will not experience same fades
• Employed in microwave LOS links which carry several channels on FDM mode
• In practice 1:N protection switching is provided by radio licensee
• One frequency is nominally idle and is available on a stand-by basis to provide
frequency diversity switching for any one of the N other carriers
• Each carrier carries independent traffic
Polarization Diversity
• Efficient diversity is obtained with a correlation coefficient below 0.7
To keep the correlation at this level
Space diversity at BS require antenna spacing up to 20 wavelengths for
the broadside case and even more for inline case
 Polarization diversity at BS does not require antenna spacing
• Radio wave polarization is given by direction of the E-field.
• Polarization of the signal changes when the signal is reflected or
diffracted
• Early days of cellular radio, all subscriber units were mounted in vehicles
and used vertical whip antennas
• However nowadays units are portable and no longer use vertical
polarization due to hand tilting
Polarization Diversity
• Measured horizontal and vertical polarization paths between a mobile
and BS are reported to be uncorrelated(as in Lee & Yeh. [Lee 72])
• Decorrelation for the signals in each polarization is due to multiple
reflections
• Reflection coefficient for each polarization is different resulting in
different amplitudes and phases for each or atleast some of the
reflections
• Primarily been used for fixed radio links which vary slowly in time
Time Diversity
• Repeatedly transmits information at time spacings that exceed the
coherence time of the channel
• Multiple repetitions of the signal will be received with independent
fading conditions hence providing for diversity
Time Diversity
• Attempts to collect the time shifted versions of the original signal by providing a separate
correlator receiver for each of the multipath signals
• Fig. shown is a diversity receiver designed for CDMA
• Diversity is provided as the multipath components are uncorrelated from one another
when their relative propagation delay exceed a chip period
• Assume m correlators are used in a CDMA receiver to capture the M strongest multipath
components
• A weighting network is used to provide a linear combination of the correlator output for bit
decision
• Correlator1 is synchronized to the strongest multipath m1.
• Multipath m2 arrives τ1 later than m1. correlator2 is synchronized to m2
• Bit decisions based on a single correlation will result in large BER
• If output of one correlator is corrupted by fading, the others may not be, and corrupted
signal may be discounted through weighting process
• The weighting coefficients are based on the power or the SNR from each correlator output