EE-357: CCN

Mobile Radio Propagation: Large Scale Path Loss

Hassaan Khaliq Qureshi

School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST)
Pakistan
Credits and Acknowledgements
 Throughout this course, I will be borrowing examples, explanations
and figures from the following books:
 Rappaport, Wireless Communications, Prentice Hall, 2002.
 Wireless Communications and Networks by William Stallings.

 I will also be borrowing examples and figures from the online course
material provided by Prof. Andrea Goldsmith, Stanford University

 In this particular lecture, I will be borrowing concepts and figures from

the Advanced Communication Systems Course by Dr. Syed Ali
Khayam who taught this course 2 years back.

 I am also borrowing figures from Mike Willis’s online tutorial:

http://www.mike-willis.com/Tutorial/PF7.htm

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What will we cover in this lecture?
 This lecture will cover some basic details on
propagation and the largescale propagation
effects that are commonly observed on a
wireless communication system:

 Modes of Propagation and some basic concepts

 Free-Space Propagation
 Isotropic and Directional Antennas
 Terrestrial Propagation: Large Scale Physical Models
 Reflection and Diffraction

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 Terrestrial Propagation:
Large Scale Physical Models

4
Effective LOS

 Line of sight (LoS) is a type of propagation

that can transmit and receive data only
where transmit and receive stations are in
view of each other without any sort of an
obstacle.

 However, for Wireless Networks a modified

line-of-sight transmission is used, which is
made possible through a combination of
effects like diffraction, multipath reflection,
and rapid handoff. Therefore, receiver 5
Terrestrial Propagation: Physical Models
 In most wireless communication scenarios,
terrestrial environment (buildings, terrain,
vegetation, etc.) block line-of-sight
communication

 In this case, radio waves undergo three

types of phenomena:
 Reflection: caused by large objects; radio waves
are reflected by the surface of the object

 Diffraction: caused by sharp/irregular objects;

radio waves bend around objects 6
Reflection
 A wireless signal may reach the receiver
from multiple paths due to reflections from
nearby objects

 This phenomenon is referred to as multipath

propagation

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Reflection
 Multipath signals interfere with each other

 This interference can be constructive or

destructive depending
Constructive
on whether the
multiple signals are synchronized or de-
interference

synchronized with each other

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Reflection
 Multipath signals interfere with each other

 This interference can be constructive or

destructive depending
Destructive
on whether the
multiple signals are synchronized or de-
interference

synchronized with each other

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Reflection: Plane-Earth Model
 Due to the interference caused by multipath
signals, the receive signal power of an
antenna can be quite different from what is
observed in the (ideal) free-space
propagation model

 As a first step, we only consider reflections

from the earth’s surface.

 Moreover,
hT
we assume a flat (or plane) earth
h
R
surface and ignore the effect of the earth’s
d
curvature on propagation 10
Reflection: Plane-Earth Model
 We want to find the power at the receive
antenna
PT
PR = GT G R
 Recall that the received
L p power for a
directional antenna is

 So hwe essentially need to find the path loss

T
h
Lp for the two-ray propagation environment
R

d
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Reflection: Phase Difference
 We need to find the path loss Lp for the two-ray propagation
environment
 We first find the difference in the distance traveled by both rays
 Then we can use the following expression to find the phase
difference of the received waves
Dd
D q = 2p
l Number of additional
wavelengths travelled
Conversion to radians
in distance ∆d

hT
hR

d
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Reflection: Phase Difference
dd
hT -hR
2hT dr hR

hT +hR dr

d
D d = dr - dd = (hT + hR )2 + d 2 - (hT - hR )2 + d 2
é 2 2 ù
æ ö
ê çhT + hR ÷ æ hT - hR ÷ ö ú
= d ê çç ÷ ç
+ 1 - çç ÷ + 1ú
ê çè d ÷
÷ ÷ ú
ø èç d ÷ ø
ê ú
ë û
é 1 1 ù x
ê
= d 1+ 2
(h + hR ) - 2 ú
(hT - hR ) - 1 , Q 1 + x » 1 + , x = 1
ê 2d 2 T 2 d 2 ú 2
ë û

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Reflection: Phase Difference
dd
hT -hR
2hT dr hR

hT +hR dr

é 1 1 ù
D d » d ê1 + 2
(hT + hR ) - (hT - hR ) - 1ú
2
ê 2d 2
2d 2 ú
ë û
2hT hR assumpt ion: hT + hR = d
Dd »
d
Dd 4p hT hR
Þ D q = 2p »
l ld

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Example
hT = 10m
hR = 2m

d = 500m

Find the phase difference introduced by the

above two-ray scenario when the carrier
frequency is fc = 900 MHz.

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Reflection: Received Power
hT 4p hT hR
hR Dq »
ld
d
-1 for grazing earth distance
See Example 4.4 in Ref. book

E = E d + E r = E d + E d r e j y e - j Vq
= E d - E de - j Vq = E d (1 - e - j Vq )
E = E d 1 - e - j Vq = E d 1 - cosVq + j sin Vq
= E d (1 - cosVq) + j (sin Vq) = E d (1 - cosVq) 2 + sin 2 Vq
= Ed 1 - 2 cosVq + cos2 Vq + sin 2 Vq
= Ed 2 - 2 cosVq

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Reflection: Phase Difference
hT 4p hT hR
hR Dq »
ld
d

1 1
E = E d 2 - 2 cosVq = 2 E d - cosVq
2 2
2 Vq Vq
E = 2 E d sin = 2 E d sin
2 2

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Reflection: Phase Difference
hT Vq
hR E » 2 E d sin
2
d
2 2
E Ed Vq
PR = F Ae = Ae = 4 Ae sin 2
h h 2
Characteristic impedence of free space Received power in free space
from the direct path
Recall that the received power in free space is: PT GT G R
(4pd / l )2
So the received power for the two ray model is:
2 2 2
æl ÷ ö 2 Vq
æl ÷ ö æVq ö
ç
PR = 4PT GT G R çç ÷ sin » 4P G G ç
ç ÷ çç ÷÷
÷
÷ T T R ç ÷
÷ ç ÷
÷
è 4pd ø 2 è 4pd ø è 2 ø
2 2 2
æl ÷ öæ ç
ö
2p hT hR ÷ æh h ÷
ç
ö
ç
PR » 4PT GT G R çç ÷ çç ÷ = PT GT G R çç 2 ÷
T R
÷ ÷
÷ ÷
÷ ç
è 4pd ø è l d ø è d ÷
ç ø 18
Reflection: Received Power
2
æh h ÷ ö
PR » PT GT G R ççç T 2 R ÷
÷
çè d ÷ ø

Thus the path loss term for two-ray

2
propagation is ç d ÷
æ 2 ö
L p » çç ÷
÷
çèhT hR ø÷

hT
hR

d
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 Reflection: Received Power
2
æh h ÷ ö
PR » PT GT G R ççç T 2 R ÷
÷
çè d ÷ ø
Received power
is a function
of:
 Antenna
heights:
Higher the
antennas,
greater the
received
power Source: A. Goldsmith Book on Wireless Communications 20
Exercise
hT
hR

d
A mobile is located 4 km away from a base station and uses a λ/2
monopole antenna with a gain of 2.55 dB to receive signals from
the base station. The transmitter produces 50W of power and the
carrier frequency is 900 MHz.

b) Find the received power at the mobile using the two ray model
assuming base station antenna height of 40 m and mobile antenna
height of 2.5m.

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Exam Question [2023]
hT
hR

d
Consider a 10 Watt transmitter communicating with a mobile
receiver having a sensitivity of -100 dBm (in watts it is equivalent
to 10-13). Assume that the receiver antenna height is 2 m, and then
transmitter and receiver antenna gains are 1 dB. What height of
base station antenna would be necessary to provide a service area
of radius 10 Km. If the receiver is mobile, and the maximum
radiated power is restricted by regulation to be 10 watts or less,
what realistic options are there for increasing the service area?

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Exam Question
hT
hR

d
Answer:
The plane earth model indicates the base station antenna would have
to be 4 meters in height. Service area may be increased either by
improving receiver sensitivity, or boosting the transmitter antenna
height, or increasing antenna gain. Realistically, a 4-meter antenna
would be unlikely to provide a line of sight path over a distance of 10
km, thus the plane-earth model is applicable but service area would
not be covered.

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The Usability of Plane earth model
 The plane-earth model applies only for R (or d) >> hR, hT. The
plane-earth model shows less loss than free-space at distances
less than a kilometer, Is this reasonable? How large should R be
to apply the plane-Earth model?

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Diffraction
 Diffraction or shadowing is the bending of a
radio wave around obstructions

 This bending allows radio waves to reach

locations when there is no line-of-sight.

 While the signal strength decreases as one

moves more and more towards the
obstruction (shadow), there is still enough
power in the diffracted signal that it can be
decoded at the receiver.
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Diffraction: Huygen’s Principle

Each point on a wave front acts as a point

source for further propagation. However, the
point source does not radiate equally in all
directions but favors the forward direction of
the wavefront.

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Diffraction: Huygen’s Principle

Diffraction is caused by the propagation of

secondary wavelets into a shadowed
region.

Wavefront

Diffracted
Wavefront

Knife Edge Obstruction

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Diffraction: Phase Difference
 We want to quantify the phase difference that the diffracted
wave will experience

 We know that the phase difference is given by:

Dd
D q = 2p
l
where ∆d is the difference in distance between the direct and
diffracted waves

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Diffraction: Phase Difference
 To compute ∆d, let us consider propagating from point T to R

 An obstruction is blocking the LoS path

 The obstruction has a circular radius, h

R

Q
h
d2
O

T d1

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Diffraction: Phase Difference
 Any wave propagating through TQR is traveling more distance
that TOR

D d = | T QR | - | T OR |

Q
h
d2
O

T d1
Diffraction: Phase Difference
2 2 2 2
D d = | T QR | - | T OR |= d +h +
1
d2 + h - (d1 + d 2 )
2 2
æh ÷ ö æh ö÷
= d1 1 + ççç ÷ ÷ + d2 1 + çç ÷ - (d + d )
ççd ÷
çèd1 ÷
ø è 2ø ÷ 1 2

Q
h
d2
O

T d1

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Diffraction: Phase Difference
x
Q 1+ x » 1+ for x = 1
2
æ h 2 ö
÷ æ h 2 ö
÷
ç
D d » d1 çç1 + ÷ + d ç
ç 1 + ÷ - d1 - d 2
2÷÷ ç 2÷
2d2 ø÷
2
çè 2d1 ø÷ çè ÷
h2 h2 h2 æç 1 1 ö÷
÷
= d1 2 + d 2 = ç
ç + ÷
2d1 2d2 2
2 èd1 d2 ø÷
ç
h çd1 + d2 ö÷
2 æ
÷
= çç ÷
2 çè d1d2 ø÷

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Diffraction: Phase Difference
h2 æ d
çç 1 + d ö
÷
2÷
Dd » ç ÷
2 çè d1d2 ÷ ø
p 2æ ç
ö
2(d1 + d2 ) ÷
÷
Þ D q » h çç ÷
2 çè l d1d2 ÷ ø
 We define the Fresnel-Kirchhoff diffraction parameter as:
2(d1 + d2 )
u= h
l d1d2
p 2
Þ Dq » u
2

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