Radio Propagation -

Large-Scale Path Loss

Basics

 When electrons move, they create

electromagnetic waves that can propagate
through the space
 Number of oscillations per second of an
electromagnetic wave is called its frequency,
f, measured in Hertz.
 The distance between two consecutive
maxima is called the wavelength, designated
by 
2
Basics
 By attaching an antenna of the appropriate
size to an electrical circuit, the
electromagnetic waves can be broadcast
efficiently and received by a receiver some
distance away.
 In vacuum, all electromagnetic waves travel
at the speed of light: c = 3x108 m/sec.
 In copper or fiber the speed slows down to
about 2/3 of this value.
 Relation between f,  , c: f = c
3
Basics

 We have seen earlier the electromagnetic

spectrum.
 The radio, microwave, infrared, and visible
light portions of the spectrum can all be used
to transmit information
 By modulating the amplitude, frequency, or phase
of the waves.

4
Basics
 We have seen wireless channel concept earlier: it is
characterized by a frequency band (called its
bandwidth)
 The amount of information a wireless channel can
carry is related to its bandwidth
 Most wireless transmission use narrow frequency
band (f << f)
 f: frequency band
 f: middle frequency where transmission occurs
 New technologies use spread spectrum techniques
 A wider frequency band is used for transmission

5
Basics - Propagation
 Radio waves are
 Easy to generate
 Can travel long distances
 Can penetrate buildings
 They are both used for indoor and outdoor communication
 They are omni-directional: can travel in all directions
 They can be narrowly focused at high frequencies (greater
than 100MHz) using parabolic antennas (like satellite dishes)
 Properties of radio waves are frequency dependent
 At low frequencies, they pass through obstacles well, but the
power falls off sharply with distance from source
 At high frequencies, they tend to travel in straight lines and
bounce of obstacles (they can also be absorbed by rain)
 They are subject to interference from other radio wave sources

6
 Basics - Propagation
At VLF, LF, and MF bands, radio
waves follow the ground. AM radio
broadcasting uses MF band

reflection

At HF bands, the ground Ionosphere

waves tend to be absorbed by the
earth. The waves that reach ionosphere
(100-500km above earth surface),
are refracted and sent back to
earth.
absorption

7
Basics - Propagation
VHF Transmission
LOS path

Reflected Wave

-Directional antennas are used

-Waves follow more direct paths
- LOS: Line-of-Sight Communication
- Reflected wave interfere with the
original signal

8
Basics - Propagation

 Waves behave more like light at higher

frequencies
 Difficulty in passing obstacles
 More direct paths
 They behave more like radio at lower
frequencies
 Can pass obstacles

9
Propagation Models

 We are interested in propagation

characteristics and models for waves with
frequencyy in range: few MHz to a few GHz
 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

10
Radio Propagation Models

 Transmission path between sender and

receiver could be
 Line-of-Sight (LOS)
 Obstructed by buildings, mountains and foliage
 Even speed of motion effects the fading
characteristics of the channel

11
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

12
Radio Propagation Mechanisms
 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

13
Radio Propagation Mechanisms

transmitter R
Street
S
D
D

R: Reflection receiver
D: Diffraction Building Blocks
S: Scattering

14
Radio Propagation Mechanisms

 As a mobile moves through a coverage area,

these 3 mechanisms have an impact on the
instantaneous received signal strength.
 If a mobile does have a clear line of sight path to the
base-station, than diffraction and scattering will not
dominate the propagation.
 If a mobile is at a street level without LOS, then
diffraction and scattering will probably dominate the
propagation.

15
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.

16
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

17
What is Decibel (dB)
 What is dB (decibel):
 A logarithmic unit that is used to describe a ratio.
 Let say we have two values P1 and P2. The difference (ratio)
between them can be expressed in dB and is computed as
follows:
 10 log (P1/P2) dB
 Example: transmit power P1 = 100W,
received power P2 = 1 W
 The difference is 10log(100/1) = 20dB.

18
dB
 dB unit can describe very big ratios with
numbers of modest size.
 See some examples:
 Tx power = 100W, Received power = 1W
 Tx power is 100 times of received power
 Difference is 20dB
 Tx power = 100W, Received power = 1mW
 Tx power is 100,000 times of received power
 Difference is 50dB
 Tx power = 1000W, Received power = 1mW
 Tx power is million times of received power
 Difference is 60dB

19
dBm

 For power differences, dBm is used to denote

a power level with respect to 1mW as the
reference power level.
 Let say Tx power of a system is 100W.
 Question: What is the Tx power in unit of dBm?
 Answer:
 Tx_power(dBm) = 10log(100W/1mW) =
10log(100W/0.001W) = 10log(100,0000) = 50dBm

20
dBW

 For power differences, dBW is used to

denote a power level with respect to 1W as
the reference power level.
 Let say Tx power of a system is 100W.
 Question: What is the Tx power in unit of dBW?
 Answer:
 Tx_power(dBW) = 10log(100W/1W) = 10log(100) =
20dBW.

21
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.
22
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) [Equation 1]

 Pt is transmited power
 Pr(d) is the received power
 Gt is the trasmitter 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 igonore it in our calculations).
  is wavelength in meters.

23
Free-Space Propagation Model
 The gain of an antenna G is related to its affective
aperture Ae by:
 G = 4Ae / 2 [Equation 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 [Equation
3]
 f is carrier frequency in Hertz

 c is carrier frequency in radians per second.

 c is speed of light in meters/sec

24
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 [Equation 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

25
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] [Equation 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] [Equation 6]

26
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/[Equation 7]
 D is the largest physical dimension of the antenna.
 Additionally, df >> D and df >> 

27
Free-Space Propagation Model –
Reference Distance d0
 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 [Equation 8]

28
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.
[Equation 9]
 Pr(d) (dBW) = 10 log [Pr(d0)/1W] + 20log(d0/d)
where d >= d0 >= df and Pr(d0) is in units of watts.
[Equation
10]

 Reference distance d0 for practical systems:

 For frequncies in the range 1-2 GHz
 1 m in indoor environments
 100m-1km in outdoor environments

29
Example Question

 A transmitter produces 50W of power.

 A) Express the transmit power in dBm
 B) Express the transmit power in dBW
 C) If d0 is 100m and the received power at that
distance is 0.0035mW, then find the received
power level at a distance of 10km.
 Assume that the transmit and receive antennas have
unity gains.

30
Solution

 A)
 Pt(W) is 50W.
 Pt(dBm) = 10log[Pt(mW)/1mW)]
Pt(dBm) = 10log(50x1000)
Pt(dBm) = 47 dBm
 B)
 Pt(dBW) = 10log[Pt(W)/1W)]
Pt(dBW) = 10log(50)
Pt(dBW) = 17 dBW

31
Solution

 Pr(d) = Pr(d0)(d0/d)2
 Substitute the values into the equation:
 Pr(10km) = Pr(100m)(100m/10km)2
Pr(10km) = 0.0035mW(10-4)
Pr(10km) = 3.5x10-10W
 Pr(10km) [dBm] = 10log(3.5x10-10W/1mW)
= 10log(3.5x10-7)
= -64.5dBm

32
Two main channel design issues
 Communication engineers are generally concerned
with two main radio channel issues:
 Link Budged Design
 Link budget design determines fundamental quantities such as
transmit power requirements, coverage areas, and battery life
 It is determined by the amount of received power that may be
expected at a particular distance or location from a transmitter
 Time dispersion
 It arises because of multi-path propagation where replicas of the
transmitted signal reach the receiver with different propagation
delays due to the propagation mechanisms that are described
earlier.
 Time dispersion nature of the channel determines the maximum
data rate that may be transmitted without using equalization.

33
Link Budged Design Using Path Loss
Models
 Radio propagation models can be derived
 By use of empirical methods: collect
measurement, fit curves.
 By use of analytical methods
 Model the propagation mechanisms mathematically and
derive equations for path loss
 Long distance path loss model
 Empirical and analytical models show that
received signal power decreases logarithmically
with distance for both indoor and outdoor
channels

34
Long distance path loss model

 The average large-scale d n

path loss for an arbitrary T- PL(d )  ( )
d0
R separation is expressed
as a function of distance by d
PL(dB) PL(d 0 )  10n log( )
using a path loss exponent d0
n: Equation 11

 The value of n depends on

the propagation PL (d ) denotes the average large - scale path loss
environment: for free space at a distance d (denoted in dB)
it is 2; when obstructions
are present it has a larger
value.

35
Path Loss Exponent for Different
Environments
Environment Path Loss Exponent, n
Free space 2

Urban area cellular radio 2.7 to 3.5

Shadowed urban cellular radio 3 to 5

In building line-of-sight 1.6 to 1.8

Obstructed in building 4 to 6

Obstructed in factories 2 to 3

36
Selection of free space reference
distance
 In large coverage cellular systems
 1km reference distances are commonly used
 In microcellular systems
 Much smaller distances are used: such as 100m
or 1m.
 The reference distance should always be in
the far-field of the antenna so that near-field
effects do not alter the reference path loss.

37
Log-normal Shadowing
 Equation 11 does not consider the fact the
surrounding environment may be vastly
different at two locations having the same T-
R separation
 This leads to measurements that are different
than the predicted values obtained using the
above equation.
 Measurements show that for any value d, the
path loss PL(d) in dBm at a particular location
is random and distributed normally.
38
Log-normal Shadowing- Path Loss
Then adding this random factor:

PL(d )[dB]  PL(d )  X 

d
PL(d )[dB]  PL(d 0 )  10n log( )  X Equation 12
d0

PL(d ) denotes the average large-scale path loss (in dB) at a distance d.
X is a zero-mean Gaussian (normal) distributed random variable (in dB)
with standard deviation (also in dB).
PL(d 0 ) is usually computed assuming free space propagation model between
transmitter and d0 (or by measurement).

Equation 12 takes into account the shadowing affects due to cluttering on the
propagation path. It is used as the propagation model for log-normal shadowing
environments.

39
Log-normal Shadowing- Received
Power
 The received power in log-normal shadowing
environment is given by the following formula
(derivable from Equation 12)

Pr (d )[dBm]  Pt [dBm]  PL(d )[dB] Equation 12

 d 
Pr (d )[dBm]  Pt [dBm]   PL(d 0 )[dB]  10n log( )  X  [dB]
 d0 

 The antenna gains are included in PL(d).

40
Log-normal Shadowing, n and 
 The log-normal shadowing model indicates
the received power at a distance d is
normally distributed with a distance
dependent mean and with a standard
deviation of 
 In practice the values of n and are
computed from measured data using linear
regression so that the difference between the
measured data and estimated path losses
are minimized in a mean square error sense.

41
Example of determining n and 

 Assume Pr(d0) = 0dBm

Distance from Received Power
and d0 is 100m Transmitter
100m 0dBm
 Assume the receiver
500m -5dBm
power Pr is measured
1000m -11dBm
at distances 100m,
3000m -16dBm
500m, 1000m, and
3000m,
 The table gives the
measured values of
received power

42
Example of determining n and 
 We know the measured values.
 Lets compute the estimates for received
power at different distances using long-
distance path loss model. (Equation 11)
 Pr(d0) is given as 0dBm and measured value
is also the same.
 mean_Pr(d) = Pr(d0) – mean_PL(from_d0_to_d)
 Then mean_Pr(d) = 0 – 10logn(d/d0)
 Use this equation to computer power levels at
500m, 1000m, and 3000m.
CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 43
Example of determining n and 
 Average_Pr(500m) = 0 – 10logn(500/100) = -6.99n
 Average_Pr(1000m) = 0 – 10logn(1000/100) = -10n
 Average_Pr(3000m) = 0 – 10logn(3000/100) = -14.77n

 Now we know the estimates and also measured

actual values of the received power at different
distances
 In order approximate n, we have to choose a value
for n such that the mean square error over the
collected statistics is minimized.

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 44

Example of determining n and MSE(Mean
Square Error)
The mean square error (MSE) is given with the following formula:
k
MSE   ( p  pˆ )
i 1
i i
2
[Equation 14]

pi is the actual measured value of power at some distance

pˆ i is the estimate of power at that distance
k is the number of measurement samples
Since power estimate at some distance depends on n, MSE(n) is a function of n.

We would like to find a value of n that will minimize this MSE(n) value. We
We will call it MMSE: minimum mean square error.

This can be achieved by writing MSE as a function of n. Then finding the

value of n which minimizes this function. This can be done by derivating
MSE(n) with respect to n and solving for n which makes the derivative equal to
zero.

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 45

Example of determining n

Distance Measured Value of Pr Estimated Value of Pr

(dBm) (dBm)
100m 0 0
500m -5 -6.99n
1000m -11 -10n
3000m -16 -14.77n

MSE = (0-0)2 + (-5-(-6.99n))2 + (-11-(-10n)2 + (-16-(-14.77n)2

MSE = 0 + (6.99n – 5)2 + (10n – 11)2 + (14.77n – 16)2

If we open this, we get MSE as a function of n which as second

order polynomial.
We can easily take its derivate and find the value of n which
minimizes MSE. ( I will not show these steps, since they are trivial).

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 46

Example of determining 
We are interested in finding the standard deviation about the mean value
For this, we will use the following formula
k

 (p  pˆ )
i i
2
Equation 14.1
σ2  i 1
k
pi is the actual measured value of power at some distance d
pˆ i is the estimate of power at that distance d
k is the number of measurement samples

From the above definition of σ, we can derive that :

σ 2  MSE(N)/k
σ 2  MMSE /k
σ  MMSE /k
Equation 14.2
where N is the value that minimizes MSE(n)
MMSE is minimum mean square error.
MSE(n) formula is given in the previous slides.

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 47

Some Statistics Knowledge:
Computation of mean (), variance (2) and
standard deviation ()
Assume we have k samples (k values) X1, X2, …, Xk :
The mean is denoted by 
The variance is denotes by 
The standard deviation is denotes by 2.
The formulas to computer , , and  is given below:
k

X i
[Equation 15]
 i 1

k
k

(X i   )2 [Equation 16]

 
2 i 1

k
k

(X i   )2 [Equation 17]

 i 1

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 48

Path loss and Received Power
 In log normal shadowing environment:
 PL(d) (path loss) and Pr(d) (received power at a
distance d) are random variables with a normal
distribution in dB about a distance dependent mean.
 Sometime we are interested in answering
following kind of questions:
 What is mean received Pr(d) power (mean_Pr(d))at a
distance d from a transmitter
 What is the probability that the receiver power Pr(d)
(expressed in dB power units) at distance d is above (or
below) some fixed value  (again expressed in dB power
units such as dBm or dBW).

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 49

Received Power and Normal
Distribution
 In answering these kind of question, we have
to use the properties of normal (gaussian
distribution).
 Pr(d) is normally distributed that is
characterized by:
 a mean ()
 a standard deviation ()
 We are interested in Probability that Pr(d) >=
or Pr(d) <= 
CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 50
Received Power and Normal Distribution
PDF
Figure shows the PDF of a normal distribution for the received power P r at
some fixed distance d (  = 10,  = 5)
(x-axis is received power, y-axis probability)

EXAMPLE:

Probability that Pr is
smaller than 3.3
(Prob(Pr <= 3.3))
is
given with value of
the stripped area under
the curve.

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 51

Normal CDF
The figure shows the CDF plot of the normal distribution described previously.
Prob(Pr <= 3.3) can be found by finding first the point where vertical line from 3.3
intersects the curve and then by finding the corresponding point on the y-axis.
This corresponds to a value of 0.09. Hence Prob(Pr <= 3.3) = 0.09

0.5

0.090123

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 52

Use of Normal Distribution

[Equation 18]

PDF (probability density function of a normal distribution is characterized by

two parameters,  (mean)and (standard deviation), and given with the
formula above.

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 53

Use of Normal Distribution
To find out the probability that a Gaussian (normal) random variable
X is above a value x0, we have to integrate pdf.

 ( x )2
1
Pr( X  x0 )   e 2 2
dx Equation 19
x 0  2

This integration does not have any closed form.

Any Gaussian PDF can be rewritten through substitution of y = x– / to yield

  y2
x0   1
Pr( y 

) 
x 0  2
e 2
dy Equation 20
( )


CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 54

Use of Normal Distribution
In the above formula, the kernel of the integral is normalized Gaussian
PDF function with  = 0 and = 1.
Evaluation of this function is designed as Q-function and defined as

  y2
1
Q( z )  e 2
dy Equation 21

z  2

Hence Equation 19 or 20 can be evaluated as:

x0   x0  
Pr( y  )  Q( )  Q( z ) Equation 22
 

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 55

Q-Function
Q-Function is bounded by two analytical expressions as follows:

1 1 z2 / 2 1 z2 / 2
(1  2 ) e  Q( z )  e Equation 23
z z 2 z 2
For values greater than 3.0, both of these bounds closely approximate Q(z).

Two important properties of Q(z) are:

• Q(-z) = 1 – Q(z) Equation 24

• Q(0) = 1/2 Equation 25

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 56

Tabulation of Q-function (0<=z<=3.9)
z Q(z) z Q(z) z Q(z) z Q(z)
0.0 0.5 1.0 0.15866 2.0 0.02275 3.0 0.00135
0.1 0.46017 1.1 0.13567 2.1 0.01786 3.1 0.00097
0.2 0.42074 1.2 0.11507 2.2 0.01390 3.2 0.00069
0.3 0.38209 1.3 0.09680 2.3 0.01072 3.3 0.00048
0.4 0.34458 1.4 0.08076 2.4 0.00820 3.4 0.00034
0.5 0.30854 1.5 0.06681 2.5 0.00621 3.5 0.00023
0.6 0.27425 1.6 0.05480 2.6 0.00466 3.6 0.00016
0.7 0.24196 1.7 0.04457 2.7 0.00347 3.7 0.00011
0.8 0.21118 1.8 0.03593 2.8 0.00256 3.8 0.00007
0.9 0.18406 1.9 0.02872 2.9 0.00187 3.9 0.00005

For values of z higher than 3.9, you should use the equations on the
previous slide to compute Q(z).

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 57

Q-Function Graph: z versus Q(z)

0.6
Q(z)

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 1 2 3 4 5
z (1 <= z <= 3.9

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 58

Erf and Erfc functions
The error function (erf) is defined as:


2 [Equation 26]
 dx
2
x
erfc ( z ) e
 z

And the complementary error function (erfc) is defined as:

z
2
 dx [Equation 27]
2
x
erf ( z ) e
 0

The erfc function is related to erf function by:

[Equation 28]
erfc( z ) 1  erf ( z )

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 59

Erf and Erfc functions
The Q-function is related to erf and erfc functions by:

1 z 1 z
Q( z ) [1  erf ( )]  erfc( ) [Equation 29]
2 2 2 2
erfc( z )  2Q( 2 z ) [Equation 30]

erf ( z )  1  2Q( 2 z ) [Equation 31]

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 60

Computation of probability that the received
power is below/above a threshold
 We said that Pr(d) is a random variable that is
Gaussian distributed with mean  and std deviation
Then:
 Probability that Pr(d) is above  is given by:

  Pr (d )
Pr( Pr (d )  )  Q( ) Equation 32

 Probability that Pr(d) is below  is given by:
Pr (d )  
Pr( Pr (d )  )  Q( ) Equation 33

 Pr(d) bar denotes the average (mean ) received power at d.

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 61

Percentage of Coverage Area

 We are interested in the following problem

 Given a circular coverage area with radius R from a
base station
 Given a desired threshold power level .
 Find out
 U(), the percentage of useful service area
 i.e the percentage of area with a received signal that is
equal or greater than given a known likelihood of
coverage at the cell boundary

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 62

Percentage of Coverage Area
O is the origin of the cell
O r: radial distance d from transmitter
r R 0 <= r <= R

Definition: P(Pr(r) >) denotes

probability that the random received power at a distance
d = r is greater than threshold within an incrementally
small area dA
Then U() can be found by the following integration over the area of the
cell:
2 R
1 1
U ( )  2  P[ Pr (r )   )dA  2   P[ P (r )   )rdrd 
R R
r
0 0
Equation 34

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 63

Integrating f(r) over Circle Area
Lets express the incremental area A between points A, B, C, D.
The area could be approximated as the difference of areas of two sectors :
A  Area(ABCD) ~  Area(OAD) – Area(OBC)
2 2
 r   1  r 
 AREA(OAD )    r     r   
A  2  2 2  2 
 is expressed in radians : 0    2
f(r)
R B 
2
r   1  r 
2

AREA(OBC )    r     r   
r D  2  2 2  2 
C 1 r  1
2
r 
2

r A   r      r   
2 2  2 2 
  2
r   r  
2
O A   r    r   
2  2   2  

A  [2rr ]  rr
2
Then we can integrate a function f(r) over the
surface area of the circle as follows :

F   f (r )dA

2 R
F   f (r )rdrd 
0 0

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 64

Percentage of Coverage Area
Using equation 32:
  Pr (d )
P ( Pr (d )  )  Q( )  Q(  [ Pt  PL (d 0 )  10n log(r / d 0 )])

Equation 33
The path loss at distance r can be expressed as:

O d0 r R

PL(from O to r) = PL(from O to d0) + PL(from d0 to R) - PL(from r to R)

PL(from O to r) = PL(from O to d0) + PL(from d0 to R) + PL(from R to r)
(O is the point where base station is located)

Which can be formally expressed as:

PL(r )  10n log(R / d 0 )  10n log(r / R )  PL (d 0 ) Equation 34

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 65

Percentage of Coverage Area
Equation 33 can be expressed as follows using error function:

1 1    [ Pt  ( PL(d )  10n log(r / d 0 ))] 

P( Pr (r )  )   erf  
 Equation 35
2 2   2 

  Pr (d ) 1 1   Pr (d )
P ( Pr (d )  )  Q( )   erf ( )
 2 2  2

By combining with Equation 34

1 1    [ Pt  ( PL (d 0 )  10n log(r / d 0 )  10n log(r / R))] 

P( Pr (r )   )   erf  

2 2   2 
Equation 36

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 66

Percentage of Coverage Area
Let the following substitutions happen:

a  (  Pt  PL(d 0)  10n log(R / d 0)) /  2

b  (10n log e) /  2

Then
R
1 1 r
U ( )   2  erf (a  b ln )rdr Equation 37
2 R 0 R

Substitute t = a+ blog(r/R)

1  1  ab  
 1 2 ab 
 b2  
 
U ( )   1  erf (a )  e 1  erf ( ) Equation 38
2   b  

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 67

Percentage of Coverage Area
 By choosing a signal level such that Pr (R)  
(i.e. a = ), we obtain:

1   1 
 2 1  
U ( )   1  e 1  erf ( )
b 
2   b  

where b  (10n log e) /  2

Equation 39

The simplified formula above gives the percentage coverage assuming the
mean received power at the cell boundary (r=R) is .
In other words, we are assuming: Prob(Pr(R) >= ) = 0.5

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 68

Indoor and Outdoor
Propagation
Outdoor Propagation
 We will look to the propagation from a transmitter in an outdoor
environment
 The coverage area around a tranmitter is called a cell.

 Coverage area is defined as the area in which the path loss is at or

below a given value.
 The shape of the cell is modeled as hexagon, but in real life it
has much more irregular shapes.
 By playing with the antenna (tilting and changing the height), the

size of the cell can be controlled.

 We will look to the propagation characteristics of the three
outdoor environments
 Propagation in macrocells

 Propagation in microcells

 Propagation in street microcells

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 70

Macrocells

 Base stations at high-points

 Coverage of several kilometers
 The average path loss in dB has normal
distribution
 Avg path loss is result of many forward scattering over a
great many of obstacles
 Each contributing a random multiplicative factor
 Converted to dB, this gives a sum of random variable
 Sum is normally distributed because of central limit
theorem

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 71

Macrocells

 In early days, the models were based on

emprical studies
 Okumura did comprehesive measurements in
1968 and came up with a model.
 Discovered that a good model for path loss was a
simple power law where the exponent n is a function of
the frequency, antenna heights, etc.
 Valid for frequencies in: 100MHz – 1920 MHz
for distances: 1km – 100km

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 72

Okumura Model
 L50(d)(dB) = LF(d)+ Amu(f,d) – G(hte) – G(hre) – GAREA Equation 40

 L50: 50th percentile (i.e., median) of path loss

 LF(d): free space propagation pathloss.
 Amu(f,d): median attenuation relative to free space
 Can be obtained from Okumura’s emprical plots shown in the book (Rappaport),
page 151.
 G(hte): base station antenna heigh gain factor
 G(hre): mobile antenna height gain factor
 GAREA: gain due to type of environment

 G(hte) = 20log(hte/200) 1000m > hte > 30m

 G(hre) = 10log(hre/3) hre <= 3m
 G(hre) = 20log(hre/3) 10m > hre > 3m
 hte: transmitter antenna height
 hre: receiver antenna height

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 73

Hata Model
 Valid from 150MHz to 1500MHz
 A standard formula
 For urban areas the formula is:
 L50(urban,d)(dB) = 69.55 + 26.16logfc - 13.82loghte – a(hre) +
(44.9 – 6.55loghte)logd
Equation 41
where
fc is the ferquency in MHz
hte is effective transmitter antenna height in meters (30-200m)
hre is effective receiver antenna height in meters (1-10m)
d is T-R separation in km
a(hre) is the correction factor for effective mobile antenna height which is a
function of coverage area

a(hre) = (1.1logfc – 0.7)hre – (1.56logfc – 0.8) dB

for a small to medium sized city

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 74

Microcells

 Propagation differs significantly

 Milder propagation characteristics
 Small multipath delay spread and shallow fading
imply the feasibility of higher data-rate
transmission
 Mostly used in crowded urban areas
 If transmitter antenna is lower than the
surrounding building than the signals propagate
along the streets: Street Microcells

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 75

Macrocells versus Microcells

Item Macrocell Microcell

Cell Radius 1 to 20km 0.1 to 1km

Tx Power 1 to 10W 0.1 to 1W

Fading Rayleigh Nakgami-Rice

RMS Delay Spread 0.1 to 10s 10 to 100ns

Max. Bit Rate 0.3 Mbps 1 Mbps

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 76

Street Microcells

 Most of the signal power propagates along

the street.
 The sigals may reach with LOS paths if the
receiver is along the same street with the
transmitter
 The signals may reach via indirect
propagation mechanisms if the receiver turns
to another street.

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 77

Street Microcells
D
Building Blocks

B C
A
Breakpoint

received power (dB) received power (dB)

A A n=2 B
n=2 Breakpoint 15~20dB

C n=4
n=4~8 D
log (distance) log (distance)

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 78

Indoor Propagation

 Indoor channels are different from traditional

mobile radio channels in two different ways:
 The distances covered are much smaller
 The variablity of the environment is much greater for a
much smaller range of T-R separation distances.
 The propagation inside a building is
influenced by:
 Layout of the building
 Construction materials
 Building type: sports arena, residential home, factory,...

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 79

Indoor Propagation
 Indoor propagation is domited by the same
mechanisms as outdoor: reflection,
scattering, diffraction.
 However, conditions are much more variable
 Doors/windows open or not
 The mounting place of antenna: desk, ceiling, etc.
 The level of floors
 Indoor channels are classified as
 Line-of-sight (LOS)
 Obstructed (OBS) with varying degrees of clutter.

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 80

Indoor Propagation

 Buiding types
 Residential homes in suburban areas
 Residential homes in urban areas
 Traditional office buildings with fixed walls (hard
partitions)
 Open plan buildings with movable wall panels (soft
partitions)
 Factory buildings
 Grocery stores
 Retail stores
 Sport arenas

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 81

Indoor propagation events and
parameters
 Temporal fading for fixed and moving terminals
 Motion of people inside building causes Ricean Fading for the stationary receivers
 Portable receivers experience in general:
 Rayleigh fading for OBS propagation paths
 Ricean fading for LOS paths.
 Multipath Delay Spread
 Buildings with fewer metals and hard-partitions typically have small rms delay
spreads: 30-60ns.
 Can support data rates excess of several Mbps without equalization
 Larger buildings with great amount of metal and open aisles may have rms delay
spreads as large as 300ns.
 Can not support data rates more than a few hundred Kbps without equalization.
 Path Loss
 The following formula that we have seen earlier also describes the indoor path
loss:
 PL(d)[dBm] = PL(d0) + 10nlog(d/d0) + X
 n and  depend on the type of the building
 Smaller value for  indicates the accuracy of the path loss model.

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 82

Path Loss Exponent and Standard Deviation
Measured for Different Buildings
Building Frequency (MHz) n  (dB)
Retail Stores 914 2.2 8.7
Grocery Store 914 1.8 5.2
Office, hard partition 1500 3.0 7.0
Office, soft partition 900 2.4 9.6
Office, soft partition 1900 2.6 14.1
Factory LOS
Textile/Chemical 1300 2.0 3.0
Textile/Chemical 4000 2.1 7.0
Paper/Cereals 1300 1.8 6.0
Metalworking 1300 1.6 5.8
Suburban Home
Indoor Street 900 3.0 7.0
Factory OBS
Textile/Chemical 4000 2.1 9.7
Metalworking 1300 3.3 6.8

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 83

In building path loss factors

 Partition losses (same floor)

 Partition losses between floors
 Signal Penetration into Buildings

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 84

Partition Losses

 There are two kind of partition at the same

floor:
 Hard partions: the walls of the rooms
 Soft partitions: moveable partitions that does not
span to the ceiling

 The path loss depends on the type of the

partitions

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 85

Partition Losses
Average signal loss measurements reported by various researches
for radio paths obscructed by some common building material.

Material Type Loss (dB) Frequency (MHz)

All metal 26 815
Aluminim Siding 20.4 815
Concerete Block Wall 3.9 1300
Loss from one Floor 20-30 1300
Turning an Angle in a Corridor 10-15 1300
Concrete Floor 10 1300
Dry Plywood (3/4in) – 1 sheet 1 9600
Wet Plywood (3/4in) – 1 sheet 19 9600
Aluminum (1/8in) – 1 sheet 47 9600

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 86

Partition Losses between Floors

 The losses between floors of a building are

determined by
 External dimensions and materials of the building
 Type of construction used to create floors
 External surroundings
 Number of windows
 Presence of tinting on windows

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 87

Partition Losses between Floors
Average Floor Attenuation Factor in dB for One, Two, Three and
Four Floors in Two Office Buildings

Building FAF (dB) (dB)

Office Building 1
Through 1 Floor 12.9 7.0
Through 2 Floors 18.7 2.8
Through 3 Floors 24.4 1.7
Through 4 Floors 27.0 1.5
Office Building 2
Through 1 Floor 16.2 2.9
Through 2 Floors 27.5 5.4
Through 3 Floors 31.6 7.2

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 88

Signal Penetration Into Buildings

 RF signals can penetrate from outside

transmitter to the inside of buildings
 However the siganls are attenuated
 The path loss during penetration has been
found to be a function of:
 Frequency of the signal
 The height of the building

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 89

Signal Penetration Into Buildings
Frequency (MHz) Loss (dB)
 Effect of Frequency 441 16.4
 Penetration loss decreases 896.5 11.6
with increasing frequency 1400 7.6

 Effect of Height
 Penetration loss decreases with the height of the building
up-to some certain height
 At lower heights, the urban clutter induces greater attenuation
 and then it increases
 Shadowing affects of adjascent buildings

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 90

Conclusion

 More work needs to be done to understand

the characteristics of wireless channels
 3D numerical modeling approaches exist
 To achieve PCS, new and novel ways of
classifying wireless environments will be
needed that are both widely encompassing
and reasonably compact.

CS 515 Ibrahim Korpeoglu 91