CHAPTER 5

OVERVIEW OF
WIRELESS
COMMUNICATIONS

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Overview of Wireless 5-1

 SPECTRUM CONSIDERATIONS

• A compact representation of the frequency content of

a signal that is composed of sinusoids is called
spectrum
• Wireless medium is shared by a myriad of different
types of users, applications, and traffic types.
• These are controlled by regulatory bodies to provide
fair use while also meeting the key demand of
society.

Overview of Wireless 5-2

 SPECTRUM CONSIDERATIONS
What differentiates signals from each other?

1. Carrier Frequency: Shift of signal from its

base frequency to a carrier frequency.
• A 22 MHz IEEE 802.11 signal might be shifted up
to be centered at carrier frequency of 2,412 GHz,
so it would occupy 2.401 – 2.423 GHz
 SPECTRUM CONSIDERATIONS
What differentiates signals from each other?

2. Signal Power: Signals are limited in their

propagation range by the allowed transmission
power.
• At sufficient distance from each other, multiple
users and groups can reuse the same spectrum.
 SPECTRUM CONSIDERATIONS
What differentiates signals from each other?

3. Multiple Access Scheme: Multiple users

within a same spectrum range can share the
spectrum by each having their own small slice of
time or frequency.
 TDMA
 FDMA
 CDMA
 SPECTRUM CONSIDERATIONS
• Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in
the United States regulates spectrum
– Military
– Broadcasting
– Public Safety
– Mobile
– Amateur
– Government exclusive, non-government exclusive, or
both
– Many other categories

Overview of Wireless 5-6

 SPECTRUM CONSIDERATIONS
Spectrum is underutilized. How to resolve this
issue?

• Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA)

 Cognitive Radio Technology

Overview of Wireless 5-7

 SPECTRUM CONSIDERATIONS
• Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) bands
– Can be used without a license
– As long as power and spread spectrum regulations
are followed
• ISM bands are used for
– WLANs
– Wireless Personal Area networks
– Internet of Things

Overview of Wireless 5-8

 SPECTRUM CONSIDERATIONS
ISM issue?
• The powerful emissions of these devices can
create electromagnetic interference and disrupt radio
communication using the same frequency, so these devices
were limited to certain bands of frequencies.
• In general, communications equipment operating in these
bands must tolerate any interference generated by ISM
applications, and users have no regulatory protection from
ISM device operation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISM_band
 SPECTRUM CONSIDERATIONS
Some of ISM bands:

– 915 +/- 13 MHz

– 2450 +/- 50 MHz
– 5.8 +/- 0.75 GHz
– 57-64 GHz

Overview of Wireless 5-10

 PROPAGATION MODES
• Ground-wave propagation
• Sky-wave propagation
• Line-of-sight propagation

Overview of Wireless 5-11

5.1 WIRELESS PROPAGATION MODES
Overview of Wireless 5-12
 GROUND WAVE PROPAGATION
• Follows contour of the earth
• Can propagate considerable distances
• Frequencies up to --- MHz
• Example
– AM radio

Overview of Wireless 5-13

 SKY WAVE PROPAGATION
• Signal reflected from ionized layer of atmosphere
back down to earth
• Signal can travel a number of hops, back and forth
between ionosphere and earth’s surface
• Reflection effect caused by refraction
• Examples
– Amateur radio
– CB radio

Overview of Wireless 5-14

 SKY WAVE PROPAGATION
• A signal can be picked up thousands of kilometers
from the transmitter
• Sky wave generally operates between 3 and 30 MHz.

Overview of Wireless 5-15

 LINE-OF-SIGHT PROPAGATION
• It is necessary when neither ground wave nor sky
wave propagation modes can operate.
• Operates above 30 MHz
• Transmitting and receiving antennas must be within
line of sight
– Satellite communication – signal above 30 MHz not
reflected by ionosphere

Overview of Wireless 5-16

 LINE-OF-SIGHT PROPAGATION
• With any communication system, the signal that received will
differ from signal that is transmitted.

• The most significant impairments are

– Attenuation and attenuation distortion
– Free space loss
– Noise
– Atmospheric absorption
– Multipath
– Refraction

Overview of Wireless 5-17

 LINE-OF-SIGHT PROPAGATION
• Refraction – bending of microwaves by the
atmosphere
– Velocity of electromagnetic wave is a function of the
density of the medium
– When wave changes medium, speed changes
– Wave bends at the boundary between mediums

Overview of Wireless 5-18

 FIVE BASIC PROPAGATION
MECHANISMS
1. Free-space propagation
2. Transmission
– Through a medium
– Refraction occurs at boundaries
3. Reflections
– Waves impinge upon surfaces that are large compared to
the signal wavelength
4. Diffraction
– Secondary waves behind objects with sharp edges
5. Scattering
– Interactions between small objects or rough surfaces

Overview of Wireless 5-19

 FIVE BASIC PROPAGATION
MECHANISMS
Free-space propagation
• Transmits a wave when there are no
obstructions
• The signal strength decays as a function of
distance.

Overview of Wireless 5-20

 FIVE BASIC PROPAGATION
MECHANISMS
Transmission
– Through a medium
– Refraction occurs at boundaries
Reflections
– Waves impinge upon surfaces that are large compared to the signal
wavelength

Overview of Wireless 5-21

 FIVE BASIC PROPAGATION
MECHANISMS
Diffraction
– Occurs when signal is obstructed by an object with sharp edges.
– Secondary waves are then
present behind the sharp edges
to deliver the signal to a possibly
shadowed receiver

Overview of Wireless 5-22

 FIVE BASIC PROPAGATION
MECHANISMS
Scattering
– Interactions between small objects or rough
surfaces

https://www.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~hsinmu/courses/_media/wn_11fall/propagation_mechanism.pdf

Overview of Wireless 5-23

 ANTENNAS
• An antenna is an electrical conductor or
system of conductors
– Transmission - radiates electromagnetic energy
into space
– Reception - collects electromagnetic energy from
space
• In two-way communication, the same antenna
can be used for transmission and reception

Overview of Wireless 5-24

 RADIATION PATTERNS
• Radiation pattern
– Graphical representation of radiation properties of an antenna
– Depicted as two-dimensional cross section
• Beam width (or half-power beam width)
– Measure of directivity of antenna
• Reception pattern
– Receiving antenna’s equivalent to radiation pattern
• Sidelobes
– Extra energy in directions outside the mainlobe
• Nulls
– Very low energy in between mainlobe and sidelobes

Overview of Wireless 5-25

5.2 ANTENNA RADIATION PATTERNS
Overview of Wireless 5-26
 ATTENUATION
• Strength of signal falls off with distance over
transmission medium

• Attenuation factors for unguided media:

– Received signal must have sufficient strength so that
circuitry in the receiver can interpret the signal
– Signal must maintain a level sufficiently higher than noise
to be received without error
– Attenuation is greater at higher frequencies, causing
distortion

Overview of Wireless 5-27

 FREE SPACE LOSS
• Free space loss, ideal isotropic antenna

( 4p d ) ( 4p fd )
2 2
Pt
= =
Pr l2 c2
• Pt = signal power at transmitting antenna
• Pr = signal power at receiving antenna
• λ = carrier wavelength
• d = propagation distance between antennas
• c = speed of light (3 ×108 m/s)
where d and λ are in the same units (e.g., meters)

Overview of Wireless 5-28

 FREE SPACE LOSS
• Free space loss equation can be recast:
Pt æ 4pd ö
LdB = 10log = 20log ç
Pr è l ÷ø
 20 log (   20 log (d   21.98 dB

 4fd 
 20 log    20 log ( f   20 log (d   147.56 dB
 c 

Overview of Wireless 5-29

5.3 FREE SPACE LOSS
Overview of Wireless 5-30
 PATH LOSS EXPONENT IN
PRACTICAL SYSTEMS
• Practical systems – reflections, scattering, etc.
• Beyond a certain distance, received power
decreases logarithmically with distance
– Based on many measurement studies
2 2
Pt æ 4p ö n æ 4pf ö n
=ç ÷ d =ç ÷ d
Pr è l ø è c ø

LdB = 20log ( f ) +10nlog ( d ) -147.56 dB

Overview of Wireless 5-31
 PATH LOSS EXPONENT IN
PRACTICAL SYSTEMS

Table 5.1 Path Loss Exponents for Different Environments [RAPP02]

Environment Path Loss Exponent, n

Free space 2
Urban area cellular radio 2.7 to 3.5
Shadowed 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

Overview of Wireless 5-32

 MODELS DERIVED FROM
EMPIRICAL MEASUREMENTS
• Need to design systems based on empirical data applied to a
particular environment
– To determine power levels, tower heights, height of mobile
antennas
• Okumura developed a model, later refined by Hata
– Detailed measurement and analysis of the Tokyo area
– Among the best accuracy in a wide variety of situations
• Predicts path loss for typical environments
– Urban
– Small, medium sized city
– Large city
– Suburban
– Rural

Overview of Wireless 5-33

 CATEGORIES OF NOISE
• Thermal Noise
• Intermodulation noise
• Crosstalk
• Impulse Noise

Overview of Wireless 5-34

 THERMAL NOISE
• Thermal noise due to agitation of electrons
• Present in all electronic devices and
transmission media
• Cannot be eliminated
• Function of temperature
• Particularly significant for satellite
communication

Overview of Wireless 5-35

 NOISE TERMINOLOGY
• Intermodulation noise – occurs if signals with
different frequencies share the same medium
– Interference caused by a signal produced at a frequency that
is the sum or difference of original frequencies
• Crosstalk – unwanted coupling between signal paths
• Impulse noise – irregular pulses or noise spikes
– Short duration and of relatively high amplitude
– Caused by external electromagnetic disturbances, or faults
and flaws in the communications system

Overview of Wireless 5-36

 OTHER IMPAIRMENTS
• Atmospheric absorption – water vapor and
oxygen contribute to attenuation
• Multipath – obstacles reflect signals so that
multiple copies with varying delays are
received
• Refraction – bending of radio waves as they
propagate through the atmosphere

Overview of Wireless 5-39

 THE EFFECTS OF MULTIPATH
PROPAGATION
• Reflection, diffraction, and scattering
• Multiple copies of a signal may arrive at different
phases
– If phases add destructively, the signal level relative to
noise declines, making detection more difficult
• Intersymbol interference (ISI)
– One or more delayed copies of a pulse may arrive at
the same time as the primary pulse for a subsequent bit
• Rapid signal fluctuations
– Over a few centimeters

Overview of Wireless 5-40

5.6 TWO PULSES IN TIME-VARIANT MULTIPATH
Overview of Wireless 5-42
 REVIEW MODULATION
 Modulation shifts the spectrum of a baseband signal to some
high frequency.

 Bandpass Modulation is the process by which some

characteristics of a sinusoidal waveform is varied according to
the message signal.

 Modulation also required if channel has to be shared by

several transmitters (Frequency division multiplexing).

Overview of Wireless 5-61

 REVIEW MODULATION
• Most channels require that the baseband signal be shifted to a
higher frequency
• For example in case of a wireless channel antenna size is
inversely proportional to the center frequency, this is difficult
to realize for baseband signals.
– For speech signal f = 3 kHz  =c/f=(3x108)/(3x103)
– Antenna size without modulation /4=105 /4 meters = 15
miles - practically unrealizable
– Same speech signal if amplitude modulated using
fc=900MHz will require an antenna size of about 8cm.
– This is evident that efficient antenna of realistic physical
size is needed for radio communication system

Overview of Wireless 5-62

 SIGNAL ENCODING TECHNIQUES

• Digital data to analog signal

• Modulation involves operation on one or more of

the three characteristics of a carrier signal
– Amplitude-shift keying (ASK)
• Amplitude difference of carrier frequency
– Frequency-shift keying (FSK)
• Frequency difference near carrier frequency
– Phase-shift keying (PSK)
• Phase of carrier signal shifted

Overview of Wireless 5-63

5.10 MODULATION OF ANALOG SIGNALS FOR DIGITAL DATA
Overview of Wireless 5-64
 AMPLITUDE-SHIFT KEYING
• One binary digit represented by presence of carrier, at
constant amplitude
• Other binary digit represented by absence of carrier


s (t   
(
 Acos 2p f ct ) binary 1
 0 binary 0

• where the carrier signal is Acos(2πfct)

Overview of Wireless 5-65

 AMPLITUDE-SHIFT KEYING
• Susceptible to sudden gain changes
• Inefficient modulation technique
• Used to transmit digital data over optical fiber

Overview of Wireless 5-66

 BINARY FREQUENCY-SHIFT
KEYING (BFSK)
• Two binary digits represented by two different
frequencies near the carrier frequency


s (t   
(
 Acos 2p f1t ) binary 1

 (
Acos 2p f2t ) binary 0

• where f1 and f2 are offset from carrier frequency fc by equal but

opposite amounts fd

Overview of Wireless 5-67

 BINARY FREQUENCY-SHIFT
KEYING (BFSK)
• The most common form of FSK is binary FSK
(BFSK)
• Less susceptible to error than ASK
• Used for high-frequency (3 to 30 MHz) radio
transmission
• Can be used at higher frequencies on LANs
that use coaxial cable

Overview of Wireless 5-68

 MULTIPLE FREQUENCY-SHIFT
KEYING (MFSK)
• More than two frequencies are used
• More bandwidth efficient but more susceptible to
error

()
si t = Acos2p fit 1£i £ M

• f i = f c + (2i – 1 – M)f d
• f c = the carrier frequency
• f d = the difference frequency
• M = number of different signal elements = 2L
• L = number of bits per signal element

Overview of Wireless 5-69

 PHASE-SHIFT KEYING (PSK)
• Two-level PSK (BPSK)
– Uses two phases to represent binary digits
 ( )
Acos 2p f ct
s (t   
binary 1
( )
Acos 2p f ct + p
 binary 0

Acos(2p f t )
 binary 1
-Acos(2p f t ) binary 0
 c
 c

Overview of Wireless 5-70

 QUADRATURE PHASE-SHIFT
KEYING (PSK)
• Four-level PSK (QPSK)
– Each element represents more than one bit
æ pö
Acos ç 2p fct + ÷
ì
11
è 4ø
æ 3p ö
ï Acos ç 2p fct + ÷ 01
s(t ) = í æ è
3p ö
4ø
Acos ç 2p f t - ÷ 00
ï èæ c
4ø
î Acos çè 2p f t - 4 ÷ø
pö
c
10
Overview of Wireless 5-71
5.11 16QAM CONSTELLATION DIAGRAM
Overview of Wireless 5-72
 BIT ERROR RATE (BER)
• Performance must be assessed in the presence of
noise
• “Bit error probability” is probably a clearer term
– BER is not a rate in bits/sec, but rather a probability
– Commonly plotted on a log scale in the y-axis and
Eb/N0 in dB on the x-axis
– As Eb/N0 increases, BER drops
• Curves to the lower left have better performance
– Lower BER at the same Eb/N0
– Lower Eb/N0 for the same BER

Overview of Wireless 5-73

5.12 THEORETICAL BIT ERROR RATE FOR MULTILEVEL
FSK, PSK, AND QAM Overview of Wireless 5-74
CODING AND ERROR CONTROL
• Error detection codes
– Detects the presence of an error
• Automatic repeat request (ARQ) protocols
– Block of data with error is discarded
– Transmitter retransmits that block of data
• Error correction codes, or forward correction codes
(FEC)
– Designed to detect and correct errors

Overview of Wireless 5-75

 ERROR DETECTION PROCESS
• Transmitter
– For a given frame, an error-detecting code (check bits) is
calculated from data bits
– Check bits are appended to data bits
• Receiver
– Separates incoming frame into data bits and check bits
– Calculates check bits from received data bits
– Compares calculated check bits against received check bits
– Detected error occurs if mismatch

Overview of Wireless 5-78

5.13 ERROR DETECTION PROCESS
Overview of Wireless 5-79