Radio Propagation

Channels Models

1
 Agenda

Introduction
Large-scale Propagation Models
Medium-scale Propagation Models
The AWGN Channel
Small-scale Propagation Models
3GPP R8 Models

2
 Introduction
Communication channel : definition
Channel models
Radio-propagation channels
Multiplicative phenomena
Additive phenomena
Three type of signal variations

3
 Communication channel : definition

Source Transmitter Channel Receiver Destination

The channel is not perfect, it modifies the transmitted

information.
The receiver must be designed to recover information
from channel.
Due to receiver mobility, the channel changes with the
time.

4
 Channel models
A channel model is derived from measurements.
It must be simple enough to allow analytical computation
of system performance,
It must be very close to the physical reality.
Models of different complexity and accuracy has been
developed.

5
 Radio-propagation channels
Multiplicative Additive
effects effects

Transmitter Receiver

st (t ) n(t )
sr

sr (t ) (t ) st (t ) n(t )

Nota Bene: Multiplicative in linear domain Additive in dB

6
 Multiplicative phenomena
Antenna gain
Antenna directionality
Reflection
Absorption
Scattering
Diffraction
Refraction

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 Three mutually independent
multiplicative phenomena
Small-scale model
Large-scale model Fast Fading
Path Loss (or short-term fading)

Received
Power

Medium-scale model
Shadowing
Distance from Emitter

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Three Components of signal
variation

9
Large-scale Propagation Models

Physical causes of path loss

Some examples of path loss
Propagation models
Using these models

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 Physical causes of path loss

Path loss due to :

distance attenuation (free space)
reflection,
diffraction,
refraction.

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 Some examples of path loss

Power loss due to distance for an isotropic antenna

(free space model):
Pr 4
2

LF LF dB 20 log( d)
Pt 4d

Power loss due to the reflection on the ground:

LR dB 10 log( g D R0 )
Ground rugosity
Divergence factor
Reflection factor

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 Propagation models for path loss
Expression of the path loss, general form:

LdB 10 log (d) with 2 5

Average Received Power [W]

=2, LOS

Example for a microcell :

=4

Distance [m]

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 Using these models

This model are useful to predict a wireless system

range via the calculation of the link budget.

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Medium-scale Propagation Models &
Shadowing
Physical causes of shadowing
Typical effect of shadowing
Probability density function
Why log-normal?
Using these models

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 Physical causes

Power variation caused by

obstruction of trees, foliage and
buildings (shadowing).
Changes the local-mean (~few
tens of ) of the received power
over ~10 to 100 meters.

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Typical effect of shadowing

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Probability density function

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 Why log-normal?

A Ai L 10 log A 10 log Ai Li
i 1 i 1 i 1

Hypotheses: The contributions Ai to the path loss are

multiplicative and independent.
The corresponding Li path losses in decibel are
additive (and independent).
For a large number of path loss components, the
central limit theorem says that L is normal. Thus A is
log-normal.

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 Medium and large-scale models
Expression of the Hata-like path loss model , general
form:

LdB 10 log( d )

Medium Scale shadowing Large-scale

Zero-mean Gaussian Path Loss
random variable

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 Using the models

Shadowing makes coverage prediction statistical

(predict availability).
Affects both coverage and capacity

In LTE, this phenomena are compensated by Power

Control.

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The AWGN Channel

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 Additive phenomena

Thermal noise in receiver

Atmospheric noise
Earth noise
Cosmic noise
Interference

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 AWGN: Properties and usage
An AWGN channel adds noise with following
properties:
Stationary independent random processes
Zero mean Gaussian (Normal) distribution with
variance
N
No is the noise power 2 O
2

Usage: evaluate channel capacity and receiver

performances. Without noise, capacity of a
channel is infinite!
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 Relation to SNR

Eb/No (the energy per bit to noise power

spectral density ratio) aka SNR per bit

Eb f b Bit rate
SNR
N O Bw
Bandwidth

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 Small-scale Propagation Models
Physical causes of fast-fading
Observation of fast fading
Fast fading PDF
Show me the maths
Rayleigh distribution function
Characterisation of multipath channel
Delay spread Doppler spread
Input delay-spread function Time-frequency correlation
Power density profile function
Delay spread Coherence time
Others delay parameters Doppler spread
Typical values Doppler power density spectrum
Coherence Bandwidth Time selectivity
Frequency selectivity Typical values
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 Physical cause of fast fading:
multipath propagation
At the receiver, the paths sum
either constructively or Path A
destructively depending on the
Path B
phase.
Power
Channel impulse response
Path C

Path A Path B Path C Time

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 Observation of fast fading
Signal amplitude deep fades around the local mean
power.

Local Mean Signal Power

Power [dB]

Time

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 Fast fading PDF
Experimentally, the fading amplitude tends to have a
Rayleigh distribution when there is no LOS and a
Rice distribution when there is a LOS.
It has a theoretical explanation.
No Line-of-Sight Line-of-Sight

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 Show me the maths
Transmitted signal: st (t ) s1 (t )e j 2f ct

Received signal: sr (t ) ( , t )st (t )d

Attenuation at delay and at instant t

Let say s1(t)=1 (unmodulated carrier) :

sr (t ) ( , t )e j 2f ct j 2f c
d e j 2f ct
( , t )e j 2f d
c

N
Case of discrete multipath: r1 (t ) n (t )e j 2f c n (t )
n 1

The channel impulse response is :h( , t ) ( , t )e j 2f c (t )

Source: [4] Digital Communications, John G. Proakis, Mc Graw Hill

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 Show me the maths
N
r1 (t ) n (t )e j n (t ) where n (t ) 2f c n (t )
n 1

The received signal consists of the sum of a number of

time-variant vectors having amplitudes n (t ) and
phases n (t )
The delays n (t ) change at different rates and in a
random manner r1(t) is a random process.
For a large N, r1(t) is modeled as a complex Gaussian
random process (central limit theorem)
The fading is a result of the time variations in the phases n (t )

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 Show me the maths
h( , t ) ( , t )e j 2f c (t )
If the channel impulse response is zero-mean complex
Gaussian, h( , t ) is Rayleigh-distributed and the phase
is uniformly distributed.
If it is not zero-mean i.e. there are fixed scatterers, it has
a Rice distribution.

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Rayleigh distribution function 1/2

z(t ) x1 (t ) j x2 (t )

Inphase component,
zero-mean Gaussian of
variance 2

r (t ) z (t ) x1 (t ) x2 (t )
2 2

Quadrature component,
zero-mean Gaussian of
variance 2
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 Rayleigh distribution function 2/2
A complex Gaussian-distributed random variable has a
Rayleigh distributed amplitude.
r2
r 2
PDF: f R (r ) e 2
2

4 2
Variance: R 2

2

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 Characterisation of
multipath channel
The more important parameters of a channel
are:
Delay Spread and Coherence Bandwidth, related
to frequency selectivity/time dispersion and
wideband/narrowband distinction.
Doppler Spread and Coherence Time, related to
time selectivity/frequency dispersion and fast
fading/slowly fading.

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Delay Spread and Coherence Bandwidth

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 Input delay-spread function
j 2f c ( t )
h( , t ) ( , t )e ,the time-variant impulse response
is called input delay-spread function (first Bello function)
It can be modeled by a tapped delay line.
sr (t ) st (t ) h( , t )
st (t )

h( , t )

sr (t )

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 Delay cross-power spectral density

Ph (t , ) , called the delay cross-power spectral density,

is the auto-correlation of h(,t).
h( , t1 )

Ph (t , ) t (h( , t ))
h( , t1 t )

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 Delay power density

P(), the auto-correlation of h(,t) at a given t is called

the multipath intensity profile, or the Bello delay power
density spectrum of the channel

P ( )

P( ) Ph (t 0, )

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 Multipath delay spread
Tm, the range of values of over which P() is nonzero is
called multipath delay spread of the channel or total
excess delay. It represents the time between the first
and the last tap.

P ( )

Tm, multipath spread

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 Others delay parameters
Experimentally, we can measure the average power of
h(,t).

h( , t )
2

Time [s]
Relative delay [s]

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 Delay spread
From the power profile, two parameters are measured :
the delay spread r.m.s. (called delay spread) and the
mean delay.
P ( )

Delay rms S

Mean delay M

multipath spread Tm

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 Typical profiles
The COST 207 model specifies the delay profile for 4
typical environments.
P( ) [dB] Rural Area P( ) [dB] Typical Urban Area
0 0

Tm=7s
Tm=0.7s
-30 [ s ] -30 [ s ]
1 7
P( ) [dB] Bad Urban Area P( ) [dB] 0 Hilly Terrain
0

Tm=10s Tm=20s

-30 [ s ] -30 [ s ]
5 10 2 16 20
Source: [5] Wideband Wireless Digital Communications, Andreas Molisch, Prentice Hill

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 Coherence Bandwidth
By taking the Fourier transform of P ( ) we get the
frequency correlation function RH (f ) . It defines Bc the
coherence bandwidth of the channel.
P ( ) RH (f )

Tm f
1 Bc
Tm
Bc

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 Frequency selectivity 1/2
Two pure sinusoids with frequency separation > Bc are
affected differently by the channel.

If transmitted signal bandwidth Bw>>Bc the channel is

said frequency-selective and the multipath components
in the received signal are resolvable with a resolution of
1/Bw :the system is wideband.

Else if Bw<<Bc the channel is frequency-nonselective,

the multipaths are not resolvable: the system is
narrowband. The fast-fading is said flat.

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 Frequency selectivity 2/2
Transmit signal Received signal
|Hs| H (t , f ) (h( , t )) |Hr| Wideband

Bc

Bw f f
|Hs| |Hr| Narrowband

Bw f f

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Doppler Spread and Coherence Time

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 Doppler effect
Because of the mobility of the UE and of the obstacles,
the delays depend on the time.
A pure sinusoidal waveform is affected by a Doppler
broadening and a Doppler shift.

Hs Hr

channel

f0 f f0-fd f0+fd f

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 Coherence time
RH (t , f ) with f 0 defines the time correlation
function RH (t )
The range of values of t over which RH (t ) is non zero
is called the coherence time of the channel. It
represents the time between two de-correlated signal
variations. R (t )
H

t
Tc coherence time

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 Doppler spread
By taking the Fourier transform of the temporal
autocorrelation of the signal we get the Doppler Power
Density Spectrum. It defines Bd the Doppler Spread of
the channel.

RH (t ) P ( )

t
Tc
f
1 Bd
Tc
Bd 50
51
 Doppler power density spectrum
A widely used model for P ( ), the Doppler power density,
is the Jakes model (1974). It is based on the assumption
that the angle of arrival of a received wave is an
uniformly distributed random variable.
1 1 P ( )
f ( f fd )
2
d f
P( ) 1
fd
0 ( f fd )

Where fd is the maximal
Doppler frequency vf
fd 0 fd f
v is the speed c Bd fd

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 Time selectivity
If the period of the transmitted symbols Ts<<Tc , the
channel is said to be slowly fading, the received signal
experiences error bursts.

Else if Ts>>Tc it is said to be fast fading.

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 All together

Coherence time Coherence bandwidth

Doppler spread Delay spread

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 3GPP Models

They are defined in TS 36.141 Base Station (BS)

conformance testing, Annex B
1. Static propagation condition only AWGN
2. Multi-path fading propagation conditions
The multipath fading channel model specifies three different delay
profiles which are representative of low, medium and high delay
spread environment.
These are: Extended Pedestrian A model (EPA), Extended
Vehicular A model (EVA) and Extended Typical Urban model
(ETU)
In addition to multipath delay profile a maximum Doppler
frequency is specified for each multipath fading propagation

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 3GPP Models

Example: EVA
Excess tap delay Relative power [dB]
[ns]

0 0.0

30 -1.5

150 -1.4
310 -3.6

370 -0.6

710 -9.1

1090 -7.0

1730 -12.0

2510 -16.9

Model Maximum Doppler

Doppler for each tap EPA 5Hz

frequency
5 Hz
EVA 5Hz 5 Hz
EVA 70Hz 70 Hz
ETU 70Hz 70 Hz
ETU 300Hz 300 Hz

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 3GPP Models

Two additional models are defined:

3. High speed train condition.
With higher and varying Doppler shifts
4. Moving propagation conditions
Used for the tests of the UL timing adjustment
performance Ref
P1

t0 t1
A
sin( t )
2

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 Coherence time & Doppler spread
Typical values
Fd Max Tc (ms) Speed at Speed at Speed at
Doppler Coherence 700MHz 1700MHz 2.1GHz
Shift Time (km/h) (km/h) (km/h)
5 84,60 8 3 3
70 6,04 108 44 36
200 2,12 308 127 103
300 1,41 463 190 154

In LTE Ts=66.6us << Tc, the channel is slowly fading.

The 1ms TTI is adapted from the minimum Coherence
Time

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 Coherence Bandwidth and Delay
Spread typical values
Delay 50%
Delay Spread Spread Coherence
max (ns) RMS (ns) BW (kHz)
EPA 410 43 4651
EVA 2510 357 560
ETU 5000 991 202

1 PRB = 180kHz.
LTE is designed to operate in delay spreads up
to ~5s (cyclic prefix 4,7s)

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