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Lesson 2 Wireless Transmission

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UHF-ranges for mobile cellular systems
simple, small antenna for cars
deterministic propagation characteristics, reliable
connections
SHF and higher for directed radio links, satellite
communication
small antenna, focusing
large bandwidth available
Wireless LANs use frequencies in UHF to SHF spectrum
some systems planned up to EHF
limitations due to absorption by water (>5 GHz) and oxygen
(60 GHz) molecules (resonance frequencies)
weather dependent fading, signal loss caused by heavy rainfall etc.
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Mobile cellular typically uses licensed bands
Spectrum licensed to operator
GSM:
900 MHz, 1800 MHz (Europe)
850 Mhz, 1900 MHz (US)
other bands
UMTS, LTE
See e.g., http://www.frequentieland.nl/wie.htm
WLAN typically uses unlicensed bands
2.4 GHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band:
IEEE 802.11b/g
Bluetooth
Zigbee
microwave oven
5.8 GHz ISM band:
IEEE 802.11a
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physical representation of data
function of time and location
signal parameters: parameters representing the value of
data
classification
continuous time/discrete time
continuous values/discrete values
analog signal = continuous time and continuous values
digital signal = discrete time and discrete values
signal parameters of periodic signals:
period T, frequency f=1/T, amplitude A, phase shift
sine wave as special periodic signal for a carrier:
s(t) = At sin(2 ft t + t)
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Different representations of signals
amplitude (amplitude domain)
frequency spectrum (frequency domain)
phase state diagram (amplitude M and phase in polar
coordinates)





Composed signals transferred into frequency domain using Fourier
transformation
Digital signals need
infinite frequencies for perfect transmission
modulation with a carrier frequency for transmission (analog signal!)
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Radiation and reception of electromagnetic waves,
coupling of wires to space for radio transmission
Isotropic radiator: equal radiation in all directions (three
dimensional) - only a theoretical reference antenna
Real antennas always have directive effects (vertically
and/or horizontally)
Radiation pattern: measurement of radiation around an
antenna




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Real antennas are not isotropic radiators but, e.g., dipoles
with lengths /4 on car roofs or /2 as Hertzian dipole
shape of antenna proportional to wavelength


Example: Radiation pattern of a simple Hertzian dipole



Gain: maximum power in the direction of the main lobe
compared to the power of an isotropic radiator (with the
same average power)
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Often used for microwave connections or base stations
for mobile phones (e.g., radio coverage of a valley)
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Grouping of 2 or more antennas
multi-element antenna arrays
Antenna diversity
switched diversity, selection diversity
receiver chooses antenna with largest output
diversity combining
combine output power to produce gain
cophasing needed to avoid cancellation






Smart antennas
beam forming
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Transmission range
communication possible
low error rate
Detection range
detection of the signal
possible
no communication possible
Interference range
signal may not be detected
signal adds to the
background noise
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Propagation in free space always like light (straight line)
Path loss
Receiving power proportional to 1/d (free space)
(d = distance between sender and receiver)
In reality (e.g., due to atmospheric absorption, and effects below): 1/d

,
with between 2 and 5
Receiving power additionally influenced by
fading (frequency dependent)
shadowing
reflection at large obstacles
refraction depending on the density of a medium
scattering at small obstacles
diffraction at edges


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Signal can take many different paths between sender and
receiver due to reflection, scattering, diffraction






Time dispersion: signal is dispersed over time
interference with neighbor symbols, Inter Symbol Interference
(ISI)
The signal reaches a receiver directly and phase shifted
distorted signal depending on the phases of the different parts
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Channel characteristics change over time and location
signal paths change
different delay variations of different signal parts
different phases of signal parts
quick changes in the power received (short term fading)



Additional changes in
distance to sender
obstacles further away
slow changes in the average power received (long term
fading)
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How is the medium within a certain
spectrum band shared about various
competing entities who want to
communicate?
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Multiplexing in 4
dimensions
space (si)
time (t)
frequency (f )
code (c)

Goal: multiple use of a
shared medium

Important: guard spaces
needed!
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Implements space division multiplex: base station covers a
certain transmission area (cell)"
Mobile stations communicate only via the base station"
Advantages of cell structures:"
higher capacity, higher number of users, less transmission
power needed, more robust, decentralized, base station deals
with interference, transmission area etc. locally"
Problems: fixed network needed for the base stations,
handover (changing from one cell to another) necessary,
interference with other cells"
Cell sizes from some 100 m in cities to, e.g., 35 km on the
country side (GSM) - even less for higher frequencies"
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Frequency reuse only with a certain distance between the
base stations

Standard model using 7 frequencies:
Fixed frequency assignment:
certain frequencies are assigned to a certain cell
problem: different traffic load in different cells

Dynamic frequency assignment:
base station chooses frequencies depending on the frequencies
already used in neighbour cells
more capacity in cells with more traffic
assignment can also be based on interference measurements
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Separation of the whole spectrum into smaller
frequency bands
A channel gets a certain band of the spectrum for
the whole time

Advantages:
no dynamic coordination necessary
works also for analog signals

Disadvantages:
waste of bandwidth if the traffic is distributed
unevenly
inflexible
guard spaces
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GSM uses FDM (Frequency Division Multiplexing)
A duplex channel for each mobile station and base
station couple:
Uplink channels use a frequency band and
downlink channel another one
Each mobile station is associated to a pair of
uplink/downlink channel
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A channel gets the whole spectrum for
a certain amount of time

Advantages:
only one carrier in the medium at any
time
throughput high even for many users

Disadvantages:
precise synchronization
necessary
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Combination of both methods
A channel gets a certain frequency band for a certain
amount of time
Example: GSM

Advantages:
better protection against tapping
protection against frequency
selective interference

but:
precise coordination required
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Each channel has a unique code
All channels use the same spectrum at the same
time

Advantages:
bandwidth efficient
no coordination and synchronization necessary
good protection against interference and tapping

Disadvantages:
more complex signal regeneration

Implemented using spread spectrum technology
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When a digital signal needs to be transmitted over wireless
it needs to be translated into analog.
Process of encoding information from a message source in
a manner suitable for transmission
Two major steps:
1. Digital modulation
digital data is translated into an analog signal (baseband)
2. Analog modulation
shifts center frequency of baseband signal up to the radio carrier
Motivation
smaller antennas (e.g., /4)
Frequency Division Multiplexing
medium characteristics
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Carrier

Basic analog modulation schemes
Amplitude Modulation (AM)
Frequency Modulation (FM)
Phase Modulation (PM)
Digital modulation basic methods:
Amplitude shift keying (ASK)
Frequency shift keying (FSK)
Phase shift keying (PSK)
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Modulation of digital signals known as Shift Keying
Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK):
very simple
low bandwidth requirements
very susceptible to interference
Frequency Shift Keying (FSK):
Frequency 1 to 1 and frequency 2 to 0
needs larger bandwidth
Phase Shift Keying (PSK):
Signal phase is shifted
more complex
robust against interference
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In this lecture we have discussed the issues imposed by
the propagation of signal in wireless networks and
indicated some solutions
Acknowledgement: some slides have been taken from
supporting material associated with the references
book