Wireless personal area

network (WPAN)

12/08/21 1
 Network between devices carried or
worn by or near a person
 Examples
- Interconnection between a mobile phone and a
headset
- Interconnection between a laptop and projector
equipment
- Wearable computing: everything from helmets,
sunglasses to clothes
 Technologies
- InfraRed (IrDA)
-12/08/21
IEEE 802.15 radio standards 2
 Wireless local area networks
(WLAN)

12/08/21 3
 Network between devices in home and office
environment; typically
gives access to a fixed infrastructure
 Examples:
- Interconnection of stationary and mobile devices
such as desktops, laptops, telephones, television,
etc.
- Internet access at public venues such as airports,
restaurants, conferences, etc.
 Technologies
- IEEE 802.11 radio standards (WiFi)
-12/08/21
Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephony (DECT)4
 Wireless metropolitan area networks
(WMAN)

12/08/21 5
Network covering a city or metropolitan area;
alternative to laying
cables or optic fibres
 Examples
- Interconnecting operator network to WLANs or
end user devices, or interconnecting several
WLANs
- Broadband wireless solution for the ”last mile”
access to homes
 Technologies
- IEEE 802.16 radio standards (WiMax)
12/08/21 6
Wireless wide area networks (WWAN)

12/08/21 7
 Network covering a country, continent or
entire globe; typically
interconnecting several WMANs and
providing anywhere, anytime
 Examples:
- Cellular networks
- Satellite systems
 Technologies
- GSM, UMTS, HSDPA

12/08/21 8
 Range vs. data rate

12/08/21 9
 Wireless transmission fundamentals
 Frequency spectrum
 Radio propagation
- Signals and antennas
- Modulation
- Channel conditions
- Effects of mobility
 Multiple access
 Medium access control

12/08/21 10
 Frequencies for communication
 Orderly use of frequency spectra reduces interference
- International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for
worldwide coordination
- Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US
- European Conference for Posts & telecommunications
(CEPT) and European Telecommunication Standards
Institute (ETSI) in Europe
- License spectrum is allocated for proprietary use, e.g.,
cellular communication
- Unlicensed spectrum is available for general use (with
restrictions), e.g., 2.4 GHz ISM band
12/08/21 11
 Basic building blocks

12/08/21 12
 Signals
 Physical representation of data
- Time and frequency domain
 Classification
- Analog: continuous representation
- Digital: discrete representation

12/08/21 13
 Antennas
 Radiation and reception of electromagnetic waves
 Ideal isotropic antenna (only in theory)
- Equal radiation in all directions
 Real antennas always have directive effects
 Examples of antennas

12/08/21 14
 Antenna range
 Transmission range
- communication possible
- low error rate
 Detection range
- successful detection of
signal possible
 Interference range
- signal may not be detected
- Signal adds to the
background
12/08/21 noise 15
 Signal propagation
 Along a straight line in free space
- Received power proportional to 1/d² (where d is
the distance between the sender and receiver)
 In reality, signal path and power influenced by
several factors
- Fading, shadowing, reflection at large obstacles,
refraction, scattering at small obstacles,
diffraction at edges

12/08/21 16
12/08/21 17
 Multipath propagation
 Signal takes several paths to the receiver

 Time dispersion: signal is dispersed over time

 The signal reaches a receiver directly and phase
shifted
 Distorted signal depending on the phases of the
12/08/21 18
different parts
 Multiple user perspective
 How to share the broadcast wireless channel
 efficiently among multiple users?
- How to seperate transmissions from different
users?
- How to avoid interference and collisions?
- How to achieve flexible, effecient and fair share
of bandwidth?
 Multiplexing or multiple access
 Medium access control
12/08/21 19
 Multiplexing
Multiplexing in four dimensions
- Space
- Time
- Frequency
- Code
Goal: multiple access to shared medium

12/08/21 20
 Frequency division multiple access
(FDMA)
 Available bandwidth is divided into several
frequency bands
 A frequency band is allocated for each
communication channel
 Guard bands needed for demodulation at the
receiver
 Example: first generation (analog) cellular
networks Time

12/08/21 21
12/08/21 22
 Time division multiple access
(TDMA)
 Available bandwidth is divided into several time
slots
 A time slot is allocated for each communication
channel
 Time synchronization required
 Guard bands needed to prevent inter-symbol
interference and synchronization errors
 Example: DECT, second generation cellular
networks
12/08/21 23
12/08/21 24
 F/TDMA
 Combination of TDMA and FDMA
 Each communication channel is allocated a
certain frequency band for a certain time slot
 Protection against frequency selective interference
and tapping
 Precise synchronization required
 Example: GSM

12/08/21 25
12/08/21 26
 Code division multiple access
(CDMA)
 Each device can use the entire frequency band of
the system for entire time
 Each device allocated a unique code
 Implemented using spread spectrum
 Efficient bandwidth usage and no synchronization
required
 Protection against interference and tapping
 Example: second generation (American IS-95)
and
12/08/21
third generation (UMTS) cellular networks27
12/08/21 28
 Review
 Wireless = electro-magnetic waves
 Path-loss over distance
 Multi-path reflections
 Modulation

12/08/21 29
 Symbol Rate & Bandwidth
 Modulation allows transmission of one of several
possible symbols (two or more)
 Data stream is encoded by transmitting several
symbols in succession
 Symbol rate ≈ bandwidth
- Throughput (bits/sec)
- Spectrum usage (Hz)
 Inter-symbol interference (ISI) occurs unless delay
spread << symbol time
12/08/21 30
 Thermal Noise
 Ever-present thermal noise in wireless medium
 Sums with any wireless transmission
 Potentially causes errors in reception (digital) or
degradation of quality (analog)
 Effectively limits transmission range when
transmitting signal strength falls below noise floor
 -174 dBm/Hz

12/08/21 31
 Thermal Noise Calculation
 Depends on channel bandwidth
- About 25 MHz for 802.11b or 802.11a channel
thermal noise = -174dBm/Hz + 10log(bandwidth)
 So for 802.11
- Noise Floor is about -100 dBm
- -100 dBm = 10log( .0000000000001 Watts )

12/08/21 32
 Noise Limits Transmitting Distance
 Short range transmission (low path loss) Signal to Noise Ratio

 Short range transmission (low path loss) Signal to Noise Ratio

12/08/21 33
 Physical Channel Properties Review
 Wireless signal strength
 Transmit power
 Loss over distance (falls off by d2)
 Shadowing (e.g. absorption by walls)
 Multi-path (e.g. bouncing off of metal objects)
 Noise
 Thermal noise
 Environmental noise (e.g. microwave ovens)
 Channel quality
 Related to signal to noise ratio
12/08/21 34
 References
 Jochen Schiller, Mobile Communications,
2nd edition, Addison Wesley, August 2003
 William Stallings, Wireless Communications
and Networks, 2nd edition, Prentice Hall,
November 2004
 Theodore Rappaport, Wireless
Communications: Principles and Practice,
2nd edition, Prentice Hall, December 2001
12/08/21 35