‫بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم‬

University of Khartoum
Faculty of Engineering
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
B.Sc. of Communication Engineering
5th Year

Wireless Communications
EEE 52219
Dr. Tahani Abdalla Attia, Associate Professor

LECTURE 1
 Course Objective

The aim of this course is to introduce the

students to the challenges facing wireless
networks and the techniques used to
overcome them.

2
Intended Learning Outcomes ILOs
1.Understand the challenges facing wireless
networks,
2.Become able to analyze and model the wireless
channel,
3.Understand the techniques used in wireless
communications,
4.Become familiar with the design issues of
wireless networks,
5.Learn the different mechanisms used to share the
bandwidth.
3
 Contents
1.Signal attenuation and propagation
2.Fading characteristics
3.Diversity techniques
4.Error correcting codes
5.Wireless multiple access techniques
6.Coverage and cellular system
7.Evolution of Mobile Radio Communications
8.Handoff and mobility 4
 References
1.Theodore S. Rappaport, “Wireless Communications
Principles and Practice”, Prentice Hall, 2nd Edition.
2.Simon Haykin and Michael Moher, “Modern Wireless
Communications”, Pearson Prentice Hall.
3.William C. Y. Lee, “Mobile Cellular
Telecommunications: Analog and Digital Systems”,
Second Edition, McGraw-Hill International Editions,
1995.
4.Internet. 5
 Coursework Components

➢Tutorials
➢Tests
➢Assignments
➢Seminars
➢Attendance
6
 Overview
▪ Today, wireless or radio communication via electromagnetic
radiation is the most used means of communication.

▪ It is the transfer of information between two or more points

that are not connected by a conductor or fibre.
▪ In wireless networks, the cost is reduced as communication
does not require physical infrastructure or maintenance
practices.
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▪ Wireless communication enables people to communicate
regardless of their location, as it is not necessary to be in a
specific place to pass and receive messages. (flexibility,
convenience, accessibility, speed, and cost effectiveness).

▪ On the other hand, wireless networks led to many security

threats to mankind. It is very easy for the hackers to grab
the wireless signals that are spread in the air. So, it is very
important to secure the wireless network, so that the
information cannot be exploited by the unauthorized users.
8
 ▪A typical wireless communication system links
information from the information source to the destination
through air or space.
▪ A typical wireless or radio system is composed of a
transmitter, channel and a receiver.
▪ During transmission of information signals via the
channel, they are affected by impairments such as
distortion, noise and interfering signals from other
sources.
Transmitter Channel Receiver

Information Information
Source Interference Destination
9

and Noise
▪ In addition to the noise and interference, radio signals
are affected by the attenuation due to absorption of
energy by the atmosphere.
▪ Attenuation of signals is a function of the frequency, as
well as the material of the medium or channel.
▪ RF signal travelling between the source and the
destination are affected by obstructions due to buildings
and natural objects such as the mountains and trees.
▪ Signals reaching the destination suffer from multipath
due to reflection from the ground and other objects,
which affect the strength of the received RF signal.

10
▪ In order to send wireless signals, an antenna or an aerial is
required. (synonyms used interchangeably, but there is a
slight difference between them)
▪ Normally, the size of that transmitting antenna is
proportional to the wavelength of the RF signal.
▪ The basic antennas are the λ/2 dipole and the λ/4 monopole.
However, other types are used, such as loop antenna, Yagi,
helix, horn, dish and patch antenna.
▪ Since f = c / λ, hence the frequency should be higher in
order to apply a small antenna. However, attenuation
typically increases with the frequency.

11
 Modulation of Signals
▪ A signal (carrier) could be modulated by another
signal (modulating or message) in order to
generate a 3rd signal (modulated) that contains
attributes of both signals.
▪ RF signals that sent to the transmitting antenna
are produced by modulators.
▪ Sinusoidal signal is of the most smaller spectrum,
and hence it requires a smaller channel
bandwidth.
▪ There are various modulation schemes or methods
for analog or digital signals. 12
▪ Information signals modulate sinusoidal carriers in several
methods, such as signal Amplitude, Frequency, Phase or
diverse modulation.

13
▪ Analogue RF modulation methods are Envelope
and Angle modulation.

▪ Envelope modulation includes AM, DSB-SC,

SSB and VSB, while Angle modulation includes
FM and PM.

▪ Digitally-modulated signals are more immune

against interference because the receiver has to
decide between two (or definite) values.

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➢ Modulation of digital signals is similar to that of analog signals with
slight differences.
➢ Rectangular signals require large bandwidths in order to be transmitted.
➢ What is the spectrum of a rectangular pulse?
➢ The well-known classical modulation systems are: Binary Amplitude
Shift Keying (BASK), Binary Frequency Shift Keying (BFSK) and
Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK).

Sinc Spectrum 15
 Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
▪ In Binary Amplitude Shift Keying (BASK), the
amplitude of the carrier is keyed or switched
between two voltage levels.
▪ In On-Off Keying (OOK), such as in optical links,
the lower level is zero volts.

16
▪ ASK is a sort of AM, and thus its signal can be
demodulated using an envelope detector.
▪ However, you may use a coherent detector, which
resembles a correlator, to demodulate ASK with
better Bit Error Rate (BER).
Scope

Bernoulli
Binary
Bernoulli Binary
Generator
Tx
butter Error Rate
Calculation
|u| Rx

Product Abs Sign Error Rate

Analog Zero-Order
Calculation
Filter Design Hold

Sine Wave
-0.3

Constant
17

Try to build this model in Simulink and check results

 Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)
▪ In BFSK, the frequency of the carrier is keyed or switched
between two values.
▪ It can be considered as the sum of two OOK signals
combined together.

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▪ BFSK signal can be converted into two OOK signals using
two narrow BPFs, each of them has a center frequency
equal to one of those of the FSK signal.

19
▪ Using passive or active BPFs as above to detect FSK signal
is used in non-coherent demodulation.
▪ FSK signal could be demodulated coherently using two
local sinusoidal carriers and LPFs.

20
▪ FSK is a sort of FM , and thus its signal can be
demodulated using a phase-locked loop (PLL).

butter

LPF1
Subtract Sign Scope

.5

Constant

Continuous-Time butter Continuous-Time

Bernoulli
VCO
Binary VCO
Bernoulli Binary Continuous-Time LPF
Continuous-Time
Generator VCO
VCO1

21
 Phase Shift Keying (PSK)
▪ In BPSK, the phase angle of the carrier is
switched between two angles (usually zero and
180˚).
▪ PSK has a better performance compared to ASK
and FSK, regarding errors occur.

22

22
 ▪ A PSK signal should be demodulated coherently,
using a synchronized local carrier.

Bernoulli
Binary
Bernoulli Binary
Generator

-0.5
butter
butter
Constant

Product
BPF Product2 Scope
LPF

Gaussian Sine Wave1

Sine Wave
Gaussian Noise
Generator

23
 Differential PSK
▪ For a DPSK signal, coherent detection could be
possible, without using a coherent local oscillator.
▪ The LO is replaced by the signal delayed an amount
equal to the bit spacing.
▪ A binary '1' may be transmitted by adding 180° to the
current phase and a binary '0' by adding 0° to the
current phase, i.e. leaving the phase unchanged.

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DPSK Detector

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▪ Differential encoding starts arbitrary with the first
bit and then indicates message bits by phase
transition or no phase transition.
▪ e.g.
▪ Message 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1
▪ Encoded message 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1
▪ Phase 0 0 0 π π 0 0 0 π 0 0

▪ A 1 to 0 changes the phase, while a 0 to 1 will

preserve the last phase.
26
 DBPSK DBPSK
Scope
Pulse Zero-Order
Hold DBPSK DBPSK
Generator
Modulator Demodulator
Baseband Baseband

Re
Im
Complex to
Real-Imag

27
Comparison of Digital Modulation Methods

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 Complexity of System
▪ ASK systems are the simplest, as they can apply
envelope detection. Still synchronous
demodulation could be used, achieving better bit
error rate.
▪ FSK systems are more flexible regarding the
generation and demodulation.
▪ Of course, the coherent detection will achieve a
better BER compared to PLL or non-coherent
detection using BPFs.

29
▪ PSK signals should be coherently demodulated as
non-coherent detection is unattainable.
▪ A Carrier Recovery Circuit (CRC) should be used
in the receiver side.
▪ One CRC used, is to square the received signal,
divide the frequency by two and filter it to get
sinusoidal carrier.
▪ More proper CRC uses techniques such as Costas
Loop, Gardner, Early-Late Gate and the Muller &
Muller Clock recovery.
30
 Noise Effect
▪ ASK is the worst in noisy environment, since the
amplitude of signal is more sensitive to noise
compared to angle.
▪ FSK is less affected by the amplitude spikes
compared to ASK and PSK.
▪ Smaller variations of received signal can be
detected in PSK signals, due to use of Phase
Sensitive Detector (PSD).

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 Bandwidth Requirement
▪ ASK requires twice the highest frequency in the
data signal, which is taken as baud rate.
▪ FSK requires the baud rate of the data signal plus
the frequency shift (difference between the two
carriers).
▪ PSK requires the same bandwidth required by the
ASK signal. The transmitted power is less than that
of ASK (why?).

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 Exercise (1)
1. Using Simulink, simulate the FSK non-coherent
demodulator by converting the signal into two
OOK signals using two narrow BPFs.
2. Using simulation, compare the BER of ASK,
FSK and PSK modulation schemes through a
noisy channel.
3. Using simulation, compare the BER of the ASK,
FSK and PSK modulation schemes through a
band-limited channel.
4. Compare results obtained in 2 & 3 above with
those of un-modulated digital signal. 33
 Seminars’ Topics
1. Advanced Modulation Techniques for Wireless
Communication

2. Error-Correcting Codes for Wireless Communication

Systems.

3. Evolution of Mobile Radio Communications.

4. Multipath Channel Fading Techniques and Models in

Wireless Communication systems.

5. Impact of Doppler Effect on Wireless Channels.

6. Encryption and Decryption in Wireless Systems. 34