Mobile Radio Propagation:

Small scale fading & Multipath

 INTRODUCTION

 Small ScaleFading: Rapid fluctuations of radio signal

amplitude, phase, or multipath delays of a radio signal
 Occurs on short time period or short travel distance
 Large-scale path loss effects can be ignored
 Caused by arrival of two or more waves from the source
combining at the receiver at different times.
 Resultant detected signal varies widely in amplitudes and
phase
 Bandwidth of transmitted signal is important factor
Experimental record of received signal
envelope in an urban area
5.1 Small Scale Multipath Propagation
• Multipath in the radio channel creates small-scale fading effects.

• Three most important effects:

1. Rapid changes in signal strengths over small travel distances or
short time periods.

2. Changes in the frequency of signals due to doppler shifts.

[ Random frequency modulation]

3. Multiple signals arriving at different times. When added

together at the antenna, signals are spread out in time. This
can cause a smearing of the signal and interference between
bits that are received. [Time dispersion /Echoes]
• Multipath occur due to reflections from ground &
surrounding buildings (clutter) as well as scattered
signals from trees, people, towers, etc.

• Even stationary Tx/Rx wireless links can experience

fading due to the motion of objects (cars, people,
trees, etc.) in surrounding environment.

• If objects in the radio channel are static, and motion is

considered to be only due to that of the mobile, then
fading is purely a spatial phenomenon.
 5.1 Small Scale Multipath Propagation

At the receiver’s end:– Radio waves generated from the same transmitted
• signal may come from different directions
• with different propagation delays
• with (possibly) different amplitudes (random)
• with (possibly) different phases (random)
• with different angles of arrival (random).

– These Multipath components combine vectorially at the receiver antenna and cause the total
signal
to fade
to distort
 5.1 Small Scale Multipath Propagation
• Relative motion b/w mobile & BS → Multipath
wave experiences apparent shift in frequency →

• Shift in Rx signal frequency due to motion

→ Doppler Shift
→ Proportional to velocity & direction of motion
of the mobile wrt the direction of arrival of the
received wave.
 5.1.1 Factors influencing Small-Scale Fading
1. Multipath Propagation
• Reflecting objects & Scatterers
→Multiple versions of Tx signal
→Arrive at Rx antenna displaced in time & spatial
orientation.

• Multipath signals have Random phase &

amplitudes →Fluctuations in signal strength
→Small scale fading/Signal distortion.

• Lengthens the time required for the baseband

portion of signal to reach Rx. → ISI
2. Speed of the mobile:

• Relative motion b/w BS & mobile → Random FM →

due to different D.S on each of the multipath
components.

• D.S is +ve/-ve based on MS moving toward or away

from the BS.
3. Speed of surrounding objects

• Objects in radio path in motion → time varying D.S on

multipath components.

• Surrounding objects move at a greater rate than the

mobile
→This effect dominates the small-scale fading.

• Else motion of surrounding objects neglected.

→ Speed of mobile considered.
4. The transmission bandwidth of the signal

• If signal’s bandwidth  bandwidth of the multipath

channel  received signal will be distorted.

• The coherence bandwidth is a measure of the

maximum frequency difference for which signals are
still strongly correlated in amplitude.

• If signal’s bandwidth < bandwidth of the multipath

channel  received signal will not be distorted but
amplitude can change.
 5.1.2 Doppler Shift
• Motion causes FM due to Doppler shift (fd)

• ∆t-Time required for the

mobile to travel from X toY.

• Ѳ-Same at X & Y-Since S is too far.

• Receives signals from remote source ‘S’

• Difference in PL traveled by the wave from source S to mobile at X & Y is

∆l .
• Phase change in the Rx signal due to difference in
path lengths

• Doppler Shift =

• D.S →+ve if mobile moving towards source, else –ve

• The Doppler frequency is a function of:

• The mobile velocity

• The spatial angle between the direction of motion of the

mobile and the direction of arrival of the wave

• If DS is +ve frequency is increased & vice versa

• The wavelength of the signal

 5.2 Impulse Response Model of a Multipath Channel
Mobile Radio Channel
 Model radio channel as a linear filter with a time-varying
impulse response
 Time variation due to motion of receiver and/or objects
in the environment
 “Filtering”is caused by the summation of the amplitudes
and delays of multiple arriving waves at an instant in time
 d=vt -Position of the Rx moving with a velocity v
• Receiver moves along the ground at some constant
velocity v.

• For a fixed position d, the channel between the Tx

& Rx can be modeled as a LTI system.

• Different multipath waves

→have propagation delays
→Vary over diff spatial locations of the Rx
→LTI channel is a function of position of Rx.

• Channel impulse response can be expressed as

• Let x(t) be the Tx signal
• Rx signal= y(d,t) = x(t) ⊗ h(d,t)

• v is constant → y(vt,t)=y(t)
• Assuming V is constant
• y(t) = x(t) ⊗ h(vt,t) = x(t) ⊗ h(d,t)

• Mobile channel is modeled as linear time varying

channel, where channel changes with time &
distance.
• Let h(t,τ) → impulse response completely
characterizes the channel and it is a function of
both t and τ.
• t → Time variation due to motion
• τ → channel multipath delay for a fixed value of t(a
small adjustment of time).
• Multipath channel →(assume) band limited band
pass channel
→ h(t,τ) →Described by complex Baseband impulse
response hb(t,τ)

→r(t) & c(t) →complex envelope of Rx & Tx signals.

• x(t)=Re{c(t) exp(j2πfct)}
• y(t)=Re{r(t) exp(j2πfct)}
• It is known Avg power of BP signal x2(t)=0.5Ic(t)I2
 time average for deterministic signal
•Factor ½ is due to properties of complex envelope to represent in baseband
•Low pass characterization removes the high frequency variations caused by
carrier
• Multipath delay axis τ of impulse response is
Discretized into → equal time delay segments →
Excess delay bins

• Each bin’s time delay width → τi+1 – τi

• If i=0 → τ1 – τ0 →Time delay bin width →Δτ

• For convention τ0 =0, τ1= Δτ, τi=iΔτ for i=0 to N-1

• N→ Total number of equally spaced multipath
components(bins
• τ0=0 →First arriving signal at Rx
• Excess Delay[τi]: Relative delay of ith multipath
component compared to 1st arriving component

• τ0 =0 →Excess time delay of the 1st arriving

multipath component →Neglects the propagation
delay b/w Tx & Rx.

• Maximum excess delay of channel :NΔτ

• Time variant impulse response model

• ‘t’ varies into the page

• Time delay widths are quantized to widths of Δτ
• Rx signal in multipath channel has → series of
attenuated, time delayed, phase shifted replicas of Tx
signal.

• The baseband impulse response can be expressed

of ith multipath component at time t.

• 2πfc τi(t)+Фi(t, τ) →phase shift due to free space
propagation of the ith multipath component + any
additional phase shifts encountered in the
channel.

• δ(.) →unit impulse function →Determines the

specific multipath bins that have components at
time t & excess delay τi
• Time invariant model (Quasi-static)

N1
hb (t , )  ai exp( j ) (   i )
i 0

• When measuring hb(τ)→ probing pulse p(t) →

Approximates a delta function is used at Tx,
i.e., p(t)=δ(t- τ)
• For small scale channel modeling → Power delay
profile of channel is found → by taking the spatial
average Ihb(t; τ )I2

• The received power delay profile in a local area:

2
P ( ) k hb (t ; )

• Average over the local area.

• k → gain →relates Tx power in probing pulse p(t)

to the total power Rx in a multipath delay profile.
 5.2.1 Relationship between Bandwidth and Received Power

• SSF → behaves differently for 2 signals with different BWs in the

identical multipath channel.
• Consider a pulsed, transmitted signal of the form
x(t ) Re p (t ) exp( j 2f c t )
p(t)

real response

Tbb t
imaginary response
TREP

• The signal p(t) is a repetitive baseband

Tbb pulse train with very
TREP
narrowTpulse width
REP   max
and repetition period , with

• Max measured excess delay τmax .

• Now, let p (t ) 2  max / Tbb 0 t Tbb

• P(t) is zero outside the interval.

• Low pass channel output is r(t) → convolving

p(t) with hb(t,τ)
1 N1
r (t )   ai exp( j i ) p (t   i )
2 i 0
N1
 max  T 
 ai exp( j i )  rect  t  bb   i 
i 0 Tbb  2 
• Received power at time ‘t0’ → Measure I r(t0) I2 .

• I r(t0) I2 → Found by summing up the multipath

powers → Energy received over time duration of
multipath delay divided by τmax
•
• For wide band signal

For wide band signal

• The average small-scale received power-Wide Band Signal

• E a,Ѳ (.) → Ensemble average over all possible values of ai &

Ѳi in a local area.

• overbar → sample average over local measurement area.

• From last 2 Eqn →If a Tx signal is able to resolve multipaths,

→Then Avg small scale Rx power →Sum of Avg power Rx
in each MP.
• Instead of a pulse, CW signal (narrowband signal )
is transmitted in to the same channel

• Complex envelope c(t) =2

• Instantaneous complex envelope of Rx signal is

the phasor sum

• Instantaneous power is
• As Rx is moved over local area → changes in r(t)
→Rx signal vary based on ai & Ѳi
• ai vary little & Ѳi vary greatly due to changes in
propagation distance → Large fluctuations of r(t)
as Rx is moved over smaller distances.
• r(t) is phasor sum of individual MP→
Instantaneous phases of MP components →
Cause large fluctuations.
• Avg Rx power over a local area →

• rij →Path amplitude correlation coefficient

• Overbar →Time Avg for CW measurements

• If MP phases are identical [cos(Ѳi -Ѳj)=0] OR

• If path amplitudes are uncorrelated [rij =0 ]→i.e.,

rij =0 →

• Avg power of CW signal= Avg Rx power for a

wideband signal in a small-scale region.
 5.3.Small-Scale Multipath Measurements

• Channel Sounding Techniques

• Direct RF pulse system

• Spread Spectrum Sliding Correlator

• Frequency Domain Channel Sounding

(i) Direct RF Pulse System
• Tx → repetitive pulse of width Tbb s

• Rx → WB pass filter (BW =2/ Tbb Hz).

→amplified → detected envelope detector,
→ displayed and stored on a high speed
oscilloscope.

• Advantage: Complex ↓ → “off-the shelf

equipment”
• Disadvantage:
• Interference and noise

• First arriving signal → trigger the oscilloscope

• First arriving signal is blocked → severe fading
occurs

• Envelope detector → phases of the individual MP

are not received
• Use coherent detector
Spread Spectrum Sliding Correlator Channel
Sounding
• Carrier signal → "spread" over a large BW

→ Mix with PN sequence

→ Chip duration Tc, and a

chip rate Rc equal to 1/Tc, Hz
• The power spectrum envelope of the Tx spread
spectrum signal is given by as
• At Rx:
• Spread spectrum signal → filtered, despread →IIIar (identical) PN
sequence generator.

• Tx chip clock > Rx chip clock→ mixing the chip sequences in this
fashion implements Sliding correlator
• When PN code of faster chip clock catches up with slower chip clock
→(2 chip sequences are aligned )Max Correlation
• When not correlated the sequence will spread and narrow band
filter will reject almost all the incoming signal power

where Tbb = 1/Rbb, is the period of the baseband information.

• If incoming signal is correlated → Rx sequence
"despread“
→ envelope detected → Displayed on an
oscilloscope.

Different incoming multipath have different time

delays they correlate at different times

• Channel impulse response convolved with the

pulse shape → Displayed on the oscilloscope.
• Time resolution of Multipath components is

(2 multipath signals can be resolved as long as they are 2Tc seconds apart)
• Sliding correlation process gives equivalent time measurements →
every time the 2 sequences are maximally correlated
• Time between maximal correlations (ΔT):
• Slide factor = [transmitter chip clock rate] /[The
difference between the transmitter and receiver
chip clock rates]

• Processing gain realized using NB filter BW=2(α-β)

• Equivalent time measurement → “ Relative times
of MP components as they are displayed on the
oscilloscope”

• Propagation delays are actually expanded in time

sliding correlator → “time dilation”

• The PN sequence period is

• Advantage :
• Reject pass band noise → improve the coverage
range

• Tx & Rx PN sequence synchronization is

eliminated by sliding correlator

• Required Tx powers < Direct pulse system

→ Due to inherent Processing gain.
• Disadvantage:

• Measurements are not made in real time

• Time required for power delay profile

measurement ↑

• It uses Non coherent detector → phases of MP

can not be measured.
Frequency domain channel sounding
• Measure the channel impulse response in the
frequency domain.

• A vector network analyzer → controls a

synthesized frequency sweeper.

• S-parameter test set →monitor the frequency

response of the channel.

• The sweeper scans a particular frequency band

(centered on the carrier) by stepping through
discrete frequencies.
• S-parameter test set transmits a known signal
level at port 1 and monitors the received signal
level at port 2.

• Limitation:
• Calibration b/w Tx & Rx
• Non-real-Time nature of measurement.
• Time varying channel → Freq response will change
→Erroneous impulse response
• Solution → Faster sweep time →accomplished →
reducing the number of frequency steps
→sacrifices time resolution and excess delay
 5.4.Parameters of Mobile Multipath Channels
• Multipath channel parametrs
– Mean excess delay
– rms delay spread
– Excess Delay Spread
• Determined from power delay profile.

• mean excess delay-is the first moment of power

delay profile
• rms delay spread-is the square root of second
central moment of power delay profile

• The maximum excess delay (X dB) of the power

delay profile →Time delay during which MP
energy falls to X dB below the maximum.
excess delay  X   0

 X : maximum delay at which a multipath component is within X dB

 0 : delay for the first arriving signal
 5.4.2.Coherence Bandwidth
• rms delay spread and coherence bandwidth are
inversely proportional to each other.

• Range of frequencies over which the channel can

be considered “flat”[channel passes equal gain
and linear phases]

• Range of frequencies over which two freq

components have a strong potential for
amplitude correlation.
– If the coherence BW Bc is defined asthe BW over
which the frequency correlation function is
above 0.9, then

– If the coherence BW Bc is defined as the BW over

which the frequency correlation function is
above 0.5, then
 Doppler Spread and Coherence Time
• Delay spread and coherence bandwidth →
time dispersive nature of the channel

• time varying nature of the channel → Doppler

Spread and Coherence Time
• Doppler Spread B :D

• Measure of the spectral broadening caused by the time

rate of change of the mobile radio channel

• Range of frequencies over which the received Doppler

spectrum is essentially non-zero. (in the range fc-fd to
fc+fd)

• Amount of spectral broadening α to fd α v & θ

• If the baseband signal bandwidth is much greater than

BD, the effects of Doppler Spread are negligible. → Slow
Fading Channel
• Coherence Time Tc: the time domain dual of
Doppler Spread

• Time duration over which “channel impulse

response” → invariant.

• Time duration over which → 2 Rx signals have strong

potential for amplitude correlation

Tc = 1/ fm
where: fm is the maximum Doppler Shift= v/λ
• If time over which the time correlation function is above
0.5 → Tc = 9/ 16пfm

• Time duration during which Rayleigh fading fluctuate

widely Tc=1/fm

• In general Geometric mean of above 2 Eqns

9 0.423
T0  
16f m2
fm
Types of small-scale Fading
 Fading Effects due to MP time delay Spread
• Flat fading

• Const Gain & linear phase response over BW > BW of Tx

Signal

• The spectral characteristics of the transmitted signal are

preserved at the receiver

• Fluctuations in Gain of channel → Strength of Rx signal

changes.
• Flat fading channel is also called amplitude
varying channel.
• Also called narrow band channel: bandwidth of
the applied signal is narrow as compared to the
channel bandwidth.
• A signal undergoes flat fading if
BS  BC
and TS   
TS : reciprocal bandwidth (symbol period)
BS : bandwidth of the transmitted signal
BC : coherent bandwidth
  : rms delay spread
 Frequency selective fading

• Channel possesses a constant-gain and linear phase

response over a BW that is smaller than the
bandwidth of transmitted signal.

signal spectrum S ( f )

channel response

f
BC

received signal spectrum

f
• Due to time dispersion of the transmitted symbols within
the channel.
– Induces inter symbol interference

• Frequency selective fading channels are much

more difficult to model than flat fading channels.
→Since each MP has to be modeled.
• For frequency selective fading
BS  BC
• and
• Flat fading if
TS  10 

• Frequency selective Fading if

TS  10 
 Fading effects due to Doppler Spread:

• Fast Fading: The channel impulse response changes

rapidly within the symbol duration.
– Cause frequency dispersion due to Doppler spreading.

• A signal undergoes fast fading if

BS  BD
• and

TS  TC
• Slow Fading:
• h(t) changes at a rate much slower than the
transmitted baseband signal s(t).

• A signal undergoes slow fading if

TS  TC
and
BS  BD