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Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology

Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering


Department of Telecommunications

Chapter 1

Path Loss and Shadowing


Lectured by Ha Hoang Kha, Ph.D.
Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology
Email: hahoangkha@gmail.com

References
A. Goldsmith, Wireless Communications, Cambridge
University Press, 2005.
T.S. Rappaport ,Wireless Communications, Prentice Hall
PTR, 1996.
J. G. Proakis , M. Salehi , G. Bauch Contemporary
Communication Systems Using MATLAB, Cengage
Learning, 2012.
Slides here are adapted from several sources on the
Internet.

Path Loss and Shadowing

Outline
Signal Propagation Overview

Path Loss Models

Free-space Path Loss


Ray Tracing Models
Simplified Path Loss Model
Empirical Models

Path Loss and Shadowing

1. Propagation Characteristics
Path Loss (includes average shadowing)
Shadowing (due to obstructions)
Multipath Fading

Slow

Pt

Pr

Pr/Pt

Fast
Very slow

d=vt
d=vt

Path Loss and Shadowing

Pathloss is caused by dissipation of the power radiated by


the transmitter as well as effects of the propagation.
Occuring over very large distances (100-100 meters)

Shadowding: is caused by obstacles between the transmitter


and receiver that absorb power.
Occuring over distances proportional to the length of the
obstructing object (10-100 meters)

Pathloss and Shadowing are referred to as large-scale


propagation or local mean attenuation.

Path Loss and Shadowing

Path Loss Modeling


Maxwells equations
Complex and impractical

Free space path loss model


Too simple

Ray tracing models

Requires site-specific information

Empirical Models

Dont always generalize to other environments

Simplified power falloff models


Main characteristics: good for high-level analysis

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2. Transmit and receive signal model


Signals in wireless communications is the UHF and SHF
(Ultra and super high frequency) bands, from 0.3-3 GHz
and 3-30 GHz.
We model the transmitted signal as

where
is a complex baseband signal with inphase component
and , quadrature component
, bandwidth B and power Pu.
is the carrier frequency (B <<fc) and 0 is an initial phase offset.
The power in the transmitted signal s(t) is Pt=Pu/2

fc

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Transmit and receive signal model

If s(t) is transmitted through a time-invariant channel


v(t)=u(t)*c(t), where c(t) is the equivalent lowpass channel
impulse response for the channel.

The received signal will have

Path loss:
Pt is transmitted power of s(t)
Pr is received power of r(t)

Remark: P(dB)=10log10(P(W)),

Path Loss and Shadowing

P(dBm)=10log10(P(mW))
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3. Free Space Propagation Model


Free space power received by a receiver antenna
which is separated from a radiating transmitting
antenna by a distance d (Friis free space equation):
Pt .Gt .Gr . 2
Pr (d )
(4 ) 2 .d 2 .L

Pt : the transmitted power


Pr(d): the received power
Gt , GR : the transmitter and receiver antenna gain
d : the T-R separation distance in meters
L: the system loss factor not related to propagation (L
1)
: the wavelength in meters
Path Loss and Shadowing

Free-space path loss

Assume there is no obstructions between the transmitter


and receiver, i.e., a line-of-sight (LOS) channel.
Received signal:

=c/fc: wavelength
d: distance of the wave travels

: the product of the transmit and receive antenna field


radiation patterns in the LOS direction.

Ratio of received to transmitted power is computed by

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Free Space Propagation Model


The path loss for the free space model when
antenna gain are included is given by
G G 2
Pt
PL dB 10log 10log t r 2
Pr
4 d

When antenna gains are excluded, the antennas


are assumed to have unity gain and path loss is
given by
2
Pt
PL dB 10 log 10 log
2
Pr
4 d

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Free Space Propagation Model


The free space propagation model is used to predict
received signal strength when the transmitter and
receiver have a clear, unobstructed line-of-sight path
between them.

The free space model predicts that received power


decays as function of the transmitter-receiver (T-R)
separation distance raised to some power.
The carrier frequency increases, the received power
decreases. However, the antenna gain of highly
directional antennas can increase with frequency.

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Example
Consider an indoor wireless LAN with fc=900 MHz, cell
radius 10m, and nondirectional antennas. Under the
free-space path loss model, what transmit power is
required at the access point such that all terminals
within the cell receive a minimum power of 10uW. How
does this change if the frequency is 5 GHz.

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4. Ray Tracing Model


Models all signal components
Reflections
Scattering
Diffraction

Requires detailed geometry and dielectric properties


of site
Similar to Maxwell, but easier math.

Computer packages often used

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Two-Ray Model
Used when a single ground reflection dominated the
multipath effect.
Suitable for isolated areas with few reflectors, such as
rural roads or highways.
Not a good model for indoor environments

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Two-Ray Model
Received signal:
-

:the time delay of the ground reflection relative to


the LOS ray.

: the product of transmit and receive antenna field


radiation in the LOS direction.

: the product of transmit and receive antenna field


radiation patterns corresponding to the refection rays.
R: the ground refection coefficient

If the transmitted signal is narrowband relative to the


delay spread
then

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Ray Tracing Approximation


Represent wavefronts as simple particles
Geometry determines received signal from each
signal component
Typically includes reflected rays, can also include
scattered and defracted rays.
Requires site parameters
Geometry
Dielectric properties

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Two-Ray Model
The received power of the two-ray model for
narrowband transmission
-

: the phase difference between the two signal


components.

When d>> ht+hr, we have


and 0, and R=-1.
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Two-Ray Model
For asymptotically large d,
and R=-1, the received power is approximately

or, in dB
The critical distance dc is the distance after that the signal
power falls off proportionally to d-4.

Cell radius are typically smaller than dc.

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Received Power versus Distance

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Two Path Model

Path loss for one LOS path and 1 ground (or


reflected) bounce
Ground bounce approximately cancels LOS
path above critical distance
Power falls off
Proportional to d2 (small d)
Proportional to d4 (d>dc)
Independent of (f)
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Example
Determine the critical distance for the two-way model
in an urban microcell (ht=10m, hr=3m) and indoor
microcell (ht=3m and hr=2m) at fc=2GHz.
Solution:
Urban microcell: dc=800 m
Urban microcells are on the order of 100 m to maintain
large capacity.
Indoor system: dc=160 m
Typically indoor system has a smaller cell radius, on the
order of 10-20 m.

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Dielectric Canyon (Ten-Ray Model)


A model for urban area transmission

Other empirical studies have obtained power falloff


with distance proportional to d- where lies anywhere
between to and six.

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5. Simplified Path Loss Model


In the simplified model, path loss as a function of
distance is commonly used for system design.
Most important parameter is the path loss exponent
, determined empirically.

d0 is a reference distance for the antenna far-field.


(d0=1-10m for indoor and 10-100m for outdoor
environments.
K is the free space path loss at distance d0:
The path loss exponent can be obtained via a
minimum mean square error (MMSE) fit to empirical
measurements.
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Typical Path Loss Exponents

Macrocell radius: 1Km-30 Km


Microcell radius: 200-2000 m
Picocell radius: 4m-200 m

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Example
Given a transmitter produces 50 W of power. If this power is
applied to a unity gain antenna with 900 MHz carrier
frequency, find the received power at a free space distance
of 100 m from the antenna. What is Pr (10 km). Assume
unity gain for the receiver antenna

Ans: Pr(100m)=-24.5 dBm;

Path Loss and Shadowing

Pr(10Km)=-64.5 dBm

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Example
Consider the set of empirical measurements of Pr/Pt given
in the table below for an indoor systems at 2 GHz. Find
the path loss exponent that minimizes the MSE between
the simplified model and the empirical dB power
measurements, assuming that d0=10m.

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6. Empirical Models
Okumura model
Empirically based (site/freq specific)
Awkward (uses graphs)

Hata model
Analytical approximation to Okumura model

Cost 136 Model:


Extends Hata model to higher frequency (2 GHz)
Walfish/Bertoni:
Cost 136 extension to include diffraction from rooftops

Commonly used in cellular system simulations


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Indoor Propagation Models


Indoor environments differ widely in
The materials used for walls and floors
The layout of rooms, hallways, windows, and open
areas,
The location and material in obstructing objects
The size of each room and the number of the floors.

At higher frequency the attenuation loss per floor is


typically larger.

Table is the
partition losses
measured at 9001300 MHz

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Indoor Propagation Models


The simple path loss for indoor environment:

is obtained from the path loss for a same floor


measurement.
FAFi represents the floor attenuation factor (FAF) for
the ith floor traversed by the signal.
PAFi represents the partition attenuation factor (PAF)
associated with the ith partition traversed by the
signals.
Nf and Np are the number of floors and partitions
traversed by the signal:

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Example
Suppose, in an office building, a 2.4 GHz
transmitter located at a workstation is separated
from the network access node (receiver) by a
distance of 35 m. The transmission must pass
through 5 m of an office, through a plasterboard
wall, and then through a large open area. The
propagation is modeled as free space for the first 5
m and with a loss exponent of 3.1 for the remainder
of the distance. The plasterboard wall causes 6 dB
attenuation of the signal. The isotropic transmitter
radiated 20 dBm. Can the link be closed if the
receiver has a sensitivity of -75 dBm?

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Main Points
Path loss models simplify Maxwells equations
Models vary in complexity and accuracy
Power falloff with distance is proportional to d2 in
free space, d4 in two path model
General ray tracing computationally complex
Empirical models used in 2G simulations

Main characteristics of path loss captured in


simple model Pr=PtK[d0/d]
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7. Shadowing
In addition to path loss, a signal will typical
experience random variation due to blockage from
the signal path
Changes in the reflection surfaces and scattering
objects

is the path loss caused by shadowing which is a


random variable. Empirically, is a log-normal
distribution given by

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Example
In previous example, we found the exponent for the
simplified path loss model that best fit the
measurements was =3.17. Assuming the simplified
path loss model with this exponent and the same
K=-31.54 dB, find
, the variance of log-normal
shadowing about the mean path loss based on
these empirical measurements.
Ans:

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8. Combined Path Loss and Shadowing


Models for path loss and shadowing are typically
superimposed to capture power falloff versus
distance along with the random attenuation about
this path loss from shadowing.

is a Gauss-distributed
10logK
random variable with mean zero
Pr/Pt
and variance

Slow

Very slow

(dB)

-10
log d

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9. Outage Probability under Path Loss and


Shadowing
In wireless systems, there is typically a target
minimum received power level Pmin below which
performance become unacceptable.
Outage probability
is the probability that
the received power at a given distance d,
, falls
below Pmin , i.e.

where

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Normal or Gaussian Distribution

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Q- function

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Q- function

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Example

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Outage Probability
and Cell Coverage Area
Path loss: circular cells
Path loss+shadowing: amoeba cells

Pr

Tradeoff between coverage and interference

Outage probability
Probability received power below given minimum

Cell coverage area


% of cell locations at desired power
Increases as shadowing variance decreases
Large % indicates interference to other cells

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Homeworks
Problems: 1, 2, 13, 18, 21 in Chapter 2 of [Goldsmith
2005]

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