Basic Concepts of Wireless Communication System

By definition, wireless communication is a system that arranges communication in space (wireless) to transfer the information signal (electric signal) from one point to another. That definition leads us to consider two important things. The first is the use of electromagnetic waves to transfer the signal. Using electromagnetic waves is the only way that had been invented to transfer the information signal at space (in the air). The second is multiple accesses for multi-user wireless communication. Of course, many people use the space to do the wireless communication. The electromagnetic waves that are used by those people will be mixed in space. The listeners (receivers) have to be available to unmixed the electromagnetic wave and gather the information that he/she needs. Multiple accesses technique is a method used by the speaker (information generator) so that the listener (information receiver) will be able to gather the information that he/she needs. This paper will introduce you to those two basic concepts in wireless communication system. 1. Electromagnetic Waves and Their Propagation It is not easy to explain concisely what the electromagnetic wave is. In course and literature books, the theory of electromagnetic waves used to be explained by a long discussion of Maxwell theory. It starts by describing the mathematical relations between the time-varying electromagnetic fields and their sources by introducing Maxwells equations. This continues to the introduction of the propagation characteristics of plane waves. Then it ends by showing how to generate the electromagnetic waves using antenna. Of course, that way of explaining the electromagnetic waves is not my choice. This section will only describe electromagnetic waves by using some simplifications. It starts by studying the characteristic of visible light (which is a kind of electromagnetic waves), continues by making a general conclusion from some special case, and ends with the use of electromagnetic waves in wireless communication.

To study the characteristics of the electromagnetic waves, we can observe the characteristic of visible light, which is a kind of electromagnetic waves. Light has several properties: (0) It could be reflected, refracted, or diffracted as shown in figure [0]. (1) It obeys the principle of superposition, which is the characteristic property of all waves. (2) It could loss some of its energy density as it travels along the space.

Figure 0. Light could be reflected and refracted when trying to pass a different medium (left). It could also be diffracted when passing a small hole (right).

Light, as all waves do, obeys the principle of superposition. It says that when two or more waves of the same nature travel past a point at the same time, then the instantaneous amplitude is the sum of the instantaneous amplitudes of the individual waves. In other words, waves will interfere with other if they travel past a point at the same time. Figure 1 shows how the interference happens. When waves are in phase, constructive interference will happen. In the opposite, destructive interference will happen when waves are out of phase. Youngs experiment in figure 2 shows that light interferences happens on the screen.

Figure 1. Constructive interference happens when waves are in phase (left) and destructive interference happens when waves are out of phase (right).

Figure 2. Origin of the interference pattern in Youngs experiment. On the screen, destructive interference produces dark line and constructive interference produce bright line.

Light that travels along the space could loss some of its energy density. To prove this, we can have some simple experiment. Consider a light bulb in figure 3. First, the light bulb is placed in a small room (3x3m). What will happen if we place it in a bigger room (15x15m)? Of course, things in the bigger room will look dimmer than in the smaller one. This is because, in the bigger room, the energy density of light that caught by our eyes is less than in the smaller one. In other words, the light that travels in a longer path will have less energy density than the light that travels in a shorter path.

Figure 3. A light bulb.

After studying some general properties of light, we can make some general conclusion of the characteristic of electromagnetic waves. Electromagnetic waves, as the light does, also have three properties: (0) They can be reflected, refracted, and diffracted. (1) They obey the principle of superposition. (2) They could loss some of its energy density as it travels along the space. In wireless communication, electromagnetic waves are used to transfer the electric signal through space. After the voice signal (human voice) is transformed into electric signal, an antenna will transform it again into the electromagnetic signal. At the distance of d from the transmitter, a receiver is ready to detect the electromagnetic signal. The distance d has to be near enough so that the amount of the energy density of the electromagnetic waves is quite large so the receiver can detect them. Receiver will transform them into the electric signal, and then transform it again into the voice signal as its original. From this process, we can say in other words that the voice energy is transmitted in space, but in different form of energy, which is the electromagnetic energy. After knowing the properties of electromagnetic waves, we know how to arrange the wireless communication. However, a problem occurs when

more than one-person use the electromagnetic waves to do the wireless communication. The electromagnetic waves will interfere with others in space. It could be a constructive or destructive interference as explained before (principle of superposition). This problem is called multi-user interference problem. The next section will discuss how to arrange wireless communication when there are more than one-person do the wireless communication. 2. Multiple Accesses for Multi-user Wireless Communication The numerous users in wireless communication use one common transmission medium: space. The electromagnetic waves that are transmitted by those users will be mixed in space. This phenomenon will make a receiver face a problem in detecting the signal he/she needs. As mentioned before, it is called multi-user interference problem. This problem can be resolve by applying multiple accesses technique. This section will describe multiple accesses as the solution for multi-user wireless communication problem and its classification. Multiple accesses is a technique of transmitting more than one signal through the same medium so that the detector at the transmitting end can recognize the particular signal that was sent to it. Consider a case where there are ten persons. Each of the first five persons wants to talk to one of the other five persons. For example, P wants to communicate with V, Q wants to communicate with W, R wants to communicate with X, S wants to communicate with Y, and T wants to communicate with U, as shown in figure 4. If they do the conversations at the same time, V will not be able to understand of what P says because he/she will also hear the voice of Q, R, S, or T. This problem will also happen to the other listeners as W, X, and so on. Multiple accesses technique is a method used so that the conversation made by each person will not interfere with others, that will ensure each listener will understand the information that is intended to him/her.

Figure 4. Each of five person wants to communicate (wireless communication) with the other five.

The concept of multiple accesses technique is to make a signal differ to others by setting a certain parameter. Traditionally, differing signals can be done by using different medium (e.g. wire) as shown in figure 5. Of course, this solution cannot be implemented in wireless communication, because, as mentioned before, wireless communication uses space as one common medium. To differentiate signal in space, each of signal can be set with a different frequency, time, or code. The differentiation of signal by its frequency is called frequency division multiple access (FDMA), while time division multiple access (TDMA) and code division multiple access (CDMA) are used for the differentiation of signal by its time and code, respectively. Later, these three methods are known as the classification of multiple accesses techniques. In wireless communication, systems will choose one of these techniques so they are able to arrange the multi-user communication, but sometimes they use the combination of those three techniques. An analogy can be used to explain the idea of multiple accesses technique more easily. Consider a case that was discussed before, where there were ten persons in a room and each of the first five persons wants to talk to one of the other five persons. This time, the room is smaller than before so they are able to speak directly to others (without using

electromagnetic waves to transfer the energy). The three multiple accesses techniques mentioned before can be analogized to three kind of solutions.

Figure 5. Wired communication does not need any multiple access technique because the signal is transferred in different medium (different wire).

The first solution, which is analogue to the FDMA technique, is by applying borders to separate the people in pairs. The separate rooms are analogue to the signals frequency band in wireless communication. For example, the first room is analogue to frequency 21-22 MHz, the second room is analogue to frequency 23-24 MHz, the second room is analogue to frequency 25-26 MHz, and so on as shown in figure 6.

Figure 6. FDMA. Room is analogue to signals frequency band. Each person can talk by using the frequency band that is allowed. However, as a room, band frequency is limited. We should find another method to perform the multi-user wireless communication.

The next solution, which is analogue to the TDMA technique, is by letting those people in the room talk to others in turns. For example, P communicates with V for two minutes (while the others are quite), the next two minutes is Qs turn to communicate with W, then the next two minutes is Rs turn to communicate with X, and so on as shown in figure A.8. In wireless communication, users may talk at the same time, but the electromagnetic signal is sent within turns.

Figure 7. TDMA. They use the same frequency band, but in different time.

The last solution, which is analogue to the CDMA technique, is the most advance technique compare to the other two. The solution is done by letting the people in the room talk with different languages. For example, P talks to V in English, Q talks to W in Japanese, R talks to X in Chinese, and so on. In this technique, language is analogue to the code of each signal. Before the signal is transmitted, some codes are added to it. This code acts as the identity of the signal, just as the language does.

From the discussion above, we can make a conclusion that multiple accesses can be implemented in wireless communication by using FDMA, TDMA, or CDMA techniques. FDMA differ the signal by its frequency, TDMA differ the signal by its time, and CDMA differ the signal by its code. Multiple accesses techniques are needed to solve the multi-user interference problem in wireless communication. Until now, we have learned two things: The characteristics of electromagnetic waves and the use of multiple accesses technique to resolve multi-user interference problem in wireless communication. To arrange a wireless communication, one has to understand those things. Those are the basic concepts of wireless communication system. When we use electromagnetic waves to transfer signal information, of course we have to consider the characteristics of electromagnetic waves. Since many people use space to do the wireless communication, we have to understand how to differ our signals from others.