ELE 4ACS/5PMC

Advanced Communication Systems & Personal Mobile

Communications
Laboratory 2: Two-Ray Radiowave Propagation Model
c E.Custovic & S.Ganesan, School of Engineering & Mathematical Sciences
Aims The aim of this laboratory exercise is to investigate the eects of multipath on radiowave propagation using
the simple two-ray radiowave propagation model. In this laboratory exercise, the electric eld strength is investigated
at an observation point:
along a vertical as a function of height,
at a given height as a function of frequency
at a given height as a function of the surface electrical characteristics
for all of the above with vertical and horizontal polarization
At the successful completion of this laboratory exercise, students should have a better understanding of the eect of
antenna height on the receive signal level, the eect of multipath on radio channel bandwidth, and the inuence of
the reection coecient of materials on radiowave propagation.
Assessment A 10 minute quiz related to the lab material will be conducted at the start of the following weeks
lab session. The entire lab mark will based upon the quiz. You are not required to complete the lab material during
the allocated 2 hour period. However, you need to utilise this time eciently while the demonstrators are present.
If you do not attend the quiz you will get an automatic 0 for the lab.
Preliminary This lab assumes students have basic knowledge of electro-magnetic theory and basic use of MAT-
LAB. Students should have attended the lecture prior to the lab session which will give an overview of the theory
relating to the lab. Students are also encouraged to read through the lab material prior to the lab to ensure that
there is no time wasted during the lab session.
Note: You will be using the MATLAB script called Lab2.m which can be found LMS. The basic code is written for
you, however, you are expected to understand it and vary parameters to get a good understanding of the processes
occurring. Ensure you label all graphs and variables. Ensure that you understand all of the material and ask
questions during the allocated time.
1 Multipath propagation
When a radio frequency (RF) signal propagates from a transmitter to a receiver (Ex: from a base station to your
mobile phone), the general behavior of the RF waves is to diverge as they propagate. As it travels the RF signal
encounters objects that will reect, refract, scatter, diract or interfere with it. Refer Figure 1. When an RF signal
is reected o an object, multiple wavefronts are created. As a result, there are multiple wavefronts that reach
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the receiver, each traversing dierent paths to reach the destination. Some waves reach the receiver directly, while
others are reected from other surfaces delaying the time it takes to reach the receiving unit. Multipath can be
dened as the combination of the original signal with the duplicate wave fronts that result from reection of the
waves o obstacles between the transmitter and the receiver. Thus, multipath results in constructive and destructive
interference, and phase shifting of the signal at the destination.
Figure 1: Multipath propagation of RF signal
2 Two ray model
The two-ray model is a simplied case of RF propagation consisting of a direct ray and a reected ray. The other
phenomena such as scattering, shadowing, diraction etc are not considered in the two-ray model. Advanced models
can be used to simulate this. As discussed in lectures, rays are perpendicular (normal) to the surface of a radiowave
and point in the direction of propagation. The use of rays is useful as a visualization tool for understanding radiowave
propagation and advanced techniques called Ray Tracing can be used to calculate the path of waves through a system
with regions of varying propagation velocity, absorption characteristics, and reecting surfaces. The important eect
of the reected ray considered is that, it may add up constructively or it can diminish the signal received from the
direct ray at the receiver.
The factors that we intend to analyze in this lab are the following:
The eect of height of the transmitter and the receiver
The eect of distance between the transmitter and the receiver
The eect of the electrical properties of the surface between the transmitter and the receiver
The eect of horizontal and vertical polarisation of the transmitted radiowave
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The geometry of the two-ray model is shown in Figure 2. The total electric eld E
t
at an observation point is the
sum of a direct E
d
and a reected E
r
elds represented by rays. The reected ray is the ray incident at the reection
point multiplied by the reection coecient of the surface at that point. The reection coecient is determined by
the boundary conditions at the surface and is a function of the constituent parameters of the medium ( - relative
permittivity, - conductivity and - permeability) and the polarisation of the incident radiowave. Depending
on the wave polarisation, the reection coecient can be either vertical (R
v
) or horizontal (R
h
).
The source of radiowaves is a transmitting antenna and the shape of the radiated eld is determined by the radiation
pattern of the antenna. There are two theoretical sources commonly used, the point source in the three-dimensional
case and the line source in the two-dimensional case. The former produces spherically expanding waves and the
latter produces cylindrically expanding waves. Radiowaves diverge as they propagates away from the transmitting
antenna. The plane wave is a mathematical idealisation. The surface of the plane wave is of innite extent, and
it does not diverge (being planar). The general types of radiowaves are presented in the set of Equations shown in
Figure 3.

0
Tx
Rx
ht
hr
Reflection Point
Air: 0, 0, 0
Ground: 0, 0, 0
1
ht'
Image
Figure 2: Two-dimensional geometry of the two-ray propagation model
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Figure 3: Radiowave equations - where E
0
is the initial electric eld strength vector close to the antenna or at a
reference location, k is the wave-number given by
2

, where is the wave length, and r is the length of the ray

(vector) from the source (transmitter) to the observation point (receiver)
2.1 Reection of Radiowave
As we know, an electromagnetic wave has both electric and magnetic eld components, which oscillate in a xed
relationship to one another, perpendicular to each other and perpendicular to the direction of energy and wave
propagation. The polarisation of a plane wave is determined by the behavior of the electric eld strength of the
wave at a xed point.
Figure 4 shows the reection and transmission of a vertically polarised radiowave at a planar surface, where the
electric eld vector is parallel to the plane of incidence. Think about what happens when the vertically polarised
wave reaches the planar surface (For example: Ground). Does the signal get absorbed, reected or both? What role
does the property of the planar surface play in this? Figure 5 shows the reection and transmission of a horizontally
polarised radiowave at a planar surface, where the electric eld vector is perpendicular to the plane of incidence.
Figure 4: Reection and transmission of a vertically polarised radiowave from a plane surface
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Figure 5: Reection and transmission of a horizontally polarised radiowave from a plane surface
2.2 Reection Coecient
The amplitude and phase of a ground-reected radiowave depends on the reection coecient of the ground at
the point of reection and diers for vertical and horizontal polarisation of the incident radiowave. The reection
coecient R
h
for a horizontally polarised (perpendicular to the plane of incidence) incident radiowave is given by:
R
h
=
sin

(
r
j) cos
2

sin +

(
r
j) cos
2

(1)
and the reection coecient R
v
for a vertically polarised (parallel to the plane of incidence) incident radiowave is
given by:
R
v
=
(
r
j) sin

(
r
j) cos
2

(
r
j) sin +

(
r
j) cos
2

(2)
where:
= 18 10
3
/f

r
= relative dielectric constant of the surface material
= electrical conductivity of the surface material
f = frequency (MHz)
The appropriate values for
r
and are given in Figure 9. The case where the incidence angle approaches 0 is
referred to as grazing incidence and the reection coecient equals -1 regardless of the polarisation of the incident
radiowave. For more information or a brush up on boundary condition physics and reection & refraction of planes
waves please read the relevant document on LMS.
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3 Lab Task Description
The problem is specied in the Cartesian coordinate system where the upward/downward direction is the z-axis,
the x-axis is perpendicular to and out of the page, and the wave is traveling to the left of the transmit antenna, in
the paraxial y-direction. The forgoing is justied on the basis of the transmission being of a short distance, a few
kilometers, and the ground is at. Please refer to Figure 6.
The incident radiowave is chosen to be cylindrical, since the problem specied is two-dimensional. In this case the
incident electric eld is given by:
E
d
(y, z) = E
0
(y, z)
exp(jkR
0
)

R
0
(3)
where E
0
is the measured electric eld intensity in V/m at some distance from the transmit antenna in the far-eld.
Let E
0
= 1. The unit vector e
i
is in the direction of the incident radiowave. The wave-number k =
2

.
E
r
(y, z) = E
0
(y, z)R
v,h
exp(jkR
1
)

R
1
(4)
where R
v,h
is the reection coecient for either vertical R
v
or horizontal R
h
linear polarisation of the incident
radiowave. The total electric eld strength is then given by:
E
t
= E
d
+ E
r
(5)
The length of the paths R
0
and R
1
can be obtained using Pythagoras theorem with information from Figure 6, and
application of the image theorem.
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Figure 6: Image theory application to the geometry of the two-ray propagation model
Figure 7: Constructive and destructive interference of the direct and reected ray at Rx
As discussed previously, constructive or destructive interference can occur at the receiver. The reected ray is delayed
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due to its reection at the plane surface. From Figure 7, we can infer that there are places of constructive interference
(after Td1 time interval) and destructive interference (after Td2 time interval) between the rays. In the E
t
signal,
the lows are representative of points where direct and reected signals cancel while the peaks show points where
signals add.
Figure 8: Power loss(dB) with respect to the distance between transmitter and receiver. Ref [1]
Did you ever wondered why the mobile phone signal drops when you move away from the base station? There
are several factors that cause this drop in signal - height of the transmitter, height of the receiver (mobile phone),
power transmitted, threshold power that can be detected by the receiver, distance between the transmitter and the
receiver etc. In this specic situation, the important factor is the distance between the source and the destination.
As discussed, the RF wave front diverges as it travels further away from the source. From Figure 8, we see that as
the RF the power level diminishes as a function of distance. Also note that after a certain distance, the slope of
the power level drops drastically. The point where this transition occurs is often called the Fresnels break point.
However, there are peaks and trofs which occur with the increase in distance. This means that being close to the
transmitting base station alone does not guarantee a strong signal.
4 Experiment
Use the MATLAB le, Lab2.m provided on LMS.
A radio transmitter operates in the UHF 900 MHz frequency band with a horizontally oriented (Hint: this means
that the reection coecient is R
h
) half-wavelength dipole antenna mounted on a 10 m mast over a at typical
ground. The initial eld strength E
0
= 1V/m was measured close to the transmit antenna.
Use the MATLAB code to investigate the following:
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1. Calculate the electric eld strength at the receiver when it is 100 m away from the transmitter, starting from
1 m height and progressing up to 50 m in steps of /10
2. Repeat task 1 for the cases of poor ground, good ground, sea water, and fresh water
3. Calculate the electric eld strength at receiver height of 1.5 m & 3 m, where the transmitter is 10 m high and
a distance of 100 m away from the receiver for a range of frequencies starting from 890 MHz to 960 MHz in
steps of 10 kHz.
You will need to use this as a starting point and investigate the eects of all the parameters to draw general
conclusions. Further investigations to consider:
1. For horizontally polarized wave, explain the dierences in the Electric Field magnitude as a function of receiver
height. Which of the 5 ground types attenuates the electric eld at the most rapid rate and why? What is
happening with the phase at the receiver?
2. Increase the distance between the transmitter and receiver from 50 to 1000 m (in steps of 50 or 100 m) and
examine the eects. How is the electric eld aected by the distance?
3. Change the height of the transmitter from 1 to 50 m in steps of 5 or 10 m. What is the eect of this?
4. How does the electric eld depend on frequency for the 1.5 m and 3 m cases?
5. Change the polarization of the transmit wave (ie. change the reection coecient R
h
to R
v
) in Equation 4 and
consequently in your MATLAB code. Repeat all of the above steps and note the results.
The electrical characteristics of selected surfaces are given in Figure 9.
Figure 9: Electrical characteristics of materials
5 References
1. http://morse.colorado.edu/
~
tlen5510/text/classwebch3.html
2. http://home.earthlink.net/
~
loganscott53/Two_Ray_Propagation.htm
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