Wireless Pers Commun

DOI 10.1007/s11277-010-9938-2

Statistical Models for Fading and Shadowed Fading

Channels in Wireless Systems: A Pedagogical Perspective

P. M. Shankar

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. 2010

Abstract A unified analysis of statistical models for describing fading, shadowing, and
shadowed fading channels is presented from a pedagogical viewpoint. The different proba-
bility density functions such the Rayleigh, Nakagami, gamma, generalized gamma, Weibull,
lognormal, Nakagami-lognormal, K distribution, generalized K distribution, and Nakagami
inverse Gaussian distribution are presented and the relationships among them are detailed.
These density functions are compared in terms of two quantitative measures, namely the
amount of fading and outage probability. A general approach to fading and shadowed fading
channels using a cluster based approach is also presented to link several of the distributions. It
is expected that this overview will be very helpful to students and educators who are engaged
in the study of wireless systems and the adverse impact of fading and shadowing in wireless
data transmission.

Keywords Wireless channels · Fading · Shadowing · Shadowed fading · Outage

probabilities · Amount of fading · Rayleigh · Nakagami · Rician · Double Rayleigh ·
Double Nakagami · Generalized K · Nakagami inverse Gaussian · Generalized gamma ·
Weibull distribution

1 Introduction

Courses in communications and wireless communications are offered at the undergraduate

and graduate level programs in electrical engineering at universities and colleges around
the world. Of the many topics in wireless systems, fading is one of the important concepts
required for a good understanding of problems in signal reception and ways to improve over-
all system performance [1]. This is also a topic that is often described in different forms
making it a little difficult for the students and instructors to fully comprehend its impact.
While several publications and books cover the topic of fading, a unified approach to explain

P. M. Shankar (B)
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
e-mail: pshankar@coe.drexel.edu

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 P. M. Shankar

Fig. 1 The multipath transmission in wireless systems is shown with three distinct paths between the trans-
mitter and receiver

the concept of fading in a pedagogical context is not available [1–4]. This manuscript presents
a concise unified approach to explain the concepts of fading in wireless systems.
The brief background section introduces the terminology of fading, shadowing, and shad-
owed fading channels. This is followed by sections on fading models, shadowing models, and
shadowed fading models. A simple general model is then described which can encompass
all three. The last section contains a discussion of the main aspects of the manuscript and
conclusions.

2 Background

In wireless communications, the transmitted signals often do not reach the receiver directly
[1,2]. As the power is lost due to attenuation and absorption, the signals reach the receiver
after undergoing scattering, diffraction, reflection, etc. from the buildings, trees, and other
structures in the medium (channel) between the transmitter and the receiver. Thus, there
exist multiple paths for the signal to reach the receiver and the signals arriving through
these paths add in phase. Since the amplitude and phase of the signal from each of these
paths can be treated as random variables, the received power will also be random. This
random fluctuation of power is identified as ‘fading’ in wireless systems. These power fluc-
tuations have a very short period and hence, the fading is referred to as ‘short term fading’.
The transmission and reception of signals is sketched in Fig. 1. It shows three different
paths between the transmitter and the receiver and that these paths are independent. It is
also possible that instead of the simple scenario drawn in Fig. 1, signals might be reach-
ing the receiver after multiple scattering in the channel such that signal in a path encoun-
ters more than one object in its path. This phenomenon causes fluctuations in the received
signal that have a period longer than those associated with short term fading. These fluc-
tuations are identified as ‘long term fading’ or ‘shadowing’. Figure 2 shows the typical
received signal profiles. The thick line represents the attenuated signal reaching the receiver.
The heavy dotted line with a slow variation is the shadowing or long term fading and the
‘short term fluctuations’ seen riding on the heavy dotted line represent the short term fading.
Thus, the realistic case of the received signal consists of the transmitted signal that reaches
the receiver as it undergoes attenuation and passes through the ‘shadowed fading channel’
resulting in randomly varying and attenuated signals.
It must be noted that the short term fading might be accompanied by frequency dependent
effects which limit the bandwidth capability of the channel [1,2]. Our discussion in this work
does not address such ‘frequency selective fading’ channels and only examines channels

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Statistical Models for Fading and Shadowed Fading Channels

Fig. 2 Profiles of the received

power are shown. The heavy dark
line represents the attenuated
signal reaching the receiver.
The heavy dotted line with slow
variations is the shadowing or
long term fading. The ‘short term
fluctuations’ are seen riding on
the heavy dotted line represent
the short term fading

that are considered as ‘flat’ implying that the short term fading does not alter the frequency
characteristics or bandwidth capability of the channel. We also assume that neither the trans-
mitter nor the receiver is in motion so that we exclude the effects of any frequency modulation
caused by the Doppler effect, commonly labeled as ‘Doppler fading’ [1,2]. In other words,
we will only be considering channels that are considered as ‘slow’ (relative speed of the
transmitter/receiver negligible) instead of the ‘fast’ (relative speed of the transmitter/receiver
high) channels. Thus, the analysis below deals with wireless channels where fading can be
described as ‘slow’ and ‘flat’.
We will now explore different ways to describe the statistical fluctuations of the received
signal arising from fading and shadowing occurring separately as well as concurrently.

3 Models for Short Term Fading

Short term fading in wireless channels has been described using several models. We will now
look at these models starting with the Rayleigh fading model followed by others.

3.1 Rayleigh Fading

To understand fading, we have to examine the manner in which the signals from the trans-
mitter reach the receiver. The simplest way to visualize this situation is through the use of the
multipath phenomenon. A typical multipath scenario is sketched in Fig. 1 where the transmit-
ter sends a simple sinusoidal signal at a carrier frequency of f 0 . Use of a sinusoidal signal is
a reasonable approach since we are only dealing with a ‘flat’ channel that does not introduce
any frequency dependent changes. The received signal er (t) arising from the propagation of
the signal via multiple paths in the channel can be expressed as

N
er (t) = ai cos (2π f 0 t + φi ). (1)
i=1

The number of multiple paths is N which can be treated as equivalent to the number of
scattering/reflecting/diffracting centers or objects in the channel. The ith multipath signal
component has an amplitude ai and a phase φi . The Eq. 1 can be rewritten in terms of
inphase and quadrature notation as

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 P. M. Shankar

N

N
er (t) = cos (2π f 0 t) ai cos (φi ) − sin (2π f 0 t) ai sin (φi ) (2)
i=1 i=1

where the first summation (associated with the cosine term) is identified as the inphase term
and the second summation (associated with the sine term) is identified as the quadrature
term. If the locations of the structures are completely random, one can safely assume that
the phase φ’s will be uniformly distributed in the range {0, 2π}. Under conditions of large
N, the amplitude of the received signal can then be expressed as

er (t) = X cos (2π f 0 t) − Y sin (2π f 0 t) (3)

where


N

N
X= ai cos (φi ) ; Y = ai sin (φi ) . (4)
i=1 i=1

X and Y will be independent identically distributed (i.i.d) Gaussian random variables of zero
mean by virtue of the central limit theorem [5]. This Gaussianity of X and Y also leads to the
envelope of the received signal, A, given by (X 2 + Y 2 )1/2 to be Rayleigh distributed [5]. The
probability density function (pdf) of the received signal envelope, f R (a), will be given by
 
a a2
f R (a) = 2 exp − 2 U (a) . (5)
σ 2σ

In Eq. 5, σ 2 is the variance of the random variables X (or Y) and U(.) is the Unit step function.
The subscript (R) of the pdf in Eq. 5 and subscripts in all the other pdfs later in this manuscript
merely indicate the nature of the statistics associated with fading, i.e., in this case, Rayleigh.
Note that if the envelope of the signal is Rayleigh distributed, the power, P = A2 , will have
an exponential probability density function, given by
 
1 P
f R ( p) = exp − U ( p) . (6)
P0 P0
Once again, the subscript R relates to the nature of the statistics which in this case is classified
as Rayleigh. In Eq. 6, 2σ 2 has been replaced by the average power P0 of the received signal.
Rayleigh density function is not the only pdf that can be used to model the statistics of
short term fading. It has limited application in a broader context because of its inability to
model fading conditions that result in significant degradation in performance of wireless sys-
tems. To understand this point, it is necessary to quantify the level of fading. The parameter
used to measure levels of fading is the amount of fading (AF) defined as [1]
 2
P −
P2
AF = (7)

P2
Note that in Eq. 7,
. represents the statistical average. Making use of the moments of the
exponential pdf in Eq. 6, given by Papoulis and Pillai [5]
   (k + 1)
P k = P0m , kth moment (8)
R  (k)
where (.) is the gamma function, Eq. 7 becomes

AF R = 1 (9)

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Statistical Models for Fading and Shadowed Fading Channels

Thus, the amount of fading in a channel that has Rayleigh pdf for the envelope is equal to
unity. If the amount of fading is larger than unity, we have severe fading conditions, we will
classify that channel as a pre-Rayleigh and if the fading conditions are better than Rayleigh,
AF will be less than one, and, we identify such a channel as post-Rayleigh. Thus, it is obvious
that Rayleigh pdf is inadequate to model all fading conditions that exist in wireless channels,
and, other models need to be explored. One of such models is based on the Nakagami-m pdf
[1,6]. For the remainder of this paper, this pdf will be simply identified as the Nakagami pdf.
But, before we look at the Nakagami model, let us go back to the multipath model described
earlier and make minor modifications to it by considering a direct path or a line-of-sight
(LOS) between the transmitter and receiver. Such a multipath scenario results in the Rician
fading channel as described below.

3.2 Rician Fading

By including a direct path between the transmitter and receiver, represented by a0 cos(2π f 0 t)
where a0 is a constant, Eq. 3 becomes
eRice (t) = X cos (2π f 0 t) − Y sin (2π f 0 t) + a0 cos (2π f 0 t)
= (X + a0 ) cos (2π f 0 t) − Y sin (2π f 0 t) (10)
The received power will now be given by
P = (X + a0 )2 + Y 2 = X 2 + Y 2 (11)
where X  is a Gaussian random variable with a non-zero mean equal to a0 . The pdf of the
power will be given by

1 p + a02
a √ 
0
f Ri ( p) = 2
exp − 2
I0 p U ( p) (12)
2σ 2σ 2σ 2

where I0 (.) is the modified Bessel function of the first kind. Equation 12 is the pdf of the
received signal power in a Rician fading channel which differs from the Rayleigh channel
because of the existence of a LOS path in addition to multiple indirect paths. Because of
the existence of the direct path, the amount of fading will be less than what is observed in
Rayleigh fading. The Rician factor K 0 is defined as
a02
K0 = (13)
2σ 2
The quantity K 0 is a measure of the strength of the LOS component and when K 0 → 0, we
have Rayleigh fading and as K 0 increases, the fading in the channel declines. If the average
received power is PRi , it can be expressed as
PRi =
p Ri = 2σ 2 + a02 . (14)
We now have,
1
2σ 2 = PRi (15)
K0 + 1
and
K0
a02 = PRi (16)
K0 + 1

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Using Eqs. 14–16, the pdf of the received power in Rician fading becomes
  
K0 + 1 p K 0 (K 0 + 1)
f Ri ( p) = exp −K 0 − (K 0 + 1) I0 2 p U ( p) (17)
PRi PRi PRi

Note that when K 0 = 0, Eq. 19 becomes Eq. 6. The amount of fading in a Rician channel
can be obtained from the moments of the pdf in Eq. 17 and can be expressed as
1 + 2K 0
AF Ri = (18)
(1 + K 0 )2
It can be easily seen that as K 0 increases, the amount of fading decreases and as K 0 → ∞,
the amount of fading becomes zero. In other words, the existence of the direct path can reduce
the levels of fading in wireless channels. When K 0 becomes unity, Eq. 18 becomes zero, the
amount of fading in a Rayleigh channel.
We will now look at the most commonly used model to describe short term fading in
wireless channels, namely, the Nakagami distribution.

3.3 Nakagami Fading

Based on the original work by Nakagami, the pdf of the received signal power in short term
fading can be expressed as [1,6]
 
m m p m−1 p 1
f N ( p) = m exp −m U ( p) , m ≥ (19)
P0  (m) P0 2
where m is called the Nakagami parameter and (.) is the gamma function. The average power
is P0 . Equation 19 is the pdf of the received signal power in a Nakagami fading channel and is
commonly identified as the Nakagami-m type pdf. While other forms of the Nakagami pdfs
exist, since we will be only discussing the pdf in Eq. 19, it will be identified as the Nakagami
pdf.
Using the moments of the Nakagami pdf in Eq. 19 given as
   (m + k) k
Pk = P . (20)
N  (m) m k 0
the amount of fading in a Nakagami channel becomes,
1
AF N = . (21)
m
Equation 21 also provides a rationale for calling ‘m’ the fading parameter since the amount
of fading depends entirely on it.
Even though the Nakagami pdf has shown to be good fit based on experimental observa-
tion, we can also provide a simple semi-analytical means to justify its use. The approach is
based on the concept of ‘clustering’ or ‘bunching’ of scatterers [7–10]. Consider the case of
a wireless channel which contains a large number of scattering centers (buildings, trees, etc.
which reflect, scatter, diffract, refract) as described earlier. However, instead of all of them
being located in a purely random way in the channel, they are now clustered together. Let us
assume that there are n such clusters of scatterers within the channel, with each cluster having
sufficiently large number of scatterers. We will also assume that these clusters are located
randomly within the confines of the channel, with the received signal coming from these
clusters or groups. Since we assumed that each of these groups has sufficiently large number

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Statistical Models for Fading and Shadowed Fading Channels

of scatterers, without any loss of generality, the inphase X and quadrature Y components
from them would be Gaussian distributed. Let us define Z as


n
Z= X i2 , (22)
i=1

where n is an even number ≥ 2. This means that for n = 2, i = 1 represents X and i = 2

represents Y and no information is lost in expressing Z in terms of X alone. Note also that
Z represents the power. We will now extend Eq. 22 to include the cases of n being an odd
number as well since Eq. 22 is simply the sum of the squares of Gaussian random numbers.
The probability density function of Z will be a chi-square density function given by Papoulis
and Pillai [5]
 
z ( 2 )−1
n
z
f (z) = n   exp − U (z) (23)
( ) z0
z 0 2  n2
where z 0 is a constant. If we replace (n/2) by m, and z by p, the density function will be
identical to the Nakagami pdf for the power in Eq. 19 with the condition that m > 1/2 since
the smallest value of n = 1 (except for scaling factors). Rayleigh fading (exponential pdf for
the power) is still possible with m = 1, so that n = 2 and Z will be equal to


2
Z= X i2 = X 12 + X 22 = X 12 + Y12 (24)
i=1

since X 1 and Y1 are identically distributed. The pdf can now be generalized to have m take
non-integer values in which case the Eq. 23 will be identical to Eq. 19 [7–10]. Please note
that treating the collection of scatterers as individual ones or treating them as ‘clusters’ is
not in conflict since we can have a case of a single cluster with a large number of scatterers
giving rise to the Rayleigh case described in connection with Eq. 6.
Two important aspects of the Nakagami fading channel can be easily seen. First, when
m = 1, Eq. 19 becomes identical to the exponential pdf in Eq. 6. Second, the choice of dif-
ferent values of m permits the amount of fading to vary from zero (m = ∞) to 2 (m = 1/2).
This means that at very high values of m (m → ∞), the fading vanishes and the channel
becomes a pure Gaussian channel suggesting that the channel suffers only from additive
white Gaussian noise (and possibly other forms of noise such as impulsive noise as well if
such noises exist in the channel). Still, the Nakagami pdf in Eq. 19 does not allow fading
conditions that might lead to values of AF > 2. Note that it is possible to know the amount of
fading present in the channel (if so required), by conducting measurements over a long period
and evaluating AF in Eq. 7 from the observed signal powers and estimating the moments.
Thus, it is necessary to have models which allow modeling of fading channels which exhibit
fading levels far severe than what are observed in a Nakagami channels.
A wide range of fading conditions can be modeled using other probability density func-
tions and we will now examine the use of gamma and Weibull distributions in this context.

3.4 Gamma, Generalized Gamma, and Weibull Fading

There are several probability density functions that have been used to model such channels
where fading is worse than in a Nakagami channel [1]. The first and simplest approach to
undertake such a modeling is to rename Eq. 19. Note that Eq. 19 is a gamma probability
density function [1]. In this case, values of m less than 1/2 are allowed. Instead of using the

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pdf for power in Eq. 10, the gamma model for short term fading can be expressed as in terms
of the pdf as
 
p m−1 p
f G ( p) = m exp − U ( p) , m > 0 (25)
Pg  (m) Pg
where Pg is related to the average power. Equations 19 and (25) have identical forms except
for two factors, namely, m is allowed to take any positive values and that the average powers
corresponding to the pdf in Eqs. 19 and 25 are different. Thus, use of Eq. 25 permits to
include conditions where the fading could be worse than what is observed in a Nakagami
channel. The average power can be obtained from the moments of the gamma pdf as

PG = m Pg . (26)
Even removing the restriction on m and consequently changing the Nakagami fading to
gamma fading might be insufficient to model the fading observed in wireless channels. To
accommodate such channels, a generalized Nakagami or generalized gamma channel [4],
[11–13] can be defined by scaling the power by (1/s) where s is a positive number. Let us
define Pgg as
1
Pgg = P s , s > 0 (27)
The probability density function of the power in Eq. 27 can be obtained and is expressed as
[5]
 s 
  ms−1
s pgg pgg  
f pgg = exp − U pgg , 0 < s < ∞ (28)
 (m) Pg m Pg
Without any loss of generality, we can replace Pgg by p and we have the expression for the
pdf of the received power in a generalized gamma fading channel as
 
s pms−1 ps
f GG ( p) = exp − U ( p) , 0 < s < ∞ (29)
 (m) Pgm Pg
Equation 29 will be generalized Nakagami pdf if m is restricted to values larger than 1/2. The
moments of Eq. 29 are given by
   
k
 m + ks s
P k
= Pg (30)
GG  (m)
resulting in
  
1
 m + 1s s

PGG = Pg (31)
 (m)
Equation 31 reduces to Eq. 26 when s = 1. Thus, the parameter s permits an additional level
of flexibility in modeling fading channels. Using the moments of the generalized gamma pdf
given in Eq. 30, the amount of fading in a generalized gamma fading channel becomes
 
 m + 2s  (m)
AFGG =   2 − 1 (32)
 m + 1s
Note that when s becomes unity,
AFGG = AFG = AFN (33)

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Statistical Models for Fading and Shadowed Fading Channels

It is also possible to redefine the generalized gamma distribution so that instead of the depen-
dence of fading on two parameters, namely m and s, a new fading parameter m w can be used.
This leads to the Weibull fading model [4,14,15]. The simplest way to generate the Weibull
fading conditions is to start from the Rayleigh fading or the associated exponential pdf of the
power in Eq. 6. Let us define a new variable W
1
W = P mw (34)

where P is exponentially distributed with a pdf of the form in Eq. 6. Equation 34 suggests
that the power observed in this fading channel is best described in terms of a scaled version
of the power received in a typical Rayleigh channel. Using the concept of transformation of
the variables, the probability density function of W can be obtained as [5]
 
m w m w −1 wm w
f (w) = w exp − U (w) (35)
Pg Pg
Without any loss of generality, we can replace w with the variable p and hence, the pdf of the
power in a Weibull fading channel becomes
 
m w m w −1 pm w
f W ( p) = p exp − U ( p) (36)
Pg Pg
Certainly, Eq. 36 is much simpler than Eq. 29 for the generalized gamma fading channel
and more complicated than the Nakagami (or gamma) channels. The fading parameter is
identified as m w . It must be noted that Eq. 36 can also be obtained as a special case of the
generalized gamma pdf by putting m = 1 and s = m w pointing to Weibull fading being
simpler than the generalized gamma fading and justifying the scaling employed in Eq. 34.
The moments of the pdf in Eq. 36 can be expressed as
 

  k k
mw
P k
= 1+ Pg (37)
mw
The amount of fading now becomes


 1 + m2w
AFW = 
2 − 1 (38)
 1 + m1w

One can now compare the amount of fading existing in the channels by comparing Eqs. 6,
25 and 29. Note that m in Eqs. 19 and 25 is identical.
The Weibull channel, gamma channel, and, the generalized gamma channels are com-
pared in terms of the amount of fading and the results are shown in Fig. 3. It is clear that the
generalized gamma channel offers a means to model fading channels with widely varying
levels of fading. For values of s > 1, the generalized fading channel has less fading than
the gamma channel and for values of s < 1, the generalized fading channel has higher levels
of fading. Comparing the gamma channel and Weibull channel, it is clear that each of them
offers a different way of looking at the fading taking place in the channel. Note that simplicity
is offered by the Nakagami pdf with m taking values equal to and beyond 1/2 (or gamma pdf
with m taking values less than 1/2).
Now that we have looked at different fading models, we will now examine the models to
describe shadowing in wireless systems.

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 P. M. Shankar

Fig. 3 Amount of Fading (AF) is plotted for the Rayleigh (R), gamma (G), generalized gamma (GG) and
Weibull (W) channels. For values of m > 0.5, the gamma channel is also the Nakagami channel. For the GG
channel, two values of s are shown. For s>1, the GG channel has lower values of amount of fading than the
Nakagami channel and for s<1, the GG channel has higher levels of fading. If the amount of fading >1 (above
the horizontal line corresponding to the Rayleigh channel), we have a pre-Rayleigh channel. Otherwise, we
have a post-Rayleigh channel with AF <1 which lies below the value of R = 1

4 Models for Shadowing

As mentioned earlier, in wireless systems, it is often observed that local average power varies
randomly from location to location within a given geographical region as shown in Fig. 2
[1]. This has been attributed to the existence of shadowing terrain, buildings, structures etc.
Measurements have suggested that the density function of the average power can be mod-
eled in terms of a lognormal probability density function or a Gaussian probability density
function if the power is expressed in decibel (dB) units [1,16,17]. The simplest way to argue
for the case of a Gaussian pdf for shadowing (expressed in dB) is to invoke the central limit
theorem for products [5].
Shadowing can be described in terms of multiple scattering and the received signal power
can be expressed as the product of powers. The received power Z can be expressed as


J
Z= Pi (39)
i=1

where J is the number of multiple scattering elements and Pi is the fraction of the power
scattered at each instance. Converting Eq. 39 into decibels, we have

J
10 log10 (Z ) = Z dBm = 10 log10 (Pi ) (40)
i=1

If J is sufficiently large, the probability density function of the power on the left hand side
of Eq. 40 will be Gaussian and it can be written as

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Statistical Models for Fading and Shadowed Fading Channels

 
1 (z dBm − µ)2
f (z dBm ) =  exp − 2
(41)
2
2πσdB 2σdB

where µ is the average power in dBm and σdB is is the standard deviation of shadowing.
Converting back to power units in Watts or milliWatts, the lognormal pdf of shadowing
becomes
  2 
A0 10 log10 z − µ
f L (z) = √ exp − U (z) (42)
σdB y 2π 2
2σdB

where
10
A0 = (43)
loge (10)
Using the moments of the pdf of Eq. 42 given as
   
  k 1 k 2 2
Z dB = exp
k
µ+ σdB (44)
L A0 2 A0

the amount of fading in a shadowing channel can be obtained as


σdB
2
AFL = exp −1 (45)
A20

Lognormal pdf in Eq. 42 is not the only pdf that has been proposed for modeling the shad-
owing seen in wireless systems. Based on the analysis of terrestrial data, it was argued that
a simple gamma distribution can also be used model shadowing [16,18]. The probability
density function of the shadowing power Z can be expressed as
 
z c−1 z
f G (z) = c exp − U (z) , c > 0. (46)
y0  (c) y0
Since the severity of shadowing is expressed in terms of the standard deviation of shadowing
σdB , it is necessary to establish the relationship between (µ, σdB ) and (c and y0 ). This can be
done by comparing the moments of the lognormal pdf in Eq. 42 and moments of the pdf in
Eq. 46 after conversion into decibel units. These parameters are related as [16,18]
σdB
2
= A20 ψ  (c) (47)
 
µ = A0 loge (y0 ) + ψ (c) (48)
where ψ(.) and ψ  (.) are the digamma and trigamma functions [19, 8-360].
Even though short term fading and shadowing are two different effects, often, the wireless
signal is subject to both at the same time as seen in Fig. 2. We will now look at ways of
modeling the statistical characteristics of signals in such shadowed fading channels.

5 Shadowed Fading Channels

When evaluating the performance of wireless systems, it is necessary to consider the simul-
taneous effect of fading and shadowing on the received signal [1,16]. Such co-existence of

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 P. M. Shankar

fading and shadowing also points to higher values of the amount of fading which is a simple
measure of fluctuations in the channel.
As mentioned earlier, the consequence of shadowing is the loss of deterministic nature of
the mean power of the short term faded signal. Indeed, the average power becomes random,
and, for the case of a Nakagami faded signal, and Eq. 19 needs to be rewritten as
 
m m p m−1 p
f ( p |z ) = m exp −m U ( p) . (49)
z  (m) z
The average power P0 in Eq. 19 has been replaced by a random variable z. The pdf in Eq. 49
is conditioned on z. Taking fading and shadowing simultaneously, the pdf of the received
signal power can now be expressed as
∞
f ( p) = f ( p |z ) f (z) dz (50)
0

where f(z) is the probability density function of the mean power. If we treat f(z) to be log-
normal as discussed earlier, the Nakagami-lognormal pdf for the received power becomes
[1,16]
∞ m m−1     2 
m p p A0 10 log10 z − µ
f NLN ( p) = exp −m  exp − dz. (51)
z m  (m) z 2πσ 2 z 2
2
2σdB
0 dB

The Nakagami-lognormal pdf in Eq. 51 is in integral form and no closed solution exists for
the pdf on the left hand side of Eq. 51. Therefore, the evaluation of performance of wireless
systems in shadowed fading channels (shadowing and fading concurrently present) using
Eq. 51 is very cumbersome. Since it was argued that a gamma shadowing is an excellent
match to the lognormal shadowing seen in wireless systems, Eq. 51 can be rewritten using
the gamma pdf in Eq. 46 for z as
∞   c−1  
m m p m−1 p z z
f NG ( p) = exp −m exp − dz. (52)
z m  (m) z y0c  (c) y0
0

The subscript (N G) on the left hand side identifies the pdf as Nakagami-gamma. An analyti-
cal solution exists for Eq. 52 and the resulting pdf is known as the generalized K distribution
given as [21–23]
 c+m
2 b  √ 
p ( 2 )−1 K c−m b p U ( p)
c+m
f GK ( p) = (53)
 (m)  (c) 2
where b is a parameter related to the average power and K c−m (.) is the modified Bessel
function of the second kind of order (c-m).Using the moments of the pdf in Eq. 53 [19]
   2k
2  (m + k)  (c + k)
pk = (54)
GK b  (m)  (c)
we have
 2
2

PG K =
P |Z  Z = cy0 = mc . (55)
b

123
Statistical Models for Fading and Shadowed Fading Channels

Note that if m=1, Eq. 51 is the pdf for the Rayleigh-lognormal channel and Eq. 53 becomes
the K distribution (or K -fading) as [20]
 c+1
c+1 
2 b −1  √ 
f K ( p) = p 2 K c−1 b p U ( p) (56)
 (c) 2
where the average power is given by
 2
2

P K = c . (57)
b
Another model for shadowed fading channels makes use of the similarity between the log-
normal pdf and the inverse Gaussian pdf [24,25]. The density function of the average power
is considered to be given by the inverse Gaussian pdf,
 
λ λ (y − θ )2
f I G (z) = exp − U (z) (58)
2π z 3 2θ 2 z

where the two parameters θ and λ can be related to µ and σdB . Using the first and second
moments of the pdf in Eq. 51, we have

µ 1 σdB
2
θ =
Z  I G = exp + (59)
A0 2 A20
  
θ 2µ 2σ 2
θ2 + 1 = exp + dB . (60)
λ A0 A20

The pdf of the received signal power when the shadowing is treated in terms of an inverse
Gaussian distribution is obtained by putting Eq. 58 into (50) resulting in [25]

m+ 1
4m m 2π λ λ 2  
 
θ2 λ
f NIG ( p) = √ m+ 1 exp p 2m−1
K 1 g ( p) U ( p) (61)
 (m) g ( p) 2 θ m+ 2

where
 
2λ λ
g ( p) = 2 mp +
2
(62)
θ 2
Another model for shadowed fading channels can be created by taking a different look at the
generalized gamma pdf for short term fading. It was suggested that the generalized gamma
pdf can also model the received power in shadowed fading channels [4]. Let us go back to
Eq. 29. The pdf in Eq. 29 was arrived on the basis of a simple scaling of the power so that
the scaled power v is given by
1
v = ps , s > 0 (63)
It is possible to treat the scaling in Eq. 63 as akin to an exponential multiplication, similar
to what was described in the section on lognormal fading. Thus, scaling should produce a
shadowed fading channel. In other words, Eq. 63 is a case where a short term faded signal
is scaled to produce a shadowed fading case. While s could take any positive value in the
absence of shadowing, we will now see that treating Eq. 29 as the case of a shadowed fading
channel will lead to limits on the value of s. Note that v in Eq. 63 is a dummy variable and

123
 P. M. Shankar

we can go back and replace v with p so that the pdf of the signal power under the shadowed
fading channel using the generalized gamma model becomes
 
sp ms−1 ps
f GG ( p) = exp − U ( p) , 0 < s <?. (64)
 (m) Pgm Pg

Equation 64 is identical to Eq. 29 except for the change in the condition on s indicating that
the upper limit is yet to be determined as shown by the question (?) mark in Eq. 64. To obtain
the relationship between the parameters of the generalized gamma pdf for shadowed fading
channels and those of the Nakagami-lognormal pdf, we can proceed along the lines of the
G K distribution. Comparing the moments of the generalized gamma pdf and Nakagami-log-
normal, we get the relationship among the parameters of the Nakagami-lognormal and the
generalized gamma as

A20 
A20 ψ  (m) + σdB
2
= ψ (m) . (65)
s2
Thus, the scaling factor s is related to both the Nakagami parameter m and the standard
deviation of shadowing σdB . Examining Eq. 65, it is clear that if σdB = 0 (no shadowing),
the scaling parameter s is equal to unity and the GG pdf becomes the Nakagami pdf. If σdB
goes to ∞ (extreme shadowing), s approaches zero. Thus, the scaling parameter s must be
in the range 0 and 1 in shadowed fading channels for the GG pdf. When used to describe the
shadowed fading channels, the generalized gamma distribution in Eq. 64 takes the form
 
sp ms−1 ps
f GG ( p) = exp − U ( p) , 0 < s < 1 (66)
 (m) Pgm Pg

Now that we have a few pdfs for the received signal power in shadowed fading channels, we
can now use the quantitative measure of AF to compare the power fluctuations that would
be observed in those channels. Using the moments of the pdf in Eq. 51 for the Nakagami-
lognormal shadowing, the amount of fading is
  
m+1 σdB
2
AF NLN = exp −1 (67)
m A20

Using the moments of the G K distribution given in Eq. 54, the amount of fading is
1 1 1
AF GK = + + (68)
m c mc
Using the moments of the Nakagami-inverse Gaussian distribution in Eq. 61, the amount of
fading becomes
      
m+1 θ +λ m+1 σdB
2 σdB
2
AF NIG = −1= 2 sinh exp − 1 (69)
m λ m 2 A20 2 A20

The amount of fading in shadowed fading channels having the generalized gamma pdf for
the power is still given by Eq. 32 with s < 1. The upper limit of 1 of s is also intuitively
obvious if we examine the plot of AF given in Fig. 3. Since the amount of fading in shadowed
fading channels is worse than in channels with fading alone, amount of fading in shadowed
fading channels with the generalized gamma pdf will be above the curve for the gamma
fading alone. This limits the value of s to lie in the range of 0–1.

123
Statistical Models for Fading and Shadowed Fading Channels

Fig. 4 Cluster based model is sketched. The transmitted signal can reach the signal either by passing through
the two clusters (solid line) or by passing through a single cluster (dotted line)

Note that while exponential (Rayleigh envelope), gamma (Nakagami envelope), Weibull
(which can be obtained from gamma pdf), lognormal densities for the received power are sup-
ported by theoretical and experimental observations, the other distributions such the inverse
Gaussian is based on pure empirical matching. This also suggests that the Nakagami-log-
normal and the generalized K distribution can also be justified on the basis of experimental
and theoretical observations. A strong case of G K distribution is based on a very general
model which can describe short term fading, long term fading and concurrent instances of
both (shadowed fading channels). This is discussed in the next section where we go back to
the clustering model used earlier to justify the Nakagami distribution for fading and take it
a few steps in a different direction.

6 General Model for Fading, Shadowing, and, Shadowed Fading

Let us go back to the case of a wireless channel which is modeled as consisting of a number
of clusters of scattering (or reflecting, diffracting, etc.) centers. The concept is illustrated in
Fig. 4 which shows three clusters, with each cluster having a number of scattering/reflect-
ing/diffracting centers consisting of buildings, trees, people, vehicles, etc. To arrive at the
case for the Nakagami or Rayleigh pdf, we had assumed that the clusters are separated so
that the signal from each of these clusters arrives at the receiver independently and makes
up the total signal at the receiver. Now, let us make the channel a bit more closely packed
so that there is a likelihood that the signals from the clusters could only reach the receiver
after multiple scattering among them instead them arriving independently. The transmitted
signal is shown to reach the receiver after passing through two clusters (solid line in Fig. 4).
Let the signal power from each of the cluster be Ci , i = 1, 2, …. The received signal power
P can now be expressed as [3,26–28]

P = C0 + α1 C1 + α12 C1 C2 + α123 C1 C2 C3 + · · · (70)

Equation 70 needs some explanation. If there is a possibility that a direct path can exist
between the transmitter and receiver, the power contributed that component is C0 . If there
is only a single cluster and hence there is no chance of multiple scattering, the received
power will come from the second term, α1 C1 (dotted line in Fig. 4). If there are at least two
clusters and the chance of multiple scattering exists, the received signal will come from the
third term, α12 C1 C2 , and so on. Note that α‘s are scaling factors and can be made equal to
unity. Equation 70 further assumes that each of those processes (i.e. power from each term)
is independent of the other.

123
 P. M. Shankar

Let us first look at the second term, α1 C1 . If there is no multiple scattering, and, there
is only a single cluster, we will now treat the scatterers within that single cluster acting as
miniclusters. This case similar to the cluster model used to explain the Nakagami or Rayleigh
fading in connection with the pdf in Eq. 23. Therefore, the second term in Eq. 70 will lead
to pure short term fading with a Nakagami or Rayleigh pdf.
Now consider the third term α12 C1 C2 . There are two clusters, and the received power
is expressed as the product of the powers from the two clusters. If each cluster power can
be described in terms of a gamma pdf (Nakagami pdf for the envelope), the received power
becomes (treating α12 to be unity)
P = C1 .C2 (71)
where C1 and C2 are gamma distributed. We will now look at a few special cases of Eq. 71.
If we assume that both clusters result in Rayleigh pdf for the envelopes, pdf of the received
power in Eq. 71 can obtained using transformation techniques for obtaining density functions
of products [5]. This leads to

u 2  √ 
f DR ( p) = 2 K 0 u p U ( p) (72)
2
where
 2
2

P D R = . (73)
u
This model for shadowed fading channels is often referred to as the double Rayleigh
model and is identified by the subscript (DR) [27].
If we assume that both clusters result in identical Nakagami pdf for the envelopes, prob-
ability density function of the received power in Eq. 71 can once again obtained using
transformation techniques. This leads to [28]
2
v 2m  √ 
f D N ( p) = p m−1 K 0 v p U ( p) (74)
[ (m)] 2 2

where
 2
2m

P D N = . (75)
v
The pdf in Eq. 75 is called the double Nakagami (DN) or double gamma distribution. We
now consider the most general case where C1 and C2 are Nakagami pdfs for envelopes with
non-identical values of the Nakagami m-parameters, say m 1 and m 2 . We can use Eq. 53 if
we replace m by m 1 and c by m 2 . We get,
2
w (m 1 +m 2 )
m 1 +m 2 −1  √ 
f N d N ( p) = p 2 K m 1 −m 2 w p U ( p) (76)
 (m 1 )  (m 2 ) 2
where
 2
2

P N d N = m 1 m 2 . (77)
w
In Eq. 77, the pdf has a subscript (NdN) indicating that the two Nakagami pdfs have identical
powers, but different levels of fading through m 1 and m 2 . It can be seen that that Eq. 76 is
identical to the G K pdf in Eq. 53. The K distribution of Eq. 56 is a special case of Eq. 76
when C1 comes from an exponential pdf and C2 comes from a gamma pdf.

123
Statistical Models for Fading and Shadowed Fading Channels

Note that shadowing occurs only in conjunction with short term fading and therefore, there
is no need to look for modeling shadowing as a stand alone process. It is possible to create
and analyze more complex shadowed fading channels by considering the received power as
rising out of the product of three or more clusters. We can assume that the condition under
which only a direct path exists are not realistic and C0 can be put equal to zero. This raises
the issue of the case of Rician fading channels. To understand how Rician conditions can
be included in this model, we can go back to the case of a single cluster which gave rise
to a Rayleigh or Nakagami fading channel where we assumed that the single cluster can be
considered to be made up of several miniclusters. Once that premise is accepted, a single
cluster can given rise to Rayleigh, Nakagami or Rician when one of the ‘miniclusters’ is
treated as contributing the direct path. Another way to visualize pure Rayleigh or Nakagami
fading is to reclassify the third term C1 C2 in Eq. 71 by arguing that C2 is a deterministic
scalar quantity and C1 corresponds to the case of an exponential or gamma pdf. Thus, even
multiple scattering can result in Rayleigh or Nakagami channels if all but one of the multiple
scattering components is deterministic and thus, they will only provide a scaling factor. This
notion can now be extended to the other terms in Eq. 70 so that regardless of the number of
product terms, we can always get the case of Rayleigh, Nakagami, double Rayleigh, double
Nakagami or K or generalized K channels.
The representation of the channel in terms of Eq. 71 permits us to create any number of dif-
ferent short term fading or shadowed fading channels such as those based on the generalized
gamma pdf, Weibull pdf and each of these separately give rise to other pdfs described as
gamma-Weibull or Weibull-Weibull channels for modeling shadowed fading channels. The
representation of fading in this manner also makes it unnecessary even to consider the log-
normal shadowing since the random variations in the channel can be described in terms
of a single cluster (Rayleigh or Nakagami fading) or two clusters (double Rayleigh, double
Nakagami, or generalized K fading). Since the evidence of Rayleigh and Nakagami fading in
wireless channels is overwhelming, use of double Rayleigh, double Nakagami, generalized
K fading, is well justified to characterize the statistical fluctuations observed in wireless
channels.

7 Concluding Remarks

A broad overview of the probability density functions occurring in the study of wireless chan-
nels was presented. The list of the probability density functions for fading is summarized
in Table 1. It also contains the expressions for the amount of fading (AF). Table 2 lists the
expressions for pdfs in shadowed fading channels and the amount of fading (AF).
As mentioned earlier, the amount of fading provides a quantitative measure of fading
present in wireless channels. Note that the definition of the amount of fading depends only
on two moments, namely the first and the second moments of the power. Thus, it is possible
to get the same value of AF from several other probability density functions as well. In other
words, the quantification of the level of fading in Eq. 7 does not fully validate the measured
statistics of the fading channel, i.e., the density function of the received power, matches the
pdf employed to model the channel. Another way to quantify the characteristics of the fading
channels is through the use of outage probabilities. Whenever the signal power goes below a
threshold which depends on the data rate, coding, modulation, demodulation, etc., the chan-
nel goes into outage. The outage probability associated with fading, shadowing or shadowed
fading can be expressed as

123
 P. M. Shankar

Table 1 The probability density functions of the received power in fading channels and the amount of fading

Probability density function Amount of fading (AF) Additional

( p ≥ 0) information


f R ( p) = P1 exp − PP 1
0 0
  PRi = 2σ 2 + a02
K +1 1+2K 0
f Ri ( p) = P0 exp −K 0 − (K 0 +1) Pp 2 a02
Ri Ri (1+K 0 ) K0 =

  2σ 2
K 0 (K 0 +1)
×I0 2 PRi p
m m−1

f N ( p) = mP m p(m) exp −m Pp 1
m m ≥ 21
0
0
m−1

f G ( p) = Ppm (m) exp − Pp 1
m m > 0;
PG = m Pg
g g

 m > 0; 0 < s < ∞

  m+ 2s (m)


sp ms−1 ps
f GG ( p) = (m)P m exp − P 
2 − 1  m+ 1s 1
s
g
g  m+ 1s
PGG = (m) Pg



mw   1+ m2w mw > 0

f W ( p) = mPw p m w −1 exp − pP 
2 − 1
 1
mw
g g
 1+ m1w
PW =  1 + m1w Pg

Special conditions on the parameters are also provided. Note that all the pdfs exist only for p ≥ 0. The
subscripts with the pdfs and the moments indicate the names associated with the pdfs: Rayleigh (R), Rician
(Ri), Nakagami (N), gamma (G), generalized gamma (GG), Weibull (W)

PT
Pout = f ( p)dp = F (PT ) (78)
0

where PT is the threshold power. The density function of the power is f(p) and F(.) is
the cumulative distribution function of the power evaluated at p = PT . Table 3 lists the
expressions for the outage probabilities for the different density functions which describe
the fading and shadowed fading channels. It is seen that neither the Nakagami-lognormal
nor the Nakagami inverse Gaussian distribution leads to a closed form expression for the
outage probability while all the other density functions possess an analytical expressions for
the outage probabilities. The outage probability in a Nakagami inverse Gaussian channel
can be expressed as an infinite sum [25]. For the case of the pdfs containing the modified
Bessel function K (), the outage probabilities are in terms of the modified Bessel, MeijerG,
and, hypergeometric functions. All these functions are available in most of the computational
software packages such as Matlab (Mathworks, Natick, MA, USA), Maple (Maplesoft, 615
Kumpf Drive, Waterloo, ON, Canada) and Mathematica (Wolfram Research Inc, 100 Trade
Center Drive, Champaign, IL, USA). The outage probabilities of associated with all the fad-
ing distributions described in the section on the general model are plotted in Figs. 5 and 6
for two sets of values of the parameters. In Fig. 5, it is seen that the double Rayleigh has the
highest outage probabilities among the group. The Rayleigh, Nakagami (m = 0.95), double
Nakagami (m = 1.5), K distribution (c = 7.2) are all very close together while for m = 1.5
and c = 7.2, the G K distribution results in the lowest outage probabilities. For another set of
parameters, Fig. 6 shows that the outage probabilities are the lowest for the case of Rayleigh
fading.
The pdfs arising out of the cluster model to permits us describe all types of statistical fluc-
tuations present in the channel and plots of the outage probabilities demonstrate the range

123
 Table 2 The probability density functions (pdf) of the received power in shadowed fading channels and the amount of fading (AF) are tabulated

Probability density function ( p ≥ 0) Amount of fading (AF) Additional information

 
  2

 m p m−1
m+1 σdB
exp − mp  A0 exp − (10 log10 z−µ)2 dz exp −1
f N L N ( p) = 0∞ mz m (m) z 2 z2 2
2σdB m A20
A0 = log10(10)
e
2π σdB



c+m c+m −1  √ 
2
2 b p 2 K c−m b p U ( p) 1 1 1 2 = A2 ψ  (c) ;
P 2
f GK ( p) = (m)(c) 2
 m + c + mc σdB 0 GK = mc b

c+1 c+1 −1  √ 
2
2 b p 2 K c−1 b p U ( p) 2 = A2 ψ  (c) ;
P = c 2
f K ( p) = (c) 2 1 + 2c GK pdf with m = 1; σdB 0 K b
 2  √ 
2
f D R ( p) = 2 u2 K 0 u p U ( p) 3 GK pdf with m = c = 1;
P D R = u 2

 √ 
2
f D N ( p) = 2  v 2m m−1
p K 0 v p U ( p) 2 1 GK pdf with c = m;
P D N = 2m
[(m)] 2 2 m + m2 v


Statistical Models for Fading and Shadowed Fading Channels

m 1 +m 2
2
2  χ (m 1 +m 2 ) 2 −1  √  1 1 1
f N d N ( p) = (m )(m p K m 1 −m 2 χp U ( p) GK pdf with m = m 1 ; c = m 2 ;
P N d N = m 1 m 2 χ2
1 2) 2 m
1 + m2 + m 1 m 2

 2
sp ms−1 p s  m+ s (m) A20 
m exp − P 
2 − 1 2 = ψ (m)
g
f GG ( p) = (m)P 0 < s < 1; A20 ψ  (m) + σdB
g  m+ 1s s2



m+ 1  1  
  2   2 
1 2 P0 4m m exp H
2m−1 K
√  m+1 P σdB σ
f NIG ( p) = H P0 2π H √ g ( p) m H −1 g ( p) = H2P mp 2 + 2H0 H = 2 sinh 2 exp dB2
m+ 1 p m+ 21 0 2A 2A
(m) g( p) 2 0 0

Nakagami-lognormal distribution (NLN), generalized K distribution (GK), K distribution (K), double Rayleigh distribution (DR), double Nakagami distribution (DN), non-identical
double Nakagami distribution (NdN), generalized gamma distribution (GG) and Nakagami inverse Gaussian distribution (NIG)

123
123
Table 3 The outage probabilities available in analytical forms are tabulated in fading and shadowed fading channels

Probability density function f ( p), p ≥ 0 Outage probability [Eq. 78] Additional information

Fading channels
R [Eq. 6] 1−
exp (−PT /P0 )
mP
N [Eq. 19] γ m, P T [ (m)]−1 ; m ≥ 21 γ (.,.) is the incomplete gamma function [19, 8-350]

0
P
G [Eq. 25] γ m, PT [ (m)]−1 ; m > 0
 g 
Ps
GG[Eq. 29] γ m, PT [ (m)]−1

g 
W [Eq. 36] 1 − exp −PTm w /Pg , m w > 0
Shadowed fading channels   c
(m−c) P b2 PT b2
(m)(c+1) 1 F2 c, [1 − m + c, 1 + c] , T4 4
G K [Eq. 53]   m 1 F2 (., [., .] , .)is the hypergeometric function [19, 6-592, 9-137]
(c−m) P b2 PT b2
+ (m+1)(c) F2 m, [1 − c + m, 1 + m] , T4 4
  1
Ps
GG[Eq. 66] γ m, PT [ (m)]−1
g
 
P  √ 
DR [Eq. 72] 1 − 2u 2T K 1 u PT K 1 () is the modified Bessel function of the second kind


DN [Eq. 74] −2 1
[ (m)] Mei jer G [[1], []], [[m, m], [0]], 4 PT v 2 MeijerG function [19, 9-301]
  c
2 P  √ 
K [Eq. 56] 1 − (c) b 2T K c b PT

Rayleigh (R); Nakagami (N); generalized K distribution (GK), K distribution (K), double Rayleigh distribution (DR), double Nakagami distribution (DN), generalized gamma
distribution (GG), Weibull (W)
P. M. Shankar
Statistical Models for Fading and Shadowed Fading Channels

Fig. 5 The outage probabilities for a set of parameters are plotted for the pdfs arising out of the cluster model.
The axis is the normalized threshold PT /<P> in dB. The parameter values are indicated

Fig. 6 The outage probabilities for a set of parameters are plotted for the pdfs arising out of the cluster model.
The axis is the normalized threshold PT /< P > in dB. The parameter values are indicated

and versatility of the cluster model. The results and descriptions provided here should assist
the instructors and students to easily comprehend the statistical characteristics of the wireless
channel.

123
 P. M. Shankar

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Author Biography

P. M. Shankar received his M.Sc. (1972) in Physics from Kerala

University, India, M.Tech. (1975) in Applied Optics and Ph.D. in
Electrical Engineering (1980) from Indian Institute of Technology,
Delhi, India. He was a visiting scholar at the School of Electrical
Engineering, University of Sydney, Australia, from 1981 to 1982. He
joined Drexel University in 1982 and is currently the Allen Roth-
warf Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is the
author of the textbook Introduction to Wireless Systems, published by
John Wiley & Sons, 2002. His research interests are in Statistical sig-
nal processing for medical applications, Modeling of fading channels,
Wireless communications, Medical ultrasound, and Optical fiber
sensors.

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