RF

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RADIO FREQUENCY
 The term Radio Frequency (RF or rf) refers to the
electromagnetic field that is generated when an
alternating current is input to an antenna. This field,
also called an RF field or radio wave
 This can be used for wireless broadcasting and
communications and many other purposes over a
significant portion of the electromagnetic radiation
spectrum
 In vacuum, all electromagnetic waves travel at the
speed of light: c = 3x108 m/sec.

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TRANSMISSION PROBLEMS

 Many problems may occur during the

transmission of a radio signal.
 Some of the most common problems are
described below.
 Path Loss
 Shadowing
 Fading

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PATH LOSS
 Path loss occurs when the received signal
becomes weaker and weaker due to
increasing distance between MS and BTS,
even if there are no obstacles between the
transmitting (Tx) and receiving (Rx) antenna.
 The path loss problem seldom leads to a
dropped call because before the problem
becomes extreme, a new transmission path
is established via another BTS.
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Shadowing
 Shadowing occurs when there are physical
obstacles including hills and buildings
between the BTS and the MS.
 The obstacles create a shadowing effect
which can decrease the received signal
strength.
 When the MS moves, the signal strength
fluctuates depending on the obstacles
between the MS and BTS.
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Shadowing contd..,
A signal influenced by fading varies in signal
strength.
 Drops in strength are called fading dips.

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RF Propagation
 Basic propagation models
 Reflection
 Diffraction
 Scattering

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Reflection
 Reflection occurs when a propagating
electromagnetic wave is incident upon an
object which has very large dimensions when
compared to the wavelength of the
propagating wave
 Reflection occurs from the surface of the
earth and from buildings and walls

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Diffraction
 Diffraction occurs when the radio path
between the transmitter and receiver is
obstructed by a surface that has sharp
irregularities (edges)
 Building edges, roof tops

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Scattering
 Scattering occurs when the medium through which
the wave travels consist of objects with dimensions
that are small compared to the wavelength .
 Rough surfaces , Sign posts
 Essentially, the radio waves interact with the
physical environment along each of these paths.
 There are typically (unless you are in free-space)
many paths from the transmitter to the receiver.
 Each path is called a multipath.

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11
Fading
 Fading occurs when there is more than one
transmission path to the MS or BTS, and
therefore more than one signal is arriving at
the receiver.
 This may be due to buildings or mountains,
either close to or far from the receiving
device.

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Rayleigh Fading
 This occurs when a signal takes more than
one path between the MS and BTS antennas.
 In this case, the signal is not received on a
line of sight path directly from the Tx antenna.
 Rather, it is reflected off buildings, for
example, and is received from several
different indirect paths.

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Rayleigh Fading

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Mobile Radio Propagation Effects
 Signal strength
 Must be strong enough between base station and mobile
unit to maintain signal quality at the receiver
 Must not be so strong as to create too much interference
with channels in another cell.

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 Attenuation due to rain
 Presence of raindrops can severely degrade the reliability
and performance of communication links
 Trees near subscriber sites can lead to multipath
fading
 Loss of strength of signal due to absorption by trees,
plants, parks (greenary) is called vegetation losses

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SOLUTIONS TO TRANSMISSION
PROBLEMS
 Some solutions to the problems described in
previous sections are
 Channel Coding
 Interleaving
 Diversity
 Although many of these do not entirely solve
all problems on the radio transmission path,
they do play an important part in maintaining
call quality for as long as possible.
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Channel Coding
 In digital transmission, the quality of the
transmitted signal is often expressed in terms
of how many of the received bits are
incorrect.
 This is called Bit Error Rate (BER).

 BER defines the percentage of the total

number of received bits which are incorrectly
detected.

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Channel Coding contd..,
 Thispercentage should be as low as
possible. It is not possible to reduce the
percentage to zero because the transmission
path is constantly changing.

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Channel Coding contd..,
 This means that there must be an allowance
for a certain amount of errors and at the
same time an ability to restore the
information, or at least detect errors so the
incorrect information bits are not interpreted
as correct.
 Channel coding is used to detect and correct
errors in a received bit stream.

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Multiple Antennas Diversity
 One way to overcome fading problem is to design
receivers with multiple, say 2, antennas.
 Both antennas can receive the desired radio wave.

Transmitter
Receiver

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Multiple Antennas (Cont’d)
 If receive antennas are adequately separated, then paths
followed by radio waves to the first antenna are different from
paths followed by radio waves to the second antenna.

 Result: fading of received signal on first antenna is different from

fading of received signal on second antenna. Chances are if one
antenna experiences a deep fade, the other does not.

 Receiver can adaptively choose the “stronger” antenna to

determine the received radio wave at any given time.

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Tilt
 Mechanical Tilt

 Electrical Tilt

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CELLS

A cell may be defined as an area of radio

coverage from one BTS antenna system.
 It is the smallest building block in a mobile
network and is the reason why mobile
networks are often referred to as cellular
networks.
 Typically, cells are represented graphically by
hexagons.

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The Cellular concept

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Cell Characteristics
 The Basic Union In The System
 defined as the area where radio coverage is given by
one base station.
 A cell has one or several frequencies, depending on
traffic load.
 Frequencies are reused, but not used in neighboring
cells due to interference.
 Each served by its own antenna
 Served by base station consisting of transmitter,
receiver, and control unit
 Use multiple low-power transmitters
 Cell sizes from some 100 m in cities to, e.g., 35 km on
the country side (GSM)
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Different types of cells

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 Pico cells covering building interiors, Micro cells covering
selected outdoor areas, and Macro cells for more wider areas
like roads.

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Capacity and Frequency Re-use
 It is the number of frequencies in a cell that determines
the cell’s capacity.
 However, a cellular network can overcome this
constraint and maximize the number of subscribers that
it can service by using frequency re-use.
 Each company with a license to operate a mobile
network is allocated a limited number of frequencies.
 Depending on the traffic load and the availability of
frequencies, a cell may have one or more frequencies
allocated to it.

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 Itis important when allocating frequencies
that interference is avoided.
 Frequency re-use means that two radio
channels within the same network can use
exactly the same pair of frequencies,
provided that there is a sufficient
geographical distance.
 The tighter frequency re-use plan, the greater
the capacity potential of the network.
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Frequency Re-use contd..,
 Interference can be caused by a variety of
factors.
 A common factor is the use of similar
frequencies close to each other. The higher
interference, the lower call quality.
 To provide coverage to all the subscribers,
frequencies must be reused many times at
different geographical locations in order to
provide a network with sufficient capacity.
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Frequency Re-use contd..,
 The same frequencies can not be re-used in neighboring cells as
they would interfere with each other so special patterns of
frequency usage are determined during the planning of the
network.

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Example of Frequency Reuse

Cells using the same frequencies

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Frequency Re-use contd..,
 These frequency re-use patterns ensure that
any frequencies being re-used are located at
a sufficient distance apart to ensure that
there is little interference between them.
 The term “frequency re-use distance” is used
to describe the distance between two
identical frequencies in a re-use pattern.
 The lower frequency re-use distance, the
more capacity will be available in the
network.
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Frequency Hopping
 For each cell(sector)the hopping sequence is the
same.
 Information of the sequence is broadcast on the
control channels.
 Hopping sequence must be different on each BTS
site.
 Frequency that sends the control channels must
remain on the same frequency and power level.

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Frequency Hopping contd..,

F1
F2
F3
F4
Time

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Interference

 Co-channel Interference (C/I)

 Cellular networks are more often limited by
problems caused by interference rather than by
signal strength problems.
 Co-channel interference is caused by the use of a
frequency close to the exact same frequency.
 The former will interfere with the latter, leading to the
terms interfering frequency (I) and carrier frequency
(C).

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Adjacent channel interference (C/A)

 Although adjacent frequencies are at different

frequencies to the carrier frequency they can still
cause interference and quality problems.

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Approaches to Cope with
Increasing Capacity
 Frequency borrowing – frequencies are taken from
adjacent cells by congested cells
 Cell splitting – cells in areas of high usage can be
split into smaller cells
 Cell sectoring – cells are divided into a number of
wedge-shaped sectors, each with their own set of
channels

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Cell Splitting

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 Cell splitting
 Decrease transmission power in base and mobile
 Results in more and smaller cells
 Reuse frequencies within same cell groups
 Cell sectoring
 Directional antennas subdivide cell into 3 or 6 sectors
 Might also increase cell capacity by factor of 3 or 6

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 The effects of decreasing cell site size:
 Several small cells instead of a single
transmitter=> frequency reuse
 better efficiency

 Lower power consumption in MS as a result

more talk time for portables

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Handoff or Handover
 A crucial component of the cellular concept is the
notion of handoffs.
 Mobile phone users are by definition mobile, i.e.,
they move around while using the phone.
 Thus, the network should be able to give them
continuous access as they move.
 This is not a problem when users move within the
same cell.
 When they move from one cell to another, a
handoff is needed.
BS-1 BS-243
Handoff contd..,
 The process of changing cells during a call is called handover in
GSM terminology.

 A user is transmitting and receiving signals from a given base

station, say B1.

 Assume the user moves from the coverage area of one base
station into the coverage area of a second base station, B2.

 B1 notices that the signal from this user is degrading.

 B2 notices that the signal from this user is improving.

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Cluster
 Combination of cells with unique frequency
 Adjacent cells are allocated different frequency so
that they can overlap with out causing interference
 Min no of cells required to form a cluster is 3
 A cluster is a group of cells in which all available
frequencies have been used once and only once.

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Cell Patterns
 Standard model using 7 frequencies:

4 1
3 5 2
1 3
2 6
7

K=7 K=3
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f3 f3 f3
f2 f2
f1 f1 f1 f2 f3 f7
f3 f3
f2 f2 f2
3 cell cluster f5 f2
f4 f6 f5
f1 f1 f1 f4
f3 f3 f3 f3 f7 f1
f2 f3
f6 f5 f2

7 cell cluster

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