Diversity Antenna Systems

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NEED OF DIVERSITY
Building

Building
Building

In a typical cellular radio environment, the communication between the cell site
and mobile is not by a direct radio path but via many paths.
The direct path between the transmitter and the receiver is obstructed by buildings
and other objects. Hence the signal that arrives at the receiver is either by
reflection from the flat sides of buildings or by diffraction around man made or
natural obstructions.
When various incoming radiowaves arrive at the receiver antenna, they combine
constructively or destructively, which leads to a rapid variation in signal strength.
The signal fluctuations are known as multipath fading.
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DIVERSITY TECHNIQUE
Diversity techniques have been recognised as an effective means which
enhances the immunity of the communication system to the multipath fading.
GSM therefore extensively adopts diversity techniques that include
Interleaving
In time domain

Diversity techniques

Frequency Hopping
In Frequency domain
Spatial diversity
In spatial domain
Polarisation diversity
In polarisation domain
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CONCEPT OF DIVERSITY ANTENNA SYSTEMS

Spatial and polarisation diversity techniques are realised through antenna
systems.
A diversity antenna system provides a number of receiving branches or ports from
which the diversified signals are derived and fed to a receiver. The receiver then
combines the incoming signals from the branches to produce a combined signal
with improved quality in terms of signal strength or signal-to-noise ratio (S/N).
The performance of a diversity antenna system primarily relies on the branch
correlation and signal level difference between branches.
Fade

Transmission
media 1

Information

Receiver

Transmission
media 2
Peak

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CORRELATION BETWEEN BRANCHES

The branch correlation coefficient (r) represents the degree of similarity
between the signals from two different receiving branches. The correlation
coefficient ranges from 0 to 1.
r=1 means the signals from two different branches behave exactly the same. In
this case, the signals are coherent.
r=0 means the signals from two different branches behave completely different.
In this case, the signals are uncorrelated.
To achieve the best performance, a diversity antenna system is required to
provide uncorrelated signals.
For r=1, the diversity antenna becomes ineffective in combating the multipath
fading.
In reality, however, it is not always practical to have a diversity antenna system
which guarantees r=0. Extensive research in this field has revealed that a
diversity antenna system can perform satisfactorily provided that r 0.7.

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Combining

Combined signal
fed to receiver

Signal 2
Signal 1

Signal Strength

Combined signal
Signal 1
Signal 2

Tim e

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SIGNAL LEVEL DIFFERENCE

The second key parameter for a good diversity antenna system is the mean
signal level difference. The difference is a statistical parameter which indicates
the balance of the signal strengths from the two receiving branches.
In a real system, the statistical balance can be verified by comparing the mean
values of the two signals measured over a lengthy period. If the ratio betn the
median values is 0dB, the two receiving branches are statistically balanced.
The performance of the diversity system will deteriorate while the ratio increases

Signal strength

or decreases from 0dB.

Signal level difference

Time
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SPATIAL DIVERSITY ANTENNA SYSTEMS

The spatial diversity antenna system is constructed by physically separating two
receiving base station antennas.
Once they are separated far enough, both antennas receive independent fading
signals. As a result, the signals captured by the antennas are most likely
uncorrelated.
The further apart are the antennas, the more likely that the signals are
uncorrelated.
The types of the configuration used in GSM networks are:
horizontal separation
vertical separation
composite separation.

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TYPICAL SPATIAL ANTENNA DIVERSITY CONFIGURATIONS

Vertical Separation

Horizontal Separation

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CRITERIA FOR SELECTING TYPE OF SPATIAL SEPARATION

Branch correlation
The physical limitation of the supporting structure should also be considered
while selecting the spatial diversity antenna configuration. For example, if a wide
framework is not permitted on top of a mounting tower, vertical separation is a
alternative to be considered.
To achieve the required correlation coefficient (r 0.7) different configurations
require different separations.
The separation indicated in Table below shows that low values of correlation are
more easily obtained with horizontal rather than vertical separation. That is why
most of the diversity antenna systems in GSM networks use horizontal
separation.

Separation

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Horizontal Separation
d/
900MHZ 1800MHZ
10
3.3m
1.7m

10

Vertical Separation
d/
900MHZ 1800MHZ
17
5.7m
2.8m

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CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF SPATIAL SEPARATION

Signal level difference
A system using horizontally separated diversity antennas has a symmetrical
configuration and is therefore able to provide balanced signal strengths.
A system using vertically separated antennas needs large separation to meet the
required correlation. The consequence is that the two antennas have different
antenna height gains, which may result in imbalance between the two signal
strengths.

Angular dependence
Angular dependence reflects the dependence of the performance of a diversity
antenna system on the angular position of a mobile relative to the boresight of
the antenna.
Horizontally separated antenna system has high dependence on the mobiles
angular position. The effective separation reduces as the mobile moves away
from the antenna boresight. As the mobile is 90 off the antenna boresight, the
effective separation becomes zero. In such a case, the signals from two
antennas are very likely coherent which will then lead to a deterioration of the
diversity performance.
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ANGULAR DEPENDANCE
Reduced
Separation

Separation

View from boresight

View from 45 deg off boresight

Zero
Separation

View from 90 deg off boresight

Most of the GSM cell sites are 3 sectored cell sites.

The maximum angular offset is therefore approximately 60.
Simulation shows that the performance of a horizontally separated antenna
system experiences noticeable deterioration only when the angular offset
exceeds 70 .
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PROS AND CONS OF HORIZONTAL CONFIGURATION

Advantages
Easier to achieve low values of correlation and balance between the signals.
Hence widely used.

Disadvantages
High angular dependence. The impact is however marginal for sectorised
applications.
Require sizeable headframe on the supporting structure.

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PROS AND CONS OF VERTICAL CONFIGURATION

Advantages
Slim supporting structure.
Angular independence

Disadvantages
Require large separation for low values of correlation.

May cause imbalance between the two diversity branches.

Generally not used.

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THREE ANTENNA SPATIAL CONFIGURATION

10 Separation

Receive 1

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Transmit

15

Receive 2

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TWO ANTENNA SPATIAL CONFIGURATION

10 Separation

Tx Rx

Duplexer
Receive 2

Transmit
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Receive 1
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POLARISATION DIVERSITY ANTENNA SYSTEMS

A single (say vertical) polarised electromagnetic wave is converted to a wave
with two orthogonal polarised fields while it is propagating through scattering
environment.
It has also been found that the two fields exhibit some extent of decorrelation.

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DUAL POLARISED ANTENNAS

A dual-polarisation antenna consists of two sets of radiating elements which
radiate or, in reciprocal, receive two orthogonal polarised fields.
The antenna has two input connectors which separately connects to each set of
the elements.
The antenna has therefore the ability to simultaneously transmit and receive two
orthogonally polarised fields.

Slant 45

H/V
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ADVANTAGES OF DUAL POLARISED ANTENNAS

The best advantage of using the dual polarisation antenna is the reduction in
the number of antennas per sector.
Reduced size of the headframe of the supporting structure
Reduced windload and weight.
Reduced difficulty in site acquisition and installation.
Cost saving
Requiring slim tower
Requiring less installation time.
Cost of one dual polarisation antenna is generally lower than that of two
Single polarised antennas

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TX RX

RX

RX

DUAL POLE ANTENNA

DUAL POLE ANTENNA

T R

SINGLE POLE ANTENNA

DUAL POLE ANTENNA

DUAL POLARISED ANTENNA CONFIGURATIONS

RX

T R

T R

TX RX

TX RX

TX
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