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Wireless Technology Questions –1

03-2-2007
Text: William Stalling
Chap 1-6 Assignment - To be submitted on 17-2-2007
1. Chap 2 Fundamentals
a. Problems

Q 7 What is the channel capacity for a teleprinter channel with a 300Hz bandwidth and a signal to
noise ratio of 3 dB?

Ans. Using Shannon's equation: C = B log2 (1 + SNR)

We have W = 300 Hz (SNR)dB = 3
Therefore, SNR = 100.3
C = 300 log2 (1 + 100.3) = 300 log2 (2.995) = 474 bps

Q 8a A digital signaling system is required to operate at 9600 bps. If a signal element encodes a 4-bit
word, what is the minimum required bandwidth of the channel?

Ans. Using Nyquist's equation: C = 2B log2M

We have C = 9600 bps
a. log2M = 4, because a signal element encodes a 4-bit word
Therefore, C = 9600 = 2B × 4, and
B = 1200 Hz

Q 9 Study the works of Shannon & Nyquist on channel capacity. Each places an upper limit on the bit
rate of a channel based on two different approaches. How are they related?

Ans. Nyquist analyzed the theoretical capacity of a noiseless channel; therefore, in that
case, the signaling rate is limited solely by channel bandwidth. Shannon addressed the
question of what signaling rate can be achieved over a channel with a given bandwidth, a
given signal power, and in the presence of noise.

Q10 Given a channel with an intended capacity of 20 Mbps, the bandwidth of the cahnnel is 3 MHz.
What signal-to-noise ratio is required to achieve this capacity?

Ans. C = B log2 (1 + SNR)

20 × 106 = 3 × 106 × log2(1 + SNR)
log2(1 + SNR) = 6.67
1 + SNR = 102
SNR = 101

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Q11 Show that doubling the transmission frequency or doubling the distance between transmitting
antenna and the receiving antenna attenuates the power received by 6 dB.

Ans. From Equation 2.1, we have LdB = 20 log (4πd/λ) = 20 log (4πdf/ v), where λf 
= v (see Question 4). If we double either d or f, we add a term 20 log(2), which 
is approximately 6 dB.

Q13 If an amplifier has a 30 dB voltage gain, what voltage ratio does the gain represent?

Ans. For a voltage ratio, we have

NdB = 30 = 20 log(V2/V1)
V2/V1 = 1030/20 = 101.5 = 31.6

Q14. An amplifier has an output of 20 W. What is its output in dBW?

Ans. Power (dBW) = 10 log (Power/1W) = 10 log20 = 13 dBw

Worked examples – p.42

1. If a signal with a power level of 10mW is inserted onto a transmission line and the
measured power some distance away is 5mW, the loss can be expressed as

L dB = 10 log(10/5) = 10(0.3) = 3 dB

2. Decibels are useful in determining the gain or loss over a series of transmission elements.
Consider a series in which the input is at a low power level of 4 mW, the first lement is a
transmission line with a 12 dB loss, the second element is an amplifier with a 35 dB gain,
and the third element is a transmission line with a 10 dB loss.

GdB = 13 = 10 log(Pout / 4 mW)

Pout = 4 X 101.3 mW = 79.8 mW

3. Power of 1000 W is 30 dBW, and power of 1 mW is –30 dBW.

Review Questions

Q1 What are some major advantages and disadvantages of microwave transmission.

Ans. A continuous or analog signal is one in which the signal intensity varies in a smooth
fashion over time while a discrete or digital signal is one in which the signal intensity
maintains one of a finite number of constant levels for some period of time and then
changes to another constant level.

Q2 Explain how synchronous time division multiplexing (TDM) works.

Ans. Amplitude, frequency, and phase are three important characteristics of a periodic
signal.

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2. Chap 5 Antennas
a. Review Questions

Q1. What two functions are performed by antenna?

The two functions of an antenna are: (1) For transmission of a signal, radio-
frequency electrical energy from the transmitter is converted into electromagnetic
energy by the antenna and radiated into the surrounding environment (atmosphere,
space, water); (2) for reception of a signal, electromagnetic energy impinging on the
antenna is converted into radio-frequency electrical energy and fed into the receiver.
Q2. What is isotropic antenna?

An isotropic antenna is a point in space that radiates power in all directions 
equally.

Q4. What is the advantage of parabolic reflective antenna?

A parabolic antenna creates, in theory, a parallel beam without dispersion. In 
practice, there will be some beam spread. Nevertheless, it produces a highly 
focused, directional beam.

Q5. What factors determine antenna gain?

Effective area and wavelength.

Q6. What is the primary cause of signal loss in satellite communication?

Free space loss.

Q7. Name and briefly define four types of noise.

Thermal noise is due to thermal agitation of electrons. Intermodulation noise 
produces signals at a frequency that is the sum or difference of the two original 
frequencies or multiples of those frequencies. Crosstalk is the unwanted coupling 
between signal paths. Impulse noise is noncontinuous, consisting of irregular 
pulses or noise spikes of short duration and of relatively high amplitude.

Q9. What is fading?

The term fading refers to the  time variation of received signal power caused by 
changes in the transmission medium or path(s).

Q10. What is the difference between diffraction and fading?

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Diffraction occurs at the edge of an impenetrable body that is large compared to 
the wavelength of the radio wave. The edge in effect become a source and waves 
radiate in different directions from the edge, allowing a beam to bend around an 
obstacle. If the size of an obstacle is on the order of the wavelength of the signal 
or less, scattering occurs. An incoming signal is scattered into several weaker 
outgoing signals in unpredictable directions.

Q11. What is the difference between fast and slow fading?

Fast fading refers to changes in signal strength between a transmitter and 
receiver as the distance between the two changes by a small distance of about 
one­half a wavelength. Slow fading refers to changes in signal strength between 
a transmitter and receiver as the distance between the two changes by a larger 
distance, well in excess of a wavelength.

Q12. What is the difference between flat and selective fading?

Flat fading, or nonselective fading, is that type of fading in which all frequency 
components of the received signal fluctuate in the same proportions 
simultaneously. Selective fading affects unequally the different spectral 
components of a radio signal.

Q13. Name and briefly define three diversity techniques.

Space diversity involves the physical transmission path and typical refers to the 
use of multiple transmitting or receiving antennas. With frequency diversity, the 
signal is spread out over a larger frequency bandwidth or carried on multiple 
frequency carriers. Time diversity techniques aim to spread the data out over 
time so that a noise burst affects fewer bits.
b. Problems

Q 9 Assume that two antennas are half-wave dipoles and each has a directive gain of 3 dB. If the
transmitted power is 1 W and the two antennas are separated by a distance of 10 Km, what is the
received power? Assume that the antennas are aligned so that the directive gain numbers are correct
and the frequency used is 100MHz.

         Ans. We have Pr = [(Pt) (Gt) (Gr) (c)2]/(4πfd)2
= [(1) (2) (2) (3 × 108)2]/[(16) (π)2 (3 × 108)2 (104)2] = 0.76 × 10–9 W

Q10 Suppose a transmitter produces 50 W of power.

a. Express the transmitted power in units of dBm and dBW.

b. If the transmitter’s power is applied to a unity gain antenna with a 900 MHz carrier
frequency, what is the received power in dBm at a free space distance of 100 m?

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a. From Appendix 2A, PowerdBW = 10 log (PowerW) = 10 log (50) = 17 dBW
PowerdBm = 10 log (PowermW) = 10 log (50,000) = 47 dBm
b. Using Equation (5.2),
     LdB = 20 log(900 × 106) +20 log (100) – 147.56 = 120 + 59.08 +40 – 147.56 = 71.52
Therefore, received power in dBm = 47 – 71.52 = –24.52 dBm

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3. Chap 6 Encoding
Q. What are the different modulations that can be used to encode digital data for transmission over
analog media?

Ans. Modulation involves operation on one or more of the tree characteristics of the carrier signal:
amplitude, frequency and phase. There are three basic encoding or modulation techniques for
transforming digital data into analog signals: Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK), Frequency Shift Keying
(FSK) and Phase Shift Keying (PSK).

Draw Fig 6.2 (ASK, BFSK, BPSK)

QA 6
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Q1. What is differential encoding?

In differential encoding, the signal is decoded by comparing the polarity of adjacent

signal elements rather than determining the absolute value of a signal element.

Q3 Indicate three major advantages of digital transmission over analog transmission.

Cost, capacity utilization, and security and privacy are three major advantages enjoyed by
digital transmission over analog transmission.

Problems
Q6. Why should PCM be preferable to DM for encoding analog signals that represent
digitized data?

As was mentioned in the text, analog signals in the voice band that represent
digital data have more high frequency components than analog voice signals.
These higher components cause the signal to change more rapidly over time.
Hence, DM will suffer from a high level of slope overload noise. PCM, on the
other hand, does not estimate changes in signals, but rather the absolute value
of the signal, and is less affected than DM.

Q. What is QAM technique? Show diagrams of QAM modulator and demodulator.

Quadrature Amplitude Modulation is a combination of ASK and PSK. It can be considered

logical extension of QPSK.

Two different signals (carrier) are sent simultaneously with a phase shift of 90 degree with
respect to one another. Each carrier is ASK modulated. The two different signals are
simultaneously transmitted over the same medium. At the receiver, the two signals are
demodulated and the results combined to produce the original signal.

If two level ASK is used, then each of the streams can be in one of two states and the
combined stream can be in one of 4 = 2x2 states. This is essentially QPSK. If four-level
ASK is used, then the combined stream can be in one of 16=4x4 states.

S(t) = d1 cos 2π f t + d2 sin 2π f t

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QA 8
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Chap 7 Spread Spectrum

Review Questions

1. What is the relationship between the bandwidth of a signal before and after it has
been encoded using spread spectrum?
The bandwidth is wider after the signal has been encoded using spread
spectrum.

2. List three benefits of using spread spectrum.

(1) We can gain immunity from various kinds of noise and multipath distortion. (2)
It can also be used for hiding and encrypting signals. Only a recipient who knows
the spreading code can recover the encoded information. (3) Several users can
independently use the same higher bandwidth with very little interference, using
code division multiple access (CDMA).

3. What is frequency hopping spread spectrum?

With frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS), the signal is broadcast over a
seemingly random series of radio frequencies, hopping from frequency to
frequency at fixed intervals. A receiver, hopping between frequencies in
synchronization with the transmitter, picks up the message.

4. Explain the difference between slow and fast FHSS.

Slow FHSS = multiple signal elements per hop;
fast FHSS = multiple hops per signal element.

5. What is direct sequence spread spectrum?

With direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS), each bit in the original signal is
represented by multiple bits in the transmitted signal, using a spreading code.

6. What is the relationship between the bit rate of a signal before and after it has been
encoded using DSSS?

For an N-bit spreading code, the bit rate after spreading (usually called the chip
rate) is N times the original bit rate.

7. What is CDMA?
CDMA allows multiple users to transmit over the same wireless channel using
spread spectrum. Each user uses a different spreading code. The receiver picks
out one signal by matching the spreading code.

8. Explain the difference between auto-correlation and cross correlation.

Autocorrelation is the correlation or comparison of a sequence with all phase

shifts of itself. Cross-correlation is the comparison is made between two
sequences from different sources rather than a shifted copy of a sequence with
itself.
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Chap 8 Coding and Error Control

Review Questions

Q2. What is CRC?

An error detecting code in which the code is the remainder resulting from dividing
the bits to be checked by a predetermined binary number.

Q3. Why would you expect a CRC to detect more errors than a parity bit?
The CRC has more bits and therefore provides more redundancy. That is, it
provides more information that can be used to detect errors.

Q4. List three different ways to describe CRC algorithm.

Modulo 2 arithmetic, polynomials, and digital logic.

Q5. Is it possible to design an ECC that will correct some double bit errors but not all
double bit errors? Why or why not?
It is possible. You could design a code in which all codewords are at least a
distance of 3 from all other codewords, allowing all single-bit errors to be
corrected. Suppose that some but not all codewords in this code are at least a
distance of 5 from all other codewords. Then for those particular codewords, but
not the others, a double-bit error could be corrected.

Q6. In an (n, k) block ECC, what do n and k represent?

An (n, k) block code encodes k data bits into n-bit codewords.

Q7. In an (n, k, K) convolution code, what do n, k, and K represent?

An (n, k, K) code processes input data k bits at a time and produces an output of
n bits for each incoming k bits. The current output of n bits is a function of the last
K × k input bits.

Q8. What is trellis in context of a convolution code?

A trellis is a diagram that shows the state transitions over time in a convolutional
code.

Q9. What two key elements comprise error control?

Detection of errors and retransmission of frames that are received in error.

Q10. Explain how Go-back N ARQ work.

Go-back-N ARQ is a form of error control in which a destination station sends a
negative acknowledgment (NAK) when it receives an error. The source station
receiving the NAK will retransmit the frame in error plus all succeeding frames
transmitted in the interim.
Problems
Q1. What is the purpose of using modulo-2 arithmetic rather than binary arithmentic in
computing an FCS?

QA 10
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Any arithmetic scheme will work if applied in exactly the same way to the
forward and reverse process. The modulo 2 scheme is easy to implement in
circuitry. It also yields a remainder one bit smaller than binary arithmetic.
Chap 4
Problems.

Q8 . Describe UDP protocol. Why can’t a user program directly access IP?

UDP is a transport level protocol. UDP provides connectionless service fro application-
level procedures. It is basically an unreliable service, delivery and duplicate protection
are not guaranteed.. However, this reduces the overhead of the protocol and may be
adequate in many cases. For example,
- Inward data collection where loss of occasional data unit may not cause problem.
- Request-Response in transaction service where application can handle error.
- Run-time applications such as voice video involving a degree of redundancy or real-
time requirement.
UDP sits on top of IP. Because it is connectionless, UDP may have very little to do.
Essentially it adds port-addressing capability to IP.

UDP provides the source and destination port addresses and a checksum that covers the
data field. These functions would not normally be performed by protocols above the
transport layer. Thus UDP provides a useful, though limited, service.

QA 11