Module – 1

Module-1 covered by chapters 1 & 2 from the prescribed text book “Fundamentals of LTE”
by Arunabha Ghosh, Jan Zhang, Jefferey Andrews, Riaz Mohammed.
Chapter 1: Evolution of Cellular Technologies :( Page28-35)
o Key Enabling Technologies and Features of LTE
o LTE Network Architecture
Chapter 2: Wireless Fundamentals :( Page56- 94)
o Cellular concept Hardware Components
o Broadband wireless channel (BWC)
o Fading in Broadband wireless channel.
o Modeling of Broadband Fading Channel.
o Mitigation of Narrow band and Broadband Fading

Chapter1: Evolution of Cellular Technologies

1.1 Evolution of Wireless Cellular Technologies:

• First Generation (1G) Technology:
o 1G (or 1-G) refers to the first-generation
o It is an analog based voice oriented telecommunications standards
o AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone system) were the popular 1G cellular system
o Used analog FM modulation and FDD used to achieve Duplexing
o Type of multiple access is FDMA and Channel B.W is 30Khz
o Frequency band is 824-894 MHz.
o Forward link and Reverse link separated by 45 MHz.
o Operating Frequency: 150MHz / 900MHz
o Examples for IG:
- Japan’s Nippon Telephone and Telegraph Company (NTT) in 1979.
- Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT-400) system, deployed in Europe in 1981.
- Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) in USA in 1983.
o Drawbacks of IG:
- Poor Voice Quality and Poor Battery Life
- Large Phone Size and no Security
- Limited Capacity and no roaming
- Poor Handoff Reliability and no data services.
• 2G and 2.5G Generation Technology:
o 2G is Digital based cellular system and launched in Finland in 1991.
o 2G network use digital signaling.
o Its data speed was up to 64Kbps.
o Enables SMS, picture message and MMS (Multi Media Message).
o Provides better quality and capacity.
o Introduce two major multiplexing schemes called TDMA and CDMA.
o Use digital modulation techniques to send digital control messages.
o Use Digital encryption used for security and privacy.
o Use of digital encoding and decoding schemes.
o Use of error detection and correction codes for reliability.
o Examples of 2G digital cellular systems include:
- Global System for Mobile Communications(GSM)
- IS-95 CDMA, and IS-136 TDMA systems
o 2.5G:Different technologies to increase the data services are over 2g networks:

- CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data)

- HSCSD ( High Speed Circuit Switched Data)
- GPRS ( General Packet Radio Service)
- Packet data over CDMA and other technologies
- E-Mails, Web browsing, Camera phones, Speed : 64-144 kbps

o Drawback of 2G:
- Limited data rates
- Basically circuit switched system
- Not supported for true mobility and less security.
• 3G Generation technology
o 3G technology was introduced in year 2000s.
o Data transmission speed increased from144Kbps to 2Mbps.
o Increased bandwidth and data transfer rates.
o Compatible with smart phones and Provides Web-based applications.
o Frequency: 1.6 – 2.0 GHz and Bandwidth: 100MHz
o Characteristic: Digital broadband, increased speed
o Technology: CDMA-2000, UMTS, EDGE,HSPA
o Advantages:
- Support high-speed data transfer from packet networks
- Permit global roaming and Advanced digital services (i.e., Multimedia)
- High speed web/ More security/ Video
- Conferencing/ 3-D Gaming.
- Large Capacities & Broadband Capabilities.

o Limitation of 3G:
- Expensive fees for 3G Licenses Services
- It was challenge to build the infrastructure for 3G
- High Bandwidth Requirement
- Expensive 3G Phones.
- Large Cell Phones
• 4G Generation technology
o It is an IP based packed switched network.
o Speeds of 100 Mbps while moving and 1 Gbps while stationary.
o High usability: anytime, anywhere, and with any technology.
o Support for multimedia and integrated services at low transmission cost.
o Smooth Handoff across heterogeneous networks.
o Seamless connectivity and global roaming across multiple networks.
o Interoperability with existing wireless standards.
o Good QoS and high security.
o It provides Dynamic bandwidth allocation, QoS and advanced Security
o 4G can be described using MAGIC:
- Mobile Multimedia
- Anytime Anywhere
- Global Mobility Support
- Integrated Wireless Solution
- Customized Personal Services
o Example: LTE (Long Term Evolution)

• 5G Generation technology
o 5G was started from late2010s.
o Complete wireless communication with almost no limitations.
o It is highly supportable to WWWW (Wireless World Wide Web).
o Aims at higher capacity than current 4G, allowing a higher density of mobile
broadband users.
o Supports
- Interactive multimedia
- Voice streaming
- Buckle up.. Internet
- Enhanced security
 Key Enabling Technologies and Features of LTE***
LTE Background:
o Two groups within 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) started work on
developing a standard to support the expected heavy growth in IP data traffic.
1. The Radio Access Network (RAN) group: Initiated work on the Long Term Evolution
(LTE) project. The LTE group developed a new radio access network called Enhanced
UTRAN (E-UTRAN) as an evolution to the UMTS RAN
2. Systems Aspects (SA) group: Initiated work on the Systems Architecture Evolution
(SAE) project. The SAE group developed a new all IP packet core network architecture
called the Evolved Packet Core (EPC).
o Together, EUTRAN and EPC are formally called the Evolved Packet System (EPS).
• Demand Drivers for LTE:
- Growth in high-bandwidth applications
- Proliferation of smart mobile devices
- Intense competition leading to flat revenues
• Key Requirements of LTE Design:
- Performance on Par with Wired Broadband
- Flexible Spectrum Usage
- Co-existence and Interworking with 3G Systems as well as Non-3GPP Systems
- Reducing Cost per Megabyte

• The key enabling technologies to achieve LTE features are

1. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)
2. SC-FDE and SC-FDMA
3. Channel Dependent Multi-user Resource Scheduling
4. Multi-antenna Techniques
5. IP-Based Flat Network Architecture
 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) ***
• 3G systems such as UMTS and CDMA2000 are based on CDMA technology.
- Advantage: CDMA Performs remarkably well for low data rate communications,
where a large number of users can be multiplexed to achieve high system
capacity.
- Limitation: For high-speed applications, CDMA becomes untenable due to the
large bandwidth needed to achieve useful amounts of spreading.
• OFDM has emerged as a technology of choice for achieving high data rates.
• It is the core technology used by a variety of systems including Wi-Fi and WiMAX.
• The following advantages of OFDM led to its selection for LTE:***
1. Elegant solution to multipath interference: The critical challenge to high Bit-rate
transmissions in a wireless channel is inter symbol interference (ISI) caused by multi

2. path. At high data rates, the symbol time is shorter; hence, it only takes a small delay
to cause ISI.OFDM is a multicarrier modulation technique that overcomes this
challenge in an elegant manner. It increases the symbol duration of each stream such
that the multipath delay spread is only a small fraction of the symbol duration. In
OFDM, the subcarriers are orthogonal to one another over the symbol duration,
thereby avoiding the need to have non-over lapping subcarrier channels to eliminate
ISI.
3. Reduced computational complexity: OFDM can be easily implemented using Fast
Fourier Transforms (FFT/IFFT), and the computational requirements grow only
slightly faster than linearly with data rate or bandwidth. The computational
complexity of OFDM = (BlogBTm), where B is the bandwidth and Tm is the delay
spread. Reduced complexity is particularly attractive in the downlink as it simplifies
receiver processing and thus reduces mobile device cost and power consumption.
4. Graceful degradation of performance under excess delay: The performance of an
OFDM system degrades gracefully as the delay spread exceeds the designed value.
OFDM is well suited for adaptive modulation and coding, which allows the system to
make the best of the available channel conditions.
5. Exploitation of frequency diversity: OFDM facilitates coding and interleaving across
subcarriers in the frequency domain, which can provide robustness against burst
errors caused by portions of the transmitted spectrum undergoing deep fades. OFDM
also allows for the channel bandwidth to be scalable without impacting the hardware
design of the base station and the mobile station.
 6. Enables efficient multi-access scheme: OFDM can be used as a multi-access scheme
by partitioning different subcarriers among multiple users. This scheme is referred to
as OFDMA and is exploited in LTE.
7. Robust against narrowband interference: OFDM is relatively robust against
narrowband interference, since such interference affects only a fraction of the
subcarriers.
8. Suitable for coherent demodulation: It is relatively easy to do pilot-based channel
estimation in OFDM systems, which renders them suitable for coherent demodulation
schemes that are more power efficient.
9. Facilitates use of MIMO: MIMO refers to a collection of signal processing techniques
that use multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver to improve system
performance. For MIMO techniques to be effective, it is required that the channel
conditions are such that the multipath delays do not cause ISI interference OFDM,
however, converts a frequency selective broad band channel into several narrowband
flat fading channels where the MIMO models and techniques work well.
10. Efficient support of broadcast services: It is possible to operate an OFDM network as
a single frequency network (SFN). This allows broadcast signals from different cells to
combine over the air to significantly enhance the received signal power, thereby
enabling higher data rate broadcast transmissions for a given transmit power.
• Disadvantages of OFDM:
o Peak-to-Average Ratio (PAR): OFDM has high PAR, which causes non-linearity and
clipping distortion when passed through an RF amplifier. It increases the cost of the
transmitter and is wasteful of power. OFDM is tolerated in the downlink as part of the
design, for the uplink LTE selected a variation of OFDM that has a lower peak-to-
average ratio. The modulation of choice for the uplink is called Single Carrier
Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA).

SC-FDE and SC-FDMA:

• Single-Carrier Frequency Domain Equalization (SC-FDE):
o It is a single-carrier (SC) modulation combined with frequency-domain equalization
(FDE).
o It is an alternative approach to inter symbol interference (ISI) mitigation.
o It uses QAM rather than IFFT used OFDM to send data with a cyclic prefix added.
 o SC-FDE retains all the advantages of OFDM such as multipath resistance and low
complexity, while having a low peak-to-average ratio of 4-5dB.
o It keeps the MS cost down and the battery life up.
o LTE incorporated a SC-FDE as a power efficient transmission scheme for the uplink.
• Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access( SC-FDMA)
o A multi-user version of SC-FDE, called SC-FDMA.
o The uplink of LTE implements uses to SC-FDMA, which allows multiple users to use
parts of the frequency spectrum.
o SC-FDMA closely resembles OFDMA and also preserves the PAR properties.
o The drawback of SC-FDE is increases the complexity of the transmitter and the
receiver.

Channel Dependent Multi-user Resource Scheduling

o The OFDMA scheme used in LTE provides enormous flexibility in how channel
resources are allocated.
o OFDMA allows for allocation in both time and frequency and it is possible to design
algorithms to allocate resources in a flexible and dynamic manner to meet arbitrary
throughput, delay, and other requirements.
o The standard supports dynamic, channel-dependent scheduling to enhance overall
system capacity.

Figure 1. Resource mapping in OFDMA

o In OFDM, It is possible to allocate subcarriers among users in such a way that the
overall capacity is increased. This technique, called frequency selective multiuser
scheduling, calls for focusing transmission power in each user’s best channel portion.
yyy

o In OFDMA, frequency selective scheduling can be combined with multi-user time

domain scheduling.
o Capacity gains are also obtained by adapting the modulation and coding to the
instantaneous signal-to-noise ratio conditions for each user subcarrier.
o For high-mobility users, OFDMA can be used to achieve frequency diversity. By coding
and interleaving across subcarriers. Frequency diverse scheduling is best suited for
control signaling and delay sensitive services.
Multi-antenna Techniques:
o The LTE standard provides extensive support for implementing advanced multi-
antenna solutions to improve link robustness, system capacity, and spectral efficiency.
o Multi-antenna techniques supported in LTE include:
1. Transmit diversity: Diversity means send copies of the same signal by using two or more
communication channels with different characteristics. This is a technique to combat
multipath fading in the wireless channel.

Figure 2. Resource mapping in OFDMA

LTE transmit diversity is based on space-frequency block coding (SFBC) techniques.

Transmit diversity is primarily intended for common downlink channels that cannot
make use of channel-dependent scheduling. It increases system capacity and cell
range.
2. Beamforming: It is a type of RF (radio frequency) management and signal processing
technique in which an access point uses multiple antennas to send out the same signal.
Multiple antennas in LTE may also be used beamforming technique to transmit the beam
in the direction of the receiver and away from interference, thereby improving the
received signal-to-interference ratio. It can provide significant improvements in coverage
range, capacity, reliability, and battery life. It can also be useful in providing angular
information for user tracking. LTE supports beamforming in the downlink.
 Figure 3. Beamforming with MIMO

3. Spatial multiplexing: In spatial multiplexing, multiple independent streams can be

transmitted in parallel over multiple antennas and can be separated at the receiver using
multiple receive chains through appropriate signal processing. Spatial
4. multiplexing provides data rate and capacity gains proportional to the number of
antennas used. It works well under good SNR and light load conditions. LTE standard
supports spatial multiplexing with up to four transmit antennas and four receiver
antennas.

Figure4: Comparison of MIMO with Diversity and spatial multiplexing

5. Multi-user MIMO: Since spatial multiplexing requires multiple transmit antennas, it is

currently not supported in the uplink due to complexity and cost considerations.
However, multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO), which allows multiple users in the uplink, each
with a single antenna, to transmit using the same frequency and time resource, is
supported. The signals from the different MU-MIMO users are separated at the base
station receiver using accurate channel state information of each user obtained through
uplink reference signals that are orthogonal between users.
 Fig 5: Comparison between
Single and multiuser MIMO

1.4.5 IP-Based Flat Network Architecture: The lower infrastructure cost, lower latency and
fewer nodes are requirements drove the design toward a flat architecture. It also means fewer
interfaces and protocol-related processing, and reduced interoperability testing, which
lowers the development and deployment cost. Fewer nodes also allow better optimization of
radio interface, merging of some control plane protocols, and short session start-up time.
Figure 6 shows how the 3GPP network architecture evolved over a few releases.

Fig 6: 3GPP evolution toward a flat LTE SAE architecture

▪ Flat LTE architecture description:
o 3GPP Release 6 architecture, has four network elements in the data path: Base station
(BS), Radio Network Controller (RNC), Serving GPRS Service Node (SGSN), and Gateway
GRPS Service Node (GGSN).
 o Release 7 introduced a direct tunnel option from the RNC to GGSN, which eliminated
SGSN from the data path.
o LTE on the other hand, will have only two network elements in the data path: the
enhanced Node-B or eNode-B& a System Architecture Evolution Gateway (SAE-GW).
o LTE merges the BS and RNC functionality into a single unit. The control path includes
a functional entity called the Mobility Management Entity (MME), which provides
control plane functions related to subscriber, mobility, and session management.
o The MME and SAE-GW could be collocated in a single entity called the access gateway
(a-GW).
o A key aspect of the LTE flat architecture is that all services, including voice, are
supported on the IP packet network using IP protocols. Unlike previous 2g and 3g
systems, which had a separate circuit-switched sub-network for supporting voice with
their own Mobile Switching Centers (MSC) and transport networks, LTE envisions only
a single evolved packet-switched core, the EPC, over which all services
o are supported, which could provide huge operational and infrastructure cost savings.
However, that although LTE has been designed for IP services with a flat architecture,
due to backwards compatibility reasons certain legacy, non-IP aspects of the 3GPP
architecture such as the GPRS tunneling protocol and PDCP (packet data convergence
protocol) still exists within the LTE network architecture.
LTE Network Architecture***
▪ Introduction: The core network design by 3GPP Release 8 to support LTE is called the
Evolved Packet Core (EPC). EPC is designed to provide a high capacity, all IP, reduced
latency, flat architecture that dramatically reduces cost and supports advanced real-time
and media-rich services with enhanced quality of experience. It is designed not only to
support new radio access networks such as LTE, but also provide interworking with legacy
2G GERAN and 3G UTRAN networks connected via SGSN.
▪ Functions of LTE architecture: It include access control, packet routing and transfer,
mobility management, security, radio resource management, and network management.
▪ LTE architectural elements: The EPC includes four new elements:
1. Serving Gateway (SGW)
2. Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW):
3. Mobility Management Entity (MME): Which supports user equipment context and
identity as well as authenticates and authorizes users.
4. Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF): Which manages QoS aspects.
 Figure 7 shows the end-to-end architecture including how the EPC supports LTE as well
as current and legacy radio access networks. A brief description of each of the four new
elements is provided here:
• Serving Gateway (SGW):
o Which terminates the interface toward the 3GPP radio access networks.
o It acts as a demarcation point between the RAN and core network, and manages user
plane mobility.
o It serves as the mobility anchor when MT move across areas served by different
eNode-B elements in E-UTRAN, as well as across other 3GPP radio networks such as
GERAN and UTRAN.
o SGW does downlink packet buffering and initiation of network-triggered service
request procedures.
o Other functions of SGW include:
- Lawful interception, packet routing and forwarding.
- Transport level packet marking in the uplink and the downlink.
- Accounting support for per user and inter-operator charging.

Fig 7. Evolved Packet Core architecture.

• Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW):

o It controls IP data services, does routing, allocates IP addresses, enforces policy, and
provides access for non-3GPP access networks.
 o The PGW acts as the termination point of the EPC toward other Packet Data Networks
(PDN) such as the Internet, private IP network, or the IMS network providing end-user
services.
o It serves as an anchor point for sessions toward external PDN and provides functions
such as user IP address allocation, policy enforcement, packet filtering, and charging
support.
o Policy enforcement includes operator-defined rules for resource allocation to control
data rate, QoS, and usage.
o Packet filtering functions include deep packet inspection for application detection.
• Mobility Management Entity (MME):
o The MME performs the signaling and control functions to manage the user terminal
access to network connections, assignment of network resources.
o Mobility management function such as idle mode location tracking, paging, roaming,
and handovers.
o MME controls all control plane functions related to subscriber and session
management.
o The MME provides security functions such as providing temporary identities for user
terminals, interacting with Home Subscriber Server (HSS) for authentication, and
negotiation of ciphering and integrity protection algorithms.
o It is also responsible for selecting the appropriate serving and PDN gateways, and
selecting legacy gateways for handovers to other GERAN or UTRAN networks.
o MME manages thousands of eNode-B elements, which is one of the key differences
from 2G or 3G.
• Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF):
o It is a concatenation of Policy Decision Function (PDF) and Charging Rules Function
(CRF).
o The PCRF interfaces with the PDN gateway and supports service data flow detection,
policy enforcement, and flow-based charging.
 WC & LTE 4G broadband-15EC81: Module 1: Wireless Fundamentals & Key Enablers for LTE Features

Chapter 2: Wireless Fundamentals

Cellular System
The Cellular Concept:

o AT&T proposed a core idea of cellular system in 1971.

o In cellular systems, the service area is subdivided into smaller geographic areas called
cells. Each cell served by their own lower-power Base Station (BS).
o Neighboring cells do not use same set of frequencies to prevent interference.
o In order to minimize interference between cells, the transmit power level of each base
station is regulated to be just enough to provide the required signal strength at the cell
boundaries.
o Core cellular Principles: Small cells tessellate overall coverage area. User’s “handoff” as
they move from one cell to another. The same frequency channels can be reassigned to
different cells, as long as those cells are spatially isolated called “frequency reuse” concept.
It increases the cellular system capacity.

Fig 8.Simple cellular system architecture.

o Frequency planning: It is required to determine a proper frequency reuse factor and a

geographic reuse pattern. Frequencies can be reused should be determined such that the
interference between base stations is kept to an acceptable level. The frequency reuse
factor f is defined as f ≤ 1, where f = 1 means that all cells reuse all the frequencies.
Accordingly, f = 1/3 implies that a given frequency band is used by only 1 out of every 3
cells.
 WC & LTE 4G broadband-15EC81: Module 1: Wireless Fundamentals & Key Enablers for LTE Features

Fig 9.Frequency reuse pattern.

o Co-cells and cluster: Co-cells are cells in cellular system which uses the same frequency
channel set. The reuse of the same frequency channels should be intelligently planned in
order to maximize the geographic distance between the co-channel base stations.
o Figure 10 shows an example of hexagonal cellular system model with frequency reuse
factor f = 1/7. The group of cells which are using entire frequency channels set are called
“clusters”

Figure 10: Standard figure of a hexagonal cellular system with f =1/7.

o Cellular system capacity: The overall system capacity can increase by simply making the
cells smaller and turning down the power. In this manner, cellular systems have a very
desirable scaling property. As the cell size decreases, the transmit power of each base
station also decreases correspondingly. For example, if the radius of a cell is reduced by
half when the propagation path loss exponent is 4, the transmit power level of a base
station is reduced by 12 dB (=l0log16 dB).
o Handoff: Since cellular systems support user mobility, seamless call transfer from one
cell to another should be provided. The handoff process provides a means of the seamless
transfer of a connection from one base station to another. Achieving smooth handoffs is
a challenging aspect of cellular system design.
o Advantages of cellular concept: Small cells give a large capacity advantage and reduce
power consumption and allows frequency reuse.
o Drawback of cellular system: As cell size decreases, the number of cells for the same
service area need more base stations and their associated hardware costs also increases.
It leads to frequent handoffs. Interference level increases and effect on service efficiency.

Analysis of Cellular Systems

o The performance of wireless cellular systems is significantly limited by Co-channel
interference (CCI) and other cell interference (OCI) which comes from other users in
the same cell or from other cells.
o The cellular systems performance (capacity, reliability) is measured by SIR of the
desired cell, i.e., the amount of desired power to the amount of transmitted power.
o The spatial isolation between co-channel cells can be measured by defining the
parameter Z, called co-channel reuse ratio is given by
𝐷
𝑍 = = √3/𝑓 (1)
𝑅

Where D = distance between the co-cells

R = radius of the desired cell
1/f = size of the cluster and inverse of the frequency reuse factor N, therefore
equation (1) becomes
𝐷
𝑍 = = √3𝑁 (2)
𝑅

o Conclusion: As the cluster size N increases, CCI decreases, so that it improves the
quality of communication link and capacity. However, the overall spectral efficiency
decreases with the size of a cluster, so f should be chosen just small enough to keep the
received signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) above acceptable levels.
o Signal to Noise ratio (SNR) of cellular system: It is given by
𝑆 𝑆 (3)
=
𝑁 𝑙
𝐼 ∑ 𝑖=1 I𝑖

Where S = Received power of desired signal

I𝑖= Interference power from the ith co-cell base station
 o The received SIR depends on the location of each mobile station, and it should be
kept above an appropriate threshold for reliable communication.
o The received SIR at the cell boundaries is of great interest since this corresponds to
the worst interference scenario.
o The received SIR for the worst case described in Fig 11 and its empirical path loss
formula given as

𝑆 (4)
𝜒𝑜 =

𝐼 𝜒𝑜+∑2𝑖=1 𝜒𝑖+2−∝ ∑5𝑖=3 𝜒𝑖+(2.633)−∝ ∑11

𝑖=6 𝜒𝑖

Where 𝜒𝑖 denotes the shadowing from the ith base station

∝ = path loss components.
𝜒𝑜= lognormal distribution for the shadowing value.

Figure 11: Forward link interference in a hexagonal cellular system (worst case).

o Outage probability (P0): The outage probability that the received SIR falls below a
threshold can be derived from the distribution. If the mean and standard deviation of the
lognormal distribution are𝛼 and 𝜎 in dB, the outage probability is derived in the form of Q
function is given by
𝑃 [ 𝛾−𝜇
𝑜𝑢𝑡 = ℙ 𝑆𝐼𝑅 < 𝛾 ] = 𝑄 ( 𝜎 ) (5)

Where 𝛾= threshold SIR level in dB

o Lower frequency reuse factor is typically adopted in the system design to satisfy the
target outage probability at the sacrifice of spectral efficiency
 Sectoring:
o It is a capacity expansion technique by keep the cell radius unchanged and seek methods
to decrease the D /R ratio.
o It is desirable a techniques to improve SIR without sacrificing so much bandwidth.
o Uses directional antennas by replacing a single Omni-directional antenna at the base
station. It provides interference reduction, hence S/I ratio increases.
o No capacity is lost from sectoring because each sector can reuse time and code slots, so
each sector has the same nominal capacity as an entire cell.
o The capacity in each sector is actually higher than that in a non-sectored cellular system
because the interference is reduced by sectoring. An illustration of sectoring is shown in
Figure 12.

Figure 12: Three-sector (120-degree) and Six-sector (60-degree) cells.

o In Figure 12a, if each sector 1 points the same direction in each cell, then the interference
caused by neighboring cells will be dramatically reduced.
o An alternative way to use sectors is to reuse frequencies in each sector and the
time/code/frequency slots can be reused in each sector, but there is no reduction in the
experienced interference.
o As the number of sectors per cell increases the SIR also increases, thus the capacity of
cellular system increases.
• Advantages of sectoring:
1. It is an effective and practical approach to the OCI problem.
2. It is an antenna technique to increase the system capacity.
• Drawback:
1. Sectoring increases the number of antennas at each base station, hence it increases
the implantation cost and the number of handoffs increases
2. It reduces trunking efficiency due to channel sectoring at the base station.
3. It also increases the overhead due to the increased number of inter sector
handoffs.
4. It causes inter sector interference as well as power loss.

• New Approaches to other Cell Interference. Following are other approaches to

reduces cell interference
1. Use advanced signal processing techniques at the receiver and/or transmitter as a
means of reducing or cancelling the perceived interference.
2. Use network-level approaches such as cooperative scheduling or encoding across
Base station. Adopt multi-cell power control and distributed antenna technique.

The Broadband Wireless Channel: Fading

• Introduction: Path loss and shadowing attenuation effects due to distance or obstacles.
Fading is severe attenuation phenomenon in wireless channels likely for short distance
caused by the reception of multiple versions of the same signal. The multiple received
versions are caused by reflections that are referred to as multipath. The reflections may
arrive at very close to the same time. The multiple different paths between the transmitter
and receiver visualization shown in Figure 2.13

Figure 2.13: The channel may have a few major paths with quite different lengths,
and then the receiver may see a number of locally scattered versions of those paths.

o Fading effect: When some of the reflections arrive at nearly the same time, the combined
effect of those reflections shown in Figure 2.14. Depending on the phase difference
between the arriving signals, the interference can be either constructive or destructive,
 which causes a very large observed difference in the amplitude of the received signal
even over very short distances.

Figure 2.14: The difference between constructive interference (top) and destructive interference
(bottom) at 4 = 2.5GHz is less than 0.1 nanoseconds in phase, which corresponds to about 3 cm

o The moving the transmitter or receiver even a very short distance can have a dramatic
effect on the received amplitude, even though the path loss and shadowing effects may not
have changed at all.
o Time-varying tapped-delay line channel model of fading: Either the transmitter or receiver
move relative to each other, the channel response h(t) will change. This channel response
can be thought of as having two dimensions as shown in Figure 2.15:
1. Delay dimension(𝜏)
2. Time-dimension(𝑡).

Figure 2.15: The delay 𝜏 corresponds to how long the channel impulse response lasts.
The channel is time varying, so the channel impulse response is also a function of time,
i.e., h (𝜏, t), and can be quite different at time (𝑡 + ∆𝑡) than it was at time t.
o Since the channel changes over distance (and hence time), the values of ℎ0, ℎ1, … ℎ𝑣 may
be totally different at time t vs. time𝑡 + ∆𝑡. Because the channel is highly variant in both
the 𝜏 and t dimensions.
o The fundamental function used to statistically describe broadband fading channels is the
two-dimensional autocorrelation function, A(∆𝜏, ∆𝑡). The autocorrelation function is
defined as

(6)

▪ The above equation (6) is referred to as Wide Sense Stationary Uncorrelated Scattering
(WSSUS), which is the most popular model for wideband fading channels.
• Wireless channel Parameters: The key parameters to evaluate the wireless channels are
Delay Spread and Coherence Bandwidth
Doppler Spread and Coherence Time
Angular Spread and Coherence Distance

Delay Spread and Coherence Bandwidth:

▪ Delay Spread:
- The delay spread is mostly used in the characterization of wireless channels.
- It is a measure of the multipath richness of a communications channel.
- It specifies the duration of the channel impulse response h (𝜏, t).
- The delay spread is the amount of time that elapses between the first arriving path
(typically the line-of-sight component) and the last arriving (non-negligible) path.
- The delay spread can be found by inspecting A (∆𝜏, 0) by setting ∆𝑡=0 in the channel
autocorrelation function. It is often referred to as the Multipath Intensity Profile, or
power delay profile.
- The maximum delay spread is 𝜏𝑚𝑎𝑥. Characterized wireless channel with number of delay
taps v will be needed in the discrete representation of the channel impulse
response, since

(8)

Where 𝑇𝑠 is the sampling time

- Delay spread can be quantified through different metrics, although the most common
one is the root mean square (rms) delay spread.

- The formula above is also known as the root of the second central moment of the
normalized delay power density spectrum.
- The importance of delay spread is how it affects the Inter Symbol Interference (ISI).
- 𝜏𝑟𝑚𝑠 gives a measure of the "width" or "spread" of the channel response in time.
- A general rule of thumb is that 𝜏𝑚𝑎𝑥 ≈ 5𝜏𝑟𝑚𝑠
▪ Coherence Bandwidth( Bc):
- It is a statistical measurement of the range of frequencies over which the channel can
be considered "flat"
- The Bc is the frequency domain dual of the channel delay spread.
- The coherence bandwidth gives a rough measure for the maximum separation
between a frequency f1 and a frequency f2 where the channel frequency response is
correlated. That is

- 𝜏𝑚𝑎𝑥 is a value describing the channel duration, Bc is a value describing the range of
frequencies over which the channel stays constant. Given the channel delay spread, it
can be shown that

- The important and prevailing feature is that Bc and 𝜏𝑟𝑚𝑠 are inversely related.
-

Doppler Spread and Coherence Time:

o Delay spread and coherence bandwidth are parameters which describe the time
dispersive nature of the channel in a local area. However, they do not offer
information about the time varying nature of the channel caused by either relative
motion between the mobile and base station
o Doppler spread and coherence time are parameters which describe the time
varying nature of the channel in a small-scale region.
▪ Doppler Spread(BD):
o Doppler spread is a measure of the spectral broadening caused by the time rate of
change of the mobile radio channel and is defined as the range of frequencies over
which the received Doppler spectrum is essentially non-zero.
o The Doppler power spectrum gives the statistical power distribution of the channel
versus frequency for a signal transmitted at just one exact frequency.
o Whereas the power delay profile was caused by multipath between the transmitter
and receiver, the Doppler power spectrum is caused by motion between the
transmitter and receiver.
 o The Doppler power spectrum is the Fourier transform of 𝐴𝑡(∆𝑡) is given by
∞
𝜌 (∆𝑓) = ∫ 𝐴 (∆𝑡)𝑒−∆𝑓.∆𝑡(𝑑∆𝑡) (9)
𝑡 −∞ 𝑡

o When a pure sinusoidal tone of frequency fc is transmitted, the received signal

spectrum, called the Doppler spectrum.
o The spectrum components in the range f c – fd to fc + fd, where fd is the Doppler shift.

o The amount of spectral broadening depends on fd which is a function of the relative

velocity of the mobile, and the angle θ between the direction of motion of the mobile
and direction of arrival of the scattered waves.
o Maximum Doppler spread 𝑓𝐷 is given by
𝑣𝑓𝑐
𝑓𝐷 = 𝑐
(10)

Where 𝑣 = maximum speed between the transmitter and receiver,

fc= the carrier frequency
c = the speed of light.
o As long as the communication bandwidth B << f c, the Doppler power spectrum can be
treated as approximately constant.
▪ Coherence Time(TC):
o Coherence time Tc is used to characterize the time varying nature of the frequency
depressiveness of the channel in the time domain
o Coherence time is actually a statistical measure of the time duration over which the
channel impulse response is essentially invariant, In other words, coherence time is
the time duration over which two received signals have a strong potential for
amplitude correlation. Mathematically

(11)

o The coherence time and Doppler spread are also inversely related

1
𝑇𝐶 ≈ (12)
𝑓𝐷

o Values for the Doppler spread and the associated channel coherence time for LTE at
Pedestrian, Vehicular, and Maximum Speeds are given in Table below for two possible
LTE frequency bands.
 o Conclusion:
- If the transmitter and receiver are moving fast relative to each other and hence the
Doppler is large, the channel will changes its behavior much more quickly than if
the transmitter and receiver are stationary.
- At high frequency and mobility, the channel may change up to 1000 times per
second, it results placing a large burden on
• Overhead channel and Channel estimation algorithms
• Making the assumption of accurate transmitter channel knowledge questionable.
• Additionally, the large Doppler at high mobility and frequency can also degrade
the OFDM subcarrier orthogonally

Angular Spread and Coherence Distance:

▪ Angular Spread(𝜽𝒓𝒎𝒔):
o It refers to the statistical distribution of the angle of the arriving energy.
o A large 𝜃𝑟𝑚𝑠 implies that channel energy is coming in from many directions, whereas
a small 𝜃𝑟𝑚𝑠 implies that the received channel energy is more focused.
o A large angular spread generally occurs when there is a lot of local scattering, and
this results in more statistical diversity in the channel.
▪ Coherence Distance(DC):
o The coherence distance is the spatial distance over which the channel does not
change appreciably. The dual of angular spread is coherence distance.
o As the angular spread increases, the coherence distance decreases, and vice versa.
o An approximate rule of thumb between angular spread and coherence distance is

2𝜆
𝐷𝐶 ≈ 𝜃 (13)
𝑟𝑚𝑠
 o Conclusion:
- Angular spread and coherence distance are particularly important in multiple
antenna (MIMO) systems.
- The coherence distance gives a rule of thumb for how far antennas should be
spaced apart, in order to be statistically independent.
- If the coherence distance is very small, antenna arrays can be effectively
employed to provide rich diversity
M ode ll i n g Br oad ba nd Fading C h a n nel s :
o Ideally, modeling a channel is calculating all the physical processing effecting a signal
from the transmitter to the receiver.
o The two major classes of models are
1. Statistical models: These models are simpler, and are useful for analysis and
simulations.
2. Empirical models: These are more complicated but usually represent a specific
type of channel more accurately.
Statistical models:
o Introduction: These models are used to characterize the amplitude and power of a
received signal r(t) when all the reflections arrive at about the same time. This is only
true when the symbol time is much greater than the delay spread, i.e., T >>𝜏𝑚𝑎𝑥 so these
models are often said to be valid for "narrowband fading channels.
o Some of the popular statistical models are:
1. Rayleigh Fading
2. Ricean Distribution
3. Nakagami-m fading
1. Rayleigh Fading: Rayleigh fading is a reasonable model when there are many objects in
the environment that scatter the radio signal before it arrives at the receiver. The central
limit theorem holds that, if there is sufficiently much scatter, the channel impulse response
will be well-modelled as a Gaussian process irrespective of the distribution of the
individual components. The envelope of the channel response will therefore be
Rayleigh distributed.
Consider a snapshot value of received signal r(t) at time t = 0, and r(0) = r i(0) + rQ(0).
Where ri(0) is in-phase component and rQ(0) is quadrature components of a Gaussian
 random variables. The distribution of the envelope amplitude |r| =√𝑟2𝑖 + 𝑟2𝑄is Rayleigh,
and the receivedpower |𝑟| = 𝑟2𝑖 + 𝑟2𝑄 is exponentially distributed. Formally

Where Pr is the average received power due to shadowing and path loss

o The path loss and shadowing determine the mean received power and the total received
power fluctuates around this mean due to the fading. This is demonstrated in Fig 2.16.

Figure 2.16: The three major channel attenuation factors are shown in terms of their
relative spatial (and hence temporal) scales
o The phase of r(t) uniformly distributed from 0 to 2π is defined as
𝑟𝑄
𝜃𝑟 = tan−1( ) (14)
𝑟𝑖

2. Ricean Distribution:
o An important assumption in the Rayleigh fading model is that all the arriving reflections
have a mean of zero.
o In Rician fading, a strong dominant component is present for example, a line-of-sight
(LOS) path between the transmitter and receiver.
o For a LOS signal, the received envelope distribution is more accurately modelled by a
Ricean distribution, which is given by

(15)

Where 𝜇2the power of the LOS component and I 0 is the 0th order
o Ricean distribution reduces to the Rayleigh distribution in the absence of a LOS
component
o Since the Ricean distribution depends on the LOS component's power𝜇2, a common way
to characterize the channel is by the relative strengths of the LOS and scattered paths.
This factor K is quantified as

(16)
o The above equation describes how strong the LOS component is relative to the non-LOS
(NLOS) components. For K = 0, again the Ricean distribution reduces to Rayleigh, and as
K=∞, the physical meaning is that there is only a single LOS path and no other scattering.
o The average received power under Ricean fading is just the combination of the scat-
tering power and the LOS power.
o The Ricean distribution is usually a more accurate depiction of wireless broadband
systems, which typically have one or more dominant components.
3. Nakagami-m fading:
o It is a general model for wireless channel. The probability density function (PDF) of
Nakagami fading is parameterized by m and given as

o The Nakagami distribution can in many cases be used in tractable analysis of fading
channel performance. The power distribution for Nakagami fading is
o Figure below shows comparison of the most popular fading distributions with probability
distributions f|r|(x) for Rayleigh, Ricean w/K = 1, and Nakagami with m =2. All have
average received power Pr =1.

Statistical Correlation of the Received Signal

o Specific statistical models like Rayleigh, Ricean, and Nakagami-m provided the probability
density functions (PDFs) that gave the likelihoods of the received signal envelope and
power at a given time instant.
o Use these PDF functions with the channel autocorrelation function, 𝐴𝑐(∆𝜏, ∆𝑡) in order to
understand how the envelope signal r(t) evolves over time, or changes from one frequency
or location to another.
o Analysis of statistical correlation of received signal in different domains are
1. Time correlation
2. Frequency correlation
3. The Dispersion selectivity duality
4. Multi-dimensional correlation

1. Time correlation:
o In the time domain, the channel h (𝜏 = 0, t) get one new sample from a Rayleigh distribution
for every Tc sec & interpolated with the autocorrelation function of A t (∆𝑡).
o The autocorrelation function At (∆𝑡) describes how the channel is correlated in time (see
Figure 2.17).
o Its frequency domain Doppler power spectrum 𝜌𝑡(∆𝑓 ) provides a band-limited
description of the same correlation since it is simply the Fourier transform of A t (∆𝑡). In
other words, the power spectral density of the channel h(𝜏 = 0, t) should be 𝜌𝑡(∆𝑓).
Figure 2.17 Autocorrelation of the signal envelope in time, A c(∆𝑡) which here is normalized
by the Doppler fD. For example, from this figure it can be seen that for ∆𝑡 = to 0.4/fD, which
means that after 0.4/fD seconds, the fading value is uncorrelated with the value at time 0.

o For the specific case of uniform scattering, it can been shown that the Doppler power
spectrum shown in below equation

o A plot of this realization of 𝜌𝑡(∆𝑓 ) is shown in Figure 2.18. Which is often used to model
the time autocorrelation function Ac (𝛿𝑡 ), and hence predict the time correlation
properties of narrowband fading signals.

Fig 2.18: The spectral correlation due to Doppler, 𝜌𝑡(∆𝑓 ) for uniform scattering
2. Frequency Correlation
o Similar to time correlation, fading in frequency is that the channel in the frequency
domain, H (f, t = 0), can be thought of as consisting of approximately one new random
sample every Bc Hz, with the values in between interpolated.
o The correlated Rayleigh frequency envelope |H (f)| shown in Figure 2.19.

Figure 2.19: The shape of the Doppler power spectrum 𝜌𝑡(∆𝑓 ), determines the correlation
envelope of the channel in time (top). Similarly, the shape of the Multipath Intensity Profile
𝐴𝜏(∆𝜏 ), determines the correlation pattern of the channel frequency response (bottom).

o The correlation function that maps from uncorrelated time domain (𝜏 domain) random
variables to a correlated frequency response is the Multipath Intensity Profile, 𝐴𝜏(∆𝜏 ).
o Conclusion:
1. 𝜌𝑡(∆𝑓 ) describes the channel time correlation in the frequency domain.
2. 𝐴𝜏(∆𝜏 ), describes the channel frequency correlation in the time domain.
3. The values of |H(f)| are correlated over all frequencies are refer to as "flat fading,"
i.e., 𝜏𝑚𝑎𝑥 ≪ 𝑇 ).
3. The Dispersion selectivity duality:
o Selectivity and dispersion are two quite different effects from fading.
o Selectivity means that the signal's received value is changed by the channel over
time or frequency.
o Dispersion means that the channel is spread out over time or frequency.
 o Selectivity and dispersion are time-frequency duals of each other. This is illustrated
in Figure 2.20.

Figure 2.20: The dispersion-selectivity duality: Dispersion in time causes frequency

selectivity, while dispersion in frequency causes time selectivity

4. Multidimensional Correlation:
o In reality, signals are correlated in time, frequency, and spatial domains.
o A broadband wireless data system with mobility and multiple antennas is an example
of a system where all three types of fading will play a significant role.
o The concept of doubly selective (in time and frequency) fading channels has received
recent attention for OFDM.
o Highly frequency-selective channel (long multipath channel) as in a wide area
wireless broadband network requires a large number of potentially closely spaced
subcarriers to effectively combat the ISI and small coherence bandwidth.
o On the other hand, a highly mobile channel with a large Doppler causes the channel to
fluctuate over the resulting long symbol period, which degrades the subcarrier
orthogonally.
o In the frequency domain, the Doppler frequency shift can cause significant ISI as the
carriers become more closely spaced.
o The mobility and multipath delay spread must reach fairly severe levels before this
doubly selective effect becomes significant.
 Empirical Channel Models:
o Statistical channel models not considering specific wireless propagation environments.
o Empirical and semi-empirical wireless channel models are the specific models, which
have been developed to accurately estimate the path loss, shadowing, and small-scale
fast fading.
o Empirical models are based on extensive measurement of various propagation
environments, and they specify the parameters and methods for modeling the typical
propagation scenarios in different wireless systems.
o These models take into account realistic factors such as angle of arrival (AoA), angle of
departure (AoD), antenna array fashion, angle spread (AS), and antenna array gain
pattern and other real time factors.
o Different empirical channel models exist for different wireless scenarios, such as sub-
urban macro, urban macro, urban micro cells, and so on.
o For channels experienced in different wireless standards, the empirical channel models
are also different. Some of the empirical models for LTE as follows
1. LTE Channel Models for Path Loss
o These models are widely used in modeling the outdoor macro and micro cell wireless
environments. These are also referred to as "3GPP" channel models
o First, we need to specify the environment where an empirical channel model is used,
e.g., suburban macro, urban macro, or urban micro environment.
o The BS to BS distance is typically larger than 3 km for a macro-cell environment and
less than 1 km for an urban micro-cell environment.
o For the 3GPP macro-cell environment, the path loss is given by the so-called COST Hata
model, which is given by the following easily computable formula
𝑷𝑳𝒄 [𝒅𝑩] = (𝟒𝟒. 𝟗 − 𝟔. 𝟓𝟓𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎(𝒉𝒃))𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎(𝒅) + 𝟒𝟔. 𝟑 + 𝟑𝟑. 𝟗𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎(𝒇𝒄)
− 𝟏𝟑. 𝟖𝟐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎(𝒉𝒃) − 𝒂(𝒉𝒎) + 𝑪𝒐
Where ℎ𝑏= Base station antenna height
𝑓𝑐= Carrier frequency in MH
𝑑 = Distance between the BS and MS in kilometer
𝑎(ℎ𝑚) = relatively negligible correction function for the mobile height defined as
𝑎(ℎ𝑚) = (1.1𝑙𝑜𝑔10(𝑓𝑐) − 0.7) ℎ𝑚 − 1.56𝑙𝑜𝑔10(𝑓𝑐) − 0.8.
𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑚 = 𝑚𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎 ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡.
o Conclusion: COST Hata model is considered to be accurate when d = 100mt to 20 km
and 𝑓𝑐 = 1500 to 2000MHz.
o LTE system also operate with below 1500Mhz, for example 700MHz, the empirical
channel model used in such scenarios is the Hata model, which is closely related to the
COST Hata model, but with slightly different parameters.
o Several slightly different Hata models exist, depending on whether the environment is
urban, suburban, or for open areas. The Hata Model for Urban Areas is:

2. LTE Channel Models for Multipath

o The received signal at the mobile receiver consists of N time-delayed versions of the
transmitted signal. Example as shown in figure 2.21

Figure 2.21: 3GPP channel model for MIMO simulations.

o The N paths are characterized by powers and delays that are chosen according to
prescribed channel generation procedures, as follows.
 i. The number of paths N ranges from 1 to 20 and is dependent on the specific
channel models. For example, the 3GPP channel model has N = 6 multipath
components. The power distribution normally follows the exponential profile.
ii. Each multipath component further corresponds to a cluster of M subpaths, where
each subpath characterizes the incoming signal from a scatter.
iii. The M subpaths have random phases and subpath gains, specified by the given
procedure in different stands.
iv. For 3GPP, the phases are random variables uniformly distributed from 0 to 360
degrees, and the subpath gains are given .In the 3GPP channel model, the nth
multipath component from the u th transmit antenna to the sth receive antenna, is
given as
3. LTE Semi-Empirical Channel Models: Constructing a fully empirical channel model is
relatively time-consuming and computationally intensive due to the huge number of
parameters involved. Therefore semi-empirical channel models are provide the accurate
inclusion of the practical parameters in a real wireless system, while maintaining the
simplicity of statistical channel models. Well-known examples of the simpler multipath
channel models include the 3GPP2 Pedestrian A, Pedestrian B, Vehicular A, and Vehicular
B models, suited for low-mobility pedestrian mobile users and higher mobility vehicular
mobile users. The power delay profile of the channel is determined by the number of
multipath taps and the power and delay of each multipath component. Each multipath
component is modelled as independent Rayleigh fading with a different power level, and
the correlation in the time domain is created according to a Doppler spectrum
corresponding to the specified speed. The Pedestrian A is a flat fading model
corresponding to a single Rayleigh fading component with a speed of 3 km/hr. Pedestrian
B model corresponds to a power delay profile with four paths of delays (0
.11, .19, .41] µs and the power profile given as [1, 0.1071, 0.0120, 0.0052] at 3 km/hr.
Vehicular A model, the mobile speed is specified at 30 km/hr. Four multipath components
exist, each with delay profile [0, 0.11, 0.19, 0.41] microseconds and power
profile [1, 0.1071, 0.0120, 0.0052]. For the vehicular B model, the mobile speed is 30
km/h, with six multipath components, delay profile [0, 0.2, 0.8, 1.2, 2.3, 3.7]
microseconds and power profile [1, 0.813, 0.324 0.158, 0.166, 0.004]. These models are
often referred to as Ped A/B and Veh A/B.
o LTE standard additionally defined extended delay profile with increased multipath
resolution known as Extended Pedestrian A, Extended Vehicular A, and Extended Typical
Urban. These profiles are given in Tables 2.4, 2.5, and 2.6.
2.4MitigationofNarrowbandFading***

2 . 4 . 1 . The E f f ec t s o f Un mi t i ga t ed F adi n g

o The probability of bit error rate (BER) is the principle metric of interest for the physical
layer (PHY) of a communication system.
o For a QAM-based modulation system, the BER in an additive white Gaussian noise
(AWGN, no fading) can accurately be approximated by the following relation
𝑃𝑏 ≤ 0.2𝑒−1.5𝑆𝑁𝑅/(𝑀−1)

If M ≥ 4 is the M-QAM, the probability of error decreases very rapidly (exponentially)

with the SNR. Since the channel is constant, the BER is constant over time.
o However, in a fading channel, the BER become a random variable that depends on the
instantaneous channel strength and M level modulation, it given as
𝑀
𝑃̅𝑏 = 𝑆𝑁𝑅

- For fading channel, BER goes down very slowly with SNR, only inversely. This trend
is captured plainly in Figure 2.22.

Figure 2.22: Flat fading causes a loss of at least 20-30 dB at reasonable BER values.

▪ Conclusion:
o From the figure 2.22, at reasonable system BERs like 10 -6, the required SNR is over
30 dB higher in fading. Clearly, it is not desirable, or even possible, to increase the
power by over a factor of 1000 to overcome occasional deep fades.
▪ The main techniques for mitigation of narrowband fading are***
1. Spatial Diversity
2. Coding and Interleaving
3. Au t o m at i c Re pe at Re q u e st ( ARQ)
4. Adaptive Modulation and Coding (AMC)
5. Combining Narrowband Diversity Techniques
1. Spatial Diversity:
o Diversity is the key and potential technique to overcoming the fading problems in
wireless channels and to improving PER and BER.
o It is also known as antenna diversity and it usually is achieved by having two or more
antennas at the receiver and/or the transmitter (see figure2.24).
o Spatial diversity is a powerful form of diversity, and particularly desirable since it does
not necessitate redundancy in time or frequency.
o The simplest form of space diversity consists of two receive antennas, where the stronger
of the two signals is selected. As long as the antennas are spaced sufficiently, the two
received signals will undergo approximately uncorrelated fading.
o This type of diversity is sensibly called selection diversity, and is illustrated in Fig 2.24.
o More sophisticated forms of spatial diversity include receive antenna arrays (two or
more antennas) with maximal ratio combining, transmit diversity using space-time
codes, transmit pre-coding, and other combinations of transmit and receive diversity.
o Spatial signaling techniques are so important, the ultimate success of LTE.

Figure 2.24: Simple two-branch selection diversity eliminates most deep fades.
2. Coding and Interleaving:**
o Coding and interleaving provides ubiquitous form of diversity for all wireless
communication systems.
o Traditionally it is a form of time diversity, in a multicarrier system they also can capture
frequency diversity.
o Coding:
- Usually refer to as channel coding /Error Correction Codes (ECCs), which is also
known as forward error correction (FEC).
- ECCs efficiently introduce redundancy at the transmitter to allow the receiver to
recover the input signal even if the received signal is significantly degraded by
attenuation, interference, and noise.
- Coding techniques can be categorized by their coding rate r ≤ 1, which is the inverse
of the redundancy added.
- Code rates are the ratio of information bits to a coding process to the total number of
bits created by the coding process. A coding rate of ¼ indicates for each information
bit into the coding process there will be 4 bits created for transmission. The higher
the code rate, the higher percentage of error detection/correction overhead. Higher
the coding rate gives higher transmission reliability gain.
o In Figure 2.25 shows convolutional encoder defined by LTE for use in the Broadcast
Channel (BCH).

Figure 2.25: The rate 𝑟 = 1/3 convolutional encoder de fined by LTE for use in the
Broadcast Channel (BCH)

o The above figures clearly a rates 1/3 code since there is one input bit (𝐶𝑘) and 3
outputs(𝑑𝑘).
o The constraint length of this code is 7; equivalently, there are 6 delay elements or 64
possible states. The most common decoding technique for convolutional codes
o Turbo codes: It class of high-performance forward error correction (FEC) codes. It is
sometimes built using two identical convolutional codes of special type, such as, recursive
systematic (RSC) type with parallel concatenation. It provide increased resilience to
errors through iterative decoding. A rate turbo code is also deployed by LTE as shown in
Figure 2.26

Figure 2.26: The rate parallel concatenated turbo encoder defined by LTE for use in the
uplink and downlink shared channels, among others.
o In particular, the encoder is a parallel concatenated convolutional code that comprises an
8-state rate I systematic encoder and an 8-state rate 1 systematic encoder that operates
on an interleaved input sequence, for a net coding rate of 1/3 .
o By systematic, we mean that one output is generated by a linear modulo-2 sum of the
current encoder state that is a function of both the input bit(s) and the previous states (i.e.,
there is feedback in the state machine), while the other outputs are simply passed through
to the output, like Xk in Figure 2.26.
o Codes in LTE can also be punctured, which means that some of the output coded bits are
simply dropped, in order to lower the transmission rate.
o For example, if the output of a rate 1/2 convolutional code had a puncturing factor of
1/4 , this means that out of every four output bits, one is dropped. Hence, the effective
code rate would become 2/3 , since only three coded bits are transmitted for every two
information bits. At the decoder, a random or fixed coded his is inserted in the decoding
process.
o Puncturing the code to achieve lower the coding rates allows the decoder structure to
remain the same regardless of the code rate.
▪ Interleaving:
o Interleaving is a process or methodology to make a system more efficient, fast and
reliable by arranging data in a noncontiguous manner.
o Interleaving, a technique for making forward error correction more robust with respect
to burst errors.
o Interleaving is typically used in both convolutional coding and turbo coding. For use
with a conventional convolutional code, the interleaver shuffles coded bits to provide
robustness to burst errors that can be caused by either bursty noise and interference,
or a sustained fade in time or frequency.
o Interleaving seeks to spread out coded bits so that the effects of a burst error, after de-
interleaving, are spread roughly evenly over a frame, or block.
o For both conventional convolutional codes and turbo codes, the interleaver block size
would, from a data reliability standpoint, ideally be quite large.
o The interleaver block size is usually constrained to be at most over a single packet, and
often much less than that. De-interleaving delays have been one of the primary
impediments to turbo-coding since they cause considerable latency.
o Nevertheless, interleaving has proven very effective in allowing ECCs designed for
constant, time-invariant additive noise channels to also work well on fading, time-
variant noisy channels.

3. Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ):

o LTE uses is ARQ (automatic repeat request) and Hybrid-ARQ technique for flow and
error control.
o ARQ simply is a MAC layer retransmission protocol that allows erroneous packets to be
quickly retransmitted.
o These protocol works in conjunction with PHY layer ECCs and parity checks to ensure
reliable links even in hostile channels.
o Since a single bit error causes a packet error, with ARQ the entire packet must be
retransmitted even when nearly all of the bits already received were correct, which is
clearly inefficient.
o Hybrid-ARQ combines the two concepts of ARQ and FEC to avoid such waste, by
combining received packets.
o Hybrid-ARQ, therefore, is able to extract additional time diversity in a fading channel
as well.
 o In H-ARQ a channel encoder such as a convolution encoder or turbo encoder is used to
generate additional redundancy to the information bits.
o However, instead of transmitting all the encoded bits (systematic bits + redundancy
bits), only a fraction of the encoded bits are transmitted.
o This is achieved by puncturing some of the encoded bits to create an effective code rate
greater than the native code rate of the encoder.
o After transmitting the encoded and punctured bits, the transmitter waits for an
acknowledgment from the receiver telling it whether the receiver was able to
successfully decode the information bits from the transmission.
o If the receiver was able to decode the information bits, then nothing else needs to be
done. If, on the other hand, the receiver was unable to decode the information bits, then
the transmitter can resend another copy of the encoded bits.

4. Adaptive Modulation and Coding (AMC):

o LTE systems employ adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) in order to take advantage of
fluctuations in the channel over time and frequency.
o The basic idea of AMC:
- Transmit as high a data rate as possible when and where the channel is good, and
transmit at a lower rate when and where the channel is poor in order to avoid
excessive dropped packets.
- Lower data rates are achieved by using a small constellation such as QPSK and low
rate error correcting codes such as rate 1/3 turbo codes.
- The higher data rates are achieved with large constellations such as 64QAM and
less robust error correcting codes.
o To perform AMC, the transmitter must have some knowledge of the instantaneous
channel gain. Once it does, it can choose the modulation technique that will achieve the
highest possible data rate while still meeting a BER or packet error rate (PER) require-
ment.
o An alternative objective is to pick the modulation and/or coding combination that simply
maximizes the successful throughput.
o A block diagram of an AMC system is given in Figure 2.27. For simplicity, consider just a
single user system attempting to transmit as quickly as possible through a channel with a
variable SINR, for example, due to fading.
 Figure 2.27: Adaptive modulation and coding block diagram

o The goal of the transmitter is to transmit data from its queue as rapidly as possible, subject
to the data being demodulated and decoded reliably at the receiver.
o Feedback is critical for adaptive modulation and coding: the transmitter needs to know
the "channel SINR".
o A Practical Example of AMC: Figure 2.28 shows a possible realization of AMC, using three
different code rates (1/2, 2/3, 3/4), and three different modulation types (QPSK, 16QAM,
64QAM).

Figure 2.28 Throughput vs. SINR, assuming the best available constellation and coding
configuration is chosen for each SINR.
2. 5 M i t i g a t i o n o f B r o a d b a n d F a d i n g * * *

o In LTE broadband channel Inter Symbol Interference (ISI) is very serious problem.
This is due to frequency-selective fading cause dispersion in time.
o Choosing a technique to effectively combat ISI is a central design decision for any
high data rate system.
o OFDM is the most popular choice for combatting ISI in a range of high rate systems.
o Other main techniques for ISI mitigation are
1. Spread Spectrum and RAKE Receivers
2. Equalization
3. Multicarrier Modulation: OFDM
4. Single-Carrier Modulation with Frequency Domain Equalization

1. Spread Spectrum and RAKE Receivers:

o It is a technique of transmitting of narrowband data signal in a wideband channel called

spread spectrum. Spread spectrum techniques are generally broken into two quite
different categories:

1. Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum(DSSS): It also known as Code Division Multiple

Access (CDMA), is used widely in cellular voice networks and is effective at
multiplexing a large number of variable rate users in a cellular environment

2. Frequency hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS): Frequency hopping is used in low-rate

wireless LANs like Bluetooth, and also for its interference averaging properties in
GSM cellular networks.
o Spread spectrum techniques is not an appropriate technology for high data rates due self-
interference. In short, spread spectrum is not a natural choice for wireless broadband
networks.
o Although this self-interference can be corrected with an equalizer this largely defeats the
purpose of using spread spectrum to help with ISI.

2. Equalization
o Equalizers are most logical alternative for ISI-suppression since they don't require
additional antennas or bandwidth, and have moderate complexity.
o Equalizers are implemented at the receiver, and attempt to reverse the distortion in-
troduced by the channel.
o Equalizers are broken into two classes: linear and decision-directed (nonlinear).
1. Linear Equalizers:
- A linear equalizer simply runs the received signal through a filter that roughly
models the inverse of the channel.
- The problem with this approach is that it inverts not only the channel, but also the
received noise.
- This noise enhancement can severely degrade the receiver performance, especially
in a wireless channel with deep frequency fades.
- Linear receivers are relatively simple to implement, but achieve poor performance
in a time-varying and severe-ISI channel.
2. Nonlinear Equalizers:
- A nonlinear equalizer uses previous symbol decisions made by the receiver to cancel
out their subsequent interference, and so is often called a decision feedback
equalizers (DFE).
- One problem with this approach is that it is common to make mistakes about what
the prior symbols were (especially at low SNR), which causes "error propagation."
- Nonlinear equalizers pay for their improved performance relative to linear receivers
with sophisticated training and increased computational complexity.

3. Multicarrier Modulation: OFDM:

o Multicarrier modulation is that rather than fighting the time-dispersive ISI channel
o For a large number of subcarriers (L) are used in parallel, so that the symbol time for
each goes from T to LT.
o In other words, rather than sending a single signal with data rate R and bandwidth B,
why not send L signals at the same time, each having bandwidth B/L and data rate R/L.
o In this way, if B/L ≪ Bc, each of the signals will undergo approximately flat fading and
the time dispersion for each signal will be negligible.
o As long as the number of subcarriers L is large enough, the condition B/L ≪ Bc, can be
met.

4. Single-Carrier Modulation with Frequency Domain Equalization:

o A primary drawback of the OFDM approach has a high peak-to-average ratio (PAR).
o The dynamic range of the transmit power is too large, which results in either significant
clipping and distortion, or in a requirement for highly linear power amplifier.
o One can transmit a single carrier signal with a cyclic prefix, which has a low PAR, and then
do all the processing at the receiver.
o Said processing consists of a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to move the signal into the
frequency domain, a 1-tap frequency equalizer (just like in OFDM), and then an Inverse
FFT to convert back to the time domain for decoding and detection.
o In addition to eliminating OFDM's PAR problem, an additional advantage of this approach
for the uplink is the potential to move the FFT and IFFT operations to the base station.
o In LTE, however, because multiple uplink users share the frequency channel at the same
time, the mobile station still must perform FFT and IFFT operations.
o The resulting approach, known in LTE as Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiple
Access (SC-FDMA).