Log Distance Path Loss or Log Normal Shadowing Model

Log distance path loss model

Log distance path loss model is an extension to the Friis free space model. It is used to predict the propagation loss for a wide range of environments, whereas, the Friis free space model is restricted to unobstructed clear path between the transmitter and the receiver. The model encompasses random shadowing effects due to signal blockage by hills, trees, buildings etc. It is also referred as log normal shadowing model.

Log Normal shadowing or Log distance path loss model
Figure 1: Simulated results for log distance path loss model

In the far field region of the transmitter, for distances beyond , if is the path loss at a distance meters from the transmitter, then the path loss at an arbitrary distance is given by

where, is the path loss at an arbitrary distance meters, is the path loss exponent that depends on the type of environment, as given in Table below. Also, is a zero-mean Gaussian distributed random variable with standard deviation expressed in , used only when there is a shadowing effect. The reference path loss , also called close-in reference distance, is obtained by using Friis path loss equation (equation 2 in this post) or by field measurements at . Typically, to for microcell and for a large cell.

This article is part of the book
Wireless Communication Systems in Matlab (second edition), ISBN: 979-8648350779 available in ebook (PDF) format and Paperback (hardcopy) format.

The path-loss exponent (PLE) values given in Table below are for reference only. They may or may not fit the actual environment we are trying to model. Usually, PLE is considered to be known a-priori, but mostly that is not the case. Care must be taken to estimate the PLE for the given environment before design and modeling. PLE is estimated by equating the observed (empirical) values over several time instants, to the established theoretical values. Refer [1] for a literature on PLE estimation in large wireless networks.

logNormalShadowing.m: Function to model Log-normal shadowing (Refer the book for the Matlab code – click here)

The function to implement log-normal shadowing is given above and the test code is given next. Figure 1 shows the received signal when there is no shadowing effect and the case where shadowing exists. The r

The function to implement log-normal shadowing is given above and the test code is given next. Figure 1 above shows the received signal power when there is no shadowing effect and the case when shadowing exists. The results are generated for an environment with PLE n = 2, frequency of transmission f = 2.4 GHz, reference distance d0 = 1 m and standard deviation of the log-normal shadowing σ = 2dB. Results clearly show that the log-normal shadowing introduces randomness in the received signal power, which may put us close to reality.

log_distance_model_test.m: Simulate Log Normal Shadowing for a range of distances

Pt_dBm=0; %Input transmitted power in dBm
Gt_dBi=1; %Gain of the Transmitted antenna in dBi
Gr_dBi=1; %Gain of the Receiver antenna in dBi
f=2.4e9; %Transmitted signal frequency in Hertz
d0=1; %assume reference distance = 1m
d=100*(1:0.2:100); %Array of distances to simulate
L=1; %Other System Losses, No Loss case L=1
sigma=2;%Standard deviation of log Normal distribution (in dB)
n=2; % path loss exponent
%Log normal shadowing (with shadowing effect)
[PL_shadow,Pr_shadow] = logNormalShadowing(Pt_dBm,Gt_dBi,Gr_dBi,f,d0,d,L,sigma,n);
figure;plot(d,Pr_shadow,'b');hold on;
%Friis transmission (no shadowing effect)
[Pr_Friss,PL_Friss] = FriisModel(Pt_dBm,Gt_dBi,Gr_dBi,f,d,L,n);
plot(d,Pr_Friss,'r');grid on;
xlabel('Distance (m)'); ylabel('P_r (dBm)');
title('Log Normal Shadowing Model');legend('Log normal shadowing','Friss model');

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References

[1] Srinivasan, S.; Haenggi, M., Path loss exponent estimation in large wireless networks, Information Theory and Applications Workshop, pp. 124 – 129, Feb 2009.↗

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Friis Free Space Propagation Model

Friis free space propagation model is used to model the line-of-sight (LOS) path loss incurred in a free space environment, devoid of any objects that create absorption, diffraction, reflections, or any other characteristic-altering phenomenon to a radiated wave. It is valid only in the far field region of the transmitting antenna [1] and is based on the inverse square law of distance which states that the received power at a particular distance from the transmitter decays by a factor of square of the distance.

Figure 1: Received power using Friis model for WiFi transmission at f=2.4 GHz and f=5 GHz

The Friis equation for received power is given by

where, Pr is the received signal power in Watts expressed as a function of separation distance (d meters) between the transmitter and the receiver, Pt is the power of the transmitted signal’s Watts, Gt and Gr are the gains of transmitter and receiver antennas when compared to an isotropic radiator with unit gain, λ is the wavelength of carrier in meters and L represents other losses that is not associated with the propagation loss. The parameter L may include system losses like loss at the antenna, transmission line attenuation, loss at various filters etc. The factor L is usually greater than or equal to 1 with L=1 for no such system losses.

This article is part of the book
Wireless Communication Systems in Matlab (second edition), ISBN: 979-8648350779 available in ebook (PDF) format and Paperback (hardcopy) format.

The Friis equation can be modified to accommodate different environments, on the reason that the received signal decreases as the nth power of distance, where the parameter n is the path-loss exponent (PLE) that takes constant values depending on the environment that is modeled (see Table below} for various empirical values for PLE).

The propagation path loss in free space, denoted as PL, is the loss incurred by the transmitted signal during propagation. It is expressed as the signal loss between the feed points of two isotropic antennas in free space.

The propagation of an electromagnetic signal, through free space, is unaffected by its frequency of transmission and hence has no dependency on the wavelength λ. However, the variable λ exists in the path loss equation to account for the effective aperture of the receiving antenna, which is an indicator of the antenna’s ability to collect power. If the link between the transmitting and receiving antenna is something other than the free space, penetration/absorption losses are also considered in path loss calculation. Material penetrations are fairly dependent on frequency. Incorporation of penetration losses require detailed analysis.

Usually, the transmitted power and the receiver power are specified in terms of dBm (power in decibels with respect to 1 mW) and the antenna gains in dBi (gain in decibels with respect to an isotropic antenna). Therefore, it is often convenient to work in log scale instead of linear scale. The alternative form of Friis equation in log scale is given by

Following function, implements a generic Friis equation that includes the path loss exponent, , whose possible values are listed in Table 1.

FriisModel.m: Function implementing Friis propagation model (Refer the book for the Matlab code – click here)

For example, consider a WiFi (IEEE 802.11n standard↗) transmission-reception system operating at f =2.4 GHz or f =5 GHz band with 0 dBm (1 mW) output power from the transmitter. The gain of the transmitter antenna is 1 dBi and that of receiving antenna is 1 dBi. It is assumed that there is no system loss, therefore L = 1. The following Matlab code uses the Friis equation and plots the received power in dBm for a range of distances (Figure 1 shown above). From the plot, the received power decreases by a factor of 6 dB for every doubling of the distance.

Friis_model_test.m: Friis free space propagation model

%Matlab code to simulate Friis Free space equation
%-----------Input section------------------------
Pt_dBm=52; %Input - Transmitted power in dBm
Gt_dBi=25; %Gain of the Transmitted antenna in dBi
Gr_dBi=15; %Gain of the Receiver antenna in dBi
f=110ˆ9; %Transmitted signal frequency in Hertz d =41935000(1:1:200) ; %Array of input distances in meters
L=1; %Other System Losses, No Loss case L=1
n=2; %Path loss exponent for Free space
%----------------------------------------------------
[PL,Pr_dBm] = FriisModel(Pt_dBm,Gt_dBi,Gr_dBi,f,d,L,n);
plot(log10(d),Pr_dBm); title('Friis Path loss model');
xlabel('log10(d)'); ylabel('P_r (dBm)')

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References

[1] Allen C. Newell, Near Field Antenna Measurement Theory, Planar, Cylindrical and Spherical, Nearfield Systems Inc.↗

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Simulation of Rayleigh Fading ( Clarke’s Model – sum of sinusoids method)

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A multipath fading channel  can be modeled as a FIR (Finite Impulse Response) filter with the following impulse response.

$$ h( \tau ; t ) = h_{0}(t) \delta ( \tau – \tau_{0}(t)) + h_{1}(t) \delta ( \tau – \tau_{1}(t)) + . . . + h_{L-1}(t) \delta ( \tau – \tau_{L-1}(t)) $$

where h(τ,t) is the time varying impulse response of the multipath fading channel having L multipaths and hi(t) and τi(t) denote the time varying complex gain and excess delay of the i-th path. The above mentioned impulse response can be implemented as a FIR filter as shown below :

Multipath Fading phenomena – modelled as a Time Varying FIR Filter

The channel under consideration can be modeled as a multipath fading channel in which the impulse response may follow distributions like Rayleigh distribution ( in which there is no Line of Sight (LOS) ray between transmitter and receiver) or as Rician distribution ( dominant LOS path exist between transmitter and receiver), Nagami distribution, Weibull distribution etc.

Different methods of simulation techniques were proposed to simulate/model multipath channels. Some of the models include clarke’s reference model, Jake’s model, Young’s model , filtered gaussian noise model etc.

A Rayleigh fading channel (flat fading channel) is considered in this text.For simplicity we fix the excess delays τi(t) in the above equation and we generate hi(t) that follows Rayleigh distribution. In this simulation Clarke’s Rayleigh fading model is used. This model is also called mathematical reference model and is commonly considered as a computationally inefficient model compared to Jake’s Rayleigh Fading simulator.

Theory of Rayleigh Fading:

Lets denote the complex impulse response h(t) of the flat fading channel as follows :

$$ h(t) = h_{I}(t) + jh_{Q}(t) $$

where hI(t) and hQ(t) are zero mean gaussian distributed. Therefore the fading envelope is Rayleigh distributed and is given by

$$ \left |h(t) \right | = \sqrt{\left |h_{I}(t) \right |^2 + \left |h_{Q}(t) \right |^2} $$

The probability density function (Rayleigh distribution) of the above mentioned amplitude response is given by

$$ f(z)=\frac{2z}{\sigma ^{2}}e^{-\frac{z^{2}}{\sigma ^{2}}} \\ where \; \sigma ^{2} = E\left ( \left | h(t) \right |^{2} \right ) $$

We will use the Clarke’s Rayleigh Fading model (given below) and check the statistical properties of the random process generated by the model against the statistical properties of Rayleigh distribution (given above).

Clarke’s Rayleigh Fading model:

The random process of flat Rayleigh fading with M multipaths can be simulated with the sum-of-sinusoid method described as

Simulation:

1) The rayleigh fading model is implemented as a function in matlab with following parameters:
M=number of multipaths in the fading channel, N = number of samples to generate, fd=maximum Doppler spread in Hz, Ts = sampling period.

function [h]=rayleighFading(M,N,fd,Ts)

% function to generate rayleigh Fading samples based on Clarke's model
% M = number of multipaths in the channel
% N = number of samples to generate
% fd = maximum Doppler frequency
% Ts = sampling period
% Author : Mathuranathan for https://www.gaussianwaves.com
%Code available in the ebook - Simulation of Digital Communication Systems using Matlab

Check this book for full Matlab code.
Simulation of Digital Communication Systems Using Matlab – by Mathuranathan Viswanathan

2)The above mentioned function is used to generate Rayleigh Fading samples with the following values for the function arguments. M=15; N=10^5; fd=100 Hz;Ts=0.0001 second;

Investigation of Statistical Properties of samples generated using Clarke’s model:

3) Mean and Variance of the real and imaginary parts of generated samples are
Mean of real part ~=0
Mean of imag part ~=0
Variance of real part = 0.4989 ~=0.5
Variance of imag part = 0.4989 ~=0.5

The results implies that the mean of the real and imaginary parts are same and are equal to zero.The variance of the real and imaginary parts are approximately equal to 0.5.

4)Next, the pdf of the real part of the simulated samples are plotted and compared against the pdf of Gaussian distribution (with mean=0 and variance =0.5)

Real Part of simulated samples exhibiting Gaussian Distribution characteristics

5)The pdf of the generated Rayleigh fading samples are plotted and compared against pdf of Rayleigh distribution (with variance=1)

PDF of simulated Rayleigh Fading Samples

6) From 4) and 5) we confirm that the samples generated by Clarke’s model follows Rayleigh distribution (with variance = 1) and the real and imaginary part of the samples follow Gaussian distribution (with mean=0 and variance =0.5).

7) The Magnitude and Phase response of the generated Rayleigh Fading samples are plotted here.

The Magnitude and Phase response of the generated Rayleigh Fading samples

See also

[1]Eb/N0 Vs BER for BPSK over Rayleigh Channel and AWGN Channel
[2]Eb/N0 Vs BER for BPSK over Rician Fading Channel
[3]Performance comparison of Digital Modulation techniques
[4]BER Vs Eb/N0 for BPSK modulation over AWGN
[5]Rayleigh Fading Simulation – Young’s model
[6]Introduction to Fading Channels
[7] Chi-Squared distribution

Recommended Books

External Resources

[1]Theoretical expressions for BER under various conditions

Young’s model for Rayleigh fading

Introduction

Young’s fading channel model is a mathematical model used to describe the behavior of a wireless communication channel. It is a type of frequency selective fading channel model that is commonly used to simulate the effects of multipath interference on wireless signals.

The model is based on the assumption that the transmitted signal reaches the receiver through multiple paths, each with a different attenuation and phase shift. The attenuation and phase shift of each path are modeled as independent random variables with specific probability distributions.

The model uses the sum of these attenuated and phase-shifted paths to simulate the received signal. The resulting signal experiences fading due to the constructive and destructive interference of the individual paths.

Young’s fading channel model is useful for simulating the performance of wireless communication systems in a multipath environment. It can help researchers and engineers evaluate the performance of different modulation and coding schemes and develop techniques to mitigate the effects of fading.

Young’s model

In the previous article, the characteristics and types of fading was discussed. Rayleigh Fading channel with Doppler shift is considered in this article.

Consider a channel affected by both Rayleigh Fading phenomena and Doppler Shift. Rayleigh Fading is caused due to multipath reflections of the received signal before it reaches the receiver and the Doppler Shift is caused due to the difference in the relative velocity/motion between the transmitter and the receiver. This scenario is encountered in day to day mobile communications.

A number of simulation algorithms are proposed for generation of correlated Rayleigh random variables. David J.Young and Norman C Beaulieu proposed a method in their paper titled “The Generation of Correlated Rayleigh Random Variates by Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform”[1] based on the inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT). It is a modification of the Smith’s algorithm which is normally used for Rayleigh fading simulation. This method requires exactly one-half the number of IDFT operations and roughly two-thirds the computer memory of the original method – as the authors of the paper claims.

Rayleigh Fading can be simulated by adding two Gaussian Random variables as mentioned in my previous post. The effect of Doppler shift is incorporated by modeling the Doppler effect as a frequency domain filter.

The model proposed by Young et.al is shown below.

Rayleigh Fading – Young’s model

The Fading effect + Doppler Shift is simulated by multiplying the Gaussian Random variables and the Doppler Shift’s Frequency domain representation. Then IDFT is performed to bring them into time domain representation. The Doppler Filter used to represent the Doppler Shift effect is derived in Young’s paper.

The equation for the Doppler Filter is :

Matlab Code

Check this book for full Matlab code.
Simulation of Digital Communication Systems Using Matlab – by Mathuranathan Viswanathan

Matlab code Output:

Rayleigh Fading with Doppler Effect

Reference:

[1] D.J. Young and N.C. Beaulieu, “The generation of correlated Rayleigh random variates by inverse discrete fourier transform,” IEEE transactions on Communications, vol. 48, pp. 1114-1127, July 2000.

See also

[1]Eb/N0 Vs BER for BPSK over Rayleigh Channel and AWGN Channel
[2]Simulation of Rayleigh Fading ( Clarke’s Model – sum of sinusoids method)
[3]Performance comparison of Digital Modulation techniques
[4]BER Vs Eb/N0 for BPSK modulation over AWGN
[5]Introduction to Fading Channels

External Resources

[1]Theoretical expressions for BER under various conditions
[2]Capacity of MRC on correlated Rician Fading Channels