332

TRANSACTIONS IEEE VEHICULAR ONTECHNOLOGY, VT-26, NO. VOL.

4, NOVEMBER 1917

Mobile Fading-Rayleigh and Lognormal Superimposed

FLEMMING HANSEN, MEMBER, IEEE,
AND

FINN I. MENO

Abstract-A closed solution i s presented showing the composite probability distribution of power levels derived from short term Rayleigh fading with superimposed long term lognormal variations of mean value. An example shows how the results can be applied to the prediction of bit error rates in a mobile radio data transmission channel, and how the errorrate will vary with standard deviation of the lognormal distribution. dr

In the following analysis it will be convenient to use X insteadof r as theindependent variable. If theprobability when changing the shall the we must have p(r)
= p ( x ) dx,

INTRODUCTION N A TYPICAL mobile radio propagation situation, the received signal will show fading consisting of very rapid fluctuations around the mean signal level superimposed on relatively slow variations of the mean level. The short termvariations are caused bymultipathpropagation,andmanyauthors [ 3 ] , [4], [ 6 ] have shown thattheamplitudedistribution of the signal can be approximated very closely bythe Rayleigh distribution. The medium term mean value variations are caused by shadoweffectsand areusually foundto be lognormally distributed, [ l ] [3] , [5] . In theoretical work the mean value is normally assumed to be constant, i.e., the distribution is assumed to be pure Rayleigh. This simplifies the mathematical analysis considerably and is therefore perfectly justifiable forthetheoretical systemanalysis, but it will seriously impair the accuracy of any attempt to predict practical system performance. In t h s paper the probability of a fade below a given threshold level is calculated for a system with superimposed Rayleigh and lognormal fading, and an asymptotic expression for t h s probability, valid for large values of meantothreshold ratio, is derived. The results are used in an example where bit error rate in a mobile data transmission system is calculated, and it is demonstrated that the only parameters required t o do this are 1) data receiver threshold level, 2) mean value of RF-signal, 3) standard deviation of mean value. RAYLEIGH DISTRIBUTION The Rayleigh probability density function used as a model for short term fading in a radio channel gives the probability density p(r) for the amplitude r knowing the mean power X O : r x. amplitude. mean power,

and as dxldr = r we find

p ( x ) = - e--x/xo
X0

Equation (1) shows that the instantaneous power of a signal with Rayleigh distributed amplitude will be exponentially distributed. Note that the only parameter necessary to completelydescribe thedistribution is the meanvalue, xo. The probability of a fade below the system threshold level X T is

For x. S- x T we can replace (2) by the asymptotic expression lim P(x

XO'"

XT <x T ) = -

x0

LOGNORMAL DISTRIBUTION The lognormal probability density function is

M
P(X0)

f i . u . x o

(logxo--log3o~2/2o~

(4)

The connection between X and x' for the lognormal distribution is given by log (To) = log (20)+ 2.M where
x o mean value, x. median value, u standard deviation,
-2 v

p(r)= -e --r2/2x0
X0

The instantaneous signal power is x = Mr2.

Manuscript received February 23, 1977; revised June 20, 1977. The authors are with Storno A/S, DK-2300 Coepnhagen deviation. Denmark. standard the

M
S,

=log e.

The density function and

(4) is determined by the median

value

HANSEN AND MENO: MOBILE FADING

333
TABLE I
o1 = 10.0 (dB)
,(0'/4.3)~
~ ~~

COMPOSITE PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION When the short term and the medium term distributions are superimposed the resulting probability of a fade below xT will be given by

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

1. 1.24 2.34 6.74 29.76 200.7 2069

where p(x I x o ) and p(xo I X , , ) denote conditional probability densities. Using (3) and (4) we find

Setting
x 0 = a '2,

we have
logx0 - logPo = M
a

h a

S I G N A L P0WER.X

Fig. 1. Static bit error rate versus receiver input signal level. where M = log e = 0.43 and
1 * dxo = d(ln a).
X0

(3) for the true Rayleigh distribution. u in (12) must be expressed in bels. Setting u' = 10.0 dB (12) becomes

Substituting @)-(lo) in (7), we obtain where u' is now expressed in decibels. Table I gives the value of the factor e ( u ' / 4 , 3 ) 2 for standard deviations u' up to 12 dB.

e-(lna)2*M2/2~2

dOn a ) ,

and after a little algebra we find

P ( x < X T )=xT
20

PREDICTION OF ERROR RATES IN MOBILE DATA CHANNEL Fig. 1 shows a typical bit error rate curve for a data transmission channel with Gaussian noise and constant (nonfading) receiver input signal. Below the threshold level xT the error rate is nearly constant (= p(e>,,,). Above threshold it falls off very rapidly (exponentially)with x / x T . Under normal dynamic conditions the useful levels are more than 10-20 dB above x T . Therefore the following approximation may be applied:

eo2/2M2

From (5) we obtain

To = io , e-02/2M2 ,
and substitutionof this in (12) gives

(subscript S indicates static error rate). xT is defined by

X T * P(e)max

= [

P(e 1x1 dx.

For Yo 3=x T , P(x < x T ) is thus determined by X0 and u only. Note that for u = 0 (12) yields the same value as found from

This gives the same area under the two curves in Fig. 1

334

IEEE TRANSACTIONS VEHICULAR ONTECHNOLOGY, VT-26, NO. VOL.

4, NOVEMBER 1977

Dynamic Error Rate

The bit error rate under fading conditions is (1 7 ) (subscript D indicates dynamic error rate). When p(e I x)s is approximated by (1 5 ) , (1 7 ) reduces to

For X . 3 xT we can further simplify (18) by substituting the integral by its asymptotic value (14):
P(~)D =P(e)max

xz- . e(u'/4.3P .X0

(19)

Fig. 2. Dynamicerrorrate in mobileradiodatatransmissionchannel with Rayleigh short term fading and lognormal mean level. (Distorlevel, u' = standarddeviation of tion yo = mediumtermmean mean level.)

For of = 0 (19) yields the asymptotic error rate for pure Rayleigh fading. When lognormal fading is added theresultant error rate can be obtained by multiplying the Rayleigh error rate by the constant factor e ( ' ' / 4 * 3 ) 2 . For a more accurate solution we must return to (18). Substituting (1) and (4) in (6) and then (6) in (18) we obtain

Assuming a maximum bit error rate of 10-2 to be sufficient for the transfer of pizza information, we can now estimate the minimum R F signal level required in the radio system. From [31we find that a typical value of the mean power standard deviation in the Copenhagen area is o' = 5.8 dB = 6 dB, and assuming short term Rayleigh fading we obtain the minimum usable mean power in the following way. threshold level x T correction for Rayleigh fading correction for lognormal fading minimummean power level, X . -1 1 dB/1 pV EMF, 5 0 a +17 dB

. e - ~ l o g x o - l o g x ' ~ P / 2 u ~dxo. ,

(1 8')

This integral cannot be expressed in a closed form, but must be numerically calculated. The results are shown in Fig. 2 together with asymptotic values calculated from (19). For uf < 10 dB, the asymptotic formula gives acceptableaccuracy for p(e)D G 0.1.

+7 dB
+13dB/1 pV EMF, 50a

Necessary RF Signal Level

Suppose the young entrepreneur working in the radio controlled pizza delivery business, as described by Reudink [ l ] , opens up a branch in Copenhagen, Denmark, and after some time finds his business so successful that the traffic capacity of his radiosystem is completelyexhausted. He finds thatthe only way of serving his customers properly is to improve the transmission capacity of his radiosystem by switching from speech todata transmission and decides thata transmission rate of 1200 b/s will provide adequate traffic capacity. Binary frequency-shift keying (FSK) is used,andthecharacteristic parameters of the receiver are found to be for the R F threshold level,
X T = -1

For speech the usable receiver sensitivity is 0.5 pV EMF (-6 dB/l pV EMF), and by experience about 16 dB must be added to maintain the same subjective signal to noise ratio during multipath fading, meaning thattheminimummean power level in the speech system is 10 dB/1 pV EMF. Thus the pizza entrepreneur will have to invest in improved receiver sensitivity, higher antenna gain, or higher transmitter output power if he still wants to serve the same customer area as previously. Alternatively, of course,he can acceplthe slightly smaller coverage area andhopethatthe improvedefficiency of his communication system will enable him t o make up for theloss through a hopefully improved market share. CONCLUSION The very simple mathematicalmodel of a multipathpropagation channel with short term Rayleigh and medium term lognormal distribution described above offers great promise in system design applications. The example given

1 dB/l pV EMF, 50a

and for error rate below threshold,

P(e),,,

= 0.5.

TRANSACTIONS IEEE

ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VT-26, NO. VOL.

4 , NOVEMBER 1 9 7 7

335

shows that it will be possible to estimate the performance of a practical mobile radio data transmission system knowing only three characteristic system parameters: data receiver RF threshold level XT medium term mean value of received signal Yo deviation of standard x. Ut.

the values of X , . ,and (I calculated directly from the received signal pattern.
REFERENCES [ l ] D. 0 . Reudink,Properties of mobile radio propagation above 400 MHz, ZEEE Trans. on Veh. Technol., vol. VT-23, no. 4, pp. 143-60, NOV. 1974. [ 21 J. J. Egli, Radio propagation above 40 MC over irregular terrain, i n P r 0 ~IRE, . V O ~ .45, p. 1383-91, Oct. 1957. [ 31 F . I. Meno,Mobileradiofadinginscandinavian terrain, ZEEE Trans. on Veh. Technol., vol. VT-26, no. 4,Nov. 1977. [ 4 ] R. M. Clarke, A statistical theory of mobile radio reception, Bell Sysf. Tech. J., vol. 47, pp. 957-1000, July-Aug. 1968. andY. S. Yeh,Ontheestimation of the second[5] W. C.Y.Lee order statistics of log-normal fading in mobile environment,ZEEE Trans. on Comrnun., vol. COM-22, no. 6, p. 869. June 1974. [6] M. C. Cans, A power-spectral theory of propagation in the mobile radio environment, ZEEE Trans. on Veh. Technol., vol. VT21, pp. 27-38, Feb. 1972.

xT is an equipment parameter which is easily measured. X . and ut are determined from actualfield strength measurements, but as shorttermvariations areneglected much largeraveraging timesareused:andthetimerequiredforthemeasurements may be considerablyreducedwhencomparedwithconventional propagation surveying techniques. It is even possible to automatethe surveyingprocess, plottingat regularintervals

Mobile Radio Fading in Scandinavian Terrain

FINN I. MEN0

Absfrucf-Fieldstrengthpatterns have beenrecordedinSweden (deepwoods,hillyterrain),Norway (long narrowvalleys),andDenmark (farmland, urban districts). Digitalprocessing of recordings has taken place.Examplesofamplitudedistributionsarepresentedfor various types of terrain. Results show good agreement with the Rayleigh distribution in spite of the great difference in type of terrain.

whether the Rayleigh distribution could be applied as the propagation model for all types of landscapes. RECORDINGEQUIPMENT The field strength is measured by means of a logarithmic detector in the receiver IF amplifier.The dc output voltage from the detector is fed to an audio FM modem, which frequency modulates a tone. The modulated signal is recorded on magnetic tape. The measuring setup is shown in Fig. 1. Two radio channels are used: one measuring channel and one communication channel. In the mobile unit there is a transmitter for sending an unmodulated carrier during measurement and a communication set. On the fixed measuring site there is a communication set and two receivers tuned to the measuring channel frequency. One receiver measures at intervals (by means of FMreceivernoisesuppression) thepercentageoftimewhenthe quieting is 20 dB orgreater.Thefrequencymodulatedtone is recorded on trackone on themagnetictape.Tracktwo is used for recordings of information about the measurements (place, vehicle speed, etc.). The received signals can be monitored on anoscilloscope. RF anddcgeneratorsareusedfor calibration purposes. The accuracy of the measurement is *O .4 dB. TEST AREA TOPOGRAPHY With the view to collect results from representative areas the Nordic countries four types of landscapes were selected. in

INTRODUCTION was carried out comparing different signaling methods to be applied to the radio path in a fully automatic 450-MHz Nordic Mobile Telephone System (NMT). Laboratory methods have mainly been used in this investigation as agreed by the telecommunication administrations. The comparison of the signaling methods was based on simulation of practical operational conditions, and actual field trials have been performed only to the extent necessary to demonstrate the reliability of the simulation method. With the view to collectrepresentativeflutterpatternsforthesimulationexperiments, a series of recordings of flutter patterns were made in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. The respective telecommunication administrations were consulted for selection of the geographical test areas. With assistance from Telecommunication Research Laboratory (Teleteknisk Forsknings-laboratorium) these analog recordings were later digitized in order to analyze
Manuscript received February 23, 1977;revised June 20, 1977. This studv is based on a contract between the DanishPostandTelegraph Administration on behalf of the Scandinavian Mobile Telephone Coordination Group and Storno A/S. The author is with Storno A/S, DK-2300 Copenhagen S. Denmark.

ASTUDY