Mobile Radio Channel Modelling & Mitigations

3.2 Mitigation Techniques for Fading Wireless Channels

 Goal of the Lecture

Radio channel is dynamic because of multipath fading and Doppler spread

Fading cause the signal at the receiver to fade

How to improve link performance in hostile mobile environment.

Apart from better transmitter and receiver technology, mobile communications require

signal processing techniques that improve the link performance

Mitigation techniques: Channel equalization, diversity, spread spectrum, interleaving,

channel coding,
 Lecture Outlines

Introduction

Equalization Techniques

Diversity Techniques

Coding Techniques

Summery
 Used Acronyms

DFE : Decision feedback equalizer

ISI: Inter symbol interference
FTF: Fast transversal filter
LMS : least mean square
ZF: Zero forcing
RLS: Recursive least square
 Introduction

Mobile radio channel is particularly dynamic due to

Multipath fading
Doppler spread
As a result, the channel has a strong negative impact on BER of any modulation and
transmission techniques
To improve received signal quality in hostile mobile radio environment, we need
Equalization
Diversity
Channel coding,
Each can be used independently or in tandem
 Equalization: compensates for inter symbol interference (ISI) created by multipath in time
dispersive (frequency selective) channels.
Recall pulse shaping filters that also compensate for ISI
ISI is the result of frequency selective channel
Equalizers must be adaptive since the channel is generally unknown and time varying
It may be linear equalization or nonlinear equalizer

Diversity: compensates for fast fading channel impairments.

It is employed to reduce the depth and duration of the fades experienced by a receiver
Idea: create independent (or at least highly uncorrelated) signal channels for communication
Types of diversity: Spatial diversity, Frequency diversity, Time diversity, Polarization diversity
Spatial diversity: usually implemented by using two or more receiving antennas and widely used
 Channel Coding: improves mobile communication link performance by adding redundant
data bits in the transmitted message
It is used by the Rx to detect or correct some (or all) of errors introduced by the channel in a
particular sequence of message bits (fading or noise).
Post detection technique
Examples: Block codes and convolutional codes
A general framework of fading effects and their mitigation techniques.
 Equalization Techniques

ISI is one of the major obstacles to high speed data transmission over mobile radio channels.
If BS>BC of the radio channel (frequency selective fading), modulated pulses are
spread in time, causing ISI.
An equalizer at the front end of a receiver compensates for the average range of
expected channel amplitude and delay characteristics.
Equalizers must track the time-varying characteristics of the mobile channel and
therefore should be time varying or adaptive.
 Equalizers are widely used in TDMA systems
Three factors affect the time span over which an equalizer converges:
Equalizer algorithm, equalizer structure, and time rate of change of multipath
radio channel
Two operating modes for an adaptive equalizer are:
Training mode
Tracking mode
Adaptive equalizer training mode operation:
Initially a known fixed length training sequence is sent by the Tx so that the Rx
equalizer may average to a proper setting.
 Training sequence is typically a pseudo-random binary signal or a fixed prescribed bit
pattern.
The training sequence is designed to permit an equalizer at the receiver to acquire the
proper filter coefficient in the worst possible channel condition.
An adaptive filter at the receiver thus uses a recursive algorithm to evaluate channel and
estimate filter coefficients to compensate for the channel.

Adaptive equalizer tracking mode operation:

When the training sequence is finished the filter coefficients are near optimal.
Immediately following the training sequence, user data is sent.
When the data of the users are received, the adaptive algorithms of the equalizer tracks
the changing channel.
As a result, the adaptive equalizer continuously changes the filter characteristics over time
Mathematical Frame Work of an Equalizer
 Equalizer is usually implemented at baseband or at IF in a receiver
 The signal received by the equalizer is given by

If the impulse response of the equalizer is heq(t), the output of the equalizer is

(t) = d (t) * h (t) * heq (t) + nb (t) * heq (t) = d (t)* g (t) + nb(t) * heq (t)

With nb(t) equal to zero, to be y(t)=d(t),

Hence the main goal of any equalization process is to satisfy this equation optimally.

In frequency domain it can be written as

Thus an equalizer is actually an inverse filter of the channel.

 For frequency selective channel: to provide a flat composite received

frequency response and linear phase response;

The equalizer enhances the frequency components with small amplitudes

Attenuates the strong frequencies in the received frequency spectrum

For time varying channel: the equalizer is designed to track the channel variations

so that the above equation is approximately satisfied.

 Generic Adaptive Equalizer:

Basic Structure : Transversal filter with N delay elements, N+1 taps, and N+1 tuneable
complex weights.
Weights are updated continuously by an adaptive algorithm
The adaptive algorithm is controlled by the error signal ek:
 An adaptive equalizer is a time-varying filter that is retuned constantly
In the block diagram:
The subscript k represents discrete time index
There is a single input yk at any time instant
It is a transversal filter that has N delay, N+1 taps and N+1 tuneable multiplier
called weights
The value of yk depends upon
Instantaneous state of radio channel and specific value of noise

The second subscript( k) of the weights show that they vary with time and are updated on a
sample by sample basis
 The error signal ek
Controls the adaptive algorithm
The error signal is derived by comparing the output of the equalizer with some signal
dk which is either
Replica of transmitted signal xk or
Which represents a known property of the transmitted signal
ek is used to minimize a cost function and iteratively update equalizer weights so as to
reduce the cost function

The Least Mean Square (MSE) algorithm searches for the optimum or near optimum weight by
Computing the error between the desired signal and the output of the equalizer and
minimizes it
It is the most common cost function
Adaptive Equalization Classification

Used to mitigate more

severe fading channel
 Performance measures for an adaptive algorithm
Rate of convergence-No of iterations for the algorithm
Mis-adjustment-provides the quantative measure of square error
Computational complexity and numerical properties
Factors that dominate the choice of an equalization structure and its algorithm
The cost of computing platform
The power budget
The radio propagation characteristics

Algorithms types
Zero Forcing (ZF)-combining channel and equalizer impulse response force to zero
Least Mean Squares (LMS)-Minimization of MSE b/n desired o/p equalizer and actual i/p Eq.
Recursive least square (RLS)-Significantly improves convergence of adaptive equalizers.
 The speed of the mobile unit determines the channel fading rate and the Doppler spread

Which is related to the coherent time of the channel directly

The choice of adaptive algorithm, and its corresponding rate of convergence, depends on

the channel data rate and coherent time

The number of taps used in the equalizer design depends on the maximum expected time

delay spread of the channel

The circuit complexity and processing time increases with the number of taps and delay

elements
 Diversity Techniques

Diversity exploits the random nature of radio propagation by finding independent (or at
least highly uncorrelated) signal channels or paths for communication

Idea: dont put all of your eggs in one basket

In fading channels, a signal power will fall below any given fade margin at finite
probability exists
Send copies of a signal using multiple channels
Time, frequency, space, antenna
If one radio path undergoes a deep fade, another independent path may have a strong
signal
 Assumption: Individual channels experience independent fading events
By having more than one path to select from, SNR at a receiver may be improved (by as much
as 20 to 30 dB).
Advantage: Diversity requires no training overhead
It provides significant link improvement with little added cost
Assume that we have M statistically independent channels
This independence means that one channels fading does not influence, or is not
correlated with, another channels fading
Examples: Using antenna (or space) diversity
Microscopic diversity: Mitigates small-scale fading effects (deep fading)
Macroscopic diversity: Reduces the large-scale fading (selecting different base stations), can
also be used for uplink
Selecting an antenna which is not shadowed
Receiver selection diversity with M receivers
 Types of Diversity
Time diversity
Repeatedly transmits information at time spacing that exceed the coherence
time of the channel, e..g., interleaver
Spreading the data out over time & better for fast fading channel
Frequency diversity
Transmits information on more than one carrier frequency
Frequencies separated by more than the coherence bandwidth of the channel will not
experience the same fads (eg., FDM)
Also spread spectrum (spread the signal over a larger frequency bandwidth) or
OFDM (use multiple frequency carriers)
Used to mitigate the frequency selective fading channel
 Space diversity
Transmit information on spatially uncorrelated channels
Requires multiple antennas at transmitter and/or receiver
Example: MIMO, SIMO, MISO, virtual antenna systems
Multipath fading changes quickly over space
Hence, the signal amplitude received on the different antennas
can have a low correlation coefficient
Space diversity doesnt require additional
Signals to be transmitted
Bandwidth for transmission
 Reception methods for space diversity includes:
Selection combining
Maximal-ratio combining
Equal gain combining
Selection Combining
The receiver branch, having the highest instantaneous
SNR, is connected to the demodulator
The antenna signals themselves could be sampled and
the best one sent to a single demodulation
Simple to implement but does not use all of the
possible branches
2
SNR = =

Generalized receiver block diagram for selection diversity

 Instantaneous SNR is usually defined as =instantaneous signal power

The probability density function is given by

1
=

The probability that any single branch has an instantaneous SNR less
than some defined threshold is
 Maximum Ratio Combining

The received signals are weighted with respect to their SNR and then summed

Principle: Combine all the signals from all of the M branches in a co-phased and
weighted manner so as to have the highest SNR at the receiver at all times
The control algorithms for setting the gains and phases for MRC are similar to those
required in equalizer
Need time to converge & performance is as good as the channel
Generalized receiver block diagram for MRC
 Equal Gain Combining
In equal gain combining
The branch weights are all set to unity but the signals from each are co-phased to provide equal gain
combining diversity
Co-phased signals are then add together
All the received signals are summed coherently.
This allows the receiver to exploit signals that are simultaneously received on each branch
In certain cases, it is not convenient to provide for the variable weighting capability as in MRC

The probability of producing an acceptable signals from a number of unacceptable inputs is still retained
The performance is marginally inferior to maximal ratio combining and superior to selection combining

Figure : Equal Gain Combining

 Channel Coding Techniques

It is used by the Rx to detect or correct some (or all) of the errors introduced by the channel (Post
detection technique)
It improves mobile communication link performance by adding redundant data bits in the
transmitted message
Mainly for error control and classified as block or convolutional codes
Block Codes: examples
FEC codes, Hamming Codes, Hadamard Codes
Golay Codes, Cyclic Codes, BCH cyclic, Reed-Solomon Codes
Convolutional codes: Here the output of the FEC encoder can be viewed as the convolution of the
input bit stream and the impulse response of the encoder. Which is a time invariant polynomial.
A convolutional code is described by a set of rules by which the encoding of k data bits into n-coded
data (n, k)
 The ratio of k/n is typically called the code rate, this ratio determines the amount of additional
redundancy inserted into the code word.
The smaller the code rate the more parity bits are inserted into the data stream.
 Summery

Equalizers attempt to make the discrete time impulse response of the channel ideal
Channels act as filters that cause both amplitude and phase distortion of signals
Transmitters and receivers can be designed as filters to compensate for non-ideal channel
behaviour
Training sequences can be used to adapt equalizer weights
Multiple techniques are available for setting filter tap weights
Zero forcing
Least mean squares
Recursive least squares
 Diversity is one technique to combat fading in wireless channel
Time diversity: Used when channels spacing is greater than the coherence time of the channel
Repeating transmission in time correlated channel brings little advantage
Good with fast fading channels
Frequency diversity: used when channels frequency separation is greater than the coherence
bandwidth of the channel
Spatial diversity requires multiple antennas
E.g., MIMO and virtual antenna systems
Finally channel coding is mainly used for error control