Wireless Communications and

mobile computing

Chapter 3

Wireless Network Principles

 Outline
• Wireless Basics
• Frequency allocation & regulation
• Antennas
• Signal propagation
• Multiplexing
• Modulation
• Media access control
• Classifications of wireless networks
 Wireless Transmission
Antenna Antenna

Transmitter Receiver

• Wireless Communication systems consist of:

– transmitters
– Antennas: radiates electromagnetic energy into air
– Receivers
• In some cases, transmitters and receivers are on same device, called
transceivers (e.g., cellular phones).
•

• In wireless communication the exchange of data takes place through the

transmission of signal.
 Signals
• Signals are the physical representation of data.
• Users of a communication system can only exchange data through the
transmission of signals.
– Light ,electric , electromagnetic/radio
• Layer 1 (physical layer) of the OSI basic reference model is responsible
for the conversion of data,
– i.e. bits, into signals and vice versa.
• Signals, are represented as cyclic waves which may be discrete
(digital) or continuous (analog).
• The major difference between both signals is that the analog signals
have continuous electrical signals, while digital signals have non-
continuous electrical signals.
 Basic Terms
• Frequency : no of cycles per unit time of the wave.
• Amplitude : the height of the wave.
• Phase: shows how far, in degrees, the wave is from its beginning (phase 0).
 Basic terms…
• Hertz (Hz) = number of cycles per second. Frequency is measured in
Hertz.
• Data rate = number of bits sent per second (bps).
• Channel = a logical communication path.
– One physical wire can support multiple channels; each channel
supports one user.
• Channel capacity = number of bits that can be transmitted per second.
(same as data rate).
 Antennas
• An antenna is an electrical conductor or system of conductors to
send/receive RF signals.
– Transmission - radiates electromagnetic energy into space.
– Reception - collects electromagnetic energy from space.
• In two-way communication, the same antenna can be used for
transmission and reception.

Directional
Omnidirectional Antenna (higher
Antenna (lower frequency) frequency)
 Transmission Media
• The physical path between the transmitter and receiver.
– Guided: along a solid medium. ….Cables
– Unguided: achieved by using antennas. Wireless
• Type of wireless transmission
– Directional: point-to-point. E.g. microwave
– Omni-directional: waves are transmitted equally in all directions.
 Frequency allocation
• Wireless communications use “radio frequency (RF)” spectrum for
transmitting and receiving information.
• Several factors are considered while allocating frequencies:
– cost of components: increases as you go to higher frequencies.
– signal losses: also increase as frequencies increase.
– noise disruption: lower frequencies are disrupted regularly by man-
made noise such as electrical motors, car ignition, and domestic
appliances.
 Wireless Frequency Allocation
Radio frequencies ranging from 9KHz to several GHZ (ITU)

Major frequency bands

• Microwave frequency range (1 GHz to 40 GHz)
– Directional beams possible
– Suitable for point-to-point transmission
– Used for satellite & terrestrial communications
• Broadcast frequency range(30 MHz to 1 GHz )
– Suitable for Omni-directional applications
– applications : FM radio and UHF and VHF television
• Infrared frequency range(300 GHz to 3000 GHz)
– Useful in local point-to-point multipoint applications within
confined areas.
→ is a line-of-sight wireless communication
technology.
 Terrestrial Microwave (1GHz to 40GHz)
Terrestrial microwave transmissions are sent between two microwave
stations on the earth (earth station).
• Common microwave antennas:
– are parabolic or "dish" shaped, 3m in diameter.
– Fixed rigidly and focuses a narrow beam.
– Achieves line-of-sight transmission to receiving antenna (relays
used in between).
– Located at substantial heights above ground level.
• Applications
– Long heave telecommunications service (instead of fiber, coax) --
requires less repeaters but line of sight communication.
– Short point-to-point links between buildings (e.g, closed circuit
TV, LANs, bypass local telephone companies)
– Most common BW= 4GHZ (can give up to 200 Mbps)
Terrestrial Microwave…
 Satellite Microwave (1GHz to 20 GHz, typically)
• Satellite microwave transmissions involve sending microwave
transmissions between two or more earth-based microwave stations
• and a satellite.
• The communication satellite
– is a microwave relay station.
– Used to link two or more ground-based microwave transmitter or
receivers.
– Receives transmissions on one frequency band (uplink), amplifies
or repeats the signal, and transmits it on another frequency
(downlink)
• Applications
– Television distribution (e.g., Dstv uses satellites )
– Long-distance telephone transmission between telephone exchange
offices.
– Private business networks (lease channels, expensive)
 Broadcast Radio (30 MHz to 1GHz)
• Description of broadcast radio antennas
– Omnidirectional (main differentiator from microwave)
– Antennas not required to be dish-shaped.
– Antennas need not be rigidly mounted to a precise alignment.
• Applications
– Broadcast radio & TV
• VHF and part of the UHF band; 30 MHZ to 1GHz.
• Covers FM radio and UHF and VHF television.
– Due to new apps, the frequency range is expanded frequently.
 Infrared (300 GHz to 3000 GHz)
• Operate in the terribly high frequency (THF)
• Does not penetrate walls.
• Used in remote control devices.
Example: TV remote control,
Garage door openers

Commonly used frequencies in Wireless Systems

– Cellular networks: Mostly around 900 MHz
– IEEE 802.11 LANs: 2.4 GHz(802.11b, 802.11g) and 5GHz(802.11a)
– Satellite systems: 3 to 30 GHz
– Wireless local loops: 10 to 100 GHz
– Infrared wireless LANs; 300 GHz to 3000 GHz
 Frequency Regulations
• Two approaches in using wireless frequencies:
– use an unlicensed band or
– use a frequency that is regulated
• Regulated bands require permission.

Regulating Bodies
• ITU (International Telecom Union)
– Responsible for assigning internationally used frequencies.
• Local broadcast and telecommunication agencies are also
responsible. Example: Ethio Telecom
 Within the United States, non-federal-government use of spectrum
is regulated by Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
 Federal government use of spectrum is regulated by the National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
 Question
• As we have said previously, we do have higher frequencies and
lower frequencies for different types of applications. Which type
of frequency do you think is widely used(or congested) in
wireless communication ? Lower frequencies or higher?
• Why do you think the reason is?
 Relationship between Wireless Frequency
and Distance Covered
• A very important relationship exists between frequency and distance
covered. The relationship is
d = k/f
Where d = distance covered, f = frequency used, and k = constant that
depends on environmental factors.
• Thus, the distance covered is inversely proportional to the frequency
being used.
• This implies that the higher the frequency, the shorter is the distance
covered.
• For example, a 900 MHz radio will transmit more than twice as far in
free space as a 2.4 GHz radio when both radios use the same output
power.
 Why lower frequencies?
• Lower frequencies are more congested and highly competed for
because the distance can be longer and the power requirements
are lower.
 Transmitters

Suppose you want to generate a signal that is sent at 900 MHz and the
original source generates a signal at 300 MHZ.
Amplifier - strengthens the initial signal
Oscillator - creates a carrier wave of 600 MHz
Mixer - combines original signal with oscillator and produces 900 MHz
Filter - selects correct frequency (Checks the standards)
Amplifier - Strengthens the signal before sending it
 Receivers perform similar operations but in reverse direction.
 Signal propagation ranges
• Signal propagation is the act of propagating i.e, movement of waves.
• In wireless networks, the signal has no wire to determine the direction
of propagation.
• Transmission range
– communication possible
– low error rate
• Detection range sender

 detection of the signal possible.

transmission
 no communication possible.
distance
– (error rate too high) detection
• Interference range
interference
– signal may not be detected.
– signal adds to the background noise.
– Sender may interfere with other transmission by adding to the
background noise. A receiver will not be able to detect the signals.
 Propagation Modes
• Ground wave(<2 MHz): Waves with low frequencies follow the earth’s surface and
can propagate long distances.
e.g., submarine communication
or AM radio.

• Sky wave(2–30 MHz): Waves bounce back and forth between ionosphere and
earth’s surface,traveling around the world.
e.g: international radio services
such as BBC and VOA

• Line-of-sight(>30 MHz): The emitted waves follow straight line of sight. This
enables direct communication with satellites (no reflection at the ionosphere).
eg: Mobile phones, satellites,
cordless telephones etc.
 Signal propagation...
• When a signal reaches the receiver from transmitter in a single path
without suffering any reflection, diffraction or scattering its called
propagation along line-of-sight, LOS path.
• But in real world Receiving power influenced by several factors.

shadowing reflection refraction scattering diffraction

 Factors affecting signal propagation

• Reflection – occurs when signal encounters large surfaces(large

relative to the wavelength of the signals).
→ It's the bouncing back of the signal.
- The reflected signal is not as strong as the original, as objects can
absorb some of the signal’s power.
• Diffraction – is the bending of wave around sharp corners.
• Scattering – occurs when incoming signal hits an object whose size is
in the order of the wavelength of the signal or less.
• Blocking or shadowing: blocking of the radio signals due to large
obstacles/wall.
• Refraction: occurs because velocity of the electromagnetic waves
depends on the density of the medium through which it travels.
→ Occurs when waves bent towards the denser medium.
 Other factors causing LOS Wireless Transmission
Impairments

Apart from the above factor that change the direction of signal
propagation(LOS), there are also other factors. These are:
 Attenuation: it's loss of signal strength caused by the distance
between sender and receive.
Example: the wiFi signal strength getting weaker as we move
further from the router.
 Noise (Thermal Noise, Crosstalk, Impulse(acoustic) Noise)
 Atmospheric absorption
 Multipath
 Multiplexing

Multiplexing is a technique used to combine and send multiple data
streams over a single medium. Its goal: multiple use of a shared
medium with minimum interference and maximum medium utilization.
• For wireless communication, multiplexing can be carried out in four
dimensions: space, time, frequency, and code. In this field, the task of
multiplexing is to assign space, time, frequency, and code to each
communication channel.
• Multiplexing can be in 4 dimensions:
– space (s)
– time (t)
– frequency (f)
– code (c)
• The space between the interference
ranges is sometimes called guard space.
 Such a guard space is needed in all four
multiplexing schemes to avoid channel overlapping/adjacent channel interference.
 Frequency multiplex
• Separation of the whole spectrum into smaller frequency bands.
• A channel gets a certain band of the spectrum for the whole time.
Advantages
– no complex coordination between sender and receiver.
E.g radio station (same city)
k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
Disadvantages c
– waste of bandwidth if the traffic f
is distributed unevenly.
– fixed assignment of Frequency
→ inflexible

t
 Guard spaces are needed in the frequency dimension.
 Time multiplex
• A channel gets the whole spectrum for a certain amount of time.
→ all senders use the same frequency but at different points in time.

• Advantages
→ only one carrier(the same frequency) in the medium.
→ throughput high even for many users.
• Disadvantages
c k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
→ precise synchronization(time)
f
necessary.

 Guard spaces are needed in the time dimension.

 Time and frequency multiplex
• Combination of both methods(Time and frequency multiplex).
• A channel gets a certain frequency band for a certain amount of time.
Example: GSM
Advantages k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
• better protection against
– tapping(external monitoring of traffic) c
– frequency selective interference. f

→ but: precise coordination(of t and f) required.

• Guard spaces are needed both in the time and in the frequency dimension.
 Code multiplex
• Each channel(each sender) has a unique code.
• All channels use the same spectrum at the same time.

k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
• Advantages
– no coordination and synchronization necessary.
– good protection against interference and tapping. c
• Disadvantages
– varying user data rates
– more complex
• Implemented using spread spectrum technology.
• Guard spaces are realized by using codes with the f
necessary ‘distance’ in code space.

t
 Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

• CDMA uses codes to separate different users in code space and to

enable access to a shared medium without interference.
• The main problem is how to find “good” codes and how to separate
the signal from noise generated by other signals/environment.
• Example: Let two senders, A and B, want to send data. CDMA
assigns the following unique key sequences:
Ak= 010011 for sender A,
BK= 110101 for sender B.
Sender A wants to send the bit Ad= 1, sender B sends Bd = 0.
Let us assume that we code a binary 0 as –1, a binary 1 as +1. We can
then apply the standard addition and multiplication rules.
 CDMA Example
• Both senders spread their signal using their key as chipping
sequence:
• Sender A sends the signal as
As = Ad*Ak = +1*(–1, +1, –1, –1, +1, +1) = (–1, +1, –1, –1, +1, +1).
• Sender B sends the signal as:
Bs= Bd*Bk= –1*(+1, +1, –1, +1, –1, +1) = (–1, –1, +1, –1, +1, –1).
• Both signals are then transmitted at the same time using the same
frequency, without interference i.e code devision
• Let C be the receiver: the signal received at C is therefore:
C =As+ Bs= (–2, 0, 0, –2, +2, 0).
 CDMA Example
• Now the receiver can detects the data sent by A and B by
despreading:
i.e., Despreading C with A’s code: We get data sent by A;
C*Ak = (–2, 0, 0, –2, +2, 0)*(–1, +1, –1, –1, +1, +1)
= 2 + 0 + 0 + 2 + 2 + 0 = 6.
 As the result is much larger than 0, the receiver detects binary 1.
• Despreading C with B’s code: We get data sent by B;
C*Bk = (–2, 0, 0, –2, +2, 0)*(+1, +1, –1, +1, –1, +1)
= –2 + 0 + 0 – 2 – 2 + 0 = – 6.
 The result is negative, so 0 has been detected.
 Assignment1
• Two senders, C and D, want to send C d= 0 and Dd = 1 bits over the
same channel without interference. Each senders are assigned a
unique key sequences: Ck= 100111 and DK= 010100 for sender C and
D respectively. Using CDMA rule:
a. Find the signals Cs and Ds that spread over this channel.
b. Find the signal sequence that reaches at the receiver R.

• List any two factors that we have to consider while allocating

frequencies.
 Wireless Transmission Errors
• Any time data are transmitted from one node to other might become
corrupted. Many factors can alter one or more bits of a message.
• This error or its detection leads to re-transmission of message.
• Detection and re-transmission is inadequate for wireless applications.
– High error rate in wireless network, results in a large number of
re-transmissions.
– Even error might occur in this re-transmission.
– Thus, re-transmissions will make it slower.
• But there are several methods of correcting this errors among which:
– Block Error Correction
– Turbo Codes, are few of them…
 Block Code (Error Correction)
• Hamming distance – number of differences between the
corresponding bits in two datawords.
• E.g., v1=011011; v2=110001; →hamming distance between v1 and v2 is
therefore: d(v1, v2) = 3
For each data block, create a codeword.
• Send the codeword(known by the sender and receiver) instead of the
data block.
• If the sent code is invalid, look for data with shortest hamming
distance (possibly correct code)
Data block (k=2) Codeword (n=5)
00 00000
01 00111
10 11001
11 11110
• Suppose you receive codeword 00100 (error b/c no codeword with
this) → Closest is 00000 (using hamming, only one bit different)
 Communication in wireless systems
• Analog communication
– receive/generate analog signal and use amplifiers to handle
attenuation.
– amplifier do not know the content ,they amplify whatever is
received, including the noise.
• Digital Communication
– received/generate digital signal and uses repeaters, over long
distances to recover the patterns of 1’s and 0’s.
– Repeaters are used to filter the noise.
Digital vs analog communication
 Why digital is better ?

➔ Digital Communications are better than analog communication due to

several factors listed below.
• More strong and free of noise because it is easier to detect 1’s and 0’s
even in distorted messages.
• Since they use repeaters, they have capability of removing unwanted
noise from incoming signal.
• Esp. suitable for computer networks because data bits can be directly
fed into the communication medium without any modulation or
demodulation.
• Digital communications are more secure because digital data streams
can be scrambled (encrypted) by using sophisticated techniques.
 Signal encoding
• Data must be encoded into signals that carry the data.
• Encoding is the process of converting data or a given sequence of
characters into specified format for secured transmission of data.
- Data can be digital or analog.
- Signals can also be the digital or analog.
• Different technique are used based on the format of data (analog or
digital) and the encoded signal (analog or digital).
• There are 4 ways of encoding data into signals. This are:
 Analog data, analog signal: the oldest technique, used in early days
of telephone systems. Uses modulation/demodulation schemes such
as Amplitude Modulation, Frequency Modulation and Phase
Modulation.
 Digital data, analog signal: In use since the dawn of computer
communications in the 1960s, this technique is still used by modems.
 Cont...
• Modem is a hardware component that allows a computer (router or
switch) to connect to the Internet. It converts digital data from those
device into an analog signal that can be sent over telephone lines.

 Analog data, digital signal: Used to transmit voice and other analog
data over digital circuits. Uses modulation/demodulation.
Example: to transfer analog voice signals off a local loop to digital
end office within the phone system.

 Digital data, digital signal: Used commonly at present to transmit

computer data over digital facilities. No modulation/demodulation,
Cont...

ADC : analog - to - digital converter

 Signal Encoding Evaluation
• What determines how successful a receiver will be in interpreting
an incoming signal?
• The following are the key criteria:
– Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR): An increase in SNR decreases bit
error rate, thus a higher SNR is good for better reception.
→ The higher the SNR, the good signal encoding scheme it is.
– Data rate: An increase in data rate increases bit error rate, thus
higher data rates are not good for reception.
– Bandwidth: An increase in bandwidth allows an increase in
data rate, thus it also leads to higher data rates and lower quality
of reception.
 Spread Spectrum
 The idea is to spread the message over a range of signals to make it jam
resistant.
• Different data bits are transmitted over different signals based on secret
scheme.
- Receiver must know the scheme(code) to understand the signal.
- This make it secured and loud.
• Spread spectrum has several advantages:
• Resistance to narrowband interference.
• Coexistence of several signals without coordination,
• Relative high security than multiplexing.
• Without knowing the code, the signal cannot be recovered and
behaves characteristic like background noise.
 This all advantages make spread spectrum more preferred choice for

secured communications when compared to multiplexing.

• But it consumes more bandwidth.
 Cont...
• Two types of spread spectrum are there:
1. Frequency hopping Spread Spectrum(FHSS)
2. Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum(DSSS)
• Two senders will interfere as soon as they select the same frequency at
the same time. However, if the frequency changes this is called
Frequency hopping.
 Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS)
• For FHSS systems, the total available bandwidth is split into many
channels of smaller bandwidth plus guard spaces between the channels.
• Transmitter and receiver stay on one of these channels for a certain time
and then hop to another channel.
• This system implements FDM and TDM. The pattern of channel usage is
called the hopping sequence, the time spend on a channel with a certain
frequency is called the dwell time.
 Cont...
• Signal is broadcasted over seemingly random series of radio
frequencies.
• Signal hops from frequency to frequency at fixed intervals.
• Channel sequence is based on the spreading code.
→ what bit on what frequency,
• Advantages
– Almost impossible to intercept.
– Attempts to jam signal on one frequency succeed only at knocking
out a few bits.
• Used in Bluetooth communication .
 Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)
• Each bit in original signal is represented by multiple bits in the
transmitted signal.
• Bit pattern called chip (or chipping code) is used.
• DSSS systems take a user bit stream and perform an (XOR) with a
so-called chipping sequence.
Cont...

• Spreading code spreads signal across a wider frequency band.

– Spread is in direct proportion to number of bits used.
• Advantage: Good to recover data with out re-transmission.
• Wireless Ethernet LAN uses DSSS as well as FHSS.
• DSSS is used in Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), a popular
standard for cellular phones.

• Note on the above example: in order to get back the “user data” once
the resulting signal is reached the receiver, XoR the “Resulting
Signal” XoR with the “chipping sequence”.
Multiple Access Techniques
• MAC is important for enabling successful network operation in all
shared - medium networks.
• The primary job of a MAC protocol is to arbitrate access to a shared
medium/channel in order to avoid collision and at the same time;
→ Fairly and efficiently share bandwidth resources among multiple
nodes.
• MAC protocols can be typically classified into two broad categories:
[Link] based
[Link] free
 Contention-Based MAC Protocols
• All nodes share a common medium and contend for the medium for
transmission, collision may occur during the contention.
• ALOHA (Additive Link On - Line Hawaii System) and CSMA are the
most typical examples of contention - based MAC protocols.
• In Pure ALOHA, a node simply transmits whenever it has a packet to
send. In the event of a collision, the collided packet is discarded. The
sender just waits a random period of time and then transmits the packet
again.
- In Pure Aloha the problem is that the channel efficiency is only
10%.
 Cont.…
• In Slotted ALOHA, time is divided into discrete timeslots. Each node
is allocated a timeslot. A node is not allowed to transmit until the
beginning of the next timeslot.
• Slotted ALOHA can double the channel efficiency. However, it
requires global time synchronization, which complicates the system
implementation.
• CSMA /cd (carrier sense multiple access with collision detection):
- differs from ALOHA in that it uses carrier sense; that is,
- it allows a node to listen to the shared medium before transmission,
rather than simply transmits immediately or at the beginning of the
next timeslot.
- CSMA cannot handle the hidden - terminal problem in multihop
wireless networks.
• In CSMA/CA, a handshake mechanism is introduced between a
sender and a receiver (3 way).
• MACA: (4 WAY HAND SHAKE) RTS – CTS – DATA - ACK
• MACAW (5 WAY HAND SHAKE) RTS – CTS – DATA –
ACK – DS & RRTS

request to send (RTS) clear to send (CTS)

 Contention-Free MAC Protocols
• A shared medium is divided into number of sub channels in terms of
time, frequency, orthogonal pseudo noise codes.
• These sub channels are allocated to individual nodes with each node
occupying one sub channel.
• This allows different nodes to access the shared medium without
interfering with each other and thus effectively avoids collision from
different nodes.
• Examples of Contention-Free MAC Protocols
– TDMA
– FDMA
– CDMA
Cont...
As we have studied earlier,
• TDMA divides the shared channel into a fixed number of timeslots.
– It has been widely used in wireless cellular systems.
– It is energy efficienct because those nodes that do not transmit can be
turned off.
– But, it has limited scalability and adaptability to network changes.

• FDMA divides the shared channel into a number of non - overlapping

frequency sub-bands and allocates these sub-bands to individual nodes.
– Each node can transmit at any time, but only at a different frequency to
avoid interfering with the others.

• CDMA All nodes can transmit in the same channel simultaneously, but
with different pseudo – noise codes.