Characterization of Propagation Channels

Abstract

The reliable knowledge of the propagation channel is the foundation of the design and analysis of any wireless communication system. This chapter provides a unified and conceptually simple explanation of a morass of concepts around wireless channels. In the context of wireless radio channels, wide‐sense stationary uncorrelated scattering (WSSUS) is usually assumed. Wireless channels are the real environments in which the transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) operate. Path loss is the attenuation in the transmitted signal while propagating from the Tx and Rx. Multipath propagation is when the transmitted signal reaches the Rx by two or more paths. The characterization of the multipath fading channel is essential for understanding and modeling it properly. The most important and often‐used approximate descriptions are the first‐order received envelope and phase PDF of multipath fading and some second‐order descriptions of multipath fading, such as the level cross rate (LCR), average fading duration (AFD), and the correlation properties.