In the nineteenth century, scientists, mathematician, engineers and innovators started
investigating electromagnetism. The theory that underpins wireless communications was
formed by Maxwell. Early demonstrations took place by Hertz, Tesla and others. Marconi
demonstrated the first wireless transmission. Since then, the range of applications has
expanded at an immense rate, together with the underpinning technology. The rate of
development has been incredible and today the level of technical and commercial maturity
is very high. This success would not have been possible without understanding RADIO-
wave propagation. This knowledge enables us to design successful systems and networks,
together with waveforms, antennal and transceiver architectures. The RADIO channel is the
cornerstone to the operation of any wireless system.
Nature is seldom kind. One of the most appealing uses for RADIO-
telephone systems—communication with people on the move—must over-
come RADIO transmission problems so difficult they challenge the imagina-
tion. A microwave RADIO signal transmitted between a fixed base station
and a moving vehicle in a typical urban environment exhibits extreme
variations in both amplitude and apparent frequency.
Microwave RADIO network design is a subset of activities that constitute
the overall transmission network design. Transmission networks are
sometimes called transport networks, access networks, or connectivity
networks. For many wireless carriers, microwave is becoming a popu-
lar preference over wireline (leased lines) transport for many reasons,
especially as microwave RADIO equipment costs decrease and installation
becomes simpler. Low monthly operating costs can undercut those of
typical single (and especially multiple) T1/E1 expenses, proving it to be
more economical over the long term—usually two to four years. Network
operators also like the fact that they can own and control microwave
RADIO networks instead of relying on other service providers for network
components.
When we started thinking about writing the first edition of this book a few years ago, we had been
working together for more than five years on the borderline between propagation and signal processing.
Therefore, it is not surprising that this book deals with propagation models and design tools for MIMO
wireless communications. Yet, this book should constitute more than a simple combination of these
two domains. It hopefully conveys our integrated understanding of MIMO, which results from endless
controversial discussions on various multi-antenna related issues, as well as various interactions with
numerous colleagues. Obviously, this area of technology is so large that it is beyond our aim to cover all
aspects in details. Rather, our goal is to provide researchers, R&D engineers and graduate students with
a comprehensive coverage of RADIO propagation models and space–time signal processing techniques
for multi-antenna, multi-user and multi-cell networks.
When we started thinking about writing this book, we had been working together for more
than five years on the borderline between propagation and signal processing.Therefore, it
is not surprising that this book deals with propagation models and design tools for MIMO
wirelesscommunications.Yet, thisbookshouldconstitutemorethanasimplecombination
of these two domains. It hopefully conveys our integrated understanding of MIMO, which
results from endless controversial discussions on various multi-antenna related issues, as
well as various interactions with numerous colleagues. Obviously, this area of technology
is so large that it was beyond our aim to cover all aspects in details. Rather, our goal has
been to provide researchers, R&D engineers and graduate students with a comprehensive
coverage of RADIO propagation models and space–time coding techniques.
At the macroscopic level of system layout, the most important issue is path loss. In the
older mobile RADIO systems that are limited by receiver noise, path loss determines SNR and
the maximum coverage area. In cellular systems, where the limiting factor is cochannel
interference, path loss determines the degree to which transmitters in different cells interfere
with each other, and therefore the minimum separation before channels can be reused.
By definition, the term “mobile-RADIO communications” describes any
RADIO communication link between two terminals of which one or both
are in motion or halted at unspecified locations and of which one may
actually be a fixed terminal such as a base station. This definition
applies to both mobile-to-mobile and mobile-to-fixed RADIO communica-
tion links. The mobile-to-mobile link could in fact consist of a mobile-
to-fixed-to-mobile RADIO communication link.The term “mobile” applies
to land vehicles, ships at sea, aircraft, and communications satellites.
In tactical situations, mobile-RADIO systems may include any or all of
these types of mobile terminals.
Since the principle of multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) was
simultaneously proposed by Khaled Fazel et al. and Nathan Yee et al. at the IEEE
International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile RADIO Communications
(PIMRC) in the year 1993, multi-carrier spread spectrum (MC-SS) has rapidly become
one of the most wide spread independent research topics on the field of mobile RADIO
communications. Therefore, the International Workshop on Multi-Carrier Spread
Spectrum (MC-SS) was initiated in the year 1997. Multi-carrier and spread spectrum
systems with their generic air interface and adaptive technologies are considered as
potential candidates to fulfill the requirements of next generation mobile communications
systems.
Notwithstanding its infancy, wireless mesh networking (WMN) is a hot and
growing field. Wireless mesh networks began in the military, but have since
become of great interest for commercial use in the last decade, both in local
area networks and metropolitan area networks. The attractiveness of mesh
networks comes from their ability to interconnect either mobile or fixed
devices with RADIO interfaces, to share information dynamically, or simply to
extend range through multi-hopping.
Advances in communication and networking technologies are rapidly making ubiq-
uitous network connectivity a reality. Wireless networks are indispensable for
supporting such access anywhere and at any time. Among various types of wire-
less networks, multihop wireless networks (MWNs) have been attracting increasing
attention for decades due to its broad civilian and military applications. Basically,
a MWN is a network of nodes connected by wireless communication links. Due
to the limited transmission range of the RADIO, many pairs of nodes in MWNs may
not be able to communicate directly, hence they need other intermediate nodes to
forward packets for them. Routing in such networks is an important issue and it
poses great challenges.