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Analysis of Multipath Propagation based on Cluster Channel Modelling

Approach

Article in Polibits · December 2010

DOI: 10.17562/PB-42-9

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 Analysis of Multipath Propagation based on
Cluster Channel Modelling Approach
Marvin R. Arias

Abstract—The computer simulation approach with an direction of a specific user and essentially no energy in the
emphasis on the propagation modelling for wireless channels for directions of other users. The spread is important for diversity
current and future communication systems is a powerful tool to schemes and also for determining the AOA. Thus,
asses the performance of systems without the need of building characterizing the channel in AOA terms is an interesting
them. This paper presents a clustering approach geometry-based
alternative to standard models. It is now an accepted model
channel model, and employs it to derive the power density
function (PDF) of the Angle of Arrival (AOA) of the multipath that an angular spread occurs from a cluster of scatterers;
signal components. To evaluate the theoretical clusters PDF in where the total signal may come from several clusters, see [4]-
angular domain proposed, we make computer simulations for the [8] and referenced there in. As mentioned in [9] a statistical
geometry-based channel model proposed and compared it with approach is necessary to understand the basic mechanism of
experimental results published in the literature showing good propagation.
agreement. The clusters PDF derived can be used to simulate the
Several measurement campaigns done in different indoor
power-delay-angle profile (PDAP) and to quantify second order
statistics, i.e., power angular spectrums (PAS) and the associated and outdoor environments, report that multipath components
angular spreads (Ass) for a given elliptical shape of the cluster. (MPCs) arrive in clusters. Each cluster consists of a group of
MPCs with similar angles of arrival (AOAs), angles of
Index terms—Angle-of-arrival, angular spread, antenna departure (AODs), and time of arrival (TOA), corresponding to
arrays, channel modelling, clustering, multipath propagation. a dominant path at the receiver (Rx), see [4]-[6], and [9].
Measurements results reported in [4]-[6], and [9], show that the
I. INTRODUCTION Palladian function is the best fit for estimated AOA in outdoor

R ADIO wave propagation in the urban environment is an

important issue in the study of wireless communication.
In the study of channel propagation, various models, such as
environments In this paper, essentially, the main objective is to
analytically derive the power density function (PDF) of AOA
of the multipath signal for geometry-based statistical channel
empirical models and stochastic modelling based on geometry model that is valid for a circular and elliptical scattering, we
[1]-[5], is commonly used. In third generation systems like the assume the double bounce approach channel model as
wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA), the described in [7], [10]. Our contribution would be useful in
physical channel is characterized by multipath propagation. In simulating the power-delay-angle profile (PDAP) and to
a scattering environment the propagation paths to a receiving quantify second order statistics, i.e., angle spread for a given
antenna will come from a certain angular spread elliptical shape of the cluster of the multipath signal operating
Of directions; typically, several versions of the transmitted in a variety of propagation conditions in urban environment.
signal impinge on the receiving antenna from different The propagation environment is composed of scatterers, which
directions because of multipath. In fact, antenna arrays can be are grouped in clusters. Among others, the number of clusters
used to implement space-time selective transmission in the and the average number of scatterers within a cluster can be set
downlink and to provide radio localization services. To do so, with a parameter.
however, separate knowledge of the directions from which the The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. The next
signals arrive, or angle-of-arrival (AOA), is an important section describes the proposed clustering approach channel
property when characterizing the channel as well as designing model and in section 3 based on the channel model proposed,
receiver algorithms [2]. Since the time and more dominantly we derive the marginal PDF of the AOA for urban
the angular spread of the multipath components greatly environments. Section 4 presents the simulation results and
determines the performance of wireless communication comparison with experimental results for one typical outdoor
systems. The angular spread essentially determines the scenario in urban environment. Finally, section 5 contains
diversity gain by using an antenna array [3]. Employing some concluding remarks.
antenna arrays has also been proposed to reduce the co-
channel interference by transmitting energy only in the II. CLUSTERING APPROACH CHANNEL MODEL
This section briefly discussed the clustering approach
Manuscript received May 3, 2010. Manuscript accepted for publication
geometry-based channel model that we use to derive the
September 10, 2010. marginal PDF of the AOA for uniform scatterer density
The author is with Department of Electrical Engineering, National function. We assume that the mobile station (Rx) is stationary
University of Engineering, P.O. Box 5595, Managua, Nicaragua or at very low speed and therefore ignore the Doppler effects
([email protected]).
Marvin R. Arias

in the analysis. Since the channel model is geometry-based; away from the receiver, (e.g. a large building), is situated at
(as illustrated in Fig. 1), the signal statistics depend on the one of the foci of the ellipse as shown in Fig.1 Moreover,
position of the base station (Tx) and mobile station (Rx), and there is line of sight (LOS) between the main scatterer and the
the geometrical distribution of the clusters. Rx, and all scatterers (S) belonging to the same cluster are
uniformly distributed inside it. We further assume that the
propagation takes place in the horizontal plane containing the
Rx, the Tx and the cluster, which are placed in the same plane.
DLOS represents the Tx-Rx separation distance. In the next
section we analyse the approach to derive the marginal PDF of
the AOA, using the clustering approach model proposed.

III. CLUSTER PDF OF ANGLE OF ARRIVAL

Here we present an approach to derivate simple general
formulas to model the marginal power density function (PDF)
of the AOA between the receiver (Rx) and the far clusters.
Assuming an elliptical shape of the clusters bounded by a
circular shape, the approach is described as follows: Firstly in
Fig. 2, we describe the details regarding the AOA of the
cluster’s multipath components (MPCs) at the receiver (Rx).
We express the scatterer’s density function with respect to
the polar coordinates (r,θ), which are related to the rectangular
coordinates via the following set of equations:
Fig. 1. Geometry-Based clustered multipath propagation model description. r = x2 + y 2 ,
We assume that each cluster (which includes a number of ⎛ y⎞
scatterers) is stationary in the far field. We define the angle- θ = arctan ⎜ ⎟ ,
x⎝ ⎠ (3)
delay resolved impulse response of each cluster as [7]
J Lj x = r cos (θ ) ,
h(cluster ) j (τ ,φ ) = ∑∑
j =1 i = 0
αijδ (φ − φij )δ (τ − τ 0 − τ ij ), (1)
y = r sin (θ ) ,
where for each cluster: |αij| is the magnitude of the Where (x, y) denotes the position of the cluster. As shown
scattered source, φij is the angle-of-arrival of the ith multipath in Fig. 2, the maximum AOA for the circular case is given by
component in the jth source, τ0 represents the extra delay due ⎛ a ⎞
to the double bounce effect and τij is the delay associated with ϕc max = arcsin ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ , (4)
that component in the jth source. The parameter Lj is the total ⎝ Rc ⎠
number of multipath components associated with the jth Where “a” is the radius of the circle and Rc is the distance
source. We define the total baseband channel impulse between the centre of the circle and the Rx. Squeezing in the
response as follows: vertical dimension by a factor rab=b/a, 0 < rab ≤ 1 forms the
J ellipse inside the circle; i.e., the axes of the ellipse produced
hbtotal (τ ,φ ) = ∑
j =1
h(cluster ) j (τ ,φ ), (2) are major axis a = R and minor axis b = rab*R. From Fig. 2
we can relate the new maximum AOA of the ellipse with the
The parameter J is the number of clusters. We analyze for maximum AOA of the circle case by the following expression:
the case of J=1, i.e., for one cluster condition. From the rab tan(ϕ c max ) = tan(ϕ e max ), (5)
measurements reported in [4], [6],and [9] the receiver sees six Using (2) and (3) we can obtain a general expression of the
clusters at most in 90% of the cases, thus we use J as a maximum AOA for both cases described as follows:
reference for the parameter, i.e. J ≤ L. ⎛ ⎛ ⎛ a ⎞⎞⎞
We assume the following restrictions: the cluster region has ϕe max = arctan ⎜ rab tan ⎜ arcsin ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ ⎟ ⎟ , (6)
⎜ ⎜ ⎝ Rc ⎠ ⎠⎟ ⎟
an elliptical shape because anything outside the ellipse has a ⎝ ⎝ ⎠
large excess delay, i.e., the physical interpretation is that only We can note from (4) that it becomes identical to (2) for the
multipath components with time delay smaller than the particular case of rab = 1 (Circular case). We also note that the
specified maximum time delay (bounded by the ellipse), are area ABCD (shaded area within the ellipse in Fig. 2) defined
considered. Therefore, providing that the maximum delay is by the x-axis and the line described by points ODC is in
sufficiently large, nearly all of the power of the multipath function of the angleϕ, within the range 0 < ϕ ≤ ϕemax, i.e.,
signals of a physical channel will be accounted for by the
A(ϕ). Then for a uniform distribution of the scatterers inside
model. The main scatterer (Sc), which is a large obstacle far
 Analysis of Multipath Propagation based on Cluster Channel Modelling Approach

the cluster the cumulative density function (CDF) of the AOA ϕ

A(ϕ ) = ∫0 ( r1 (ξ ) − r2 (ξ )) dξ ,
1 2 2
can be defined as follows: 2 (12)
A(ϕ ) 2 A(ϕ )
Fϕ (ϕ ) = 1 = , (7)
2 Ae
abπ Next, inserting (8) and (9) into (10) and the result into (5),
Where Ae = abπ denotes the area of the ellipse. The we obtain the CDF of the AOA defined by the following
equation of the ellipse defined in Fig. 2 is integral:
Fϕ (ϕ ) =
( x − Rc )
2
y2 ϕ 2 2 2 2 2
4bRc cos(ξ ) − a b ( − cos (ξ )b + Rc − Rc cos (ξ ) − a + a cos (ξ ))
2 2 2 2 2
+ 2 = 1, (8)
a 2
b ∫ 2 2
aπ (cos (ξ )b + sin (ϕ ) a )
2 2 2
,
0
Which we can transform (6) into polar coordinates using
(13)
and rearranging the relations defined in (1), obtaining a
Finally, the PDF of the AOA can be calculated by taking
second order equation:
the derivative of the CDF with respect to ϕ, obtaining the
⎛ cos2 (ϕ ) sin 2 (ϕ ) ⎞ ⎛ 2Rc cos (ϕ ) ⎞ Rc2 following expression:
r2 ⎜ + ⎟−r⎜ ⎟ + 2 −1 = 0 , (9)
⎜ a2 b2 ⎟⎠ ⎝ a2 ⎠ a d
⎝ fϕ (ϕ ) = Fϕ (ϕ ) =
dϕ
⎧ 4r R cos(ϕ ) −a2b2 (− cos2 (ϕ )b2 + R2 − R 2 cos2 (ϕ ) − a 2 + a 2 cos2 (ϕ ))
⎪ ab c c c
,
⎪⎪ π (cos2 (ϕ )b2 + sin 2 (ϕ )a 2 )2
⎨ for − ϕmax < 0 ≤ ϕmax
⎪
⎪0, elsewhere
⎪⎩
(14)
Since the clusters are bounded by a circle when rab =1; i.e.,
for the case b=a, the AOA of the MPCs (those that make up
the same cluster) at the Rx is restricted to an angular region of
2φcmax, as illustrated in Fig. 2.

Example for the cluster (Sc1) for three different ratios (rab)
1.4
rab=1
rab=0.4
rab=0.1
1.2

Fig. 2. Geometry of the model for calculating the PDF of the AOA.
0.8
Solving (7) with respect to “r”, we obtain the following
pdf

expressions, corresponding to the two radii r1 and r2 shown in

Fig. 2: 0.6

r1 =
Rc b cos (ϕ ) + b a cos (ϕ ) − b 2 a 2 sin 2 (ϕ ) Rc2 + b 2 a 4 sin 2 (ϕ )
2 4 2 2
0.4
,
b cos (ϕ ) + a sin (ϕ )
2 2 2 2

(10) 0.2
and
r2 =
Rc b cos (ϕ ) − b a cos (ϕ ) − b 2 a 2 sin 2 (ϕ ) Rc2 + b 2 a 4 sin 2 (ϕ )
2 4 2 2 0
-50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50
, Angle of Arrival (degree)
b cos (ϕ ) + a sin (ϕ )
2 2 2 2

(11) Fig. 3. PDF of AOA for a cluster with three different ratios: rab=1, rab = 0.4,
An area bounded in function of r1(ϕ) and r2(ϕ) in polar and rab=0.1 bounded by a circular cluster, using as a reference the centre of the
ellipse as shown in fig.1.
coordinates is then given by the following expression:
Marvin R. Arias

to show the two cases analyzed in the previous section as

illustrated in Fig. 5, the results of the power delay angle
profiles (PDAPs) obtained from the cluster positions
generated are presented in Fig. 6, Note that the AOA is
decreasing when we use as a reference the focus of the ellipse
situated at closer distance from the receiver as shown
previously in Fig. 4(b).

Fig. 4. Area of a cluster with three different ratios: rab=1, rab = 0.7, and
rab=0.4. Reference: the separation distances between the cluster (Sc) and the
Rx, the foci of the ellipses (a) Sc1 and (b) Sc2, respectively.

Fig. 3 shows one example for the PDF of the AOA, for two
different shapes of clusters: for the case of a circular cluster
(rab=1), and for two elliptical clusters for the cases rab=0.4
and rab=0.1, respectively. We note from Fig. 2 that the AOA
is the maximum for the circular case, as expected from (4) and Fig. 5. X-Y Cluster position for three different ratios: rab=0.4, rab=0.7, and
rab=1, respectively.
Fig. 2. For the elliptical cases, we note that the AOA
decreases as the ratio rab decreases. This is always valid when
the circular cluster bounds the ellipses, i.e. when rab=1, and
the separation distance between the centre of the cluster and
the Rx is fixed, as illustrated in Fig. 2.
On the other hand, in our application we consider two cases
based on the foci of the ellipses as illustrated in Fig. 4. One
case is when we use as a reference for the distance between
the Cluster and the Rx the focus of the ellipse (Sc1) situated at
larger distance from the Rx as shown in Fig. 4(a). The other
case is when we use as a reference the focus of the ellipse
(Sc2) situated at closer distance from the Rx as shown in
Fig. 4(b).

IV. COMPARISON WITH EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

A. Simulation Results
Let us now validate the theoretical pdf using some
numerical examples. The theoretical PDF for the AOA
described in (12) is evaluated for a test case where the
separation distance between the base station as Tx and the
mobile unit as Rx is 600 meters, and the assumed separation
distance between the cluster and the Rx is 224 meters, which Fig. 6. PDAPs: horizontal axisα, vertical axis delay expressed in meters, and
αLOS= 180 deg.
are typical values of distances for outdoors scenarios in urban
environments such as City-street scenario or Highway–
scenario, see [4], and [11], where the scenarios differ mainly B. Comparison with Published Results
in the size of the environment and the cluster density. The (x, Several experimental results are available to which we can
y) position of two clusters at the same distance from the Rx is compare our theory. In the indoor case, Chong et al. [6] have
 Analysis of Multipath Propagation based on Cluster Channel Modelling Approach

characterized the indoor wideband channel model to the campaign, i.e., the excess delay, delay spread, (both in terms
angular domain through experimental results obtained by a of distance), AOA, and angle spread, (both in degrees). Then,
wideband vector channel sounder together with an eight- in Fig. 7 we plotted the position of each cluster based on the
element uniform linear array receiver (Rx). MPC parameters measurements of the PDAPs published in [4]. In Fig. 8 we
were estimated using a super-resolution frequency domain show the boundaries of PDAPs for each cluster obtained from
algorithm (FD-SAGE) and clusters were identified in the the set of parameters extracted from [4] and defined in
spatial-temporal domain by a nonparametric density TABLE I. As shown in Fig. 7, we can describe different
estimation procedure. The clustering effect also gives rise to shapes and sizes of clusters found in the PDAPs from
two classes of channel power density spectra (PDS)- measurement campaigns published in the open literature, as
intercluster and intracluster PDS, which are shown to exhibit in [4].
Laplacian function in the angular domain, such as the power
angular spectrums (PASs). V. CONCLUSIONS
This paper presented analytical expressions for the AOA
TABLE I
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS FROM [4] IN ANGLE (DEGREE.) AND DELAY
power density function (PDF) and its application in
(EXPRESSED IN DISTANCE (M)) OF THE PDAPS geometrically based channel models using the clustering
FOR EACH CLUSTER approach model described in [7].
Cluster Excess Delay Angle-of- Angle
No. Delay Spread arrival α Spread 2Δα
[m] [m] (degrees) (degrees)
Sc1 150 60 -8 25
Sc2 45 60 -6 6
Sc3 15 60 0 8
Sc4 210 180 0 8

Fig. 8. Boundaries of the PDAPs for each cluster: horizontal axisα, vertical
axis delay expressed in meters, and αLOS= 180 deg.

The average number of clusters and the MPCs distribution

within a cluster depend heavily on the resolution of the
parameter estimation algorithm. They also depend on the type
of scenario, (indoor or outdoor, i.e., the size of the
environment and the cluster density). Furthermore, as stated in
Fig. 7. X-Y Cluster’s position obtained, using the experimental results PDAPs
[6], the number of clusters and MPCs detected also depend on
from [4] and the double bounce approach as described in [7].
several others factors such as the Tx-Rx separation and
In the outdoor case, Toeltsch et al. [4] used a wideband location, the physical layout of the environment and the
channel sounder together with a planar antenna dynamic range of the channel sounder.
array.determine the parameters of the incident waves. A
super-resolution algorithm (Unitary ESPRIT) allows resolving ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
individual MPCs in such clusters and hence enables a detailed This work is supported by Swedish International
statistical analysis of the propagation properties. We make Development Cooperation Agency (SIDCA).
comparison with one of the experimental results published in
[4], summarized in TABLE I. In this TABLE we present the
clusters parameters extracted from the measurement
Marvin R. Arias

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