Propagation Coverage Using Ray-Tracing Technique (For Outdoor Scenarios).

PROPAGATION COVERAGE USING RAY-TRACING TECHNIQUE (FOR OUTDOOR SCENARIOS)

CHAI YONG PIN

UNIVERSITI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA

PROPAGATION COVERAGE USING RAY-TRACING TECHNIQUE (FOR OUTDOOR SCENARIOS)

CHAI YONG PIN

This report is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Bachelor of Electronic Engineering (Telecommunication) with Honours

Faculty of Electronic and Computer Engineering

Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka

ii

UNIVERSTI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA

FAKULTI KEJURUTERAAN ELEKTRONIK DAN KEJURUTERAAN KOMPUTER

BORANG PENGESAHAN STATUS LAPORAN

PROJEK SARJANA MUDA II

Tajuk Projek : CHAI YONG PIN

Sesi Pengajian : 4 B E N T

Saya CHAI YONG PIN, (HURUF BESAR) mengaku membenarkan Laporan Projek Sarjana Muda ini disimpan di Perpustakaan dengan syarat-syarat kegunaan seperti berikut:

1. Laporan adalah hakmilik Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka.

2. Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan untuk tujuan pengajian sahaja.

3. Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan laporan ini sebagai bahan pertukaran antara institusi pengajian tinggi.

4. Sila tandakan ( √ ) :

SULIT*

*(Mengandungi maklumat yang berdarjah keselamatan atau kepentingan Malaysia seperti yang termaktub di dalam AKTA RAHSIA RASMI 1972)

TERHAD** **(Mengandungi maklumat terhad yang telah ditentukan oleh

organisasi/badan di mana penyelidikan dijalankan)

TIDAK TERHAD

Disahkan oleh:

__________________________ ___________________________________ (TANDATANGAN PENULIS) (COP DAN TANDATANGAN PENYELIA)

iii

“I hereby declare that this report is the result of my own work except for quotes as cited in the references”

Signature :………

Author : CHAI YONG PIN Date : 02 MAY 2011

iv

“I hereby declare that I have read this report and in my opinion this report is

sufficient in terms scope and quality the award of Bachelor of Electronic

Engineering (Telecommunication Engineering) With Honors”

Signature :………

Author : PUAN JUWITA BINTI MOHD. SULTAN Date : 02 MAY 2011

v

DEDICATION

vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, I would like to address my highest gratitude to my Final Year Project Supervisor, Puan Juwita Binti Mohd Sultan for her sincere and continuous assistance and guidance throughout the project. Without her, I would not have complete my project and hence finish my Bachelor Degree in Electronic Engineering (Electronic Telecommunication).

Also, not to forget about my fellow course mates and friends that have always been around me to support and aid me whenever I need help. Their incessant support had accompanied me throughout the hard time of the whole project. I would have encountered mentally and physically depression by my own when tension and stress of the project stroked me. I would like to greet them a sincere appreciation of mine on this matter.

Last but not least, I would like to deliver a heartfelt thankfulness to my beloved girlfriend who has always been around me when I need companion. I will be lost without her honest advices and inspiring suggestions.

vii

ABSTRACT

This report presents a study on the propagation coverage for general scenarios using Ray-Tracing Technique. As transmitted signal propagates in the transmission medium (outdoor scenarios), the signal power will come across reduction when it reaches the receiver. The reduction is most probably caused by the obstacles that the signal ray hit along the way of its transmission. Signal power reduction at the receiver is dependent on three major factors, the separation distance between the transmitter and the receiver, the materials present in the transmission medium and the angle of incidence of the signal ray on the materials. The objective of this study is to predict the coverage for general scenarios (outdoor scenarios) in terms of maximums distance and obstacles in the vicinity. The output/coverage of the simulation have to be done and shown in MATLAB 2D. The methodology is divided into four major phases to systematically carry out the whole project; the Planning phase, the Conducting phase, the Designing phase and the Analysis phase. At the closing stages, the results shows that propagation coverage drops significantly when separation distance of transmitter and receiver increases. Also, the results show that the power received decrease as the angle of incidence of rays increase. This implies that power received is reliant on the materials in the transmission medium to constitute the effect in terms of relative permittivity and electrical conductivity.

viii

ABSTRAK

Laporan ini menunjukkan hasil kajian tentang propagasi liputan bagi scenario umum dengan menggunakan Teknik Jejakan Sinar (Ray-Tracing Techique). Apabila isyarat menyebar melalui medium penghantaran (senario luaran), pengurangan kuasa isyarat akan berlaku apabila ia mencapai penerima. Pengurangan kuasa isyarat ini berkemungkinan disebabkan oleh pemantulan sinar isyarat terhadap permukaan bahan yang wujud dalam medium penghantaran. Pengurangan kuasa isyarat yang diterima oleh penerima adalah bergantung kepada tiga faktor, iaitu jarak pemisahan antara pamancar dan penerima, jenis bahan yang hadir dalam medium penghantaran dan sudut kejadian isyarat pada bahan. Objektif kajian ini dijalankan adalah untuk meramalkan liputan bagi senario umum (scenario luaran) bagi jarak maksimum dan rintangan-rintangan di sekitarnya. Hasil kasian bagi liputan simulasi harus dilakukan dan dipaparkan pada MATLAM 2D. Metodologi bagi kajian ini dibahagikan kepada empat fasa secara sistematik untuk malaksanakan projek ini secara keseluruhan iaitu fasa perancangan, fasa pembuatan, fasa rekaan dan fasa analisis. Pada tahap penutupan, keputusan kajian menunjukkan bahawa liputan propagasi menurun dengan ketara apabila jarak pemisahan antara pemancar dengan penerima meningkat. Selain itu, keputusan juga menunjukkan bahawa kuasa yang diterima berkurangan apabila sudut kejadian meningkat. Ini bermakna kuasa yang diterima adalah bergantung kepada bahan di media penghantaran untuk membentukkan kesan Relatif Permitivitas dan konduktiviti elektrik.

ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

PROJECT TITLE i

CONFIRMATION REPORT STATUS ii

DECLARATION iii

SUPERVISOR CONFIRMATION iv

DEDICATION v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT vi

ABSTRACT vii

ABSTRAK viii

TABLE OF CONTENT ix

LIST OF TABLE xii

LIST OF FIGURE xiii

LIST OF ABBREVIATION xvi

I INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Objectives 2

1.3 Problem Statement 2

1.4 Scope of Work 2

1.5 Methodology 3

x

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

II LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1. Wireless Mesh Network 6

2.2 Reflection, Refraction and Diffraction 11

2.3 Ray-Tracing Technique 12

2.4 Accuracy Of The Ray-Tracing Method 13

2.5 The Parameter in Propagation Prediction 14

2.6 Friis Transmission Equation 15

III PROJECT METHODOLOGY 21

3.1 Review of Project Methodology 21

3.2 Introduction 3.3 Project Flow Chart 3.4 Planning Phase

3.4.1 Literature Review 3.4.2 Identify Key Parameters

3.4.3 Prepare required Working Platform 3.5 Conducting Phase

3.5.1 Initiate Data Collection 3.5.2 Reliability Identification and

Filtering of Collected Data 3.6 Designing Phase

3.6.1 Study and Understanding of Software Used for the Project 3.7 Analyze Phase

22 23 25 25 29 32 33 33 34 34 34 35

IV RESULT AND DISCUSSION 36

4.1 Free Space Loss Model 36

xi 4.2.1 Power Received – Multipath

Perpendicular Reflection Effect 41

4.2.2 Power Received - Multipath Parallel

Reflection Effect 43

4.2.3 Power Received - Multipath

Perpendicular Transmission Effect 44

4.2.4 Power Received - Multipath Parallel

Transmission Effect 45

4.2.5 Power Received – Perpendicular 4.2.6 Power Received – Parallel

46 48

V CONCLUSION AND FUTUTE WORKS 49

5.1 Conclusion 49

5.2 Future Works 50

5.2.1 GUI Platform

5.2.2 Implementation of the project in Wireless Mesh Network

50

51

xii

LIST OF TABLES

NO TITLE PAGE

3.1 Materials and their corresponding relative permittivity and electrical conductivity

31

4.1 Power received of free space loss model for distance 1-100m

37

xiii

LIST OF FIGURES

NO TITLE PAGE

1.1 Brief flow chart of the project work piece 4

2.1 Wireless Mesh Network Topology 6

2.2 Three nodes mesh network 7

2.3 Four nodes mesh network 7

2.4 Five nodes mesh network 8

2.5 A comparison of a wireless peer-to-peer network, a wireless LAN infrastructure network, and wireless mesh networking.

10

2.6 The general situation of reflection and refraction in an indoor environment.

11

3.1 Process flow chart 23

4.1 Power received versus distance R between transmitter and receiver for free space loss model

39

4.2 Power received for multipath perpendicular reflection effect versus separation of transmitter and receiver R

41

4.3 Power received for multipath parallel reflection effect versus separation of transmitter and receiver R

43

4.4 Power received for multipath perpendicular transmission effect versus separation of transmitter and receiver R

44

4.5 Power received for multipath parallel transmission effect versus separation of transmitter and receiver R

45

4.6 Power received (perpendicular) versus separation of transmitter and receiver R

xiv 4.7 Power received (parallel) versus separation of

transmitter and receiver R

1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter shows the introduction of Wireless Mesh Network and Ray-Tracing Technique, background of problem, objectives and scope of the study.

1.1 Introduction

Wireless Mesh Network (WMN) is an advance networking technology in this coming future or perhaps, now. WMNs differ from conventional networking pattern in terms of front-end facilities, width of coverage, transmission power, routing capability, network maintenance etc. Regarding to all the existing advantages on WMN, it is recently undergoing a rapid development and inspiring numerous applications in potential fields/industries. Nevertheless, for a WMN to be all it can be, considerable research efforts are still required. The WMN technology still possesses several of setbacks that likely manipulate the performance and coverage of the network. For example, the distances and obstacles that regularly led to signal power reduction; the available MAC and routing protocols are not scalable; throughput drops significantly as the number of nodes or hops in WMN raised etc. If the majority of the mentioned hitches are solved or improved, WMN will be the next generation best option of networking.

2

This study is about employing the Ray-Tracing Techniques in resolving the power received from the transmitted signal, through the aid of MATLAB programming software.

1.2 Project Objectives

There are several objectives regarding to the project undergo that we need to pay attention to so that we can gather all our efforts and time on these following aims throughout the whole project. The following shows 3 majors objectives of the projects:

1. To study and understand Ray Tracing Technique and Friis Transmission Equation.

2. To predict the coverage in terms of the maximum distance and obstacles.

3. To study, understand and master the use of MATLAB 2D in order to visualize the output/coverage.

1.3 Problems Statements

1. Present the output coverage in MATLAB 2D.

2. The factors that will lead to reduction in signal strength.

3. The ways to improve these factors to obtain a better signal strength.

1.4 Project Scopes

1. The Ray Tracing technique and how it can be implemented to output the coverage

2. Study and understand how to output the WMN coverage in MATLAB (2D) via Ray Tracing technique.

3

1.5 Project Methodology

In order to experience a better progression of the project, a brief flow or a simple methodology is made to ease the monitoring of project so that it would stay on the right path throughout the whole project.

For this project, it is distributed into four major phase of progress. It is shown as below.

i. First Phase – Planning  Literature Review

 Review on Objective and Scopes  Identify key parameters

 Work tools preparation

ii. Second Phase – Conducting  Data search and collection

 Identify reliability of data and filter collected data  Study and understand collected data

 Arrange collected data

iii. Third Phase – Designing

 Study and understand the work tools and software for the project

 Identify relationship between collected data and the work tools for the project  Design the coding for the simulation

 Run the simulation

iv. Final Phase – Analyzing

 Analyze the simulate results  Discuss and explain on the results  Conclude on the project

4

The following diagram shows the major steps that need to be taken before the project can be completed.

Figure 1.1: Brief flow chart of the project work piece Show the results in appropriate software to clearly display the outputs. States all the setbacks encounters.

Start

Understand the desired requirement of the project.

Research for relevant information on the project from books, journals and also

Internet.

Study and understand the softwares to simulate and show outputs.

Build the simulation and test for ideal

results.

5

1.6 Report Structure

Chapter 1 of this report discuss generally epigrammatic introduction of the whole project. It touches on the Introduction of this project and then proceed to the Project Objectives. Also, this chapter includes the Problem Statements that might encounter and the main Scopes of this project. Not to forget, this chapter comes with the the project Methodology and the brief Report Structure of this writing.

Chapter 2 discuss mostly on the main concepts that governs this entire project. It includes the Literature Review of the project where some of the important principles are explained thoroughly.

Chapter 3will concentrate on the Methodology of this project. It discusses about the methods and the processes taken to achieve the objectives of the project. This chapter will explain the planning and methods taken phase by phase in details to show a clear view on the process of the whole project.

Chapter 4 will discuss on the results obtained from the simulation via working tools. As for this chapter, all the significant results will be shown to demonstrate comparison of each and analysis will be performed to understand on the behavior and characteristic of the outcomes.

Chapter 5 will give a summary on all the discussion on the results and draw a logical conclusion on the obtained outcomes. Other than that, in this chapter the future work of the project will also be discussed to explain the feasibility of the project.

6

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter shows the basic principles of Wireless Mesh Network, the concept of the Ray-Tracing Technique. Besides that, the implementation of Friis Transmission equation in prediction of propagation coverage will also be discussed.

2.1 Wireless Mesh Network

7

Recently, wireless communication systems present increasing needs for detailed planning that due to the reduction of cell size in mobile systems and the rising number of wireless networks such in wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs). To comprehend the mesh networking concept, we first need to obtain an appreciation for what a mesh topology represents. If we have n nodes in a network, where the term

“node” refers to a communications device that can transport data from one of its

interfaces to another, then the ability of each node to communicate with every other node in the network represents a mesh network topology.

Figure 2.2 illustrates three, four, and five nodes mesh network structures, in which each node has a communications connection to all other nodes in the network. The connection between each node is referred to as a link. If we examine the number of links associated with each network shown in Figure 1, it is obvious that the number of links increases as the number of nodes increases. Although only three links are required to interconnect three nodes, six are required to interconnect four nodes, and ten are required to interconnect five nodes.

Figure 2.2: Three nodes mesh network

8 Figure 2.4: Five node mesh network

Basically, the ray-tracing techniques are used to model electromagnetic environments by predicting the propagation paths between transmitters and receivers. So, the effort is made when modeling each building and the environment as a whole provides an important reduction of the complexity of the ray tracing process. But the advantages obtained may be lost if ray tracing is not performed in the right way. Instead of an indiscriminate ray tracing from the transmitter in all directions, a selective ray tracing procedure may be used to obtain contributions at the receiver. A ray will be traced only if it reaches a destination points or any nodes in a network. Besides, if the rays intersect with an obstacle which generates a new reflected or diffracted ray, it will also be traced. The computation time used in this process is useful due to the contributions obtained. Then, the stop criterion in the ray tracing procedure is the noise in the receiver. A certain level of noise in the receiver is assumed. So, a ray will continue being traced until the value of the field associated to it falls below the noise.

Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) are dynamically organized and self-configured, with the nodes in the network automatically establishing an ad hoc network and maintaining the mesh connectivity. WMNs are comprised of two types of nodes: mesh routers and mesh clients. Router also called FFDs (Full Function Devices), extend network area coverage, dynamically route around obstacles, and provide backup routes in case of network congestion or device failure. They can connect to the coordinator (device that sets up the network and acts as a portal to monitor network performance and configure parameters) and other routers, and can also have child devices. Note that in a wireless mesh networking, each node

9

functions as a router and repeater, forwarding data to the next node to function as relay.

Wireless Mesh Networks (WMN) is a decentralized networking technology that is currently being adapted to connect peer to-peer clients and large-scale backbone networks. Capacity of wireless networks is a very significant metric for wireless mesh networks due to its highly distributed characteristics. To improve the capacity for mesh networks, various high speed techniques for the physical layer are being developed. Orthogonal Frequency Multiple Access (OFDM) in 802.11 is on of the high-speed improvements in the Physical (PHY) layer for Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) used in mesh networks improving the speed from 11Mbps to 54Mbps at most. For Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) there are two basic types of WLAN networking structures, referred to as peer-to-peer and infrastructure. In a peer-to-peer networking structure, each node can directly communicate with every other node by assuming that they are in transmission range of each other. But, in infrastructure WLAN networking environment, all traffic flow through an Access Point (AP). But for WMN, in a nut shell it represents a series of peer-to-peer transmission where each node functions as a router and repeater. On the other hand, wireless LAN (WLAN) is a flexible data communication system implemented as an extension to or as an alternative for, a wired LAN within a building or campus. Using electromagnetic waves, WLANs transmit and receive data over the air, minimizing the need for wired connections. Thus, WLANs combine data connectivity with user mobility and through simplified configuration, enable movable LANs. Wireless communication is without a doubt a very desirable service as emphasized by the tremendous growth in both cellular and wireless local area networks (WLANs); primarily, the ones that are compliant with the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, popularly known as Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity). Ad-Hoc network is a wireless network that is established without the aid of infrastructure or centralized administration. Then, it is formed by a group of wireless terminals (nodes) such that communication between any two terminals is carried out by means of a store and relay mechanism. There also no fixed router in Ad-Hoc network. Nodes maybe mobile and can be connected dynamically in an arbitrary manner. The node will be functioned as a router which discover and maintains routes to other nodes in the network.

The following diagram shows the major steps that need to be taken before the project can be completed.

Figure 1.1: Brief flow chart of the project work piece Show the results in appropriate software to clearly display the outputs. States all the setbacks encounters.

Start

Understand the desired requirement of the project.

Research for relevant information on the project from books, journals and also

Internet.

Study and understand the softwares to simulate and show outputs.

Build the simulation and test for ideal

results.

1.6 Report Structure

Chapter 1 of this report discuss generally epigrammatic introduction of the whole project. It touches on the Introduction of this project and then proceed to the Project Objectives. Also, this chapter includes the Problem Statements that might encounter and the main Scopes of this project. Not to forget, this chapter comes with the the project Methodology and the brief Report Structure of this writing.

Chapter 2 discuss mostly on the main concepts that governs this entire project. It includes the Literature Review of the project where some of the important principles are explained thoroughly.

Chapter 3will concentrate on the Methodology of this project. It discusses about the methods and the processes taken to achieve the objectives of the project. This chapter will explain the planning and methods taken phase by phase in details to show a clear view on the process of the whole project.

Chapter 4 will discuss on the results obtained from the simulation via working tools. As for this chapter, all the significant results will be shown to demonstrate comparison of each and analysis will be performed to understand on the behavior and characteristic of the outcomes.

Chapter 5 will give a summary on all the discussion on the results and draw a logical conclusion on the obtained outcomes. Other than that, in this chapter the future work of the project will also be discussed to explain the feasibility of the project.

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter shows the basic principles of Wireless Mesh Network, the concept of the Ray-Tracing Technique. Besides that, the implementation of Friis Transmission equation in prediction of propagation coverage will also be discussed.

2.1 Wireless Mesh Network

Recently, wireless communication systems present increasing needs for detailed planning that due to the reduction of cell size in mobile systems and the rising number of wireless networks such in wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs). To comprehend the mesh networking concept, we first need to obtain an appreciation for what a mesh topology represents. If we have n nodes in a network, where the term “node” refers to a communications device that can transport data from one of its interfaces to another, then the ability of each node to communicate with every other node in the network represents a mesh network topology.

Figure 2.2 illustrates three, four, and five nodes mesh network structures, in which each node has a communications connection to all other nodes in the network. The connection between each node is referred to as a link. If we examine the number of links associated with each network shown in Figure 1, it is obvious that the number of links increases as the number of nodes increases. Although only three links are required to interconnect three nodes, six are required to interconnect four nodes, and ten are required to interconnect five nodes.

Figure 2.2: Three nodes mesh network

Figure 2.4: Five node mesh network

Basically, the ray-tracing techniques are used to model electromagnetic environments by predicting the propagation paths between transmitters and receivers. So, the effort is made when modeling each building and the environment as a whole provides an important reduction of the complexity of the ray tracing process. But the advantages obtained may be lost if ray tracing is not performed in the right way. Instead of an indiscriminate ray tracing from the transmitter in all directions, a selective ray tracing procedure may be used to obtain contributions at the receiver. A ray will be traced only if it reaches a destination points or any nodes in a network. Besides, if the rays intersect with an obstacle which generates a new reflected or diffracted ray, it will also be traced. The computation time used in this process is useful due to the contributions obtained. Then, the stop criterion in the ray tracing procedure is the noise in the receiver. A certain level of noise in the receiver is assumed. So, a ray will continue being traced until the value of the field associated to it falls below the noise.

Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) are dynamically organized and self-configured, with the nodes in the network automatically establishing an ad hoc network and maintaining the mesh connectivity. WMNs are comprised of two types of nodes: mesh routers and mesh clients. Router also called FFDs (Full Function Devices), extend network area coverage, dynamically route around obstacles, and provide backup routes in case of network congestion or device failure. They can connect to the coordinator (device that sets up the network and acts as a portal to monitor network performance and configure parameters) and other routers, and can also have child devices. Note that in a wireless mesh networking, each node

functions as a router and repeater, forwarding data to the next node to function as relay.

Wireless Mesh Networks (WMN) is a decentralized networking technology that is currently being adapted to connect peer to-peer clients and large-scale backbone networks. Capacity of wireless networks is a very significant metric for wireless mesh networks due to its highly distributed characteristics. To improve the capacity for mesh networks, various high speed techniques for the physical layer are being developed. Orthogonal Frequency Multiple Access (OFDM) in 802.11 is on of the high-speed improvements in the Physical (PHY) layer for Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) used in mesh networks improving the speed from 11Mbps to 54Mbps at most. For Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) there are two basic types of WLAN networking structures, referred to as peer-to-peer and infrastructure. In a peer-to-peer networking structure, each node can directly communicate with every other node by assuming that they are in transmission range of each other. But, in infrastructure WLAN networking environment, all traffic flow through an Access Point (AP). But for WMN, in a nut shell it represents a series of peer-to-peer transmission where each node functions as a router and repeater. On the other hand, wireless LAN (WLAN) is a flexible data communication system implemented as an extension to or as an alternative for, a wired LAN within a building or campus. Using electromagnetic waves, WLANs transmit and receive data over the air, minimizing the need for wired connections. Thus, WLANs combine data connectivity with user mobility and through simplified configuration, enable movable LANs. Wireless communication is without a doubt a very desirable service as emphasized by the tremendous growth in both cellular and wireless local area networks (WLANs); primarily, the ones that are compliant with the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, popularly known as Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity). Ad-Hoc network is a wireless network that is established without the aid of infrastructure or centralized administration. Then, it is formed by a group of wireless terminals (nodes) such that communication between any two terminals is carried out by means of a store and relay mechanism. There also no fixed router in Ad-Hoc network. Nodes maybe mobile and can be connected dynamically in an arbitrary manner. The node will be functioned as a router which discover and maintains routes to other nodes in the network.