NAME _____________ Solutions _____________________

ES 442 Homework #8 Solutions

(Spring 2017 – Due May 1, 2017 )
Print out homework and do work on the printed pages.

Textbook: B. P. Lathi & Zhi Ding, Modern Digital and Analog Communication
Systems, 4th edition, Oxford University Press, New york, 2009.

Figure for Problems 1 & 2:

Problem 1 Path Lengths (30 points)

Consider the dual-ray ground reflection model shown in the figure above. A cellular
base station antenna transmits a signal directed to the cell phone of held by the man in
the figure. The cellular base station transmitter and the cell phone receiving the signal
are separated by distance L. Two signals are received by the cell phone – one is direct
“line-of-sight” covering a distance Llos and the other is reflected from the ground
travelling a slightly greater distance Lref. Assume: L >> htran and L >> hrcvr.

Show that in this dual-ray ground reflection model that the difference in the two path
lengths, given by  = Lref – Llos,  can be approximately expressed as
Homework 5

2htran hrcvr
 ,
L

1
where htran is the height of the cell base station tower and hrcvr is the distance the cell
phone is above ground level. Assume the ground (i.e., Earth) is flat and level.

Solution:

Using trigonometry, lref  ( htran  hrcvr )2  L2 and

llos  ( htran  hrcvr )2  L2 Therefore,
  lref  llos  ( htran
2
 2htranhrcvr  hrcvr
2
)  L2  ( htran
2
 2htranhrcvr  hrcvr
2
)  L2
1
For very large spacing L, we use a Taylor's series, 1 x  1 x
2
  ( h2  h2   ( htran
2
 hrcvr
2
 
  L  tran rcvr
 1    1 
  L2
  L 2
 
 
L  ( htran  hrcvr )2 ( htran  hrcvr )2 
   
2 L2 L2 
L  ( htran
2
 2htranhrcvr  hrcvr
2
)  ( htran
2
 2htranhrcvr  hrcvr
2
)
  
2 L2 
2htranhrcvr
 
L

Problem 2 Phase shift between the two signal paths (20 points)
For this problem again use the figure on page 1 of this homework set. We know that
the height of the receiver is hrcvr = 2 meters and the height of the base station antennas
is htran = 30 meters. We want to restrict the phase shift between the two paths to  =
0.25  at most, where  is the wavelength of the carrier frequency fc. Assume the
cellular system operates in the 900 MHz band (i.e., take fc = 900 MHz). Take the speed
of electromagnetic waves to be 300,000,000 meters per second in air. What distance L
is needed for the phase shift between the two signal paths to be one-quarter
wavelength (i.e.,  /4 equivalent to 90 degrees)?

Solution:
2htranhrcvr
We use the result from problem 1, namely,  
L
First, we find the distance  that will be one-quarter
wavelength of phase shift. Given f  c , where c is
Homework 5


3  10 meters/second, and f  900 MHz allows us to
8

calculate .

2
 The wavelength  = 0.3333 meters at 900 MHz, therefore,
 =  /4 = 0.08333 meters.
2h h 2h h 2  (30 m)(2 m)
From   tran rcvr ; we find L  tran rcvr 
L  0.0833 m
120 m2
L  1,440 meters 
0.08333 m

Problem 3 Doppler Phase/Frequency Shifting (20 points)

In elementary physics you likely covered the Doppler shift in wave phenomena (such as
with sound, water, light and radio waves, etc.). Radio waves in cellular communications
are subject to the Doppler shift. [If you don’t remember you can Google “Doppler
Shift”).] A typical situation encountered in cell phones is where the mobile unit is
moving such as in the illustration below.

For the case shown in the figure the car is moving at velocity v and moving from point A to point
B in time t. It is moving toward the cellular base station which is transmitting to the cell phone
in the car. From the theory on the Doppler shift we know that moving toward the base station
the frequency will be appear to be higher because of wavelength shortening from the motion.
This is sometimes called “blue shift.” If the car were moving in the opposite direction, then the
frequency would appear to be lower (this is called “red shift”). As the car moves from A to B it
covers a distance d which effectively shortens the radio signal path by distance l. Note also
that the car is not moving directly at the antennas, but at an angle  to the line of signal
propagation. Assume that angle  is approximately the same at both points A and B.
Homework 5

(a) Show that the Doppler shift in phase  is given by

2l
  cos( ) in radians


3
Solution:

We begin by noting l  d cos( ) and l  vt  cos( )

because d  vt. The change in phase from the Doppler
shift is from the difference in path lengths between the two
2l 2 vt
paths. =  cos( ) 
 
(b) Show that the Doppler shift change in frequency f is given by


f  cos( ) in Hz

Solution:


We begin by noting f  , then we can write,
t
 v  vf c 
f =  cos( )    cos   
2t   

Problem 4 Doppler Shift Problem (30 points)

This problem is a continuation of Problem 3 above. The base station is transmitting a
sinusoidal carrier signal fc = 1850 MHz. The vehicle is moving at 75 miles per hour
(mph). [Note: That might be exceeding the speed limit.]

(a) Given that the car is far away from the base station, but moving directly at the
transmitter (i.e., assumes  = 0, so cos() = 1), find the received Doppler shifted carrier
frequency as the car moves toward the base station.

Solution:

We begin with f C  1,850 MHz. Therefore, the wavelength  is

c 3  108 m/sec
= =  0.162 meter
fC 1850  106 sec 1
The vehicle speed is 75 mph = 33.528 m/sec
When the car is moving toward the base station, the Doppler
shift is positive, hence,
Homework 5

33.528 m/sec
f  f C  f Doppler  1850 MHz  
0.162 m
f  1,850,000,207 Hz 

4
(b) Now the car is moving away from the transmitter (again assumes  = 0, so cos() =
1), find the received Doppler shifted carrier frequency as the car moves away from the base
station.

Solution:
The wavelength   0.162 meter but the car is moving in the
opposite direction  vehicle speed is 75 mph = 33.528 m/sec.
When the car is moving away from the base station, the Doppler
shift is negative, hence,
33.528 m/sec
f  f C  f Doppler  1850 MHz  
0.162 m
f  1,849,999,793 Hz 

(c) The car is at the base station moving under it. What is the Doppler shifted carrier
frequency under this condition?

Solution:

In this case   90 degrees; thus, cos( )  0. There is no Doppler

shift in the case where the car is didrectly under the base station
antennas. But the cell phone may not receive a signal unless the
antennas emit a signal downward.

Homework 5