Fading and Shadowing in Wireless Systems

In recent decades, growth in the field of wireless communications has led to exponential growth in the number of journals catering to the research community. Still unmet, however, is the need to fully and comprehensively understand the effects of channel degradation brought on by the statistical fluctuations in the channel. These statistical fluctuations include variations in signal powers observed in the channel generally modeled using a variety of probability distributions, both in straight forms as well as in compound forms. While the former might explain some of the effects, it is the latter, namely, the compound models, which incorporate both short term and long term power fluctuations in the channel, explains the much more complex nature of the signals in these channels. §Fading and Shadowing in Wireless System offers a pedagogical approach to the topic, with insight into the modeling and analysis of fading and shadowing. Beginning with statistical background and digital communications, the book is formulated to follow the details of modeling of the statistical fluctuations of signals in these channels. The author describes degradations in the channels arising from the statistical fluctuations in terms of various measures. This is followed by a discussion of diversity and associated signal processing algorithms to mitigate the effects of statistical fluctuations in the channel as well as quantitative measures of improvements brought on by diversity. The book also examines the effects of interference from other channels.