Space in Wireless Communications

Wireless communication, be it with radio or other types of waves, always takes place in a certain physical/spatial setup in which the communication signal propagates between the sender and the receiver. This chapter is dedicated to the physical/spatial factors that determine the values of the channel coefficients and the SNR of the received signals. In an actual physical setting, the wireless communication signals need to propagate as waves from the sender to the receiver. People think of these waves dominantly as electromagnetic/radio waves, but similar considerations are in place for acoustic or ultrasound waves. In order to provide a statistical evaluation of the certain propagation setting, the chapter creates statistical models that are suitable for representing electromagnetic propagation. The statistics of the received signal depends on the geometrical setting, and also other factors, such as random obstacles, reflectors, or the type/quality of the antenna used by the wireless devices.