Let's try to understand today in a simple manner, and discover why the use of decibels help us much.

Watt (W) and miliWatt (mW)

First of all, to understand what it means for example 0 dBm, we at least have to know the basic unit of
power, the Watt. By definition, 1 Watt means 1 Ampere (A) current in 1 Volt (V) voltage, or in mathematical
terms P = VA. It is interesting to note that the amount of power radiated by an antenna is very small in
terms of Watts, but it is enough to reach several miles.

And as the signs are very small, is more common to refer to them in terms of prefix, such as military or
milliwatts (mW), which means 1 / 1000 (one thousandth) of Watts.

Mathematics

Besides the signals were rather small, it - as well as other quantities of physics such as electricity, heat or
sound - propagate nonlinearly. It would be more or less like compound interest on a loan.
Or brought into our world of engineers, imagine a cable for transmitting 100 watts, with a loss of 10% per
meter. If the spread was linear, the final 10 meters would have no more power!


Only it's not how it happens. In the first meters, have 10% less power, which is 90 watts. And this is the
value that 'enter' on the cable until the next meter. Thus, the second meter, we would have 10% less of
that power or 81 watts (= 90 - 9). Repeating this calculations, you see that in fact the power never reaches
zero, as it would if calculations were linear. (At the end of the cable have actually 34.86 Watt)


To solve problems o deal with this - and make our lives easier - we need to know the logarithms. We saw
this in school, but there are people who do not like to hear. The good thing is that we need not know much
about them, just understand what they are.
Just understand that if we transformed the magnitudes in logarithms, the calculations become addition and
subtraction rather than multiplication and division.

Of course, in order to do the calculations by adding and subtracting, we must make the necessary
conversions. But with the help of a calculator or Excel, is not that complicated.

Decibels (dB)
By definition, we have:


Sure, we say that working with logarithms (or decibels) is much easier - and the common good. But by the
formulas above, still can not understand. So the best way to understand why we use dB (decibels), is seeing
how they help us through a practical example.
Consider a standard wireless link, where we have a transmitter (1) and a receiver (5), Antennas (3), Cables,
Jumpers and Connectors (2) and Free Space (4).


Using real values, and without using the help of dB, let's do the math and see, from the transmitted power,
how much power we have at receiver. So with dummy values, but close to reality, we have:
Transmitter Power = 40 Watts
Cables and connectors loss = - 0.5 (Half Power)
Antenna Gain = 20 + times in the Power
Free Space Loss = - 0 000 000 000 000 000 1 Power
Note: This amount of loss in free space is quite big. And it is obtained based on distance and other factors.
For now, just accept that it is a practical value of loss of RF for a given distance of our link.
The link with the absolute values in Watt would then be as below.


We can work this way, of course. But you must agree that it is not very friendly.
Now, if we use the proper conversion of power, gain and loss for dB, we can simply add and subtract.

It was so much easier, isn't it?
Now we just need to know the formulas to do the conversions.

Converting with Formulas in Excel
Considering that the amount of wattage is in cell B3, the formula for convrting W in dBm is:
= 10 * ( LOG10 ( 1000 * B3 ) )
And the formula to reverse - convert dBm to Watt, considering that our power in dBm is in cell B6 is:
= 10 * ( LOG10 ( 1000 * B6 ) )
And as a result, we have calculated values.


Note that in case we are using the 1000 value in the formulas, for wearing the Watt, but we want the result
in dBm.
To calculate (convert) db to ratio, or ratio to db, the formulas do not include the value of 1000.



Calculations without using a calculator
Of course, we will use calculators in the projects and programs such as Excel. But we also know how to do
calculations (conversions) without using a calculator. If anyone tells you that the power is + 46 dBm, you
need to know what that means in terms of Watts.
For this, there are certain tricks that can be used to arrive at least an approximate match.
For this, a good way is to memorize the equivalent to multiplying factors in dB, as in the table below (at
least those that are in bold).


With the corresponding values of dB and multiplier factor, we convert eg +46 dBm to mW.
Answer: First, we expressed 46 values that we already know by heart.
So 46 = 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 3 + 3
That is, we multiply the reference value (1 mW) for four times the factor of 10 and twice the factor of 2.
What gives us
1mW x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 = 1 000 0 mW
1 000 0 mW x 2 x 2 = 40000 mW = 40 W
Ie, + 46 dBm is equal to 40 watts.

Conclusion
Well, I think now you have given to see that when we do the calculations in dB everything is easier.
Moreover, the vast majority of Telecom equipment has specifications of its units in dB (Power, Gain, Loss,
etc.).
In short, just use basic math to understand the values and reach the final figures.
When we say that such a signal is attenuated by 3 dB, means that the final power is half the initial power.
Likewise, if a given power is increased by 3 dB means twice the power.
A good practice, irrespective of how you will work with the calculations is to store at least some values such
as 0 dBm = 1 mWatt (our initial question), 30 dBm = 1 Watt, and in our example, 46 dBm = 40 Watt.
So you can quickly learn, for example, the equivalent for the calculations.
For example, 43 dBm = 46 dBm - 3 dB. That is, half the power of 46 dbm. Then, 43 dBm = 20 Watts!
Just finally, in our example, the received power was - 84 dBm, remember?

In this case, doesn't need memorizing. Just so you know which is equivalent to a very low power, but
enough for a good example of gsm cell.

MIMO
To enable this 'Revolution', new techniques must be developed, and existing ones need to be improved.
Here in telecomHall 'Course' we'll talk about these techniques, as always trying to explain each subject in
the simplest possible way, allowing to understand how these innovations may have become reality.
We begin today with: MIMO. Have you heard?
Even if you already know, we invite you to read this brief summary we prepared to you.
Note: All telecomHall articles are originally written in Portuguese. Following we translate to English and
Spanish. As our time is short, maybe you find some typos (sometimes we just use the automatic translator,
with only a final and 'quick' review). We apologize and we have an understanding of our effort. If you want
to contribute translating / correcting of these languages, or even creating and publishing your tutorials,
please contact us: contact.

SISO, MISO, SIMO
Before we talk specifically about MIMO, let's know, or remember what it also means SISO, SIMO and MISO.
Although it may sound like some sort of lock tongues, in fact these letters correspond to different types of a
radio channel use. That is, refer to the access modes of the radio channel, any transmitting and receiving
system.
Let's start with SISO - "Single Input, Single Output ', as this model more intuitive. As the name implies, we
only have one input in the radio channel, and only one output.
In the figure below is easier to understand: we use a Transmitter (TX) to transmit data through a single
antenna, and receive it in the Receiver (RX), also through a single antenna.


When the system has multiple inputs and only one output, we have MISO - 'Multiple Input, Single Output'.


In this case we have multiple entries, and only one output.
Note: in practice, we can have more than one antenna. Just to simplify the demonstration we will limit
ourselves to a maximum of two antennas in the illustrations.

Remember we are talking about the radio channel, the figure below helps to better understand this
nomenclature.


So pretty much opposed to MISO, we also have SIMO - 'Single Input, Multiple Output'.


MIMO
Once this nomenclature is understood, we can talk about MIMO.
As mentioned, although in practice we may have multiple antennas at the transmitter and multiple antennas
at the receiver, we're representing our system with only two antennas on each side.


At first glance, and comparing with the previous access, MIMO seems to be simple, but unfortunately it's
not.
Its operation is much more complex than the others: we now have multiple inputs and multiple outputs. The
biggest challenge is how to recover the original information correctly?
See illustration of a more realistic scenario, showing what happens in practice.


Although more complex, it brings is a huge performance gain, or spectrum use efficiency, as discussed
below.
And again, the way MIMO works, with its variations, is very complex. We will try to show here just simply
how it works, that is, as is possible.
A good analogy to learn the concept of MIMO is to imagine that we have two 'mouths' and use the two
mouths to ask someone:
'How old are you?'
Note that we use 'four' words. As we have two mouths, we can use one to say 'How old' and and another -
at the same time - to 'are you'.
With two mouths talking at the same time, if the other person's ears are well cleaned, and it's a smart
person, he/she'll be able to understand.
That is, we speak 'four words' in the 'same time' that we would speak 'two words'.
What does this mean? In terms of data, assume that each word has 100 KB. So we're sending 400 KB. But
since we are transmitting two streams in parallel, each with a piece of data. That is, we pass the 400 KB in
half the time it would take to transmit typically with a stream.


Simply put, this is what makes MIMO possible, and enables attaining high rates of 300 to 600 Mbps!
Thus, MIMO is used to improve wireless access in a large number of applications. Several access standards
such as LTE, WiMax, HSPA and WiFi use this gain to achieve the significant improvements that each one has.
And now we have a concept that seems to be against everything we learned: MIMO is based on interference
at line of sight (LOS), ie, the signal path between the station and mobile.
To MIMO present some advantage, we need a good diversity in the signal.


In other words, anything that interferes with the signal path such as buildings, cars, people, etc.. are
actually contributing to the overall system efficiency, and effectiveness of MIMO applications.
The diversity of the signal - that doesn't take a direct path between the transmitter - once viewed as a
problem, is now making it possible for the data streams to be combined and recovered!
As seen in the analogy above, MIMO allows the sending of more than one stream of data on a single
channel. It effectively doubles the speed that he have on that channel - considering the use of two
antennas.
But okay, how does it work?
In the past, DSP's, or Digital Signal Processors were very hard to be developed, due to a lot of past
limitations. Currently however, DSP development have evolved a lot - and are still evolving. This kind of
processors today are very powerful, able to recover our transmitted signal when it arrives at the receiver at
different time intervals.
The DSP's then have the responsibility to take the data, 'separate' in different parts, send each part via
different antennas, at the same time, at th same channel. And do the reverse process at the receiver.


The result is obvious: we are able to send a certain amount of data in half the time it would normally take.
Each antenna has its own stream of data, both in transmission and reception. In the end, then we have the
data received.
Remember, the Multipath varies according to location, and this variation is very dynamic - difficult to
predict. Still, the multipath makes it possible for the receiving antenna to differentiate between data that
was transmitted on the same channel at the same time.

OFDM
Then enter the access via OFDM - 'Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing'. Let's talk more about this
type of multiplexing / access in another tutorial, but OFDM is very important to MIMO for new generations of
cellular technologies.
It is easier if we make a comparison.
In a single carrier systems have symbols (or 'pieces of information') transmitted over broadband, each
transmitted sequentially, and for a relatively short period of time.

Symbols transmitted in Series
Broadband
Short Symbol Period
In the OFDM symbols are transmitted in parallel, each using a relatively very narrow spectrum. However,
each symbol is transmitted by a much greater period of time!

Symbols transmitted in Parallel
Narrow Band
Long Symbol Period
This scenario represents an advantage in signal reception, since it is much easier for the receiver to check
each of the symbols - even if they suffer some degradation - because they are transmitted over a much
longer period.
In wideband transmission, during the short time interval in which each symbol is transmitted, we may have
problems with data loss, making it difficult to recover information. If there is interference in the signal, a
significant part of it can be degraded and may end up making it impossible to receive certain symbols
(pieces of information) correctly.


In the OFDM, while the bandwidth is narrower, each transmitted symbol stands for a much longer time, and
the chances of successfully recovering are higher.


The following sequence helps us understand this concept.


Comparing OFDM with a single carrier, OFDM methodology have multiple frequencies transmitted in parallel
- the symbols are transmitted in parallel!
And each symbol is being transmitted over a much longer time period. And even when we have a problem of
fading at some point we're probably still able to retrieve information.
Thus, with transmission of the symbols in parallel and for a longer period of time, the greater the chances of
success at the reception!
Another new fact concerning what we understand about transmission and reception of data: the known and
common scenario for us is to have one antenna on the transmitter, transmitting at a certain frequency, and
another antenna on the receiver, receiving at this this same frequency.
MIMO introduces a new concept in terms of this known operation, and as we have seen, in terms of spectral
efficiency through the use of two or more antennas to transmit and two or more antennas to receiving.
And perhaps the most innovative concept: all the antennas transmit at the same frequency with different
data transmitted by each one!
Surely, this is different from everything we learned in school, because we learned that the frequencies will
certainly interfere with each other, and end up losing all our data.
Antennas operating in the same operating frequency and transmitting different data generates interference,
and interference generates losses?
No more. Fortunately, using new advanced technologies of DSP's we can, for the same frequency, transmit
different data on different antennas - and simultaneously. And the receiving antennas, we can differentiate
between these streams of data.
It is not difficult to understand that this represents a huge advantage in terms of spectrum use efficiency.
If for example we have two antennas, we double efficiency. If we use more antennas, triple or quadruple
this efficiency. But it is obvious that the greater the number of antennas, and the greater the complexity of
the system.

MIMO Example
In conclusion, we show an example of packets decoding by a MIMO receiver.
Returning to our initial example, suppose a transmitter with two antennas. Using the nomenclature 'hij' for
the channel 'h' of the transmitter antenna 'i' to receiver antenna 'j'.


That is, when a packet 'p1' is transmitted from the antenna of a transmitter, the receiver receives 'h11*p1'
in its first antenna, and also receives 'h12*p2' in his second antenna. In other words, the receiver receives a
vector whose direction is determined by the channel.


But remember that our example has two transmitter antennas, that is, while we can send another packet
'p2' through its other antenna.
The receiver receives 'h21p2' in its first antenna, and 'h22p2' in his second antenna.


With this, we have a vector at the receiver end, defined by the sum of all vectors.


Sure, but how the receiver can decode these two packages? Once the two packages are sent concurrently,
they represent interference to each other. To decode a packet, the receiver projects on a direction
orthogonal to the interference of another package.
To eliminate the interference of the package 'p2', and so be able to decode the packet 'p1', the receiver
projects on a direction orthogonal to it (package 'p2').


Similarly, to decode the packet 'p2', the receiver eliminates interference from the other package 'p1',
projecting a direction orthogonal to the interference of it.


Then, with two antennas can decode two competing packages! Following the same reasoning, we can
understand that the MIMO decoding allows competitors and how many packets as the number of antennas.


Conclusion
Today we had a brief introduction to MIMO, which as mentioned, is much more complex than shown,
because we are just doing an introduction to even allow you to understand its basic operation.
However, the benefits it pays back the efforts of its complexity.
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