Interference and Signal-to-Noise-Ratio

Abstract

In a wireless network, a signal sent from one node to another suffers from physical effects. It will be attenuated, where the amount of loss depends on the physical medium it passes through, the distance it travels, and many other influences. The signal cannot be decoded the signal if it is too weak at the receiver. So in order to reach a certain receiver, the sender has to make sure it sends the signal with sufficient power, such that it is still strong enough after the attenuation on its path to the receiver. More details on these concepts are given in Section 2.3 or any decent book on communications engineering, e.g., [336].