HVAC Duct As A Communication Channel

1. INTRODUCTION

Wireless transmission of electromagnetic radiation

(communication signals) has become a popular method of
transmitting RF signals such as cordless, wireless and cellular
telephone signals, paper signals, two way radio signals, video
conferencing signals and LAN signals indoors.

Indoor wireless transmission has the advantage that

building in which transmission is taking place does not have to be
filled with wires or cables that are equipped to carry a multitude of
signals. Wires and signals are costly to install and may require
expensive upgrades when their capacity is exceeded or when new
technologies require different types of wires and cables than those
already installed.

Traditional indoor wireless communication systems

transmit and receive signals through the use of a network of
transmitters, receivers and antennas that are placed through out
the interior of a building. Devices must be located such that
signals must not be lost or signal strength may not get attenuated.
Again a change in the existing architecture also affects the
wireless transmission. Another challenge related to installation of
wireless networks in buildings is the need to predict the RF
propagation and coverage in the presence of complex
combinations of shapes and materials in the buildings.

1 CAS, PUTHUPPALLY
HVAC Duct As A Communication Channel

In general, the attenuation in buildings is larger than that in

free space, requiring more cells and higher power to obtain wider
coverage. Despite of all these, placement of antennas, receivers
and antennas in an indoor environment is largely a process of trial
and error. Hence there is need for a method and a system

for efficiently transmitting RF and microwave signals indoors

without having to install an extensive system of wires and cables
inside the buildings.

This paper suggests an alternative method of distributing

electromagnetic signals in buildings by the recognition that every
building is equipped with an RF wave guide distribution system,
the HVAC ducts. The use of HVAC ducts is also amenable to a
systematic design procedure but should be significantly less
expensive than other approaches since existing infrastructure is
used and RF is distributed more efficiently.

2 CAS, PUTHUPPALLY
HVAC Duct As A Communication Channel

2. THE HVAC SYSTEM

Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning are ducts used in

buildings designed to carry air to and from all parts of the
building. In most parts of the USA and Europe almost every
building is equipped with these HVAC ducts which can also
function as hollow wave guides for microwave and RF signals.

Therefore, all forms of wireless transmission can in principle

can be done through these waveguides. Since most of the offices
and other places in buildings where people work, sit or reside are
reached by this HVAC ductwork, it is also possible to provide
communications between building occupants and rest of the
world.

The HVAC system includes a device usually a coupler for

introducing electromagnetic radiation into the duct work such
that the duct acts as a wave guide. System also includes devices
for enabling the electromagnetic radiation to propagate beyond the
duct. In most cases ducts are largest near the central air handling
equipment and become smaller as they branch out to various
rooms.

Branches in the duct behaves as wave guide power splitters.

Eventually RF would be radiated into the rooms through specially
designed louvers. Coverage in corridors and spaces guarded from

3 CAS, PUTHUPPALLY
HVAC Duct As A Communication Channel

louvers could be realised by placing passive re-radiators in the

sides of the ducts.

The key idea behind this distribution is that low loss

electromagnetic waves can propagate in hollow metallic pipes if
the dimensions of the ducts are sufficiently large compared to the
wavelength. Since the HVAC ducts are made of sheet metal, they
are excellent waveguide candidates. the lowest frequency that can
propagate in a duct depend upon the size and cross section shape
of the duct. For rectangular wave-guides or ducts, the cut off
frequency fco for the lowest propagating mode is given by

c
Fco =
2a

4 CAS, PUTHUPPALLY
HVAC Duct As A Communication Channel

where c = 3x108 m/s, the velocity of light in free space

and a = the largest dimension of the duct. For circular ducts,

1.841c
Fco= 2 r

where r is the radius of the duct. Minimum duct dimensions

for several wireless bands are given in the table below.

The basic principle of operation of HVAC system in a

building is as shown below

5 CAS, PUTHUPPALLY
HVAC Duct As A Communication Channel

The operation is described as follows. For the down link, RF

signals sent from a base station propagate through the ductwork
and a small portion of electromagnetic energy is radiated by a
simple antenna inserted into the HVAC duct passing from each
room. In the uplink, the RF signal of the end-user transmitted by
the laptop, handset etc. reaches the passive antenna located in
each office and propagates towards the base station.

6 CAS, PUTHUPPALLY
HVAC Duct As A Communication Channel

3. PROPAGATION MODEL

The HVAC channel like all other wave-guides is a linear

channel and therefore can be completely characterised by its
frequency response or transfer function. To design a wireless
HVAC system, an analytic model is necessary. This model must be
valid for the ducts of different cross sections and allow to
investigate easily the frequency response dependence on such
parameters as antenna geometry, transmitter receiver separation
distance, duct cross section size, conductivity of duct material,
reflection coefficients of terminated duct ends etc. Such a model
for the HVAC duct channel in the case of a straight multimode
duct terminated at both ends is given below.

7 CAS, PUTHUPPALLY
HVAC Duct As A Communication Channel

This is a straight HVAC duct of circular cross-section, made

of metal and and terminated at each end as shown. Two monopole
probe antennas provide the coupling. Such a duct is a double-
probe wave guide with a number of propagating modes N
determined by the operating frequency and waveguide dimensions.
Let the termination loads 1&2 ie load1 and load2, have respective
reflection coefficients '1n & '2n for wave guide of mode n which
can be frequency dependent. Let ‘L’ be the distance between the
two antennas and respective distances to the terminated ends be
L1 and L2.then theoretically the frequency response can be
derived as

8 CAS, PUTHUPPALLY
HVAC Duct As A Communication Channel

where ‘Ro’ is the internal impedance of transmitter or

receiver; ‘Za’ the antenna impedence; ’Zn’ the impedance due to
mode n; ‘¡n’ the propagation constant, ‘'1n’ & ‘'2n’ the reflection
coefficients of termination loads load1 and load2.

9 CAS, PUTHUPPALLY
HVAC Duct As A Communication Channel

4. EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION

To validate the propagation model already described,

verification of the frequency response has to be done
experimentally. Measurements were performed on a straight
section of a circular HVAC duct 30.5 cm in diameter made of
galvanized steel.

The experimental setup is as shown below.

The antennas were thin copper monopole probes 3.5cm long

and 1mm in diameter, set on a straight line along the duct length.
A network analyzer (Agilent E8358A) with an internal impedance
of 50 ohms to measure the frequency response between the probes
in the 2.4 to 2.5GHz is used.

10 C A S , P U T H U P P A L L Y
HVAC Duct As A Communication Channel

The theoretical frequency response was computed for the

case of a duct with matched load on both the ends i.e.'= 0. The
frequency response shape (number of nulls, their depth and
position) depends on the excited mode distribution, the distance
between the antennas and the distance between the terminations
if any. Three most significant excited modes in this geometry are
TE61(R=16.5ohm), TE51(R=8.6ohm), TE41(R=3.5ohm). It is mostly
the interference between these three modes that determines the
specific locations of peaks and nulls. Adding more modes
increases the accuracy of the theoretical curve.

It can be seen that the experimental frequency response

curve (dashed line) and the theoretical frequency response curve
(solid line) are in good agreement. Small-scale variations observed
on the experimental curve are due partially to surface and shape
imperfections of the circular HVAC duct used for measurements.

11 C A S , P U T H U P P A L L Y
HVAC Duct As A Communication Channel

It can be seen that the experimental frequency response

curve (dashed line) and the theoretical frequency response curve
(solid line) are in good agreement. Small-scale variations observed
on the experimental curve are due partially to surface and shape
imperfections of the circular HVAC duct used for measurements.

5. DISCUSSION

A promising use of the HVAC communication channel is

providing high speed network access to the offices in a large
building. The HVAC channel is practical and economically viable
since it uses an already existing infrastructure. The capacity of
this channel depends on the coherence bandwidth. For frequency
response shown, the coherence bandwidth (50% correction) is
11MHz.The coherence bandwidth generally reduces with an
increase in transmitter receiver distance due to interference
between the multiple propagating modes and their reflections in
the duct system. The optimal transmission scheme under these
circumstances is multicarrier modulation. The maximum possible
data rate depends on specific coding, modulation, and
equalization schemes and can potentially far exceed the maximum
achievable data rate over phone lines and power lines, while
providing efficient RF distribution for wireless LANs.

12 C A S , P U T H U P P A L L Y
HVAC Duct As A Communication Channel

6. RESEARCH ISSUES

Although the preliminary experiments described in this

paper support the feasibility of the HVAC RF distribution system,
detailed research in a number of areas is needed to develop
systematic design procedures. In the following we briefly comment
on several of these.

Characterization of the RF channel

Unlike conventional waveguide circuits, in most cases

multiple waveguide modes will be above cutoff in ducts. This
multimode environment will lead to delay spread much like multi
path in open propagation environments. Other sources of delay
spread will be reflections from the bends, junctions and end
plates. In any event, delay spread and coherence band width of
such channel needs to be explored both theoretically and
experimentally.

Coupling into multimode ducts

The existence of multiple propagating modes is a

complication usually avoided in conventional waveguide circuits.
Design and design rules are needed for realizing efficient couplers
in the various sizes and shapes of ducts that are commonly used,
for each frequency bands of interest.

Mode conversion and cross polarization in multimode ducts

13 C A S , P U T H U P P A L L Y
HVAC Duct As A Communication Channel

In the presence of multiple propagating modes, it is likely

that the preferred strategy is to optimize coupling into the lowest-
order, or dominant, wave guide mode. However, since HVAC ducts
are not constructed with the same precision as the actual wave
guide circuits, mode conversion is likely at joints and other
imperfections. In addition to creating delay spread as discussed
above, this mode conversion could lead to signal loss owing to
excitation to orthogonally-polarized modes, as well.

Power division at branches and tees

To obtain satisfactory power distribution throughout a large

building, it will be necessary to be able to determine and control
the power division at branches and tees.This power division is also
complicated by the 4existance of multiple propagating modes. The
use of irises made using wire screens and grids should allow
independent control of power division and air flow.

Coupling around obstructions

Techniques are needed to couple around unavoidable

obstructions in the ducts. Design for both active and passive
coupling needed to be explored. The simplicity of passive probe
couplers on either side of the obstruction connected by low loss
coax is attractive, but bidirectional amplifiers may be needed in
some instances as well. Such technique s could also be used to
couple two otherwise unconnected duct systems.

14 C A S , P U T H U P P A L L Y
HVAC Duct As A Communication Channel

7. CONCLUSTION

This paper presents a new technique for high speed

communication inside buildings which seems to a viable
inexpensive alternative to other existing “last mile” technologies.
Because existing infrastructure is used and the ducts exhibit
losses that are low compared with direct propagation and leaky
coax, such a system has the potential to be lower in cost and more
efficient than either conventional method. An approximate,
closed-form, propagation model for the straight HVAC duct
channel in the form of a multimode wave guide is presented here.
Experimental measurements are performed to validate this model
and they are found to confirm the theoretical results. Efficient
modeling of RF propagation in a real HVAC system is a
challenging task. However this model should be perceived as a
first step toward predicting the radio coverage in ducts when
designing an HVAC wireless distribution system.

15 C A S , P U T H U P P A L L Y
HVAC Duct As A Communication Channel

8. REFERENCES

1. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION-

MAY 2003

2. H.HASHEMI, “THE INDOOR RADIO PROPAGATION CHANNEL”

Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 81

3. D.D.STANCIL, “HIGH SPEED INTERNET ACCESS VIA HVAC

DUCTS: A NEW APPROACH” in Proc.IEEE (GLOBECOM ’01)

4. D.D.STANCIL & C.P.DIEHL “WIRELESS SIGNAL

DISTRIBUTION IN A BUILDING HVAC SYSTEM” U.S.PATENT
5994984,NOV.30,99.

5. WWW.COMSOC.ORG

16 C A S , P U T H U P P A L L Y
HVAC Duct As A Communication Channel

ABSTRACT

The hottest technology in personal networking is wireless

networking, which allows users to share a high-speed internet
connection among multiple computers without being tethered to
wires or wall jacks. Traditional indoor wireless uses a network of
transmitters receiver and antennas for communication in the
interior of a building. Such a placements is more a matter of trial
& error and may many a times lead to ineffective communication.
An easy solution to this problem using the already existing
infrastructures is the HAVC duct. Heating ventilation and air
conditioning ducts in building are typically hollow metal pipes
which can be used as waveguides to carry signals and provide the
network access to offices. Knowledge about channel properties is
crucial to design such a communication system. At high
frequencies this duct behaves as a multimode wave guide with a
transmitting antenna coupling in and a receiving antenna
coupling out. This model represents a step towards the
development of a tool for planning a wireless distribution system
using building HVAC ducts.

17 C A S , P U T H U P P A L L Y
HVAC Duct As A Communication Channel

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I extend my sincere thanks to Prof. P.V.Abdul

Hameed, Head of the Department for providing me with the
guidance and facilities for the Seminar.

I express my sincere gratitude to Seminar coordinator

Mr. Berly C.J, Staff in charge, for their cooperation and
guidance for preparing and presenting this seminar.

I also extend my sincere thanks to all other faculty

members of Electronics and Communication Department and
my friends for their support and encouragement.

ANISH K KURIAN

18 C A S , P U T H U P P A L L Y
HVAC Duct As A Communication Channel

CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

2. THE HVAC SYSTEM

3. PROPAGATION MODEL

4. EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION

5. DISCUSSION

6. RESEARCH ISSUES

7. CONCLUSION

8. REFERENCES

19 C A S , P U T H U P P A L L Y