Indoor wide band radio wave propagation measurements and models at 1.3 ghz and 4.0 ghz

Abstract

An extensive radio wave propagation measurement campaign was conducted at 1.3 GHz and 4.0 GHz inside four buildings, including a sports arena, a modern closed-plan office building, and two dissimilar, open-plan factories. Measurements were recorded at 57 locations using base station antenna heights of 1.7 meters and 4.0 meters. Results were obtained for mean and maximum excess delay, rms delay spread, time delay jitter, differential delay jitter, and path loss through analyses of impulse response estimates, which were obtained via repetitive 5 ns probing pulses. The effects of frequency, antenna height, topography (line-of-sight or obstructed direct path), and building environment on delay spread and path loss are quantified. Results indicate that, on average, the frequencies and antenna heights used in this study have minimal impact on rms delay spread and path loss. However, topography and building environment significantly affect these parameters. RMS delay spread values as high as 230 ns were observed in open plan factories. Computed path loss power law exponents are 1.84 and 2.35 for line-of-sight and obstructed topographies, respectively. A second campaign was conducted to determine the effects of antenna directivity and polarization on propagation parameters. On average, line-of-sight indoor channels offer 8 dB of cross-polarization discrimination, whereas obstructed environments offer less than 3 dB. Directional antennas provide a significant reduction in rms delay spread over omni-directional antennas. In line-of-sight environments, circular polarization provides an additional delay spread reduction.