Modification of ITU-R P.1411 model to enhance the prediction accuracy in urban environments having variable heights of buildings is proposed in this paper by introducing two kinds of novel correction factors. One is considering the relationship of the highest building height and the transmitter (Tx) antenna height, and the other is considering the effect of receiver (Rx) position on crossroads. After introducing two correction factors, the prediction accuracy is shown to be improved.

The authors have performed a simple computer simulation for a topography that models change in propagation characteristics due to change in traffic volume. The results of this simulation revealed that path loss for a traffic volume of about 2000 vehicles every 30 minutes in a typical urban environment exhibits a Rayleigh distribution. This result agrees well with that of actual measurements demonstrating that even a simple simulation can be a useful tool in system design.

We investigate the relationship between microwave path-loss characteristics and line-of-sight (LOS) blocking in an urban environment with a low base-station antenna using LOS-blocking measurement equipment that we have developed. Changes in path loss, traffic conditions, and LOS-blocking caused by vehicles were measured simultaneously. It was found that path loss exhibits a Rayleigh distribution even in a LOS environment if the amount of traffic is such that LOS- blocking occurs for 80% of the time or more, but the other case path loss exhibits a Nakagami-Rice distribution. It was also found that ratio of coherent wave level to envelope level (c/r) depends heavily on rate of road traffic flow.

We have measured the non line-of-sight (NLOS) propagation characteristics of microwave frequencies in an urban environment with a base station antenna situated well above the surrounding buildings. When these characteristics are compared with the results of measurements made in the same environment with a low base station antenna height, it can be seen that with a low base station antenna height the attenuation coefficient varies greatly between line-of-sight (LOS) and NLOS environments, whereas with a high base station antenna height there is no variation of this sort. This is because the waves arriving NLOS environments from a high base station antenna do so primarily as a result of rooftop diffraction, and the path loss does not vary much over regions of equal distance between the base station and mobile station. We have confirmed that the frequency characteristics of relative loss in NLOS environments with a high antenna height follow a relationship of 22.8 log f, which is more or less the same as the characteristic for the UHF band. By modifying the frequency terms of the Sakagami model (used for UHF band) based on this trend to allow it to handle microwave frequencies, a close correspondence is seen between the results of actual measurements and the values predicted by the extended model.

Research on the propagation characteristics in the microwave band aiming at broadband mobile services is attracting much attention. Typical examples are the Unlicensed-NII (U-NII) band in the U.S. and HIPER-LAN band in Europe, i.e. 5.2 GHz. An efficient approach to revealing the propagation characteristics in the 5-GHz band is to utilize the existing propagation data accumulated by many researchers on the 2-GHz band. This paper presents the differences in path loss between the 5.2-GHz and 2.2-GHz bands in a residential area by using a 5.2-GHz/2.2-GHz dual band antenna. This antenna enables a direct comparison of 5.2 GHz and 2.2 GHz in terms of the propagation characteristics. We found that the difference in path loss between the 2.2-GHz and 5.2-GHz bands depends on only the base/mobile station antenna height. Based on this, we formulate the relationship between the heights of the base/mobile station antennas and the difference in path loss between the 2.2-GHz and 5.2-GHz bands.

Path loss and delay profile characteristics of the 3-GHz band are measured and compared for line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) paths in a suburban residential area. For the LOS path, the path loss increases as a function of distance squared; and hence the propagation is considered as the free space propagation. For the NLOS paths, it is found that corner losses occur ranging from 28 to 40 dB, and subsequent losses increase as a function of distance squared, but in case of there are open spaces, spaces between the rows of houses or roads intersecting LOS road, the increase was small. The delay spread for the LOS path increased in proportion to power of the distance; and the exponents ranging from 1.9 to 2.9 is found smaller than in urban areas. The delay spreads for the NLOS paths were several times greater than that for the LOS path, and the rate of delay spread increase with distance was found to be several orders of magnitude greater for NLOS paths than the LOS path.

A model that combines free-space loss (proportional to the square of distance d) and excess loss has been known to assess the microwave line-of-sight (LOS) path loss in street microcell environments. The excess loss represents the effects of shadowing obstacles. We measure the path loss at the 3.35, 8.45, and 15.75 GHz frequencies in an urban environment, and analyze the distance characteristics of the pass loss for mobile antenna heights of 2.7, 1.6, and 0.5 m. Results show that using a new model that bases on a dα formula instead of d2 in the conventional model produced a better fit to the measured data. They also show that lowering the mobile antenna to a height of 0. 5 m made it possible to virtually ignore the excess loss factor and, instead, use the dα formula to assess the path loss characteristics.

This paper discusses microwave path-loss characteristics as a function of mobile antenna height in an urban line-of-sight environment. Measurements were made in metropolitan Tokyo with high-density buildings, using base station antenna heights of 4 and 8 m. We describe the path-loss characteristics of vehicle-mounted mode (mobile antenna height is 2.7 m) and portable mode (mobile antenna heights are 1.6 and 0.5 m). Dependence of path loss on the distance between base and mobile stations was analyzed. This reveals that the break points shift to the near side in the vehicle-mounted mode. This phenomenon can be interpreted by the existence of an effective height h of the road. The typical value of h was found approximately 1.4 m. In the portable mode, on the other hand, break points were not observed. The mobile antenna heights (1.6 and 0.5 m) in this mode are close to or less than the average height (1-2 m) of pedestrians on the sidewalk; and the received waves at the mobile station are often disturbed by pedestrians. This explains the nonexistence of break points in portable mode. The average attenuation coefficients is observed 3.2 in this mode. The attenuation coefficients tend to be larger at lower base station antenna heights and narrower road widths.

For indoor wireless communication systems, transceivers need to be placed strategically to achieve optimum communication coverage area at the lowest cost. Unfortunately the coverage region for a transceiver depends heavily on the type of building and on the placement of walls within the building. This paper proposed a slab model to simulate the wave transmission in the wall and employed this simple path loss model to predict the coverage region. This method prevents the complicated computation of wave propagation, so it could predict the coverage area real time. Numerical results show predicted path loss date are well agreed with the measurement ones.

This paper presents the computer simulation results on frequency reuse efficiency and soft handoff statistics in the CDMA forward link according to path loss and cell loading. The soft handoff threshold effect on the handoff statistics is also evaluated. The frequency reuse efficiency is not a fixed value but varying as function of distance from the home cell, path loss slopes, and cell loading. The total soft handoff pecentile ranges from 0.0 to 64.9 according to cell loading, even if path loss slope is constant.