Path Loss Models for Two Small Airport Indoor Environments at 31 GHz

Path loss modeling plays a fundamental role in the design of fixed and mobile communication systems for a range of applications. Another term for path loss is channel attenuation, or reduction in signal power from transmitter to receiver. Work here was in support of a NASA project for advanced air traffic management (ATM) applications, specifically for improving the efficiency of airports. Measurements in the millimeter wave (mmWave) band were conducted at 31 GHz in indoor settings at a small municipal airport, the Jim Hamilton–L.B. Owens Airport, in Columbia, SC. Some measurements were also taken at 5 GHz for comparison. A combination of line of sight (LOS) and non-line of sight (NLOS) measurements were taken throughout two airport buildings. This includes inside the terminal building on both floors and inside a maintenance hangar. After samples were taken, path loss models were computed. As expected, 5 GHz signals show less attenuation than the 31 GHz signals, and both signals are influenced by nearby indoor objects. For both the terminal building and the maintenance hangar, path loss exponents were larger than the free space value of two, and standard deviations of the model fits slightly larger than those found for indoor office environments

60-GHz Millimeter-Wave Pathloss Measurements in Boise Airport

This paper presents a large scale fading channel model at the 60 GHz band. This model is based on the measurement campaign that our team conducted at Boise Airport and Boise State University. The close-in reference path loss and floating-intercept path loss models with both statistical and stochastic approaches are investigated for these environments. The measurements were collected at several different locations in line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) scenarios using high gain directional antenna. The path loss exponent and shadowing factor are determined based on the measurement results and compared with recent work at this frequency. Both the stochastic gradient descent algorithm and the statistical least-square technique are used to analyze the floating-intercept path loss model. The results show that the path loss exponents in the outdoor scenarios are higher than the indoor environment due the RF noise caused by the sunny and dry climate in the Boise area. Finally, a good agreement is found between the measurement results and the prior work results in presented in the literature