Experimental Determination of Penetration Loss into Multi-Storey Buildings at 900 and 1800MHz

This study presents building pentration loss into and around multi-storey buildings at 900 and 1800MHz based on experimental data obtained through drive test, using Test Mobile System (TEMS) investigation tools. The received signal level was measured inside and outside three buildings; the Senate building of the University of Lagos (B1), Mike Adenuga Towers (B2) and the Sapetro Towers (B3) located in Victoria Island, Lagos Nigeria. The building penetration loss (BPL) was derived from measurements, and the average and standard deviations of the BPL were computed. Results showed that the average BPL of 17.0dB and 13.8dB obtained from building B1 at 900 and 1800MHz, respectively, are comparatively higher than those of buildings B2 and B3. The standard deviation of the BPL shows an increase from 5.2dB at 900MHz to 7.8dB at 1800MHz for building B1, whereas it fell drastically from 8.65dB at 900MHz to 1.40dB at 1800MHz for B2, and a similar behaviour in B1 is seen for building B3 where it rises sharply from 1.55dB at 900MHz to 6.55dB at 1800MHz. This is in agreement with the general trend of increasing penetration loss with increase in frequency except for building B2 where an anomaly is observed. In order to examine the correlation between the measured and the predicted BPL, cubic regression was used to fit a third order polynomial to the measured BPL. Overrall, the fitted models could find useful applications in the design of novel and robust BPL models for modern multi-floored buildings

Multi-band Wideband Channel Measurements in Indoor and Outdoor Environments above 6 GHz for 5G Networks

This document presented the results of ultra-wideband of multi-bands measurements performed in three different indoor environments such as large office, factory like and small office and one outdoor street canyon scenario at the science site of Durham University, United Kingdom. The measurements conducted using a wideband chirp sounder developed at Durham University. An analytical review of the radio wave propagation mechanisms and formulas is presented in addition to the background of the channel characteristics parameters and statistics. The parameters reviewed are the received signal strength, path loss, the excess, average and RMS delay spread, in addition to the angular parameters such as the angle of arrival (AoA), angle of departure (AoD) and the RMS angular spread. A literature survey for about 80 paper of the previous work are studied and summarised for the measurements and simulation performed to estimate different parameters in both indoor and outdoor scenarios. Two different measurements set up were performed in three indoor environments and one outdoor scenario to measure mainly, the frequency dependency in various channel characteristics parameters. In the first set the measured parameters are the received signal strength, path loss, and the excess, average and the cumulative distribution function (CDF) and the RMS delay spread in three indoor environments. While in the second set the 3D angular parameters such as AoA, AoD and RMS angular spread in both Tx and Rx sides are studied in three indoor and one outdoor environment mentioned earlier. The measurements set up and procedures are presented for each set of measurement. The measurements were performed using a wideband channel sounder up to 6 GHz for both sets. Five different frequency bands (i.e.13.4 GHz, 26.8 GHz, 54.2 GHz, 62.6 GHz and 70 GHz) were used in the first set and three bands (i.e.13.4 GHz, 26.8 GHz, 62.6 GHz) for the second set. A steerable horn antenna at both side using 3D positioner in the second set of measurements, while an omnidirectional antenna was used at the receiver side in the first set. A summary and discussion the extracted results for each set of measurements are given. Conclusions about the achieved results and the recommended future work are provided

Enhancing wireless communication system performance through modified indoor environments

This thesis reports the methods, the deployment strategies and the resulting system performance improvement of in-building environmental modification. With the increasing use of mobile computing devices such as PDAs, laptops, and the expansion of wireless local area networks (WLANs), there is growing interest in increasing productivity and efficiency through enhancing received signal power. This thesis proposes the deployment of waveguides consisting of frequency selective surfaces (FSSs) in indoor wireless environments and investigates their effect on radio wave propagation. The received power of the obstructed (OBS) path is attenuated significantly as compared with that of the line of sight (LOS) path, thereby requiring an additional link budget margin as well as increased battery power drain. In this thesis, the use of an innovative model is also presented to selectively enhance radio propagation in indoor areas under OBS conditions by reflecting the channel radio signals into areas of interest in order to avoid significant propagation loss. An FSS is a surface which exhibits reflection and/or transmission properties as a function of frequency. An FSS with a pass band frequency response was applied to an ordinary or modified wall as a wallpaper to transform the wall into a frequency selective (FS) wall (FS-WALL) or frequency selective modified wall (FS-MWALL). Measurements have shown that the innovative model prototype can enhance 2.4GHz (IEEE 802.11b/g/n) transmissions in addition to the unmodified wall, whereas other radio services, such as cellular telephony at 1.8GHz, have other routes to penetrate or escape. The FSS performance has been examined intensely by both equivalent circuit modelling, simulation, and practical measurements. Factors that influence FSS performance such as the FSS element dimensions, element conductivities, dielectric substrates adjacent to the FSS, and signal incident angles, were investigated. By keeping the elements small and densely packed, a largely angle-insensitive FSS was developed as a promising prototype for FSS wallpaper. Accordingly, the resultant can be modelled by cascading the effects of the FSS wallpaper and the ordinary wall (FSWALL) or modified wall (FS-MWALL). Good agreement between the modelled, simulated, and the measured results was observed. Finally, a small-scale indoor environment has been constructed and measured in a half-wave chamber and free space measurements in order to practically verify this approach and through the usage of the deterministic ray tracing technique. An initial investigation showing that the use of an innovative model can increase capacity in MIMO systems. This can be explained by the presence of strong multipath components which give rise to a low correlated Rayleigh Channel. This research work has linked the fields of antenna design, communication systems, and building architecture

Indoor wireless communications and applications

Chapter 3 addresses challenges in radio link and system design in indoor scenarios. Given the fact that most human activities take place in indoor environments, the need for supporting ubiquitous indoor data connectivity and location/tracking service becomes even more important than in the previous decades. Specific technical challenges addressed in this section are(i), modelling complex indoor radio channels for effective antenna deployment, (ii), potential of millimeter-wave (mm-wave) radios for supporting higher data rates, and (iii), feasible indoor localisation and tracking techniques, which are summarised in three dedicated sections of this chapter