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Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) have attracted major attention in the last few years, due to their useful characteristics. An RIS is a nearly passive thin surface that can dynamically change the reradiated field and can therefore realize anomalous reflection, refraction, focalization, or other wave transformations for engineering the radio propagation environment or realizing novel surface-type antennas. Evaluating the performance and optimizing the deployment of RISs in wireless networks need physically consistent frameworks that account for the electromagnetic characteristics of dynamic metasurfaces. In this article, we introduce a general macroscopic model for evaluating the scattering from an RIS. The proposed method decomposes the wave reradiated from an RIS into multiple scattering contributions and is aimed at being embedded into ray-based models. Since state-of-the-art ray-based models can already efficiently simulate specular wave reflection, diffraction, and diffuse scattering but not anomalous reradiation, we enhance them with an approach based on Huygens’ principle and propose two possible implementations for it. Multiple reradiation modes can be modeled through the proposed approach using the power conservation principle. We validate the accuracy of the proposed model by benchmarking it against several case studies available in the literature, which are based on analytical models, full-wave simulations, and measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a two-way parabolic equation (2WPE) method based on the Pade(2,2) approximation form, which can model bidirectional electromagnetic wave (EW) propagation in a sea environment. Compared with other common approximation forms, the Pade(2,2) approximation has better convergence and accuracy. To accurately simulate the reflection and refraction effects of EW propagation near the sea surface, an improved fractal sea surface model is used to construct the geometric rough sea surface. The results of the Pade(2,2) approximation PE model are compared with those of the Miller–Brown model, and good agreement is observed. Numerous experiments prove that the 2WPE model is more accurate than the one-way parabolic equation model for predicting large-scale radio wave propagation in marine environments. Furthermore, we investigate the relationship between the backward-scattered EWs and the wind speed. The polynomial fitting method is adopted to process a large amount of sampled data for backward-scattered EWs with different wind speeds and frequencies. Through accurate judgment of the points of the polynomial fitting curve in a certain frequency range, the wind speed over the sea surface can be precisely determined. Thus, this article provides a novel theoretical method for marine remote sensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physics-based wireless propagation modeling and network protocol design have evolved over decades as orthogonal areas in communication systems research. This fragmented approach does not exploit available efficiencies when planning and deploying communication systems. In an attempt to integrate the two areas, we harness the understanding of the underlying physics of electromagnetic propagation to enhance the robustness of network protocol design by deriving physics-based network-level performance metrics. We use ray-tracing and parabolic equation models of 2.4 GHz propagation along tunnel and open-air sections of London Underground to evaluate the performance of a communications-based train control system. For comparison, we consider existing path loss models for tunnel environments and investigate whether they can provide sufficient accuracy to be used for network protocol design. We show that physics-based models lead to reliable predictions at the network level, similar in fidelity to using measured data and unlike using simplified channel models of the path loss exponent type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes two important improvements to a 3-D shooting-and-bouncing-polygon (SBP) ray tracer for radio propagation modeling. It introduces a way to trace diffracted–reflected (D–R) rays in the SBP framework and improves SBP accuracy when the D–R rays play an important role. It also introduces a better space partitioning scheme for the use with SBP and improves the SBP’s computation efficiency by more than $10\times $ in some applications. The numerical results are compared against published measurements and 3-D full-wave solutions. They show that the improved SBP ray tracer is a good multipurpose 3-D ray tracer which can be used to simulate urban street canyon (without double over-rooftop diffraction), indoor, and tunnel propagation environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the channel characteristics and cell coverage of the 28 GHz millimeter wave (mmWave) band outdoors are investigated by developing an efficient 3-D ray-tracing simulation. First, the accuracy of the simulation is verified by comparing its results with actual measurements. The path loss (PL) agrees well in both line-of-sight (LOS) and non-LOS (NLOS) regions, whereas the shadowing factor exhibits differences in the NLOS regions. Additional simulations are conducted for downtown Gangnam, a representative high-rise urban area in Seoul, South Korea. The simulated and measured coverages of 300 base stations operating in 900 MHz long-term evolution band are compared and analyzed. For the LOS regions, PL of 28 GHz is 30 dB higher because of the free-space PL gaps, whereas PL varied in the NLOS regions because of multipath fading. In addition, the outage probability is determined to evaluate the validity of mmWave cell deployment and coverage for high-rise urban microcell environments. The contributions of this paper include LOS and outage probability models with low root-mean-square errors, indicating improvement over previously developed models. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The radiowave propagation through hollow clay brick walls, which are common in southern European construction, is analyzed. The brick walls have thicknesses of 11, 15, and 20 cm, common in both interior and exterior walls, and are bound with a portland cement, water, and sand mixture. For each brick dimension, three prototypes were assembled, varying in the type of wall finish, i.e., exposed brick, smooth painted plaster, and rough painted plaster. A 10 cm concrete wall was also included for comparison purposes. Penetration loss metrics were evaluated in an anechoic chamber at frequencies ranging from 680 MHz to 10 GHz. Results demonstrate that the brick wall internal heterogeneity, as well as the type of finish, significantly influences the propagation phenomena and thus the frequency response of the walls, with relatively high penetration losses observed at some relevant commercial frequency bands. Finally, an alternative brick design, with reduced penetration losses, is also proposed and evaluated under simulation environment only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the Greene second-order parabolic equation (PE) solution to model radio propagation over irregular terrain. This solution is implemented by finite-difference and shift-map technique. The second-order finite-difference approach performs well for slopes up to about 15°, and discontinuous slope changes up to about 30°, which is better than can be achieved using the split-step/Fourier approach. The results prove that the Greene PE solution has greater propagation angles than does the Claerbout PE solution. Thus, the Greene second-order solution can certainly give better results for large angle propagation over complicated terrain boundaries. Besides, we treat the important problem of accuracy of the different approximations of the PE-based propagation models, and derive the general PE solutions with respect to the terrain slope for the different approximations. It is useful to have collected in one paper, the most important PE approximations for radio propagation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless communications or navigation is heavily influenced by electromagnetic wave propagation. The power-delay profile (PDP) characterizes the propagation channel by simple statistics. In this communication, we propose a channel model to simulate a given wideband averaged PDP obtained by measurements or theoretical considerations, enabling to test, develop, and design radio links. The channel model is based on a geometrical stochastic approach, allowing to simulate the space-variant channel impulse response for a moving receiver. Furthermore, the appearance and disappearance of multipath components are geometrically taken into account by an angular pattern. We verify the proposed methodology by simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the problem of nonreciprocity of propagation conditions in meteor-burst communication systems (MBCSs). In prior publications, this problem has not gained appropriate attention. The channel nonreciprocity may have a significant impact on such advanced communication systems as meteor synchronization systems with nanosecond precision and meteor key distribution systems intended to securely create two identical copies of a shared secret key at both channel sides. These systems are based on the processing of phase characteristics of meteor radio reflections that need to be accurately modeled. We propose a new MBCS simulation model that is based on a rigorous solution to the problem of oblique diffraction of radio waves on ionized meteor trails. Our diffraction approach allows more accurate simulation of the amplitude and phase characteristics of oppositely propagating signals that makes possible detailed investigation of the channel nonreciprocity effects. Using this approach, we present some preliminary simulation results on the channel nonreciprocity at meteor-burst propagation that prove satisfactory immunity of MBCS to ionospheric disturbances even while operating in severe conditions of polar regions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An experimental work aimed at assessing the outdoor-to-indoor propagation losses at 169 MHz is described in this paper. The building penetration loss, often considered as an additional constant value to be added to propagation losses in previous studies, is here on the contrary regarded as a random variable; its cumulative distribution is extracted from the measured data and is found to be approximately Gaussian. Moreover, in order to account for the critical installation conditions which may be experienced by indoor wireless devices in particular applications (e.g., wireless smart metering), an additional loss term, here indicated as installation loss, is introduced and its value is investigated in some reference cases. The achieved results are also embedded into a statistical procedure similar to those commonly adopted for wireless cellular networks planning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this work, we study the impact of antenna radiation patterns disturbed by urban furniture on propagation characteristics. The propagation in urban scenario is modeled with a ray-based deterministic tool. Different base station scenarios are discussed: antenna in proximity of a wall; antenna mounted on a lamp post; and antenna on a bus stop shelter. The statistical influence of the support is evaluated comparing the results in terms of pathloss with the ones obtained when the isolated antenna radiation patterns are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents the large scale parameters of wideband multipath channels based on extensive measurement campaigns in various indoor environments. The measurements were conducted with a wideband multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channel sounder having a bandwidth of 400 MHz at 11 GHz which is a challenging frequency for future mobile systems. In particular, polarization characteristics of path-loss, shadowing, cross-polarization power ratio (XPR), delay spread and coherence bandwidth are characterized. The measurement results show that the path-loss exponents range between 2.0 and 3.0 for none-line-of-sight (NLoS), 0.36 and 1.5 for LoS, respectively. Vertically and horizontally polarized transmissions have almost same path-gain, but in some corridor-room NLoS environments, the path-loss for HH is significantly large. In most cases, the RMS delay spreads are less than 20 and 50 ns for NLoS and LoS, respectively, and the average coherence bandwidth is less than 30 MHz. The Rician K-factors range between 2 and 3 dB for cross-polarization, and in large Hall environments, those for co-polarization are greater than 6.0 dB with 10% probability. Finally, some dominant propagation mechanism and site-specific behaviors are illustrated using the double-directional measurement results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution presents an analytical expression to predict the spatial correlation of the rain attenuation A impairing two Earth-space radio links in a site diversity configuration (\rhoA) as a function of the spatial correlation of the rain precipitation affecting the area (\rhoR), of the distance between the two stations d and of the electrical and geometrical characteristics of the links. Well-established properties of the rain field (i.e., quasi-ergodicity and spatial stationarity) are exploited in the derivation of the proposed analytical expression, whose accuracy is evaluated by means of an extensive set of rain field data collected by the NIMROD weather radar network in the UK. Results indicate a satisfactory prediction performance in the 10–50 GHz frequency range, with negligible dependence on the site separation distance d and on the electrical and geometrical characteristics of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design of efficient positioning algorithms in navigation satellite systems, like GNSS, operating in land mobile environments demands for detailed models of the radio channel. On the one hand, the models need to accurately describe scattering and shadowing/obstruction caused by vegetation. On the other hand, they have to incorporate the steady change in the propagation constellation due to the receiver displacement. In this paper we propose a model of the non-stationary radio channel in a scenario where a mobile receiver drives past a scattering volume, such as a ball or a cuboid, while the transmitter is elevated, like in satellite positioning applications. Such a volume may represent the canopy of a single tree, the canopies of trees in a grove, or a small forest. Scattering by the volume is characterized by means of multiple point-source scatterers that are assumed to form a marked spatial point process. The system functions of the radio channel are given. An integral form of the time-frequency correlation function of the component in the system functions contributed by the scattering volume is obtained as a direct consequence of Campbell's Theorem. Furthermore, a closed-form approximation of this integral form is derived for time lags corresponding to displacements along the receiver trajectory for which the plane wave assumption holds. The approximation takes into account the steady change in the propagation constellation. The proposed model is validated by means of Monte Carlo simulations and by comparing its prediction capabilities with experimental data in a scenario where a mobile receiver drives past a roadside tree. A good agreement is observed, despite the simplicity of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The effects of carrier frequency, antenna height and season on a broadband wireless access (BWA) system deployed in a rural area at 825 MHz and 3535 MHz are studied in this paper. With the aid of digital terrain information, both large scale and small scale fading effects present in the rural channel are discussed. Our investigation found that the frequency dependence of a wireless channel varies strongly with the environment. Also, the effects of the antenna height in rural areas of irregular terrains vary with the available clearance above the clutters in the regions. This paper uses extensive measurement campaigns to quantify these effects in winter and spring using a BWA system (IEEE 802.16e) deployed in Hetzwege/Abbendorf, Germany. In the study of small scale fading, the variations of the fading distributions of the wireless channel due to season changes are derived and the corresponding multipath propagations are discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes the deployment of frequency selective surfaces (FSS) in indoor wireless environments and investigates their effect on radio wave propagation. FSS can be deployed to selectively confine radio propagation in indoor areas, by artificially increasing the radio transmission loss naturally caused by building walls. FSS can also be used to channel radio signals into other areas of interest. Simulations and measurements have been carried out in order to verify the frequency selectivity of the FSS. Practical considerations regarding the deployment of FSS on building walls and the separation distance between the FSS and the supporting wall have been also investigated. Finally, a controlled, small-scale indoor environment has been constructed and measured in an anechoic chamber in order to practically verify this approach through the usage of ray tracing techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the modeling of foliage attenuation for a broadband wireless access system deployed over mixed terrains in rural areas at 3.5 GHz. The foliage is composed of leaves and leafstalks, and are the dominant scatterers along the transmission paths. The foliage attenuation is determined using the Torrico-Lang model combined with digital topography information. In this model, leaves are modeled as thin lossy circular dielectric discs whereas leafstalks (petioles) are modeled as thin lossy dielectric cylinders. Three measurement campaigns were performed using the mobile WiMAX system (IEEE 802.16 e) deployed in Hetzwege/Abbendorf during winter, spring and mid-summer. Using the winter data as a baseline, the foliage loss due to different degrees of foliation in spring and in winter is studied. The derived foliage loss is then verified and compared with an empirical exponential decay model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The time domain (TD) solution for the multiple diffraction of spherical waves after an arbitrary number of obstacles with different shapes such as knife-edges and wedges, is presented. The proposed TD solution is based on the representation of the inverse Laplace transform of the corresponding frequency domain solution in closed form, as it is given by a hybrid of the uniform theory of diffraction (UTD)-physic optics (PO) solution. The proposed formulation, validated with the results from technical literature, does not need to incorporate the TD version of the higher-order diffraction coefficients due to a recursive relation, thus significantly reducing both the mathematical complexity and computation time of the formulation when compared with other TD solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An experimental investigation to characterize the transient and spectral behavior of the ultrawideband (UWB) on-body radio propagation channel for body-centric wireless communications is presented. The measurements were performed considering over thirty on-body links in the front of human body in the anechoic chamber, and in indoor environment. Two different pairs of planar antennas have been used, namely, CPW-fed planar inverted cone antennas (PICA), and miniaturized CPW-fed tapered slot antennas (TSA). A path loss model is extracted from measured data, and a statistical study is performed on the time delay parameters. The goodness of different statistical models in fitting the root mean square (RMS) delay has been evaluated. Results demonstrate that the TSA, due to its more directive radiation behavior is less affected from the reflections from body parts and surrounding environment. The antenna shows significant size reduction and improved time delay behavior, and hence is an ideal candidate for UWB body area networks (BAN). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a systematic measurement campaign of diversity reception techniques for use in multiple-antenna wearable systems operating at 868 MHz. The experiments were performed using six time-synchronized bodyworn receivers and considered mobile off-body communications in an anechoic chamber, open office area and a hallway. The cross-correlation coefficient between the signal fading measured by bodyworn receivers was dependent upon the local environment and typically below 0.7. All received signal envelopes were combined in post-processing to study the potential benefits of implementing receiver diversity based upon selection combination, equal-gain and maximal-ratio combining. It is shown that, in an open office area, the 5.7 dB diversity gain obtained using a dual-branch bodyworn maximal-ratio diversity system may be further improved to 11.1 dB if a six-branch system was used. Firstand second-order theoretical equations for diversity reception techniques operating in Nakagami fading conditions were used to model the postdetection combined envelopes. Maximum likelihood estimates of the Nakagami-m parameter suggest that the fading conditions encountered in this study were generally less severe than Rayleigh. The paper also describes an algorithm that may be used to simulate the measured output of an M-branch diversity combiner operating in independent and identically-distributed Nakagami fading environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wideband directional measurement campaign was managed inside an arched highway tunnel to analyze the radio propagation channel inside such tunnel for future cellular systems in terms of coverage, delay spread and dominant scatterers. Measurements were performed in 3 rounds with different transmitter positions. Using a wideband channel sounder equipped with a cylindrical dual polarized array at the receiver, the spatio-temporal characteristics of the received propagation paths could be estimated by means of a super-resolution estimation algorithm. The extracted paths using this super-resolution algorithm constitute 88% of the total received power. It was also observed that the line-of-sight component (53%) plus single-bounce scattering (26%) comprise up to 79% of the total received power. In other words, more than 90% (i.e. 79% in 88%) of the extracted paths consists of the line-of-sight component and single-bounce scatterings. The strong contribution from single-bounce scattering paths causes the path gain exponent along the tunnel to be larger than -2 which is the value for free space. This validates that there is wave guiding effect in the tunnel and coverage is extended relative to open space. The rms delay spreads are generally less than 20 ns and increase when influenced by scattering objects such as jetfans. The dominant scatterers are identified and classified into 6 classes based on the structure of the tunnel and existing objects such as ground, wall, light-frame, ceiling, jetfan and cleaner-parking. It was observed that scattering from ground was dominant among all classified scatterers in all scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A deterministic model for propagation in outdoor urban environments based on the Fresnel-Kirchhoff integral is presented. Both two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) formulations considering reflection and diffraction are given. The theoretical predictions are compared with 2-D and 3-D measurements and good agreement is achieved. The 3-D experiments, conducted in an anechoic chamber with scaled models representing buildings, are described in detail and provide a benchmark for comparisons with other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]