A Simple Approach to a Statistical Path Loss Model for Indoor Communications ‘Constamino Perz-Vega and Joe Luis Garcia Garcia. Communications Engineering Deparent ‘Univesity ef Cantabria ‘Av eos Cason wn 39005 Santander, Spain Absteact Patvloss in indoor environments is investigated at 1.8 GHs, using a power-law model where the exponcat ofthe distance is the descriptive random variable. The model is exremely simple and caily applicable in practice by working engicers who need only make afew measurements to get a knowiedge of path loss sufficient for many applicasons. The mode fs well experimental data in various environments under isan atcnuation (or gin) factor, dependent on propagation mechanisms which, in general, are not posible to quantify individually, and include diveive gains of antzanas, reflection, diffaction, et. The bracket notation is used to stress the ‘random nature ofthe variable, From (1) ican be seen that “sris the excess attenuation refered to fee space conditions. Using dB form, the path loss can now be writen Lg = 10(n)log(d) + K o where Kis the free space atenuation at 1m. The value of ean be obtained decly as: Paw ~(h)~ K y= Fray) K 2 10log(d) wher, in actual conditions, Pao is known and the samples of the recived power,

are obtxinod through measurements inthe particular envionment. Te made! given by equation (3) i formally equal 1 ‘ther models previously reported inthe titerature(11-(3], the main difference is that here, the exponeat of distance is trated a¢ a random variable and no further variables are introduced, nor assumptions made bout its statistical behavior 3B a Various experiment were made in different buildings ofthe University of Cantabria, Spain. One of them, of| simple geometry with open arcas and suaight aisles. The ther, of complex gcometry, with narrow aisles ceeasionaly curved, and with mumerous obstructions by walls, columns and fumiure. Measaremcat ‘environments were chosen for well differentiated propagation conditions: line-of-sight (LOS), nom line of Sight (NLOS), mainly shadowing, and total obstruction between transmitter and reeciver (OBS). ‘Additionally the effet of depolarization was also measured. All experiments wore mado with a 10 dBm vamodulated carir at 1.8 GHz using an RF signal generator as wansmiter and a spectrum analyacr as reociver at distances ranging between | and 32m. Transmiting and receiving antennas were 2/6 vertical ‘monopoles at 2 m and 1S m height respectively. A2/2 rable diple was also used for reczption, thus the ‘apolar and erossplar powers of the recived signal could be easly measured atthe same sampling pints The measurement procedure was mainly manval, and devised in order to make it easily applicable ia practice, bearing in mind that it is extent that ‘signal measurements should be made in a manner that ‘ermits the basic parameters o be exacted with an appropriate level of accuracy [4 Ths, the sampling interval, i. the distance betwoen individual samples, distance betwee local areas, an minim namber of samples per local area, must be propery defined. An empirical appreach was fellowed with this purpose. Local areas were defined as squats of maximum area of 1m, wit a minimum separation between them of 20h and several sts of measurements were taken ove tho same local areas, with smpling intervals of 1, 25 and 5 em. Differences inthe mean recived power were within #1.5 4B for | and 25 em intervals, and in the order of 35 dB for 2.5 and S em intervals. A maximum sampling intorval of 2.5 em was considered adequate for practical purposes. In order to establish the minimum number of samples required per local ara, a similar approsch was followed. Various sets of measurements were made over the same local areas in LOS and NLOS conditions, taking frst 500 samples, then 100 and finally several sets of SO samples In all ase, the errors i the mean ‘values ofthe exponent were less than 5%, and of 75% inthe standard deviations. AS a consoquence, 2 rinimum value of 50 samples pe local area wat considered sufficient. Such gure i i good sgreemeat ‘with the extern suggested by other authors (SJ, [6], and with those drawn theoecally {7}. The distance ‘between samples, as well asthe number of samples per local ara, results in a very simple measurement procedure to be used by practicing engineers who need to make only few measurements inorder Yo extract ‘he basic parameters 10 ge good idea of path loss behuvior, and who do not need to have a doeper ‘knowiedge of channel dynamics. Such knowledge is sufficiont in many practical applications where the main onobjective isto dimension the power ofa communications sytem and provides reliable information about the {fading margins roqird ina practical design LOS measurements wore performed in coriors and open area, at distances between I and 32 m. NLOS, ‘between perpendicular corridors, corridors into open areas and open areas partially obstructed by clutter at distances upto 25 m and, finally OBS measurements were made with the transmitr inside a closed room snd the rocsvor in separated rooms and corridors at distances up to 18 m ftom the obstructing wall Measurements with trnsmiter and reesiver in difeeat oors were also performed. In all cass, transmission was vertically polarized, and the transmitter kept fixed foreach sot of measurements while ‘moving the rccver, Finally, polarization measurements were made taking, at each measurement point, 180 ‘amples of the received power, one with the reciving antzana vertical and thes, rotating it to an horizontal position. Measurements were made in 73 local areas in dhe various environments and forthe propagation ‘conditions already mentonad. Stati ‘Tie statistical behavior of ether roecived power, envelope amplitude, or pa loss can always be described by unimodal and asymmetrical probability density functions (pd), and itis assumed thatthe statistics ofthe exponent of distance should behave in the same way, However, since the relationship between and the power i not linear, the function that best describes wil not, necessarily be the same as tht ofthe power, End it cannot be assumed @ prior that will follow dstibutions such as Rayleigh, Rice or log-normal Fting of to these functions was investigated with acceptable result, however, lage deviations were observed in a signifcant number af eases, particulary at the tis. Such deviations would lead t0 very pessimistic predictions of fade marpns, unless some corrections are introduced. Several empiscal ‘corrections were attampted to obtain beter tings to actual data, however, no general rule was found for ‘correction that worked in ll cases, Therefore, fing to other distributions was investigated, in partieular ‘gamma [8], Weibull 9] and Nakagami (10), with remarkably beuer results. In most cases, difeences in fing to these functions were oly marginal, with the gamma distribution producing smaller errors and higher correlation coefficients between the theoretical function and the distribution ofthe sample. It mist be said thatthe partcular distribution functions used to fit the experimental data were used only as ‘mathematical tots capable of desenbin the exponent behavior, and no attempt was mads to esablish Telatinship between their parameters and the physical process. Fitng of data to probability density function used the mean and standard deviation ofthe samples as input variables; the resulting cumulative Aistibutions (cd) being cay obtained from them, Goodness of fit was measured in trms ofthe rms error in pas benween the theoretical function and experimental data, e's, and correlation coeficiems in each ‘case. Fiting errors with gamma distribution were in the order of 0.025 to 0.1 for p's, and between 0.01, and 0.068 for eis, whereas corlation coefficients were between 0.75 and 0.99 for pas and between (0.975 and 0.9995 for ed, Similar gues were obsrved with Weibull and Nakagami distributions. In all cases investigated, two distinct regions of exponent behavior ean be identified. At distances up to about 203 from the transmiter in LOS and OBS conditions, and from the seatering edge in NLOS, means land standard deviations are higher and decay, approximately, in exponential form t early constant vals, ‘with small factustions, at distances greater than, approximately, 202. Typical values for LOS condition in ‘corridors are shown ia Table 1 Tablet ‘nthe near region (d< 202), values of» as high as 8.4 and as low as 0.2 were observed in local areas at 2 1m distance, with standard deviations about thee times at large as those observed inthe distant region (d > 20%), where maximum and minimum values of m were 41 and 1.2 respectively, The ts near region and ‘distant region sed before are arbitrary, snd not necessarily related withthe concepts of nea (induction) field and far (Fraunhofer field and must not be confused with them. No attempt is made here to relate the ‘observed multipath effects with euch concepts, Itcan be sad thar the measurements made at distances 19.4 ‘smaller than 202 from the tansmiting antenna do not reflet actual propagation conditions in large area, and from a practical point of view, if values ofthe exponcat in this veaion are considered, a pessimistic ‘coverage prediction will esult However, ateation must be paid to NLOS (shadowing) cases where, inthe eit of difracting comers, the rocevad power fellows a sila bohavior than that in the neighborhood ofthe transmitting antenna, In practical situations these conditions mus be propery evaluated for aricular ceases. In Table Il, the statistical parameters of the exponent are presented for the various experimental eases. Such values correspond to samples in the att region defined before. ‘Table ‘Mean values of he exponent ae in reasonable agreement with those reported by others (11), (12), Standard deviations are envronmentsensible, being higher where the amount of fursiture, columns and objects is larger. This effet has direct consoqunces on the fade marpin as canbe soon in fgure I, where the gamma ‘umultive distribution fortwo LOS east in corridos indifferent buildings is shown. The mean vals of the exponent are almost equal (1.96 and 1.97) however the standard deviation i larger in buiing 1. From the figure it sem clear that the second building offers better LOS propagation conditions. For the cases shown in figure 1, 99% of values of the exponent willbe blow 3.78 for building 1, and below 2.6 for building 2 and, fora distance of, say, 100 m, the exces path loee with reepectto fee space conditions wil be 22.8 dB for the ist building and 7.8 dB for the second. The differences in the expected path losses in ‘worst conditions (99% af vals ofthe exponent in this example), are de only tothe different standard deviations, since mean values are approximately equal Figure 1 Siniar pts can be produced for other environments and propagation conditions. As mentioned before, the summa distribution function fis very well in general, o experimental data, and equation (4) ean be easily used to describe the statistical behavior. Since the mean valve ofthe exponent is assumed constant in the range of distances of interest, there is no need to specially desrbe the large aca behavior with this model Furthermore, all es of samples unde the same propagation conditions in given environment can be grouped in a larger set whose parameters adequately desenbe the path loss bchavor. A remark must be made for the case of total obstruction (OBS) between antennas: a total obstacle introduces a fixed attenuation which, im general ¢ ot known and causes thatthe exponent afer the obstacle be dstnce- dependent. Such dependence has not been found significant inthe range of distances of the experiments, except at short distances ffom the obstacle. However, inthis situation, the fllowing expression ean be usc forthe exponent: Tolog@ nd)=! o were ms he mean alu of he exponent ar the asta ys value nthe region before the obetate,Loas isthe mean ofthe atemation nodvd ty he cbse, and she distance from the obstacle othe measure met Put Zo ea be easly ebtaned with the above expeson, hough measurements the pons Before and afer The obec, Polarization effects [13]. In the indoor propagation environment, clactomagnetic waves sufer ‘depolarization as a consequence of multiple seaeing. The amount of depolarization was measured, a3 ‘described in Sction 3, ia wost ofthe experiments performed in building 2 andthe statistical bukavior of the exponent fr polar and eosspolar components analyzed. The resus are esumod in Table 3 ia tems ‘ofthe exponent values, st wall as path loss difference beween copelar and cresspolar components. -620-‘Values in Table 3 suggest thatthe amount of depolarization depends strongly on clutter inthe enviroament, being greater when LOS and OBS conditions prevail. Crossplar components ean also be characterized ‘with the gamma distribution function, and iti intresting to notice that, in the experiments performed, observed standard deviations are very similar for copolar and crospolar components. In the worst conditions observed, the received crosspolar component was higher than the coplar in about 35% of the samples, which strongly suggests the convenience of polarization diversity in such in such circumstances, ‘6 Conclusions ‘A very simple model in which the exponent of distance it considered a random variable has boon investigate to statistically characterize path loss at 1.8 GH in indoor exvionments. Such model ean be used by working engineers who, through afew measurements, can obtain the basic information nezded to ‘estimate the power budget of communications systems ina particular environment, and who do mot rquie 3 oeper knowledge ofchansel dynamics. The expancnt canbe described with a gamma distribution Function ‘through which, the necessary information abou fading canbe extracted. Since the behavior af the exponent is fhsly constant in large areas, only one distribution function is necessary to characterize it. Polarization fects were also measured and strong depolarization was observed in cases of shadowing (NLOS), and toal obstruction in the signal pth, suggesting the convenience of polarization diversity in such cases References 1, Motley AJ. & Keonan, .MP. “Personal communication radio coverage i buildings at 900 MHz and 1700 Mi". Electron Lt. Vol 24, N° 12, pp. 763-764, June 1988 2. Radiowave propagation made! document. COST231 TD(93)/13. Barcelona, January 19-22, 1993, 5. Rappapon, T'S. - Wireless Communications. Principles and Practice, EEE Press - Prentice Hall PTR, 1986, 4, °Measurements and modeling recommendations” IEEE Trans. on Vehic. Techn. Vol. VI-37, N° 1, pp. 45-6, Feb. 1988, Special Issue on Mobile Communications. 5. Les, W.C. “Estimate of local average power of a mobile radio signal”. IEEE Trans. on Vehic. Techn. Vol. VT-34, NI, pp, 22-27, Feb, 1985, 6 Parsons, 1D. The Mobile Radio Propagation Channel. Pestech Press. London, 1992. 7. Kendall, M. & Stuart, A. The Advanced Theory of Stastes, Vol 1. Distribution Theory 4th. Bd Charles Grin & Co. Lid. 1977 CCR Report 1007-1 9. Ireson, W.G. Reliabihty Handbook. McGraw Hill Book Co. New York, 196. 1ONakagami, M. “The meitrbutionA general formula of intensity distribution of rapid fading” Pergamon Press. Symposium Publications Division. London, 1960, 11 Alexander, SE, “Characterising buildings for propagation at 900 MH". Electron. Let. Vol. 19, N* 20, . B60. Sept 1983, 12.Bach Andersen J, Rappapor,T. & Yoshida, S. “Propagation measurements and model for wireless ‘communications channels” IEEE Corwn, Mag. Jan 1995, pp. 42-49, 13 Perez-Vega C. and Garia Garcia JL. “Polarisation behaviour inthe indoor propagation chan!” Xetron. Lett. Vol 33, N° 10, pp. 898-899, May 1997, 1‘Table 1, Typical values ofthe exponent (7) ad its standard deviation (oy) for LOS conditions in corridors. i even aang ceana ear ceca Io TS 2 a oe ___126 ost 0470s 038 “Table 2, Statistical parameters ofthe exponent in various environments, Being 1 Bailing? Case re ee ros Conn 196 [oss [iste Open reas 20s [0333 [207 | on ISLOS. (Condon Saar Cordero ope ae ze ons [Open ara with prions 375 [ oes [ops [One wall 7H | os Taree wall aas_[ ome Five walle r= 393 [ost Adjacent fons ‘2s_| 0306 ‘able Sasi parameters of exponen and path ss freee for copoar and cespoar components Faviroomict Weiaraation | tom | | Inv | oe TH com _| cay DOS - Open eas anaes vv | aa7 | 055 Smal ese va__| 37 | 065 | 56 | 10 FNLOS - Open rca Heng sumer vev | 38 | 028 and meal objects va__| 43 | or | sos | sas INLOS - Aisles nd open ax Md] —Viv—[~26 | 04s 7 OBS - Tack Wick wale vv] 43s] 033 vi__| sos | 04s | 66 | 60. [OBS = Concciewall and was Vvav—]433- 026 wit bey ute vu__| sos | 023 | 1a | 37Figure 1. Gamma cumulative distributions for LOS conditions in coridors in two different buildings, eatin} Bulding 2 1 18 2 28 8 36 4 Exponent of distance, n