A comparative study for radioelectric coverage
models applied to mobile communicaton systems
performance analysis
Alysson Lourenço Reis
Regional Management of Minas Gerais
Brazilian National Telecommunication Agency, Anatel
Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering
Federal University of Minas Gerais, UFMG
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
alysson@anatel.gov.br
Diego Camilo Tami Lopez
Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering
Federal University of Minas Gerais, UFMG
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
diegotami@ufmg.br
Abstract— The highlight of this paper is to find the best
performance provided by a certain propagation model
indicated by the correlational analysis between predicted data
and field measurements. An analysis of the radio coverage for
mobile networks was made, based on base station parameters
provided by mobile system operator in the system of the
Brazilian National Telecommunication Agency (Anatel). Due to
the availability of high resolution data for the representation of
the environment, it was possible to perform a comparative
analysis of different prediction models associated to diffraction
methods. Still was performed a massive measurement
campaign followed by data treatment, for support an accurate
comparative analysis of radio propagation effects.
Keywords—propagation model, diffraction method, radio
coverage, mobile communication
I. INTRODUCTION
The focus of this work is the correlation between
predicted results and measures in order to indicate the best
performance found by a certain model. A cellular system
measurement campaign performed during November to
December 2014 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The Brazilian
National Telecommunication Agency (Anatel) headed the
trial in order to better characterize the city mobile
communication system. During the campaign, the signal
coverage area of several base stations were measured. Such
study is important to contribute to the government regulatory
policy [1]. In [2] simulations using several radio propagation
models were performed for an urban area in Bucharest.
Considering the differences obtained between the simulated
and measured data, it was concluded that in case of the 2G
network the ITU-R P. 525/526 model was offering the best
performances and the ITU-R P. 525 model was the most
accurate one in case of the Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System (UMTS) standard.
In this work, we simulate the coverage using several
radio propagation models to estimate the coverage area of a
site placed at the Federal University of Minas Gerais
(UFMG). The project used terrain elevation data and urban
buildings (building heights) in high resolution database (2m)
Brazilian National Telecommunication Agency (Anatel).
‹,(((
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Cássio Gonçalves do Rego
Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering
Federal University of Minas Gerais, UFMG
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
cassio@cpdee.ufmg.br
Marcelo Lúcio Nunes
Regional Management of Minas Gerais
Brazilian National Telecommunication Agency, Anatel
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
mlnunes@anatel.gov.br
provided by Anatel.
The ICS Telecom software is a proprietary system used
for network planning with radiofrequency use, as well as
radio spectrum management. Its ability to treat diverse
descriptive bases of the combined form, indoor or outdoor,
amplifies its versatility, but requires a reasonable knowledge
of the effects of the environment on the propagation of
electromagnetic waves, making its use complex. The radio
planning tool uses five cartographic layers which are
necessary to compute all the propagation parameters. These
are: digital elevation models, map images, color palette,
clutter layer, building layer and vector layer. In this paper
was used a maps with the resolution of 2m, including
building height information. In the region, a 3G High-Speed
Downlink Packet Access (HSPDA) site provided the radio
coverage.
In the terms of mobile radio propagation prediction, the
types of model available broadly fall into two categories.
These are point-to-area (also referred to as site-general) and
point-to-point (also referred to as site-specific) models. The
decision of whether to use a point-to-point or point-to-area
model will depend on a number of factors kind frequency
range, link length, radio environment, antenna height, the
application and available data [3].
This paper is structured as follows. In Section II e Section
III a theoretical review of the point-to-area models and point-
to-point models that were used to calculate the radio
coverage is being made. In Section IV, the procedure of the
collected data of the radio mobile network is described. The
Section V show an analysis of the obtained results is
performed, highlighting the correlation between the
simulated and the measured signal levels. Section VI
concludes the paper.
II. POINT- TO-AREA MODELS
A. Okumura’s Model
This model is applicable over distances of 1-100 km and
frequency ranges of 150-1500 MHz. Okumura used
extensive measurements of base station-to-mobile signal
attenuation throughout Tokyo to develop a set to curves
giving median attenuation relative to free space to signal
propagation in irregular terrain [4],[5].
B. Hata Model
The Hata Model [6] is an empirical formulation of the
graphical path loss data provided by Okumura and is valid
over roughly the same range of frequencies, 150-1500 MHz.
C. The Okumura/Hata-Davidson model
The Okumura-Hata-Davidson [7] model was developed
to take also into account the Davidson’s model. An extension
to provide corrections for long links (up to 300 km) and high
transmitters (up to 2500 m). It was proposed in
Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)
recommendation TSB-88-B.
D. ITU-R P. 1812 Model
This Recommendation describes a propagation
prediction method suitable for terrestrial point-to-area
services in the frequency range 30 MHz to 3 GHz. It
predicts signal levels at the median of the multipath
distribution exceeded for a given percentage of time, p%, in
the range 1% ≤ p ≤ 50% and a given percentage of
locations, pL, in the range 1% ≤ pL ≤ 99%. The method
provides detailed analysis based on the terrain profile. It is
suitable for predictions for radiocommunication systems
utilizing terrestrial circuits having path lengths from 0.25
km up to about 3000 km distance, with both terminals
within approximately 3 km height above ground [8].
link. The model is rather coarse and ignores other
obstructions that may be present, so it is mostly important
from a historical perspective rather than being a model for
modern radio network planning [3],[10],[12].
C. Delta-Bullington Method
Delta-Bullington method has three parts as shown below
[13],[14]:
1. Actual terrain profile and antenna heights above
sea level are used to calculate the Bullington
diffraction loss, Lb(dB).
2. A smooth surface profile consists of the
modified antenna heights at the transmitter and
receiver sites, and setting all other profile point
hi to zero. Bullington method is again applied
for this smooth surface terrain profile to
calculate the diffraction loss, Lbs(dB). So, the
Bullington part of Delta-Bullington method is
used twice.
3. The modified antenna heights of the smooth
surface at the transmitter and receiver sites,
electrical characteristics of the surface of the
Earth, and equivalent Earth’s radius are input to
the spherical-Earth diffraction model. The
predicted spherical-Earth diffraction loss is
Lsph(dB).
The overall diffraction loss is then given by:
III. POINT-TO-POINT MODELS
A. Deygout Method
The Deygout model introduced the concept of a main
diffraction edge, which is found when the value of v is
largest. If a diffraction edge is found, the loss due to this is
added to that of the main diffraction edge. This is done up to
twice, if there is a diffraction object on both the transmitter
to main diffraction object path and the main diffraction
object to receiver path [3],[9],[10].
In 1991, Deygout produced a refined method to account
for more complex paths [3]. In this case, the model still
searches for the main diffraction edge, but then recursively
searches for additional diffraction paths until all diffraction
objects have been discovered. In 1994, Deygout presented a
generalized improvement of this method using a potentially
infinite number of edges [11]. The search for the edges is
sequential: if the primary obstacle exists, one searches for
two secondary obstacles (one between transmitter and the
obstacle and the other between the obstacle and receptor).
Then, this search is performed again on each side of the
secondary obstacles possibly looking for ternary obstacles.
This process is reiterated recursively until new obstacle is
found. Then, the global diffraction loss is . It
typically shows the best correlation with measured results of
all the diffraction models described [3],[10],[11].
B. Bullington Method
The Bullington model is the simplest of these models. It
replaces all terrain obstructions with a single equivalent
knife-edge which is located at the intersection of the optical
horizon of both the transmitting and receiving ends of the
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 Ld = Lb – Lbs + Lsph (dB)  
In the special case where the actual profile is completely
smooth, Lb and Lbs should be equal, and will thus cancel. As a
result, Ld will equal Lsph, the output of the spherical-earth
diffraction model [14].
In the general case the first two terms of equation (1), Lb
– Lbs, provides an estimate from the profile-analysis
diffraction model of the actual diffraction loss relative to
spherical-earth. The mean errors of the model will tend to
cancel due to the subtraction. The term is added to the actual
spherical-earth diffraction loss Lsph to produce a more
accurate estimate of Ld than the profile-analysis method
alone [14].
D. ITU-R P.525 Model
In a point-to-point link, the path loss depends on the
frequency and the distance between transmitter and receiver.
The free space propagation is an analytical model that
predicts the strength of the signal received when a clear line
of sight path exists between transmitter and receiver, and is
based upon clearly defined propagation methods, such as the
ITU-R P. 525 model [2],[15].
E. ITU-R P.526 Model
The ITU-R P.526 [14] model is a fully referenced
deterministic model based on the principles already
discussed for point-to-point models. The recommendation
offers nomograms for noncomputer evaluation of spherical
Earth diffraction for 30 MHz and above, and for irregular
terrain uses the Deygout’91 method limited to a maximum
of three diffraction edges. The model also extends the knife-
edge principle to the concept of the finitely conducting In Table I, the performance of each of the models was
wedge, which has thickness. It is assumed that no energy is evaluated by comparing the simulations results with the
transmitted through the wedge. The calculation is more measurements in the 195 points that was described in the
computationally intense than the Deygout’94 model, but section IV.
does not include the potentially more costly recursive TABLE I.
method [3]. Propagation model
Metric of ITU-R P. ITU-R P. ITU-R P.
IV. COLLECTED DATA OF THE RADIO MOBILE NETWORK Okumura/
525/526 525/526 1812
performance Hata-
Deygout Delta Deygout
Most propagation models will provide a median received Davidson
94 Bullington 94
signal level based on macro effects of distance, terrain, Average error
clutter and atmospheric effects, which together account for -20.82 -4.05 -6.73 -4.04
(dB)
the mechanisms termed ‘slow fading’[3]. Thus, a specific Standard
10.48 9.34 13.31 9.32
site placed at the UFMG campus operating at the frequency deviation (dB)
Correlation
of 2.16 GHz was selected to perform the measurement 0.22 0.61 0.44 0.61
factor
campaign, since it brings together such diverse features to be % of the path
explored. with less than 7.69 63.08 52.82 63.08
6dB error
The base station (BS) radio transmission equipment were
In comparative performance terms we used four different
set by three independent sectors, each one with a 120° sector
panel antenna, vertical polarized signal, at 50m above the metrics: average error, standard deviation, correlation factor
ground and a 46 dBm power transmitter. In the prediction and percent of the measurement path with less than 6 dB
tool ICS Telecom was used radiation pattern profiles of the difference between the measurement and the simulation.
antenna ODV-065R15B15J15J dataset provided by Comba Such metrics are easily provided by radio planning tool
manufacturer. which facilitates the user to obtain the best performance in a
practical and efficient way.
To perform the measurement campaign, was used a As it can be seen from Table I, the models ITU-R P.
network scanner (TSMWTM by Rohde&Scwharz©) on the 525/526 and ITU-R P.1812 presented an excellent
10787rd channel (operator’s UMTS Channel) using an
performance for the analyzed area with a great correlation
external antenna mounted on the top of the drive test vehicle.
factor of 0.61 and 63.08% of the path with less than 6 dB
A total of 5.192 georeferenced sample measures of Common
Pilot Channel (CPICH) Received Signal Code Power error, being that the ITU-R P. 1812 model presented the
(RSCP) inside a 1000 m radius cell were collected. lowest standard deviation of 9.32 dB.
The radio coverage obtained using the Okumura/Hata-
Then, the acquired measure dataset was processing using Davidson empirical model and ITU-R P.1812 semi
Lee Criteria [16] to estimate of local average power of empirical model with diffraction method Deygout’94 are
mobile radio signal, minimizing fast fading effects that presented in Fig.2 and Fig. 3.
reduced to 195 points as show in Fig. 1.

Fig. 2. Radio coverage estimated using the Okumura/Hata-Davidson

model.

Fig. 1. Coverage area of the measurement campaing.

V. COMPARATIVE ANALISYS BY PREDICTION SOFTWARE

In this section, we show the performance of four models
of propagation that stood out in the evaluation of the radio
coverage in the analyzed area. In order to estimate the radio
coverage in case of the 3G network, four different
propagation models were used: one empirical, the
Okumura/Hata-Davidson model, one semi empirical, the
ITU-R P.1812 with diffraction method Deygout’94, and one
deterministic model, ITU-R P. 525/526 augmented with
diffraction effect calculated using the Deygout’94 and Delta
Bullington. Fig. 3. Radio coverage estimated using the ITU-R P. 1812 Deygout’94.

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 As it can be seen from figures above the diffraction
method Deygout’94 has an important role to estimate the
radio coverage in a complex urban area represented by high
resolution, mainly due to the building density and path
profile terrain.
In Fig. 4 the correlation between the estimated and the
measured signal levels for the whole 195 samples are given
for Okumura/Hata-Davidson and ITU-R P. 1812. The better
match was achieved with ITU-R P. 1812 propagation model
augmented with diffraction effect calculated using the
Deygout’94, as the difference between the measured levels
and the estimated ones is the smallest one.
Fig. 4. Correlation between the measured (red) and the estimated (green
and orange) using the Okumura/Hata-Davidson and ITU-R P.1812
Deygout’94, respectively.
VI. CONCLUSION
The main contribution of this work was demonstrate
through correlation between prediction results and measured
data that the models ITU-R P.525/526 and ITU-R P.1812
presented an excellent performance for the analyzed area by
use of a high resolution database to represent the
environment, including clutter, builds and elevation. The
best correlation factor of 0.61 and 63.08% of the path with
less than 6 dB error, reached by ITU-R P. 1812 model also
presented the lowest standard deviation of 9.32 dB and
average error of -4.04 dB. Although processing
environmental database in high resolution the computation
time was around 2 seconds for outdoor propagation
prediction in 1 km radius, without parallelism resource, and
without compromising prediction accuracy.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Brazilian National
Telecommunication Agency (Anatel) for providing the
database (digital elevation models, map images, clutter layer
and building layer) in high resolution for the analyzed area in
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addition to allowing the use of ICS Telecom software to get
predicted results. This work was partially supported by
CNPq and CAPES.
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