Proceedings of 2017 IEEE CAMA, Tsukuba, Japan

Path Loss Model in Crowded Areas Considering

Multiple Human Blockage at 4.7 and 26.4 GHz
Mitsuki Nakamura, Motoharu Sasaki, Naoki Kita, Yasushi Takatori
NTT Access Network Service Systems Laboratories,
NTT Corporation,
1-1 Hikari-no-oka, Yokosuka-shi, Kanagawa, 239-0847 Japan,
E-mail: nakamura.mitsuki@lab.ntt.co.jp

Abstract— This paper describes a path loss model in crowded Therefore, this paper describes the path loss model in a
station squares and the model’s test results on the basis of a crowded station square considering multiple human blockage.
measurement at 4.7 and 26.4 GHz. The proposed model
approximates the path loss by calculating the propagation loss of II. HUMAN BLOCKAGE MODEL IN MULTIPATH ENVIRONMENTS
the multipath and the human blockage loss for each path. We Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a propagation model
show that the model can reduce the route mean square error of 7
in crowded outdoor areas. As shown in Fig. 1, radio waves
dB better than the free space path loss.
emitted from a transmitting (Tx) antenna pass through various
Keywords—path loss; human blockage; crowded area propagation paths and reach a receiving (Rx) antenna.
Excluding the influence of human blockage, these radio waves
I. INTRODUCTION are classified into two types: (1) direct waves without reflection
and scattering between Tx and Rx antennas and (2) multipath
Mobile data traffic will continue to increase and is expected
waves subjected to reflections and scattering by surrounding
to be more one thousand times 2010’s level in 2020 [1]. Thus,
buildings. Both of these waves are influenced by many humans
the high data traffic loads will become a serious problem. To
on the propagation path. At the time, even if the path of (1) is
solve this problem, high-frequency bands above 6 GHz are
greatly attenuated due to a large number of human blockages,
expected to be used in high data traffic areas [2] in fifth
if a path exists with little influence of reflection loss or human
generation mobile communication systems. One of the
blockage in (2), large attenuation may not occur. The influence
representations in high data traffic areas is a crowded space
of human blockage changes from moment to moment
with a high density of people, for example, an open urban
depending on the movement of people, and the magnitude of
square in front of large train and subway stations. In such a
influence is thought to change depending on the number of
crowded station square, a large number of people move
people. Therefore, we need to clarify the following in order to
simultaneously due to their getting on and off the train, and the
grasp the path loss characteristics in such crowded areas. (i)
number of people changes greatly according to the time of day.
Human blockage loss caused by densely packed crowds on the
In crowded areas, the propagation paths are expected to be
path in each pass. (ii) Path loss excluding human blockage loss
blocked by people. The shadow fading triggered by humans is
of direct waves and multipath waves. The path loss of the
reportedly large, especially in high frequency bands [3].
whole crowded area can be determined by clarifying both (i)
Further path loss will likely occur in crowded areas as a result
and (ii), by summing the human blockage loss of (i) to the path
of human blockage by many people. Therefore, the path loss
loss of each path of (ii), and by integrating all of the paths.
characteristics need to be clarified, including the effects of the
densely packed crowds, to design coverage areas of wireless This calculation procedure is shown in Fig. 2. First, we
base stations in the crowded station squares in high frequency calculate (ii) after determining the Tx/Rx position and
bands. In particular, the number of people in the station squares environment. Next, we calculate (i) by installing a screen
varies depending on the time of day. Thus, the path loss regarded as a human based on measurement parameters.
characteristics should be analyzed based on the number of Finally, we calculate the total loss for each path by adding (i)
people in the crowd. and (ii) for each pass and derive the path loss in the crowded
area by integrating all of the paths.
Path loss characteristics have been found in studies to be
affected by human blockages [3–7]. In some studies, the path
loss characteristics of a single human blockage have been
reported and predicted by modeling a single human as a screen
[3][4][5] or a cylinder [6][7]. However, because these studies
are only for a single human blockage, the influence of the
densely packed crowds and variation in the number of people
on the path loss characteristics in outdoor environments is not
clear.

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 Proceedings of 2017 IEEE CAMA, Tsukuba, Japan

antennas, so blockage was caused only by people. The number

of people in the square varied depending on the time of day.
The number of people per square meter ܰ௛ was approximately
ܰ௛ =0.7 person/m2 and ܰ௛ =2 person/m2 when the Tx antenna
height was 4 m and 10 m, respectively. The measurement
frequencies were 4.7 and 26.4 GHz. The Tx and Rx antennas
were omni-directional. We obtained 1-meter interval median
values to analyze the long-term fading characteristics (path
loss).

Fig. 1. Propagation model in crowded outdoor areas.

Setting Tx and Rx positions

and environment

Calculation of path loss excluding human

blockage (propagation loss) for each path

Setting screens as human bodies

based on measurement parameters
Fig. 3. Measurement environment of crowded area.
Calculation of path loss of human blockage
(human blockage loss) for each path TABLE I. MEASUREMENT PARAMETERS

Frequency (GHz) 4.7, 26.4

Calculation of total path loss for each
path by summation of propagation loss Tx antenna height (m) 4, 10
and human blockage loss
Rx antenna height (m) 1.2
Tx/Rx antenna H-plane: Omni-directional
Integration of total path loss for all paths
(path loss in crowded environment) half power beam width (degree) V-plane: 60
Number of people per square meter, About 0.7 (Tx height: 4 m)
Fig. 2. Calculation procedure for path loss in crowded outdoor areas. ࡺࢎ (person/m2) About 2.0 (Tx height: 10 m)

III. MEASUREMENT METHOD AND ENVIRONMENT IV. A MODEL FOR PREDICTING MULTIPLE HUMAN BLOCKAGE
BY USING FINITE WIDTH SCREEN
We measured the path loss at a large station square in front
of Shibuya station in Tokyo. Fig. 3 shows the measurement We proposed a path loss model for a propagation path that
environment. This station is one of the most crowded areas in is blocked by some people, and the model uses finite width
Japan because several hundred people go through the square in screens to represent the people [9]. Fig. 4 shows our proposed
front of the station throughout the day (10:00–23:00) [2]. The model, which predicts the path loss by setting finite width
width of the main road is over 10 m, and the buildings around screens as people and by calculating the diffraction loss at the
the square are more than 40 m high (10 stories). The edges of the screens between the Tx and Rx antennas. When a
measurement environment is a square with a side of about 100 propagation path is blocked by the screens, we calculate three
m and is a typical open urban square described in the 3GPP diffraction paths at the top, left, and right of the screen, and we
technical report [8]. synthesize the diffracted paths. The calculation formulas are as
follows.
Table 1 lists the measurement parameters. We mounted a
Tx antenna on a measurement vehicle with a movable pole and JሺȞሻ =-10log ൤
1
+
1
+
1
൨ (1)
varied the antenna height by varying the height of the pole. The j1 ሺȞሻమ j2 ሺȞሻమ j3 ሺȞሻమ
Rx antenna was set on a trolley. The height of the Tx antenna ji ሺȞሻ=10Ji(Ȟ)/20 (2)
was either 4 or 10 m, and the height of the Rx antenna was 1.2
2
m. We measured the path loss while moving the trolley. In this Ji ሺȞሻ=6.9+20log ቆට(Ȟ-0.1) +1+Ȟ-0.1ቇ (3)
measurement, the direct distance between the Tx and Rx was
from 30 to 70 m. The red line in Fig. 3 indicates the Rx 2 1 1
measurement route. No buildings were between the Tx and Rx Ȟ=hl ට ቀ + ቁ, (4)
Ȝ d1 d2

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 Proceedings of 2017 IEEE CAMA, Tsukuba, Japan
where JሺȞሻ is additional loss due to human blockage, hl , h2 ,
and h3 are the length between each edge (top, left, and right
edge) of the screen and the straight line connecting the Tx and
Rx antennas, ߣ is a wavelength, and d1 and d2 are the distances
between the screen and Tx antenna and between the screen and
Rx antenna, respectively. As shown by h3 in Fig. 4, the edge of
the screens for the calculation are all the screens between the
Tx and Rx antennas except for the screen in which the height
of the edge becomes minus from the straight line connecting
the before and after edge of the screen. Also, the diffraction
loss is calculated. Therefore, for a diffraction path of the top
edge, when the screen is arranged to overlap as viewed from
the Tx/Rx, only the screen edge closest to the Rx is considered,
as shown in Fig. 4. That is, even when a large number of
people are present, the human blockage loss does not linearly
increase in accordance with the number of people. However,
all the screen edges are considered because the waves of the
left and right edge are diffracted by all the screens that block
the line of sight between the Tx and Rx antennas. To calculate
the diffraction loss at each screen, we use (3) and (4), where d1
and d2 are the distance from the before and after screens used
for calculation, and hl is the height of the diffraction edge as
viewed from the straight line connecting the diffraction before
and after edges of the the screen. The total additional loss is
derived as the sum of the diffraction losses of each screen in
dB.
Tx diffraction point
Rx
Tx
finite width screen
Rx
Fig. 4. Prediction model for multiple human blockage using finite width
screen.
V. PATH LOSS MODEL FOR CROWDED STATION SQUARE
The model proposed in the previous chapter can predict the
effect of multiple human blockage only for a particular
propagation path. To predict the path loss in crowded areas, we
should figure out the propagation losses excluding human
blockage loss for a multipath, the number of people that may
block the paths, and the human blockage losses on each path.
This chapter describes how we construct the path loss model in
a crowded station square based on the model described in the
previous chapter.
978-1-5090-5028-4/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
A. Derivation of Multipath Components in Open Urban
Square by Using Ray Tracing Simulation
As shown in Chapter 2, the number of paths and the path
loss of each path in the multipath should be determined. To
obtain them as a generalized form, we derived the multipath
components by using a ray trace simulation in typical areas.
The crowded area we used for our environment was
specifically an open urban square like a station square. The
open urban square was prescribed in a 3GPP technical report as
a space of about 50 to 100 m on each side [8]. Therefore, we
derived multipath components in such an environment. Fig. 5
shows the simulation environment for the ray tracing. The
simulations were carried out in the open squares surrounded by
a concrete wall. The width of the square w was 50 and 100 m,
which was the same as the definition in the 3GPP report.
We used 26.4 GHz, which is the same as the measurement
frequency. The number of reflections, diffractions, and
penetrations was 5, 0, and 0, respectively. The Tx and Rx
antenna height was 10 m and 1.2 m, respectively. The Txs were
set at three positions: Tx1 was at the center of the square, and
Tx2 and Tx3 were set at w/4 and w/20 away from the adjacent
two walls, respectively. Rxs were set for the whole square, and
the number of Rx positions was 361. We formed the grid
alignment using the Rxs, and the distance between the adjacent
Rxs was a w/20 interval.
Fig. 6 shows the calculated median value of path loss at
each Tx position and w value. The path losses of each path
number were normalized by the path loss of the direct wave.
Here, the path with the least path loss was a direct wave at all
Rx positions because no buildings were in the way. The
vertical axis shows the normalized path loss, and the horizontal
axis shows the path number. The figure shows that the least
path loss values are apparent in Tx3 and w=100. However, the
most path loss values are when Tx1 and w=50 are used.
Because the average distance between the Tx and Rx of the
former one is less than that of the latter one, this indicates that
the path loss values simply depend on the distance. However,
the tendency of attenuation as the path number increases is
similar regardless of the arrangement of the Tx antenna and the
size of the square. For example, the path loss rapidly increases
for a small path number between 0 and 10, but the path loss
increases slightly after that. The difference in path loss for each
situation is less than ±5 dB. Thus, we calculated the median
values of each path number for all situations to model the
generalized multipath. The calculation results are shown as a
black solid line in the figure. We will construct a path loss
model for crowded environments using the median values as
multipath components in open squares.
42
 Proceedings of 2017 IEEE CAMA, Tsukuba, Japan

Rx 㻢㻜 4.7 GHz Tx 4 m 4.7 GHz Tx 10 m

… 26.4 GHz Tx 4 m 26.4 GHz Tx 10 m
㻣㻜
1/20 of square width

Square 㻤㻜
…

㻼㼍㼠㼔㻌㼘㼛㼟㼟㻌㻔㼐㻮㻕
Square width
Tx1 50, 100 m 㻥㻜
…

center of the square

㻝㻜㻜
Tx2

1/4 of square width from wall 㻝㻝㻜

Tx3 Free space path loss
㻝㻞㻜
Simulation results (multi-path)
1/20 of square width from wall
㻟㻜 㻠㻜 㻡㻜 㻢㻜 㻣㻜
Concrete Wall 㻰㼕㼟㼠㼍㼚㼏㼑㻌㼎㼑㼠㼣㼑㼑㼚㻌㼀㼤㻌㼍㼚㼐㻌㻾㼤㻌㼍㼚㼠㼑㼚㼚㼍㼟㻌㻔㼙㻕
Fig. 5. Environment of simulations. Fig. 7. Simulation results of path loss model and measurement results.

㻟㻡 TABLE II. RMS ERROR OF THE MEASUREMENT RESULTS AND

CALCULATION RESULTS OF THE PATH LOSS MODEL

㻟㻜 RMS error (dB)

4.7 GHz, 26.4 GHz, 4.7 GHz, 26.4 GHz,
㻺㼛㼞㼙㼍㼘㼕㼦㼑㼐㻌㼜㼍㼠㼔㻌㼘㼛㼟㼟㻌㻔㼐㻮㻕

㻞㻡 Tx 4m Tx 4 m Tx 10 m Tx 10 m
Free space path loss 6.4 11.3 6.4 9.0
㻞㻜 Proposed model 3.1 3.4 3.6 2.5

㻝㻡
㼀㼤㻝㻌㻿㼝㼡㼍㼞㼑㻌㼣㼕㼐㼠㼔㻌㻡㻜㻌㼙
㻝㻜 㼀㼤㻝㻌㻿㼝㼡㼍㼞㼑㻌㼣㼕㼐㼠㼔㻌㻝㻜㻜㻌㼙
㼀㼤㻞㻌㻿㼝㼡㼍㼞㼑㻌㼣㼕㼐㼠㼔㻌㻡㻜㻌㼙
㼀㼤㻞㻌㻿㼝㼡㼍㼞㼑㻌㼣㼕㼐㼠㼔㻌㻝㻜㻜㻌㼙
㻡 㼀㼤㻟㻌㻿㼝㼡㼍㼞㼑㻌㼣㼕㼐㼠㼔㻌㻡㻜㻌㼙
㼀㼤㻟㻌㻿㼝㼡㼍㼞㼑㻌㼣㼕㼐㼠㼔㻌㻝㻜㻜㻌㼙
㻹㼑㼐㼕㼍㼚㻌㼛㼒㻌㼑㼍㼏㼔㻌㼣㼍㼢㼑
㻜
㻜 㻡 㻝㻜 㻝㻡 㻞㻜 㻞㻡
㻺㼡㼙㼎㼑㼞㻌㼛㼒㻌㼍㼞㼞㼕㼢㼍㼘㻌㼣㼍㼢㼑㼟
Fig. 6. Normalized path loss of each path number in each condition.
B. Test of Path Loss Model in Crowded Station Squares
Considering Multipath and Multiple Human Blockage
In order to predict the path loss in a crowded station square,
we used the Monte Carlo method to simulate various positions
of screens as people. The screens were arranged uniformly so
as not to overlap according to human density. The height of the
screens was 160 cm, the deviation was 7 cm, and the width was
50 cm. For each set position, we calculated the human
blockage loss for each arrival path, the propagation loss of
which used the values described in the previous section. The
human blockage loss for each path was derived by using the
model in Chapter II. We integrated all paths in a random phase
and obtained the total path.
Fig. 7 shows the calculation results of the path loss model
and the free space path loss and the measurement results. In
addition, table 2 lists the RMS error of the measurement results
and free space path loss, and it lists the measurement results
and calculation results of the path loss model. As can be seen
from Fig. 7 and table 2, the RMS error of the measurement
results and calculation results of the path loss model is less than
4 dB; it can be predicted more accurately than the free space
path loss.
VI. CONCLUSION
We proposed a path loss prediction model in crowded
outdoor areas. The RMS error of the measurement results and
calculation results of the path loss prediction model is at
maximum about 7 dB less than the RMS error of the
measurement results and calculation results of free space loss.
㻟㻜 We found that our model can predict the path loss
characteristics in crowded outdoor areas.
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