Path Loss at Millimeter Wave Frequencies

The mmWave Channel It is well known that wireless signals at millimeter wave frequencies (mmWave) suffer from high path loss, which limits their range. In particular there are higher diffraction and penetration losses which makes reflected and scattered signals to be all the more important. Typical penetration losses for building materials vary from a few dBs to more than 40 dBs [1]. There is also absorption by the atmosphere which increases with frequency. But there are also some favorable bands where atmospheric losses are low (<1dB/km).

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WINNER-II Path Loss Model

In simple terms the path loss is the difference between the transmitted power and the received power of a wireless communication system. This may range from tens of dB to more than a 100 dB e.g. if the transmitted power of a wireless communication system is 30 dBm and the received power is -90 dBm then the path loss is calculated as 30-(-90)=120 dB. Path loss is sometimes categorized as a large scale effect (in contrast to fading which is a small scale effect). According to the WINNER-II model the path loss can be calculated  as: Here d is the […]

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Base Station Antenna Tilt and Path Loss

Path loss is basically the difference in transmit and receive powers of a wireless communication link. In a Free Space Line of Sight (LOS) channel the path loss is defined as: L=20*log10(4*pi*d/lambda) where ‘d’ is the transmit receive separation and ‘lambda’ is the wavelength. It is also possible to include the antenna gains in the link budget calculation to find the end to end path loss (cable and connector losses may also be factored in). Antenna gains are usually defined along a horizontal plane and vertical plane passing through the center of the antenna. The antenna gain can then be […]

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WiMAX Path Loss and Antenna Height

As discussed previously the SUI (Stanford University Interim) model can be used to calculate the path loss of a WiMAX link. The SUI model is given as: SUI Path Loss Equation It has five components: 1. The free space path loss (A) up to the reference distance of ‘do’. 2. Additional path loss for distance ‘d’ with path loss exponent ‘n’. 3. Additional path loss (Xf) for frequencies above 2000 MHz. 4. Path gain (Xh) for receive antenna heights greater than 2 m. 5. Shadowing factor (s). The most important factor in this equation is the distance dependent path loss. […]

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WiMAX Path Loss Calculation

Calculation of the path loss is fundamental to Wireless System Design. There are many models available for calculating the path loss such as Okumura Model, Hata Model, COST-231 Model and more recently the SUI (Stanford University Interim) Model. The SUI Model has been specifically proposed for Broadband Wireless Access Systems such as WiMAX. It defines three types of environments namely A, B and C which are equivalent to the urban, suburban and rural environments defined in the earlier models. According to this model the path loss can be calculated as: PL=A+10*n*log10(d/do)+Xf+Xh+s where n=a-(b*hb)+(c/hb) A=20*log10(4*pi*do/lambda) Xf=6.0*log10(f/2000) Xh=-10.8*log10(hr/2) for A&B Xh=-20.0*log10(hr/2) for […]

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LTE Path Loss at 700 MHz

In the previous post we had compared the path loss of LTE at 728 MHz and 1805 MHz in a free space line of sight channel. This is a very simplistic channel model which tells us that ratio of the received signal strengths at these frequencies can be simply found as: (f1/f2)^2=(1805/728)^2=6.15 That is the received signal strength at 728 MHz is 6.15 times higher than the received signal strength at 1805 MHz. Now let us consider a more realistic channel model known as the COST-231 model. According to this model the path loss (difference between the transmit power and […]

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Propagation and In-Building Penetration at 700MHz

It is quite well known that wireless signals travel further at lower frequencies. This phenomenon has become particularly important in the context of LTE where a frequency band has been allocated at 700MHz. We would like to quantify the benefits that can be achieved by using this frequency band. Firstly we find the received signal power at 728 MHz (lowest downlink frequency) and at 3600 MHz (highest downlink frequency) in a free space line of sight channel. The transmit power is set to 1 W and omnidirectional antennas are considered at the transmitter and receiver. The received power for these […]

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