Efficacy of some Unpopular PathLoss Propagation Models in the VHF and UHF Bands

Abstract

Several research efforts that have been made for decades in testing the performance of channel models have concentrated on the widely (popular) used models; little efforts have been made towards testing other models, termed as non-widely (unpopular) models. Therefore, this paper tested the efficacies of some non-widely used models for wider applicability in Nigeria environment across VHF (Very High Frequency) and UHF (Ultra High Frequency) bands. Error analyses were conducted. Findings show that Hata model, which is among the most widely used models, has performed better than all the models considered. Even though Walfisch Ikegami and Walfisch Bertoni models are considered unpopular, their performance isn’t as bad as perceived by researchers globally. The models performed credibly well in the UHF bands and fairly in the VHF bands. However, Knife edge model performed woefully, despite that it is one of the most cited model amongst all the contending models considered. Other unpopular models (Lee, Green-Obaidat, Desouza-Lins and Edwards-Durkin) performed terribly bad across all routes and bands.