Multi channel coupling, a new method to predict indoor propagation

Abstract

For the installation of indoor mobile communication systems the most effective placement of basestations is an important task. It is desirable that computer simulations predict the propagation for various basestation configurations in order to reduce trial installations and ensure overall coverage. In the new method described in this paper the environment is covered by a net of coupling channels that contain the propagating electromagnetic waves. After some channels are fed with energy by transmitters, all power flows within the channels can be calculated from the solution of a very sparse linear system of equations. This energy is received by test receivers positioned on a background grid. It turns out that the main numeric work does not depend on the transmitter and receiver positions. Trials with various transmitter and receiver positions can be carried out very fast reusing the coupling matrix calculated only once. This property makes the MCC method very attractive as a basis for automatic optimizers.