Radio Channel Propagation Characterization and Link Reliability Estimation in Shadowed Suburban Macrocells

Abstract

The reliability of packet data transmissions under large scale fading is a key issue in wireless mobile networks and has been studied by many researchers, but mostly through simulation and analytical modelling. In this research paper, a realistic methodological approach has been employed to better characterize and quantify the impact of the shadow fading effect on High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) network reliability in different suburban environment scenarios. In this regard, radio frequency signal propagation measurement was first conducted using mobile drive test investigation procedure in hilly, open and residential terrains. By using regression analysis on the RF field data, the long term attenuation pattern of the measured signal power was obtained and the power decaying propagation exponent varied between 2.50 and 3.03. From the characterized pathloss model parameters obtained in the measurements, the HSPA link reliability has been evaluated using the Packet Error rate outage (PE-Outage) probability analysis. Furthermore, the impact of signal power variability on the user equipment terminal has been quantified with and without shadow fading. The results showed that shadow fading can have a significant impact on network reliability. The simplified approach adopted can be useful for a methodical evaluation of system reliability in similar mobile broadband networks deployed in more challenging environments.