Simulation of discrete electromagnetic propagation model for atmospheric effects on mobile communication

Abstract

Wireless communication has become an important part of our lives, and atmospheric effects are one of the ultimate factors affecting quality of communication and satellite systems. In this study the attenuation in mobile communication due to atmospheric events like snow and rain is simulated using the discrete propagation model. In this work, spherical raindrop and oblate spheroid raindrop modeling are used. To check the validity of simulations, the commonly used and accepted ITU-R rain model is used. Oblate spheroid raindrop modeling produces results that are more compatible with ITU-R results, especially at frequencies higher than 50 GHz. At lower frequencies, both raindrop shapes produce results that are not compatible with ITU-R results. Moreover, attenuation of snow is simulated for different types using the discrete propagation model and uniform distribution of snowflakes. The attenuation of vegetation is also simulated. It is found that snow attenuation is higher than rain attenuation, specifically because of the differences in particle size. In all simulations, frequencies of GSM communication of 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, and 2270 MHz are used for calculation and discussion of the results.