Influence of Terrain in Electromagnetic Propagation on Urban Environments from the Andean Region, using COST 231- Walfisch-Ikegami Model, and GIS based Planning Tools

Abstract

This paper is aimed to develop an electromagnetic propagation algorithm considering the influence of mountain terrain in UHF (300MHz-3GHz) band for wireless communications systems (i.e. 800-900MHz in DAMPS/US-TDMA/IS-136 and GSM standard). The Model COST 231- Walfisch-Ikegami used in this investigation proved, together with Geographic Information System (GIS) and prediction tools for mobile propagation, to facilitate propagation studies, coverage analysis and analysis of main factors for cell planning in mobile systems.

The paper describes the basic concepts used to design the algorithm, the parameters used in measurements and results analysis in order to verify its applicability in cellular coverage prediction. The studies have been done by the research group GTI (Grupo de Investigación en Telecomunicaciones e Informática) of Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS) together with Universidad Icesi, both in Colombia, in cooperation with Valencia Technical University, in Spain. Measures have been done initially in Bucaramanga, a city located in the Andean Mountain system, for IS-136 band system. Coverage predictions have been done using a locally modified version of CellView, a GIS based Planning tool developed by the Valencia Technical University, and the measurements was done using portable monitoring unit (i.e. Miniport Receiver EB200-Rohde&Schwarz from 10kHz-3GHz) in cooperation with the Ministry of Communications Bucaramanga-Colombia.