Radio propagation simulation method

• US 5,689,812 A
• Filed: 06/21/1995
• Issued: 11/18/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Takahashi, Satoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Eisenzopf, Reinhard J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Lee
• Application Number:
  US08/493,319
• Time in Patent Office: 881 Days
• Field of Search: 455/52.1, 455/56.1, 455/53.1, 455/67.1, 455/67.2, 455/67.6, 455/67.4, 364/550, 364/514 R, 364/514 B, 364/578, 342/359, 342/360
• US Class Current: 455/67.16
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/373 Predicting channel quality or other radio frequency [RF] parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/382 for resource allocation, admission control or handover
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/3912 Simulation models, e.g. distribution of spectral power density or received signal strength indicator [RSSI] for a given geographic region
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/18 Network planning tools

Abstract

For electric waves emitted from a base station, an arrival area of reflection waves thereof is determined according to a reflection object by which the electric waves are last reflected and a fictitious transmitting point decided for the reflection object. Received power of reflection waves is calculated for each evaluation point in the particular area. Since the calculation is conducted for the limited area, the period of time required for the calculation is remarkably minimized while retaining the precision of calculation when compared with the case in which the calculation is achieved for all related areas.

Claims

1. A radio propagation simulation method of obtaining received power of electric waves emitted from a transmitting point at a point in a three-dimensional space including electric wave reflection objects at a plurality of evaluation points on a plane in the space, comprising:

a first step of obtaining at each of the plural evaluation points received power of electric waves received directly from the transmitting point or electric waves having penetrated through reflection objects; and

a second step of deciding for each of the reflection objects a particular area at which reflection waves arrive, obtaining for each of the evaluation points contained in the particular area received power of reflection waves or reflection waves having penetrated through reflection objects, and adding the received power to that obtained in the first step.

2. A radio propagation simulation method according to claim 1, wherein the first step includes:

a step of attaining for each of the evaluation points received power of electric waves directly received from the transmitting point; and

a step of deciding for each of the reflection objects an arrival area of penetration waves having passed through the reflection object, calculating penetration loss of electric waves for the evaluation point in the particular area, and correcting the received power of direct waves beforehand obtained for each of the evaluation points.

3. A radio propagation simulation method according to claim 2, wherein the arrival area of penetration waves is obtained according to coordinate relationships between the transmitting point and the reflection objects.

4. A radio propagation simulation method according to claim 1, wherein the second step includes deciding for each of the reflection objects an arrival area of first-order reflection waves, calculating a path of first-order reflection waves for each of the evaluation points contained in the particular area, calculating reflection loss for each path or penetration loss due to reflection objects on the path, and thereby obtaining received power of the reflection waves.

5. A radio propagation simulation method according to claim 4, wherein the second step includes deciding for each of the reflection objects an arrival area of second- and higher-order reflection waves, deciding presence or absence of a path of the reflection waves for each of the evaluation points contained in the particular area, calculating, when the path is present, reflection loss for each path or penetration loss due to reflection objects on the path, and thereby obtaining received power of the reflection waves.

6. A radio propagation simulation method according to claim 5, wherein the arrival area of reflection waves for each of the reflection objects is calculated according to a coordinate relationship between a position of a reflection object by which the reflection waves are last reflected and a fictitious transmitting point obtained for the reflection object.

7. A radio propagation simulation method according to claim 1, wherein the second step includes deciding for each of the reflection objects an arrival area of second- and higher-order reflection waves, deciding presence or absence of a path of the reflection waves for each of the evaluation points contained in the particular area, calculating, when the path is present, reflection loss for each path or penetration loss due to reflection objects on the path, and thereby obtaining received power of the reflection waves.

8. A radio propagation simulation method according to claim 7, wherein the arrival area of reflection waves for each of the reflection objects is calculated according to a coordinate relationship between a position of a reflection object by which the reflection waves are last reflected and a fictitious transmitting point obtained for the reflection object.

9. A radio propagation simulation method according to claim 1, wherein the arrival area of reflection waves for each of the reflection objects is calculated according to a coordinate relationship between a position of a reflection object by which the reflection waves are last reflected and a fictitious transmitting point obtained for the reflection object.

10. A radio propagation simulation method of obtaining received power of electric waves emitted from a transmitting point at a point in a three-dimensional space including a plurality of electric wave reflection objects at a plurality of evaluation points on an evaluation plane in the three-dimensional space, comprising:

a first step of setting parameters of the transmitting point, reflection objects, and evaluation plane and initializing storage areas for keeping therein values of amplitude respectively at the evaluation points;

a second step of calculating for the evaluation points values of amplitude thereat of electric waves directly from the transmitting point or electric waves having penetrated through at least one of the reflection objects, thereby keeping the values of amplitude respectively in the storage areas;

a third step of deciding for each of the reflection objects a particular area at which reflection waves arrive, and obtaining for each of the evaluation points contained in at least one of the particular areas a value of amplitude thereat of reflection waves directly from the reflection object or reflection waves having penetrated through at least one of the other reflection objects, thereby adding the value of amplitude to a value of amplitude kept in the storage area associated therewith; and

a fourth step of outputting distribution of received power on the evaluation plane according to the values of amplitude kept in the storage areas.

11. A radio propagation simulation method according to claim 10, wherein the second step includes:

a step of choosing one of the plural reflection objects and determining, according to a coordinate relationship between the transmitting point and the chosen reflection object, an arrival area at which penetration waves having passed the reflection object arrive;

a step of deciding arrival areas of the penetration waves for all reflection objects;

a step of choosing one of the plural evaluation points on the evaluation plane, calculating a value of amplitude of waves thereat according to distance between the transmitting point and the chosen evaluation point, and recording the value of amplitude in the storage area corresponding to the evaluation point;

a step of deciding presence or absence of an arrival area which contains the chosen evaluation point and at which the penetration waves arrive, deciding a reflection object corresponding to the arrival area which contains the chosen evaluation point and at which the penetration waves arrive, multiplying the recorded value of amplitude by a penetration coefficient of the decided reflection object and thereby producing a value of amplitude when there exists the arrival area which contains the chosen evaluation point and at which the penetration waves arrive, and recording again the value of amplitude in the storage area corresponding to the chosen evaluation point; and

a step of recording and keeping for the evaluation points, the associated values of amplitude in the storage areas respectively corresponding to the evaluation points.

12. A radio propagation simulation method according to claim 11, wherein:

the third step includes

a fifth step of obtaining a value of amplitude at each of the evaluation points for first-order reflection waves and

a sixth step of obtaining a value of amplitude at each of the evaluation points for second- and higher-order reflection waves;

the fifth step includes

a step of choosing one of the plural reflection objects, deciding a fictitious transmitting point for the chosen reflection object, and determining an existence area of first-order reflection waves according to a coordinate relationship between the fictitious transmitting point and the reflection object,

a step of calculating, for all evaluation points contained in the existence area of first-order reflection waves, values of amplitudes of first-order reflection waves respectively at the evaluation points, and

a step of calculating values of amplitudes of first-order reflection waves for all reflection objects; and

the sixth step includes

a step of setting a value of reflection order n (n≧

2);

a step of setting one of the combinations of n reflection objects, deciding a fictitious transmitting point for one of the reflection objects by which the reflection waves are last reflected, and determining, according to a coordinate relationship between the fictitious transmitting point and the reflection object of the last reflection, an area in which reflection waves of n-th order possibly exist,

a step of calculating, for each of the evaluation points which are contained in the area possibly receiving reflection waves of n-th order possibly and for which a path exists to the transmitting point, a value of amplitude of reflection waves of n-th order at the evaluation point,

a step of calculating the value of amplitude of reflection waves of n-th order for all combinations of n reflection objects, and

setting again the reflection order n to a value equal to or less than a predetermined value of reflection order.