Propagation Measurements and Calculation
of Path Loss Exponent for Outdoor Cellular
Communication Systems at 3.5 GHz
Yahia A. Zakaria
1,2*
, Ehab K. I. Hamad
2**
,
A. S. Abd Elhamid
1***
, and K. M. El-Khatib
1****
1
National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt
2
Aswan University, Aswan, Egypt
*ORCID: 0000-0002-0524-1802 , e-mail: yahia.zakaria1982@gmail.com
**ORCID: 0000-0001-8345-3221 , e-mail: e.hamad@aswu.edu.eg
***ORCID: 0000-0003-0825-8842 , e-mail: ahmednrc64@gmail.com
****ORCID: 0000-0002-0608-7464 , e-mail: kamelced@hotmail.com
Received July 13, 2020
Revised January 16, 2021
Accepted January 27, 2021
Abstract—In this research we present the measured path loss values in typical urban and suburban areas
at the operating frequency of 3.5 GHz. The measurements are carried out using the spectrum analyzer
FSH6 in order to record the channel response. The values of path loss exponent n are calculated for urban
and suburban environments. We also compare and analyze the path loss predictions with the measured
data. The results of this research confirm that in urban areas the path loss estimation is influenced
according to the greater distances. At the beginning of the measurements in urban environment the losses
are equal 23 dB after 18 m from the measurement survey. The analysis of measurements centers on
anticipating the normal signal quality at the collector set at the given remove from the transmitter as well
as the changeability of the signal quality in the specific environment. The acquired from this work results
are salutary for planning and installation of any base station with similar to the thoughtful locations
environments in order to supply rules for cell arranging of remote communication frameworks as path
loss could be a key in calculations within the plan of any radio communications framework system.
DOI: 10.3103/S0735272721050034
1. INTRODUCTION
The request for remote communications frameworks is ever expanding in all spheres of human life.
Besides, the tall dissemination rate of this innovation incites a few disarray for clients as the industry created
numerous distinctive remote frameworks and administrations, which regularly are not able to associate with
each other. The remote communication may be a media transmission innovation, which empowers remote
transmission between portable devices to provide wireless access in urban, suburban and rural environments
[1].
Channel models are the base for system demonstration as they attempt to portray the way of radio signal
changes amid its travel from the transmitter to the destination [2]. The empirical models are usually focused
on the normal signal quality anticipating at the collector, set at the given distance from the transmitter, as
well as the inconstancy of the signal quality in near spatial vicinity of the specific area.
There are few engendering models for accurate calculation of the signal attenuation [3]. Moreover, the
interaction between the electromagnetic waves and the environment reduces the strength of signal from
transmitter to receiver and causes the path loss.
The main losses in the radio propagation path for the received signal are categorized into three following
types [4]:
– Fading, fast fading and short fading;
– Path loss;
– Shadowing, long shadowing and shadowing fading.
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ISSN 0735-2727, Radioelectronics and Communications Systems, 2021, Vol. 64, No. 5, pp. 247–254. © Allerton Press, Inc., 2021.
Russian Text © The Author(s), 2021, published in Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radioelektronika, 2021, Vol. 64, No. 5, pp. 286–294.