Radio Field Strength Propagation Data and Pathloss calculation Methods in UMTS Network

The design of future-generation mobile communication systems depends critically on the pathloss prediction methods and their suitability to various signal propagation regions.  An accurate estimation of radio pathloss is useful for predicting coverage areas of base stations, frequency assignments, determination of electric field strength, interference analysis, handover optimization, and power level adjustment. The radio path loss will also affect other elements such as the required receiver sensitivity, the form of transmission used and several other factors. As a result, it is necessary to understand the reasons for radio path loss, and to be able to determine the levels of the signal loss for a given radio path. In this paper, we investigated the radio signal path attenuation behavior, by conducting an experimental measurement survey in a UMTS network transmitting at 2100MHz band in Government Reservation Area (GRA), Benin City. The measured field strength data collected at various distances from the base stations was used to estimate the pathloss. Firstly, the effect of different parameters, such as distance from base stations was studied and it is observed that path loss increases with distance from the signal source due to a corresponding decrease in field strength. Secondly, the calculated pathloss data have been compared with data from other existing pathloss prediction methods. We find that the Okumura-Hata model pathloss values were closest of all the propagation models considered classifying the environment into consideration. Thus, the performance of Okumura-Hata model shows its suitability for path attenuation loss prediction in UMTS networks in GRA.