Initial investigation of surface waves on walls over the WLAN spectrum

This paper investigates the feasibility for indoor and outdoor building environments to support electromagnetic surface waves on the walls of buildings over the wireless local area network (WLAN) spectrum. The values of real permittivity are obtained from electromagnetic measurements of either building material samples or by local in situ measurements. The support of surface waves on common building materials is investigated mathematically and the solutions for various modes plotted. The presence of predicted modes is confirmed by measurements. Initial measurements of surface wave propagation in picocell building environments have also been made. The surface wave contribution, if any, to useful system benefits is discussed.