Building penetration measurements for indoor coverage prediction of DVB-H systems

The digital broadcasting standards DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld) enables a high data rate broadcast access for hand-held terminals (e.g., portable, pocket-size battery-operated phones). For actual DVB-H reception, indoor coverage is required because users are likely to be inside a building. Therefore, one needs building-penetration models, accounting for an additional propagation loss, due to the building where the user is present. This paper presents the penetration loss measurements performed at 600 MHz (ultra high frequency or UHF, band V) in an office building in a suburban environment. At this frequency the propagation characteristics remain acceptable to offer coverage in a large area and the size of the receiving antenna is suitable for integration in a handheld.