On the performance of single frequency networks in correlated shadow fading

All transmitters in a single frequency network (SFN) simultaneously transmit the same information within the same frequency block. Simulcasting provides a diversity gain which has been shown to yield good coverage. In traditional analysis uncorrelated shadow fading is used. In some cases this assumption does not capture the behaviour of the shadow fading, e.g., when several transmitters are shadowed by a large obstacle. We investigate the changes in coverage due to correlation among the received signals field strength from different transmitters. A spatial shadow fading correlation model is proposed and validated using the Blomquist-Ladell (1974) prediction method on a digital terrain data base. Results for both wide area and local SFN show that the coverage properties depends on the correlation in the shadow fading. This will affect the planning process since strong correlation, due to the structure of the terrain, yields better coverage for high transmitter powers (interference limited systems) and worse coverage for low transmitter powers (noise limited systems).