Study of the diversity reception in a forested environment

The feasibility of using spatial diversity within a foliage environment is examined in this letter. It is found that the presence of lateral waves in the forested environment is the main reason for the highly dependent multi-propagation paths. These highly dependent multipaths produce a high spatial correlation between diverse receptors when used in a forested environment. The mutual coupling effects between the receptors are analyzed through the study of the antennas' mutual impedance and angular pattern of the receiving array. It is founded that, in the forested environment where there is a large angular spread of multipaths, when spatial diversity is used, the coupling induced change in the antenna pattern becomes a dominant factor. This lowers the correlation property between the multiple receptors.