UHF short-range pathloss measurements in forest & plantation environments for wireless sensor networks

This work presents received signal strength at UHF, 868/915/2400 MHz utilizing radio frequency equipment and Matlab simulations in forest and plantation (Mango & Guava) environments. Path loss, path loss exponent, root mean square error and corresponding cumulative distribution function values were deduced from the measured data at various positions in foliage environments using omnidirectional antennas at 1.0 m height from the ground. Empirical foliage loss prediction models such as COST 235, ITU-R and Weissberger models were compared with the experimental results. The research work reported in this paper is predominately targeted towards characterizing short-range near ground radio link for wireless sensor communications/networks in vegetation environments.