RF Coverage Mapping of Bistatic Radio Links Using the Terrain Integrated Rough Earth Model (TIREM)

Boasting low cost, complexity, and energy consumption, scatter-based communications has emerged as a prime technology for real time sensing of spectral and environmental behaviors in contentious environments. Successful deployment of scatter networks require RF path loss modeling capability that does not readily exist in commercial tools. This work uses the terrain-integrated rough earth model (TIREM) – a knife-edge diffraction-based propagation engine – to generate models for bistatic radio links. Using geographical information services (GIS) data, RF prediction maps are generated to determine regions of coverage that will support link establishment and is uniquely focused on smaller scale environment. Prediction maps are generated to observe the effects of realistic environments on bistatic link receive power, SNR, and SIR, illuminating the concerns that face these sensor network topologies and making an argument for the use of tools like TIREM to generate quick, accurate information for researchers and designers.