Simulation and analysis of the multipath environment of Mars

NASA's long-term goals for the exploration of Mars include the use of rovers and sensors which intercommunicate through proximity wireless networks. Elements of the network have a short transmission range, low power requirements, low cost, and a relatively short-life span. The performance of any such wireless network depends fundamentally on the radio frequency (RF) environment. In wireless communication systems, communication engineers are generally concerned with two main radio channel issues: link budget and multipath. We have already reported results concerning the link budget at selected sites on Mars. These results were based on a 2.4 GHz proximity wireless network and simulated RF coverage patterns using high-resolution (11 m/pixel) DEMs of the Gusev Crater and Meridiani Planum regions. This paper presents our current research results regarding the multipath environment at the same selected sites on Mars. Our simulations compute the PDP between an access point and a node taking into account environmental parameters including terrain. With these PDPs, we are able to predict and analyze delay spread statistics which could be used in designing wireless network receivers for use on Mars' surface.