A hybrid propagation coverage prediction model for mountainous areas

The design and optimization of cellular communication networks in mountainous and hilly areas requires extra caution. The main problems are the shadowing resulted from obstruction and overshooting resulted from excessive elevation of base station or mobile. The empirical propagation models are used for the design and optimization of cellular networks, but such models do not consider the effect of shadowing or elevation fluctuation as they do not consider the terrain details strictly. The site-specific models are accurate, but the high complexity and time requirement limit their use for such purposes. This paper proposes a simplified propagation model with good accuracy that can be used for coverage prediction in mountainous nature areas. Also, the proposed model uses layering mechanism similar to Geographic Information System (GIS) in topographic layers to reduce the computation overhead and time by processing each layer alone. The validation of the proposed model will be done by comparing the results with field measurements. A coverage optimization case study using the proposed model will be done as well.