Mean receiver power prediction for indoors 802.11 WLANS using the ray tracing technique

Abstract

A technique for the modeling of wireless channels, namely the image ray tracing algorithm, is developed in this work to predict the local mean received power of a wireless local area network (WLAN) based on the 802.11a standard operating in the 5 GHz band. This technique has been enhanced in order to account for the propagation of the electromagnetic waves thru a wireless environment, including the absorption and reflection phenomenon at obstacles. The image ray tracing algorithm is used to calculate all the possible propagation paths between a radio transmitter and a receiver. The simulation results of the mean received power strength are compared against field measurements to validate the convenience of the simulation approach.