Measurement of building penetration loss on radio signals at 441, 900 and 1400 MHz

Abstract

Measurements have been undertaken as a part of the first phase of an investigation concerned with propagation into buildings. A series of trials has been conducted within the University of Liverpool precinct aiming to determine the building penetration loss of transmitted signals at 441, 900 and 1400 MHz. The tests were devised to study the first-order statistics of the signal inside buildings when the transmitter is outside. It has been found that the small-scale signal variation exhibits a Rayleigh distribution, while the large-scale signal variation is log- normally distributed with a standard deviation related to the area of the floor and the condition of transmission. The standard deviation was found to be 4 dB when no line-of-sight existed between the transmitter and the building where the receiver was located. If a line-of-sight path existed to part of or the whole of the building, the standard deviation increased to 6–9 dB. The penetration loss decreased at a rate of approximately 2dB per floor as a function of height within the building. The average penetration loss decreased at higher frequencies, the change being approximately 1 5 dB from 441 MHz to 896 MHz and 4 dB to 1400 MHz.