Worse-than-Rayleigh fading: Experimental results and theoretical models

This article is motivated by the recent recognition that channel fading for new wireless applications is not always well described by traditional models used for mobile communication systems. In particular, fading data collected for vehicleto- vehicle and wireless sensor network applications has motivated new models for conditions in which channel fading statistics can be worse than Rayleigh. We review the use of statistical channel models, describe our example applications, and provide both measured and modeling results for these severe fading conditions.