Topological dependence in the performance of deterministic wireless channel estimation

The evolution of wireless communication systems, with the use of high level modulation schemes in order to implement high capacity microcells and femtocells for 4G systems, requires in depth radio analysis in order to perform adequate coverage/capacity estimations. In addition, indoor coverage is gaining more relevance, with complex scenarios given in terms of diversity of materials as well as by the presence of furniture, walls and persons. In this framework, deterministic methods, such as Ray Tracing and Ray Launching algorithms play a fundamental role, since they provide an adequate trade-off between accuracy and computational cost. In large scenarios, however, convergence issues arise as a function of the distance of the launched rays from the equivalent transmitter source, as well as with the employed mesh element size. In this work, the performance of the in-house implemented 3D ray launching algorithm is analyzed for a large scenario in terms of volumetric ray launching resolution, number of reflection until extinction and cuboid size (as depicted in Figure 1). The results give a direct dependence of the transmitter-receiver distance and the employed cuboid size, which leads to the need of implementing dynamic meshing strategies in order to optimize overall simulation performance.