Shadow fading cross-correlation of multi-frequencies in curved subway tunnels

Radio propagation characteristics in curved tunnels are important for designing reliable communications in subway systems. In this paper, shadow fading is characterized, and cross-correlation property of shadow fading for different frequency bands is investigated based on empirical measurements. The measurements were conducted in two types of curved subway tunnels with 300 m and 500 m radii of curvatures at 980 MHz, 2400 MHz, and 5705 MHz, respectively. The impact of antenna polarization and propagation environment on shadow fading correlation at the receiver is evaluated. It is found that shadow fading with horizontal polarized antenna exhibits less correlation than with vertical polarized antenna. Strong independence of shadowing correlation and tunnel type is observed. Furthermore, a heuristic explanation of the particular shadowing correlation property in subway tunnel is presented.