Empirical Models for Extra Propagation Loss of Train Stations on High-Speed Railway

Train stations are one of the largest and most unavoidable obstructions for electromagnetic wave propagation on a high-speed railway. They can bring about severe extra propagation loss, and therefore, lead to poor coverage or handover failure. However, their influence has been rarely investigated before. Based on rich experimental results of 930 MHz measurements conducted on train stations of high-speed railway in China, this paper proposes two empirical models for the extra propagation loss owing to train stations for the first time. The extra loss depends on four conditions: the distance between the transmitter (Tx) and the train station, the type of the train station, the track carrying the train, and the propagation mechanism zones. Hence, the models are established for every case of all the combinations of these four conditions. The validation shows that the proposed models accurately predict the extra propagation loss and support an effective way to involve the influence of the train station in the simulation and design of the signaling and train control communications systems.