Study of the diversity reception in a forested environment

The feasibility of using spatial diversity within a foliage environment is examined in this letter. It is found that the presence of lateral waves in the forested environment is the main reason for the highly dependent multi-propagation paths. These highly dependent multipaths produce a high spatial correlation between diverse receptors when used in a forested environment. The mutual coupling effects between the receptors are analyzed through the study of the antennas´ mutual impedance and angular pattern of the receiving array. It is founded that, in the forested environment where there is a large angular spread of multipaths, when spatial diversity is used, the coupling induced change in the antenna pattern becomes a dominant factor. This lowers the correlation property between the multiple receptors.