In-Cabin Wideband Channel Characterization for WAIC Systems

The work presented here deals with in-cabin aircraft wireless channel characterization in a short-range aircraft. Both large-scale and small-scale parameters were extracted for 2.45 GHz and 5.8 GHz frequency bands. Results are analyzed and compared for multiple scenarios and for both line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) situations. The mean path-loss exponents are 1.9 for 2.45 GHz and 1.6 for 5.8 GHz frequency bands which is different from some previous results obtained in relatively wide-body aircrafts. The mean coherence bandwidth determined for 2.45 GHz is 760 kHz while for 5.8 GHz it corresponds to 970 kHz. RMS delay-spread mean values lie around 19 to 33 ns for the lower band and 16 to 25 ns for the higher band. The statistical analysis revealed a delay-spread following lognormal distribution. Finally, the Rice model for LOS scenario, showed a better fit for the multipath fading envelope with an average-factor of 8.5 dB and 11 dB for 2.45 GHz and 5.8 GHz, respectively.