The accuracy of path profiles using terrain databases

Detailed and accurate information about the terrain along the path of a proposed radio communications link is the ideal of the link planner. This information is required not only to ascertain whether line-of-sight paths exist, but also to model interference effects on the link. Highly detailed information may require a field survey of the area in question, but an approximation to the true path profile may be obtained from a map, or more conveniently from a terrain database. The authors examine the path profiles obtained from terrain databases derived from Ordnance Survey 1:25000 maps of the area around Keswick in Cumbria