Fading characteristics of RF signals due to foliage in frequency bands from 2 to 60 GHz

This paper compares the various temporal characteristics of radio channels for a broad range of frequencies, including 2.45, 5.25, 29 and 60 GHz, in various foliage and weather conditions. A substantial number of data points, in excess of 1.9 billions at 500 samples per second (equivalent to 45 days), was collected and analyzed for three particular types of channels: foliated deciduous trees, non foliated deciduous trees and coniferous trees. The radio channels are statistically analyzed and the resulting PDFs (probability density functions) and CDFs (cumulated density functions) are compared against existing models. Furthermore, wind speeds and rain precipitation are correlated with the power samples to consider RF propagation dependencies. Second order statistics are derived including level crossing rate (LCR) and average facie duration (AFD). The power profile is analyzed for spectral components. The frequency characteristics of the RF propagation channel are evaluated. Finally, channel-specific RF propagation attributes are presented.