Comparison of irregular terrain propagation models for use in digital terrain data based radiocommunication system planning tools

The availability of digital terrain models (DTM) or terrain data bases (TDB) has prompted the use of point-to-point prediction models to compute propagation losses due to terrain irregularity. Traditionally, area prediction models (like ITU-R Recommendation 370, Longley and Rice, etc) have been used for coverage computation. These models require very little information regarding terrain characteristics and provide poor accuracies. Here, an assessment of several point-to-point models using detailed terrain information and aimed to be used in radiocommunication planning tools based on TDBs is presented. Two main characteristics are considered for comparison, namely, accuracy and ease in terrain data handling