Edmond J. Violette, Richard H. Espeland, and Gregory R. Hand

Abstract: Measurements reported are part of a study of propagation characteristics for millimeter-wave communication links operating in an urban-suburban environment. Absorption data were collected for signals propagated through some common building materials at 9.6 (reference frequency), 28.8, and 57.6 GHz. At these same channel frequencies, paths at street level obstructed by office buildings and residential properties were examined in terms of received signal levels resulting from direct penetration and/or propagation by diffraction modes with terminal separation of from 0.1 to 1.2 km. Signal fading was measured for line-of-sight paths up to 0.9 km as the transmitter terminal, operating at 11.4, 28.8, and 30.3 GHz, traveled down an urban street. Narrow- and wide-beam antenna patterns and both modes of linear antenna polarization were used to compare multipath fading characteristics. A unique 30.3 GHz wide bandwidth channel impulse probe was used to record multipath signal amplitudes and delay times, relative to the direct path, for the same antenna parameters indicated above. Impulse response measurements were recorded at about 10 m intervals as the transmitter traveled along the urban street.

Keywords: multipath; millimeter waves; propagation; impulse; urban-suburban

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