Christopher L. Holloway, Patrick L. Perini, Ronald Delyser, and Kenneth C. Allen

Abstract: For short propagation paths, correctly representing reflections of electromagnetic energy from surfaces is critical for accurate signal level predictions. In this paper, the method of homogenization is used to determine the effective material properties of composite material commonly used in construction. The reflection and transmission coefficients for block walls and other types of materials calculated with these homogenized effective material properties are presented. The importance of accurately representing the reflections for signal level prediction models is also investigated. It is shown that a 5- to 10-dB error in received signal strength can occur if the composite walls are not handled appropriately. Such accurate predictions of signal propagation over short distance is applicable to microcellular personal communications services deployments in urban canyons as well as indoor wireless private branch exchanges and local area networks.

Keywords: composite walls; concrete walls; propagation modeling; reflection coefficient; homogenization; effective material properties

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