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This paper introduces the Quasi-Moment-Method (QMM) as a novel radiowave propagation pathloss model calibration tool, and evaluates its performance, using field measurement data from different cellular mobile communication network sites in Benin City, Nigeria. The QMM recognizes the suitability of component parameters of existing basic models for the definition of ‘expansion’ and ‘testing functions’ in a Galerkin approach, and simulations were carried out with the use of a FORTRAN program developed by the authors, supported by matrix inversion in the MATLAB environment. Computational results reveal that in terms of both Root Mean Square (RMS) and Mean Prediction (MP) errors, QMM-calibrated models performed much better than an ‘optimum’ model reported for the NIFOR (Benin City), by a recent publication. As a matter of fact, the QMM-calibrated COST231 (rural area) model recorded reductions in RMS error of between 31.5% and 71% compared with corresponding metrics due to the aforementioned ‘optimum’ model. The simulation results also revealed that of the five basic models (COST231-rural area and suburban city, ECC33 (medium and large sized cities), and Ericsson models) utilized as candidates, the two ECC33 models, whose performances were consistently comparable, represented the best models for QMM-model calibration in the Benin City environments investigated.

Investigations in this paper focus on establishing the uniqueness properties of the Quasi-Moment-Method (QMM) solution to the problem of calibrating nominal radiowave propagation pathloss prediction models. Nominal (basic) prediction models utilized for the investigations, were first subjected to QMM calibrations with measurements from three different propagation scenarios. Then, the nominal models were recast in forms suitable for Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) calibration before being calibrated with both the SVD and QMM algorithms. The prediction performances of the calibrated models as evaluated in terms of Root Mean Square Prediction Error (RMSE), Mean Prediction Error (MPE), and Grey Relational Grade-Mean Absolute Percentage Error (GRG-MAPE) very clearly indicate that the uniqueness of QMMcalibrations of basic pathloss models is more readily observable, when the basic models are recast in forms specific to SVD calibration. In the representative case of calibration with indoorto-outdoor measurements, RMSE values were recorded for QMM-calibrated nominal models as 5.2639dB for the ECC33 model, and 5.3218dB for the other nominal models.Corresponding metrics for the alternative (rearranged) nominal models emerged as 5.2663dB for the ECC33 model and 5.2591dB for the other models. A similar general trend featured in the GRG-MAPE metrics, which for both SVD and QMM calibrations of all the alternative models, was recorded as 0.9131, but differed slightly (between 0.9138 and 0.9196) for the QMM calibration of the nominal models. The slight differences between these metrics (due to computational round-off approximations) confirm that when the components of basic models are linearly independent, the QMM solution is unique. Planning for wireless communications network deployment may consequently select any basic model of choice for QMM-calibration, and hence, identify relative contributions to pathloss by the model's component parts.