A Simple Propagation Model to Characterize the Effects of Multiple Human Bodies Blocking Indoor Short-Range Links at 28 GHz

Abstract

This study aims to provide a simple approach to characterize the effects of scattering by human bodies in the vicinity of a short-range indoor link at 28 GHz while the link is fully blocked by another body. In the study, a street canyon propagation characterized by a four-ray model is incorporated to consider the human bodies. For this model, the received signal is assumed to be composed of a direct component that is exposed to shadowing due to a human body blocking the link and a multipath component due to reflections from human bodies around the link. In order to predict the attenuation due to shadowing, the double knife-edge diffraction (DKED) model is employed. Moreover, to predict the attenuation due to multipath, the reflected fields from the human bodies around the link are used. The measurements are compared with the simulations in order to evaluate the prediction accuracy of the model. The acceptable results achieved in this study suggest that this simple model might work correctly for short-range indoor links at millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequencies.

Blockage loss and shadow fading behavior of millimeter‐wave signals due to human bodies at 28 GHz

“…The blockage effect of the human body on the mmwave link considering the body shape and its dimensions, has been broadly discussed in many studies in the literature. [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] Although these proposed models have achieved high accuracy, they still suffer from computational complexity. In addition, there are still no comprehensive studies that consider various human body models of different heights, thicknesses, and postures.…”

“…The blockage effect of the human body on the mm‐wave link considering the body shape and its dimensions, has been broadly discussed in many studies in the literature 13–21 . Although these proposed models have achieved high accuracy, they still suffer from computational complexity.…”

Visualization of Millimeter-wave Radio Signals Utilizing Measured Radio Channel Parameters

“…As explained, it is not possible to see radio signal with human eyes because it operates on the invisible wavelength. However, several efforts have been taken to make it possible to visualize the trajectories of radio communication [4]- [8].…”

“…In [4] the effects of placing a human between a mmWave link were seen. It shows that a human can have significant effects on a mmWave 5G signal strength.…”