Indoor and outdoor channel simulator based on ray tracing

An efficient algorithm that dynamically calculates all possible ray paths in outdoor (macro- and micro-cells and land mobile satellite, LMS) and indoor environments is presented in this paper. The algorithm is based on the sweep line technique. Additionally a quadtree (bounding box (Athanasiadou, 1995)) division of the study environment is used to reduce search time. For indoor and microcellular environments wall reflections and transmissions as well as diffractions on vertical edges are considered up to the order specified by the user. 2D ray-path search algorithms have been extended to 3D in order to model macrocellular and land mobile satellite environments. For such cases, apart from multiple reflections, transmissions and vertical diffractions, the propagation simulator also takes into account single diffractions on horizontal edges and corners directly visible both from the transmitter and the receiver. Combinations of propagation mechanisms have also been considered in the simulator