Investigation on the influence of diffraction by wedges in satellite navigation systems

The accuracy of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs) is degraded by a physical phenomenon known as multipath propagation. Among other kinds of interactions with the environment, diffraction by wedges is present in almost any situation. In this paper, this effect is modeled by using the well established Uniform Theory of Diffraction (UTD). This diffraction model has been integrated into a ray tracing tool based on the Geometrical Optics (GO) theory. The implementation is validated by using wedges made of metal at higher frequencies using scaled measurements. Thereafter, ray tracing simulations are carried out in order to assess the influence of this effect on satellite based navigation systems.