Polarization diversity measurements at 5.8 GHz for penetration loss and reflectivity of common building materials in an indoor environment

In this paper, we present measurement results of material penetration loss and reflection coefficient as a function of antenna polarization at 5.8 GHz. The measurements were made in a typical building hallway with a variety of test materials. This is a unique measurement campaign because the same antenna apertures were used to create three different types of polarizations: linear, circular polarized, and slant 45°. With the given antenna pair, each having a gain of 6 dBi, and a vector network analyzer; we developed measurements of penetration and reflection for dry wall, wood, door window, and steel door, along with five different combinations of antenna polarizations. For each of the above mentioned materials, we have measured the penetration loss and reflection coefficients for all five polarizations and then compared them. The results show that combinations of vertical-vertical and slant 45° - slant 45° polarizations have relative low penetration losses and high reflectivity, meaning that the signal would be contained within a room or within the hallway in such environment with an in-building base station. Also, it was concluded that co-circular polarized waves would become cross circular polarized when received after a single reflection. Lastly, a generalized comparison is made between the measurement using a slant 45° - vertical polarization pair to the other combinations of antenna polarization.