Simulation of radio wave propagation in urban microcellular environments

A powerful and versatile software was developed to investigate the radio wave propagation in urban microcellular environments. The two dimensional layout of the buildings and streets is given to the software in terms of segments which define the building walls. The propagation through and over the buildings is neglected. After having chosen the location of a transmitter, the various rays which reach a receiver are determined and the received wave field is computed. Currently, the rays considered include the effects of specular reflections and diffraction. The results show the limitations of models based only on specular reflections. The software is used to investigate various combinations of reflected and diffracted rays in several building layouts and transmitter locations