Wideband channel characterization along a lift shaft on board a ship

In this paper, wideband channel sounding for inter-level communication on board a ship have been presented. From the obtained power delay profiles for different transmitter to receiver separations, two main clusters of signals have been identified. The direct path penetrating through the ceiling and floor board of each level is the dominant signal within cluster 1. The large number of multipath signals reflected by the confined metallic ship structure and its sub-structures are the signals within cluster 2. From the RMS delay spread and its corresponding coherence bandwidth, it is found that the metallic ship structure and its sub-structures create a rich scattering environment. Therefore, a relatively high RMS delay spread is obtained as compared to the common indoor environment. It is also found that the maximum usable bandwidth is approximately 0.8 MHz if the antennas are placed outside the lift door. Similarly, the obtained path loss exponent n-factor is 2.25, which is comparable to that obtained from other complex metallic environments such as industrial environments and factories.