An Educational Approach to Land Mobile Channel Modelling

A simple model for the teaching of land mobile communication channel issues has been implemented. The landscapes the mobile terminal traverses are described in terms of model elements such as, screens, point scatterers, etc. By using simple ray tracing techniques all landscape element multipath contributions arriving at the receiver are evaluated. The most relevant channel parameters (amplitude and phase variations, random FM, power delay profiles, Doppler spectra, scattering matrices, level crossing rates, etc) can be computed. This simplified modelling strategy is capable of reproducing most common statistical-theoretical results found in the literature, however, results are much easier to understand by students when first approaching mobile communication channel topics, this is why this software simulator is thought to be quite useful for educational purposes.