Outdoor Path Loss Measurements of WiMAX at 2.5 GHz in Suburban Environment

The problem of dimensioning large scale broadband wireless systems is a critical challenge in radio network planning. An accurate knowledge of path loss behaviour is a fundamental requirement for a correct estimation of the cell radius and the external interference level. In this paper, we present the characteristics of the measured path loss for a WiMAX channel in the 2.5 GHz licensed band. To this aim, several measures are carried out over a WiMAX test-bed deployed at the campus of University of Rome "Tor Vergata", in suburban environment. We also compare the predictions of two of the main existing empirical models, i.e. the Stanford University Interim (SUI) and COST-231 Hata, with the measured data.