The microcellular propagation challenge

The potential for significant growth in the mobile communication market is stimulating interest in the deployment of microcellular based radio systems. Examples of such systems are to found in mobile telephony, where regions of high traffic density are most conveniently served by a network of small cells of typically less than 1 km in radius. A further example is to be found in the proposed use of radio to provide cordless access into the public switched telephone network. Such a system would provide coverage using a network of street radio distribution points, each of which would operate out to a radius of a few hundred metres. The optimum design of these systems makes considerable demands on existing radio planning methods and this in turn is providing the stimulus for the development of new propagation models able to provide accurate predictions in microcellular environments. Some of the typical planning issues are reviewed and the propagation modelling methodologies which are being explored as possible solutions are examined