Urban and suburban microcellular propagation

New microcellular systems have been proposed to operate over short radio paths by using low base station antennas, and transmitting at low power. To study how radio signals propagate in these microcellular environments for future personal communications services (PCS), a comprehensive propagation measurement program has been conducted in the San Francisco Bay area using three transmitting antenna heights of 3.2 m, 8.7 m and 13.4 m and two frequencies in the 900 MHz and 1900 MHz bands. The authors report measurements made in urban and suburban environments, where the receiving mobile was driven along pre-selected line-of-sight (LOS), zig-zag and staircase routes to gather information about direct propagation along streets, as well as diffraction over the roofs in suburban areas, and diffraction around the corners in urban areas