Full wave simulation of radiowave propagation in unattended ground sensor networks

The moving window finite difference time domain (MWFDTD) method is used to analyze propagation between low to the ground antennas commonly used in wireless unattended ground sensor networks. The propagation path loss at 300 MHz is computed for several terrains exhibiting different degrees of roughness. From the path loss results, the mean and standard deviation of the path loss distribution are determined as functions of distance from the transmitter. The mean loss is shown to be close to the loss over a flat ground for all roughness values, and the standard deviation is shown to increase with the roughness of the terrain.