Modeling of multipath propagation components caused by trees and forests

The further development of multipath mitigation methods for Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) depends on the knowledge of the wave propagation circumstances present in various scenarios. The modeling of the multipath propagation properties for land-mobile users play a vital role in modern GNSS receiver algorithm development. This paper proposes a model for the simulation of a vehicle traveling through a rural environment. The canopies of trees and forests cause a strikingly time-variant channel impulse response (CIR). The proposed approach models individual multipath components and the resulting small-scale fading of forests in terms of infinitesimal point scatterers which are spread out in a cuboidal canopy volume. The output of the proposed model is compared with channel sounding measurements.