Effective antenna selection and deployment strategies are important for reducing co-channel interference in indoor wireless systems. Low-cost solutions are essential, and strategies that utilise simple antennas (such as directional patches) are advantageous from this perspective. However, performance is always an issue and the improvements achievable through clever antenna deployment need to be quantified. In this thesis, an experimental investigation of indoor propagation comparing the performance of directional antennas and multiple-element arrays (MEAs) with omni-directional antennas is reported. Estimation of the performance of a direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) system operating in a variety of deployment scenarios allows the identification of a range of performance-limiting factors and the optimal deployment strategies. It is shown that the orientation of single-element directional antennas can significantly impact on system performance compared to omni-directional antennas in traditional systems. The deployment of MEAs with an active diversity combining scheme can further improve system performance by more than one order of magnitude. From the perspective of system planning, the choice of antenna selection and deployment options depends on the current and future demand for system performance and the financial resources available. An evolutionary path has been proposed to provide a smooth transition from conventional (low-cost) to high-performance (high-cost) antenna systems as demand dictates. Other performance-limiting factors in indoor wireless systems include the physical environment and external interference. It is also shown that electromagnetically-opaque obstacles in the environment can amplify the effectiveness of the antenna deployment by acting as physical zone boundaries that restrict interference. External interference has been shown to cause a significant degradation to the performance of an indoor system when the carrier-to-external-interference ratio (CEIR) is below 30 dB. This performance degradation can be minimised by appropriate antenna deployment, although the optimum antenna orientations depends on the strength of the external interference.

Effective antenna selection and deployment strategies are important for reducing co-channel interference in indoor wireless systems. Low-cost solutions are essential, and strategies that utilise simple antennas (such as directional patches) are advantageous from this perspective. However, performance is always an issue and the improvements achievable through clever antenna deployment need to be quantified. In this thesis, an experimental investigation of indoor propagation comparing the performance of directional antennas and multiple-element arrays (MEAs) with omni-directional antennas is reported. Estimation of the performance of a direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) system operating in a variety of deployment scenarios allows the identification of a range of performance-limiting factors and the optimal deployment strategies. It is shown that the orientation of single-element directional antennas can significantly impact on system performance compared to omni-directional antennas in traditional systems. The deployment of MEAs with an active diversity combining scheme can further improve system performance by more than one order of magnitude. From the perspective of system planning, the choice of antenna selection and deployment options depends on the current and future demand for system performance and the financial resources available. An evolutionary path has been proposed to provide a smooth transition from conventional (low-cost) to high-performance (high-cost) antenna systems as demand dictates. Other performance-limiting factors in indoor wireless systems include the physical environment and external interference. It is also shown that electromagnetically-opaque obstacles in the environment can amplify the effectiveness of the antenna deployment by acting as physical zone boundaries that restrict interference. External interference has been shown to cause a significant degradation to the performance of an indoor system when the carrier-to-external-interference ratio (CEIR) is below 30 dB. This performance degradation can be minimised by appropriate antenna deployment, although the optimum antenna orientations depends on the strength of the external interference.

Autonomous localization of a radio source is addressed, in the context of autonomous charging for drones in indoor environments. A radio beacon will be the only input used by the robot to navigate to an unknown charging station, at an unknown area. Previous proposed algorithms used frontier-based exploration and the measured RSS to compute the direction to the source. The use of Gaussian processes is studied to model the Radio Signal Strength (RSS) distribution and generate an estimation of the gradient. This gradient was also incorporated into a frontier exploration algorithm and was compared with the proposed algorithm. It was found that the usefulness of the Gaussian process model depended on the distribution of the RSS samples. If the robot had no prior samples of the RSS, then the gradient-assisted solution performed better. Instead, if the robot had some prior knowledge of the RSS distribution, then the Gaussian process model yields a better performance. / Autonom utforskning av en radiokälla behandlas, i samband med autonom laddning för drönare i inomhusmiljöer. En radiofyr kommer att vara den enda information som roboten använder för att navigera till en laddningsstation i ett okänt område. Tidigare föreslagna algoritmer använde gränsbaserad undersökning och den uppmätta RSS:en för att beräkna källans riktning. Användning av Gaussiska processer studeras för att modellera RSS-distributionen och generera en uppskattning av gradienten. Denna gradient införlivades också i en gränsutforskningsalgoritm och jämfördes med den föreslagna algoritmen. Det visade sig att användningen av den gaussiska processmodellen berodde på distributionen av RSS-proverna. Om roboten inte hade några tidigare prover av RSS, presterade den gradientassisterade lösningen bättre. Istället, om roboten hade några prover av RSS (till exempel om den utfört en annan uppgift på någon region i kartan), ger Gaussiska processmodellen bättre prestanda.

This thesis aims at proposing all the possible enhancements for the Multi-Resolution Frequency-Domain ParFlow (MR-FDPF) model. As a deterministic radio propagation model, the MR-FDPF model possesses the property of a high level of accuracy, but it also suffers from some common limitations of deterministic models. For instance, realistic radio channels are not deterministic but a kind of random processes due to, e.g. moving people or moving objects, thus they can not be completely described by a purely deterministic model. In this thesis, a semi-deterministic model is proposed based on the deterministic MR-FDPF model which introduces a stochastic part to take into account the randomness of realistic radio channels. The deterministic part of the semi-deterministic model is the mean path loss, and the stochastic part comes from the shadow fading and the small scale fading. Besides, many radio propagation simulators provide only the mean power predictions. However, only mean power is not enough to fully describe the behavior of radio channels. It has been shown that fading has also an important impact on the radio system performance. Thus, a fine radio propagation simulator should also be able to provide the fading information, and then an accurate Bit Error Rate (BER) prediction can be achieved. In this thesis, the fading information is extracted based on the MR-FDPF model and then a realistic BER is predicted. Finally, the realistic prediction of the BER allows the implementation of the adaptive modulation scheme. This has been done in the thesis for three systems, the Single-Input Single-Output (SISO) systems, the Maximum Ratio Combining (MRC) diversity systems and the wideband Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems.

Cette thèse a pour but de proposer toutes les avancées possibles dans l’utilisation du modèle de propagation Multi-Resolution Frequency-Domain ParFlow (MR-FDPF). Etant un modèle de propagation radio déterministe, le modèle MR-FDPF possède un haut niveau de précision, mais souffre des limitations communes à tous les modèles déterministes. Par exemple, un canal radio réel n’est pas déterministe, mais un processus aléatoire à cause par exemple des personnes ou objets mobiles, et ne peut donc être décrit fidèlement par un modèle purement déterministe. Dans cette thèse, un modèle semi-déterministe est proposé, basé sur le modèle MR-FDPF, qui introduit une part stochastique pour tenir compte des aspects aléatoires du canal radio réaliste. La partie déterministe du modèle est composée du path loss (atténuation d’espace), et la partie stochastique venant du shadow fading (masquage) et du small scale fading (évanouissement). De même, de nombreux simulateurs de propagation radio ne proposent que la prédiction de la puissance moyenne. Mais pour une simulation précise de la propagation radio il convient de prédire également des informations de fading permettant dès lors une prédiction précise du taux d’erreur binaire (BER) potentiel. Dans cette thèse, l’information de fading est déduite des simulations MR-FDPF et par la suite des valeurs réalistes de BER sont données. Enfin, ces données réalistes de BER permettent d’évaluer l’impact de schémas de modulation adaptatifs. Des résultats sont présentés dans trois configurations : systèmes SISO (mono-antenne à l’émission et à la réception), systèmes à diversité de type MRC, et systèmes large bande de type OFDM. / This thesis aims at proposing all the possible enhancements for the Multi-Resolution Frequency-Domain ParFlow (MR-FDPF) model. As a deterministic radio propagation model, the MR-FDPF model possesses the property of a high level of accuracy, but it also suffers from some common limitations of deterministic models. For instance, realistic radio channels are not deterministic but a kind of random processes due to, e.g. moving people or moving objects, thus they can not be completely described by a purely deterministic model. In this thesis, a semi-deterministic model is proposed based on the deterministic MR-FDPF model which introduces a stochastic part to take into account the randomness of realistic radio channels. The deterministic part of the semi-deterministic model is the mean path loss, and the stochastic part comes from the shadow fading and the small scale fading. Besides, many radio propagation simulators provide only the mean power predictions. However, only mean power is not enough to fully describe the behavior of radio channels. It has been shown that fading has also an important impact on the radio system performance. Thus, a fine radio propagation simulator should also be able to provide the fading information, and then an accurate Bit Error Rate (BER) prediction can be achieved. In this thesis, the fading information is extracted based on the MR-FDPF model and then a realistic BER is predicted. Finally, the realistic prediction of the BER allows the implementation of the adaptive modulation scheme. This has been done in the thesis for three systems, the Single-Input Single-Output (SISO) systems, the Maximum Ratio Combining (MRC) diversity systems and the wideband Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems.