This thesis addresses various aspects related to site-specific propagation prediction using ray tracing techniques. Propagation prediction based on ray tracing techniques requires that all the different physical objects, which affect the propagation of radio waves, be modeled. The first part of the thesis concentrates on modeling the buildings and the terrain for the above-mentioned application. A survey of the various geographic products that are available to model the environment is presented. The different methods used to model the terrain are analyzed and the most suitable method for a ray based application is suggested. A method to model the buildings in an environment from commercially available data is described. A novel method to combine the building information with the terrain information is presented. An in depth discussion of deterministic propagation prediction using ray tracing is presented in the latter half of the thesis. An overview of the various ray based algorithms that exists in the literature are presented and the limitations and the computational complexity of ray based methods are discussed. All ray based algorithms model the receivers as point objects and predict the propagation characteristics at a particular point in space. However, to optimize the design of a wireless broadcast or a point to multi point system such as a Wireless LAN (WLAN) or a cellular system, propagation characteristics at multiple points in space need to be known. The standard ray tracing algorithms can be notoriously time consuming when used to predict the characteristics of multiple receivers. A new, computationally less intensive algorithm to predict the propagation characteristics of multiple receivers is described. This algorithm significantly reduces the computation time by using "grid mode" predictions for broadcast channels. / Master of Science

A goal of indoor wireless communication is to strategically place RF base stations to obtain optimum signal coverage at the lowest cost and power. Traditionally, transceiver locations have been selected by human experts who rely on experience and heuristics to obtain a near-optimum placement. Current methods depend on involved on-site communication measurements and crude statistical modeling of the obtained data which is time consuming and prohibitive in cost. Given the inherent variability of the indoor environment, such a method often yields poor efficiency. As an example, it is possible that more power than required or extra number of transceivers were used. This thesis describes an interactive software system that can be used to aid transceiver placement. The tool is easy to use and is targeted at users who are not experts in wireless communication system design. Once the transceiver locations are selected by the user within a graphical floor plan, the system uses simple path-loss models to predict coverage regions for each transceiver. The coverage regions are highlighted to indicate expected coverage. Earlier work assumed isotropic transceivers and had limited directional transmitter support. This thesis describes how the tool has been enhanced to support a wide range of 3D antenna patterns as encountered in practical situations. The tool has also been expanded to accommodate more partition types and to report area of coverage. The resulting system is expected to be very useful in the practical deployment of indoor wireless systems. / Master of Science