TVWS indoor propagation model for CEDAT

Abstract

TV White Spaces (TVWS) are unused channels in the TV broadcasting band in specific geographical location and specific time. Spectrum is very scarce and therefore should be efficiently and effectively occupied. There is need to study the effectiveness of using the TVWS channel in relation to the existing propagation models to establish results for deployment in indoor environment. The indoor environment of CEDAT new building was used to determine the white spaces and propagation for testing was done in the same building. The RF Explorer and a Yagi antenna were used with Clear Wave software. The thresholds used were -90dBm and -95dBm for determining white spaces availability. The Register Transfer Level-Software Defined Radio (RTL-SDR) was used as receiver of signals transmitted by the HackRf-One in channel 29. RF Explorer was used for measurement at floors 1(0-30 meters), floor 2(0-30 meters) then floor 3(0-18 meters) at 2 meters intervals from the transmitter. The measured results were compared with existing propagation models ITU-R P.1238, Linear Attenuation model (LAM) and COST 231 Multi-Wall model (MWM). The existing models vary from measurement results with a minimum standard deviation of up to 5.5dB; however MWM showed least deviation on floor 2, 3 and through walls with average deviation of 4dB. MWM having better performance was used for remodeling and our model gave better performances with an average error as low as 0.01.