Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium Proceedings, Moscow, Russia, August 1923, 2012 1403

Procedure of Near Ground Propagation Model Development for

Pine Tree Forest Environment
O. Kurnaz1 , M. Bitigan2 , and S. Helhel1
1

Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Akdeniz University, Turkey

2
Department of RF Planning, Turkcell Communication Coop., Turkey

AbstractIn this study, the procedure of new model development steps has been presented
starting with plane earth measurements. A propagation model experimentally derived from both
free space and near ground plane earth path loss models for pine tree forest with foliage depth
lower than 400 m has been proposed. It is a piecewise model taking foliage depth of 150 m as
a boundary. Different from Weissberger, ITU-R and COST235 models, the proposed one takes
trunk height gain k into account. Mean error has been obtained as 6.55 dB for proposed model,
31.72 dB for COST235, 17.42 dB for Weissberger and 21.03 dB for ITU-R at 900 MHz.
1. INTRODUCTION

Increased popularity of wireless technologies requires that development of a proper propagation

model is essential for uninterrupted communication in both urban and unsettled areas including
forests and hilly territories. Use of a proper model is not only required for personal cell phone
communication but also vital for military, governmental and unmilitary personal radiotelephone
communication especially in forest areas. These requirements force scientists and international
organizations to investigate propagation mechanisms in forested area [13].
Weissbergers model [1], Cost 235 [2] and ITU Recommendation (ITU-R) models [3] are three
well-known examples of empiric models applicable to foliage loss estimation. They conducted
measurements mainly at UHF band, and developed empiric formulas valid between 200 MHz and
95 GHz.
Bitirgan et al. [4] proposed a propagation model derived from free space model by taking experimentally determined foliage effect into consideration. They noted that it is possible to develop
propagation models for certain areas by using plane earth measurements as reference.
Kurnaz and Helhel [5] proposed a new model taking forest property into account. Their model
takes trunk height gain k into account and they compared their model with Weissberger, ITU-R
and COST235 models. They found that their model gives more accurate result at certain areas.
Most of the forested areas in Turkey are covered by pine trees, and there are civil and governmental based issues which require development of specific propagation models. This requirement
motivated us to generate a new model for such an environment. In this study, the procedure of
new model development steps has been presented starting with plane earth measurements.
2. FREE SPACE AND PLANE EARTH PATH LOSS MODELS

The free space path loss model can be used as a lower bound [5] to estimate path loss. The decrease
in signal strength of an electromagnetic wave which would result from an unobstructed line of sight
path through free space is called free space path loss. Free space path loss model can be obtained
by the help of Friis transmission equation. The ratio of received power Pr from a radiated transmit
antenna to base station transmit power Pt is given by the formula
Pr
Gt Gr 2
=
Pt
(4)2 d2 L

(1)

where Gt is isotropic transmit antenna gain, Gr is receive antenna gain, is signal wavelength in
meters (m), d is distance between transmit and receive antennas in meters (m) and L is system
loss factor not related to propagation (L 1). If the radio wave propagates near the earth surface
rather than through free space, plane earth path loss model, which includes the effect of ground
reflection, can better be adopted. After including the ground reflection effect, the plane earth path
loss model is formulated as
Pr
Gt Gr ht 2 hr 2
=
(2)
Pt
d4 L

PIERS Proceedings, Moscow, Russia, August 1923, 2012

1404

where ht and hr are the heights of the transmit and receive antennas in meters (m), respectively.
Derivation of (2) requires some assumptions [6] and it is valid when d is much larger than ht and
hr . It is seen that the model is frequency independent at large distances.
3. DERIVATION OF NEW EMPIRIC MODEL

At first glance, it seems that it had better adopt plane earth model rather than the free space model
as a starting point to derive a new model; however, comparison of measured and simulated data
suggests using both models in piecewise manner. In Fig. 1, simulated results of (1) and (2), as well
as measured data at 900 MHz is shown. Measurements were conducted on an uncultivated area,
which is covered only by grass, where no obstruction exists on line of sight between the transmitter
and receiver, the heights of which were both 2 m. Maximum distance in measurements was 145 m.
Analysis of Fig. 1 suggests that free space model predicts path loss better than plane earth model.
To investigate the intersection distance of both models, they have been simulated up to 500 m.
Fig. 2 shows that path loss predictions of both models intersect at 150 m for 900 MHz. Therefore,
a distance of 150 m has been selected as boundary in our model; the model adopted as a starting
point for model derivation is free space model for distances below 150 m and plane earth model for
distances above 150 m.
Path loss (PL) in a forest environment can be expressed in dB as in Eq. (3)
P L(dB) = 10 log(Gt Gr ) 20 log() + 20 log(4d) + LE

(3)

by using (1) and as in Eq. (4)

P L(dB) = 10 log(Gt Gr ) 20 log(ht hr ) + 40 log(d) + LE

(4)

by using (2), where LE stands for the excess loss in both cases. We may define LE as in Eq. (5)
LE = Lveg + Lsys

(5)

where Lveg is the loss caused by vegetation canopies and Lsys is the miscellaneous loss, which
includes transmission line attenuation and antenna losses [6], caused by the system. Since the
output power of the transmitter can be predefined in our system and the error margin of our
receiver is known to be at 1 dB [7, 8], which is much smaller than foliage path loss, Lsys is ignored
in our model.
The vegetation loss factor Lveg can be empirically calculated as in Eq. (6)
Lveg = P Lf orest P Lplane

(6)

where P Lplane is the reference path loss in dBm measured for plane earth scenario when no obstruction is present on line of sight and P Lf orest is the measured path loss in dBm in the presence
of foliage. In determination of Lveg , the data belonging to GSM1800 were used as reference and
frequency effect is included in the model later on.

80

80
Path Loss (dB)

100

Path Loss (dB)

100

60
40
20
Free Space at 900MHz

Measurement at 900MHz

60
40
20
0

Free Space at 900MHz

Plane Earth

Plane Earth (f independent)

-20

25

50
75
100
distance in meter

125

150

Figure 1: Simulated results of plane earth and free

space models which are compared with experimental
plane earth data.

-20
0

100

200
300
distance in meter

400

500

Figure 2: Simulated results of plane earth and free

space models.

Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium Proceedings, Moscow, Russia, August 1923, 2012 1405

By using the data obtained, Lveg can be written as a function of foliage depth d as in Eq. (7)
Lveg (d) =

c1 d + c2
d + c3

(7)

where c1 , c2 and c3 are all constant and non-unique numbers determined by fitting the obtained
Lveg data. It is obvious that Lveg would not be same for different environments. This is due to the
fact that attenuation caused by needle and leaves is much higher than that caused by tree trunks
and branches, as shown for trees in a park environment [9]. Therefore, trunk height gain k can be
proposed as in Eq. (8)
href
(8)
k=
hex
where href is the height of tree part without leaves in reference environment and hex is the height
of tree part without leaves in examined environment.
Frequency effect also needs to be included in the model. Since frequency effect has already been
included in Eq. (3) in terms of wave length, a term 20 log(f /1.8) has been added to the Eq. (4)
where f is frequency in GHz. After all the steps, the proposed model estimating the total path loss
including both propagation and foliage effect can be expressed in dB as in Eq. (9).

G
G
t
r

20 log() + kL(d)
d 150 m
21 10 log

(4d)2

(9)
P LP =
Gt Gr (ht hr )2
f

+
kL(d)
d
>
150
m
+
20
log

21 10 log
d4
1.8
where L(d) is found by Eq. (10)
2584d 38570
(10)
d + 11900
after fitting operation, where 21 is a constant in dB, which stands for the offset value observed in
Fig. 1.
L(d) =

4. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

Figures 3 and 4 show path loss estimations and errors of models for verification measurement
conducted in a forest different from forest area where model derivation had been realized. Root
mean square error Erms has been obtained as 6.55 dB for proposed model, 31.72 dB for COST235,
17.42 dB for Weissberger and 21.03 dB for ITU-R at 900 MHz. Performance is quantified by using
root mean square (RMS) error, defined by the formula
v
uP
u n
u
E2
t i=1 i
Erms =
(11)
n
200

70

Path Loss (dB)

150

100

50

Measurements
Proposed Model
COST 235
Weissberger
ITU-R

-50
0

40

80

120

160

200

240

280

320

Foliage Depth (meter)

Figure 3: Path loss at 900 MHz.

360

Root Mean Square Error (dB)

Proposed Model
COST 235

60

Weissberger
ITU-R

50
40
30
20
10
0
0

50

100

150 200 250 300

Foliage Depth (meter)

350

400

Figure 4: Root mean square error at 900 MHz.

1406

PIERS Proceedings, Moscow, Russia, August 1923, 2012

where Ei is the difference between estimated and measurement value at ith point of measurement
in dB and n is the number of measurement points.
In this study, a propagation model for pine tree forest environments experimentally derived
from both free space and near ground plane earth path loss models has been presented. Model has
been developed and verified in pine tree forest with foliage depth lower than 400 m in a hot climate
region in Turkey. It has been compared with Weissbergers modified exponential decay model, ITU
Recommendation model and COST235 model which are three well-known empiric models. The
results show that best performance has been obtained from the proposed one among all models.
At the same time, it has been observed that path loss estimation of COST235 is higher than that
of Weissberger and ITU-R.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This project was supported by Akdeniz University, Scientific Research Projects Supporting Unit
(BAPYB), Grant Number: 2011.02.0121.007 and 2012.05.0102.024.
REFERENCES

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