Investigation of radio propagation characteristics in UHF band over straight and circular paths in central Tanzania

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IEEE

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Abstract. The full-text article is available at https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9570877/keywords#keywords
A study was conducted to investigate radio propagation characteristics in ultra-high frequency (UHF) bands over straight and circular paths in central Tanzania. The received signal power values (in dBm) were collected using a spectrum analyzer in straight and circular paths. The collected values were further converted to path loss values and validated against those computed from theoretical formulas of ITU-R P.452-16, ITU-R P.1812-4, Hata and Longley-Rice models. The study used the experimental spectrum measurements approach and Pearson’s correlation coefficient (PCC) to determine the best-fit propagation model for the UHF spectrum band allocated for digital terrestrial television (DTT) in central Tanzania. The DTT spectrum band ranges from 470 – 694 MHz in Tanzania after successfully migrating from analogue to digital broadcasting. The study found a significant difference between measured path loss values and those computed from theoretical formulas. The Hata and Longley-Rice models had a better convergence with reality for most of the fixed locations. The accuracy of the empirical propagation model plays a critical role in the optimal planning of the television white space (TVWS) network and contributes to efficient spectrum utilization.

Keywords

Correlation coefficient, UHF measurements, TV, Radio propagation, Radio, White spaces, Propagation losses, Computational modeling, UHF, Ultra-High Frequency, Tanzania, Central Tanzania, Circular paths

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