Modern and future wireless communication and information warfare systems composed of structured and ad hoc networks are required to function in extremely diverse environments across a wide range of frequency bands. These systems face challenges of operating within dense urban settings, rural or desert conditions, across rapidly varying terrain, within and amongst buildings, through foliage, and combinations of the above environments. Maintaining effective communication links and information warfare operations in such diverse geometrical and electrical conditions presents a serious challenge to the warfighter, network planner, and system designer. The objective of this proposal is to demonstrate the feasibility of creating a single propagation prediction tool of revolutionary capabilities that can accurately analyze RF propagation scenarios of arbitrary complexity with rapid turnaround. This tool will be able to characterize RF propagation over a wide frequency band (50MHz - 100GHz) and through diverse environments including urban, rural, foliage, and building interiors. The propagation model will be fully three dimensional with regards to the high fidelity scene models representing various geometric structures and the physics employed. The physics-based model developed will incorporate high- and low-frequency effects such as rough-surface diffusive scattering and ground waves, as well as an accuracy `tuning' capability. The resulting RF propagation tool will revolutionize the warfighter's ability to maintain effective communication links and to perform tasks of information warfare in extremely diverse environments with multiple systems over a wide frequency range. Additionally, the analyst and the system designer will be able to use this tool to assess and guide the development of new RF systems with orders of magnitude in reduction of cost, production and testing. The diverse channel propagation model will also have application to law enforcement communication planning and to a wide variety of wireless communication systems.
Keywords: Radio Frequency, Rf Wireless Networks, Radio Propagation, Gis, Mixed Path, High-Fidelity Model, Electromagnetic Scattering, Urban Propagation
