An advanced multi-element microcellular ray tracing model

In this paper an advanced site specific image-based ray-tracing model is developed that enables multi-element outdoor propagation analysis to be performed in a microcellular environment. Sophisticated optimization techniques such as pre-processing the environment database using object partitioning, visibility determination, diffraction image tree pre-calculation techniques, and parallel processing are used to improve run time efficiency. A comparison of path loss prediction with multi-element site specific measurements shows strong agreement, with a mean error of 3.6 dB and a standard deviation of 3.2 dB. The model is also shown to be capable of performing detailed MIMO analysis.