CHARACTERIZATION OF PROPAGATION PATH LOSS AT VHF/UHF BANDS FOR ILORIN CITY, NIGERIA

Abstract

Path loss exponent, standard deviation and building penetration loss are used in all distance path loss models. Once these data are known for an environment, coverage planning and propagation analysis could be done easily. Many countries across the world, such as Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, and the USA have already published their propagation data, mostly, the path loss exponent for their various cities. However in Nigeria, these data are not available. In this work, measurements were conducted at 203.25 MHz and 583.25 MHz frequencies along ten routes in Ilorin City in Kwara State of Nigeria. Least squares regression method is used to fit the measured data with log-normal propagation path loss model to characterize the path loss parameters. Results of the experiment indicate that the path loss exponent for Ilorin City varies from 1.4 to 4.94 with an average value of 2.80. The work further investigates the behaviour of the TV signals in the same environment in terms of standard deviation and building penetration loss across the routes, and some selected building structures.