Modelling the likelihood of line-of-sight for air-to-ground radio propagation in urban environments

The likelihood of line-of-sight (LoS) is an essential component in any radio channel model. It is particularly useful for radio network planning and urban coverage prediction. Empirical LoS models are hard to derive due to a strong dependency on local topology and the need for large measurement datasets. Since buildings are the major obstructions in a dense urban environment, we propose a new theoretical model to determine the LoS probability for air-to-ground channels based on local building geometry and knife-edge diffraction theory. The model takes into account key statistical parameters such as building height, building size, building coverage, street width and street angle distribution. The theoretical model is shown to agree well with ray tracing simulation results. The statistical parameters, such as mean building height, percentage of area covered by buildings (building coverage) and building density, can all be easily obtained for a specific location. We also derive equations for the likelihood of LoS for a direct slant path. These equations can be used in the analysis of air-to-ground channels.