Statistical Characterization of Multipath Propagation at Edwards Air Force Base (EAFB)

Abstract

This paper describes the use of scattering functions to characterize time-varying multipath radio channels. Channel Impulse responses were measured at Edwards Air Force Base (EAFB) and a process is outlined for generating scattering functions from the impulse response data. From the scattering function we compute the corresponding Doppler power spectrum and multipath intensity profile. These functions completely characterize the signal delay and the time varying nature of the channel in question and are used by systems engineers to design reliable communications links. We observe from our results that flight paths that had ample reflectors exhibited significant multipath events.