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Deriving the Asymptotic Two-Ray Model

Rajib Bhattacharjea
September 12, 2011
Rajib Bhattacharjea 1
Far Region
2h
d
Electric eld phasor (just magnitude and phase, no time dependence) of a plane wave travelling a distance d:
E
LOS
(d) =
E
0
d
e
jkd
(1)
Two antennas at height h above a PEC ground plane, seperated by distance d; the ground bounce path has:
d
bounce
=
_
d
2
+ 4h
2
= d
_
1 +
4h
2
d
2
The phase of the wave also ips after bouncing for grazing angles, so at the reciever, the bounce wave is:
E
bounce
(d) =
E
0
d
_
1 +
4h
2
d
2
e
jkd

1+
4h
2
d
2
(2)
Summing eqns. 1 and 2 to nd the total eld at the receiver:
E
tot
(d) = E
LOS
(d) +E
bounce
(d) =
E
0
d
e
jkd

E
0
d
_
1 +
4h
2
d
2
e
jkd

1+
4h
2
d
2
(3)
The power in this is:
P
tot
(d) = |E
tot
(d)|
2
=

E
0
d
e
jkd

E
0
d
_
1 +
4h
2
d
2
e
jkd

1+
4h
2
d
2

2
(4)
For large d, its clear that the two terms have equal magnitude and opposite phase, thus cancelling and leaving
no power:
lim
d
P
tot
(d) = 0
But they dont cancel exactly, and using some approximations can show us how fast the power is going to zero
with large distance (nd the large d asymptote). Expand equation 4, and approximate that the magnitudes of the
two waves are equal (d
_
1 +
4h
2
d
2
d for d >> 2h). For the phase dierence introduced by the path dierence,
use a small argument expansion.
P
tot
(d) =

E
0
d
e
jkd

E
0
d
_
1 +
4h
2
d
2
e
jkd

1+
4h
2
d
2

E
2
0
d
2

e
jkd
e
jkd

1+
4h
2
d
2

2
=
E
2
0
d
2
_
e
jkd
e
jkd

1+
4h
2
d
2
__
e
jkd
e
jkd

1+
4h
2
d
2
_
=
E
2
0
d
2
_
1 e
jkdjkd

1+
4h
2
d
2
e
jkd+jkd

1+
4h
2
d
2
+ 1
_
=
E
2
0
d
2
_
2 2 cos
_
kd kd
_
1 +
4h
2
d
2
. .

__
=
2E
2
0
d
2
(1 cos())
Rajib Bhattacharjea 2
The is the phase dierence between the two waves, and for large d, 0, P
tot
0. To get the order of
the decay, use a few Taylor series approximations for large argument d. For large d (using

1 +x = 1 +
x
2
for
small x), we can approximate
_
1 +
4h
2
d
2
1 +
2h
2
d
2
. Using to simplify
= kd
_
1
_
1 +
4h
2
d
2
_
kd
_
1
_
1 +
2h
2
d
2
__
=
2h
2
k
d
Also approximate cos() 1

2
2
for small . Combining these with the previous calculations:
P
tot
(d)
2E
2
0
d
2
(1 cos())
2E
2
0
d
2

2
2

2E
2
0
d
2
(
2h
2
k
d
)
2
2
=
4E
2
0
h
4
k
2
d
4
The nal result:
P
tot
(d)
4E
2
0
h
4
k
2
d
4
, For large d (5)
Note that the power now follows an inverse-fourth power law, instead of the inverse-square power law one would
expect from free space propagation. The ground bounce wave causes destructive interference which causes the
rate of power decay very far from the transmitter to be 40dB/decade instead of 20dB/decade.
Near Region
Consider how the waves will sum very near the transmitter (recall equation 3):
E
tot
(d) =
E
0
d
e
jkd

E
0
d
_
1 +
4h
2
d
2
e
jkd

1+
4h
2
d
2
Near the transmitter, d << 2h, in which case
_
1 +
4h
2
d
2

2h
d
. The second term above becomes:
E
0
d
_
1 +
4h
2
d
2
e
jkd

1+
4h
2
d
2

E
0
2h
e
jk2h
Which is a constant in d, and so can be neglected since the other term is growing as d 0, specically when
d << 2h. So what remains is:
E
tot
(d)
E
0
d
e
jkd
The power in this is:
P
tot
(d) = |E
tot
(d)|
2

E
2
0
d
2
The nal result:
P
tot
(d)
E
2
0
d
2
, For small d (6)
Of note is that the power obeys an inverse-square law.
Rajib Bhattacharjea 3
Combining the Near and Far Regions
The boxed equations give the two-ray model (inverse square propagation up to point, followed by inverse-fourth
propagation after that point). The crossover point needs to be determined (near and far arent very con-
structive), so instead use the natural breakpoint or critical distance where the near region and far region power
curves intersect; set equations 5 and 6 equal to each other and solve for the distance:
4E
2
0
h
4
k
2
d
4
c
=
E
2
0
d
2
c
Which has solution
d
c
= 2h
2
k =
4h
2

(7)
This was validated with some plots which show the exact solution and the two asymptotes; the point where they
cross is the critical distance derived above.
1 10 100 1000 10
4
d
100
50
0
50
P
tot
E
0
2
dB
Power in dB vs. Distance, 5 height
Small Distance Asymptote
Large Distance Asymptote
Exact
Data from our measurement campaigns were t to the asymptotic model which uses straight lines. The theoretical
breakpoint was assumed from equation 7, and least-squares regression was used to determine best-t path loss
exponents. In the far eld, they were all around 4, and in the near, about 2, the expected values.
Fresnel Zones

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