Signal Strength Evaluation Of A 3g Network In Owerri Metropolis Using Path Loss Propagation Model At 2.1ghz

ABSTRACT

This work evaluated the path losses and strength of received signals of a 3G Network operating at frequency of 2.1GHz in Owerri metropolis using Drive test. There were serious cases of call drops and low Quality of signal (QoS) experienced within some part of the Owerri metropolis. This situation has been burdensome on the side of the network users, as that has made them incur a lot of financial losses and passed through pains. The network providers, on their side, also passed through pressures and financial losses. Through the use of Transmission Evaluation and monitoring system (TEMS 11) equipment, Global positioning system (BU353 GPS) and laptop, a drive test was carried out along the major streets in owerri metropolis categorized into urban and sub-urban areas. From data collected, Owerri sub-urban indicated poor received signal level compared to Owerri urban. Hence, path loss exponents were computed for the Owerri urban and sub-urban as 3.24 and 4.34 respectively, the mean squared error was calculated as 1.96 and 1.68, and a measurement-based path loss models were developed for Owerri urban and sub-urban areas, Imo State Nigeria as and respectively. The results from the MatLab software simulation showed a considerable drop in the Received Signal Level (RSL) in some of these studied areas which were as a result of multipath fading, inefficient call hand over scheme, among others. The results indicated a deviation between the compared existing models (Hata and Cost 231) and the proposed path loss models. However, the slope of the Hata plot is closer to the proposed model than that of Cost 231; hence, the proposed model will best represent the path loss within the environment under study, followed by Hata model.