Measurement of Attenuation by Building Structures in Cellular Network Bands

The power transmitted through obstacles is lower than the incident one due to reflection and absorption by them and this attenuation of electromagnetic waves reduces the radio coverage of any wireless communication system. This letter presents a study for the loss introduced by multiple building structures: brick, cavity and solid concrete block, and plasterboard walls; tile and slate roofs; and ten types of modern windows. The investigation is conducted in an anechoic chamber over the frequency range from 400 MHz to 2.7 GHz. Normal incidence is considered and both linear copolarizations (vertical-vertical and horizontal-horizontal) are tested. Strong frequency- and polarization-dependent attenuation is observed for the cavity concrete block wall and windows. The results demonstrate that the windows have the highest losses among the tested structures, which can reach up to 50 dB.