Empirical Electric Field Strength Models for Digital Terrestrial Television Signals in Minna, Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

Propagation models play vital roles in planning network coverage, the interference estimations and analyzing radio communication networks. This work adapted some existing empirical field strength models that are best suitable for Minna, Niger State, Nigeria, using the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) signal of StarTimes Terrestrial Television, Minna. The models used are: free space, Hata, ITU-R P. 529-3 and ERC Report 68 models. The television station transmits at a frequency of 642 MHz. The signal levels of the transmitted signal were measured radially along four radial routes using Digital Signal Level Meter, GE-5499 and the corresponding distances were also measured using Global Positioning System (GPS). Data processing and computation were carried out using Microsoft Excel spread sheet. The results show that the free space model gives a better prediction for signal field strength in Minna after the general modification with the correction factor of -27.88 and Root Mean Square Error of 7.21 dBµV/m