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International Journal of Advanced Research in Biology, Ecology, Science and Technology (IJARBEST)
Vol. 1, Issue 8, November 2015

 Path loss Determination Using Hata Model and

Effect of Path loss in OFDM
Tony Thomas1, Vivek M V2
Post-Graduate Scholar, Department of Electronics and Communication, FISAT, Ernakulam, India 1
Asst. Professor, Govt Engineering College, Wayanad, India 2

Abstract—The aim is to adopt a modified propagation model rates in order to support the anticipated multi-media intensive
for the Chennai area in which examine the applicability of applications for voice and data transmissions. The demand for
Okumura-Hata model for LTE frequency band 3 (1800 band) high data rates in 4G systems causes the transmitted signals to
and then analyze the performance characteristics of OFDM be subjected to frequency-selective fading.
which is used in LTE. The performance of wireless
communication systems is mainly governed by the wireless
channel environment. In the investigation the variation in path II. RELATED WORK AND AIM OF RESEARCH
loss between the measured and predicted values has been
analyzed. Due to the growing interest of high data rate and Radio propagation is essential for emerging technologies
bandwidth constrains, the new technology is adopted as OFDM, with appropriate design, deployment and management
in the latest generation communication system 4G. The strategies for any wireless network. It is heavily site specific
performance comparison of the OFDM is evaluated by and can vary significantly depending on terrain, frequency of
considering the effect of path loss. The goal of the paper is to operation, velocity of mobile terminal, interface sources and
evaluate the performance of OFDM through HATA model
Index Terms— Drive test, OFDM, Okumura-Hata, other dynamic factor. Accurate characterization of radio
Optimization, Path loss. channel through key parameters and a mathematical model is
important for predicting signal coverage, achievable data
I. INTRODUCTION rates, BER and Antenna gain. Wireless system has high Bit
Since the mid 1990’s the cellular communications industry Error Rate (BER) and poor performance without equalization.
has witnessed rapid growth. Wireless mobile communication Fading is not same for every communication system and inter
networks have become much more pervasive than anyone Symbol Interference (ISI) is also one of the main problem in
ever imagined when cellular concept was first developed. our communication systems. This project presents the
From the beginning of the 20th century onwards researches detailed study on model, Hata Model and this is the most
has been going on to provide new methods and products for popular model that being used widely for Urban Areas. The
wireless communication in order to exchange of the Radio propagation model that was built using the data
multimedia information. High quality and high capacity collected in the city of Tokyo, Japan and analyzed
network are in need today, for that estimating coverage mathematically. The nature of the radio channel affects the
accurately has become exceedingly important. Therefore for transmission of information through it. The interaction
more accurate design coverage of modern cellular networks, between the electromagnetic waves and the environment
measurement of signal strength must be taken into reduces the signal strength send from transmitter to receiver
consideration, thus to provide efficient and reliable coverage that causes path loss [1]. One of the major challenges facing
area. The nature of the radio channel affects the transmission engineers in mobile radio design has been modeling an
of information through it. One of the major challenges facing accurate radio channel and its characteristics. If there is no
engineers in mobile radio design has been modeling an line of sight (LOS) communication between transmitter and
accurate radio channel and its characteristics. The receiver, generally there are very many particles to cause
electromagnetic wave propagation can generally be attributed
scattering in this region, the Rayleigh fading statistical model
to scattering, diffraction and reflection. Because of multiple
may usefully predict behavior and performance in this kind of
reflections from various objects, they travel along different
paths of varying lengths. Most cellular radio systems operate systems.
in urban areas where there is no direct line-of-sight path Propagation models are broadly classified into two
between the transmitter and receiver and also there is categories namely Large Scale Propagation and Small Scale
presence of high rise buildings causes severe diffraction loss. Propagation models. They have been studied extensively to
The more commonly used propagation data for mobile assess the effects of channels on the transmission and
communications is Okumura’s measurements and this is reception of signals in wireless conditions. Some common
recognized by the International Telecommunication Union properties to be considered for channel design include fading,
(ITU). OFDM is seen as a possible candidate for Fourth Doppler Effect, diffraction, line of sight and propagation
Generation (4G) wireless systems that demand higher data delay. Also the environmental properties affect the radio

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Vol. 1, Issue 8, November 2015

channel includes Urban/Hilly/Rural terrain, indoor/outdoor over quasi-smooth terrain.

environment and weather conditions including humidity To improving the accuracy in predicting propagation
factor. The choice of system architecture and optimization of models it has to consider path loss over irregular terrain,
system parameters for communications are dependent on the various methods, which are often computationally intensive.
channel conditions. Now days there are different models to These models are being increasingly used for radio network
calculate the path loss such as empirical and semi planning. The prediction of field strength in a terrestrial
deterministic models. environment is a complex task, e.g., when obstruction by
Large scale path loss modeling plays a fundamental role in terrain and/or scattering from objects is involved. Various
designing both fixed and mobile radio systems. Predicting the modeling methods have been proposed for each correction
radio coverage area of a system is not done in a standard factor, which have been incorporated in different versions of
manner. For proper selection of Base Trans receiver Station the Recommendation.
(BTS) parameters needs the proper selection of the particular Here the Hata model is redefining with the clutter in
communication model which show good result by considering Chennai for LTE frequency band 3 (1800 MHz band). Then
these parameters [1]. compare the characteristics of OFDM which is used in the
Propagation models can be classified mainly into two existing LTE with and without effect of path loss.
extremes, i.e. fully empirical models and Deterministic
models. There are some models which have the characteristics III. METHODOLOGY AND DISCUSSION
of both types. Those are known as Semi-empirical models. In this proposed work contains the study of path loss in the
Empirical models are based on practically measured data. Chennai area for LTE. The study is conducted in Bharthi
Only few parameters are used in these models. So it is simple Airtel and it is using 1800 Mhz band which is having the LTE
but not very accurate. The empirical models are mainly used band number as Band 3.The uplink frequency used is 1710 –
to analysis the behavior of macro cellular environment. These 1785 and the down link frequency is 1805 -1880. Then
include Hata model, Okumura model. On the other hand, OFDM is analyzed with different modulation schemes. The
deterministic models are very accurate. Some of the examples analysis is based on the presence of path loss and without
include Ray Tracing and Ikegami model. Semi-empirical considering the path loss.
models are based on both empirical data and deterministic The Okumura Model is commonly used to predict the path
aspects. All these models estimate the mean path loss based loss. But Okumura Model is having the disadvantage as the
on parameters such as antenna heights of the transmitter and response with respective terrine change is slow. Hata
Receiver, distance between them, etc. These models have redefined a model in which Okumura’s plots are modified in
been extensively validated for mobile networks. Most of these to an empirical model and correction factors added which
models are based on a systematic interpretation of gives good response when the clutter is having changes. The
measurement data obtained in the service area. existing model is based on the field measurement taken in
Okumura model is the most popular model that being used Japan. The terrine conditions are different from Japan and the
widely. The Okumura model for urban areas is a radio clutter density is different and it is decreased. In this work the
propagation model that was built using the data collected in Hata model is redefining with real field optimization in
the city of Tokyo, Japan. The model is ideal for using in cities Chennai for the LTE sites.
with many urban structures but not many tall blocking The experiments conducted in a cluster of sites and the
structures. The model served as a base for Hata models. observations are made. For the reference, here it is consider
Okumura model was built into three modes which are urban, only one site. The site or cluster under observation will
suburban and open areas. The model for urban areas was built optimize first. Optimization is a procedure which is used to
first and used as the base for suburban and open areas. Clutter identify and rectify the performance affecting problems
and terrain categories for open areas are there are no tall trees within the constraints of an existing network infrastructure.
or buildings in path, plot of land cleared for 200-400m. The Then received signal code power (RSCP) will be collected
examples for open areas are farmland and open fields. For which will give the measure of received power in the mobile
suburban area the categories is village or highway scattered handset or user equipment (UE). In some UE it will be
with trees and houses which contain few obstacles near the displayed. Here we are collecting the received signal code
mobile. Urban area categories is built up city or large town power using the software Huawei GENEX Prob and the
with large buildings and houses with two or more floors or procedure of collecting the received signal code power is
larger villager with close houses and tall, thickly grown trees. called drive test which is explained later.
The response from Okumura model with respective the The collected signals are saved in the personal computer
terrain is slow .There for a new model is proposed by Hata where the software is installed and it is analyzed using
which is make use of Okumuras plots. Hata established Huawei GENEX Assistant, and MapInfo. From Huawei
empirical mathematical relationships to describe the graphical GENEX Assistant it is possible to export the different all the
information given by Okumura. Hata’s formulation is limited mobile and mobile network related parameter in the air
to certain ranges of input parameters and is applicable only interface ie between mobile and enodB which is able to

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Vol. 1, Issue 8, November 2015

collect by Huawei GENEX Prob which is the drive test tool. The path loss can be calculated from the transmitted and
The Transmitting power will be constant for each operator received power. The received power can be computed from
thus it is able to calculate the path loss. Then plot the path loss the real field measurement and the transmitted power is fixed
vs. distance. Then analysis is done in OFDM with and without for each mobile operator. In this case the transmitted power is
path loss which is used in the existing LTE set as 40 dBm.
In the present LTE system is used Orthogonal Frequency
Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and it is seen as a technique PL(dB )  10 log[ Pt / Pr]
that uses parallel transmission of data through different sub
channels that are orthogonal to each other thereby lowering Pt and Pr are the transmitted and received power in Watts
the bit rate per carrier. The path loss is calculated by using respectively. Then mean square error (MSE) was calculated
Okumura-Hata Model and the existing model is developed between measured path loss value and those predicted values
long back and the data used to develop the plots are collected by Hata model.
from the Japan terrine. The terrine condition here in Japan and
in Chennai is different. The characteristics such as vegetation,
building, clutter density etc.. are different and it also plays
MSE 
 Pm  Pr  2

major role in the signal propagation. For the analysis we took N  1

a LTE site in Chennai and conducted drive test. The drive test
process is explained in detail in the next section. From the test
we can observe the signal strength .The transmitted power set Where Pm is measured path loss
for LTE 1800 FDD used is 43 dbm in Bharathi Airtel. A Pr is predicted path loss
processing tool is used to obtain the received signal strength N is number of measured data points
at each point of time and position. Then we can calculate the The mean square error is calculated and it is subtracted
path loss. from the basic Hata model equation which is derived for the
The observed path loss and the theoretical path loss area Japan
compared by using Matlab and the correction factor will be The terrain in Chennai area (the observed area) can be
applied and the present model will change to the customized considered as a suburban area and the difference is subtracted
model for Chennai clutter. form the original Hata model equation and the modified result
The basic Okumura –Hata model is the most famous and of Hata equation in sub-urban area for Chennai area is
commonly used model and it is made by extensive
measurements .Hata transformed Okumura’s plots to an TABLE I: TOOLS USED
empirical model and it is valid for 150-1500 MHz . Airtel LTE 4G Specification / Details
Model takes the effect of Transmitter height (hb) in m,
1) Test UE model E392
receiver height( hm) in m, frequency (fc) in MHz, distance (d)
in km and different environments Huawei GENEX Probe
2) Drive Test Software & version
V2R3C02
3) GPS Type / Model Garmin GPS Spanner
 A  B log d Urban
 4) Drive Test Analysis Software & Huawei GENEX Assistant
L   A  B log d  C Suburban Version V3R3C02/Agilent/Mapinfo
 A  B log d  D Open 5) Data analysis tool MATLAB


IV. DRIVE TEST AND RADIO NETWORK OPTIMIZATION

A  69 .55  26 .16 log fc  13 .86 log hb  a hm
The industry is also becoming intensely competitive.
B  44 .19  6 .55 log hb Service providers must continually strive to improve their

C  5 .4  2log fc 28 
2 quality of service if they want to keep customers. In this
environment, high quality of service is a competitive
D  40 .94  4 .78 log fc   19 .33 log fc advantage for a service provider. Quality of service can be
2

characterized by such factors as contiguity of coverage,

accessibility to the network, data rate and number of dropped
sessions. If too much time is spent simply reacting to customer
1.1log fc  0.7hm  1.56 fc  0.8 Medium complaints, there may not be enough time to improve overall

a hm    2
8.28 log1.54hm  1.1  L arg ecity service quality. Therefore, service providers need the ability


 2

3.2 log 11.75hm  4.97 fc  400l arg ecity to fix complaint-producing problems quickly by measuring
the signal strength and quality of service. The solution for this
problem is Drive test and optimization.

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Vol. 1, Issue 8, November 2015

success rates. Key metrics are derived from data collected

A. Drive Test
from sources such as drive tests, statistical data, customer
The primary tool used by most service providers to solve complaints and field engineer reports and are used to measure
network problems is a drive-test system. Drive test is a the performance of the network. These metrics are analyzed
Phone-based test and it integrate phone-and-receiver-based and compared to the QoS targets in order to identify any
solutions A conventional drive-test system is comprised of a performance degradation in the network. If problematic areas
test mobile phone or a data card, software to control and a are identified from analysis of the network performance
Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver for position parameters, corrective processes and/or procedures are
information. A test data card gives a customer’s view of the implemented to rectify the situation using one or a
network, but can only indicate the type of problem that exists. combination of techniques. This process of corrective actions
It cannot show the cause of the problem. is known as optimization.

Fig. 2. Optimization Cycle.

Fig. 1. Drive test set up.

Drive testing consists of test teams driving on pre-defined V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

routes in a network region and periodically initiating calls or The existing theoretical Hata model is described in the
data sessions and measuring signal strength. The results are previous section. The path loss vs. distance is plotted which is
transferred from the MS to a dedicated PC where the various derived from the set of equation.
data groups are processed in order to produce graphical and
tabular data. A coverage plot of a service area is obtained by
placing the test mobile of the drive-test system in the idle
mode and driving through the service area measuring the
Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP). Reference Signal
Received Power (RSRP) is then plotted against GPS
information to obtain a coverage plot.
B. Radio Network Optimization
The mobile network definition of optimization is ‘The
identification and rectification of performance affecting
problems within the constraints of an existing network
infrastructure.’ Optimization is an important step in the life Fig. 3. Hata model.
cycle of a wireless network. Optimization is a part of the
performance management process. The objective of the radio Genex tool was used to measure the signal strength level
network optimization is to extract the optimum performance for uplink and downlink at coverage areas for a cell in the road
from the cellular network, at any given phase of its lifecycle. of Chennai. The road of Chennai can be considered as
All cellular systems will be associated with continuous sub-urban and therefore equivalent equations of
change, with new radio sites being introduced, old sites being Okumura-hata models were used. Path loss was determined
enhanced and assigned additional frequencies, by practical measurement for each distance, and then on that
Omni-directional sites being sectorised, new frequency plans basis a comparison was done between theoretical and
being implemented in different regions, etc. The initial step in experimental values by MATLAB. The physical parameters
performance management is to define a set of QoS (Quality of of the evaluated site is shown bellow.
Service) parameters such as dropped call rates and session

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TABLE I: PHYSICAL SITE PARAMETERS

Bandwidth
Channe Channel Cel
Provision in Lat/Long PCI
ls Bandwidth l ID
MHZ

DL:
1 357
CHN_4
1833.5-1838.5 12.994/
G_VEL 5 MHZ 2 358
UL: 80.2175
CH
1738.5-1743.5
3 398

The drive test is conducted in the site CHN_4G_VELCHP

and the real field optimization is done. The live display will be
provided by the Genex Probe.

Fig. 6. Segregated MapInfo Output.

The path loss is calculated using the equation. The

transmitted power is taken as 43 dbm and it is defined by the
operator. The path loss vs distance is plotted in Matlab .

Fig. 4. Genex Probe Output.

The recorded values are processed by Genex assistant and

exported as tab file. The Tab files can be analyzed using the
MapInfo

Fig. 7. Practical path loss model.

Then we can compare the theoretical Hata model

developed by Hata and the practical values we got in Chennai
location.

Fig. 5. Mapinfo Output.

For the ease of calculation the values plotted at each 100

meters and the values taken in the main lobe direction. The
selected values of received signals are shown in the below
figure.
Fig. 8. Hata model and practical model.

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This clearly shows that measured path loss is less than Performance of OFDM using Hata-Okumura Model is
predicted path loss. This difference is because of many plotted with and without path loss. The figure give below is
reasons one of the reason is the geographical situation of plotted with N point FFT/IFFT is 64 and M=64. The effect of
Chennai is different from that of Japan. Now, mean square path loss is considered in this simulation result.
error (MSE) was calculated between measured path loss value Hata-Okumura model is having sufficient path loss and here
and those predicted by Hata model. conceded the suburban area for the plot.The path loss is
The MSE was found to be around 170 dB. Therefore the obtained from the test conducted in the on field.
MSE was subtracted from the Hata equation .The the
modified equation is

L  A  B log d  C  170

The correction factor can be applied for the Chennai suburban

area because the same test is repeated in different site in the
nearby locations. Then the resulted plot is shown in figure 8

Fig. 11. OFDM With and without path loss.

VI. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORKS

The research work of this thesis is entirely devoted to the
investigations of an OFDM downlink multipath fading
channel environments along with the circumstance of path
loss. This work was aimed on predicting the mean signal
Fig. 9. Hata model with correction factor. strength of Chennai. Today’s predictions models differ in
their applicability over different environmental and terrain
Then Performance of OFDM with variable M-ary QAM is conditions. There are many predictions methods based on
analyzed. The figure shows that by increasing the value of M, deterministic processes through the availability of improved
the BER also gets increased as in case of the QAM. Square data values, but still the Hata model is most commonly used
QAM is normally used to reduce the effect of fading. In the empirical propagation model. That is because of the ITU-R
following figure Nfft (N point FFT/ifft) is taken as 64 and recommendation for its proven reliability and its simplicity.
with the addition of 25% cyclic prefix it is transmitted and By using the Okumura-Hata model obtained the path loss and
performance is evaluated. M-16,32 and 64 is compared in the compared OFDM with and without path loss
following plot. Throughout this thesis, perfect synchronization and
Channel State Information (CSI) is known at the receiver is
assumed. With the assumptions, comparative studies of the
OFDM is plotted and evaluated.
The future work includes the comparison of OFCDM
scheme which combines both the advantages of both OFDM
and CDMA with and without the effect of path loss. With
sufficient amount of guard intervals, OFDM can wholly
remove the effect of ISI. The SNR problem of OFDM is taken
care with the help of CDMA.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
It is my privilege to remember here the grace of GOD
ALMIGHTY and all those people who have contributed
directly or indirectly in the successful execution of my
Fig. 10. BER performance of OFDM. project.This work is supported and guided by my research
. guide. I am also grateful to my research guide Mr Vivek M V,

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Vol. 1, Issue 8, November 2015

Assistant Professor in Govt College of Engineering Wayanad. [9] Dahman and Shayan, “Performance evaluation of
space-time-frequency spreading for MIMO OFDM-CDMA systems”,
Finally I would like to express my gratitude to the electronics
EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing, 2011
and communication department, Federal Institute of Science [10] Nelly M. Shafik , “Performance of OFDM- CDMA System using
and Technology, Kerala, India for providing me with all the Modified Space- Shift Keying Technique”, International Journal of
required facilities without which the project would not have Information and Communication Technology Research,2012
been possible.
Tony Thomas received the BTech degree in
REFERENCES Electronics and Communication Engineering from
[1] T.S.Rappaport, “Wireless Communications- Principles and Practice”, Calicut University, Kerala, India, in 2010. Currently,
Prentice Hall, 2010 he is post graduate student in Communication
[2] LTE SCFT (single cell functioning test) report done for Bharti Airtel Engineering, Federal Institute of Science and
for the site e_BL2838 Technology (FISAT), Kerala, India. His current
[3] Ove Edfors, Magnus Sandell, Jan Jaap van de Beek,”An introduction research area includes wireless communication and
to Orthogonal Frequency-division Multiplexing,Sep.1996 image processing.
[4] LTE Physical Layer-General Description, 3GPP TS36.201, Aug. 2007.
[5] S. M. Salih, Y. J. Harbi and Talib Mahmoud Ali “A Proposed
Improvement Model for MC-CDMA in Selective Fading Channel”,
Anbar Journal of Engineering Sciences ,AJES-2009. Vivek M V received the M Tech degree in
[6] Hanzo, L., Münster, M., Choi, B.,Keller, T. , “OFDM and MC-CDMA Communication Engineering from Kannur University,
for Broadband Multi-User Communications, WLANs and Kerala, India, in 2010. Currently, he is working as a
Broadcasting” ,2003, Pages 915 – 948. Assistant Professor in Govt Engineering College
[7] Jalal J. Hamad Ameen and Widad Binti Ismail “Multi-band Carrier Wayanad, Kerala, India. His current research area
Code Division Multiple Access for 4G Mobile System with Improved includes wireless communication and image
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[8] A. Kattoush, “A Novel Radon-Wavelet-Based Multi-Carrier Code
Division Multiple Access Transceiver Design and Simulation under .
Different Channel Conditions” ,The International Arab Journal of
Information Technology, Vol. 9, No. 3, May 2012.

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