Worldwide techniques for predicting the multipath fading distribution on terrestrial LOS links: Comparison with regional techniques

A revised worldwide method has been recommended by the Radiocommunications Sector of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R) in Recommendation ITU-R 530-8 for predicting the deep-fading distribution due to multipath. propagation in the average worst month on VHF-EHF terrestrial line-of-sight links. This paper presents detailed testing results for the revised method on a 239-link data base from 22 countries around the world in comparison with results for the leading regional methods still frequently used by some link designers for worldwide applications (viz.; the Barnett-Vigants method of the United States and the Morita method of Japan). An evaluation of the form of the prediction equation is given for the revised and previous ITU-R methods and several regional methods. The revised ITU-R method is shown to perform significantly better than the other methods for both overland and coastal/overwater links.