A NEW METRIC TO ANALYZE PROPAGATION MODELS

Deterministic propagation models are typically validated by performing comparisons between real and simulated E-field envelope distributions. These distributions correspond to straight spatial segments and, occasionally, also surfaces. This approach is correct to study large scale fading for relatively large distances. However, in a real environment and shorter distances, there are too many details to consider. As a result, it is almost impossible to reach a point by point match in a minimally realistic experiment. There are two ways to deal with this problem. The first one is to model every minor detail everywhere around us, keeping the point by point metric. The second one is to change that metric in order to admit, at least in part, that we can not take into account of all the details. If uncertainty can not be eliminated, we should learn to take advantage of it by using a statistical metric like the one proposed here. This paper uses such a kind of metric to validate several structural and geometrical simplifications of a model for the transition between outdoor and indoor propagation that has been recently published. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this metric has helped us to improve and understand better this model, while revealing unexpected model properties at the same time. Corresponding author: J. Blas (juabla@tel.uva.es).