A simple 3-D geometric channel model for macrocell mobile communications

One of the fundamental research areas in wireless communications is the development of realistic models that can efficiently and accurately describe the wireless propagation channel. Most of the proposed models disregard the three dimensional character of the signal spread or use techniques with excessive computational complexity. In this paper, we develop a simple 3-D geometric scattering model for the uplink of a macrocell mobile environment that provides the statistics of Angle-of-Arrival (AoA) of the multipath components. The model extends the 2-D geometrical-based single bounce macrocell (GBSBM) model. Explicit closed-form expressions are derived for the statistics of the AoA of the multipaths in the azimuth and elevation planes. Analysis of the results exhibits the advantages of our proposal compared to 2-D and 3-D ones published in the literature. Comparisons with experimental data confirm its validity. Interesting conclusions for the effective evaluation of mobile communication systems have been derived. Moreover, an application of the model to mobile location estimation has been developed and evaluated.