Elevation-angle based two-ray path loss model for Air-to-Ground wireless channels

Abstract Air-to-Ground (A2G) communication is considered as a significant enabler technology in next-generation networks. To make this a reality, a comprehensive understanding of the A2G channels is vital. This paper presents an Elevation Angle (EA) based two-ray mean path loss model for the A2G channels. In particular, we present closed-form expressions for the path loss with respect to the elevation angle and compare the results with ray-tracing simulation results. Our results show that mean path loss for the A2G channels can be accurately characterized by the proposed EA based two-ray model. Our study investigates different altitudes of the aerial terminal, different types of terrains, and two polarizations, wherein the proposed EA-based two-ray model matches well with the ray-tracing simulation results. Furthermore, a comparison of the proposed model with the other known path loss models in the literature is conducted. Finally, this work reveals an interesting relationship between the elevation angle and the signal down-fades, that these signal down-fades appear at approximately the same elevation angles regardless of the platform altitude.