Wireless Wave Attenuation in Forests: An Overview of Models

In recent years, the need for reliable signal transmission in forested areas has increasingly grown, and the past few decades have witnessed significant developments in related research. With the emergence of smart forestry and precision forestry, understanding the science behind enhancing signal reliability in forests—specifically, studying the patterns and models of radio wave attenuation in these environments—has become crucial. To this end, we conducted a comprehensive review based on bibliometrics to summarize and construct the existing academic literature, revealing current research trends and hotspots. Utilizing bibliometric techniques, we analyzed the literature on radio wave attenuation in forests to summarize and evaluate previous studies. Our analysis indicates that empirical models (67%), hybrid models (21%), and equivalent models (12%) are the three main research clusters in this field. We observed that studies on radio attenuation are more prevalent in urban and artificial forests, while there is a scarcity of research in complex conditions like tropical rainforests and extreme weather; studies are more focused on UHF, VHF, and SHF frequency bands, with lesser attention given to other bands. Previous research has not adequately considered the impact of seasonal factors on signal attenuation patterns nor the influence of forest working environments.