Measurement-Based Characterization and Modeling of Land-to-Ship Wireless Channels at 3.2 GHz

In this article, a wireless channel sounding campaign was conducted in a land-to-ship scenario at 3.2 GHz. The ship, equipped with a transmitter (TX), passed islands during measurement while the stationary receiver (RX) remained on land. Based on the measured data, the wireless channel characteristics in scenarios featuring islands were analyzed and a channel model was built. The power delay profile (PDP) indicates that as the TX moves to the shore, the relative delay of clusters shifts linearly backward on the delay axis. In addition, navigating through islands leads to a significant increase in the number of multipath components (MPCs). The single-frequency bias displayed in the Doppler spectrum can provide an insightful dimension for clustering. For large-scale fading, a two-ray model is used to characterize path loss which captures deep fading phenomenon specific to maritime environments. For small-scale fading, we develop a clustered delay line model that shows a linear relationship between cluster delay and TX-RX distance, with excess delay of MPCs following an exponential distribution. Our analysis reveals that the best-fit distribution for small-scale fading in line-of-sight (LOS) conditions shifts from Ricean to log-normal as the ship passes through islands. Furthermore, the number and power of clusters/MPCs are modeled. This research offers valuable insights for the design of maritime communication systems, particularly in environments with islands.