Ray-Tracing Based Channel Modeling and Characteristics Analysis for Maritime Land-to-Ship Communication Systems

In this paper, a ray-tracing based maritime land-to-ship channel model is proposed. In this model, a three dimensional (3D) offshore scenario containing the sea surface, shore land, and buildings on shore is modeled. The sea surface is further simplified after modeling with the TEXEL, MARSEN, and ARSLOE (TMA) shallow sea wave spectrum and the Longuet-Higgins model. The ray-tracing algorithm for maritime land-to-ship scenarios also takes scenario update time into account, where scenario update time can be obtained from the derived time autocorrelation function (ACF) of the sea surface wave. The simulation results of path loss are compared with the free-space path loss (FSPL) model and measurement results. Effects of the sea depths and wind speeds on path loss are investigated. Based on the simulation results, an increase in either sea depth or wind speed can increase the path loss.