Comparison of Radio Propagation Models for Long Term Evolution (LTE) Network

Abstract: This paper concerns about the radio propagation models used for the upcoming 4th Generation (4G) of cellular networks known as Long Term Evolution (LTE). The radio wave propagation model or path loss model plays a very significant role in planning of any wireless communication systems. In this paper, a comparison is made between different proposed radio propagation models that would be used for LTE, like Stanford University Interim (SUI) model, Okumura model, Hata COST 231 model, COST Walfisch-Ikegami & Ericsson 9999 model. The comparison is made using different terrains e.g. urban, suburban and rural area.SUI model shows the lowest path lost in all the terrains while COST 231 Hata model illustrates highest path loss in urban area and COST Walfisch-Ikegami model has highest path loss for suburban and rural environments.