LTE maritime coverage solution and ocean propagation loss model

Abstract

Conventional cell radius of LTE system is limited up to 100 km. However, there has been needs for the longer coverage, especially in LTE maritime system for public safety. In this paper, we demonstrate the feasibility of an LTE maritime system with coverage ranging more than 100 km through experiments. The experiments were performed with multi-cell configuration, where one cell covers up to 100 km and another covers 80 km to 180 km. We also propose a simplified three-slope radio propagation model in ocean area with various base station antenna heights based on the measurement performed in the experiments.