Transmission techniques for radio LAN's - A comparative performance evaluation using ray tracing

This paper uses the results of rag tracing in a typical indoor test area to compare the performance of major radio transmission techniques that are used as the air interface in evolving standards and major wireless local area network (WLAN) products. The performance of direct sequence (DS) and frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) in the test area are compared with the performance of multicarrier modems, as well as modems using decision feedback equalization (DFE) and sectored antenna systems (SAS). The validity of using ray tracing for performance evaluation is examined by comparing the results with the results of performance evaluation obtained from the empirical measurement of the channel characteristics. Based on the maximum achievable data rate and minimum power requirement determined in the test area, operation of all modems in bandlimited and power limited applications are discussed.