A new ray-tracing based wave propagation model including rough surfaces scattering

Abstract

This paper presents a complete ray-tracing based model which takes into account scattering from rough surfaces in indoor environments. The proposed model relies on a combination between computer graphics and radar techniques. The paths between the transmitter and the receiver are found thanks to a Bi-Directional Path-Tracing algorithm, and the scattering field after each interaction between the electromagnetic wave and the environment is computed according to the Kirchhoff Approximation. This propagation model is implemented as a plug-in in an existing full 3-D ray-tracing software. Thus, we compare the results of classical ray-tracing with those of our model to study the influence of the scattering phenomenon on the wave propagation in typical indoor environments.