Propagation Modeling and Measurement for a Multifloor Stairwell

Reliable wireless communications in stairwells are crucial to law enforcement and firefighting safety. Understanding the radio propagation in stairwells is necessary to successfully design such communications systems. In this letter, we study the radio propagation in a multifloor stairwell using measurements and simulations. Fundamental propagation mechanisms such as reflection from stairwell walls and transmission through the stair steps are investigated. It is found that the stairwell walls in this studied case do not reflect much of the incoming energy and that the transmitted energy through the stairs has significant contributions to the total received power. An image-based ray tracing scheme is used to identify the various propagation mechanisms. The ray-tracing simulation results match the measurements very well. Furthermore, physics-based explanations were provided for the trends and characteristics in the obtained results.