A simulator design to model electromagnetic wave propagation by 3D ray tracing method in indoor environments

Electromagnetic (EM) wave propagation is an important research area on which many studies have been done. The studies show that while realistic results can be achieved for simple environments with clear sight, the computations costs can be high for the complex environments. In literature, there are a lot of methods that model the propagation of EM wave. One of these methods is deterministic models. The deterministic models can take into accounts the geometry of the environment, reflection, refraction, diffraction effects. Some deterministic methods can produce successful results by solving Maxwell equations. However, the complexity due to the resolution of Maxwell equations is the disadvantages of these methods. To overcome these disadvantages, different approach methods such as ray tracing have been proposed. In this thesis, in order to predict the EM wave propagation in closed environments, 3D Ray tracing method that takes into account the reflection, refraction and diffraction effects has been discussed and implemented. For this purpose, a 3D Ray Tracing software tool, which can model the environment of interest, and consider the transmitter and receiver parameters, has been developed. The measurements taken from a real tunnel environment have been used in order to test the accuracy of the program. The tunnel environment has been modeled in 3D by the developed program, and then different scenarios have been carried out in this model. In the scenarios, the effects of reflection and refraction have been observed.