An Enhanced Modified Multi Wall Propagation
Model
Salaheddin Hosseinzadeh, Hadi Larijani, Krystyna Curtis
School of Engineering & Built Environment
Glasgow Caledonian University
Glasgow, UK
salaheddin.hosseinzadeh@gmail.com, h.larijani@gcu.ac.uk, krystyna.curtis@gcu.ac.uk
Abstract—This article proposes a variation of Motley-Keenan
multi-wall radio propagation model. Proposed model incorporates
the polarization and angle of the incidence of the beam into this
model. This is achieved by using image processing techniques to
automatically detect the walls and their orientation from a
blueprint image. Hence, various wall types with different
attenuating characteristics can be defined. By acquiring the
orientation of the walls, their attenuations are defined as a
function of the angle of incidence. The main advantages of this
implementation are (i) no 3D model of the environment is required
(ii) manual preprocessing of the blueprint is eliminated (iii)
Accuracy of the propagation model is improved. This approach
hence simplifies and improves the radio propagation modeling for
indoor environments without requiring a 3D model of the
environment or defining walls with vector equations. To validate
the model, practical measurements are compared against Motley-
Kennan model, both with and without the angle of the incident. IT
is concluded that this modification improved the accuracy of the
Motley-Keenan model for estimating the path attenuation by an
average of 0.5 dB per measurement location.
Index Terms—Propagation modeling, Motley-Keenan Model,
LoRa.
I. INTRODUCTION
Wireless systems are an essential part of our daily life. They
are integrated into residential, commercial, academic and even
industrial environments due to their ease of access, flexibility
cost efficiency and mobility. Hence, providing an effective and
cost-efficient wireless local area network (WLAN) is of great
importance. To ensure that wireless services are available to
mobile users within a particular environment, link budget
analysis before deployment becomes critical. Indoor
environments have always been more challenging due to their
structural complexity, fixtures, mobility pattern and building
materials. Several different propagation models are hence used
to mitigate these challenges and facilitate link budget design.
These models are designed for particular environments and have
their own advantages and drawbacks. For instance, deterministic
models have better accuracy however, they are sophisticated to
implement, computationally demanding and require an accurate
model of the environment. On contrary, Semi-deterministic and
semi-empirical models are not as computationally demanding,
do not require an accurate model of the environment, simple to
implement and have acceptable estimation accuracy [1][ 2]. One
of the commonly used models which has received a significant
attention and been improved is the Motley-Keenan multi-wall
978-1-5090-5249-3/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
978-1-5090-5873-0/17/$31.00
model [3][4]. This is mainly owing to its efficiency and
simplicity. The model is formulated in Eq.1 where 𝐿 is the
propagation loss, 𝐿0 is the loss at the reference distance of 1 m,
𝑑 is the distance between the transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx)
and 𝛼𝑘 is the attenuation factor of the wall 𝑘 that is obstructing
the line of sight (LOS).
𝐿 = 𝐿0 + 20 log(𝑑) + ∑ αk (1)
The model was expanded in [5] to include additional site-
specific losses. In [6] Lima et al also made an adjustment to
Motley-Keenan model to improve its accuracy. This is done by
adding an additional term to the model which accounts for the
thickness of the walls. To improve the accuracy of the estimation
the model is modified in [7] by incorporating the breaking point
phenomenon [8]. The model is investigated and modified in [9]
for indoor UWB propagation. Authors considered two different
scenarios of LOS and non-LOS and used LOS path loss data to
improve the NLOS architectural loss derivation. In [10] the
model is modified to account for the nonlinear relationship
between the cumulative penetration loss and number of
penetrated walls (and floors). Authors specifically used this
model as an alternative to ray tracing due to its simplicity. In
[11] authors used image processing techniques to detect walls
location and thickness from a floor-plan image instead of
manually tagging the walls. However, effects of angle of
incidence and polarization are ignored.
This modification addresses the constant attenuation factor
(𝛼) that is assigned to each obstacle or wall. To accommodate
the polarization and incident angle, also to account for the
thickness of the walls, effective permittivities are used as
suggested in [12]. Motley-Keenan model does not account for
the angle of incidence of the beam (𝜃𝑖 ) as it impinges the walls,
and walls are assigned with fixed attenuation factors regardless
of this angle (between the beam and normal vector of the wall).
Conversely, in 3D ray-tracing algorithms, a fixed permittivity
(𝜖𝑟 ) is assigned to the walls, and transmission coefficient Γ of
a penetrating beam is a function of 𝜃𝑖 . For every wall  is
calculated using Fresnel coefficients [13] while taking 𝜃𝑖 and
wave polarization into consideration. Therefore, in spite of
having fixed permittivity for a wall, it still has varying
transmission coefficients for different 𝜃𝑖 and polarization. To
validate whether this adjustment has the potential to enhance the
model first the effect of 𝜃𝑖 on typical building materials are
investigated. Complex values of 𝜖𝑟 from a frequency range of The main contributions in this paper are,
0.01 MHz to 10 GHz are reported in [7]. The Real part of these
values, tabulated in Table I, are used for calculating the  for the  A modified Motley-Keenan model is developed with
incidence angle changing from 0 to 90 degrees. This is considering the angle of incident and beam polarization.
demonstrated in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 for TM and TE polarizations  Accuracy of the model is increased without increasing
respectively. Reflection coefficients are ignored, as unlike ray its implementation or usability complexity
tracing, Motley-Keenan model does not account for any  Real-world measurements are conducted on a campus
reflections. building.
 Results are critically analyzed and compared to verify
TABLE I. PERMITTIVITY OF COMMON CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS the simulation model.
Ceiling Plaster
Material Concrete Wood Glass Brick
board board Figure 1 shows that there is a remarkable increase in signal loss
Relative level as the angle of incidence increases. For instance increasing
5.31 1.99 6.27 1.5 3.75 2.94
permittivity the angle of incidence from 40 to 80 degrees results in 6.5 and
10 dB for plasterboard and concrete in TE polarization
respectively.
II. MODIFIED MOTLEY-KEENAN MODEL
A. Incorportation of Incident Angle
Motley-Keenan model in [14] is therefore modified to
accommodate the angle of incident, Eq.2.

𝐿 = 𝐿0 + 20 log(𝑑) + ∑ Γ𝑘 (𝜃𝑖 ) (2)

Instead of using a fixed attenuation factor, the transmission

Fig. 1. Signal level change of TM polarization for materials in table I
against incident angle ranging from 0 to 90 degrees, and 35 to 85
degrees.
Fig. 2. Signal level change of TE polarization for materials in table I
against incident angle ranging from 0 to 90 degrees, and 35 to 85
degrees.
coefficient is used which is a function of incident angle and the
polarization. This will adjust the signal attenuation level
according to 𝜃𝑖 . ITU-R P.2040-1 [13] reported the permittivity
of different materials and their effect on the signal strength level.
B. Implementation of New Model
The only requirement to implement this model is to find the
incident angle between the beam and the wall as the beam is
impinging upon. This is straightforward in 3D or 2D ray tracing
where the model of the structure exists and walls can be defined
by vector equations. However, this introduces implementation
and usability complexities. For the modified Motley-Keenan
model, having a blueprint image of the structure is enough. To
use an image of the structure and yet be able to calculate 𝜃𝑖
without complicating the structural definition process, Hough
transform [15] is used to determine and distinguish all the walls.
The orientation of walls (𝜃𝐻 ) in the image also can be
determined from the Hough space. By interactively acquiring
the position of Tx on the image, it is then possible to calculate
the transmission angle (𝜙) and hence calculate the incident angle
of the beam (𝜃𝑖 = 90 − 𝜃𝐻 + 𝜙). This concept is illustrated in
Fig. 3.
After detecting all the walls one by one, an 8-bit grayscale
image of the blueprint was generated, with each wall having a
different pixel intensity starting from 254, (255 pre-allocated to
designate the Tx location on the image). This is to distinguish
the walls from one another and associate their intensity with
specific permittivities (𝜖𝑟𝑘 ) and orientations (𝜃𝐻𝑘 ). Bresenham’s
line algorithm [16] is then used to determine the LOS between
the Tx and Rx. Intersecting pixels of the LOS with the grayscale
image are then extracted. Each intersection, therefore, has a
unique intensity level which corresponds to a particular (𝜃𝐻𝑘 ,
𝜖𝑟𝑘 ) which determines the value of 𝜃𝑖 and consequently Γ𝑘 .
 each model’s estimation (𝜎 2 ), the sum of squared residuals
(SSR) and mean of the residues (𝜇𝑟 ) are provided in Table II and
Table III respectively.

Fig. 3. Demonstrating the derivation of 𝜃𝑖 from 𝜃𝐻 and 𝜙 on the

blueprint image.

Explained algorithm is developed in MATLAB. The

algorithm starts with acquiring the blueprint image. Next step is
calibration of the blueprint image, which is achieved by
selecting a wall (two pixels) on the image and providing the real-
world size of the selected wall. The algorithm then divides the
Fig. 4. Propagation estimation map of modified Motley-Keenan model
blueprint image into a specific number of nodes and calculates
for structure A.
the propagation loss at each node using the proposed model.
Transmission coefficients are pre-calculated with 1-degree
resolutions and stored in a lookup table. To avoid very drastic
LOS attenuations (when 𝜃𝑖 ≈ 90°) or complete transmission
(𝜃𝑖 ≈ 0°) the incident angle (𝜃𝑖 ) is confined between 5 to 85
degrees interval. Later by including other measurement
information, (antennas gain and Tx power) a propagation
estimation map is generated across the blueprint image. Using
the reported permittivities in [17] for vertical polarization, the
propagation maps are generated for two different structures (A
and B), presented in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 respectively.
III. VALIDATING AND CONCLUSION
A. Validating the Modified Model
Validation of the new model is carried out by comparing the
real-world measurements against both, modified and original
Motley-Keenan models. Both models are first optimized using
the mean square error (MSE) and then compared and analyzed
against the measurements.
B. Practical Measurements Fig. 5. Propagation estimation map of modified Motley-Keenan model
Indoor real-world measurements were carried out using for structure B.
LoRa module SX1272 transceivers. During the measurement,
the transmitter was kept stationary at a fixed height of 1.5 m It is evident that the proposed modification to the Motley-
from the ground, while the receiver was moved to different Keenan model has successfully reduced the SSR of the
locations within and around the building. Over 100 RSSI estimations, for both structures, compared to the original
(received Signal Strength Indicator) were collected at each Motley-Keenan model. This is achieved only by considering the
location and logged in a text file, using an Arduino micro- angle of impingement upon each wall and polarization of the
controller. The measurements were then averaged to determine beam. For the structure A, SSR is nearly reduced to 50% of the
the signal strength at each location. Omni-directional antennas original model. Given the total number of measurement as 36,
were used for both transmitter and receiver, with Tx power of in average the new model improved the estimations by about 0.5
14 dBm. dB at every location. Similarly, for the structure B, there is a
remarkable reduction in the SSR, by 30%. Also, 𝜎 2 is reduced
C. Conclusion and Result for both structures using the proposed model. Histogram of the
To compare the accuracy of the proposed and original residuals for structure A, depicted in Fig. 6 for both modified and
Motley-Kennan models, their estimations are compared against original model. This figure shows that there is less dispersion in
the measurements. For both structures, A and B, the variance of the residues using the modified model, compared to the original
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Authors like to thank A.Wixted and A. Faghihi for their help. http://uk.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/61340-multi-wall--
We would like to thank Glasgow Caledonian University and cost231----free-space-signal-propagation-models.
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REFERENCES
[17] S. Hosseinzadeh, H. Larijani, K. Curtis, A. Wixted, A. Amini, "Empirical
Propagation Performance Evaluation of LoRa for Indoor Environment,"
unpublished.