Wireless Channel Simulation and Coverage Analysis for Lunar Environments

In this Phase II proposal, Remcom proposes to continue and enhance our efforts to develop and deploy a complete, end-to-end modeling and simulation solution for predicting wireless propagation and network coverage for lunar scenarios. nbsp;Phase I completed some of the new capabilities and demonstrated the feasibility of the others.nbsp; A critical component of our solution, the ability to import lunar terrain and place objects on the terrain, was completed in Phase I. Under the proposed Phase II effort, Remcom will complete the following features and incorporate them into Wireless InSite, our commercial modeling application: Graphical user interface to create lunar materials with user-specified parameters. Diffuse scattering enhancements to allow scattering from rocks buried in lunar regolith and to provide a user guide for setting parameters based on frequency, polarization, and statistical distributions of rock sizes and locations. Ray-tracing and electromagnetic calculations for interactions on curved surfaces using accelerated, end-to-end path discovery and processing. Extensions for post-processing results for link-level analysis of communication systems. The bulk of our proposed effort will be in the third area.nbsp; Successful completion of the new, accelerated process will speed up Wireless InSite analysis of complex scenarios by an order of magnitude or more.nbsp; It will also allow more accurate modeling of electromagnetic scattering from terrain and other features that have curved surfaces rather than flat surfaces with straight edges.