Statistical evaluation of multipath component lifetime in the car-to-car channel at urban street intersections based on geometrical tracking

In this paper we present a statistical evaluation of the lifetime of multipath components for the vehicular radio channel. We introduce a new identification and tracking algorithm. The algorithm follows a geometrical approach exploiting the high scatterer resolution in the measurement data and takes as an estimation basis considerations on the relative movement of the scatterer. We sequentially evaluate weighted interrelations between detected contributions in the time-delay domain and decide on common underlying scatterers or not. We subsequently apply the algorithm to evaluate the measured data. We use wideband channel measurement data collected at urban street intersections under NLOS conditions. We suggest a classification of distinct and diffuse contributions by means of a threshold with respect to lifetime and discuss on their temporal characteristics, based on an exemplary measurement with typical values. In specific we characterize the lifetime by means of a probability density function and further examine the relation of lifetime and power level of the multipath contribution