Impact of Different Concrete Types on Radio Propagation: Fundamentals and Practical RF Measurements

By the 1960's, European countries faced a massive housing shortage due to changes in social structure and migration from rural areas to towns. This led to a rapid growth of suburban areas in the 1960's and 1970's. Concrete, as a building material became popular as the prefabrication techniques of precast concrete structures developed rapidly during this era, and these trends continue even today. In the near future, the number of frequency bands used by mobile wireless communication systems will increase and, in general, the trend is towards higher frequencies. This paper presents the results of measurements in which the RF attenuations of several different concrete types were determined on the basis of the permittivity of the material samples. The frequency ranges used in the measurements were 4.5 to 19 GHz and 26 to 40 GHz. In particular, at higher frequencies, the attenuation of various concrete grades is very different, and the level of RF attenuation of the outer wall cannot be predicted without knowing the age of the building and the concrete quality used in the element.