Characterization of signal polarization near 900 MHz in and on vehicles and within buildings

Dominantly horizontally polarized antennas are being used in hand-held devices operating near 900 MHz, and their performance when used to communicate with vertically polarized base station antennas is of great interest. An automated system was constructed to measure the received signal strength from 4 antennas: three orthogonally oriented dipole antennas, and a circularly polarized omni-directional antenna. Three sets of measurements were taken: one in a vehicular environment and two in building environments. Measurements were taken inside the front of a van and on the roof of the van. The indoor measurements were performed in a two story office building at varying heights while stationary and at a constant height while moving.