A Comprehensive Review of Efficient Ray-Tracing Techniques for Wireless Communication

A comprehensive review of ray tracing (RT) techniques for wireless communication systems is presented in this paper. The conventional techniques are described with respect to the existing problems and solutions. The development of the computational speed in computer produced a significant change in electromagnetic theory by increasing the performance and by speeding up the numerical calculation method. Nowadays, it is effectively used in cellular wireless propagation investigation. Here, some ray- tracing techniques have been presented to remove the limitation of the uniform geometrical theory of diffraction (UTD) and geometrical optics(GO). Outlines to decrease the computational time and to increase accuracy are the main focus. A very clear synopsis of ray tracing is presented in this paper, with a very exceptional consideration to future high-frequency applications. New challenges in high frequency are described and some new smart ideas for solving those challenges are presented. First, ray-tracing elemental methods are described and the later recently upgraded methods are reviewed. Second, numerous ray-tracing progressive methods are reviewed and then grouped into several categories like heuristic, effective deterministic and special brute force. Finally, the hybrid ray tracing methods which used physical optics are reviewed along with the effective unevenness model to increase the outcome accuracy.