A Hybrid Triangle–Voxel Model with Local Voxelization for Resolving Diffraction Edge Deficiency in Ray Tracing

Authors

  • Baolai Zhang School of Electronic Engineering Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China
  • Dan Shi School of Electronic Engineering Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China
  • Jinyu Song School of Electronic Engineering Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China
  • Xiaoyong Liu School of Electronic Engineering Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China
  • Hongbo Tao State Radio Monitoring Center Testing Center, Beijing 102609, China
  • Huichun Yang School of Automation Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing 100192, China
  • Zhonghua Xin China Coal Research Institute, Beijing 101320, China
  • Yuhao Jia China Coal Research Institute, Beijing 101320, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13052/2026.ACES.J.410708

Keywords:

Diffraction modeling, hybrid triangle– voxel model, potential diffraction region, ray tracing

Abstract

Accurate diffraction modeling is essential for ray-tracing-based wireless propagation prediction. The geometric representation of objects in the simulation scene greatly affects diffraction prediction accuracy. Conventional triangular meshes lack the explicit edge information required for diffraction modeling, while global voxelization introduces geometric distortion and substantial computational overhead. This paper presents a hybrid triangle–voxel model that performs local voxelization only within potential diffraction regions (PDR) determined by the first Fresnel zone. The proposed method reconstructs diffraction paths that cannot be captured by pure triangular meshes while preserving triangular facets for direct and reflected rays. Compared with a commercial ray-tracing tool, it achieves an average ray–surface intersection error of 246.4 mm and average path loss, delay, and phase errors of 0.35 dB, 0.12 ns, and 42.0∘, respectively. It also reduces the voxel count and computation time by 60% and 25%. The results show that the proposed model balances diffraction-path recoverability, geometric fidelity, and computational efficiency.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Baolai Zhang, School of Electronic Engineering Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China

Baolai Zhang received the bachelor’s degree in electronic information engineering from Civil Aviation University of China, Tianjin, China, in 2024. He is currently working toward the master’s degree in new generation of electronic information technology with the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, China. His research interests include ray tracing and 3D reconstruction.

Dan Shi, School of Electronic Engineering Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China

Dan Shi received the Ph.D. degree in electronic engineering from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, China, in 2008. She is a Professor with Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. Her research interests include electromagnetic compatibility, electromagnetic environment, and electromagnetic computation.

Jinyu Song, School of Electronic Engineering Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China

Jinyu Song received the bachelor’s degree in electronic science and technology from Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China, in 2024. He is currently working toward the master’s degree in new generation of electronic information technology with Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, China. His research interests include ray tracing, 3D reconstruction, and electromagnetic compatibility.

Xiaoyong Liu, School of Electronic Engineering Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China

Xiaoyong Liu received the bachelor’s degree in radio technology and information system from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 2002. He is currently working toward the doctoral degree in electronic science and technology with the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, China. His research interests include electromagnetic compatibility, testing and measurement, and radio frequency spectrum technology.

Hongbo Tao, State Radio Monitoring Center Testing Center, Beijing 102609, China

Hongbo Tao received the Ph.D. degree in electronic engineering from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, China, in 2003. Currently, he works at the National Radio Monitoring Center. His research interests include radio detection technology, electromagnetic compatibility analysis, and specialized radio measuring instruments.

Huichun Yang, School of Automation Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing 100192, China

Huichun Yang received the Ph.D. degree in electronic engineering from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, China, in 2012. Her research interests include electromagnetic compatibility and antenna design.

Zhonghua Xin, China Coal Research Institute, Beijing 101320, China

Zhonghua Xin received the master’s degree from Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing, China, in 2002. She is a senior engineer with the Coal Science and Technology Research Institute. Her research interests include electromagnetic compatibility of mining electrical equipment and wireless equipment, and the electromagnetic environment of underground coal mines.

Yuhao Jia, China Coal Research Institute, Beijing 101320, China

Yuhao Jia received the bachelor’s degree in information and computing science from Beihang University, Beijing, China, in 2020, and the master’s degree in electronic information engineering from City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China, in 2023. He is currently a researcher with China Coal Research Institute (CCRI), Beijing, China. His research interests include intelligent detection technology and electromagnetic compatibility.

References

H. Jiang, M. Mukherjee, J. Zhou, and J. Lloret, “Channel modeling and characteristics for 6G wireless communications,” IEEE Network, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 296–303, Jan. 2021.

G. Duggal, A. M. Kumar, R. M. Buehrer, H. S. Dhillon, N. Tripathi, and J. H. Reed, “Impact of frequency on diffraction-aided wireless positioning,” in 2025 IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshops (ICC Workshops), pp. 1457–1463, 2025.

F. Fuschini, E. M. Vitucci, M. Barbiroli, G. Falciasecca, and V. Degli-Esposti, “Ray tracing propagation modeling for future small-cell and indoor applications: A review of current techniques,” Radio Science, vol. 50, no. 6, pp. 469–485, 2015.

J. Zhang, J. Lin, P. Tang, W. Fan, Z. Yuan, X. Liu, H. Xu, Y. Lyu, L. Tian, and P. Zhang, “Deterministic ray tracing: A promising approach to THz channel modeling in 6G deployment scenarios,” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 62, no. 2, pp. 48–54, 2024.

D. Shi, N. Lv, N. Wang, and Y. Gao, “An improved shooting and bouncing ray method for outdoor wave propagation prediction,” Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society (ACES) Journal, vol. 32, no. 7, pp. 581–585, July 2017.

D. Shi, N. Lv, and Y. Gao, “A diffraction ray tracing method based on curved surface ray tube for complex environment,” Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society (ACES) Journal, vol. 32, no. 7, pp. 608–613, July 2017.

J. B. Keller, “Geometrical theory of diffraction,” Journal of the Optical Society of America, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 116–130, Feb. 1962.

R. G. Kouyoumjian and P. H. Pathak, “A uniform geometrical theory of diffraction for an edge in a perfectly conducting surface,” Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 62, no. 11, pp. 1448–1461, Nov. 1974.

F. Weinmann, “UTD shooting-and-bouncing extension to a PO/PTD ray tracing algorithm,” Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society (ACES) Journal, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 281–293, June 2009.

S. Li, G. Cui, S. Guo, C. Jia, L. Kong, and X. Yang, “On the electromagnetic diffraction propagation model and applications,” IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, vol. 13, pp. 884–889, 2020.

K. W. Kim, M. D. Kim, J. Lee, J. J. Park, Y. K. Yoon, and Y. J. Chong, “Millimeter-wave diffraction-loss model based on over-rooftop propagation measurements,” ETRI Journal, vol. 42, no. 6, pp. 827–836, 2020.

S. Deng, G. R. MacCartney, and T. S. Rappaport, “Indoor and outdoor 5G diffraction measurements and models at 10, 20, and 26 GHz,” in 2016 IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM), pp. 1–7, 2016.

J. Y. Lee, J. H. Lee, and S. C. Kim, “Improving the accuracy of millimeter-wave ray-tracing simulations by modeling roadside trees,” IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 162–166, 2019.

R. Chen, M. Hua, S. He, Y. Zhang, and G. Zhu, “UTD solution for diffraction by anisotropic impedance wedge with arbitrary exterior wedge angle under arbitrary skew incidence,” IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, pp. 1–5, 2025.

V. Degli-Esposti, F. Fuschini, E. M. Vitucci, and G. Falciasecca, “Speed-up techniques for ray tracing field prediction models,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 57, no. 5, pp. 1469–1480, 2009.

M. B. Tabakcioglu, D. Ayberkin, and A. Cansiz, “Comparison and analyzing of propagation models with respect to material, environmental and wave properties,” Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society (ACES) Journal, vol. 29, no. 6, pp. 486–491, June 2014.

Y. Sun, D. L. Page, J. K. Paik, A. Koschan, and M. A. Abidi, “Triangle mesh-based edge detection and its application to surface segmentation and adaptive surface smoothing,” in Proceedings International Conference on Image Processing, vol. 3, pp. 825–828, 2002.

J. A. Bærentzen, “Optimizing 3D triangulations to recapture sharp edges,” Tech. Rep. 11, IMM, DTU Compute, Lyngby, Denmark, 2006.

I. Tropkina, A. Pyattaev, Y. Sadovaya, and S. Andreev, “Modeling of SHF/EHF radio-wave scattering for curved surfaces with voxel cone tracing,” IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 426–430, 2021.

J. Amanatides and A. Woo, “A fast voxel traversal algorithm for ray tracing,” Proc. Eurographics ’87, pp. 3–10, 1987.

S. D. Díez, C. C. Somolinos, and S. R. G. Palomo, “Optimizing surface voxelization for triangular meshes with equidistant scanlines and gap detection,” Computer Graphics Forum, vol. 43, no. 6, p. e15195, 2024.

J. L. Schonberger and J. M. Frahm, “Structure-from-motion revisited,” in Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, pp. 4104–4113, 2016.

J. L. Schönberger, E. Zheng, J. M. Frahm, and M. Pollefeys, “Pixelwise view selection for unstructured multi-view stereo,” in European Conference on Computer Vision, pp. 501–518, 2016.

T. Hashimoto, X. Zhang, and C. D. Sarris, “Heuristic UTD diffraction coefficient for three-dimensional dielectric wedges,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 69, no. 8, pp. 4816–4826, 2021.

T. S. Rappaport, “Wireless communications–principles and practice,” Microwave Journal, vol. 45, no. 12, pp. 128–129, 2002.

E. Eisemann and X. Décoret, “Fast scene voxelization and applications,” in Proceedings of the 2006 Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics and Games, pp. 71–78, 2006.

Downloads

Published

2026-07-30

How to Cite

[1]
B. . Zhang, “A Hybrid Triangle–Voxel Model with Local Voxelization for Resolving Diffraction Edge Deficiency in Ray Tracing”, ACES Journal, vol. 41, no. 07, pp. 678–686, Jul. 2026.

Issue

2026: Vol 41 Iss 7

Section

General Submission

Categories