Assessment Of Seasonal Variation Of 5g Signal Strength And Signal Speed Over Abuja, North-Central, Nigeria

Abstract

This research work was aimed at determining the seasonal variation of 5G network signal speed and Signal strength over Abuja, North-Central Nigeria. The research involved the measurement of 5G network signal download and upload speeds, the ping and the Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) in both rainy season and dry season months of 2024, from July 1 to December 31, 2024. The measurements were taken every hour daily from 8:00 am – 6:00 pm in a particular experiment site using Speedtest software and Netmonitor application installed on a laptop computer and Infinix Android phone with a Simard of a particular network service provider in Nigeria. The results showed that there were variations in the speed of the download and the upload of the 5G network as well as the signal strength in the study area hourly and seasonally. It was concluded from the results that the average 5G signal strength was higher in dry season compared to the signal strength in rainy season, given that the average RSRP values in dry season and rainy season were -107.9 dBm and -110.3 dBm respectively. It was recommended that the effect of some atmospheric components like rainfall, pressure, temperature on the 5G network signal over Abuja be investigated in future works as they may have some influences on 5G signal in addition to the ping as discovered in this work. This study will inform the infrastructural development strategies and resource allocations in Abuja and other areas