Rain attenuation measurements over terrestrial microwave links operating at 15 GHz in Malaysia

This paper presents the experimental results of rain rate and rain attenuation measurements on six terrestrial microwave links in tropical Malaysia. The rain attenuation data were collected from six DIGI MINI‐LINKs (DiGi Telecommunications Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia, Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia) operating at 15 GHz with 99.95 % availability. The experimental results were compared with the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU‐R) method and other existing rain attenuation prediction models. The main focus is on the ITU‐R prediction method, which underestimates the measured rain attenuation, more especially at extremely higher rain rates. The relationship between ITU‐R prediction errors and rainfall rates was studied, and it is shown that the two quantities are related by a quadratic function. The study will provide useful information on the design and planning of terrestrial radio links in Malaysia and similar tropical environments. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparison of measured rain attenuation in the 10.982‐GHz band with predictions and sensitivity analysis

The campaign to collect rain attenuation data on terrestrial links had commenced in Malaysian tropical climates for almost two decades. The terrestrial data so far collected have been greatly utilized to derive useful statistics for various microwave applications, such as frequency scaling, rain rate conversion factor, 1‐min rain rate contour maps, wet antenna losses, and fade slope duration analysis. However, there is still severe scarcity of rain attenuation data on earth–space links in Malaysia. The results of the 2‐year measurement (January 2009–December 2010) of rain rates and rain‐induced attenuation in vertically polarized signals propagating at 10.982 GHz have been presented in this paper. The rain attenuation over the link path was measured at Islamic International University Malaysia and compared with ITU‐R P.618‐10 and Crane global models in this paper. The test results show that the two prediction models seem inadequate for predicting rain attenuation in the Ku‐band in Malaysia. Sensitivity analysis performed on measured data also reveals that the sensitivity variables depend on rain rate. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development of rain-attenuation and rain-rate maps for satellite system design in the Ku and Ka bands in Colombia

The predictions of rain rate and rain attenuation are the most important steps when analyzing a satellite link operating in the Ku and Ka bands. It can be a time-consuming process, especially when the analyses are made on a large number of sites, as might be the case with the broadband satellite systems of today. In this work, tools for the prediction of rain rate and rain attenuation are given in the form of contour maps for a tropical region (Colombia). The maps presented use the rain rate predicted by different methodologies, and the attenuation caused by these rain rates, using ITU recommendations. The information from these maps can then be entered into attenuation-prediction or system-planning tools. Additionally, a review of the results of the most important rain-rate and rain-attenuation campaigns is presented.     

Time diversity evaluation for attenuation mitigation method using attenuation data in Thailand and Japan

In order to support future satellite broadcasting and communication in the Ka band and above, the time diversity method provides a novel attenuation mitigation technique for maintaining satellite service availability at levels between 99.9 and 99.99%. In this paper, the time diversity method is analyzed using various time delays from between 1 min and 1 h in an effort to mitigate convective rain attenuation by using various beacon signal transmission delays. For comparison purposes, receiver beacon data from Japan and Thailand are presented to highlight tropical and non‐tropical zone regional differences, and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) R P.618‐12 standard is used for scaling up the Thaicom beacon frequencies from 12.57 and 12.59 GHz in the Ku band to 19.45 GHz, which is the Ka band frequency used by Japan's communication satellite (CS) beacon. We found that the time diversity method is very useful for mitigating the effects of rain attenuation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rain attenuation model for south east asia countries

A model for predicting rain attenuation on Earth-to-space is developed by using the measured data obtained from tropical and equatorial regions that was revised from the ITU model. The proposed rain attenuation model uses the complete rainfall rate cumulative distribution as input data. It is shown that significant improvements in terms of prediction error over existing attenuation models are obtained     

Unavailability due to rain of VSAT networks operating in Ka and Ku bands in Brazil

The unavailability due to rain of VSAT star networks operating on Ku and Ka bands in Brazil is analysed in this paper. A large number of simulations performed over the Earth–space links resulting from combinations of four (real and hypothetical) satellites with six Brazilian Earth stations provide a good characterization of the rain unavailability in tropical and equatorial regions subject to heavy rainfall and thunderstorms. The simulations also compare the influence on the estimated unavailability of the use of two different ITU‐R rain attenuation models and two values (calculated and measured) for the rainfall rate exceeded during 10^?2% of the time, the climatic parameter in the models, in addition to the link polarization employed. The results obtained point to VSAT star networks as a practical solution to provide telecommunications services to remote communities. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Time series prediction of rain attenuation from rain rate measurement using synthetic storm technique for a tropical location

A comparison of measured attenuation series with the attenuation series obtained from rain rate measurement by using synthetic storm technique is made for Ku band signal at a tropical location. Validity of the model is tested for the long-term statistics in terms of the cumulative distribution of attenuation occurrence and fade duration. Applicability of the model is also shown to be valid event-wise. It has been demonstrated that the long term statistics of predicted rain attenuation are insensitive to storm translation speed. No significant differences are found when cumulative distributions of predicted attenuation values are compared for different data sampling intervals. It has been observed that there exists a good correlation between the predicted and measured values of attenuation for at least 80% of the events.     

Performance of synthetic storm technique in estimating fade dynamics in equatorial Malaysia

In this paper, the synthetic storm technique (SST) is applied to 1‐minute rainfall rate collected from a rain gauge to predict the fade dynamics of the signal in an earth‐to‐satellite link in an equatorial climate location without the needs of satellite beacon measurements. The obtained results are compared with the statistics calculated from measured rain attenuation and with the ITU recommendation model. As for fade duration, a good agreement with measurements has been found together with a significant improvement in terms of prediction errors with respect to the ITU‐R model. Synthetic storm technique is also able to predict fade slope statistics fairly well and has equivalent performance of ITU‐R model.     

Ku频段卫星雨衰计算及自动观测系统设计

随着Ku频段卫星通信系统的使用,雨衰对卫星传输链路的影响已经成为卫星通信系统设计与使用过程中的重要影响因素。针对雨衰对Ku频段卫星通信系统可用性的影响,首先对雨衰的产生原因及其对卫星传输链路的影响进行了简要介绍,其次对国际电信联盟推荐的雨衰估算方法进行了分析,最后提出了Ku频段卫星链路传输特性自动观测系统的设计方案。     

Site diversity gain at the equator: radar‐derived results modeling in Singapore

Site diversity is an effective rain attenuation mitigation technique, especially in the tropical region where high rainfall rates are common. According to our previous study, site diversity gain is found to be dependent on the site separation distance and path elevation angle while it is independent of signal frequency, baseline angle and polarization angle. Therefore, using 28 months of radar data, a simple site diversity gain prediction model is proposed. The proposed model is compared with the existing ITU‐R models. The seasonal wind direction, another factor that might affect the site diversity gain prediction model, is shown to have negligible effect on site diversity gain. Triple‐site diversity is also investigated, and although it is found to provide gain improvement over dual‐site diversity, this gain improvement is too little to justify for the cost of setting up an additional site. This study is useful for the implementation of site diversity as a rain attenuation mitigation technique in the tropical region. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

降水对Ku/Ka频段星地链路衰减特性的影响研究

近年来,Ku和Ka卫星在广播、通信和军事等领域应用数量越来越多,传统的Ku和Ka波段星地链路降水衰减预报模型基于经验关系和理想假设,考虑降水微物理特性不足,针对此问题,在实测降水粒子微物理特征的基础上定量分析了降水垂直分布、粒子形状、粒子取向、粒子相态等对Ku和Ka频段信号衰减的影响特性.结果表明,与考虑降水非均匀垂直分布的计算结果相比,ITU和SAM模型是基于降水分布均匀的假设,无法代表降水垂直分布不均匀时的衰减情况;降水粒子形状和取向对衰减的影响较小,在13GHz和32GHz频段,球形和非球形粒子衰减值的平均绝对偏差均在0.01dB以下,不同粒子取向时衰减系数的平均绝对偏差最大值为0.00098dB/km和0.0207dB/km;不同相态的降水引起的衰减差异较大,衰减值从大到小依次是湿雪、水和冰.研究结果可以为Ku和Ka波段星地链路传播特性评估及降雨反演新方法提供基本的理论支撑和数据参考.     

Time series predictor of Ku band rain attenuation over an Earth–space path at a tropical location

A channel model is proposed to predict the time series of Ku band rain attenuation during a rain event at a tropical location. The model is based on considering the Gaussian distribution of the conditional occurrence of rain attenuation with a particular value of the attenuation occurring before. The mean (μ) and standard deviation (σ) for the distribution are modeled with the experimental data. The measured attenuation at a particular time instant is used to obtain μ and σ and to predict the attenuation after certain interval. The channel model has tested well giving the predicted attenuation that agrees with the measured value with a mean error within 15% higher than 1 dB. Validity of the model is also tested with the first‐order and second‐order statistics of attenuation occurrence, on a long‐term basis. The method can also be applied even if attenuation measurements are missing for certain period of time with increased error. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于BP网络的卫星通信雨衰预测模型

电磁波的降雨衰减对卫星通信链路具有很大的影响。在分析基于BP算法的多层前馈网络具有逼近任意连续非线性函数的能力和降雨率与降雨衰减的非线性关系的基础上,提出并建立了基于BP神经网络的卫星通信降雨衰减预测模型,根据某地区的实测数据进行训练和预测,并与ITU-R模型进行了对比。结果显示神经网络模型具有较小的误差,为降雨衰减预测提供了一种更加准确有效的方法。     

Ku‐band diurnal fade characteristics and fade event duration data from three,two‐year,Earth–space radiometric experiments in Equatorial Africa

The move to provide direct to home (DTH) multi‐media services from satellites requires a number of new insights to be gleaned from the propagation effects that occur along satellite‐to‐ground paths. Annual statistics will not be sufficient to describe the likely performance of the link, nor will they provide information on the likely customer acceptance of the DTH service. What are required are the likely number of outages due to rain attenuation in a given period, their duration, the time between the outages, and the diurnal characteristics of rain attenuation along the link. This paper presents results obtained in three, two‐year, Ku‐band experiments in tropical Africa on diurnal attenuation effects, as well as on rain and attenuation event duration and inter‐event duration. The implications of the results are discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中国Ku波段广播通信卫星雨衰减分布

雨衰减对于１０ＧＨｚ以上无线电系统的影响是极为严重的。本文根据我国６５个站点的分钟降雨率数据，利用ＩＴＵ－Ｒ最新给出的雨衰减预报模式，计算出我国未来１２ＧＨｚ三个轨道     

Diurnal variations in rain attenuation on Ku band earth–space paths

This paper presents analytical results of the diurnal variations in Ku band rain attenuation along earth–space paths at four locations in Southeast Asia and proposes a new model that can predict rain fade in a short period of every 2 h daily. Data from four radiometers and four rain gauges over a 3 year period were analysed to obtain the characteristics of diurnal variations in rain attenuation and rainfall as well as cumulative attenuation distributions in every 2 h interval. The results of this analysis are applied to develop an intensive prediction model using the knowledge of rainfall and attenuation statistics. This model is tested with the measured data and is found to be useful for the design of a more efficient Ku band satellite system especially between 99 per cent and 99·9 per cent link availability in an area of heavy rainfall. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A New Formula for the Prediction of the Site Diversity Improvement Factor

Site diversity is considered as an effective technique to mitigate fading due to rain in satellite communication networks. This paper reviews a site diversity prediction model incorporating the recently released ITU‐R recommendations, which provide detailed statistics for the rain rate and the rain height. The results obtained are compared against experimental data with excellent results. A new prediction model for the site diversity improvement factor is proposed.     

Analysis of Rain Attenuation Models for South East Asia Countries

This paper presents an analysis of experimental data compared with existing rain attenuation prediction models, namely, the Yamada, R&K, Crane, DAH and ITU models, which have been previously used in satellite communication systems. The experimental data were measured at the Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang in the northern region of Peninsular Malaysia from 2007 to 2009 by receiving a Ku-band signal from the satellite SuperBird-C (geostationary at 144 °E). Data from Nigeria, Kenya, Indonesia, and PNG were obtained from the respective countries’ researchers. The DAH and ITU models were recommended as the most suitable models. The recommendation was made based on the model’s good performance compared with the measured data from the selected tropical countries.     

Distribution statistique des intensités de pluie et des affaiblissements dus à la pluie en climat équatorial et tropical

Measurements of rainfall rates and of attenuations due to rain at 7 GHz have been carried out in Congo. An empirical relationship for the prediction of rainfall rates in equatorial and tropical climates has been derived, and reveals good agreement with experimental data. Some rain attenuation prediction models (S. H. Lin, F. Fedi, R. Crane) are checked with our experimental data.     

Modelling of the rainfall rate cumulative distribution for the design of satellite and terrestrial communication systems

The design of line of sight (L.O.S.) or satellite links requires annual point rainfall rate statistics for several percentages of time in the locations where the radiocommunication links are planned. Rain rate data within an average year, indeed, allow the estimation of the time percentage during which attenuation due to rain is significant, and consequently the future link margin. To meet ITU Radiocommunication Sector's Recommendations, we propose a probability law model allowing the prediction of the rainfall rate cumulative distribution in temperate and tropical climates. This model, which can be easily used, may serve as a very useful and accurate enough tool for radiocommunication engineers and scientists.