Fade duration statistics ofL-band multipath fading due to sea surface reflection

Multipath fading in maritime satellite communications may be caused by a combination of sea surface reflection and tropospheric effects such as ducting and scintillations. Among them, multipath fading due to sea reflection is dominant when receiving satellite signals by use of a wide beamwidth antenna. In this paper, fade duration statistics of multipath fading due to sea surface reflection are analyzed using the data obtained by on-board experiments on theL-band (1.54 GHz). Results indicate that the mean value of fade duration and fade occurrence interval can be determined from the fading power spectrum with fairly good precision, and that the probability density function for a given time percentage, ranging from 50 to 99 percent, approximates well with the exponential distribution. Finally, based on the results obtained, a simple method for estimating the mean values of fade duration and fade occurrence interval is presented.     

Empirical models for rain fade time on Ku- and Ka-band satellitelinks

Rain attenuation data from the OLYMPUS satellite beacon measurements are used to investigate fade time in the Ku and Ka bands. Using statistical procedures, an empirical model is developed which predicts fade time as a function of attenuation level, frequency of operation, and fade duration interval. Total annual fade times are predicted over a frequency span of 12-30 GHz for attenuation levels in the 3-18 dB range and for fade duration intervals of 30-60 s, 60-120 s, 2-5 min, and 5-20 min. The predicted fade times are in good agreement with the measured values. An alternate model, described by two simple relationships in two different ranges of attenuation level, is also presented by simplifying the original single-equation model. The simplified model accounts for fades associated with stratiform rain and thunderstorms separately     

Measurement and Modeling of the Land Mobile Satellite Channel at Ku-Band

This paper presents the results of a measurement campaign conducted in the winter of 2002 around the city of Munich in southern Germany. The primary goal was to evaluate the link performance of the land mobile satellite channel at Ku-band and to characterize the temporal behavior of the channel to help in the evaluation of different fade mitigation techniques for future mobile satellite systems that aim at employing this frequency band. To achieve this objective, first- and second-order channel statistics will be presented, the outage probability of the channel analyzed, and a Markov-chain-based narrowband channel model proposed.     

Fade duration analysis on earth-space paths at Ku-band in Fukuoka, Japan

Presented are the fade duration dynamics as observed in four close stations. Fade duration statistics derived from the collected received signal during a critical period in the region are presented and analysed. The obtained results are compared with the model release by the ITU-R P.1623 recommendation. Some modifications are then proposed.     

Effect of Matrix Partitioning on Second Order Statistics of Fading Channels

In this paper, the expressions for level crossing rate and average fade duration of two-branch selection combining are derived using the proposed matrix partitioning based method for a space-diversity system using a two-branch horizontal linear antenna array at the mobile station. It has been observed that when the antennas are perpendicular to the direction of the vehicle motion, the average fade duration is not very much dependent on the antenna spacing and is almost identical to that for independent fading except for very small antenna spacing. On the other hand, when the antennas are parallel to the direction of the vehicle motion, the level crossing rate can be reduced below the value obtained for independent fading, although the average fade duration deteriorates, especially for small antenna spacing. Numerical results are presented and compared with the existing characteristic function based methods including Gaussian fluctuation effects.     

Propagation model for simulating shadowing and multipath fading inland-mobile satellite channel

A land-mobile satellite propagation model which includes multipath fading and shadowing effects using five-state Markov transitions between fade states and nonfade states is proposed. This generates a time-series of the fading, very closely matching statistical characteristics such as fade duration, nonfade duration and fade depth obtained from measured data     

Signal level distributions and fading for a long over-water link at 5 GHz

Measurement results are presented for an 88-km multiple-diversity line-of-sight microwave link across the English Channel operating in the 4 to 5 GHz frequency range. Signal level and fade duration statistics derived from the measurements are compared with the applicable International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR) models. Although signal level distributions are in fair agreement with CCIR predictions, the median fade duration tends to be shorter than values estimated from the CCIR model.     

Analysis of 11 GHz slant path fade duration and fade slope

The letter presents results of an analysis of fade slope and fade duration data collected at 11 GHz within the framework of the OTS propagation experiments in Europe. Evidence is given of the fact that on a statistical basis, fade slope and fade duration are related. This could possibly be used in uplink power control systems.     

Rain-rate duration statistics over a five-year period: a tool forassessing slant path fade durations

A rain gauge network of 10 tipping bucket rain gauges on the Mid-Atlantic coast of the United States has been in continuous operation since June 1, 1986. Rain-rate distributions and estimated slant path fade distributions at 20 and 30 GHz covering the first five-year period have been derived from the gauge network measurements and published data of Goldhirsh, Krichevsky and Gebo (see ibid., vol.40, no.11, p.1408, 1992). In this article, we present rain-rate time duration statistics. The conversion of rain-rate duration statistics derived from in situ measurements to slant path fade duration statistics is complicated because of the vertical and lateral inhomogeneity of the rain. A benchmark set of fade duration statistics at 20 and 30 GHz for a vertical path is derived from the rain-rate duration statistics employing Crane's (1980) global model. These results may be used by investigators for comparison with and/or conversion to slant path fade duration statistics. Such statistics are important for better assessing optimal coding procedures over defined bandwidths     

Three‐year fade and inter‐fade duration statistics from the Q‐band Alphasat propagation experiment in Madrid

Propagation campaigns are carried out at different frequencies and geographical areas to characterize the slant‐path propagation channel. One of the objectives of the Alphasat Propagation Experiment is to evaluate the performance of satellite links that operate in the Q/V band. Since March 2014, the copolar level of the Alphasat Q‐band beacon signal has been measured at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain. The fade dynamics—fade and inter‐fade durations—results for three complete years (March 2014 to February 2017) of measurements are presented in this paper. Moreover, the experimental setup and receiver characteristics are described in detail. The collected data (with a mean availability of 97%) can be used to evaluate the atmospheric propagation impairments with a very good degree of accuracy. The probability of occurrence and the fraction of time of fade duration for an average‐year have been compared with the ITU‐R and CRC models with moderate agreement. For this reason, a modeling effort has been made leading to the conclusion that there is room for improvement in the models.     

Bow-tie slot antenna fed by CPW

A bow-tie slot antenna fed by CPW is introduced. It is designed to work in the Ku-band around 15.5 GHz. The proposed antenna is analysed both theoretically and experimentally. The presented results include the return loss and the radiation patterns. Two different geometries of the bow-tie antenna are presented and compared. The proposed antenna has several advantages such as a very large bandwidth, good control of its input impedance, and ease of fabrication. The proposed antenna has a dipole like radiation pattern which makes it suitable for mobile communication systems designed to work in the Ku-band     

Space diversity and fade duration statistics at C-band fortwo overwater, line-of-sight propagation paths in the mid-Atlantic coast

The authors characterize space diversity and fade duration statistics at 4.7 GHz for two line-of-sight (LOS) overwater links in the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. Single-terminal and joint probabilities are generated for both annual and monthly cases for fade and fade duration distributions over the year period from June 1, 1989 to May 31, 1990. The fade and duration distributions during the months November-June were heavily biased by sustained deep fade events. These events were caused by persistent and severe subrefraction, which generally existed simultaneously over both sites. Although the height geometries are dissimilar (13.7 m and 45.5 m), these events mitigated the effectiveness of space diversity. During periods in February and March 1990, for example, fading continuously exceeded 20 dB (relative to the free-space power) at both sites for a duration in excess of 24 h. Space diversity does however appear effective during those months in which fading were predominantly caused by ducting (July-October) and when sustained deep fade events were generally not present     

K-BAND LAND-MOBILE SATELLITE CHANNEL CHARACTERIZATION USING ACTS

K-band pilot tone data collected by the Advanced communications technology satellite (ACTS) mobile terminal (AMT) during 1994 are used to characterize the K-band land-mobile satellite channel. The characterization is twofold: a probability density model is derived which shows that the fade exceedance levels at K-band are much higher than those at lower frequencies, particularly at L-band. Furthermore, the fade statistics are very dependent on the geometry of the surrounding environment. The difference between good and bad environments is much more pronounced at K-band than at L-band. A discrete time model is used to provide insight into the bursty nature of the errors induced by propagation effects on the channel. For a data rate of 9600 bps, the average fade duration for a fade threshold of 6 dB is of the order of a few thousand bits, which corresponds to a fade duration of 2—5 ms. The fade durations are typical of those at L-band which suggests that whereas the K-band fades are more severe than those at L-band, the durations are approximately the same.     

Fade-Duration Statistics of a Rayleigh-Distributed Wave

This paper presents measured fade duration and levelcrossing statistics of a hardware-simulated mobile radio channel. These measurements were taken over a wide range of fade depths. The measurements agree well with existing analytical results and extend them to show the distribution of fade durations for shallow fades. Fine detail in the fade-duration distributions for shallow fades is produced by peaks in the fading spectrum.     

Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS): four-yearsystem performance

The Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) was conceived at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the late 1970s as a follow-on program to ATS and CTS to continue NASA's long history of satellite communications projects. The ACTS project set the stage for the C-band satellites that started the industry, and later the ACTS project established the use of Ku-band for video distribution and direct-to-home broadcasting. ACTS, launched in September 1993 from the Space Shuttle, created a revolution in satellite system architecture by using digital communications techniques employing key technologies such as a fast hopping multibeam antenna, an on-board baseband processor, a wide-band microwave switch matrix, adaptive rain fade compensation, and the use of 900 MHz transponders operating at Ka-band frequencies. This paper describes the lessons learned in each of the key ACTS technology areas, as well as in propagation investigations     

Second-order statistics of maximal-ratio and equal-gain combining in Weibull fading

Exact expressions for the level crossing rate and average fade duration of M-branch equal-gain and maximal-ratio combining systems in a Weibull fading environment are presented. The expressions apply to unbalanced, nonidentical, independent diversity channels. In addition, new closed-form solutions for some special cases are obtained.     

Channel capacity and second-order statistics in Weibull fading

The second-order statistics and the channel capacity of the Weibull fading channel are studied. Exact closed-form expressions are derived for the average level crossing rate, the average fade duration, as well as the average Shannon's channel capacity of the Weibull fading process. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the proposed mathematical analysis and to examine the effects of the fading severity on the concerned quantities.     

Ku波段DBS微带接收天线阵

介绍了一种Ku波段接收直播卫星电视信号的平面型天线。该平面型天线是一种由矩形微带贴片及其位于同一平面的微带线分支馈电网络组成的平面微带天线阵。采用商用计算软件对此天线阵进行仿真设计，并制作了由1024个微带矩形贴片组成的阵列天线，对其参数进行TN试，表明计算与测试结果基本吻合。最后用此天线接收了若干卫星上的Ku波段电视信号，效果良好。     

Fade slope for four LOS links in Singapore: analyses and prediction

Three-year experimental data on rain attenuation is employed to analyse fade slopes for four terrestrial line of sight (LOS) systems in Singapore. The statistical results of fade slope are presented on both cumulative probability distributions during rain events and relationships with fade level for fade countermeasure. A fade slope occurrence prediction model is also provided for short links based on point rainfall rate     

Second-order statistics for diversity-combining of non-identical correlated hoyt signals

In this paper, exact expressions for the level crossing rate (LCR) and average fade duration (AFD) for two-branch selection, equal-gain and maximal-ratio combining systems in a Hoyt fading environment are presented. The expressions apply to unbalanced, non-identical, correlated diversity channels and have been validated by specializing the general results to some particular cases whose solutions are known. In passing, the joint bidimensional envelope-phase Hoyt distribution with arbitrary fading parameters is obtained.