| Abstract: | A model describing the spatial inhomogeneity of rainrate within a rain cell is derived and incorporated into a specific attenuation model to yield a more exact relationship than has been used heretofore relating rainrate and the attendant attenuation at frequencies above 10 GHz. The resulting unified attenuation model relates terrestrial and slant path attenuation, effective propagation distance and path diversity gain to parameters characterizing the earth-station or stations (e.g. location, height, latitude, elevation angle and baseline distance from another station), the frequency of operation, and the two possible raintypes admitted into the model (i.e. convective rain and residual or debris rain). The model is particularly suited for the theoretical investigation of path diversity gain since this concept owes its existence to spatial inhomogeneity of rainrate. This inhomogeneous rain attenuation model can be interfaced with an appropriate statistical rainrate prediction model, such as the Crane two-component model, to yield more precise attenuation predictions. |
