Rain attenuation on earth-satellite paths — summary of 10-year experiments and studies

Since 1969, the Bell System has been conducting continuous rain attenuation experiments on earth-satellite paths. The experiments were carried out at four New Jersey sites by the radio basic research group of the Crawford Hill Laboratory, and at three Georgia sites, two Illinois sites, and two Colorado sites by the radio system engineering group of the Holmdel Laboratory. The measurement frequencies include 11.7, 13.6, 15.5, 17.8, 19, and 28.5 GHz. Interim results of the 10-year (1969–1978) experiments have been published in various technical journals and conference proceedings. For the convenience of system engineers, this paper summarizes the new results and the previously published results and discusses the implications of these data to the design of satellite radio communication systems. The summary includes the geographic dependence, the frequency dependence, the diurnal, monthly, and yearly variations of rain attenuation statistics, the diversity improvement factors, the fade duration distributions, the dynamic rain attenuation behavior, the long-term (20 years) rain rate distribution for U.S. locations, and a simple empirical model for rain attenuation.

[1]  S. H. Lin,et al.  Statistical behavior of rain attenuation , 1973 .

[2]  S. H. Lin,et al.  11-GHz radio: Nationwide long-term rain rate statistics and empirical calculation of 11-GHz microwave rain attenuation , 1977, The Bell System Technical Journal.

[3]  R. Rogers.  Statistical rainstorm models: Their theoretical and physical foundations , 1976 .

[4]  K. Morita,et al.  Statistical Studies on Rain Attenuation and Site Diversity Effect on Earth to Satellite Links in Microwave and Millimeter Wavebands , 1978 .

[5]  W. Barnett.  Multipath propagation at 4, 6, and 11 GHz , 1972 .

[6]  Julius Goldhirsh,et al.  Prediction of slant path rain attenuation statistics at various locations , 1977 .

[7]  D. Cox,et al.  Observations of rapid changes in the orientation and degree of alignment of ice particles along an Earth‐space radio propagation path , 1979 .

[8]  P. Henry,et al.  Measurement and frequency extrapolation of microwave attenuation statistics on the earth-space path at 13, 19, and 30 GHz , 1975 .

[9]  D. Jarett,et al.  The impact of rain attenuation on 18/30 GHz satellite systems - An introduction to propagation measurements , 1974 .

[10]  G. Owens,et al.  A Transportable 16‐GHz Solar Telescope for Atmospheric Transmissivity Measurements , 1972 .

[11]  David C. Hogg,et al.  The role of rain in satellite communications , 1975, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[12]  R. Lyons,et al.  A Statistical Analysis of Transmit Power Control to Compensate Up- and Down-Link Fading in an FDMA Satellite Communications System , 1976, IEEE Trans. Commun..

[13]  S. H. Lin,et al.  Rain-rate distributions and extreme-value statistics , 1976, The Bell System Technical Journal.

[14]  W. Y. S. Chen.  B.S.T.J. briefs: A simple method for estimating five-minute point rain-rate distributions based on available climatological data , 1976, The Bell System Technical Journal.

[15]  David R. Cox,et al.  Rain Attenuation Statistics from a 19 and 28 GHz COMSTAR Beacon Propagation Experiment: One Year Cumulative Distributions and Relationships Between the Two Frequencies , 1979, IEEE Trans. Commun..

[16]  S. H. Lin.  Dependence of rain-rate distribution on rain-gauge integration time , 1976, The Bell System Technical Journal.

[17]  G. Drufuca,et al.  Statistics of Raingage Data , 1975 .

[18]  D. Cox,et al.  Some results from 19 and 28 GHz Comstar beacon propagation experiments , 1978 .

[19]  R. W. Wilson,et al.  A three-radiometer path-diversity experiment , 1970, Bell Syst. Tech. J..

[20]  T. S. Chu,et al.  Rain-induced cross-polarization at centimeter and millimeter wavelengths , 1974 .

[21]  David E. Setzer,et al.  Computed transmission through rain at microwave and visible frequencies , 1970, Bell Syst. Tech. J..

[22]  D. C. Cox,et al.  Some observations of anomalous depolarization on 19 and 12 GHz earth-space propagation paths , 1977 .

[23]  A. A. Penzias.  First result from 15.3-GHz earth-space propagation study , 1970, Bell Syst. Tech. J..

[24]  R. C. Prime,et al.  TH-3 microwave Radio system: System considerations , 1971 .

[25]  P. Henry.  Attenuation through the clear atmosphere at 30, 19, and 13 GHz for low elevation angles , 1973 .

[26]  D. Gray,et al.  Earth-space path diversity: Dependence on base line orientation , 1973 .

[27]  B. N. Harden,et al.  Measurements of rainfall for studies of millimetric radio attenuation , 1977 .

[28]  S. H. Lin,et al.  A method for calculating rain attenuation distributions on microwave paths , 1975, The Bell System Technical Journal.

[29]  R. Valentin.  Attenuation caused by rain at frequencies above 10 GHz , 1977 .

[30]  D. C. Cox,et al.  Comstar experiment: An overview of the bell laboratories 19- and 28-GHz comstar beacon propagation experiments , 1978, The Bell System Technical Journal.

[31]  Sing Lin,et al.  Empirical Rain Attenuation Model for Earth-Satellite Paths , 1979, IEEE Trans. Commun..

[32]  A. J. Rustako.  An earth-space propagation measurement at crawford hill using the 12-GHz CTS satellite beacon , 1978, The Bell System Technical Journal.

[33]  S. H. Lin.  Mere on rain rate distributions and extreme value statistics , 1978, The Bell System Technical Journal.

[34]  R. Wilson,et al.  Sun tracker measurements of attenuation by rain at 16 and 30 GHz , 1969 .

[35]  A. Ince,et al.  Power Control Algorithms for Satellite Communication Systems , 1976, IEEE Trans. Commun..

[36]  D. Turner,et al.  Prediction of attenuation by rainfall in the 10.7ߝ11.7 GHz communication band , 1967 .

[37]  D. Cox,et al.  Properties of attenuating and depolarizing atmospheric hydrometeors measured on a 19-GHz earth-space radio path , 1980 .

[38]  W. Y.-S. Chen,et al.  Estimated outage in long-haul radio relay systems with protection switching , 1971 .

[39]  Robert K. Crane,et al.  Attenuation due to rain--A mini-review , 1975 .

[40]  D. C. Cox,et al.  Depolarization of 19 and 28 GHz earth‐space signals by ice particles , 1978 .

[41]  D. C. Cox,et al.  Dependence of depolarization on incident polarization for 19-GHz satellite signals , 1978, The Bell System Technical Journal.

[42]  D. C. Cox,et al.  Characteristics of rain and ice depolarization for a 19- and 28-GHz propagation path from a Comstar satellite , 1980 .

[43]  L. Breuer,et al.  Rainfall drop spectra intensities and fine structures on different time bases , 1977 .

[44]  S. D. Hathaway,et al.  TD-3 microwave radio relay system , 1968 .

[45]  H. Bergmann.  Satellite site diversity: Results of a radiometer experiment at 13 and 18 GHz , 1977 .

[46]  Robert K. Crane,et al.  Propagation phenomena affecting satellite communication systems operating in the centimeter and millimeter wavelength bands , 1971 .

[47]  C. L. Ruthroff,et al.  Rain attenuation on short Radio paths: Theory, experiment, and design , 1974 .

[48]  J. Goldhirsh,et al.  Attenuation of propagation through rain for an earth--Satellite path correlated with predicted values using radar , 1976 .

[49]  J. E. Golding,et al.  Experimental investigation into radio propagation at 11.0ߝ11.5 Gc/s , 1966 .

[50]  D. V. Rogers,et al.  The aR b relation in the calculation of rain attenuation , 1978 .