Radio wave propagation into sandstorms-system design based on ten-years visibility data in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Reliability analysis for millimet ric radio links is presented in this paper. Based on lO-years visibility data for Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia, the expected outage caused by sandstorms is estinated. It is shown that an extended hop length of 10 to 20 km can be achieved with high reliability for dry conditions and small particle size. The present analysis is limited to frequencies up to 40 GHz; since no data are available for the conplex dielectric of sand at higher frequencies. It is shown that beside visibility data, knowledge of particle size and moisture content are also needed for the estination of excess attenuation during a sandstorm.