Analysis of rain attenuation for Earth-Space communication links at Ku and Ka-bands

Abstract

Rain rate and rain attenuation predictions are very vital considerations when designing microwave satellite communication systems. In this research work, rainfall data bank of 33 years (1983-2015) was obtained from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) for Gombe and Akwa-Ibom States which was used for the prediction of rain rate and rain attenuation. Chebil rain rate model was used to predict the point rainfall rate, while ITU-R P. 618-9 model was used for the prediction of the rain attenuation for the two locations. The rain attenuation values computed were at horizontal polarization and for links to Nigerian Communication Satellite-1 Replacement (NIGCOMSAT-1R). The results obtained from this work will be good as preliminary design tools for earth-space communication links and will also provide a broad idea of rain attenuation for microwave engineers.