Rain attenuation

Rain attenuation is influenced by factors such as the quantity of raindrops along the
path,their size,and the length of the path through which the rain occurs. When considering the
consistent density and size of raindrops over distance r, the signal power Pr(0) from areas
without rainfall decreases exponentially to Pr(r) in rainy regions at distance r,represented by
Pr(r)=Pr(0).e-𝝰r,Here,α denotes the reciprocal of the distance necessary for the power to
decrease by a factor of e^−1.This relationship can be transformed into a logarithmic scale, with
the propagation loss (L) expressed as:L=10logPr(r)/Pr(0)=4.3𝜶r.

Rain path attenuation

Rain attenuation (AR) in decibels depends on the specific rain attenuation (𝛄) and the total rain
slant path length (Lr).The geometry of rain attenuation path length is illustrated in the figure
below, with all heights measured above mean sea level. The effective rain height (hr),is the same
as the height of the melting layer, where the temperature is 0°C. Here,𝜀0 denotes the elevation
angle. The values for effective rain height vary depending on the latitude (𝜙) of the ground
station [ITU, 618]. Given that Europe is situated in the Northern Hemisphere, these values,
expressed in (Km), are provided by [2]:
hr = 5-0.075(𝜙-23) for 𝜙>23
hr=5, for 0≤𝜙≤23

Rain attenuation path geometry.

Rain path length from Figure can be expressed as:
Lr=(hr−hS)/sinε0 ,where the hs is the altitude of the ground station. Then, rain attenuation AR (dB)
for rain path length Lr is: AR =𝛄.lr=𝛼Rb.lr =𝛼Rb. Δℎ/sinε0 ,Where Δℎ=hr−hS.
For paths where the angle is ε0< 5º it is necessary to account for the variation of the rain in the
horizontal direction. This effect is treated by implementing a reduction factor s, and then
attenuation is given by:
AR =𝛼Rbslr
According to [ITU, 618], this reduction factor of rainy path length is empirically defined as [2]:

e = 2,718 is Nepper constant. This equation is valid for rainfall which does not exceed 0.01% of
the time in an average year (around 53min) [2].

𝛄 (specific rain attenuation),where 𝛼 and b are constants which depend on frequency,

polarization and average rain temperature.Table 1 shows values of 𝛼 and b at various
frequencies at 20℃ for both polarization [ITU 838, ITU-R P.838-3].

Table 1.Parameters Of Empirical rain attenuation model

Frequency 𝛼h bh 𝛼v bv
(GHz)

12 0.02386 1.1825 0.02455 1.1216

28 0.2051 0.9679 0.1964 0.9277
75 1.1048 0.7221 1.1000 0.7110

Rain Attenuation Versus Elevation Angle

Rain is a weather phenomenon that greatly affects the propagation of radio waves. Above 10
GHz, the attenuation by the interaction of the propagating waves and the rain droplets becomes
significant for both terrestrial radio links and satellite links,The specific attenuation of rain
depends on the values of temperature, terminal velocity and shape (mainly radius) of the
raindrops. ITU-R Rec. P.618-13 [11] is the best performing model of rain attenuation for the
frequencies up to 50 GHz. ITU-R P.837-4 [12] can be used to measure from the global maps,
where rain intensity distributions are not available. This recommendation is used for the
performance of rain attenuation models without substantial degradation. The rain height (hR)
above the mean sea level can be obtained from the ITU-R Rec. P.839-4.
hR=0.36+h0
h0 –0°C isotherm height [km].
For θ ≥ 5° the slant-path length ,Ls=(hR-hs)/sinθ.

Fig. Effective path length during rain

Attenuation A0.01 exceeded for 0.01% for an average year A0.01[dB] = γRLE
where,LE-Effective path length, ɣR –Specific attenuation, γR = KR0.01 α,R0.01 – 0.01% exceedance
rainfall rate (with an integration time of 1 min) .
K, α – Regression coefficients.

Figure:Rain Attenuation for satellite paths

The effective path length in rain decreases almost 15 km with the increase of 200 elevation
angle. For lower elevation angles the values of effective path length are higher as shown in
Fig.4. Fig.5 shows the variation of attenuation due to rain with frequency, elevation angle. As the
frequency increases the attenuation values increase with almost 14 dB difference between
10-50 GHz range. Attenuation decreases with increased elevation angle almost 1-2 dB for these
range of frequencies.
E6811018520

86944748
Literature Review of Rain Attenuation Models
The attenuation prediction model consists of three methodologies: firstly, the calculation of
specific attenuation ; secondly, the calculation of rain height ; and, thirdly, the attenuation
calculation methodology. Power law form of rain specific attenuation is widely used in calculating
rain attenuation statistics. Path attenuation is essentially an integral of individual increments of
rain attenuation caused by drops encountered along the path which required the physical
approach. Unfortunately, rain cannot be described accurately along the path without an
extensive meteorological database, which does not exist in most regions of the world. Hence,
total attenuation is determined as:
A(dB)=𝝲R(dB/Km) ×Leff(Km)
where 𝛾𝑅 (dB/km) is the specific attenuation and 𝐿eff (km) is the effective path length. 𝐿eff is the
length of a hypothetical path obtained from radio data dividing the total attenuation by specific
attenuation exceeded for the same percentage of time. The recommendation of the ITU-R
P.838-3 [31] establishes the procedure of specific attenuation from the rain intensity.The specific
attenuation 𝛾𝑅 (dB/km)is obtained from the rain rate 𝑅 (mm/h) exceeded at 𝑝 percent of the time
using the power law relationship as: 𝝲=KRa

where 𝑘 and 𝛼 depend on the frequency and polarization of the electromagnetic wave. The
constants appear in recommendation tables of ITU-R P. 838-3 [31] and also can be obtained by
interpolation considering a logarithmic scale for 𝑘 and linear scale for 𝛼. Most of the existing rain
attenuation prediction models used the regression coefficients 𝑘 and 𝛼 to estimate the rain
attenuation.

Secondly, the mean annual rain height is determined through the recommendation of ITU-R P.
839-4, where the 0∘ C isotherm height above mean sea level is obtained through the provided
digital map.
This requires the rain rate at 0.01% of the time with 1-minute integration, height above sea level
of the earth station (km), elevation angle (𝜃), the latitude of the earth station (𝜑), and frequency
(GHz). Similarly, the calculation of the horizontal reduction and vertical adjustment factors is
based on 0.01% of the time exceedance whose detail approach can be found in [12]. The
effective path length can be obtained using (3a), whereas the total rain attenuation at 0.01% of
the time (𝐴0.01) can be calculated using equation (3b):dBKm
LE=LRv0.01 (Km)
A0.01=𝝲LE (dB)
The predicted attenuation exceedances for other time percentages of an average year can be
acquired from the value of 𝐴0.01 using the extrapolation approach as presented in (3c):

In addition, to calculate the effective path length, the Simple Attenuation Model (SAM) [35] has
been adopted. This model studied the relationship between specific attenuation and rain rate,
statistics of the point rainfall intensity, and spatial distribution of rainfall on earth-space
communication links operating in the range of 10 to 35 GHz.It considers the exponential shape
of the rain spatial distribution, which includes the distinction between stratiform and convective
rain. The effective path length is calculated from an effective rain height which is expressed by
(4a) and (4b). In stratiform rain, with point 𝑅 ≤ 10 mm/hr, the rain height is constant and equal to
isotherm height above mean sea level whose values is given by ITU-R P. 839-4 [34]. Similarly,
in convective rainstorms, when 𝑅 > 10 mm/hr, the effective rain height depends on the rain rate
because strong storms push rain higher into the atmosphere, lengthening the slant path. The
attenuation time series is depicted as [35]:

where 𝐴𝑝% and 𝑅𝑝% are the attenuation and rain rate exceeded for 𝑝% of time, 𝛾 is specific
attenuation due to rainfall, 𝐿𝑠 is slant-path length up to rain height, 𝐻𝑅 is rain height above mean
sea level, 𝐻𝑠 is station height, and 𝜃 is elevation angle of the top of rain height.
In convective rainstorms, when 𝑅𝑝% > 10 mm/hr, a modified value of effective path length is
used for determination of slant-path attenuation as:

where 𝑏 = 1/22. Furthermore, the empirical expression for effective rain height 𝐻𝑅 is given as:

𝐻0 is the 0∘ C isotherm height. The detailed description on the applicability of this model is
described in[35].

1
B. IMPACT OF RAINFALL
Rainfall is a significant obstacle that hinders the propagation of mm-wave signals from the
transmitter to the receiver. The signal can be absorbed, scattered, depolarized, and diffracted by
raindrops.[1][2][3]; as illustrated in Figure 2. The interaction between incident electromagnetic
radio waves and the rain-filled medium can restrict the propagation of mm-wave signals. This
results in additional attenuation to the propagated signal. The influence of rain becomes more
critical when the rainfall rate, the operating frequency band, or the effective path length further
increase.influenced by the polarization type. Figure 3 illustrates the influence of such factors
that cause attenuation to the propagated signal.

The level of the rain rate has a significant effect for adding further attenuation to the propagated
signal during a rainy period, as demonstrated in Figure 3 (a). The presented results confirmed
that rain attenuation radically increases with the escalation of the rain rate; the increase of
raindrop number. This is because such an increase will raise the interaction probability between
the incident wave and the raindrops. Due to that interaction, the absorption, scattering, and
diffraction of the propagated signals will further increase, as illustrated in Figure 2. This will
cause significant attenuation to the propagated signal. Consequently, once the rain rate
becomes higher, the communication link will be unreliable and unstable, or the connection may
be lost altogether. That means the effect is more severe in tropical regions known for high
rainfall rates and greater rainfall intensities.

The impact of frequency bands is significant on the attenuation produced during the occurrence
of rain, as illustrated in Figure 3 (b). The results indicate that rain attenuation becomes more
critical with higher frequency bands. This is because the wavelength of higher frequency bands
become smaller and approach the size of the raindrop. while the wavelength of 10 to 100 GHz
ranges between 30 mm to 3 mm. So, a significant interchange of energy will occur between the
propagated mm-wave and the raindrops. Such an interaction will result in significant attenuation
of the propagated signal. Thus, when the frequency bands become higher, the rain attenuation
level of the propagated signal will increase.

The effective path length between the transmitter and receiver also affects the propagation of
mm-waves during rainfall [96], [98]. Rainfall is not uniformly distributed along the radio path
length. Therefore, the effective path length is not like the actual path length. It is calculated
based on rainfall distribution. As a result, accurate rain attenuation is calculated as a function of
the effective path length. When the effective path length increases, that means the rainfall will
cover a longer area between the transmitter and receiver which will produce further attenuation.

With the same frequency band of 26 GHz, the same path length, the same rain rate, and
utilizing the same system, the horizontal polarization resulted in greater attenuation than what
had occurred in the vertical polarization. From these studies, it was observed that the
attenuation levels occurring from the horizontal polarization are significantly greater than those
from the vertical polarization. The effect becomes more critical in heavy rainfall and higher
frequency bands. Figure 3 (d) illustrates the impact of polarization on rain attenuation with
various frequency bands. The horizontal polarization adds more attenuation compared to the
vertical polarization, especially with higher rainfall rate and higher frequency bands.
consequently, the high rain attenuation of the propagated electromagnetic waves due to the
increase of rain rate, operating frequency band, effective path length, raindrop size, and
polarization types will shorten the distance of the communication link or cause no
communication link at all during rainfall when it comes to 5G systems. This effect becomes
worse in tropical regions characterized by heavy rainfall, higher rain rate, and larger raindrop
sizes. In other words, as rain attenuation further increases when the rain rate, operating
frequency bands, and effective path length also increase, the coverage provided by the
mm-waves of 5G systems will be very small compared to the cellular systems operating on
frequency bands below 5 GHz.Thus, the disruption intervals and unreliable wireless
communication will just increase throughout the day. This indicates that 5G systems would
require the setup of massive amounts of small base stations to cover the required area.

❖ . RAIN ATTENUATION
The total rain attenuation statistics [99], [100] was essentially calculated based on the amount of
attenuation that occurs due to rain per unit distance. The amount of attenuation per unit
distance is defined as Specific Rain Attenuation (SRA) measured in [dB/km]. The calculation of
specific rain attenuation mainly depends on the rain rate level with the characteristics of rain and
the incident electromagnetic waves at that specific location. The rain characteristics include the
shape of the raindrops, rain orientation, rain temperature, and raindrop size distribution; while
the characteristics of the electromagnetic waves include the frequency band, polarization type,
and the direction of propagation at that point.The specific rain attenuation also depends on the
forward scattering of the propagated electromagnetic wave. Its impact varies depending on the
water temperature, the water refractive index, and the operating frequency bands. Therefore,
part of the electromagnetic wave energy is absorbed by the raindrops and wasted as heat, while
the rest is scattered in all directions.as illustrated in Figure 2. This scattered electromagnetic
wave introduces undesirable or interfering signals into the desired received signal, which in turn,
produces additional attenuation. Figure 2 illustrates the absorption and scattering of the radio
wave when it incidents on a rain-filled medium.
 Impact of rain on the propagation of electromagnetic waves.

In case the wavelength of the propagated wave is short and approaches the raindrop size, the
wave absorption becomes higher and the scattering becomes major. Consequently, the
absorption and scattering of the electromagnetic wave mainly depends on the operating
frequency, rain rate, raindrop shape, and raindrop size. Thus, estimating the specific rain
attenuation mainly depends on the rain rate, frequency regression coefficients, and the
polarization type. Accordingly, the specific rain attenuation is mathematically represented in Eq.
(1): γ = kRa

where k and α denote the regression factors that are subject to several factors such as drop
size distributions (DSD), temperature, operating frequency, and radio wave polarization. The
specific attenuation is also subject to the polarization type of the electromagnetic radiations due
to the non-spherical nature of the raindrops. The attenuation level that results from vertical
polarization waves is less than what can result from horizontal polarization [33]–[38]. The values
of parameters k and α can be obtained from ITU Rec. P.838-3 [99].

The specific rain attenuation represented by Eq. 1 displays the rain attenuation per one km;
while, the total rain attenuation’s overall path length between the transmitter and receiver should
be calculated by multiplying the specific rain attenuation, γ , with the actual path length, L, if
rainfall is uniformly distributed.

However, since rainfall is not usually uniformly distributed along the radio path length,
calculating rain attenuation based on the actual path length will yield inaccurate results.
Therefore, the horizontal homogeneity of rainfall must be considered. This phenomenon was
identified as the effective path length of the communication link between the transmitter and
receiver, which should be shorter than the actual radio path distance. It is utilized to evaluate the
actual effective path length between the transmitter and receiver with a uniform distribution of
rainfall. Based on that, the effective path length is introduced as another significant factor that
should be considered in rain attenuation studies. To calculate the effective path length, Leff , the
distance reduction should be considered to estimate the actual path length with uniform rainfall
distribution. Accordingly, a new matrix was introduced and defined as the distance reduction
factor ‘‘r’’, which is used for evaluating the effective path length between the transmitter and
receiver.

Thus, the effective path length can be mathematical calculated as:

Leff = rL (km)
where Leff denotes the effective path length, r denotes the path reduction factor or distance
factor as introduced by ITU [103], and L represents the actual path length of a link between the
transmitter and receiver.

Several prediction models were suggested by different research groups to evaluate the rainfall
horizontal variations in tropical regions [21], [104]. The most preferred and famous model
applied in such regions would be the distance factor proposed by ITU [103]. The model is
evaluated as a function of frequency, with rain rate at 0.01% percentage of time, exponent in the
specific attenuation model, and actual path length.

1) ITU-R MODEL
The most confident and famous model employed for calculating the path reduction factor is the
ITU-R Model [103], which is mathematically provided in Eq. 3:

where f denotes the frequency in GHz, R0.01 is the rain rate at 0.01% percentage of time, α is
the exponent in the specific attenuation model, and L is the actual path length between the
transmitter and receiver.
The Complementary Cumulative Distribution Function (CCDF) of the rainfall rate and rain
attenuation at one-minute rainfall rate is required. From the specific rain attenuation and the
effective path length, the total rain attenuation over all effective path lengths exceeded for
0.01% of the time calculated, as introduced by ITU-R [103], [106]. Thus, from Eq. 1 and Eq. 2,
the total rain attenuation over all effective path lengths that exceeded for 0.01% of time is given
in Eq. 7:

where A0.01 is the total attenuation in dB along all effective path lengths at 0.01% percentage of
time. The total rain attenuation at a different percentage of time (p) in the range of 0.001% to 1%
can also be calculated based on ITU-R [103], [106] by utilizing the following mathematical
expression:
Gaseous Attenuation :
53573
46415(All)
Modeling Electromagnetic Signal Levels Falling on Aircraft from Satellite
Communication Systems.+(cloud attenuation)
Atmospheric influences on satellite communications(cloud attenuation+16080)
###################################################################
Modeling Electromagnetic Signal Levels Falling on Aircraft from Satellite
Communication Systems
Scintilation:
1.SC_1
2.Modeling Electromagnetic Signal Levels Falling on Aircraft from Satellite
Communication Systems.
3.graci_del
4.s41748
5.Scintillation Measurement on Ku-band Satellite Path in Tropical Climate
6.Analysis of Tropospheric Scintillation Intensity on Earth to Space in Malaysia.

Modeling Electromagneticsignallevelsfalling…………..
The propagation effects experienced in earth-space communication mainly originate in the
troposphere and ionosphere regions of the atmosphere. Ionospheric effects are of major
concern for systems operating below the 3 GHz range, whilst tropospheric phenomena
influence significantly systems operating above the 3 GHz frequencies.
Aircraft in flight travel through the troposphere at an altitude of 11,000 meters, thus implying that
the attenuation phenomena experienced by rays originating from earth stations through the
troposphere had to be accounted for. A number of complex meteorological mechanisms
contribute to the overall EM attenuation experienced by the transmitted signal. Nevertheless, for
frequencies below 100 GHz, the most influencing phenomena are considered to be rain
precipitation, atmospheric gaseous absorption, clouds, fog and tropospheric scintillation

Rain attenuation
Attenuation due to rain is the dominant propagation impairment for Ka-band
communications. This attenuation is dependent on a number of parameters, namely; the
operating frequency, antenna elevation angle, polarization of the transmitted signal,
ground station height above sea level, and the rainfall rate calculated for a specific
coordinate on the globe. The latter value is also dependent on rain availability that is
considered, which infers on the percentage of time that the available rain margin is not
exceeded.The implemented model is based on the ITU-R P.618 recommendation [28]
and simulation results were verified by comparing to the respective ITU-R reference
validation documents.

During analysis, it was noticed that the signal polarization can have significant effects
on the rain attenuation experienced. This is due to the vertically elongated shape of
most raindrops, which lead to horizontal polarized signals being more heavily
attenuated than their vertical counterparts [29]. This variance is nonetheless
counteracted by the implementation of circular polarization which attains a consistent
attenuation pattern through rain.

Figure 3 illustrates the attenuation achieved at Genève, Switzerland for an availability

rate of 99% and circular polarization for different elevation angles.

Gaseous Absorption
Absorption occurring due to atmospheric gasses is less influential than that due to
rain. This phenomenon is dependent mainly on elevation angle, atmospheric water
vapor at specific global coordinates and frequency of operation. The main contributors
to gaseous attenuation are water vapor and oxygen with the former exhibiting a
behavior dependent on air temperature, pressure and absolute humidity, whilst the
oxygen attenuation is invariant to climatic conditions .

Modeling of the gaseous phenomenon was performed by implementation of ITU-R

P.676 recommendation [31], which approximates a line-by-line stratified atmospheric
layers calculation to a computationally tractable result. This implementation considers
the attenuation generated from the main constituents separately as a function of
frequency as demonstrated by Figure 4:
Figure 4: Specific attenuation against frequency for water vapor at a mean of 7.5gr/m3 and for dry
atmosphere.

These oxygen and water vapor component values, denoted respectively by γ0 and γw,
are subsequently employed for the derivation of the attenuation due to gaseous
absorption for a slant path by the equation:

where θ is the elevation angle and the variables ho and hw represent the equivalent
height of dry air and water vapor respectively as expressed by the equations:
Cloud/Fog Attenuation
Clouds are composed of both water droplets and ice. The influence of ice clouds is
negligible to that contributed by water droplets. The latter is based on a mathematical
model of Rayleigh scattering employing the double-Debye model for dielectric complex
permittivity of water as in recommendation ITU-R P.840 [32]. The attenuation exhibited
by this phenomenon is calculated by:

where L is the columnar content of liquid water deduced from recommendation ITU-R
P.836 [33] for the specific location on the globe, θ is the elevation angle and the specific
attenuation coefficient Kl is mathematically computed as a function of temperature,
primary and secondary relaxation frequencies. Figure 5 illustrates the values obtained
for this constant over a range of frequencies for different temperature coefficients.

Specific cloud attenuation coefficient for multiple temperatures through a range of

frequencies.
Tropospheric Scintillation
Scintillations are the fast fluctuations of signal amplitude and phase that are resultant
from atmospheric turbulence. This effect occurs from turbulent irregularities in
temperature, humidity and pressure, which translate into small-scale variations in the
refractive index of the troposphere region [34]. The attenuation due to tropospheric
scintillation becomes influential as the frequencies are increased over 10 GHz and at
elevation angles of less than 15 degrees. The implementation of this attenuation
phenomenon was performed according to the accurate technique derived by Van der
Kamp.

Figure 6 illustrates the attenuation occurring due to Tropospheric Scintillation at

Genève, Switzerland for an availability rate of 99% and a temperature of 6o C for
different elevation angles.

Tropospheric Scintillation attenuation curves for multiple elevation angles through a

range of frequencies.

Total Tropospheric Attenuation

The significant attenuation parameters modeled individually exhibit a complex
interaction between them, which must be accounted for in calculation. This is mainly
due to the correlation of the simultaneous multiple sources in the atmosphere,
particularly for frequencies above 18 GHz. The total attenuation for a fixed availability
can hence be expressed as [28]:

where AR represents the attenuation due to rain, AC and AS are the contributions due
clouds and scintillation respectively, and AG is the combination of water vapor and
oxygen attenuations.

Atmospheric influences on satellite communications

The ionosphere is the upper part of the atmosphere where sufficient ionization exists to
influence radio wave propagation. The ionosphere usually consists of two layers: the E
layer which is about 80 to 113 km above the earth’s surface and reflects radio waves of
lower frequency. Above the E layer is the F layer which reflects higher frequency radio
waves. The F layer is then further subdivided into F1 and F2 layers. The F1 layer is the
lower portion of the F layer and exists from 150 to 200 km above the earth’s surface,
whereas the F2 layer is the upper portion and exists at a height of 200 to 500 km. The
F2 layer is mainly responsible for reflection of HF waves during day and night. Since the
ionization is mainly caused by solar radiations, it is dependent on location, time of the
day, season and sunspots,Radio waves propagating through ionosphere experience
different attenuation mechanisms such as absorption, reflection, refraction, scattering,
polarization, group delay and fading/scintillation. In the region other than ionosphere i.e.
troposphere, stratosphere etc. radio waves lose their energy mainly due to absorption,
cloud and rain attenuation, attenuation due to snow, hail and fog. Rain is considered to
be the major cause of attenuation at frequencies above 10 GHz.

As reported in literature, the atmosphere contains free electrons, ions, and molecules
and their interaction with radio waves depend strongly on frequency, so as the
frequency increases, the effect of attenuation also increases.

Attenuation due to Atmospheric Gases

Attenuation by atmospheric gasses at microwave and millimetric frequencies is mainly
due to oxygen and water vapor absorption. Oxygen possesses a permanent magnetic
moment and because of the interaction of this moment with the magnetic field of the
wave, absorption of wave energy takes place [1]. At frequencies below 3 GHz, path
attenuation due to atmospheric gasses, rain and clouds is small and is often neglected.
Whereas oxygen and water vapor in the lower atmosphere significantly affect path
attenuation at higher frequencies. As the effect is highly frequency dependent so the
attenuation due to atmospheric absorption in some frequency bands is much greater
than in others.

As shown in Fig-1, dry air has an oxygen absorption line at 60 GHz. The first
absorption band at 22.2 GHz is due to water vapor, followed by absorption at 60 GHz
due to dry air and at 118 and 123 again due to water vapor. The ‘Atmospheric windows’
between these absorption bands are available for practical earth-space
communications.
It is evident from Fig-1 that below 22.3 GHz, the specific attenuation increases with
frequency tremendously and it can be more than 10 times higher at 15 GHz than at 2
GHz. Also, the gaseous absorption is less than 1 dB for most paths below 100 GHz as
indicated in Fig.1.
Taking into account the relative contribution, it is obvious that there will be more
attenuation in presence of water vapor than in dry air because of the presence of more
molecules in water vapor. Water vapor is a polar molecule with an electric dipole
resulting in two absorption lines in the microwave region at 22.2 GHz and 183.3 GHz,
whereas the Oxygen molecule has a permanent magnetic moment that produces
multiple absorption lines that spread out between 50 and 70 GHz.

In conclusion, Atmospheric oxygen and particularly atmospheric water vapor cause a

minor level of attenuation to satellite signals. The effects generally increase with
frequency and are greatest near lines in the absorption spectra for each molecule. The
line of most interest normally is the water absorption line at 22.3 GHz as we normally
use the SHF band i.e. 3 to 30 GHz. Besides frequency the amount of absorption
depends on the humidity (water vapor concentration), the elevation angle, pressure and
temperature.
Attenuation due to Precipitation and Clouds
The strength of satellite signal may be degraded or reduced under rain conditions; in
particular radio waves above 10 GHz are subject to attenuation by molecular absorption
and rain [5]. Presence of rain drops can severely degrade the reliability and
performance of communication links. Attenuation due to rain effect is a function of
various parameters including elevation angle, carrier frequency, height of earth station,
latitude of earth station and rainfall rate. The primary parameters, however, are
drop-size distribution and the number of drops that are present in the volume shared by
the wave with the rain. It is important to note that, attenuation is determined not by how
much rain has fallen but the rate at which it is falling, The propagation loss due to rain is
given by:

where P0 is the signal power before the rain region, Pr is the signal power after the rain
region, and r is the path length through the rain region.
The propagation loss due to rain attenuation is usually expressed by specific
attenuation 𝝲 , in decibels per kilometer, so propagation loss is:
L=𝝲lr
where 𝝲 is specific attenuation in dB/km and rl is rain path length in km.
Based on ITU-R specific attenuation model [12] it is found that γ depends only on
rainfall rate, measured in millimeters per hour. From this model, the usual form of
expressing γ is:γ=αRb
where a and b are frequency dependent coefficients.
 Figure 2.Rain attenuation as determined by ITU-R model and Simple Attenuation Model (SAM) at
frequencies above 10 GHz.
Rain attenuation is a key limiting factor in using high frequency bands in satellite and
terrestrial microwave systems [1]. Rain drops both absorb and scatter radio-wave
energy. Very intense rain rate may cause link outages. If the rain drop size approaches
half the wavelength of the signal in diameter, the signal will be attenuated. Higher
frequencies exhibit more attenuation than lower frequencies due to smaller wavelengths
as shown in Figure2.

Clouds are also an important source of attenuation at higher frequencies. Due to the
diverse nature of clouds, attenuation of different intensities may occur. Each type of
cloud has different water droplet concentration. Clouds having ice crystals cause less
attenuation. Non precipitating clouds are also not very significant as the liquid content is
too low to cause much absorption of energy, and the droplets are too small to scatter
the energy and also they are spherical so they can not cause cross polarization. In
warmer climates the clouds are thicker so cloud attenuation may be higher.
Rain degrades the performance of a satellite communication system by increasing the
noise temperature of the earth station antenna. [7] While raining it receives thermal
radiation from rain drops which cause an increase in the overall noise temperature.

Fig 3: Sky noise temperature as seen by the antenna.

The antenna collects noise from ground, atmosphere (whether cloud or rain), and
extraterrestrial sources. Antenna noise temperature varies with elevation angle, antenna
size, frequency and weather conditions.

SC_1
We determine the attenuation due to rain along a given slant path according to the
model geometry shown in Fig. 2. At each point along the path, the rain rate is
determined and the total attenuation is determined in accordance with the procedure
given in ITU-R Rec. P.838-3 where:𝛄R =kR⍺
R is the rain rate (mm/h) and the coefficients k and α are dependent on frequency.
//// In our channel simulator, we sample the path again once per second. Given the rate
at which the Earth-space path typically sweeps through a rain field, successive values
of rain attenuation are determined by differences in rain intensity at points within the
field that are typically less than one hundred meters apart. The manner in which path
gain evolves during a typical pass is shown in Fig. 3. Full details of our method are
given in [6].////

Fig. 2 – The model geometry used to predict rain fading on Earth Space links.

PREDICTION OF SCINTILLATION ON EARTH LEO LINK

Scintillation on Earth-space paths is the result of signal propagation through a
relatively thin layer of turbulence located at altitudes of a few kilometers [12]-[14].
Although generally much less severe than rain fading, scintillation can impair the
performance of fade mitigation techniques and interfere with fade slope estimation. Two
parameters, the intensity and the corner frequency, define the scintillation process. For
Earth-LEO links, the intensity varies with the elevation angle of the Earth-space path
and can be determined using standard models that describe the distribution of the
intensity, e.g., [15], and same long-term prediction models that apply to satellites in
GEO, e.g., ITU R P.618, as shown in:

(1)
where σref is the reference (or /normalized) standard deviation, g(x) is the antenna
aperture averaging factor, f is the transmission frequency, θ is the elevation angle. As
the satellite passes from horizon to horizon, the length of the slant path to the
turbulence layer changes rapidly. This affects the standard deviation of the scintillation
process, which reaches its maximum value at low elevation angles, as shown in Fig. 4,
and/or during periods of rain.

Figure.4.Evolution of the corner frequency fc and standard deviation σ during an

overhead pass by a satellite in an 800-km polar orbit with a turbulence layer that is 1-km
in height.

We used a geometric model of propagation through the turbulence layer during a LEO
satellite pass, as shown in Fig. 5, in conjunction with Tatarskii’s theory of propagation
through turbulent media, to predict the corner frequency of the scintillation process,
using:

(5)
where vt is the transverse velocity and z is the length of the slant path from the earth
station to the turbulence layer. Because both the length of the slant path and the
velocity at which the slant path passes across the turbulence layer evolves during a
pass, the corner frequency also evolves and reaches its maximum value at high
elevation angles, as suggested by Fig. 4. We have also shown that the effect becomes
more pronounced as the orbital altitude decreases and as the height of the turbulence
layer increases. Full details of our method and additional results are given in [16].
Fig. 2 – The model geometry used to predict rain fading on Earth Space links.

Fig. 5 - The model geometry used to predict both the total and transverse velocities of I,
the intersection of the Earth-space path with the top of the turbulence layer.

simulation of the Earth-LEO channel proceeds as follows:

1. After selecting the longitude and latitude of the earth station, and the orbital altitude
and inclination of the satellite of interest, one generates a series of satellite passes over
the earth station. These consist of predictions of the look angles (elevation and
elevation) and range to the satellite at successive instants.
2. Based upon long-term rain statistics for the region in which the earth station is
located, we use Goldhirsh’s method to generate a rain field based upon the EXCELL
rain cell model for each pass.
3. At each instant during a pass, the simulator determines the intersection of the
Earth-space path with the atmospheric and then predicts the attenuation due to: (1)
range, (2) atmospheric gases, clouds and fog, (3) rain and (4) scintillation. We note that:
a. Free space attenuation depends only upon the satellite range and the carrier
frequency.
b. Attenuation due to atmospheric gasses, clouds and fog are calculated in accordance
with ITU-R Rec. P.676-6 and ITU-R Rec. P. 840-3, and depends upon the length of the
slant path through the atmosphere and the local temperature, atmospheric pressure and
water vapor density.
c. The depth of rain fading at a given instant is determined by the intersection of the
Earth-space path with the rain field at that instant and is calculated using the procedure
described in Section 2.
d. Scintillation at a given instant is described by two parameters: the corner frequency of
the scintillation power spectrum and the standard deviation (or amplitude) of the
scintillation process, and is calculated using the procedure described in Section 3. We
can then generate a scintillation time-series by (1) passing the Gaussian noise through
a low-pass filter with time-varying corner frequency and (2) scaling the amplitude of
output signal as required to achieve the desired standard deviation.

Fade slope and corner frequency describe the rate of rain fading and scintillation,
respectively. They are determined by the spatial statistics of the cells that comprise the
rain field or turbulence layer and: (1) the rate at which the Earth-space path passes
through the rain field or turbulence layer and (2) the rate at which the rain field and
turbulence are advected past the Earth-space path by the wind. For satellites in
geostationary orbit, the Earth-space path is fixed, and fade slope/corner frequency is
determined mainly by wind speed. For satellites in high LEO, both factors play a
significant role in determining the fade slope or corner frequency, while for satellites in
low LEO, the velocity of the Earth-space path through the rain/turbulence environment
plays the dominant role.

RainAttenuationPredictionMethodforlagosalMillimeterWavebands
The rain fading channel is a function of frequency, elevation angle, polarization angle, rain
intensity, raindrop size distribution, and rain temperature. For temperate regions, the rain
attenuation increases inversely with elevation angle due to the large rain cell size, while for
tropical regions, attenuation is directly proportional to elevation angle for the same rain rate.
This necessitates the need for modeling the propagation factors for tropical regions
(Chakravarty and Maitra 2009).

Attenuation increases with rain rate and frequency in the 10–40-GHz band in tropical regions
and vertical polarization produces less attenuation than horizontal polarization at the 15- (Ku),
21- (Ka), and 38- (Q/V) GHz bands,). According to ITU (2002), linear polarization is better suited
for atmospheric propagation effects because circular polarization is more affected by
atmospheric conditions than linear polarization for high rainfall rates (greater than 12.5 mm h-1 )
and low angles of arrival. Furthermore, the best performance of linear polarization is obtained
when the received signal is vertically polarized.However, this disadvantage of circular
polarization may not be significant if compared with linear polarization transmission on or near a
45o plane.

Methodology
It incorporates the individual characteristics of the stratiform and convective types of rainfall and
utilizes the point rainfall rate at the ground for the calculation of the attenuation time series, as
follows:

where A is attenuation due to rainfall, Rp% is the percentage rain rate at probability of interest p,
𝛄 is specific attenuation due to rainfall, LS is slant-path length up to rain height, HR is rain height
above mean sea level, HS is station height, and 𝛉 is elevation angle of the top of rain height. In
convective rainstorms, when R >10 mm h-1 , the effective rain height, HR depends on the rain
rate because strong storms push rain higher into the atmosphere, and thereby lengthen the
slant path (Mandeep et al. 2010).
To determine the slant-path attenuation, a modified value of effective pathlength must be used,
as follows:

where the empirical constant b=1/22.

Based on measurement data, the following empirical expressions for effective rain height HR
were derived:

The rain height is HR, Ls is the slant path up to rain height, and H0 is the 0oC isotherm height
above mean sea level;
The model is approximately similar to the ITU-R model since the rain-related input to the model
is the rain intensity at 0.01% of the time. The model is applicable to both terrestrial and slant
paths within the frequency range 4–35 GHz, and a percentage probability range of
0.001%–10%. The behavior of the localized DAH model can be modeled by the expressions in
Eq. (2.5), where AP% and A0:01 are attenuations for p% and 0.01% of the time, respectively:
ITU Recommendation P.618-10 (ITU 2009) was employed for comparing the measured rain
attenuation with ITU-R predictions.
The specific attenuation 𝝲0:01 (dB km-1 ) for 0.01% of time is given by:

Parameters k and a can also be obtained from ITU.

The predicted slant-path attenuation exceeded for 0.01% of an average year is

The proposed model

The predicted attenuation exceeded for other percentages, p% of an average year, may be
obtained from the value of A0:01 by using the following extrapolation according to ITU (2009):

where p is the percentage probability of interest, 𝜭is the elevation angle, 𝟇 is the absolute value
of station latitude, and z is given as shown:

The attenuation values for other percentages of time were computed using statistical methods.
Equations (2.11) and (2.12) were derived by following the step-by-step procedure for calculating
rain attenuation cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) over the satellite link as recommended
by ITU Recommendation P.618–10:

where 𝝲p and Ap are specific attenuation and attenuation at p% of time, respectively.

The advantage of the proposed model is that it is specifically designed for Lagos by taking into
account the peculiar geographical and rainfall distribution structure as well as rainfall types of
the station in the derivation of the statistical regression coefficients for the formulation of the
slant-path attenuation.

Free Space Loss Versus Elevation Angle

The free space loss FLS mainly depends on frequency, distance (d) between the earth,
and satellite stations [6] [7]. The distance of satellite path also depends on elevation
angle:

where Radius of Earth(R) = 6371 km, Satellite orbit height(h)= 36,000 km, EA or θ – the
elevation angle,The equation for free space loss can be described as follows :
FSL = 20log (d)+ 20log(f)+20log(4П/c)

From Fig1 the distance of the satellite path decreases with the increase in elevation angle. The
difference between 50 and 300 is around 2631 km. The free space loss value increases with the
frequency, decreases with the elevation angle. The elevation angles considered for this study
were 100 ,200 ,300 and frequencies around 10-50 GHz as shown in Fig2. For a path of 50 GHz
and 99.99% of time availability the system requires 60 dB excess margins.