Estimation of Rain Fade Durations on Communication Links at Ka Band in Equatorial and Tropical Regions
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Date
2020
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Publisher
Begell Journal
Abstract
Duration of rain fade events is a major parameter to be considered when designing a communication link. Fading is a phenomenon responsible for intermittent fluctuations of radio signals observed in the tropical region. The prevalence of rain in the tropics accounts for the frequency of fading observed in this region. Despite, the efforts of researchers to help systems designers give due consideration to fade mitigation techniques in other parts of the world, there is still a dearth of fade duration data from the African equatorial and tropical regions. Hence, this study estimates the number of fade events per fade duration interval exceeding attenuation thresholds ranging from 1 dB to 18 dB at ka-Band (26.5 GHz−40 GHz), leading to nonavailability of satellite systems during raining events in the African equatorial regions. The range of fade durations is from 10 s to 5000 s. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU-RP) propagation model and data from the Tropospheric Data Acquisition Network (TRODAN) were used for the analysis. The eight TRODAN observatories, under the Centre for Atmospheric Research (CAR), cover the major climatic regions in the sub-Saharan region, namely equatorial, humid tropical and tropical zones (Geo. 4.82єN to 9.58єN). Fade duration decreases latitudinally as the attenuation threshold increases from low to higher latitudes. The equatorial region suffers the highest frequency of fade events while the tropical zones recorded the lowest. In addition, the 10 s fade duration recorded the highest occurrence of fade events. The implication is that heavy rains, causing higher attenuation, occur for a shorter time duration. Similarly, higher attenuation depends on raindrops' size and rain intensity. Consequently, the number of fade events exceeding 1 dB threshold is higher than other thresholds with respect to the fade duration.
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Keywords
fade durations, rain fade, radio propagation, rain attenuation, tropical regions, satellite communications, communication links, sub-Saharan climate
Citation
Sanyaolu, M.E., Dairo, O.F., Willoughby, A.A. and Kolawole, L.B. (2020) Estimation of Rain Fade Durations on Communication Links at Ka-band in Equatorial and Tropical Regions, Telecommunications and Radio Engineering, 79(2):129-141, https://doi.org/10.1615/TelecomRadEng.v79.i2.50.