THE QUANTIFICATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF RAIN ATTENUATION ON RECEIVED POWER AT KA BAND

THE QUANTIFICATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF RAIN ATTENUATION ON RECEIVED POWER AT KA BAND

ABSTRACT

The quality of satellite communication link can be seriously affected by variable climatic phenomena such as rain, gases, and scintillation. As the frequency of operation increases beyond 10GHz, the effect of rain becomes very severe with the growing need for high bandwidth frequencies such as frequencies in the Ku-band and Ka- band hence the need for better fade mitigation becomes necessary. In order to identify the appropriate rain fade mitigation technique, there is need to quantify the amount of fading experienced due to rain. This project aims to identify an appropriate rain fade calculation technique for Nigeria. After the technique is identified, rain rate data is then obtained from Nsukka, Enugu State in Nigeria and used to obtain the rain fade margin. In performing a link power budget analysis, the fade margin (FM) is a critical component. Often times, the inclusion of a large FM is not cost efficient or technically feasible. Therefore FMTs must be integrated into the overall system design. This thesis is aimed at presenting a comprehensive review of current and future satellite communication technologies and applications, paving the way for a comprehensive analysis of current and proposed FMTs catering for rain attenuation. This analysis spans techniques such as; Diversity, Adaptive Signal Procespsing, Adaptive Source Sharing, Uplink and Downlink Power Control, and others. These techniques are comparatively analyzed with their advantages and disadvantages qualified and quantified to deduce quantifiably the influence of rain attenuation on received signal power on Ka-band frequencies. This data is now made available to organizations interested in building earth-space communication links over Nigeria.