Electromagnetic modeling of the propagation characteristics of satellite communications through composite precipitation layers, part ii Results of computer simulations

Abstract EN

A versatile Propagation Simulation Program (PSP) is developed to assess the degrading effects caused by the concurrent occurrences of an arbitrary mixture of ice plates and needles, melting snow and raindrops which may impede the reliability of dual-polarized satellite communications systems carrying independent channels on a single radio path.

Specifically, results are presented for the Cross Polarization Discrimination (XPD) due to ice and rain, differential attenuation, ∆α and differential phase shift, ∆ǿ, due to rain and average specific attenuation, ǿ, and phase shift, ǿ , due to the melting layer at hitherto unconsidered frequencies.

The inclusion of an ice-cloud medium is found to possess significant effects on rain-induced XPD even for low ice concentrations, particularly at low fade levels.

The relative contribution of the melting layer on rain-induced attenuation is extensively studied for frequencies from 1 to 100 GHz and rain rates below 20 mm / h.