Rain attenuation prediction for satellite communication at Ku-band in North Central Nigeria

Abstract

Prediction of rain attenuation for earth-space links in North Central Nigeria at Ku band is investigated using five of the best performing rain attenuation models: The ITU-R P.618 model, the Bryant model, the Simple Attenuation Model (SAM), the Garcia-Lopez model and the Svjatogor model. Two elevation angles are considered, 55o and 23o. The results obtained showed that the ITU-R, Garcia-Lopez and Bryant models performed best in this region. Also, attenuation ranges from 14 dB to 16 dB at 55oelevation angle while it ranges from 20 dB to 22 dB at 23o elevation angle at exceedance time percentage of 0.01% in all the stations implying that 99.99% (about 53 minute outage in a year) availability of signal is possible at 55oelevation angle but not at 23o elevation angle.