Rain attenuation prediction for 5G communication links in Minna, Nigeria

Abstract

Millimeter-wave systems in the near future will provide mobile data rates with higher speeds than the present communication systems in Nigeria but severe signal fading caused by rain is a major disadvantage at these high frequencies. A serious challenge in 5G millimeter wave technology is the accurate estimation of rain-induced attenuation. This study presents statistics of two-years rainfall data for 1-minute rain rate and rain attenuation prediction of 5G communication links propagating at 26 GHz and 38 GHz over a path-length ranging between 1 km and 5 km. A tipping bucket rain guage type was used, and the data was logged using MadgeTech Rain101A rainfall data logger. From the analysis, a rain rate of 89 mm/hr exceeded at 0.01% of time was obtained. The ITU-R P.530-17 model was used to estimate the path attenuation. The attenuation values at 26 GHz for horizontal polarisation are 19.85 dB, 28.09 dB, 35.28 dB, 41.64 dB and 47.58 dB for 1km, 2km, 3km, 4km and 5 km path-length respectively, while the values for vertical polarisation are 15.94 dB, 22.73 dB, 28.43 dB, 33.59 dB and 38.45 dB respectively for the same path-length. At 38 GHz, the attenuation values for horizontal polarisation are 28.09 dB, 39.91 dB, 49.76 dB, 58.66 dB and 66.97 dB for 1-5 km respectively, while the vertical polarisation predicted attenuation values of 24.25 dB, 34.49 dB, 43.05 dB, 50.79 dB and 58.03 dB for the same path-length. These findings will be valuable for upcoming 5G mm-wave network designers in the study area.