Experimental assessment of snow‐induced attenuation on an Earth‐space link operating at Ka‐band

Abstract

This investigation assesses the attenuation induced by snowfall on an experimental slant-path link that monitors the 20.199 GHz beacon signal of the Anik F2 satellite. Beacon data collected at Communications Research Centre Canada (CRC) in Ottawa over 2 years, including the winters of 2010-2011 and 2011-2012, were analyzed as part of this study. The antenna of one of the two receivers used in the propagation campaign with Anik F2 was shielded, the first year under a tent and the second year under the roof of a building, in order to prevent degradations on the measured beacon signal due to snow or ice accumulation on the parabolic reflector surface. One of the main challenges of the study was the unambiguous identification of snow events. Information provided by several weather sensors, a profiling radiometer, and meteorological reports were used to help identify the type of precipitation. Events of wet and dry snow along with freezing rain are presented and discussed. Radiometric measurements of sky noise temperature were particularly useful to detect light snowfall events and to estimate event durations. Statistics of snow attenuation were derived for the winter months of the study. It is found that snow attenuation is modest at 20.2 GHz; however, modest attenuation may be important for small-margin communication systems.

Attenuation of EM Waves Emitted From Inset Feed Type Microstrip Rectangular Patch Antenna by Wet Snow

“…When snow is taken over the antenna again, -14 dB S11 is obtained. When snow was added on the antenna again, it reached -4 dB levels as shown in Figure 6, the obtained results are similar as the literatures [16][17][18][19] in terms of attenuation.…”

Experimental study on low‐THz automotive radar signal attenuation during snowfall

“…However, the effect of snow precipitation on the wave propagation is not well‐characterised at the two frequencies under study. Cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) of measured snow attenuation on a 20.2 GHz satellite link shows that the attenuation does not exceed 2 dB [23]. Specific attenuations of >2, 3 and 9 dB/km for snow mass concentration of 1 g/m 3 at 95, 140 and 217 GHz, respectively, are presented in [24].…”

Evaluation of simulated rain-based attenuation techniques at k-v frequency bands for satellite services under different modulation techniques over Southwestern Nigeria

“…These three effects significantly reduced signal and become increasingly significant as the carrier frequency increases. At extremely low band (4-8 GHz), the effects may be minimal when compared with higher frequency band from Ka to V (Amaya et al, 2014). At such higher frequencies, signal degradation can be enormous such that it may be difficult to be compensated, especially at low availability needed lower frequencies (Robert, 2000;Afahakan et al, 2016).…”