Rainfall Map from Attenuation Data Fusion of Satellite Broadcast and Commercial Microwave Links

Abstract

The demand for accurate rainfall rate maps is growing ever more. This paper proposes a novel algorithm to estimate the rainfall rate map from the attenuation measurements coming from both broadcast satellite links (BSLs) and commercial microwave links (CMLs). The approach we pursue is based on an iterative procedure which extends the well-known GMZ algorithm to fuse the attenuation data coming from different links in a three-dimensional scenario, while also accounting for the virga phenomenon as a rain vertical attenuation model. We experimentally prove the convergence of the procedures, showing how the estimation error decreases for every iteration. The numerical results show that adding the BSL links to a pre-existent CML network boosts the accuracy performance of the estimated rainfall map, improving up to 50% the correlation metrics. Moreover, our algorithm is shown to be robust to errors concerning the virga parametrization, proving the possibility of obtaining good estimation performance without the need for precise and real-time estimation of the virga parameters.

Precipitation Monitoring Using Commercial Microwave Links: Current Status, Challenges and Prospectives

“…Combination with Earth-space microwave links Reconstruct the three-dimensional spatial rainfall field using CMLs in conjunction with ESLs [187].…”

“…Furthermore, with the development of satellite communications, a large number of satellites are expected to be launched in the near future [205]. Therefore, fusing opportunistic rainfall information from ESLs may be a topic for improving and expanding rainfall estimation based on CMLs [187,206,207]. However, most of the existing studies are still limited to examining rainfall measurement techniques based on CMLs and ESLs separately, and works on combining CMLs and ESLs have not yet been emphasized [208].…”

Special Issue “Rain Sensors”

“…Saggese et al [ 27 ] propose a novel algorithm to estimate the rainfall rate map from attenuation measurements on both BSLs and CMLs. The approach pursued therein extends the well-known two-dimensional GMZ (Goldshtein–Messer–Zinevich) algorithm to fuse the attenuation data coming from different links in a three-dimensional scenario.…”

Continent-Wide Efficient and Fair Downlink Resource Allocation in LEO Satellite Constellations

“…Recently, the research on opportunistic sensing expanded to include satellite communications [22]. The authors of [23] pioneered opportunistic sensing with GEO satellites, proposing the collection of RSSI measurements through time and comparing them to a baseline RSSI value from historical data.…”