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Characterization of rain attenuation in Bangladesh and application to satellite link design
Author(s) -
Begum Sahena,
Otung Ifiok E.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
radio science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1944-799X
pISSN - 0048-6604
DOI - 10.1029/2007rs003634
Subject(s) - attenuation , environmental science , rain rate , satellite , meteorology , cumulative distribution function , remote sensing , atmospheric sciences , geography , probability density function , mathematics , geology , statistics , physics , aerospace engineering , optics , engineering
For a reliable quantification of rain attenuation in an Earth‐space link, determination of the temporal, year‐to‐year variation of rainfall is required as the distribution of rainfall is not uniform over the year. This paper discusses rainfall pattern, rain rate distribution, and rain attenuation characteristics in Bangladesh. Cumulative distribution of 1‐min rain rate is derived from 40 years of daily rainfall totals using the Rice‐Holmberg model. On the basis of these rain rates, rain attenuation at 18.7 GHz band is predicted by the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Assembly (2003b). A reduction factor necessary to match similarly predicted rain attenuation with satellite beacon measurements at the same frequency in Sparsholt, United Kingdom, is modelled. This is applied to produce a novel rain attenuation prediction for Bangladesh where direct beacon measurements are not available. Inherent variability in this rain attenuation prediction is also quantified.