Cumulative Fading and Rainfall Distributions for a 2.1 km, 38 GHz, Vertically Polarized, Line-of-Sight Link

Between February 1,1997 and January 31,1998, a 2.1 km vertically polarized 38 GHz communications link was studied in the subtropical city of Brisbane, Australia. According to the current ITU fading prediction method the link would be expected to experience a rainfall intensity of approximately 50 mm/h for 52.6 min during the year, when averaged over a 60 s integration time. This should have caused approximately 20 dB of fading for 52.6 min [1]-[3]. However the link actually experienced 20 dB of fading for 150.5 min, with fading of 37 dB exceeded for 53.5 min during the year. A rainfall intensity of 84 mm/h was exceeded for 64 min at the receive end, and a rainfall intensity of 72 mm/h was exceeded for 52 min at the transmit end of the hop.