New physical-mathematical model for predicting slant-path rain attenuation statistics based on inverse Gaussian distribution

A new physical-mathematical model for predicting first-order rain attenuation statistics for slant-path links is presented in this study. It is assumed that point rain rate and slant-path rain attenuation follow the inverse Gaussian (IG) distribution. The statistical parameters of the IG distribution of the induced rain attenuation on a slant path are calculated in terms of the rain rate statistical parameters by adopting a spatial inhomogeneity model for specific rain attenuation. The method is validated using experimental data taken from Database of Study Group 3 (radiowave propagation) of International Telecommunication Union-Radio (ITU-R), hereafter named DBSG3 and with simulated rain attenuation data using the Synthetic Storm Technique on recent rain rate measurements in Athens, Greece. Its performance is also compared to the ITU-R P. 618-10 model. The proposed model shows better performance comparing to the ITU-R model and the results are very encouraging.