Rain attenuation time series synthesizer for LEO satellite systems operating at Ka band

The increasing demand for delivering high data rates in Earth Observation systems using Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites has led the migration of operating frequency to Ka band. In this high frequency band rain attenuation is the dominant factor for the degradation of the quality of the link and Fade Mitigation Techniques (FMTs) are necessary in order to implement the links. However, FMTs require the prediction of time series of rain attenuation. In this paper a synthesizer is proposed which will be able to produce rain attenuation time series for LEO slant paths. The input parameters for this model are the elevation angle dependent statistical parameters of rain attenuation (long-term and dynamic) for a given elevation angle. Furthermore, in this paper an accurate methodology is provided to calculate the dynamic input parameter of the induced rain attenuation on the elevation angle-dependent slant path. The geographical coordinates of the sub-satellite points are derived from the AGI´s software tool Satellite Tool Kit (STK).