Fade countermeasures in Ka band: application of frequency diversity to a satellite system

Some of the problems concerning the use of Ka band for satellite systems have been investigated and many fade countermeasures have been described. Frequency diversity has been analyzed and characterized in detail verifying the variability of its performance as a function of several system parameters. A satellite system utilizing frequency diversity has been dimensioned and the advantages in terms of power margin and then of technology have been shown. Among the several operating situations analyzed, the best one, from complexity/benefits point of view, seems to be to utilize a portion of Ku band as shared resource sufficient to assist the 10% of the stations simultaneously, choosing the operating point on probability curves in the first portion of the “knee”