Measurement and modeling of the UHF satellite channel for animal tracking systems

In contrast to present space communication systems in the Ultra-High-Frequency (UHF) band, like military communications or communication to space crafts, present and upcoming animal tracking systems introduce a novel UHF propagation channel with a larger bandwidth, low-gain antennas and new challenging propagation scenarios like for example the forest. The ground reflection, as a phenomenon of wave propagation, is relevant in this scenario. Unlike other multipath components with larger excess delays or lower power, the ground reflection cannot be equalized; even not at large system bandwidths. In this paper, the relevance of the ground reflection for animal tracking systems is proven by measurement and simulation. Further results from a measurement campaign are presented, where the forest as a novel scenario is included. A statistical model is provided to predict the received signal power, and to estimate the required additional fading margin to close the link of UHF animal tracking systems in the presence of a reflected signal from the ground.