First results of rain spatial parameters analyses for optical links

Even though rain does not introduce the main negative influence affecting optical systems, it can cause high link outages. This paper represents an extension of a previous work related to rain spatial classification. It was found that the rain spatial parameter concept can also be extremely effectively applied to terrestrial and HAP systems, although specific adjustments have had to be made to the method. The method describing the spatial influence of rainfall on terrestrial radio microwave systems is now being tested with respect to optical links. The differences between both microwave and optical systems are discussed with regard to the new derived dependences.