Preliminary experiments for the assessment of V/W-band links for space-earth communications

Author

Nessel, James A. ; Acosta, R.J. ; Miranda, F.A.

Author_Institution

Antennas & Opt. Commun. Branch, NASA Glenn Res. Center, Cleveland, OH, USA

fYear

2013

fDate

7-13 July 2013

Firstpage

1616

Lastpage

1617

Abstract

Since September 2012, NASA Glenn Research Center has deployed a microwave profiling radiometer at White Sands, NM, to estimate atmospheric propagation effects on communications links in the V and W bands (71-86GHz). Estimates of attenuation statistics in the millimeter wave due to gaseous and cloud components of the atmosphere show good agreement with current ITU-R models, but fail to predict link performance in the presence of moderate to heavy rain rates, due to the inherent limitations of passive radiometry. Herein, we discuss the preliminary results of these measurements and describe a design for a terrestrial link experiment to validate/refine existing rain attenuation models in the V/W-bands.

Keywords

atmospheric electromagnetic wave propagation; electromagnetic wave scattering; millimetre wave propagation; radiometers; radiometry; rain; space communication links; ITU-R models; NASA Glenn Research Center; atmospheric propagation effects; attenuation statistics; communications links; frequency 71 GHz to 86 GHz; link performance; microwave profiling radiometer; millimeter wave propagation; passive radiometry; rain attenuation models; space-earth communications; terrestrial link experiment; Atmospheric measurements; Atmospheric modeling; Attenuation; Attenuation measurement; Clouds; Microwave radiometry; Rain;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium (APSURSI), 2013 IEEE

Conference_Location

Orlando, FL

ISSN

1522-3965

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-5315-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/APS.2013.6711467

Filename

6711467