Experimental studies on millimeter wave propagation in arid climate: scintillation and multipath fading

A field study on wave propagation covering a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum has been actively running for the last four years in the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The study involves the operation and continuous, computerized, monitoring of two microwave radio links operating at 12 GHz, three millimeter wave links with radio frequency of 40 GHz, and an infrared link with 0.88 μm wave length. A meteorological station is operated and monitored as well. The paper presents new data and analysis of scintillation and fading observed on various links during the last four years. Amplitude scintillation has been measured on 14-km, 40-GHz links, with average path clearance of 50 meters along the path. Various types of amplitude scintillation vis., dry, quasi-wet and wet scintillation are presented and compared. Amplitude scintillation distributions are obtained and reported for various types of scintillation