Rain-induced bistatic scattering at 60 GHz

The 60 GHz oxygen absorption band has been of particular interest in recent years for short-hop links between buildings in dense urban environments. The high oxygen attenuation in this band, typically in the range 12-16 dB km^-1, limits its practical use for longer links and for Earth-space communications. However, the high attenuation results in very short frequency-reuse distances making these systems extremely well suited for high link-density deployments. However when rain falls on a link it may act as a coupling mechanism causing interference on adjacent line-of-sight links. In this paper we study the effects of rain-induced bistatic scattering on 60 GHz links and its potential impact on link planning and assignment.