Distribution characteristics and performance simulations of rain attenuation at Ka band for satellite communications

In satellite communication system, rain attenuation is one of the most important reasons for the signal fading transmitted at Ka band (30/20GHz). In this paper, based on the ITU recommendation rainfall attenuation prediction model, we obtain the rainfall attenuation value of one specific area in satellite communication systems at Ka band, in premise of knowing that rain attenuation value of a certain area follows lognormal distribution, then statistical distribution parameters are derived in detail by a method of the least squares curve fitting. After QPSK modulation, signal is polluted by additive noise in AWGN channel. We analyze and simulate the effect of light rain and heavy rain on signal propagation. The simulation results indicate that rain attenuation makes the signal-to-noise ratio and the bit error rate worse.