Empirical Rain Attenuation Model for Earth-Satellite Paths

A set of three simple empirical formulas is given for the calculation of long-term rain attenuation distributions on earth-satellite microwave radio paths from long-term (≥20 yr) distributions of 5-min point rain rates. The calculated results agree well with six sets of rain attenuation data on earth-satellite paths measured in Illinois, Georgia and New Jersey. This simple method, which is an extension of that obtained previously by the author for terrestrial radio application, is useful in the engineering of satellite communication systems at frequencies above 10 GHz.