The role of rain in satellite communications

The most fundamental obstacle encountered in design of satellite communication systems at frequencies above 10 GHz is attenuation by rain. The microwave power radiated toward an earth station, being limited by factors such as available primary power and size of antenna on the satellite, is insufficient, with present technology, to overcome the large attenuation produced by intense rain cells on the earth-space path. The resultant loss of signal makes for unreliable transmission. In what follows, methods of measurement of this attenuation at various frequencies and a technique called path diversity that substantially improves the reliability are presented. Other degradations produced by rain, such as depolarization, interference, increase in earth-station noise, and deterioration of earth-station antenna performance, are also discussed.