Effect of squall-line direction on space-diversity improvement obtainable with millimetre-wave satellite radiocommunication systems

The relative movement of intense rain cells associated with a squall line significantly affects the improvement obtained by any given pair of earth stations operating In space diversity. The letter outlines an experiment for observing the movement of rain cells across a 30 GHz space-diversity network using a p.p.i. radar, and presents in detail the analysis of a prefrontal squall event. Values of rain attenuation computed from the radar are compared with those measured on the 30 GHz network.