Measurement of rain-induced zenith-path attenuation using 19.9 GHz radiometer at Amritsar (India)

The paper presents the results of 19.9 GHz radiometric propagation studies conducted over a period of one year at Amritsar, for determining rain-induced zenith path attenuation. The zenith path attenuation has been determined by the measurements of sky noise temperature received by the radiometer. The results obtained from the experiment are presented in the form of annual cumulative distributions of rain rate, sky noise temperature, and zenith path attenuation together with worst-month statistics. The rainfall rate cumulative distribution as predicted by ITU-R for our geographical location is lower than the actually measured rainfall rate cumulative distribution. The cumulative distribution of zenith path attenuation predicted by using ITU-R model overestimates the measured cumulative distribution of zenith path attenuation.