Dynamic fade restoration in Ka-band satellite systems

• Published in: International journal of satellite communications 2002-07, Vol.20 (4), p.283-291
• Main Authors: Paraboni, A., Capsoni, C., Masini, G., Poiares Baptista, J. P. V., Riva, C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Exact sciences and technology; Satellite telecommunications. Space telecommunications; Telecommunications; Telecommunications and information theory
• ISSN: 0737-2884; 1099-1247
• DOI: 10.1002/sat.725

Atmospheric precipitation can seriously affect the propagation of centimeter and millimeter electromagnetic waves. As a consequence, in some applications, it is necessary to make use of a fade countermeasure technique in order to satisfy the system availability and quality requirements. This study analyses the performance of a satellite‐based system in geo‐stationary orbit operating at 20 GHz, dynamically assigning the antenna directivity pattern to counteract tropospheric attenuation. The on‐board power is spatially distributed over the covered region to minimize, at any time, the number of users undergoing outage because of the tropospheric attenuation. Both the aspects of broadcasting and telecommunication services are addressed. The reflector antenna of the system is supposed to be illuminated by a cluster of feeds driven by a set of excitation coefficients, continuously modified and optimized according to the meteorological information derived by processing METEOSAT satellite data and ECMWF (European Centre for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts) data. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.