In this paper, we propose a novel opportunistic multi-satellite sensor system which overcomes the limitations of the conventional single-satellite solutions of the literature. The considerable robustness to the possible unavailability of some satellites, besides being well suited for powerful 2D reconstruction techniques of the rain field, makes it an appealing solution for experimental tests within national and EU-funded research projects.

This paper presents a practical application of an opportunistic technique for the estimation of rainfall intensity and accumulated precipitation. The proposed technique is based upon signal strength measurements made by commercial-grade interactive satellite terminals. By applying some processing, the rain-induced attenuation on the microwave downlink from the satellite is first evaluated; then the rain attenuation is eventually mapped into a rainfall rate estimate via a tropospheric model. This methodology has been applied to a test area of 30 × 30 km 2 around the city of Dortmund (North Rhine-Westphalia, upper basin of Ermscher river), for the heavy rain event that devastated western Germany in July, 2021. A rainfall map on this area is obtained from the measurements collected by a set of satellite terminals deployed in the region, and successfully compared with a map obtained with a conventional weather radar.

Rainfall precipitation maps are usually derived based on the measurements collected by classical weather devices, such as rain gauges and weather stations. This article aims to show the benefits obtained by opportunistic rainfall measurements based on signal strength measurements provided by commercial-grade satellite terminals (e.g., used in TV broadcasting). To assess not only the feasibility of this approach, with significant advantages in terms of capital and operational expenditure, but also improvements in terms of accuracy, we focus on a case study for agricultural applications using a Gaussian-modeled synthetic rain over a specific, real-world test area.

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