Relationships between visibility and an extinction coefficient that is due to fog in optical windows that are free from molecular absorption are derived. The extinction coefficients in the visible (0.55 microm), the near IR (1.2 microm), and the mid IR (3.7 microm) are comparable to and roughly twice as much as that in the far IR (10.6 microm) when visibility is less than a few hundred meters. The advantage of far-IR radiation compared with shorter wavelengths grows as visibility exceeds 500 m. Correspondingly, the relationship between extinction coefficient and visibility becomes more sensitive to variations in the particle-size distribution of fog.

A model for the prediction of the attenuation induced by rain on free space optical (FSO) links is presented. The proposed methodology is developed, starting from the accurate simulation of the interaction between FSO links (path length up to 5 km) and precipitation maps, from which analytical expressions are then proposed. The model is simple as it only receives the local rainfall statistics for the site of interest as the input, but it is also accurate, as it takes into account the dependence of the attenuation on the drop size distribution (DSD), as well as multiple scattering effects associated with rain, which contributes to reducing the overall predicted attenuation. The proposed model represents a useful tool to dimension FSO links in areas where fog is negligible, i.e., where rain has the highest impact on the link performance.

This contribution outlines the scenario of the expected atmospheric impairments, which affect a satellite radio link\ud operating in the W band, as derived by the present theoretical and experimental knowledge. The paper discusses\ud the contributions to signal fade due to gases, clouds, scintillation and rain (with emphasis also on the impact of the\ud hydrometeor size distribution), as well as to the depolarization of the electromagnetic waves. The main objective is\ud to assess the constraints to face in the design of a satellite telecommunication system operating in the W band

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