Estimating Annual Temperate Rain Attenuation Distributions at 20/40 GHz With a High-Resolution Numerical Weather Prediction Model

Abstract

Earth-space communications are to make use of higher frequencies, at and above 20 GHz, to offer new services and increased data rates. A consequence is a strong attenuation of the carrier waves by the troposphere, particularly during rain events. The statistical characterization of the rain attenuation on high frequency channels is thus paramount to their link budget. Traditionally this knowledge is obtained via long-term ground measurements of spaceborne beacon signals. Here, simulated results based on Numerical Weather Prediction models are considered as an alternative. A comparison is given based on two years of beacon data at 20 and 40 GHz in Toulouse (France). Four parametrizations of the WRF model's microphysics are tested: the best performances are achieved with the NSSL-2 moment scheme.

Prediction of 3 Years of Annual Rain Attenuation Statistics at Ka‐Band in French Guiana Using the Numerical Weather Prediction Model WRF

“…More information about this model is given in Fayon et al. (2017), Quibus (2020), Quibus (2022), and Le Mire et al. (2020).…”

“…The WRF‐EMM combined approach presented here is based on the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model developed by NCAR/National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) in the US and on an ElectroMagnetic Module (EMM) developed by ONERA. It was used to compute annual statistics of attenuation in several regions (Castanet et al., 2022) such as Toulouse (Outeiral et al., 2013) (Quibus et al., 2022), the south of Europe (Fayon et al., 2017) as well as in Belgium and Italy (Quibus, 2020). It has also been tested in Kourou (Le Mire et al., 2020) where both annual and monthly statistics of rain attenuation have been compared to the measurements available on site (L’Hour et al., 2022).…”

“…Fayon et al (2017),Quibus (2020),Quibus (2022), andLe Mire et al (2020). The EMM physical propagation model converts the relevant WRF outputs concerning the propagation of radio waves to compute tropospheric attenuation due to oxygen, water vapor, clouds, and rain.…”