Millimeter Wave Attenuation in the Coastal Area of the Gulf of Guinea Subject to Heavy Rainfalls

Abstract

Wireless communication systems have developed significantly over the last few decades. Due to the saturation of lower frequencies of microwave spectrum (3-30 GHz) and the increasing need for high speed, emerging systems for consumer or professional use are progressively shifting to upper microwave and millimeter waves. Our study proposes a methodology for evaluating and classifying losses on a vertically polarized millimeter wave link at 80 GHz. To achieve this, we simulated the link budget of a Nokia 80UBT millimeter wave link operating in its real propagation space (with overground) with Pathloss 5.1 Design tool. Then we built a 3.58 km full-scale link in the Tongo-Bassa watershed of the coastal city of Douala in Cameroon. Analysing data collected over the period from December 06, 2020 to December 16, 2021 under Power BI allowed us to characterize the response of the millimeter signal in free space, during dry and rainy seasons. We then challenge ITU-R P.837-7 and ITU-R.P.838-3 Recommendations on statistical models of rainfall for propagation modeling, especially for millimeter signals propagated in an equatorial climate with heavy rainfalls. The study estimated a rainfall rate for 0.01% of the time at 110.1 mm/h, with a millimeter link cut-off for a rainfall rate greater than 64.8 mm/h, with a specific attenuation due to rain of 6.5 dB/km.