Statistical Prediction of Site Diversity Gain on Earth-Space Paths Based on Radar Measurements in the UK

This paper presents an empirical model for the statistical prediction of site diversity gain on earth space propagation paths. A modelling approach is described which incorporates 46 months of Nimrod rain radar data recorded in South England. The dual site diversity (SD) gain is developed as a function of several parameters, including time percentage of average year, site separation, baseline orientation, link frequency and path elevation angle. The model performs with an overall root mean square error of 1.87 dB computed over a wide variety of link configurations with elevation angles ranging from 10° to 50° and transmission frequencies from 16 to 50 GHz. The performance of the new model is checked against satellite beacon measurements as well as the empirical and physical models recommended by ITU-R.