Development of software for Ku-Band signal availability due to rain attenuation

Abstract

Ku-Band signal is often used for satellite communication mainly for direct to home (DTH) broadcasting. One of the major issues using this band is that the signal will be affected by raindrops. Raindrops absorb and scatter signal that operates at a frequency of more than 10 GHz. However, studies have been done to predict and measure the rainfall rate and rain attenuation. The rain attenuation in Ku-Band range and the rain rate were measured at satellite receiving dish, pointed towards the orbital slot 91.5 E over a one-year period in 2013. The cumulative distribution of rain rate obtained as well as a cumulative distribution of rain attenuation obtained are presented and compared with the rain prediction models. The aim is to get the best model to be used for the purpose of software development. It was found out that the DAH prediction model is fairly equitable when compared to direct satellite dish receiving measurements in Malaysia. The model provided a suitable baseline in developing a user interface software for weather prediction.