Frequency scaling of rain attenuation: results from Olympus satellite

Due to the increasing demand in capacity of satellite communication and the present congestion of both C and Ku bands, the use of the Ka band will become a fully operational reality in a very near future. To design an effective and reliable satellite system at such frequencies, it is essential to consider the statistics of different propagation aspects on both a long term and short term basis. This is particularly true for high frequency systems where water absorption is predominant and can not be counteracted permanently using a fixed power margin. The results of frequency scaling were deduced at Coventry University. These are based on Olympus data measured by the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) at their site at Chilton (UK). These results are compared with the CCIR models and show a good agreement.