Analysis of availability improvement in LMSS by means of satellite diversity based on three-state propagation channel model

Aiming at future multimedia land mobile-satellite services (LMSS) consisting of a large number of nongeostationary Earth-orbit satellites, we present an LMSS propagation channel model for assessing the effect of a satellite diversity scheme so that high service availability and high signal quality are assured. We classify general fading environments for LMSS into three states. By taking the occurrence probability of each state into account, a new fading channel model is developed. The validity of the model is identified by comparing its predicted values in terms of the cumulative distribution function (CDF) with measured data available so far. Then, based on this model, we calculate the satellite diversity effect assuming that the area is illuminated simultaneously by at least two satellites moving in low Earth orbits (LEO) over urban and suburban environments. In addition, state transition characteristics based on a Markov model are presented.