Propagation experiment in Europe for land mobile satellite systems at 1.5 GHz

The authors describe an experiment carried out in the framework of ESA's PROSAT (Phase II) program. The measurements were made in Spain, France, and Sweden using a van and the MARECS satellite. Further tests took place in the Spanish railways with a locomotive as the mobile platform. The authors present results obtained from the statistical analysis of the data registered in urban, suburban, rural, and open environments and in the railway environment. It is found that shadowing is the main factor to be considered in any environment and that it is stronger for lower elevation angles. Spreads due to multipath propagation have been observed in only a few of the spectra corresponding to France and Sweden, whereas spreads due to shadowing are often present.<>