Influence of Refractive Index Fluctuations on Communications Systems

A model has been developed to calculate the effect of turbulences on a satellite-earth link at centimeter and millimeter wavelength. The present paper investigates the effects upon the group delay in a 0.1-50 GHz frequency. Preliminary results show a quite intricate effect on the group delay, with positive and negative peaks of the order of 20 nanoseconds under average circumstances.