Performance evaluation of fading estimation techniques over Q/V band satellite links

The use of Ka-band is currently the benchmark for High Throughput Satellite (HTS) systems commercial application, while Q/V band is under scientific investigation through a European experimental campaign. The use of Extremely High Frequencies (EHF), in particular “beyond Ka-band” spectrum, is one of the main assets to increase the system throughput, exploiting the large bandwidth availability. The next generation of HTS will exploit these frequency bands (in particular Q/V-band in a shot-term scenario) in the feeder link, while Ka-band will be used in the user link to maintain user terminal backward compatibility. In a long-term scenario, beyond Ka-band frequencies could be used both in the user and feeder links. The impairments caused by propagation of EHF in the troposphere can be very high, hence, research activities on propagation impairments mitigation techniques (PIMT) are needed. The basic of PIMT is the dynamic adaptation of the system to the channel conditions and PIMT control loop is based on the use of channel status estimators. In this paper, different channel short-term prediction techniques will be presented and optimized using real Q/V band experimental data collected during the current Q/V-band satellite communication experimental campaign of Italian Space Agency (performed through the Aldo Paraboni P/L, embarked on Alphasat).