Correlation Model Between MM-wave Reflector Water Layer Parameters and Directional Pattern

It's shown that in order to compensate for the distortions introduced into the directional pattern of a millimeter-wave reflector antenna by a layer of meteorological precipitation, it is necessary to have information about the magnitude and nature of the resulting distortions and their relationship to the parameters of the meteorological precipitation. The analysis of the known models for the calculation of the directional characteristics of the antenna with precipitation in the reflector showed that they do not allow us to study one of the variants of water accumulation in the reflector, i.e. the puddle that occurs at antenna elevation angles of 30 to 60 degrees. The proposed model, developed on the basis of the principles of meteorological electromagnetism, allows taking into account the curvature of the reflector, the peculiarities of water accumulation in the reflector and the characteristics of the climatic area of the antenna location (the average statistical intensity of rainfall). Using the aperture method to calculate the directional pattern allowed us to apply J. Ruze's modified method to represent the puddle as a statistical reflector profile error and the water film as a systematic error. As a result, it was possible to identify three characteristic regions in the amplitude-phase distribution of the aperture that reflect the influence of the precipitation layer and allow us to predict possible distortions in the radiation pattern. The research can be used to develop an algorithm for a device that compensates for meteorological precipitation effects on reflector antenna performance.