Ka-Band Signal Statistics Derived from a Commercial VSAT

Hundred thousands of very small aperture terminals (VSATs) are installed all over the world. Since VSATs access satellites in geosynchronous orbits, the link quality is a function of the tropospheric and atmospheric condition along the fixed slant path between the terminal and the satellite. Link quality observations of VSATs have the potential to retrieve atmospheric and weather information, the more so as in certain areas the VSAT density is getting higher and higher. The link quality, however, also reveals a variety of other information, e.g. pointing accuracy of the individual antennas, thermal drifts, power redistribution between beams, orbital perturbations, etc. Identifying this information can significantly help to optimize VSAT networks and increase data throughput. Both objectives, retrieving weather information and optimizing VSAT networks, are goals of a project entitled "SatcomWeather" which currently studies data from more than ten thousand privately owned VSATs in Europe. This paper reports on the installation of one dedicated terminal at a propagation measurement site near Milan, Italy, in May 2017. It provides information on the satellite and the ground segment and gives signal statistics on a monthly basis. The objective is to run long term measurements and compare VSAT signal statistics with dedicated meteorological-and propagation measurements.