Spectral Analysis of Ku-Band Scintillation Dataset for Satellite Communication in a Tropical Location

This study undertakes the determination of suitable cutoff frequency for extracting scintillation amplitude dataset from radio propagation beacons on satellite link within Akure (7.17°N, 5.18°E), Southwest Nigeria. Attempt was also made towards evaluating the spectral characteristics of scintillation parameters through power spectra density (PSD) analysis. Concurrent measurement of satellite beacon signals and meteorological parameters was carried out on Earth-space path over the location for tropospheric amplitude scintillation studies. Tektronix Y400 NetTek Analyzer and Davis Vantage Vue weather station were used for beacon and weather parameters measurements at 1 second and 1 minute integration times respectively. Data spanning one (1) year of measurement were used for the investigation. Results show that extra contributions to signal distortions by non-scintillation mechanisms during extraction of scintillation dataset from satellite radio beacon series may be eliminated by using a cutoff frequency, f
_c
of 0.25 Hz for high pass filtering. Also, spectral slopes with lower magnitudes were found to occur more predominantly than those with higher magnitudes.