Prediction of monthly and annual availabilities on 10-50 GHz satellite-Earth and aircraft-to-aircraft links

A method is described which enables monthly predictions to be made for the attenuation statistics of radio links in the frequency range 10-50GHz, using data available in global meteorological databases, The method is applicable to satellite-Earth, aircraft-Earth and aircraft-aircraft links, and can cover a wide range of availabilities (90% to 99.99%). Examples of monthly predictions are given for a range of climates in the European region. The method includes models for the effects of clouds and gaseous absorption, which are particularly important Tor the 30 to 50GHz range at for low availabilities. Although experimental data at 30-50GHz with acceptably long record length are relatively few, predicted monthly statistics can be integrated to give annual statistics and comparisons with such data illustrate the success of the approach.