Ka-band Propagation Campaign in Malaysia - First Months of Operation and Site Diversity Analysis

Satellite communication systems operating at high frequencies (Ka-band and above) are severely impaired by atmospheric phenomena, particularly in tropical and equatorial regions, where the climatic characteristics affect several propagation parameters, including rain, cloud and gaseous attenuation, fade duration, fade slope, sky noise emission and site diversity gain. With the support of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency, a Ka-band propagation measurement campaign is being carried out in two sites in Malaysia. The main objectives of this campaign are to improve the characterization of the radio channel modelling and ground system requirements for the development of Ka-band SatCom systems covering tropical regions, assess the accuracy of current prediction models with particular regard to the statistical distribution of rain attenuation, and improve the statistical models for the parameters describing signal fade duration, signal fade slope and gain of site and time diversity techniques. This paper presents the campaign, describing the experimental site locations, the ground propagation terminals, the ancillary equipment and the data processing. Finally, the rain, attenuation and site diversity gain statistics during the first six months of measurements are presented.