Characterization of some secondary radio-climatic factors for reliable radio wave propagation and link’s design over North western Nigeria

Abstract

A good understanding of the behavior of the atmosphere is a key factor in radio wave propagation and link’s design. This study investigated the influence of refractivity gradient, effective earth radius factor (k-factor) and geo-climatic factor (K-factor) on radio communication over the cities of Kaduna, Katsina and Sokoto, in Northwestern parts of Nigeria. Forty-one year’s secondary data (1980–2020) of temperature, pressure and humidity at the surface 12, 100 and 250 m above ground level retrieved from European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMRWF) ERA-5 reanalysis were used for the study. The three secondary radio-climatic parameters under investigation were computed and analyzed using latest ITU-R (Rec.P.453-14 (08/2019)) Models. It was observed that secondary radio-climatic variables exhibit seasonal type dependence. The research also reveals that the secondary radio-climatic variables depend on location, with all the study locations having different values. The highest value of refractivity gradient obtained is about −75.06 (N-units/km) in the month of February in Sokoto while the least of about −162.65 (N-units/km) was recorded in Kaduna in September. The value of the refractivity gradient is higher during the dry season compared to the wet season months with Sokoto recording the highest values for more than half of the months, followed by Katsina. Kaduna recorded highest number of lowest values of refractivity gradient. For the geoclimatic factor, it was revealed that Kaduna has an average maximum geoclimatic factor of 14.0000E-5 in September and an average minimum of 9.6677E-05 in February. Furthermore, the obtained values of k factor values for the study areas are higher than the standard value of, 43 (1.33). The k-factor in Kaduna ranges from 1.69 to 2.16 with mean value of 1.85 for dry season while for the wet season it ranges from 2.66 to 4.12 with a mean value of 3.74; the overall mean value for Kaduna is 2.80. In Katsina, it ranges from 1.66 to 2.20 with mean value of 1.81 for dry season while for the wet season it ranges from 1.95 to 4.00 with a mean value of 3.27; the overall mean value is 2.54. In Sokoto it ranges from 1.60 to 2.30 with mean value of 1.78 for dry season while for the wet season it ranges from 1.72 to 3.45 with a mean value of 2.59; the overall mean value is 2.19. The interpretation of this is that, radio signal propagation in the Northwest region of Nigeria is super-refractive. The overall findings of this research are essential for estimating location-dependent fade margins, which are useful for the design of wireless communication links for the region.