Estimation of rain attenuation effect on radio wave propagation for broadband communication over northern Nigeria.

Abstract

Rain induced effect on propagated signal was studied in this work. The weather parameters of two (2) locations representing two (2) climate zones in Northern Nigeria were employed, using the International Telecommunications Union (ITU-R P.618) rain attenuation model, to investigate the rain effect on strength of propagated signal ranging from Ku-band to V-band of the communication spectrum. The weather data were obtained from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) for a period of 10years (2009-2018) and assimilated into the model using 1-minute integration time rain rate. An elevation angle of 42.5°, which is the conventional elevation angle of systems to NIGCOMSAT-1R over the Atlantic Ocean region, was used. The results showed that annual rainfall amounts trends varied slightly with the different locations and climate zones, having 2018 and 2010 as the highest rain years within the studied years at Maiduguri and Sokoto respectively. Also, the difference between maximum and minimum 0.01% attenuation for the two locations are 2dB-3dB, 3dB-6dB for horizontal polarization and 1dB-1.5dB and 2dB-4dB for vertical polarization respectively at the two locations respectively. Rain attenuation can be managed well for propagated Ku-band signal with sophisticated sensors but above Ku-band, signal strength attenuation induced by rain could be really alarming.