Investigation of wind and rain effects in a foliated tropical region for fixed wireless access

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of trees on fixed wireless access operating at 5.8 GHz frequency of the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (UNII) band. Measurements are focused on the temporal scale of the received signal strength for a three different links (one line of sight (LOS) link and two non-line of sight (NLOS) link). The statistical characterisation of the combined effects of typical weather phenomena often experienced in a tropical region is presented. As expected, the LOS link is not affected even during heavy rain condition. However, the presence of trees in the vicinity of the transmission path can cause relevant signal deterioration in the case of NLOS link, where the fading of the received signal varies from 2 to 16 dB as the strength of wind and rain increases. Rician distribution can be used to characterise the temporal variation of these weather effects. The work reported in this paper enables the effects of wind, rain and humidity to be properly taken into consideration in the deployment of fixed wireless links in a foliated channel, allowing an optimisation of planning for the end users.