Abstract
High-resolution and accurate rainfall monitoring is of great importance to many applications, including meteorology, hydrology, and flood monitoring. In recent years, microwave backhaul links from wireless communication networks have been suggested for rainfall monitoring purposes, complementing the existing monitoring systems. With the advances in microwave technology, new microwave backhaul solutions have been proposed and applied for 5G networks. Examples of the latest microwave technology include E-band (71–76 and 81–86 GHz) links, multi-band boosters, and line-of-sight multiple-input multiple-output (LOS-MIMO) backhaul links. They all rely on millimeter-wave (mmWave) technology, which is the fastest small-cell backhaul solution. In this paper, we will study the rain attenuation characteristics of these new microwave backhaul techniques at different mmWave frequencies and link lengths. We will also study the potential of using these new microwave solutions for rainfall monitoring. Preliminary results indicate that all the test mmWave links can be very effective for estimating the path-averaged rain rates. The correlation between the mmWave link measurement-derived rain rate and the local rain gauge is in the range of 0.8 to 0.9, showing a great potential to use these links for precipitation and flood monitoring in urban areas.
Highlights
Accurate and continuous monitoring of rainfall is very important in many applications
While measurements equipment such as satellites, radar, and weather stations are commonly used for rainfall monitoring, other opportunistic sources for relevant data are being exploited as we are living in the era of big data [1,2]
During the outdoor trial measurements, the received signal level and path attenuation were recorded in changing weather conditions for the three mmWave links at 32 GHz, 38 GHz, and E-band ranges
Summary
Accurate and continuous monitoring of rainfall is very important in many applications. While measurements equipment such as satellites, radar, and weather stations are commonly used for rainfall monitoring, other opportunistic sources for relevant data are being exploited as we are living in the era of big data [1,2]. Big data research is pushing the boundaries of these new technologies and analytic tools, and one such important technology for providing weather data is the use of existing physical measurements in wireless microwave signals, such as the signal level in commercial cellular communication networks for near-ground rainfall monitoring [3]. Microwave backhaul links are used for communications between cellular base stations, and can be used for measuring the path-averaged rain rate. The densely deployed microwave links all of the world have great potential to be used to complement existing monitoring systems
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