RAIN FADE CALCULATIONS

Introduction Rain fade is the dominant factor in path loss variation above 10GHz, and can have an effect below that frequency at low elevations. This short note describes on of the ITU-R methods for calculating rain fade. It can also be use to relate the required availability of satellite circuits to the fade margin that must be included in the link budget. Fain fades vary with frequency, location, polarisation and rainfall rate. The depth of fade in dB can be calculated from: LRAIN = R DRAIN Where: LRAIN is the rain loss in dB R is the specific attenuation (dB/Km) DRAIN is the path length through the troposphere in Km, To calculate the rain attenuation we need to know: Latitude and longitude of the earth station to within a degree. Altitude of the station in Km. The frequency of operation The polarisation of the signal. The required availability of the satellite circuit. Determining DRAIN DRAIN is effectively the slant range of the portion of the signal that lies below the freezing point (zero degree isotherm) in the atmosphere. The assumption is that all rain originates at this level.

Rain height (zero degree isotherm)

DRAIN hRAIN e elevation angle Antenna height

hANTENNA

Datum

DRAIN can be calculated from simple trigonometry from the above diagram.
DRAIN = (hRAIN h ANTENNA ) Sin(e)

This implies knowledge of the rain height hRAIN. ITU-R Recommendation P.839 relates rain height to location. It is reproduced at table 1.

Latitude > 23 N
0 23N

0 21S 21S > 71S 71S >

Region N hemisphere (except N America & Europe) 5 N hemisphere (except N America & Europe) N hemisphere N America & Europe 3.2-0.075 ( - 35) west of 60E Longitude 5 S hemisphere S hemisphere 5 + 0.1( +21) S hemisphere Table 1 hRAIN 5 - 0.075 ( - 23)

From this we can calculate hRAIN, and through that DRAIN.

Determining R
In order to determine R it is first necessary to identify the rainfall region from the attached maps (Appendix 1). Table 2 links the rainfall rate to the percentage of the time it is exceeded in any year by rainfall region. Percentage of time R A exceeded <0.1 1.0 0.8 0.3 2 0.1 5 0.03 8 0.01 14 0.003 22 0.001 Zone G H J
3 7 12 20 30 45 65 2 4 10 18 32 55 83 8 13 20 28 35 45 55

B
0.5 2 3 6 12 21 32

C
0.7 2.8 5 9 15 26 42

D
2.1 4.5 8 13 19 29 42

E
0.6 2.4 6 12 22 41 70

F
1.7 4.5 8 15 28 54 78

K
1.5 4.2 12 23 42 70 100

L
2 7 15 33 60 105 150

M
4 11 22 40 63 95 120

N
5 15 35 65 95 140 180

P
12 34 65 105 145 200 250

Q
24 49 72 96 115 142 170

Table 2
This gives the value of the rainfall rate R, which can be used to determine R. The two methods for determining R are empirical. They methods are: Method 1: Calculation (ITU-R Recommendation P.838) Method 2: Nomogram (CCIR Report 721 no longer available)

If circular polarisation is to be used then calculate the average value of R for vertical and horizontal polarisation should be used.

Method 1
Specific attenuation can be found from:

R = kR
The values of K and can be found from ITU-R Recommendation P.838. The table is attached at Appendix 2.

Method 2
The CCIR used to publish a very useful nomogram in Report 721 (no longer available). This links specific attenuation directly to frequency and rainfall rate. The Nomogram is at Appendix 3.

Example
What fade depth should be allowed for an X-band (8GHz) terminal operating in Denmark if an availability of 99.9% is required? The terminal is looking at a satellite with an elevation angle of 25 degrees, using horizontal polarisation, and is located at sea level.

Find DRAIN Denmark lies in W Europe at around 52 degrees N. Thus -=52, and from table 1 hRAIN=3.2-0.075 ( - 35)= 1.925 Km. Since e= 25 degrees, and hANTENNA=0 Km:
DRAIN = (hRAIN h ANTENNA ) 1.925 0 = = 4.555 Km Sin(e) Sin(25)

Find R
Find the rainfall rate that will only be exceeded 0.1% of the time for a satellite terminal in Denmark (i.e. the rainfall rate that will give 99.9% availability). From the map Denmark is in region E. From table 2, the value of R that will only be exceeded for 0.1% of the time is 6mm/hr. Method 1: R = kR = 0.00454 61.327 = 0.0489 dB/Km Method 2: R = 0.048 dB/Km

Calculate LRAIN
LRAIN = R DRAIN Since DRAIN = 4.555 Km and R = 0.048 dB/Km:

LRAIN = 0.0489 x 4.555 LRAIN =0.22 dB

Appendix 1 Rainfall Rate Maps

Appendix 2 Table of Coefficients

Frequency GHz 1 2 4 6 7 8 10 12 15 20 25 30 35 40

Horizontal polarisation K 0.0000387 0.912 0.000154 0.963 0.000650 1.121 0.00175 1.308 0.00301 1.332 0.00454 1.327 0.0101 1.276 0.0188 1.217 0.0367 1.154 0.0751 1.099 0.124 1.061 0.187 1.021 0.263 0.979 0.350 0.939

Vertical polarisation K 0.0000352 0.880 0.000138 0.923 0.000591 1.075 0.00155 1.265 0.00265 1.312 0.00395 1.310 0.00887 1.264 0.0168 1.200 0.0335 1.128 0.0601 1.065 0.113 1.030 0.167 1.000 0.233 0.963 0.310 0.929

Appendix 3 Nomogram