Performance Evaluation of the ITU-R Prediction Model of the Rain Attenuation in Earth-Satellite Links

High throughput satellite communication systems, need to utilize less congested high-frequency bands, such as the Ka- and Q-bands and above with a large available radio channel bandwidth. However, radio wave propagation at these frequencies is hindered by increased attenuation and impairment caused by tropospheric phenomena, particularly rainfall. It is crucial for such systems to characterize rain attenuation in the slant path for the design and setup of the satellite communication system. The statistical prediction model of rain attenuation in Earth-space paths, provided in Section 2.2.1.1 of Recommendation ITU-R P.618-14, depends on several parameters, including the rainfall rate and the rain height. This paper investigates the performance of predicting rainfall rate with ITU-R P.837-7 and predicting rain height with ITU-R P.839-4 based on the digital maps from the ECMWF ERA5 database and examines their influence on the rain attenuation prediction model in ITU-R P.618-14.