Site and orbital diversity prediction at Ka/Q bands for high throughput satellite systems in South Eastern Europe

Abstract This article examines the benefits of utilizing site and orbital diversity reception techniques at Ka- and Q-bands in South Eastern Europe, comparing their performance in Cyprus and Greece. The assessment relies on measured rainfall rate statistics, collected near the selected locations in both countries. The study compares and evaluates the performance of double and triple site and orbital diversity scenarios. The simulation outcome reveals that the adoption of double and triple site, or double and triple orbital diversity configurations leads to considerable enhancements in outage performance in both frequency bands. The delivered improvements are markedly significant when specifically 3-site and 3-orbit diversities are applied, especially at Q-band. However, the orbital diversity demonstrates inferior performance compared with site diversity. Notably, for satellite systems demanding extremely high levels of service continuity, the 3-site diversity approach proves highly effective at Ka- and Q-bands, accomplishing this without necessitating overly large fade margins. Comparing Cyprus and Greece, the latter demonstrates lower outage improvements due to the higher measured rainfall rates. Finally, for a dual orbital diversity scenario in Greece, measured experimental results are presented in terms of joint attenuation and compared with the theoretical model, exhibiting noticeable accuracy.