Analysis of Satellite Transmission Losses Due to Tropospheric Irregularities in Guinea Savanna Region of Nigeria

Abstract

This paper presents results on the analysis of satellite transmission losses due to tropospheric irregularities in Guinea Savanna region of Nigeria. The analysis was based on measured rain rates data, signal strength, and quality of the Ku-band satellite signal during rainfall over the region. Five months (June to October, 2017) data was used to described the monthly variation of precipitation intensity which was further used to estimate the propagation losses on the Ku-band frequency (12.245 GHz) over the region. The Ku-band satellite signal and rain rate measurement were taken simultaneously with symbol rate of 27, 509bps and satellite elevation (orbital) was 036E. It was found that low precipitation intensity below 10 mm/hr has less effects on Ku-band propagation while high precipitation intensity above 20 mm/hr that prevail for more than 15 minutes causes high propagation loss over the region.