A High Performance Model for Rainfall Effect on Radio Signals

Abstract

A mathematical model for calculating the attenuation due to rain is derived using spheroid rain drops over a broad frequency range. The model is based on the limitation of Okumura’s model which does not account for other forms of losses, like rainfall, haze, etc. Numerical results are obtained from the simulation of the free space model and the formulated model with drop size of 3.5mm over a broad frequency range of 3GHz, 5GHz and 10 GHz using MATLAB software package. The validity of the formula for computing rain attenuation is then checked by comparing the results of the simulation of the path loss and received power as function of distance between the separations of two antennas with that of the free space model. The results obtained show that the attenuation (path loss) due to rainfall is 75.46% greater than that due to free space; and the received power for the rainfall model is 24.61% less than that due to the free space model.

Keywords: Radio communication, Radio wave interference, Rainfall model, Rainfall losses, Rainfall attenuation