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Measurement of Attenuation and Phase on 26-GHz Wide-Band Point-to-

Multipoint Signals Under the Influence of Rain

Article  in  IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters · February 2005

DOI: 10.1109/LAWP.2004.841625 · Source: IEEE Xplore

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20 IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 4, 2005

Measurement of Attenuation and Phase on 26-GHz

Wide-Band Point-to-Multipoint Signals
Under the Influence of Rain
B. Fong, Senior Member, IEEE, A. C. M. Fong, Senior Member, IEEE, G. Y. Hong, Member, IEEE, and H. Ryu

Abstract—This letter presents the results of a study on rain atten- TABLE I

uation of an outdoor radio propagation channel at 26 GHz, which A SUMMARY OF SYSTEM SETUP PARAMETERS
is widely used for local multipoint distribution service deployment.
The difference in attenuation between vertical and horizontal po-
larization is compared for wide-band signals using a line-of-sight
radio link with alternate polarizations by transmitting signals with
horizontal and vertical polarizations. It is shown that attenuation
difference due to depolarization becomes much more significant
when the rainfall exceeds 70 mm/h.
Index Terms—Attenuation measurement, co-polar measure-
ment, phase rotation, rain attenuation.

II. EXPERIMENTAL SET UP AND SITE DESCRIPTION

I. INTRODUCTION
At a carrier frequency of 26 GHz, higher reuse and capacity
T HE 26-GHz frequency band is allocated to broadband
wireless access (BWA) in many parts of the world.
However, little is known about the effects of persistent heavy
is offered as a result of higher spectral efficiency compared
to 10-GHz systems usually preferred in topical regions where
the effects of rain are less significant at lower frequencies. We
rainfall in tropical regions on the link available for delivery
study the propagation of two alternately polarized signals using
of high-speed multimedia traffic over 26-GHz channels. The
a local multipoint distribution service system. The received sig-
26-GHz band offers advantages such as relatively high band-
nals’ profiles at outdoor receivers are captured and the extent of
width resulting in a much higher bit rates available to individual
signal degradation is calculated. The system used in our exper-
users when compared to a carrier of around 10 GHz used typ-
iment is the same as that described in [5] except that the trans-
ically in tropical regions. It also allows the reuse of spectrum
mitter to receiver separation has been reduced as summarized in
with a higher density of smaller cells resulting in a higher
Table I. The rate of rainfall at the time each measurement was
network capacity in urban and rural areas [1]. These networks
recorded with two portable tipping-bucket rain gauges each at
are particularly suited for network connection to small offices
the transmitter and receiver end. Measurements were conducted
or suburban homes to high-capacity public switching and
with two mobile receivers over two unobstructed line-of-sight
backbone networks for wireless multimedia services. Wire-
links at approximately the same distance of 3.8 km from the
less information required by customers on the move includes
transmitting hub throughout the experiment. A difference of no
internet, multimedia, and voice. The study of radio wave prop-
more than 0.5 dB is recorded between the two receivers and the
agation in such an environment is necessary for optimization
average value is taken in each measurement. Readings with dif-
of system deployment. While studies have been performed for
ference exceeding 0.5 dB were deemed errors and neglected.
a range of services [2], [3], we present the rain attenuation and
Signals are transmitted in both horizontal and vertical polariza-
co-polar measurement results obtained by a two-year study that
tion and the impact on link availability due to rain attenuation
has been made in Singapore with fixed links at 26 GHz under
and depolarization is studied.
various rain rates to determine the extent of attenuation and
depolarization that provide some guidelines for future system
deployment considerations [4]. III. RESULTS
The rainfall rate was recorded with the received signals
analyzed simultaneously. The data captured was used to eval-
Manuscript received July 28, 2004; revised November 22, 2004. uate the attenuation and phase difference at 25.9 GHz using
B. Fong is with the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, a 50-Mbps point-to-point link under the influence of seasonal
Auckland University of Technology, Auckland 1020, New Zealand (e-mail: monsoons in Singapore. The attenuation in dB and phase
bfong@ieee.org).
A. C. M. Fong is with the School of Computer Engineering, Nanyang Tech- in degrees can be evaluated as described in [6] such that
nological University, Singapore 639798.
G. Y. Hong and H. Ryu are with Massey University, Palmerston North, New (1)
Zealand.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LAWP.2004.841625 (2)
1536-1225/$20.00 © 2005 IEEE
FONG et al.: MEASUREMENT OF ATTENUATION AND PHASE ON 26 GHz WIDE-BAND POINT-TO-MULTIPOINT SIGNALS
Fig. 1. Attenuation per kilometer link due to rain.
Fig. 2. Attenuation difference between horizontal and vertical polarization.
where is the path length and is the effective propagation
constant as
where is the propagation constant for free space and
a function of the raindrop size distribution.
A scattered plot of attenuation for both polarizations is shown
in Fig. 1 with the best-fit lines representing attenuation per kilo-
meter range for the both horizontal and vertical polarizations
with most of the readings recorded found lying within 1 dB of
the best-fit plots. The attenuation difference between horizontal
and vertical polarization that results from Fig. 1 is plotted in
Fig. 2. A fairly linear increase in attenuation difference is ob-
served as the rate of rainfall increases. A 3 dB difference is
found when the rain rate approaches 90 mm/h and almost 6 dB
at 150 mm/h when the horizontally polarized signal can suffer
from a 25-dB attenuation in 1 km. The phase rotation is derived
using the method described in [6]. Fig. 3 shows the phase dif-
ference between the two polarizations. A 45 difference occurs
when the rain rate is approximately 90 mm/h. The attenuation
measurements have been compared with the ITU-R statistics [7]
and most of the readings are found within a -dB range.
View publication stats
21
Fig. 3. Phase difference between horizontal and vertical polarization.
IV. CONCLUSION
The effects of rain attenuation on a local multipoint distribu-
tion service system operating at 26 GHz have been studied with
alternately polarized carriers. Results show that the difference
in signal attenuation between horizontal and vertical polariza-
tion becomes more significant as the rate of rainfall increases.
As much as 3-dB attenuation difference and 45 phase differ-
ence exist between the two polarizations when the rate of rain-
fall approaches 90 mm/h. The results offer some guidelines in
estimation of necessary system fade margins that are greatly af-
fected by the rain statistics and modulation scheme used [8].
Increase in gain margin of both the system and antennas can
improve link availability to compensate for the reduction in cov-
erage caused by rainfall. It is apparent from the results that the
presence of rain has a significant impact on both polarizations
at 26 GHz. The results presented in this letter may be used as
system deployment guidelines to evaluate necessary fade mar-
gins for 26-GHz fixed BWA systems.
(3)
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