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 Propagation on satellite
There are many phenomenon causing signal loss on
transmission through the earth’s atmosphere.
These are
(1)Atmospheric absorption(gaseous effects)
(2) Cloud attenuation(aerosol & ice particle effects)
(3)Tropospheric scintilation(refractive effects)
(4)Faraday rotation(An ionosperic effect)
(5) Ionospheric scintilation(A 2nd ionosperic effect)
(6)Rain attenuation
(7)Rain & ice crystal depolarisatin
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 Atmospheric absorption
At MW freq. EM waves interact with
molecules in the atmosphere to cause
signal attenuation .
At certain freq. resonant absorption
occurs & severe attenuation results.
 Cloud attenuation
Calculation of cloud attenuation is difficult
as clouds are of many types & can exist at
many
levels, each type having a different
probability of occurrence. The water droplet
concentrations in
each cloud will also vary & clouds made up
of ice crystals cause attenuation. The lower
the
elevation angle ,the higher the cloud
attenuation.
Tropospheric scintillation
& low angle fading
The atmosphere close to the ground is called as
the boundary layer. Solar radiation causes the
earth surface warm so as the boundary layer.
When a signal encounters a turbulent
atmosphere
the rapid variation in the refractive index along
the path leads to fluctuations in the received
signal level which are called as scintillations. The
magnitude of the scintillations becomes larger
as the freq. increases, path elevation angle
reduces & the climate becomes more warmer &
humid.
 When the elevation angle falls below 10
degree, a 2nd propagation effect occurs
called as LOW ANGLE FADING which is the
same phenomenon as multipath fading. As
the signal transmitted from satellite reaches
at the earth stations via diff.paths with
diff.phase shifts, the resultant signal is
attenuated.
 On combination, the resultant waveform may be
enhanced or attenuated from the normal clear sky
level.
 Signal enhancement has been observed to exceed

8 dB on a 3.3 degree path at 11.198 GHz, while

cancellation can cause complete link dropout.
 The mechanism for the low angle fading has been

interpreted as atmospheric multipath and also as

the “defocusing and focusing” of the incoming
signal.
 Low angle fading is only significant in very still air

on very low elevation angle path

 Contd.
 It is normally not considered for satellite
paths when the elevation angle is above 10
degree.
 Note that the multipath effect referred to here

is occurring in the atmosphere, and is

therefore different from multipath effects in
terrestrial radio links which are caused by
reflection from the ground, buildings, trees
etc.
THANK YOU