Microwave Space and Frequency Diversity Performance under Adverse Conditions

An experimental study of the effects of meteorological conditions and irregular terrain upon the performance of an optimum diversity system showed that: l) the refractive index departed appreciably from a linear profile and was not uniform along the propagation path, and 2) more than two field components were produced by the combination of irregular terrain and the nonlinear refractive index structure. These conditions violate the design assumptions so that the optimum space diversity system failed to provide the theoretical performance. Under such conditions, this same result would be expected for any of the present diversity design procedures.