Scintillations Due to Rain on Satellite-to-Earth Radio Links

In this paper the signal fluctuations arising at the receiving antenna on a satellite-to-earth radio-link during intense precipitations are studied. The four Stokes parameters, which fully describe the power and the polarization status of the wave, are evaluated in the 11 to 30 GHz range and for various rain intensities and path lenghts. Multiple scattering effects are taken into account. The results are also presented in form of incoherent to coherent power ratio at the receiving front end, assuming spherical drops, Rayleigh scatter and circular polarization. The total power fluxes, both for the inward and backward waves, are also computed.