Time diversity as a rain attenuation countermeasure in satellite links in the 10-100 GHz frequency bands

We present a preliminary statistical assessment of the performance (in terms of gain) of time diversity as a rain attenuation countermeasure in non real-time satellite communications, in a 37.7° slant path, in the frequency range 10 to 100 GHz, by simulating rain attenuation time series with the Synthetic Storm Technique (SST) at Spino d´Adda (Italy). The rain rate data bank spans a period of seven years (1994-2000). The SST statistical gain (dB) is given by an equation which is a function of frequency f (GHz), rain attenuation A (dB) in the range 0-30dB, and time delay T (min) in the range 0-60 minutes. We have also compared the gain obtained from this formula against the Italsat 18.7 GHz measurements. The SST predictions are more optimistic than the measurements.