Spatial correlation property derived from radar rain map and site-diversity effect evaluation

Rain attenuation should be overcome for future high-speed satellite communication using higher frequencies above 20GHz even in rain-rich countries. Several countermeasure techniques has been proposed to maintain satellite link service. Site-diversity method has been used for that purpose. For quantitative evaluation of site-diversity effect, spatial correlation of rain may be quite valuable. We derived 2-dimensional space correlation property all over Japan and found region dependence, anisotropic property and distance dependence of the correlation. We derived relations between space correlation and site-diversity gain. This results is useful for efficient site-diversity strategy design.