A rain cell model for the simulation and performance evaluation of site diversity schemes

This letter presents a rain cell model for the simulation and performance evaluation of site diversity schemes, useful for the design of satellite communication (SatCom) systems operating at very high frequency (e.g., Ka-band and above) for which the use of effective fade mitigation techniques (FMTs) is mandatory. The model takes advantage of MultiEXCELL for the synthesis of the local rainfall environment, whose interaction with the SatCom system is simulated to estimate the diversity gain for site separation distances up to 250 km. Tests against the data included in the diversity experiment database maintained by the ITU-R indicate a very good prediction accuracy. The proposed model represents a synthesis, in terms of applicability, of the two methodologies currently recommended by ITU-R, and, in addition, it is more flexible, enabling the analysis of diversity schemes of any order, configuration, and complexity.