EHF/SHF/Ka Communications Link Attenuation and Availability Model

This proposal describes how LinCom will develop a windows based computer program to estimate earth-space rain attenuation and link availability at the EHF, Ka, and SHF frequency bands. This SBIR will improve the present rain models by developing a weather database to be used for estimating rain statistics and effective slant range for any given site on the earth. Given this data, rain attenuation and link availability for a given link margin can be predicted more accurately. In Phase I, LinCom will implement a number of the existing rain models including the NASA LeRC-SLAM model for selected locations. Results will be verified using published ACTS measurements and other published reference material as required for verification. During this phase, global weather data collection will begin as a prerequisite for Phase II where a global weather database will be developed. A system requirements review will also be performed to preview the Satcom tool. For Phase II, LinCom will develop a window based software package leveraging off existing Satcom tools LinCom has developed for the EHF community. The software will allow the operator to examine a specific earth-space link or simply allow the user to point beams and generate beam link availability contours.