| Project title | Characterization of W-band propagation channel through ground-based observations |
| Funded by | ESA - European Space Agency |
| Role | Main partner, design, set-up and statistical analysis of the WRAD campaign, MWR and meteo data provider, tasks and WP responsabilities |
| Website | |
| Partners | Politecnico di Milano, Università di Roma Sapienza |
| Description | In the development of Satellite Communication (SatCom) systems there is a continuous trend to use higher frequencies, driven by the need for larger bandwidths and by the technology development of RF components. Current High Throughput Satellites (HTS) systems operate at Ka band and presumably their next implementation will use Q- and V- bands. The use of W band appears to be the next natural evolution of current or planned SatCom systems. However, the W band is characterized by a larger dynamics of atmospheric propagation effects, because of higher atmospheric losses (due to rain, liquid water clouds and atmospheric gases) with respect to lower frequencies. Current propagation models and ITU-R recommendations are based on past experimental campaigns at Ku, Ka and Q/V bands. The application of existing models to predictions in the W band is thus affected by additional uncertainty, which cannot be estimated using actual data, posing a severe limitation on the planning of new systems operating at W band. Thus, the objective of the WRad activity is to design and execute a 2-year W-band propagation campaign based on the use of ground MWR to derive the statistical local distributions of propagation and radio-climatological parameters |
| Scientific field | Atmosferic physics, satellite telecommunications, microwaves |
| Period | Jan 2019 – Dec 2021 |
