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Experimental validation of heavy rain attenuation in E-band based on climate wind tunnel measurements at 77 GHz

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Abstract

Attenuation measurements through extreme rain in a climate wind tunnel are carried out to benchmark the possibility of wireless data transmission at 77 GHz during adverse weather conditions. Based on a network analyzer and external E-band mixers, the propagation loss at 77 GHz is obtained over a distance of 180 m using a corner reflector at the end of a 90-m tunnel. Comparing the results to prediction models like the ITU-R P.838, a large deviation of several tens of dB/km was found for high rain rates when the drop size distribution is neglected. In the paper, the authors use known attenuation models based on rain drop distribution functions to explain the high measured attenuation during the testing, demonstrating a large variation of specific attenuation under heavy rain at high microwave frequencies.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Thomas Zero and Hermann Ferschitz from Rail Tec Arsenal (RTA), Vienna, Austria, for the rainy weather, the fruitful discussions and support during measurements. We are indebted to Hermann Massler, Michael Schlechtweg and Oliver Ambacher from the Fraunhofer IAF for the rental of the PNA-X network analyzer. This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) in the frame of the GISALI-ACcESS project (50YB1326).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Ulrich J. Lewark, Tobias Mahler & Thomas Zwick

  2. University of Stuttgart (UST), 70569, Stuttgart, Germany

    Jochen Antes, Florian Boes & Ingmar Kallfass

  3. Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics (IAF), 79108, Freiburg, Germany

    Axel Tessmann

  4. Radiometer Physics GmbH (RPG), 53340, Meckenheim, Germany

    Ralf Henneberger

Authors
  1. Ulrich J. Lewark
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  2. Tobias Mahler
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  3. Jochen Antes
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  4. Florian Boes
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  5. Axel Tessmann
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  6. Ralf Henneberger
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  7. Ingmar Kallfass
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  8. Thomas Zwick
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Correspondence to Ulrich J. Lewark.

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Lewark, U.J., Mahler, T., Antes, J. et al. Experimental validation of heavy rain attenuation in E-band based on climate wind tunnel measurements at 77 GHz. CEAS Space J 7, 475–481 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12567-015-0100-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12567-015-0100-6

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