Impact of fade duration and elevation angle on time correlation of the mobile satellite channel

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Luglio, Michele | Ramilli, Riccardo

Affiliations: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettronica, Università di Roma “Tor Vergata”, Via di Tor Vergata 110, 00133 Rome, Italy Tel.: + 39 06 7259 7449; Fax: + 39 06 7259 7435; E‐mail: luglio@uniroma2.it

Abstract: Satellite systems are expected to assume a very important role in the implementation of the Global Information Infrastructure due to their flexibility and capability for providing global coverage and for enhancing mobile communications. For mobile applications, shadowing represents one of the main problems, especially in regions with multiple tall buildings, mountains or thick vegetation. To evaluate the impact of shadowing on mobile satellite system performance, the characterisation of the propagation channel is a key issue. In particular, the correlation between channel states in consecutive instants in time is an analytical avenue for understanding performance for packet mode transmission (e.g., based on TCP/IP). In this paper results from several measurement campaigns for a limited set of elevation angles have been generalised to any elevation angle. The related shadowing statistics have been utilised to evaluate the time correlation properties of a shadowed environment through simulations.

Journal: Space Communications, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 69-82, 2003