Performance of small-scale multiple-site diversity systems investigated through radar simulations

The number of satellite telecommunication systems that make use of frequencies higher than 10 GHz is constantly growing; at frequencies above 10 GHz, attenuation due to rain can be a limiting factor for system availability; the dual-site diversity technique has proved to be quite useful in counteracting rain attenuation. This technique can be extended by adopting a multiple-site configuration. In this paper the performance of small-scale multiple-site diversity systems is investigated through simulations, carried out by exploiting a large database of radar maps of precipitation. Results have shown significant improvements in terms of diversity advantage and site separation reduction with respect to the dual-site configuration. Moreover, if the stations carry data traffic and they are not working at their full capacity, it is possible to recover a significant amount of the traffic that otherwise would be lost.