Tropospheric scintillation measurements in Ku-band satellite signals on Earth-space paths with low elevation angle

This paper discusses the tropospheric scintillation of a KU-band satellite antenna, which installed at the University Sains Malaysia (USM), Malaysia, on an elevation angle of 40.1 degrees, at frequency of 12.255 GHz. Tropospheric scintillation in this context means rapid fluctuation of radiowave signals occuring during data transmission due to the turbulence at the atmosphere when the signal propagates. It occurs every day and tends to affect the quality of the communication link, especially for the link that utilizes frequency band higher than 10 GHz. The paper compares the measured tropospheric scintillation data with gamma and normal (Gaussian) distributions for short-term and long-term scintillation distributions. The findings show that for short-term scintillations, the probability density function (PDF) will tend to follow gamma distribution and for long-term scintillation, the PDF will follow normal distribution. The results are very useful to develop a new tropospheric scintillation model for Malaysia and for other areas with similar climate.