JPL DESCANSO - Deep Space Communications and Navigation Center of Excellence

Abstract

The NASA Propagation Effects Handbook for Satellite Systems Design provides a systematic compilation of the major propagation effects experienced on space-Earth paths in the 10 to 100 GHz frequency band region. The Handbook provides both a detailed description of the propagtion phenomena and a summary of the impact of the effect on communications system design and performance.

The dominant effect - path attenuation due to rain - is dealt with in detail, in terms of both experimental data and the mathematical and analytical models devised to explain and predict the data. Other propagation problems covered include; rain and ice depolarization, gaseous attenuation, cloud and fog attenuation, scintillations, angle of arrival, bandwidth coherence, and sky noise.

The Handbook is arranged in two parts to facilitate efficient reference and application of the information. Chapters II through V comprise the descriptive part, which describes the propagation effects, prediction models, and available experimental data bases. Chapters VI through VII make up the system design portion of the Handbook. In Chapter VI design techniques and prediction methods available for evaluating propagation effects on space-Earth communications systems are presented. Chapter VII addressess the system design process and how the effects of propagation on system design and performance should be considered. Chapter VII also covers several mitigation techniques, such as site diversity and adaptive forward error correction (FEC), for overcoming adverse propagation impairments, and describes representative operational and planned K_u, K_a, and EHF satellite communications systems.