Investigation of Tropospheric Scintillation for Satellite Communication over Bhutan

Abstract

Investigation of Tropospheric Scintillation for Satellite Communication over Bhutan The efficiency of satellite link from Earth largely depends on atmospheric effects such as rain, fog, cloud and atmospheric effects like ionospheric and tropospheric scintillation. In this report, the tropospheric scintillation of Bhutan is predicted based on measured climatic parameters such as humidity and temperature. In this prediction, the ITU scintillation model is used. Bhutan’s eight major cities have been selected for prediction of scintillation. From the result of simulation, Sarpang is found to be the most badly affected region by the scintillation fade depth (SFD), which is followed by Punakha and the SFD is minimum in Gasa and Jakar. The difference in SFDs in the cities considered does not vary heavily. It has been found that the SFD for maximum temperature varies from 3 dB to 9 dB and for minimum temperature varies from 2 dB to 7 dB depending on the frequency used.