RAIN FADE CALCULATIONS

Introduction
Rain fade is the dominant factor in path loss variation above 10GHz, and can have an
effect below that frequency at low elevations. This short note describes on of the
ITU-R methods for calculating rain fade. It can also be use to relate the required
availability of satellite circuits to the fade margin that must be included in the link
budget.
Fain fades vary with frequency, location, polarisation and rainfall rate. The depth of
fade in dB can be calculated from:
LRAIN = R DRAIN
Where:
LRAIN is the rain loss in dB
R
is the specific attenuation (dB/Km)
DRAIN is the path length through the troposphere in Km,
To calculate the rain attenuation we need to know:
Latitude and longitude of the earth station to within a degree.
Altitude of the station in Km.
The frequency of operation
The polarisation of the signal.
The required availability of the satellite circuit.
Determining DRAIN
DRAIN is effectively the slant range of the portion of the signal that lies below the
freezing point (zero degree isotherm) in the atmosphere. The assumption is that all
rain originates at this level.

Rain height
(zero degree isotherm)

DRAIN
hRAIN
e

elevation
angle

hANTENNA

Datum

Antenna
height

DRAIN can be calculated from simple trigonometry from the above diagram.
DRAIN =

(hRAIN h ANTENNA )
Sin(e)

This implies knowledge of the rain height hRAIN. ITU-R Recommendation P.839
relates rain height to location. It is reproduced at table 1.

Region
N hemisphere (except N America &
Europe)
5
N hemisphere (except N America &
Europe)
N hemisphere N America & Europe
3.2-0.075 ( - 35)
west of 60E Longitude
5
S hemisphere
S hemisphere
5 + 0.1( +21)
S hemisphere
Table 1
hRAIN
5 - 0.075 ( - 23)

Latitude
> 23 N
0 23N

0 21S
21S > 71S
71S >

From this we can calculate hRAIN, and through that DRAIN.

Determining R
In order to determine R it is first necessary to identify the rainfall region from the
attached maps (Appendix 1). Table 2 links the rainfall rate to the percentage of the
time it is exceeded in any year by rainfall region.
Percentage
of time R
A
exceeded
<0.1
1.0
0.8
0.3
2
0.1
5
0.03
8
0.01
14
0.003
22
0.001

Zone
G H J

0.5

0.7

2.1

0.6

1.7

2.8

4.5

2.4

4.5

13

4.2

11

15

34

49

12

10

20

12

15

22

35

65

72

13

12

15

20

18

28

23

33

40

65

105

96

12

15

19

22

28

30

32

35

42

60

63

95

145

115

21

26

29

41

54

45

55

45

70

105

95

140

200

142

32

42

42

70

78

65

83

55

100

150

120

180

250

170

1.5

12

24

Table 2
This gives the value of the rainfall rate R, which can be used to determine R. The
two methods for determining R are empirical. They methods are:
Method 1: Calculation (ITU-R Recommendation P.838)
Method 2: Nomogram (CCIR Report 721 no longer available)

If circular polarisation is to be used then calculate the average value of R for vertical
and horizontal polarisation should be used.

Method 1
Specific attenuation can be found from:

R = kR
The values of K and can be found from ITU-R Recommendation P.838. The table
is attached at Appendix 2.

Method 2
The CCIR used to publish a very useful nomogram in Report 721 (no longer
available). This links specific attenuation directly to frequency and rainfall rate. The
Nomogram is at Appendix 3.

Example
What fade depth should be allowed for an X-band (8GHz) terminal operating in
Denmark if an availability of 99.9% is required? The terminal is looking at a satellite
with an elevation angle of 25 degrees, using horizontal polarisation, and is located at
sea level.

Find DRAIN
Denmark lies in W Europe at around 52 degrees N. Thus -=52, and from table 1
hRAIN=3.2-0.075 ( - 35)= 1.925 Km. Since e= 25 degrees, and hANTENNA=0 Km:
DRAIN =

(hRAIN h ANTENNA ) 1.925 0

=
= 4.555 Km
Sin(e)
Sin(25)

Find R
Find the rainfall rate that will only be exceeded 0.1% of the time for a satellite
terminal in Denmark (i.e. the rainfall rate that will give 99.9% availability). From the
map Denmark is in region E. From table 2, the value of R that will only be exceeded
for 0.1% of the time is 6mm/hr.
Method 1: R = kR = 0.00454 61.327 = 0.0489 dB/Km
Method 2: R = 0.048 dB/Km

Calculate LRAIN
LRAIN = R DRAIN
Since DRAIN = 4.555 Km and R = 0.048 dB/Km:

LRAIN = 0.0489 x 4.555

LRAIN =0.22 dB

Appendix 1 Rainfall Rate Maps

Appendix 2 Table of Coefficients

Frequency
GHz
1
2
4
6
7
8
10
12
15
20
25
30
35
40

Horizontal polarisation
K

0.0000387
0.912
0.000154
0.963
0.000650
1.121
0.00175
1.308
0.00301
1.332
0.00454
1.327
0.0101
1.276
0.0188
1.217
0.0367
1.154
0.0751
1.099
0.124
1.061
0.187
1.021
0.263
0.979
0.350
0.939

Vertical polarisation
K

0.0000352
0.880
0.000138
0.923
0.000591
1.075
0.00155
1.265
0.00265
1.312
0.00395
1.310
0.00887
1.264
0.0168
1.200
0.0335
1.128
0.0601
1.065
0.113
1.030
0.167
1.000
0.233
0.963
0.310
0.929

Appendix 3 Nomogram