In this paper, a semi-empirical method for the
prediction of rain attenuation in slant paths and terrestrial links is
proposed. The method uses the same simplified model of equivalent
rain cell that is the basis for the ITU-R rain attenuation prediction
methods but, additionally, the concept of an effective rain rate is
introduced. This allows the use of the full rainfall rate distribution
for the prediction of the rain attenuation distribution and the
unification of the slant path and terrestrial links prediction
algorithms. The numerical coefficients in the method’s expressions
were derived by multiple non-linear regressions using the
experimental data currently available in the ITU-R data banks.
Test results indicate that the proposed method provides significant
improvement over the current ITU-R methods.
