Results of a Ka band campaign for the characterisation of propagation conditions for SatCom systems at high latitudes

Satellite services in the High North are utilized extensively for both communication purposes and for earth and climate observations. This paper presents results of two year measurements at 20 GHz and co-sited meteorological data. The results suggest that with 7–8 dB margin, services can be provided with 99 % availability for systems with elevation angles as low as 3.2° and 3 dB for elevation angles above 10.1°. Measured attenuation distributions support International Telecommunication Union prediction methods within 3 to 4 dB for 99.99 % of the time. However, scintillation and multipath are not well predicted at the lowest elevation angle.