Atmospheric fluctuation spectra and radio system implications

The effect of fluctuations on satellite communications is investigated. The development of a model to simulate turbulent zones crossing the antenna beam using the Kirchhoff theory and the Fresnel zones is discussed. The simple and mean estimators are applied to the calculation of the amplitude power spectrum; spectra for fluctuations only and fluctuations superimposed on attenuation are evaluated. The similarities observed in the spectra are described. The corner frequencies and slopes of the spectra are examined. It is concluded that the effects of fluctuations on communication links is difficult to estimate due to the mathematical complexity of the fields formulations.