Signal Processing Commons^™

A Model To Predict Diffraction Attenuation Resulting From Signal Propagation Over Terrain In Low Earth Orbit Satellite Systems, Peter R. Pollock

Theses and Dissertations

This study focused on multipath communication propagation impairments to the LEOSAT communications channel. Two terrain diffraction models, based on the geometric theory of diffraction (GTD), were developed and applied to the space-to-ground communications channel. These models were used to predict the impact of terrain on the performance of three LEOSAT communication systems with designs based on the Iridium, Globalstar and Orbcomm implementations. The study verified the feasibility of applying models based on the GTD rather than empirical or statistical models, to approximate the effect of propagating signals over terrain. Both models confirm that signal blockage and multipath propagation, due to …