Satellite signal attenuation due to atmospheric influences in northern Sweden

Sammanfattning: Earth-space traversing electromagnetic waves become attenuated as they propagate through the atmosphere. The sources of attenuation are weather phenomena in the Troposphere, and scintillation and absorption in the Ionosphere. On behalf of Arctic Space Technologies AB, an empirical model based on data from the last decade was built in Python, in order to estimate the level of attenuation and provide a better picture of the frequency environment at the site in Piteå. By utilizing recommendations from the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector, and constraining the project to only consider the case where the satellite is at an 5° apparent elevation in Piteå, and a range of weather phenomena a nuanced picture can be obtained. It was found that the attenuation from the Ionosphere in typical satellite frequency bands is not of significance, and therefore only the Tropospheric sources were considered. The results showed that the S-band is the most reliable band to utilize, since little to no changes were observed for a range of weather scenarios. For the X-band, larger changes in the level of attenuation were observed for higher levels of precipitation, yet not as severe as for the Ku- and Ka- bands. However, for the Ku- and Ka-bands, large fluctuations in the attenuation were observed for different cases. In conclusion, the attenuation at Arctic space's site in Piteå for the S- and X-bands are the lowest and least effected by changes in weather. On the other hand, the Ku- and Ka-bands should be used predominantly under good weather circumstances.