A Clutter Loss Model for Satellite Communication Systems

Abstract

Buildings and vegetation in the proximity of a terrestrial base station induce a significant additional loss, typically referred to as “clutter loss”, which sums up to free space loss and atmospheric attenuation. Clutter loss is essentially due to the radiowave reflection and diffraction caused by buildings and vegetation, and tends to reduce the interference between terrestrial systems, such as upper 6 GHz (U6G), and satellite systems operating in the same frequency bands. In fact, for example, at low elevation angles, the clutter loss could reach some tens of dB in the U6G band. A novel clutter loss model in urban and suburban environments for frequencies up to 10 GHz is proposed. The model relies on the Monte Carlo simulation approach presented in Report ITU-R P.2402-0, but some limitations have been removed to extend its applicability to more complex scenarios and possibly increase its accuracy for U6G systems. An analytical approach is also proposed to model the clutter loss statistics obtained by properly fitting the obtained statistics for the cities of London and Melbourne. Finally, the proposed model is validated by comparing its results to those obtained by a commercial ray tracer.

Keywords

• clutter loss
• diffraction
• reflection
• satellite communications