Preliminary Results of the THOR7 Propagation Experiment in the North Pole Region

• Main Authors: Queyrel, Julien, Boulanger, Xavier, Castanet, Laurent, Nessel, James, Zemba, Michael, Prytz, Torgeir, Martellucci, Antonio
• Other Authors: ONERA / DEMR, Université de Toulouse Toulouse, ONERA-PRES Université de Toulouse, NASA Glenn Research Center, NASA, Kongsberg Satellite Services, European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), European Space Agency (ESA)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2019
• Subjects: PROPAGATION; TELECOMMUNICATION; LIAISON TERRE SATELLITE; MODÈLE NUMÉRIQUE MÉTÉO; WRF; [SPI]Engineering Sciences [physics]; [PHYS]Physics [physics]; North Pole; Norway; Svalbard; Northern Norway
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02417523; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02417523/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02417523/file/DEMR19053.1562078600.pdf

International audience A propagation experiment funded by ESA with support from CNES has been deployed in Svalbard (Northern Norway, 80° latitude North) in order to study propagation impairments at Ka-band caused by the troposphere at high latitudes and low elevation angles in representative conditions for GEO satcoms systems in the Artic region. In this context, a NASA Glenn Research Centre beacon receiver, operated by KSAT in Norway, measures the signal from the THOR7 satellite at a 2.65° elevation angle since March 2016. ONERA processes and analyses the data since the beginning of the experiment. At this stage 2 years of propagation data from the satellite have been gathered. An Atmospheric Numerical Simulator relying on the high resolution meteorological model (WRF-ARW) is used to generate 3D states of the atmosphere during a concurrent period to the experiment at high spatial & temporal resolutions. Propagation calculations based upon those outputs are then conducted to derive simulated attenuation time series between the beacon receiver and THOR7. Results show a fairly good statistical agreement between the measured and simulated attenuation time series whereas the simulated statistics seem to underestimate the overall attenuation for all percentages of time.