Results from one year of Ka-band beacon measurements at Svalbard

International audience Since April 1, 2016, a Ka-band (20.198 GHz) propagation terminal has been installed and operating at the Svalsat facility in Longyearbyen, Norway. This campaign is a joint effort between the European Space Agency (ESA), Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT), the French Aerospace...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Nessel, James, Boulanger, Xavier, Castanet, Laurent, Prytz, Torgeir, Martellucci, Antonio
Other Authors: NASA Glenn Research Center, NASA, ONERA / DEMR, Université de Toulouse Toulouse, ONERA-PRES Université de Toulouse, Kongsberg Satellite Services, European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Agence Spatiale Européenne = European Space Agency (ESA)
Format: Conference Object
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2018
Subjects:
DATA HANDLING
DEPOLARIZATION
NASA
SATELLITES
SCINTILLATION
SPACE FLIGHT
[SPI]Engineering Sciences [physics]
[PHYS]Physics [physics]
Canada
Kongsberg
Longyearbyen
Norway
Svalbard
Online Access:https://hal.science/hal-02329075
https://hal.science/hal-02329075/document
https://hal.science/hal-02329075/file/DEMR19085.1570463346_preprint.pdf
Description
Summary:International audience Since April 1, 2016, a Ka-band (20.198 GHz) propagation terminal has been installed and operating at the Svalsat facility in Longyearbyen, Norway. This campaign is a joint effort between the European Space Agency (ESA), Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT), the French Aerospace Laboratory (ONERA), the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), and NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) to characterize atmospheric attenuation, scintillation, and depolarization in the Ka-band in high latitude regions at low elevation angles. The propagation terminal observes the Thor 7 20.198 GHz RHCP beacon at nominally 2.6 deg elevation angle. Simultaneous 10 Hz and 1 Hz sampling is performed and a total dynamic range of 35 dB is achieved. One year of propagation data has been collected and the preliminary results are presented in this paper. From the first year of measurements, it is observed that at these low elevation angles, strong scintillation/multi-path conditions, as well as significant depolarization events can occur which may impose difficulties in meeting mission link acquisition requirements at 5 deg elevation angle, such as those desired by the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) mission. The design of the dual-polarized terminal with integrated digital radiometer, as well as the data processing techniques are described, along with the first year results and preliminary conclusions.

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