Effects of Sandstorms and Explosion-Generated Atmospheric Dust on Radio Propagation

Abstract : Suspended particulate matter in the atmosphere, generated by natural phenomena such as dust and sandstorms or by man-made near-surface explosions, has been suspected as a cause of microwave and millimeter-wave communications systems outages. An analysis carried out on the radio-frequency and optical effects of such dust clouds and the results, coupled with available information on particle-size distributions and suspended mass, indicates that the radio- frequency effects should be essentially negligible. However, observed changes in the atmospheric pressure, temperature, and humidity which accompany dust storms (and explosions) can account for all of the observed effects on microwave links. With the exception of water entrained in large explosions, most such effects are, however, virtually frequency-independent; therefore, dust storm activity and clouds raised by detonations should not be considered a threat peculiar to EHF SATCOM or other millimeter-wave based communications systems.