Calculation of Long-Term Tropospheric Attenuation Statistics Using Weather Cubes

An initial investigation into the use of Weather Cubes compiled using the atmospheric characterization package Laser Environmental Effects Definition and Reference (LEEDR) to calculate long-term attenuation statistics for remote sensing and satellite communication simulations is presented. A Weather Cube is a three-dimensional mesh of numerical weather prediction (NWP) data plus LEEDR calculations that allows for the quantification of rain, cloud, aerosol, and molecular effects at any UV to RF wavelength on any path contained within the cube. This work compares total path attenuation probability of exceedance curves derived using a single profile of numerical predication data to ground based radiometric measurements of slant-path attenuation in the V & W bands as well as relevant International Telecommunication Union Recommendations. The results of this work demonstrate the need for further investigation into this methodology. The use of single profile of numerical weather prediction data to create a Weather Cube does not capture the highest attenuation events which occur at the lowest exceedance probabilities.