Impact of Attenuation due to Atmospheric Gases on the Communication Signal for fixed Satellite Links in Abuja, North Central Nigeria

Reliable microwave link system requires models that are location-dependent with meteorological data from location of consideration. Adaptation of models and analytical data from a location with different climatological pattern often prove inadequate when used for another location. Hence, prediction of attenuation attributed to water vapor and oxygen in Abuja (9.0765⁰ N, 7.3986⁰ E), Nigeria requires development of mathematical model using Meteorological data (pressure, temperature and water vapor) for the study area at range of five (5) years. Thereafter, the newly developed models (gaussian, exponential and linear models) were applied to derive new analytical parameters in a wide frequency range from K band, Ka band, X band, Ku band, S band and C band respectively for both the oxygen and water vapor in Abuja (North Central). The proposed model therefore, show significant improvement over the ITU-R model in the sense that, Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) obtained for X-band, Ka-band, S-band and C-band frequency bands is lower than those obtained for ITU-R model.