Clear-air Signal Level Measurement for Microwave Line-of-sight Link Application in South Africa

This paper presents an analysis of the 19.5 GHz clear-air signal level measurement variations over a line of sight link set up between two campuses of University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. The measurement over the link spans a period of eleven months. An analytical expression for fade depth exceedance is proposed for KwaZulu-Natal, in South Africa. The link outage probability is compared with the results obtained from two ITU-R models as per Recommendations P.530-8 and P.530-12, Morita’s model for Japan, and the model of Vigants used in the United States. The Morita model over sea and coastal regions gives an outage probability of 0.060%, compared to 0.037% obtained from the measurements, with the two ITU-R models also giving close values of 0.027% and 0.024%, respectively. However, Vigants’ model is found to be the least appropriate for outage estimation in South Africa.