Assessment of Drop Size Distributions Obtained by Different Instruments and their Application to W-Band Propagation Studies

摘要

The Drop Size Distributions (DSDs) allow the characterization of rainfall phenomena and prediction of rain attenuation. In this paper, long-term measurements from a vertical Doppler radar (MRR-2) and an optical disdrometer are used to obtain and compare the statistics of DSDs in Madrid in periods of at least ten years. The process to obtain the DSDs from the optical disdrometer spectrum is analyzed in detail, providing recommendations about the most appropriate particles filtering. Rain attenuation is calculated from the DSDs obtained from both instruments and the results are compared with rain attenuation time series measured in a W-band horizontal radio link at 75 GHz and 85 GHz.