This paper describes about drastic signal attenuation changes observed at MCF Hassan before the onset of Hudhud cyclone at Visakhapatnam. MCF-Master Control Facility Hassan is an important station of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) for the Ka-band propagation experiments. Advantages of Satellite Communication systems that are operating with the Ka-band frequencies is increased data transmission rates. Ka-band site diversity experiment at MCF is being organized in association with CNES and ONERA of France. Beacon receivers were used for attenuation measurements at Ka-band by a common data interface. The beacon Receiver consists of two separate antennas for receiving 20.2 and 30.5 Ghz. Hudhud was a hard and tough cyclone that caused vast damage in Visakhapatnam district. Hudhud was an extremely cyclonic storm. Cyclone Hudhud hit Andhrapradesh coast at Visakhapatnam on 12th Oct 2014 with a huge speed of 180kmph over the west part of central Bay of Bengal. It was one of the top record in the recent times of cyclone history. It was a very high intensity storm landed on Visakhapatnam city which led to high degree of devastation. We noticed abnormal variations of signal Attenuation at MCF which was only observed from Oct8th to Oct10th2014 during the elongated period of 10 years (2007 to 2016). We noticed severity of Rain Attenuation and Prolonged nature of Cloud Attenuation in the Real time results before Hudhud. In order to design any Space-Earth communication system, the influence of Rain Attenuation and Cloud Attenuation are considered as one of the most important factors for preparing link budget calculations.
Volume 11 | 06-Special Issue
Pages: 1226-1234