Leshan Uggalla
University of South Wales
United Kingdom
Title: Mitigating the effects of rain-induced fading in Ka-band satellite video broadcast system using time diversity in concert with maximal ratio combining
Biography
Biography: Leshan Uggalla
Abstract
Steadily-increasing user demand for a wide range of high-quality video services delivered via satellite has driven broadcasters to move into the higher frequency bands in order to accommodate the necessary data rates. However, a major issue at these frequencies is the effect of severe rain-induced fading on link reliability, which requires that the system must be designed to implement mitigation techniques in order to achieve an acceptable quality-of-service. These techniques generally involve the use of adaptive modulation and data rates, together with various forms of diversity, switching or combining. During the presentation, we analyse and quantify the benefits of adding i) time diversity (TD) and ii) maximal ratio combining (MRC) to the widely used DVB-S2 standard. Our results, which are based on combining a) 3 years of satellite beacon propagation measurements from 2 UK sites; b) high-fidelity computer simulations of the DVB-S2 standard for a typical satellite-broadcast communications link; and c) our new TD / MRC technology, indicate that substantial improvements in data throughput and significant reductions in outage time are readily achievable.