Evaluation of small-scale spatial distribution of rain cells in equatorial Malaysia for rain attenuation modeling

Abstract

This work evaluates the spatial features of the synthetic rain cell profile based on two years of real rain cells database extracted from weather radar observation located in Kluang, Johor, Malaysia. Single rain cells modeled by an analytical exponential and Gaussian profile are evaluated and investigated based on certain features of real rain cells such as maximum rain rate and root mean square rain rate inside a single rain cell. Preliminary results indicate the Gaussian profile with a shape factor k of 1 best represents real single-peaked rain structures in this particularly heavy rain area. However, the validity of results rely highly on the resolution limitation of the database used in this work, where the commercial operating meteorological radar consists of coarse quantization resolution of rain-rate, which might misinterpret the real rain cell profile at a lower rain rate. Nevertheless, this work still provides radio engineers with useful information for the design of wireless communication systems in this particular area (heavy rain region).