Effects of moist dust/sand accretion on parabolic reflector antennas

• Main Author: Bashir, Saad Osman
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: IEE 1997
• Subjects: TK5101 Telecommunication. Including telegraphy, radio, radar, television
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/34224/1/Effects_of_moist_dustsand.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/34224/; http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=608499&tag=1

Theoretical results show that dust/sand accretion on reflector antennas is a real threat for slant-path communication systems, this includes satellite-to-Earth as well as high-low ground-to-ground microwave systems. Although little information on the accretion process is available it is guessed that under dry conditions these antennas will not form dust/sand layers more than a fraction of a millimeter thick, which will induce an attenuation of a fraction of a decibel; however, this will induce a beam shift of a fraction of a degree, which is significant to satellite communication systems. These threats are particularly significant in severe dust/sand storm countries. The moisture content of the dust is discussed