Performance Analysis of 38 GHz Terrestrial Link Under Measurement-based Dust Storms

Dust storms have the potential to cause deterioration in the performance of wireless communication systems for a significant time percentage which can lead to a decrease in the quality and availability of services. This paper explores wireless fixed link availability under dust storms at millimeter wave bands, namely at 38 GHz. Thus, the fixed link parameters can be adjusted with optimum values accordingly. The link is simulated by terrain profile information and the Longley-Rice model in an urban environment in Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia. Measurement-based data of dust storms has been utilized to study the link status under various visibility levels and bandwidth ranges. Signal to noise ratio (SNR) is used as a standard criterion to examine the wireless fixed link performance. The findings showed that dust storms play an important role in reducing cross polarization discrimination (XPD) at the receiver, and the visibility levels more significantly affect the obtained SNR than that of the system bandwidth.