Abstract—Satellite’s link budget is a calculation method for planning and operating communication networks using satellites. This paper propose a plan for calculating link budgets for Ka-band satellite in the tropical area especially in Southeast Asia by taking an example of communication links between Jakarta (Indonesia) and Bangkok (Thailand). The main problem in this link budget planning is the high rainfalls in the tropics area have which certainly affects to the quality and availability of a satellite with Ka-band frequency. Theoretically in wireless communication, the higher of frequency used, then the higher free space loss it has. Therefore, the use of K_a-band frequencies for satellite communications in the tropical area needs a special attention. One thing that must be considered is the link availability. In the tropical area, a Ka-band satellite must be balanced with a high link-availability because it often rains with a fairly high enough of intensity. Based on the results of the Ka-band satellite link budget analysis for broadband applications which suggested in this paper, it can be concluded that to achieve a 100 Mbps bit rate, broadband services in the tropical area are only able to provide 99.6% link availability with a receiver antenna diameter of 3 m and the EIRP satellite reaches for 61.8 dBW.
 

Index Terms—K_a-band, tropical area, link avaibility, link budget, broadband

Cite: Baso Maruddani and Widya Dara, "Ka-Band Satellite Link Budget for Broadband Application in Tropical Area," Journal of Communications, vol. 14, no. 7, pp. 622-628, 2019. Doi: 10.12720/jcm.14.7.622-628