New physical‐mathematical model for predicting slant‐path rain attenuation statistics based on inverse Gaussian distribution

A new physical‐mathematical model for predicting first‐order rain attenuation statistics for slant‐path links is presented in this study. It is assumed that point rain rate and slant‐path rain attenuation follow the inverse Gaussian (IG) distribution. The statistical parameters of the IG distribution of the induced rain attenuation on a slant path are calculated in terms of the rain rate statistical parameters by adopting a spatial inhomogeneity model for specific rain attenuation. The method is validated using experimental data taken from Database of Study Group 3 (radiowave propagation) of International Telecommunication Union‐Radio (ITU‐R), hereafter named DBSG3 and with simulated rain attenuation data using the Synthetic Storm Technique on recent rain rate measurements in Athens, Greece. Its performance is also compared to the ITU‐R P. 618‐10 model. The proposed model shows better performance comparing to the ITU‐R model and the results are very encouraging.