Variabilidade Horária da Taxa de Precipitação e seu Efeito no Desempenho de Sistemas de Comunicações por Satélite

This paper proposes a new criterion to be used in the evaluation of low availability satellite system performance. This criterion is related to diurnal variability of rainfall rate and was developed based on measurements carried out in the Amazon region. Practical considerations point out its applicability, including a comparison with the usual procedure associated to the worst month rainfall rate cumulative distribution.