Ground Reflection for Low Elevations at L- and K-Band

With the dispersion of modern smartphones the demand on data rates has increased. Modern mobile communication standards like long term evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced or the upcoming fifth generation (5G) promise an increase in data rate to fulfill the rising requirements. Nevertheless, ground-based systems are not able to reach users at every location. Obviously, only satellites provide reliable communications to aircraft in oceanic and remote terrestrial airspace. Satellite-based communication has been used for decades at frequency bands like L-band [1]. Due to the limited available bandwidth at the L-band frequencies, communication systems that require a large bandwidth have to be assigned to higher frequency bands like K-band and above, where enough bandwidth is available [2]. Therefore, higher carrier frequencies at 18 GHz and above become attractive [3]. To support new developments in terms of system and receiver design, electromagnetic wave propagation conditions need to be investigated, understood and modeled.