Assessment of Prediction Accuracy of the ITU-R P.530 Model in 73 GHz and 83 GHz Frequency Bands

The attenuation statistics is calculated from a unique dataset containing measurements collected at a sampling rate of 1 minute for one year from 33 full-duplex microwave links operating in the 73 GHz and 83 GHz frequency bands. Link lengths range from 100 m to 4 km. The measured values differ by up to 6 dB from the ITU-R model predictions. The results suggest that the ITU-R P.530 recommendation to limit the distance factor to a maximum level of 2.5 should not be used in estimating short link attenuation.