TY - JOUR AU - Adediji, Adekunle Titus AU - Ismail, Mahamod AU - Mandeep, Jit Singh PY - 2014 DA - 2014/12/01 TI - Performance Analysis of Microwave Radio Refractivity on Radio Field Strength and Radio Horizon Distance Over Akure, Nigeria JO - Wireless Personal Communications SP - 1893 EP - 1909 VL - 79 IS - 3 AB - Surface radio refractivity studies are being carried out in Akure, $$(7.15^{\circ }\hbox {N}, 5.12^{\circ }\hbox {E})$$South-Western Nigeria, by in-situ measurement of atmospheric pressure, temperature, and relative humidity using Wireless Weather Station (Integrated Sensor Suit, ISS). Five years of measurement (January, 2007鈥揇ecember, 2011) were used to compute the surface radio refractivity and its diurnal, daily, seasonal and yearly variations are analyzed. The results were then used to compute radio horizon distance $$(\hbox {R}_\mathrm{DH})$$and examine the field strength (FSV) variability. Results obtained show that the surface radio refractivity, $$\hbox {N}_\mathrm{s}$$, varies with the time of the day as well as the seasons of the year. High values of $$\hbox {N}_\mathrm{s}$$were recorded in the morning and evening hours while the values were minima around 1,500聽h local time. An average value of surface radio refractivity of 364.74聽N-units was obtained for this location. The annual maximum mean of FSV is 15.24聽dB and the minimum is 2.20聽dB. This implies that the output of a receiving antenna in Akure may generally be subject to variations not less than 2聽dB in a year, but can be as high as 15聽dB. SN - 1572-834X UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-014-1963-0 DO - 10.1007/s11277-014-1963-0 ID - Adediji2014 ER -