Wireless Optical Communications Through the Turbulent Atmosphere: A Review (original) (raw)
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Non-Kolmogorov atmospheric turbulence and optical signal propagation
Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics, 2006
In the present review, we make an attempt to attract attention to the effect of non-Kolmogorov behavior of turbulence in various scales on the characteristics of electromagnetic waves propagation through a turbulent atmosphere on the example of certain atmospheric experiments. We discuss the interpretation of experimental data based on the model of spectral behavior of a passive scalar field within a broad range of scales, which has been developed recently.
Effects of light propagation in middle intensity atmospheric turbulence
Frontiers of Optoelectronics in China, 2009
The purpose of this report is to present an experimental study of the effects of light propagation through atmospheric turbulence. Free space optical communication is a line-of-sight technology that transmits a modulated beam of visible light through the atmosphere for broadband communication. The fundamental limitations of free space optical communications arise from the environment through which it propagates. However these systems are vulnerable to atmospheric turbulence, such as attenuation and scintillation. Scintillation is due to the air index variation under the temperature effects. These factors cause an attenuated receiver signal and lead to higher bit error rate (BER). An experiment of laser propagation was carried out to characterize the light intensity through turbulent air in the laboratory environment. The experimental results agree with the calculation based on Rytov for the case of weak to intermediate turbulence. Also, we show the characteristics of irradiance scintillation, intensity distribution and atmospheric turbulence strength. By means of laboratory simulated turbulence, the turbulence box is constructed with the following measurements: 0.5 m wide, 2 m long and 0.5 m high. The simulation box consists of three electric heaters and is well described for understanding the experimental set up. The fans and heaters are used to increase the homogeneity of turbulence and to create different scintillation indices. The received intensity scintillation and atmosphere turbulence strength were obtained and the variation of refractive index, with its corresponding structure parameter, is calculated from the experimental results.
Studies of the Effects of Atmospheric Turbulence on Free Space Optical Communications
2005
Even after several decades of study, inconsistencies remain in the application of atmospheric turbulence theories to experimental systems, and the demonstration of acceptable correlations with experimental results. This dissertation shows a flexible empirical approach for improving link performance through image analysis of intensity scintillation patterns coupled with frame aperture averaging on a free space optical (FSO) communication link. Aperture averaging is the effect of the receiver size on the power variance seen at the receiver. A receiver must be large enough to collect sufficient power and reduce scintillation effects at a given range, but must also be of practical size. An imaging system for measuring the effects of atmospheric turbulence and obscuration on FSO links will be presented. Weak and intermediate turbulence results will be shown for an 863 meter link at the University of Maryland. Atmospheric turbulence has a significant impact on the quality of a laser beam propagating through the atmosphere over long distances. Turbulence causes intensity scintillation and beam wander from propagation through turbulent eddies of varying sizes and refractive index. This can severely impair the operation of target designation and FSO communications systems. A new geometrical model to assess the effects of turbulence on laser beam propagation in such applications will be presented. The atmosphere along the laser beam propagation path is modeled as a spatial distribution of spherical bubbles with refractive index discontinuity statistically distributed according to various models. For each statistical representation of the atmosphere, the path of rays is analyzed using geometrical optics. These Monte Carlo techniques can assess beam wander, phase shifts and aperture averaging effects at the receiver. An effective C n 2 can be determined by correlating beam wander behavior with the path length. In addition, efficient computational techniques have been developed for various correlation functions that are important in assessing the effects of turbulence. The Monte Carlo simulations are compared with the predictions of wave theory. This is the first report to present weak and intermediate turbulence results using an efficient imaging technique. It is also the first report to geometrically simulate aperture averaging.
Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 2011
In free-space optical communication links, atmospheric turbulence causes fluctuations in both the intensity and the phase of the received signal, affecting link performance. Most theoretical treatments have been described by Kolmogorov's power spectral density model through weak turbulence with constant wind speed. However, several experiments showed that Kolmogorov theory is sometimes incomplete to describe atmospheric turbulence properly, especially through the strong turbulence with variable wind speed, which is known to contribute significantly to the turbulence in the atmosphere. We present an optical turbulence model that incorporates into variable wind speed instead of constant value, a non-Kolmogorov power spectrum that uses a generalized exponent instead of constant standard exponent value 11/3, and a generalized amplitude factor instead of constant value 0.033. The free space optical communication performance for a Gaussian beam wave of scintillation index, mean signal-to-noise ratio, and mean bit error rate , have been derived by extended Rytov theory in non-Kolmogorov strong turbulence. And then the influence of wind speed variations on free space optical communication performance has been analyzed under different atmospheric turbulence intensities. The results suggest that the effects of wind speed variation through non-Kolmogorov turbulence on communication performance are more severe in many situations and need to be taken into account in free space optical communication. It is anticipated that this work is helpful to the investigations of free space optical communication performance considering wind speed under severe weather condition in the strong atmospheric turbulence.
The effects of atmospheric turbulence on the propagation of pulsed laser beams
Radio Science, 1975
The effects of turbulence on the propagation of pulsed laser beams are examined. Using the Rytov theory, general expressions for the pulse fluctuations are derived in terms of arbitrary beam geometries and pulse shapes. Physical interpretations of the pulse distortion and the effects of the beam geometry on the pulse statistics are discussed.
Long-range propagation through inhomogeneous turbulent atmosphere: analysis beyond phase screens
Physica Scripta, 2018
Many applications rely on the propagation of electromagnetic waves through extended regions of the atmosphere over which the refractive index can vary in a complex manner. Gradients and curvature of the mean refractive index profile result in ray bending and the associated phenomena of mirages, atmospheric lensing, and wave trapping in parabolic cavities. Stochastic refractive index fluctuations due to turbulence cause a random displacement of the trajectory and give rise to the wander, or spot dancing, of a propagating optical beam. In this paper we model these features of the refractive index profile locally and describe propagation through the corresponding regions. We derive formulas for the mean ray path that capture the effects of both atmospheric turbulence and variations in the mean refractive index profile, including the non-paraxial effects associated with the bending of the guiding ray path. We also give formulas for the mean-squared transverse displacement of a ray from the mean trajectory, which can provide for example an estimate of the magnitude of the beam wander due to turbulence.
Atmospheric Turbulence Effect on Free Space Optical Communications
This work discusses the effect of atmospheric turbulence on wavelengths transmission in free space. The Rytov variance calculated for plane and spherical waves, were Rytov variance of spherical waves less than from plane waves, on the other hand in spherical waves the values of wavelength 1550 nm less than from the other wavelengths. Scintillation attenuation was calculated depends on Rytov approximation for wavelengths (1550, 850, 633, 532) nm, scintillation attenuation values of the wavelength 1550 nm less than from the other wavelengths. The wavelength 1550nm has a good signal to noise ratio(S/N) from the other wavelengths. The distance between the transmitter and receiver links was (0-1000) m, we take into account the refractive index structure parameter at different turbulence (10 -16 low, 10 -15 medium, 10 -14 high) m -2/3 for all calculations.
Non-Classic Atmospheric Optical Turbulence: Review
Applied Sciences
Theoretical models and results of experimental campaigns relating to non-classic regimes occurring in atmospheric optical turbulence are overviewed. Non-classic turbulence may manifest itself through such phenomena as a varying power law of the refractive-index power spectrum, anisotropy, the presence of constant-temperature gradients and coherent structures. A brief historical introduction to the theories of optical turbulence, both classic and non-classic, is first presented. The effects of non-classic atmospheric turbulence on propagating light beams are then discussed, followed by the summary of results on measuring the non-classic turbulence, on its computer and in-lab simulations and its controlled synthesis. The general theory based on the extended Huygens–Fresnel method, capable of quantifying various effects of non-classic turbulence on propagating optical fields, including the increased light diffraction, beam profile deformations, etc., is then outlined. The review conclu...
Free-space optical system performance for laser beam propagation through non-Kolmogorov turbulence
2008
Free space laser system performance is limited by atmospheric turbulence that has been described for many years by Kolmogorov's power spectral density model because of its simplicity. Unfortunately several experiments have been reported recently that show Kolmogorov theory is sometimes incomplete to describe atmospheric statistics properly, in particular in portions of the troposphere and stratosphere. In this paper we present a Non-Kolmogorov power spectrum which uses a generalized exponent instead of constant standard exponent value 11/3 and a generalized amplitude factor instead of constant value 0.033. Using this new spectrum in weak turbulence, we carry out, for horizontal path, analysis of Long Term Beam Spread, Scintillation index, Probability of fade, mean SNR and mean BER as variation of the spectrum exponent.
Study of the Atmospheric Turbulence in Free Space Optical Communications
In this paper the effect of atmospheric turbulence on free space optical (FSO) communications is investigated experimentally by designing a turbulence simulation chamber. The distributions of bits '0' and '1' levels are measured with and without turbulence. The bit error rate (BER) is then obtained from the distributions. The temperature gradient within the channel is less than 6 °C resulting in turbulence of log irradiance variance of 0.002. The received average signal is measured and used to characterise the simulated turbulence strength. We then evaluated the BER with turbulence and found that from an error free link in the absence of turbulence, the BER increased significantly to about 10 -4 due to the turbulence effect.