Adaptive optical transmitter and receiver for space communication through thin clouds

Optical space communication from satellite to ground or air to air consists of clouds as part of communication channels. Propagation of optical pulses through clouds causes widening and deformation in the time domain and attenuation of the pulse radiant power. These effects decrease the received signal and limit the information bandwidth of the communication system. Having dealt with the other effects previously, here we concentrate on pulse broadening in the time domain. We derive a mathematical model of an adaptive optical communication system with a multiscattering channel (atmospheric cloud). We use knowledge about the impulse response function of the cloud to adapt the communication parameters to the transfer function of the cloud. The communication system includes a receiver and a transmitter. We adapted the transmitter to atmospheric conditions by changing the bit error rate. One can adapt the receiver to the atmospheric condition by changing the parameters of the detector and the filter. An example for a practical communication system between a low Earth orbit satellite and a ground station cover by cloud is given. Comparison and analysis of an adaptive and semiadaptive system with cloud channels are presented. Our conclusion is that in some cases only by such adaptive methods is optical communication possible.     

A modified model of the atmospheric effects on the performance of FSO links employing single and multiple receivers

In free space optical (FSO) communication links, atmospheric effects including absorption, scattering and turbulence have significant impacts on the quality of the laser beam propagating through the free space channel. Absorption and/or scattering due to the atmospheric particles result in optical losses, whereas turbulence contributes to the intensity scintillation which can severely impair the operation of FSO links. In this paper, using a modified model we analyze the atmospheric effects on the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the bit error rate (BER) performance of an FSO system. We show that for multiple detectors with the same surface area as a single detector there is a critical link range less than which the SNR decreases for larger values of M.     

Humidity's influence on visible region refractive index structure parameter C(n)(2)

In the near-infrared and visible bandpasses optical propagation theory conventionally assumes that humidity does not contribute to the effects of atmospheric turbulence on optical beams. While this assumption may be reasonable for dry locations, we demonstrate that there is an unequivocal effect owing to the presence of humidity upon the strength of turbulence parameter, C(n)(2), from data collected in the Chesapeake Bay area over 100 m length horizontal propagation paths. We describe and apply a novel technique, Hilbert phase analysis, to the relative humidity, temperature, and C(n)(2) data to show the contribution of the relevant climate variable to C(n)(2) as a function of time.     

基于OFDM的大气激光通信湍流抑制关键技术研究

文章在分析无线激光通信(FSO)存在两种主要的大气信道问题的基础上,针对激光大气信道问题尤其是在复杂湍流环境下的频率选择性衰落问题和多径效应问题,提出了基于正交频分复用(OFDM)的湍流效应抑制方法,构建了FSO-OFDM系统,研究了该系统的基带模型以及信号的多载波调制与解调方法。分析了无线激光通信中存在复杂湍流环境下的大气信道问题,讨论了大气湍流影响下的平面波激光通信系统模型,建立了大气湍流影响下对数正态湍流通道的高斯光束空间光通信系统模型,推导了光波强度的概率密度函数,研究了利用信噪比概率密度函数分析各种大气湍流效应对系统性能影响的方法;设计了无线光通信系统的OFDM多载波调制方案,构建了FSO-OFDM系统基带模式模型,并基于该模型研究了其信号的调制与解调原理。最后,采用MATLAB编程实现FSO-OFDM系统,对多径干扰下的FSO通信系统进行仿真实验,进行了不同保护间隔下的误码率特性实验,验证了FSO-OFDM系统具有很强的抗多径干扰和频谱选择性衰落能力以及良好的BER性能,可有效解决码间干扰大、链路不可靠的问题,具有非常广泛的应用前景和使用价值。     

湍流下自由空间光通信的光纤耦合效率及补偿

采用光纤部件的自由空间光通信系统需要把接收到的光束耦合进单模光纤中,然而由于大气湍流的影响,使光纤耦合效率下降.本文把基于大气湍流参数的单模光纤耦合效率表达式推广到斜程传输情景,仿真了耦合效率与湍流强度及传输距离和天顶角之间的关系.为了补偿湍流效应,提高光纤耦合效率,本文提出了用一种新颖的无模型盲优化波前校正技术,用随...     

Scintillation and beam-wander analysis in an optical ground station-satellite uplink

In an optical communication link between an optical ground station and a geostationary satellite the main problems appear in the uplink and are due to beam wander and to scintillation. Reliable methods for modeling both effects simultaneously are needed to provide an accurate tool with which the robustness of the communication channel can be tested. Numerical tools, especially the split-step method (also referred to as the fast-Fourier-transform beam propagation method), have demonstrated their ability to deal with problems of optical propagation during atmospheric turbulence. However, obtaining statistically significant results with this technique is computationally intensive. We present an analytical-numerical hybrid technique that provides good information on the variance in optical irradiance with an important saving of time and computational resources.     

Analysis of Optical Pulse Distortion Through Clouds for Satellite to Earth Adaptive Optical Communication

Abstract

Clouds, if part of an optical communication channel, cause temporal widening and attenuation of optical pulse power. Space optical communication from satellite to earth (ground or airplane) occasionally involves clouds as part of the optical channel. Here, based upon Monte Carlo simulations, mathematical models are developed for the temporal characteristics of optical pulse propagation through clouds. These include temporal impulse response, transfer function, bandwidth, received energy and bode analysis. The method presented here can be used as an inclusive framework for developing other mathematical models of other characteristics of radiation propagating through clouds, as required. Several conclusions of this work are obtained. One is that simple prediction models can be applied to adaptive methods of optical communication. Another is that using shorter wavelengths such as 0·532 μm yields least temporal widening and maximum received power, and is thus preferable for optical communication. In addition, the simulation results strongly support the use of the double gamma function model to best describe optical pulse spread through clouds. This work is the first, to the best of the authors' knowledge, to present a comprehensive analysis of space optical communication through clouds.     

Wave optics simulation of atmospheric turbulence and reflective speckle effects in CO2 lidar

Laser speckle can influence lidar measurements from a diffuse hard target. Atmospheric optical turbulence will also affect the lidar return signal. We present a numerical simulation that models the propagation of a lidar beam and accounts for both reflective speckle and atmospheric turbulence effects. Our simulation is based on implementing a Huygens-Fresnel approximation to laser propagation. A series of phase screens, with the appropriate atmospheric statistical characteristics, are used to simulate the effect of atmospheric turbulence. A single random phase screen is used to simulate scattering of the entire beam from a rough surface. We compare the output of our numerical model with separate CO(2) lidar measurements of atmospheric turbulence and reflective speckle. We also compare the output of our model with separate analytical predictions for atmospheric turbulence and reflective speckle. Good agreement was found between the model and the experimental data. Good agreement was also found with analytical predictions. Finally, we present results of a simulation of the combined effects on a finite-aperture lidar system that are qualitatively consistent with previous experimental observations of increasing rms noise with increasing turbulence level.     

Probing and monitoring aerosol and atmospheric clouds with an electro-optic oscillator

Monitoring, probing, and sensing characteristics of aerosol clouds is difficult and complicated. Probing the characteristics of aerosols is most useful in the chemical and microelectronic industry for processing control of aerosols and emulsion, decreasing bit error rate in adaptive optical communication systems, and in acquiring data for atmospheric science and environment quality. We present a new mathematical and optical engineering model for monitoring characteristics of aerosol clouds. The model includes the temporal transfer function of aerosol clouds as a variable parameter in an electro-optic oscillator. The frequency of the oscillator changes according to changes in the characteristics of the clouds (density, size distribution, physical thickness, the medium and the particulate refractive indices, and spatial distribution). It is possible to measure only one free characteristic at a given time. An example of a practical system for monitoring the density of aerosol clouds is given. The frequency of the oscillator changes from 1.25 to 0.43 MHz for changes in aerosol density from 2000 to 3000 particulates cm(-3). The advantages of this new method compared with the transmissometer methods are (a) no necessity for line-of-sight measurement geometry, (b) accurate measurement of high optical thickness media is possible, (c) under certain conditions measurements can include characteristics of aerosol clouds related to light scatter that cannot be or are difficult to measure with a transmissometer, and (d) the cloud bandwidth for free space optical communication is directly measurable.     

Fiber-coupling efficiency for free-space optical communication through atmospheric turbulence

High-speed free-space optical communication systems have recently used fiber-optic components. The received laser beam in such a system must be coupled into a single-mode fiber at the input of the receiver module. However, propagation through atmospheric turbulence degrades the spatial coherence of a laser beam and limits the fiber-coupling efficiency. We numerically evaluate the fiber-coupling efficiency for laser light distorted by atmospheric turbulence. We also investigate the use of a coherent fiber array as a receiver structure and find that a coherent fiber array that consists of seven subapertures would significantly increase the fiber-coupling efficiency.     

M分布模型下多跳相干OFDM FSO系统的性能研究

本文在涵盖了从弱湍流到强湍流的所有信道条件,能够表征现有大多数湍流信道的M分布模型下,采用QPSK调制方式研究了多跳相干OFDM FSO系统的性能。系统在中继辅助链路的发射机和接收机之间使用DF中继协议。考虑大气湍流、路径损耗以及瞄准误差对大气信道衰落模型的联合作用,分别推导出系统的中断概率和误符号率的Meijer G形式的闭合表达式。通过仿真分析了中继链路长度、中继节点数以及子载波个数等关键因素对系统的中断性能和误符号率性能的影响。本研究为中继系统的实际应用奠定了理论基础。     

Effects of atmospheric turbulence on an optical communication system using a receiver with memory

Atmospheric turbulence causes random fading in any open-air optical communication channel. When the transmitted message is in the form of a block code, a binary union decoding system consisting of one storage register can be used to enhance the reliability of this type of fading channel. To illustrate the effectiveness of the binary union decoder, we compare probabilities of detecting one word out of N + 1 received words for both a binary union decoder and a simple word recognition decoder system. Finally, the binary union decoder is analyzed for three different fading conditions of the channel corresponding to conditions of atmospheric turbulence typical of weak, moderate, and superstrong scattering. Our findings show that the worst channel conditions for an optical communication system exist when the turbulence is moderate     

逆向调制无线光通信空间分集分析

在逆向调制无线光通信系统中,大气湍流对系统的影响大于传统的无线光通信系统。本文研究了一种基于逆向端调制器分集的逆向调制无线光通信系统,以减小大气湍流对系统的影响。利用相位屏法,建立了弱湍流下的激光大气的传输模型,对比分析了逆向调制无线光通信系统逆向端逆向调制器分集和不分集分别所受到的大气湍流的影响。结果显示在相同情况下,逆向调制无线光通信系统在逆向端对逆向调制器进行分集能抑制大气湍流对系统的影响,使整个系统的闪烁指数下降。     

Atmospheric modulation transfer function in the infrared

In high-resolution ultranarrow field-of-view thermal imagers, image quality over relatively long path lengths is typically limited by atmospheric degradation, especially atmospheric blur. We report our results and analyses of infrared images from two sites, Fort A. P. Hill and Aberdeen Proving Ground. The images are influenced by the various atmospheric phenomena: scattering, absorption, and turbulence. A series of experiments with high-resolution equipment in both the 3-5- and 8-13-microm regions at the two locations indicate that, as in the visible, image quality is limited much more by atmosphere than by the instrumentation for ranges even of the order of only a few kilometers. For paths close to the ground, turbulence is more dominant, whereas for paths involving higher average elevation, aerosol modulation transfer function (MTF) is dominant. As wavelength increases, turbulence MTF also increases, thus permitting aerosol MTF to become more dominant. A critical role in aerosol MTF in the thermal infrared is attributed to absorption, which noticeably decreases atmospheric transmission much more than in the visible, thereby reducing high-spatial-frequency aerosol MTF. These measurements indicate that atmospheric MTF should be a basic component in imaging system design and analysis even in the infrared, especially as higher-resolution hardware becomes available.     

M-ary pulse position modulation performance with adaptive optics corrections in atmospheric turbulence

ABSTRACT

The performance of M-ary pulse position modulated (PPM) optical wireless communication (OWC) systems in atmospheric weak turbulence medium is evaluated by using adaptive optics corrections. Piston, tilt, defocus and coma components of adaptive optics corrections are applied to the avalanche photodetector (APD) type of receiver and the results are obtained depending on various turbulence and receiver parameters. The lognormal channel distribution is used to model the weak atmospheric turbulence conditions. Adaptive optics correction increases the bit-error-rate (BER) performance of an OWC system operating in atmospheric turbulence conditions. Piston component yields the highest BER performance, followed by the tilt, defocus and coma adaptive optics correction components respectively.     

Analysis of adaptive multi-rate FSO/RF hybrid systems using Málaga-ℳ distribution model in turbulent channels

Precise modeling of the optical channels with different conditions of atmospheric turbulence is an important prerequisite for analyzing the performance of Free Space Optical (FSO) communication systems. Statistical models which have been proposed to describe the optical channels, have some limitations to precisely model the channel. In this paper, The ? distribution which is a relatively new and comprehensive model, introduced by the University of Malaga, has been used to model and evaluate FSO/RF hybrid systems under the effect of atmospheric turbulence of the channels for two modes of operation, classic adaptive rate transmission, and the combination of adaptive rate transmission and automatic repeat request.The simulation results have been compared with the experimental results which have been reported by other researchers. It seems, using ? distribution model, yields more consistency between design objectives and implementation results.     

Monitoring the statistics of turbulence: Fried parameter estimation from the wavefront sensor measurements

Near-the-ground laser communication systems must operate in the presence of strong atmospheric turbulence. The effects of atmospheric turbulence on the laser beam that are relevant to optical communications are a broadening of the laser footprint, random jitter of the laser beam, and high spatial frequency intensity fluctuations referred to as scintillation. The overall goal of our program is to improve the performance and extend the range of optical communications systems by exploring the use of adaptive optics and channel coding. Knowledge of the turbulence conditions and the ability to describe its properties are the key aspects to make these improvements effective. The developed multiphase approach is directed to statistically describe atmospheric turbulence based on results derived from experimentally collected data. Statistics of Fried parameter r(0) is derived from 6 TB of data collected over 50 days, and under various day and night atmospheric conditions. Significant fluctuations of r(0) are found with the values ranging from 2 mm and up to 15 cm, corresponding to the significant structure function Cn2 fluctuations from 7.4×10(-14) to 8.1×10(-16).     

Evaluation of the aerosol models for SeaWiFS and MODIS by AERONET data over open oceans

The operational atmospheric correction algorithm for Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) uses the predefined aerosol models to retrieve aerosol optical properties, and their accuracy depends on how well the aerosol models can represent the real aerosol optical properties. In this paper, we developed a method to evaluate the aerosol models (combined with the model selection methodology) by simulating the aerosol retrieval using the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) data. Our method can evaluate the ability of aerosol models themselves, independent of the sensor performance. Two types of aerosol models for SeaWiFS and MODIS operational atmospheric correction algorithms are evaluated over global open oceans, namely the GW1994 models and Ahmad2010 models. The results show that GW1994 models significantly overestimate the aerosol optical thicknesses and underestimate the ?ngstr?m exponent, which is caused by the underestimation of the scattering phase function. However, Ahmad2010 models can significantly reduce the overestimation of the aerosol optical thickness and the underestimation of the ?ngstr?m exponent as a whole, but this improvement depends on the backscattering angle. Ahmad2010 models have a significant improvement in the retrieval of the aerosol optical thickness at a backscattering angle less than 140°. For a backscattering angle larger than 140°, GW1994 models are better at retrieving the aerosol optical thickness than the Ahmad2010 models.     

Accuracy of optical angle estimator operating through the turbulent atmosphere

Performance limitations of optical detector arrays (ODA) are evaluated taking into account background radiation, quantum noise, and internal noises of the photodetector as well as the impact of the atmosphere on the optical wave propagation. It is shown that the accuracy of the ODA-based angle estimator rapidly decreases when the range exceeds a certain limit. Thus, it is possible to define the maximum range of the ODA. Behavior of the maximum range as a function of wavelength and of target radiation energy is investigated. Large maximum ranges are obtained at important wavelengths of 0.63, 3.83, and 10.6 microm. It is shown that the ODA performance is limited by the quantum noise for the small-target radiation energy and by the atmospheric turbulence and attenuation for the large-target radiation energy.