Indirect measurement of a laser communications bit-error-rate reduction with low-order adaptive optics

In experimental measurements of the bit-error rate for a laser communication system, we show improved performance with the implementation of low-order (tip/tilt) adaptive optics in a free-space link. With simulated atmospheric tilt injected by a conventional piezoelectric tilt mirror, an adaptive optics system with a Xinetics tilt mirror was used in a closed loop. The laboratory experiment replicated a monostatic propagation with a cooperative wave front beacon at the receiver. Owing to constraints in the speed of the processing hardware, the data is scaled to represent an actual propagation of a few kilometers under moderate scintillation conditions. We compare the experimental data and indirect measurement of the bit-error rate before correction and after correction, with a theoretical prediction.     

Low-order adaptive deformable mirror

We report the main parameters of a nine-electrode bimorph piezoelectric adaptive mirror designed to correct low-order aberrations. We describe measurements of the control coefficients for defocus, astigmatism, pure coma, and spherical aberration of this mirror and the temperature stability of its profile. The performance of a simple adaptive optical system for imaging through laboratory-generated turbulence is investigated. This low-order device is suitable for small (<1-m-diameter) telescopes and for nonastronomical applications of adaptive optics.     

Performance improvement of optical wireless communication through fog with a decision feedback equalizer

Optical wireless communication (OWC) systems use the atmosphere as a propagation medium. However, a common problem is that from time to time moderate cloud and fog emerge between the receiver and the transmitter. These adverse weather conditions impose temporal broadening and power loss on the optical signal, which reduces the digital signal-to-noise ratio (DSNR), produces significant intersymbol interference (ISI), and degrades the communication system's bit error rate (BER) and throughput. We propose and investigate the use of a combined adaptive bandwidth mechanism and decision feedback equalizer (DFE) to mitigate these atmospheric multipath effects. Based on theoretical analysis and simulations of DSNR penalties, BER, and optimum system bandwidths, we show that a DFE improves the outdoor OWC system immunity to ISI in foggy weather while maintaining high throughput and desired low BER.     

Beaconless stochastic parallel gradient descent laser beam control: numerical experiments

We apply a target-in-the-loop strategy to the case of adaptive optics beam control in the presence of strong atmospheric turbulence for air-to-ground directed energy laser applications. Using numerical simulations we show that in the absence of a cooperative beacon to probe the atmosphere it is possible to extract information suitable for effective beam control from images of the speckled and strongly turbulence degraded intensity distribution of the laser energy at the target. We use a closed-loop, single-deformable-mirror adaptive optics system driven by a target-in-the-loop stochastic parallel gradient descent optimization algorithm minimizing a mean-radius performance metric defined on the image of the laser beam intensity distribution formed at the receiver. We show that a relatively low order 25-channel zonal adaptive optical beam control system controlled in this way is capable of achieving a high degree of turbulence compensation with respect to energy concentration if the tilt can be corrected separately.     

Modal compensation and the atmospheric-turbulence outer scale: computer simulations

The influence of the turbulence outer scale on the Strehl ratio obtained with low-order adaptive optics systems is examined by numerical simulation. The Karhunen-Loeve approach is used to generate wave-front samples. A method that allows construction of the outer-scale-dependent Karhunen-Loeve functions is described. It is shown that the Strehl ratio produced by a second-order adaptive optics correction (tip-tilt, defocus, and astigmatism) is affected quite strongly by the finite outer scale. For the higher-order correction, the effect under study is weak and appears only when the outer-scale magnitude becomes less than the aperture diameter. It is also shown that the finite outer scale has a positive effect on the Strehl ratio of the uncorrected long-exposure image.     

Average BER performance of FSO SIM-QAM systems in the presence of atmospheric turbulence and pointing errors

This paper presents the exact average bit error rate (BER) analysis of the free-space optical system employing subcarrier intensity modulation (SIM) with Gray-coded quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). The intensity fluctuations of the received optical signal are caused by the path loss, atmospheric turbulence and pointing errors. The exact closed-form analytical expressions for the average BER are derived assuming the SIM-QAM with arbitrary constellation size in the presence of the Gamma–Gamma scintillation. The simple approximate average BER expressions are also provided, considering only the dominant term in the finite summations of obtained expressions. Derived expressions are reduced to the special case when optical signal transmission is affected only by the atmospheric turbulence. Numerical results are presented in order to illustrate usefulness of the derived expressions and also to give insights into the effects of different modulation, channel and receiver parameters on the average BER performance. The results show that the misalignment between the transmitter laser and receiver detector has the strong effect on the average BER value, especially in the range of the high values of the average electrical signal-to-noise ratio.     

Time jitter influence on the performance of gamma–gamma turbulence FSO links with various modulation schemes

ABSTRACT

The research area of optical wireless communication links has attracted significant interest over the last years due to the significant advantages offered by this kind of technology. However, the performance of FSO communication systems depends strongly on the effects, which are related to the atmosphere along the propagation path such FSO links are using. More specifically, the weather conditions and atmospheric turbulence effects can deteriorate considerably the performance characteristics. In this work, we are studying the joint influence of atmospheric turbulence and time jitter effects on the average BER of an FSO link by presenting a new approach for various modulation schemes. Thus new closed-form mathematical expressions are derived for accurate estimation of the BER performance of the optical wireless communication systems. Finally, using the obtained expressions and typical parameter values for FSO links, the numerical results are presented and then verified through Monte Carlo simulations.     

Incorporating higher-order modal measurements in tilt estimation: natural and laser guide star applications

Tilt compensation performance is generally suboptimal when phase measurements from natural or laser guide stars are used as the conjugate phase in an adaptive optics system. Optimal compensation is obtained when the conjugate-phase coefficients are estimated from beacon measurements, given knowledge of the correlation between the on-axis object phase and the beacon measurements. We apply optimal compensation theory to tilt correction for the case of an off-axis beacon. Because off-axis higher-order modes are correlated with the on-axis tilt components, a performance gain can be realized when the tilt estimator includes higher-order modal measurements. For natural guide star compensation, it is shown that equivalent tilt compensation can be achieved at beacon offsets that are three times larger when higher-order modes through Zernike 15 are used in the tilt estimator. For a laser guide star, although tilt information cannot be measured directly because of beam reciprocity, off-axis higher-order modal measurements can be used to estimate tilt components, leading to a maximum Strehl ratio of approximately 0.3 for the relative aperture diameter D/r(0) = 4 and the relative turbulence outer scale L(0)/D = 10.     

Performance analysis of a free-space laser communication system with a Gaussian Schell model

In practice, due to reasons related to the characteristics of the laser device and the inevitable error of the processing technique, a laser beam emitted from a communication terminal is represented by the Gaussian–Schell model. The incident optical intensity at the receiver aperture is affected by the source coherence parameter through atmospheric turbulence. With full consideration of both the average optical intensity and the scintillation, the statistical distribution of the optical intensity and the average bit error rate (BER) of an on-off keying (OOK) receiver is obtained. The results indicate that the effect on the degradation of the average optical intensity is reduced with a smaller beamwidth. The performance of the OOK receiver degrades drastically with the increasing source coherence parameter. Moreover, when the beamwidth becomes larger, the BER₀ with a consistent source coherence parameter shifts to the side of lower BER. The goal of this work is to improve the redundancy design of the laser communication receiver system.     

基于运动估计的波前畸变预测方法研究

实际自适应光学控制系统中存在的时间延迟,导致校正器生成的校正面形与实际的波前畸变不匹配,产生校正滞后误差。基于大气冻结湍流假设,提出了一种基于运动估计的波前畸变预测方法,来补偿时间延迟带来的影响。方法具体采用模板匹配算法,根据参考帧和当前帧的波前复原图像进行大气湍流运动方向估计,然后对当前帧进行移动处理来实现对下一帧图像的预测。通过采用不同采样频率、不同横向风速度的仿真数据对比,评估预测方法的适用范围,讨论回溯帧数对预测效果的影响。也与采用最小递归二乘(RLS)模式预测方法的预测效果进行比较。仿真结果显示,在波前复原图像变化趋势较为明显的情况下,即横向风对大气湍流变化影响占主导地位时,方法表现更好,使得在天气较为恶劣的情况下仍能保持更佳的预测效果。最后使用实际天狼星观测数据对预测方法进行验证,整体仍保持预测效果。     

空间光学合成孔径成像系统原理与关键技术分析

根据傅里叶成像理论,分析了光学合成孔径系统成像原理,指出光瞳函数的离散化,提高了光学合成孔径成像系统的分辨本领,但降低了系统传函中频性能,并使系统在信息获取时具有方向选择性。运用遗传算法对光瞳构形进行优化,光瞳优化后,四孔径系统的优化参数从310.8降到13.7,减小了23倍。在合成孔径成像系统单个子孔径存在像差的情况下,Piston误差对系统的影响最大,其次是离焦误差、倾斜误差、球差、彗差和像散,对于四孔径系统,Piston误差对系统的影响几乎是离焦误差的2倍,像散的4倍。系统曝光时间与填充比的平方或立方成反比。     

天文学自适应光学成像望远镜的模拟

为分析天文学自适应光学(AO)望远镜中AO系统的校正性能,利用Matlab仿真其成像过程。采用正交基为Zernike多项式的自相关法产生符合大气统计特性的大气相位屏,仿真平行光通过大气后的瞬时畸变波前相位;采用快速傅里叶变换仿真哈特曼-夏克波前传感器的成像光斑,根据实际成像与参考平面波成像的质心坐标之差,计算波前传感器子孔径内的平均波前斜率。模拟比较了1.2m望远镜两种AO系统布局的校正性能,结果表明,子孔径为正六边形AO系统的校正性能略优于子孔径为正方形AO系统的校正性能,两种AO系统的SR比(StrechlRatio)分别为0.872和0.859。     

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。     

Comparative performance study of one or multiple receivers schemes for FSO links over gamma–gamma turbulence channels

Terrestrial free space optical telecommunication systems offer license-free very high bandwidth access characteristics with significantly low installation and operational cost. On the other hand, the performance of such a system depends strongly on the weather conditions in the area between the transmitter and the receiver due to the fact that the transmission media is the atmosphere. A very significant phenomenon which decreases a FSO links' performance is atmospheric turbulence. In order to counterbalance this reduction, in this work, we consider a free space optical system with a multiple receivers' scheme and diversity in space that operates under weak to strong atmospheric turbulence conditions modeled by the gamma–gamma distribution. We derive closed form mathematical expressions for the estimation of the outage probability and the average bit error rate of the multiple receivers' system. Additionally, we compare the performance capabilities of the single point to point link with those of the spatial diversity scheme under the assumption that the total aperture surface of the receivers of the latter is the same as the aperture surface of the single receiver of the former. Moreover, we demonstrate numerical results for a variety of common practical cases for both cases, with and without, spatial diversity.     

Correctability limitations imposed by plane-wave scintillation in multiconjugate adaptive optics

Plane-wave scintillation is shown to impose multiconjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) correctability limitations that are independent of wavefront sensing and reconstruction. Residual phase and log-amplitude variances induced by scintillation in weak turbulence are derived using linear (diffraction-based) diffractive MCAO spatial filters or (diffraction-ignorant) geometric MCAO proportional gains as open-loop control parameters. In the case of Kolmogorov turbulence, expressions involving the Rytov variance and/or weighted C(2)(n) integrals apply. Differences in performance between diffractive MCAO and geometric MCAO resemble chromatic errors. Optimal corrections based on least squares imply irreducible performance limits that are validated by wave-optic simulations.     

极大似然判决下大气无线光脉冲位置调制差错性能

大气湍流对无线光通信系统影响较大,基于高斯信道及门限判决方法的大气无线光通信脉冲位置调制(PPM)的误码特性分析存在局限性.针对于此,推导了湍流大气中无线光PPM系统在极大似然判决(MLD)下的差错性能计算模型,并运用蒙特卡洛方法验证了理论计算模型的有效性.仿真分析表明,MLD下PPM具有更好性能,但也较易受湍流影响,为使弱湍流信道中PPM的误比特率不高于10-6,调制阶数每增加1阶,须提高平均接收信噪比0.67 dB以上.对于峰值功率恒定PPM系统,应根据器件性能和具体通信条件,在差错性能和功率利用率之间作出平衡.     

Free-space optical communications link budget estimation

This paper describes a new methodology of estimating free-space optical communications link budgets to be expected in conditions of severe turbulence. The approach is derived from observing that the ability of an adaptive optics (AO) system to compensate turbulence along a path is limited by the transmitter and receiver Rayleigh range, proportional to the diameter of the optics squared and inverse of the wavelength of light utilized. The method uses the Fried parameter computed over the range outside of the transmitter and receiver Rayleigh ranges, to calculate the Strehl ratios that yield a reasonable prediction of the light impinging on the receiving telescope aperture and the power coupling into the fiber. Comparisons will be given between theory and field measurements. These comparisons show that AO is most effective within the Rayleigh ranges, or when an atmospheric gradient is present, and lesser so when the total range is much greater than the sum of the Rayleigh ranges.     

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.     

自适应光学系统中实时自适应控制的仿真研究

介绍和分析了一种利用校正残差进行实时迭代的自适应控制算法，可以应用到校正大气湍流的实际自适应光学系统。利用61单元自适应光学系统上实际采集的大气湍流扰动信号，实现了自适应控制算法，并对这种算法的收敛性、稳定性、控制效果等进行了计算机仿真研究，与常规PID算法进行了比较。     

光学系统仿真软件Seelight在自适应光学上的应用

光学系统仿真软件Seelight是一款可以模拟光束产生、大气传输与自适应光束控制等光学系统的具有自主知识产权的系统仿真软件,为光学系统应用研究提供了有效的仿真工具。本文首先介绍了Seelight软件的基本构架、运行界面和主要模型库包含的模块,并利用自适应光学相关的基本模型搭建了自适应光学仿真系统,模拟了PZT变形镜模块和哈特曼波前波传感器模块构成自适应光学仿真系统通过校正光束大气传输的波前畸变来提高远场光斑的光束质量的过程。验证了在不同的湍流强度下,自适应光学仿真系统的校正效果随着湍流强度的增加,校正残差大幅增加。利用Seelight软件可以对包含自适应光学系统的各种光学系统进行仿真建模,并可以对系统进行有效的验证分析和优化设计。