Optical Scintillations And Fade Statistics For A Satellite-Communication System

    Authors

    L. C. Andrews; R. L. Phillips;P. T. Yu

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Appl. Optics

    Keywords

    GAUSSIAN BEAMS; Optics

    Abstract

    Estimates of the scintillation index, fractional fade time, expected number of fades, and mean duration of fade time associated with a propagating Gaussian-beam wave are developed for uplink and downlink laser satellite-communication channels. Estimates for the spot size of the beam at the satellite or the ground or airborne receiver are also provided. Weak-fluctuation theory based on the log-normal model is applicable for intensity fluctuations near the optical axis of the beam provided that the zenith angle is not too large, generally not exceeding 60 degrees. However, there is an increase in scintillations that occurs with increasing pointing error at any zenith angle, particularly for uplink channels. Large off-axis scintillations are of particular significance because they imply that small pointing errors can cause serious degradation in the communication-channel reliability. Off-axis scintillations increase more rapidly for larger-diameter beams and, in some cases, can lead to a radial saturation effect for pointing errors less than 1 mu rad off the optical beam axis.

    Journal Title

    Applied Optics

    Volume

    34

    Issue/Number

    33

    Publication Date

    1-1-1995

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    7742

    Last Page

    7751

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:A1995TE19900015

    ISSN

    0003-6935

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