Title

Optical Scintillations And Fade Statistics For A Satellite-Communication System

Authors

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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