Title

Optical Scintillations And Fade Statistics For A Satellite-Communication System

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°. 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 μrad off the optical beam axis. © 1995 Optical Society of America.

Publication Date

1-1-1995

Publication Title

Applied Optics

Volume

34

Issue

33

Number of Pages

7742-7751

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.34.007742

Socpus ID

0001431240 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/0001431240

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