Atmospheric scattering and turbulence modeling for ultraviolet wavelength applications

Abstract

The recent proliferation of free-space optics (FSO) technologies and development of pertaining research have led to exploit the whole optical bandwidth from infrared and visible up to deep ultraviolet (UV) in communications. Within this context, we decided to focus on UV FSO communication and remote sensing potentials by presenting a physically based single-scattering channel model, UVatmoScat, aiming to include, with respect to previous analyses, most atmospheric variables like fog, precipitations, aerosols, and turbulence: indeed, they may affect the performance of UV links in short-range outdoor applications adopting non-line-of-sight (NLOS) configuration, as here considered. This analytical single-scattering model computes the temporal impulse response and path loss and has been validated through Monte Carlo. The former provides the frequency characteristic of UV-NLOS propagation links on varying of atmospheric conditions, with different NLOS geometries and receiver apertures. 3-dB bandwidth numerical results show UV-NLOS systems as more significantly affected by the link geometric features than weather perturbations, demonstrating supportive to the choice of frequency constant-envelope modulations. Nevertheless, meteorological perturbations have to be properly considered to better optimize the transmission power in UV telecommunications, as well as in ozone or aerosol ground-sensing applications. The proposed UVAtmoScat model is a suitable, self-consistent, and effective tool for this purpose.