Oceanic Turbulence and Beam Propagation Characteristics of Underwater Optical Wireless Communication: A Brief Survey

Abstract

Underwater wireless communication (UWC) means the transmission of information using wireless channels through the underwater, i.e. radio frequency waves (RF), acoustic waves and optical waves in an unguided water environment. In this review article we focus on underwater optical wireless communications (UWOCs) using optical waves as transmission medium. UWOCs have a much higher communication frequency and therefore a much higher data rate compared to RF and acoustic counter-parts. Due to this high-speed data transfer advantage, UWOC has been very attractive over the past few years. Many application shave been proposed in UWOC systems for protection of the environment, underwater exploration, emergency alerts and military operations etc. However, underwater absorption, scattering and turbulence processes will introduce attenuation and fading to light propagation and then degrade the performance of underwater wireless optical communications (UWOC). In this review paper we give a detailed overview of turbulence and beam propagation characteristics of different water bodies in UWOC.