Performance Analysis and Design Considerations of the Shallow Underwater Optical Wireless Communication System with Solar Noises Utilizing a Photon Tracing-Based Simulation Platform

Abstract

The performance of the underwater optical wireless communication (UOWC) system is highly affected by seawater´s inherent optical properties and the solar radiation from sunlight, especially for a shallow environment. The multipath effect and degradations in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) due to absorption, scattering, and ambient noises can significantly limit the viable communication range, which poses key challenges to its large-scale commercial applications. To this end, this paper proposes a unified model for underwater channel characterization and system performance analysis in the presence of solar noises utilizing a photon tracing algorithm. Besides, we developed a generic simulation platform with configurable parameters and self-defined scenarios via MATLAB. Based on this platform, a comprehensive investigation of underwater channel impairments was conducted including temporal and spatial dispersion, illumination distribution pattern, and statistical attenuation with various oceanic types. The impact of ambient noise at different operation depths on the bit error rate (BER) performance of the shallow UOWC system was evaluated under typical specifications. Simulation results revealed that the multipath dispersion is tied closely to the multiple scattering phenomenon. The delay spread and ambient noise effect can be mitigated by considering a narrow field of view (FOV) and it also enables the system to exhibit optimal performance on combining with a wide aperture.