Effect of convergent beam array on reducing scintillation in underwater wireless optical communications with pointing...

Area of Science:

• Optical Communications
• Oceanic Optics
• Wireless Communication Systems

Background:

• Underwater wireless optical communications (UWOC) face significant signal degradation due to oceanic turbulence.
• Misaligned transceivers and pointing errors exacerbate scintillation, impacting communication reliability.
• Existing methods struggle to mitigate scintillation effectively in dynamic underwater environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and evaluate a novel convergent beam array system for reducing scintillation in UWOCs.
• To analyze the impact of oceanic turbulence and transceiver misalignment on beam propagation.
• To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system in mitigating scintillation indices.

Main Methods:

• Development of a convergent beam array system with inwardly slanted beams.
• Analysis of spatial relationships between transmitter, beams, and misaligned transceivers.
• Modeling of oceanic turbulence using the power spectrum of refractive index fluctuations.
• Multistep wave optics simulations to assess system performance.

Main Results:

• The convergent beam array system demonstrated a significant reduction in scintillation indices.
• The proposed system effectively mitigates signal degradation caused by oceanic turbulence.
• Simulation results confirm the system's efficacy even with pointing errors due to misalignment.

Conclusions:

• The convergent beam array is a promising solution for enhancing the reliability of UWOC systems.
• This technology offers a viable method for overcoming scintillation challenges in underwater optical links.
• Further research can explore real-world deployment and optimization of the convergent beam array.