Scintillation of Laser Beams in Weak Atmospheric Turbulence for Aerial Vehicle in the Use of LIDAR

Abstract

Formulation of on-axis scintillation of laser beams is found in weak atmospheric turbulence for aerial vehicle in the use of light detection and ranging (LIDAR) systems by employing the Rytov method. The formulation derived for collimated Gaussian, plane and spherical beams is evaluated in vertical link involving up/down link. In this medium, the behavior of these beams in terms of deterioration is examined. In this context, the on-axis scintillation index values are plotted versus normalized target size parameter, target size, source size, propagation distance and zenith angle, and the results are obtained for LIDAR systems operating for aerial vehicle in vertical atmospheric link by using ground/space transceiver. The degradation is greater in operating with ground transceiver than in operating with space transceiver. Additionally, while the on-axis scintillation index is minimized in the smaller target size in use of ground transceiver than in use of space transceiver, that is, it can also be minimized in the larger target size in use of space transceiver. The values of source size and the normalized target size parameter minimizing the obtained scintillation index, are 1.2 cm, 10, and 6 cm and 5 for ground transceiver and space transceiver, respectively.