Abstract:
The effect of natural turbulence on an underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) link using the on-off-key (OOK) modulation scheme and a coherent plane wave is analyzed in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the bit-error-rate (BER). The optical turbulence is considered to be isotropic and homogeneous, which is typically the case along the horizontal paths in relatively shallow channels, under a variety of conditions for the average temperature (< T > in [0 degrees C, 30 degrees C]) and average salinity concentration (< S > in [0ppt, 40ppt] ) of water that cover most of the naturally available Earth's basins. It is found that apart from the strength of turbulence, the BER is in direct relation with < T > and < S >, and can vary through several orders of magnitude with the change in these quantities within their natural ranges. In addition, the effects of the source wavelength, the temperature-salinity gradient ratio, the temperature dissipation rate, the energy dissipation rate and the probability density function model of the fluctuating irradiance on the UWOC system are examined in detail.
