Physics Commons^™

Performance-Metric Driven Atmospheric Compensation For Robust Free-Space Laser Communication, Peter N. Crabtree

Theses and Dissertations

The effect of turbulence on laser propagation is a significant challenge to current electro-optical systems. While atmospheric compensation techniques in space object imaging and high-energy laser weapons have been thoroughly investigated, optimizing these techniques for Laser Communication (LaserCom) has not been examined to the same degree. Average Strehl ratio is the typical design metric for current atmospheric compensation systems. However, fade probability is the relevant metric for LaserCom. This difference motivated the investigation into metric-driven atmospheric compensation. Metric-based tracking techniques for fade mitigation is the first major focus of this research. In a moderate range air-to-air scenario, focal plane spot …