Research Summaries

Back Implementing NAVSLaM with the NRL Digital Optical Channel Program (DOC-P)

Fiscal Year 2019
Division Graduate School of Engineering & Applied Science
Department Meteorology
Investigator(s) Frederickson, Paul A.
Sponsor Naval Research Laboratory (Navy)
Summary Free space optical (FSO), or lasercom, communication links are on the cusp of wide-scale deployment by the US Marine Corps. In comparison with RF links, planning tools for FSO are at a primitive state. This proposed effort is to assist NRL in conducting research that will allow the development of the first FSO toolkit to predict link performance. The end goal of the work is a set of models and software tools that will allow the performance of FSO links to be statistically predicted given the terminal and modem design, the link geometry, and standard meteorological information such as visibility, temperature and solar fluence. Laser propagation through the atmosphere is strongly impacted by optical turbulence, which is commonly quantified by the refractive index structure parameter (Cn2). Mr. Frederickson has developed models to estimate vertical Cn2 profiles from standard meteorological data. The NAVSLaM model predicts Cn2 near the ocean surface from single level meteorological data and the sea surface temperature. The TOTEM models predict upper-air Cn2 profiles from multi-level NWP forecast fields. These models, and potentially newly developed or modified Cn2 models for the atmospheric boundary layer and new Cn2 climatology databases, will be adapted for implementation in NRL's Digital Optical Channel Program (DOC-P). Mr. Frederickson will also assist NRL in the evaluation of field test data from the Chesapeake Bay area.
Keywords
Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal