A Statistical Model Of The Propagation Of Optical Radiation In The Hydrosphere

Abstract

The existence of artificial structures in the aquatic environment, in particular, oil and gas producing structures, necessitated continuous monitoring of their behavior and, accordingly, autonomous sensors capable of accumulating and transmitting information to processing points. The use of ultrasonic and radio engineering technologies for underwater data transmission does not primarily provide the required transmission speed. The transmission speed can be significantly increased if electromagnetic waves of the optical range are used as carriers. Analytical methods are often used to evaluate the characteristics of hydrospheric optical communication channels, in particular attenuation, but such methods do not take into account many features of the propagation of optical radiation in the hydrosphere. For example, the Lambert-Beer law used to calculate the channel attenuation cannot be used in a medium with high turbulence. The article presents a statistical model of the optical wave propagation based on the Monte Carlo numerical simulation method. This channel model can be used to estimate the spatial and temporal distribution of photons, communication range, taking into account both unscattered photons and single scattered and multiple scattered ones. The simulation results can be used to predict various design parameters of underwater optical communication systems.