Analysis of the Underwater Wireless Optical Communication Channel Based on a Comprehensive Multiparameter Model

Abstract

A comprehensive multiparameter model is proposed for underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) channels to integrate the effects of absorption, scattering, and dynamic turbulence. The simulation accuracy is further improved by the combined use of the subharmonic method and the strict sampling constraint method by comparing the phase structure function with the theoretical value. The average light intensity and scintillation index are analyzed using the channel parameters of absorption, scattering, turbulence, flow velocity, and transmission distance. Under weak or medium turbulence, the bit error rate (BER) performance can be effectively improved by increasing the transmitting light power. The power penalty of a 50 m UWOC channel is 5.8 dBm from pure seawater to ocean water and 1.0 dBm from weak turbulence to medium turbulence, with the BER threshold of 10−6.