Modeling and performance evaluation of underwater wireless optical communication system in the presence of different sized air bubbles

In this article, a statistical channel model is proposed to characterize the Underwater Wireless Optical Communication (UWOC) system in the presence of different air bubbles population considering freshwater scenario. The irradiance fluctuations of the received optical signal are characterized by Gaussian Mixture Model based upon the experimental data. The behavior of the UWOC channel is modeled in the form of an analytical expression. The goodness of fit test shows excellent fit of analytical expression with the experimental measured data under given channel conditions. In order to test the impact of channel characteristics of the practical application, an image is transmitted through UWOC channel in the presence of imperfections due to presence of bubbles. The performance is evaluated in terms of Structure Similarity Index attributed to image quality. A comparative performance analysis of different filtration schemes is also performed in order to improve the performance deterioration due to imperfect channel conditions. A significant improvement of UWOC system using median filter is observed under given channel conditions compared to other cases.