Optical Data Transmission in a Turbid Environment

Abstract : The goal of the proposed work is to measure the effects of varying amounts of suspended particulate near the seafloor on data transmission with a free space, omni-directional, optical link and to test the viability of communicating through the air-sea interface. An optical channel measurement will be performed where received power levels, bit error rate statistics, and raw data snapshots will be collected for several transmission rates. A transmissometer will be installed with the equipment to provide real-time water quality information. The proposed work will demonstrate the performance of a free-space optical telemetry system in shallow water in changing optical conditions.