Attenuation and sky radiance effects induced by atmospheric aerosols on satellite-ground optical communication links

As fog and haze phenomenon appears frequently in recent years, the attenuation effects of aerosols on laser beam have drawn a lot of attention; however, the background sky radiance induced by aerosols at optical ground station receivers is not fully studied, especially in the case of space diversity reception. Choosing Kunming and Wuhan as locations of the optical ground stations, the atmospheric aerosol effects on satellite-ground optical communication links, including attenuation and background scattering, are analyzed. Results show that Kunming station almost unaffected by aerosols, while Wuhan station suffers a lot as a result of lower altitude. Because of aerosol scattering, 3dB attenuation is limited in zenith angle 0°~60° at Wuhan station and sky radiance is almost 8 times of that of clear sky. The work is in support to satellite-ground optical communication link design and ground station location selection.