Demonstration of 24-hour continuous optical turbulence monitoring in a city
Atmospheric optical turbulence limits the performance of free-space optical communication links between the ground and space. The bandwidth provided by optical links enables the realization of ubiquitous, high-bandwidth and secure communications anywhere on Earth. However, currently very little is known about the nature and dynamics of vertical optical turbulence in critical urban environments, close to data centers and users that require high-bandwidth connections. TURBO is a turbulence monitoring facility, based on the 24-hour Shack-Hartmann Image Motion Monitor (24hSHIMM) instrument, capable of measuring optical atmospheric turbulence 24-hours a day in stronger turbulence conditions. Here we show a demonstration of continuous turbulence monitoring in an urban environment for the first time in Barcelona, Spain. TURBO will be an autonomous monitor generating valuable data for the community.
Authors
- Matthew J. Townson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8902-0379)
- Ollie J. D. Farley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8985-4277)
- Florian Quatresooz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6236-2504)
- Adolfo Comerón (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6886-3679)
- James Osborn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9079-1883)
- Kathryn Hartley
- Alejandro Rodríguez-Gómez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9209-0685)
- Ryan Griffiths (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6874-5509)
- Lily Beesley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-7316-8866)
Institutions
- European Space Agency (FR)
- Northumbria University (GB)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- University of Birmingham (GB)
- UCLouvain (BE)
- Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (ES)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Optics Express
- Published
- 2024-11-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1364/oe.543144
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Optical Wireless Communication Technologies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.63
Funders
- UK Research and Innovation
- European Space Agency
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council