Modeling and oblique transmission characteristics of an underwater wireless optical communication channel based on ocean depth layering

Underwater wireless optical communication is widely considered in the field of underwater communication due to its high bandwidth and low latency. In a real transmission link, the temperature and salinity of seawater, chlorophyll concentration, and bubble density vary with ocean depth. Therefore, the depth of the optical transmitter in seawater and the tilt angle of the beam will exhibit different beam transmission characteristics. In this paper, an underwater oblique-range layered channel model considering the combined effects of dynamic turbulence, absorption, and scattering is developed based on real data of seawater at different depths measured by the Global Ocean Observing Buoy Argo and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution BCO-DMO. The effects of transmission distance, transmitter tilt angle, and transmitter depth on the oblique-range transmission characteristics of the beam in seawater are discussed. The simulation results show that, at the same transmission distance, the beam centroid displacement increases with an increase in transmitter depth only when the transmitter is located above the interior of the thermocline. When the transmitter is located below the interior of the thermocline, the influence of the transmitter tilt angle on the beam centroid displacement decreases. This indicates that at different depths within the interior of the thermocline, the optical beam transmission characteristics exhibit significant variations.

Variability of relationship between the volume scattering function at 180° and the backscattering coefficient for aquatic particles

Properly interpreting lidar (light detection and ranging) signal for characterizing particle distribution relies on a key parameter, χ_p(π), which relates the particulate volume scattering function (VSF) at 180° (β_p(π)) that a lidar measures to the particulate backscattering coefficient (b_bp). However, χ_p(π) has been seldom studied due to challenges in accurately measuring β_p(π) and b_bp concurrently in the field. In this study, χ_p(π), as well as its spectral dependence, was re-examined using the VSFs measured in situ at high angular resolution in a wide range of waters. β_p(π), while not measured directly, was inferred using a physically sound, well-validated VSF-inversion method. The effects of particle shape and internal structure on the inversion were tested using three inversion kernels consisting of phase functions computed for particles that are assumed as homogenous sphere, homogenous asymmetric hexahedra, or coated sphere. The reconstructed VSFs using any of the three kernels agreed well with the measured VSFs with a mean percentage difference <5% at scattering angles <170^∘. At angles immediately near or equal to 180°, the reconstructed β_p(π) depends strongly on the inversion kernel. χ_p(π) derived with the sphere kernels was smaller than those derived with the hexahedra kernel but consistent with χ_p(π) estimated directly from high-spectral-resolution lidar and in situ backscattering sensor. The possible explanation was that the sphere kernels are able to capture the backscattering enhancement feature near 180° that has been observed for marine particles. χ_p(π) derived using the coated sphere kernel was generally lower than those derived with the homogenous sphere kernel. Our result suggests that χ_p(π) is sensitive to the shape and internal structure of particles and significant error could be induced if a fixed value of χ_p(π) is to be used to interpret lidar signal collected in different waters. On the other hand, χ_p(π) showed little spectral dependence.

Comparison of Bubble Size Distributions Inferred from Acoustic, Optical Visualisation, and Laser Diffraction

Bubble measurement has been widely discussed in the literature and comparison studies have been widely performed to validate the results obtained for various forms of bubble size inferences. This paper explores three methods used to obtain a bubble size distribution—optical detection, laser diffraction and acoustic inferences—for a bubble cloud. Each of these methods has advantages and disadvantages due to their intrinsic inference methodology or design flaws due to lack of specificity in measurement. It is clearly demonstrated that seeing bubbles and hearing them are substantially and quantitatively different. The main hypothesis being tested is that for a bubble cloud, acoustic methods are able to detect smaller bubbles compared to the other techniques, as acoustic measurements depend on an intrinsic bubble property, whereas photonics and optical methods are unable to “see” a smaller bubble that is behind a larger bubble. Acoustic methods provide a real-time size distribution for a bubble cloud, whereas for other techniques, appropriate adjustments or compromises must be made in order to arrive at robust data. Acoustic bubble spectrometry consistently records smaller bubbles that were not detected by the other techniques. The difference is largest for acoustic methods and optical methods, with size differences ranging from 5–79% in average bubble size. Differences in size between laser diffraction and optical methods ranged from 5–68%. The differences between laser diffraction and acoustic methods are less, and range between 0% (i.e., in agreement) up to 49%. There is a wider difference observed between the optical method, laser diffraction and acoustic methods whilst good agreement between laser diffraction and acoustic methods. The significant disagreement between laser diffraction and acoustic method (35% and 49%) demonstrates the hypothesis, as there is a higher proportion of smaller bubbles in these measurements (i.e., the smaller bubbles ‘hide’ during measurement via laser diffraction). This study, which shows that acoustic bubble spectrometry is able to detect smaller bubbles than laser diffraction and optical techniques. This is supported by heat and mass transfer studies that show enhanced performance due to increased interfacial area of microbubbles, compared to fine bubbles.

Monte Carlo simulation of spectral reflectance and BRDF of the bubble layer in the upper ocean

The presence of bubbles can significantly change the radiative properties of seawater and these changes will affect remote sensing and underwater target detection. In this work, the spectral reflectance and bidirectional reflectance characteristics of the bubble layer in the upper ocean are investigated using the Monte Carlo method. The Hall-Novarini (HN) bubble population model, which considers the effect of wind speed and depth on the bubble size distribution, is used. The scattering coefficients and the scattering phase functions of bubbles in seawater are calculated using Mie theory, and the inherent optical properties of seawater for wavelengths between 300 nm and 800 nm are related to chlorophyll concentration (Chl). The effects of bubble coating, Chl, and bubble number density on the spectral reflectance of the bubble layer are studied. The bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of the bubble layer for both normal and oblique incidence is also investigated. The results show that bubble populations in clear waters under high wind speed conditions significantly influence the reflection characteristics of the bubble layer. Furthermore, the contribution of bubble populations to the reflection characteristics is mainly due to the strong backscattering of bubbles that are coated with an organic film.

Accurate estimation of the backscattering coefficient by light scattering at two backward angles

Backscattering coefficients are frequently estimated from light scattering at one backward angle multiplied by a conversion factor. We determined that the shapes of the volume scattering functions (VSFs), particularly for scattering angles larger than 170°, cause significant variations in the conversion factor at 120°. Our approach uses the ratio of scattering at 170° and at 120°, which is a good indicator of the shape differences of the VSFs for most oceanic waters and wavelengths in the visible range. The proposed method provides significant accuracy improvement in the determination of the backscattering coefficients with a prediction error of 3% of the mean.

Inversion of spectral absorption coefficients to infer phytoplankton size classes, chlorophyll concentration, and detrital matter

Measured spectral absorption coefficients were inverted to infer phytoplankton concentration in three size classes (picoplankton, nanoplankton, and microplankton), chlorophyll concentration [Chl], and both magnitude and spectral shape of absorption by colored detrital matter (CDM). Our algorithm allowed us to solve for the nonlinear factor of CDM absorption slope separately from the other linear factors, thus fully utilizing the additive characteristic inherent in absorption coefficients. We validated the inversion with three datasets: two spatially distributed global datasets, the Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche dataset and the NASA bio-Optical Marine Algorithm Dataset, and a time series coastal dataset, the Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory dataset. Comparison with high performance liquid chromatography analyses showed that the phytoplankton size classes can be retrieved with correlation coefficients (r)>0.7, root mean square errors of 0.2, and median relative errors of 20% in oceanic waters and with similar performance in coastal waters. Much improved agreement was found for the entire phytoplankton population, with r>0.90 for [Chl] and absorption coefficients (a_ph) for all three datasets. The inferred a_CDM(400) and CDM spectral slope agree within ±4% of measurements in both oceanic and coastal waters. The results indicate that the chlorophyll-a specific absorption spectra used as an inversion kernel represent well the global mean states for each of the three phytoplankton size classes. The method can be applied to either bulk or particulate absorption data and is spectrally flexible.

Significance of scattering by oceanic particles at angles around 120 degree

Field observations and theoretical studies have shown that shapes of the volume scattering functions (VSFs) of oceanic particles in the backward directions, i.e., VSFs normalized by the total backscattering coefficient, exhibit a surprisingly low variability at angles near 120 degree, which is also confirmed by measurements of VSFs in coastal waters around the US. To investigate what this minimum variability angle (θ*) represents, we estimated mean values of the VSFs in the backward angles using four mean value theorems: mean value for integral, weighted mean value for integral, classic mean value for differentiation and Cauchy's mean value. We also estimated the angles corresponding to the minimum values of the VSFs. We found θ* to be very close to the angles representing the classic mean values for differentiation of the VSFs. The low variability is due to the fact that the classic mean values vary little with the composition and sizes of particles.

An instrument for in situ measuring the volume scattering function of water: design, calibration and primary experiments

The optical volume scattering function (VSF) of seawater is a fundamental property used in the calculation of radiative transfer for applications in the study of the upper-ocean heat balance, the photosynthetic productivity of the ocean, and the chemical transformation of photoreactive compounds. A new instrument to simultaneously measure the VSF in seven directions between 20° to 160°, the attenuation coefficient, and the depth of water is presented. The instrument is self-contained and can be automatically controlled by the depth under water. The self-contained data can be easily downloaded by an ultra-short-wave communication system. A calibration test was performed in the laboratory based on precise estimation of the scattering volume and optical radiometric calibration of the detectors. The measurement error of the VSF measurement instrument has been estimated in the laboratory based on the Mie theory, and the average error is less than 12%. The instrument was used to measure and analyze the variation characteristics of the VSF with angle, depth and water quality in Daya Bay for the first time. From these in situ data, we have found that the phase functions proposed by Fournier-Forand, measured by Petzold in San Diego Harbor and Sokolov in Black Sea do not fit with our measurements in Daya. These discrepancies could manly due to high proportion of suspended calcium carbonate mineral-like particles with high refractive index in Daya Bay.