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We emphasize the requirement for a validated simulation environment to assess the impact of changes in atmospheric turbulence strength throughout the day and year on the performance of atmospheric electro-optics (EO) systems such as directed energy, power beaming, and laser communications. In the proposed approach, site-specific data from persistent measurements of atmospheric parameters, for instance, turbulence strength, represent the variability of atmospheric propagation conditions. Together with atmospheric models and numerical weather predictions, the measured data are utilized to build atmospheric propagation models for wave-optics simulations of atmospheric EO systems.
We demonstrate this approach with a database of continuous (24/7) C2n and meteorological measurements on a 7 km atmospheric propagation path at the University of Dayton test range for predictive modeling of laser beam propagation parameters and their fluctuations during diurnal and monthly cycles. We analyze a specific laser beam director system configuration, both with and without the implementation of adaptive optics beam control. The proposed technique provides a pathway to a comprehensive predictive performance evaluation of diverse atmospheric EO systems, allowing for statistical and interactive parametric analysis.
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