Precision prediction of beacon center spot in atmospheric turbulent environments

• Published in: Optics and lasers in engineering 2024-06, Vol.177, p.108145, Article 108145
• Main Authors: Wang, Xuewei, Zhang, Ninghua, Wang, Qiang, Cui, Lei, Ma, Jing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Atmospheric turbulence; Optical flow; Photoelectric system; Prediction
• ISSN: 0143-8166; 1873-0302
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optlaseng.2024.108145

•A convenient approach for solving the influence of atmospheric turbulent for the beacon.•An experimental method is used to verify the effectiveness of this approach under the condition of atmospheric turbulent.•Our work justifies the laser communication systems design, which is to provide better guidance for system design. Atmospheric turbulence in the laser propagation path induces phase distortion and adversely affects the acquisition of the beacon spot center for satellite–ground laser links. We introduce an optical flow method to track multiple feature points and obtain the overall motion state of the light spot to predict the inter-frame offset and offset direction of the center position of the light spot. We combined rough and specific selections to improve the feature point selection and proposed a feature point exit and supplement mechanism suitable for an atmospheric turbulence environment. The algorithm outperformed traditional algorithms in terms of stability and accuracy in experimental verification, providing a simple and high-precision solution for predicting beacon spot centers under turbulent atmospheric conditions.