On the relation between atmospheric visibility and optical wave attenuation

Abstract

The knowledge about the relationship between atmospheric visibility and optical wave attenuation in the atmosphere is essential in order to predict the performance of free space optical communication links. In this paper, a study of the available models of visibility -attenuation relation is presented. Visibility and attenuation are measured on an experimental free space optical link with a wavelength of 830 nm. New models are proposed based on the least square fitting of data from this measurement.