Long-range modulating retroreflector communications

In this paper we investigate the effect of scintillation on both long and short range modulating retroreflector (MRR) based links and present ways to mitigate these effects. The long range scenario investigated is that of a high-altitude platform-to-ground link, but is extensible to low earth orbit (LEO) satellite-to-ground links. In the first approach, a phase screen model is used to quantify the reduction in scintillation by using multiple MRRs. In a second approach, the performance of FPGA-based optical communication modems using channel coding to combat optical fading are investigated using laboratory synthesised scintillation noise based on the phase screen simulation predictions.