Optical scintillation statistics for IR ground-to-space laser communication systems

Statistical estimates of selected scintillation parameters for an infrared laser ground-to-space communication system are presented for a point-receiving aperture. The quantities estimated here are the fraction of time that the signal power is both above and below a given value, the mean number of times per second the signal power crosses a given signal level, and the mean duration of both surges and fades for a given log-irradiance variance.