Approach for incorporating aerosol scattering in wave optics propagation simulation

The effects of aerosol scattering and attenuation on optical propagation through the atmosphere are typically studied for a homogenous medium and in a time-averaged sense. Scattering simulation codes based on Monte Carlo approaches have also been developed for the detailed study of scattering processes. It has been shown that the forward scattered component of atmospheric aerosols can be modeled with a Gaussian function in such a way that scattering outside of the region of interest (the FOV of receiver) and absorption are modeled with an extinction factor. An approach for including the effects of aerosol scatter in the wave optics simulation format is described. The effect of aerosol scattering for a homogenous propagation medium is included by a simple convolution of the aerosol forward-scatter point spread function (PSF) with the irradiance pattern at the observation plane. The aerosol scattering PSF is translated into a collection of phase screens realizations. The modified wave optics simulation approach allows the modeling of aerosols that are distributed in a non homogeneous manner with varying scatter phase functions. Several examples of the propagation of a Gaussian beam through a particulate medium are illustrated and the achieved results are consistent with the analytical description.