Adaptation of the Hufnagel-Valley profile to non-sea-level ground altitudes

Kurzfassung

Designing an optical ground network for satellite communications require an analysis of the turbulence impact in each potential location, to guarantee a desired availability. Knowledge of the turbulence conditions is crucial in designing mitigation techniques like adaptive optics or forward-error correction, and it has a direct impact on the margins assumed in the link budget calculations. The Hufnagel-Valley profile is widely used, to estimate the turbulence impact in a generic location due to its simplicity when measurements or detailed information is not available. A simple adaption of the Hufnagel-Valley profile is proposed to extend this model to the altitudes above the sea-level.